As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Here's a question for next year, I realize, but call me nuts....
We are bringing the Magic back to Florida from CA next year and are very excited about it! We were wondering about the port and transportation choices. We were also considering going to Disneyland for a day or two beforehand, but didn't know how far the port was, if Disney would have transport from the park, or even from the airport. If no transfer from the park, would a taxi/limo service be prohibitively expensive?
This is our 30th anniversary blow-out trip so we wanted to do it up right! (we actually hit 30 years in Dec '08 and will probably go to WDW for a couple of days...but this is the BIG celebration! )
I thought perhaps someone that did this in 2005 might have the answer to that!
And Dave, there were two formal and two semiformal nights on board?
While they didn't announce it immediately, DCL eventually did offer Disneyland pre-cruise add-ons that included ground transportation. However, if you didn't book the rooms as an add-on to your cruise, the transport wasn't available.
Disney doesn't have the equivalent of DME for airport to DLR, but there are several bus and shuttle services that do the trip. We've got that info in our DLR guidebook, and it will be in the next edition of the DCL book, too.
Disneyland is perhaps 45 minutes from the port. You could pay for taxi/limo from DLR, but rates in the LA area tend to be higher than in Orlando. It doesn't hurt to get quotations, though.
Overall, we found that renting a car was the best bet for us. Between needing ground transport from LAX to Disneyland, our need to do other driving around So. Cal, and the need to get to the port, a rental car (rates in the area are very competitive) worked pretty well for us. (I should note we also spent the night before the cruise on the Queen Mary to get in the mood, so we had even greater need for the car). The downside of renting is that there are few, if any, rental agencies near the port. I ended up dropping Jennifer, Alexander, and our luggage at the pier, driving over to downtown Long Beach to drop off the rental, and taking a cab back to the pier. It was perhaps a 10-minute drive, so the fare wasn't too bad, but it was just one more plot complication.
Yes, there were twice as many opportunities to dress up. I own my own tux and several different vest/tie sets, cumberbunds, etc., so I accessorized like crazy!
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
Thanks for the info, Dave. We haven't really decided what to do yet, just want to look at our options. We were kind of confused as to how far from DLR is the port? Close? We knew they don't have a DME equivalent from the airport ot DLR, but were wondering if we had to get to the cruise ship on our own from the airport if we decide not to do DLR or if they have transport from the airport to the port.
I doubt that we would rent a car as we live in the DC area and the LAST thing we like to do on vacay is DRIVE!
And thanks for the info on Formal/semi formal nights, Dave...now I get to go shopping!!!!!!
My family of 4 (me, mom, and the two teen girls 16 and 14) are getting ready to go. Our countdown is 105 days until our Disney Dreams vacation. We are from the east coast and plan ion taking the train west to California to spend 3 days in Disneyland prior to the cruise. I hear everything about the voyage, how the canal crossing is fab, the ports are fab, the food is fab, everything...! We can not wait. My question is this... for those who have tdone the repo vruise in the past, what are the entertainment prospects like? Now, I have been on DCL 3 times previously and know that tyhere is nothing like Disney. I knpow that they take entertainmenmt over the top, so it is not like I'm askimng for what kinds of stuff is there to do on a Disney Cruise vaction. I am asking if the senond week's cruise leg is like the first. Do they repeat themselves the second week? Is the dining room menus the same the second week. Are the shows the same the second week. I heard that there may be celebrities on the cruise. Can that be true? I am so excited about the cruise I am rambling on and on. So, can someone, anyone, help me quell my excitement by telling me what me what my expectationjs shouild be on this cruise? I mean, I am excited aboiut the 2 and a half day train ride from Phila to Anaheim!!!
DCL will bring on a number of variety entertainers (comedians, jugglers, magicians, etc.) to help round out the "big show" and night club schedules with additional variety shows.
There usually are celebrities on these cruises, partly because there are some big DCL fans among the celebrity crowd, too - they want to do these special cruises just as much as "regular" people do. Joey Fatone in particular comes to mind.
They will have a couple of celebrities doing presentations/q-and-a sessions, etc. about what they do, perhaps do an autographing session, etc. One or more of them may do a show in the Walt Disney Theatre. It's hard to predict all that will happen this time around, but DCL makes special efforts to make these repositioning cruises extra-special.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
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