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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Alaska on the Disney Wonder Who?-
Me, Brandy
My kids, ds13 Wesley, ds12 Dillon, dd10 Madilyn, ds8 Austin, ds5 Winston
And my Dad What?-
A 7 night cruise to Alaska with two days in Vancouver pre-cruise When?-
Sunday May 29th- Tuesday June 7th Where?-
We fly into Vancouver, Canada on 5/29 and board the Disney Wonder on 5/31 Why?-
My dad has always wanted to go to Alaska and this trip is his birthday gift. My ds12 and I have also wanted to go to Alaska for years and all the kids are excited to cruise as well. Up Next: How this trip came to be.... (Me and the kids)
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Alaska on the Disney Wonder How this trip came to be…
Well, it started with me planning a different trip. I have this “thing” where I take each kid on a one on one trip round about their tenth birthday. When planning for Dillon’s trip he asked to go to Alaska. When I was researching my dad said repeatedly that if we go he is going also, as he has always wanted to go. After some research I soon realized Dillon’s Alaska trip was out of the budget. Wesley had turned ten the previous year and we had only spent a few days in Washington, DC and not too much money- a trip to Alaska was going to cost too much money and take much longer than a few days. I told Dillon and he was happy to change his trip to WDW. After that trip (we had a great time) was over and done it was time to start planning Madilyn’s one on one trip. She wanted to go on a cruise. In the process of researching her cruise, I got super excited about the idea of cruising- I have never been on a cruise before. I realized that cruising would not only be a great trip for us girls, but also for the whole family. For Madilyn’s trip I decided on a 4 night Carnival cruise that I am still planning for the end of this summer. Carnival had great prices and had a port in driving distance to us. Of course I looked at DCL in the process, but decided that to spend that much money plus travel out of state- it was not in the cards for a one on one trip. However, I immediately knew it would make for a great family vacation! I originally looked into a Bahaman cruise. But then I found out DCL was preparing for Alaska cruises for the summer of 2011. I knew this would be perfect! I talked to my sister and brother about the three of us going in together for my dad’s birthday. Everyone was on board! My sister and her family (her dh and her 3 kids) plus my brother. Well shortly after making the decision I knew we needed to go ahead and book so we could get the best rate. Well, my sister and brother were not ready yet. So, I booked myself and the kids plus my dad. The more time that went by and they didn’t book the more I knew they were likely not going. And that is exactly what happened; they officially backed out. No worries, I am still super excited to go and so are the kids and my dad! Up Next: Let the planning begin…
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Alaska on the Disney Wonder Let the planning begin…
Once I was fully booked, I still had well over a year to plan. When booking the only real decision to make was the date. My kids get out of school for the summer May 20th. I seriously considered the May 24th sailing. But I decided that it would be easier to get ready if we had a week off (I also work at the school) to pack and do any last minute errands. So, I booked for May 31st. Several times I considered changing it to the 24th just because it would not only get us there sooner, but I thought that the ship might be less crowded the earlier in the season we went. But I kept it as is and that paid off because we ended up missing almost a month’s worth of school this school year due to snow. We live in Georgia so I really had not been worried about make up days when I booked the cruise as GA is not exactly a snowy state; there have been several years that we got zero snow. But this year we got a LOT and because GA is not prepared for snow the whole state, including the school’s close down. I was SO glad I had gone with the 31st sailing because there were a lot of rumors about make up days. In the end we are still getting out on the 20th, so it would have worked but I sure would have been stressed worried about it if I had booked any sooner.
At about a year out from the cruise, airlines began releasing their flight schedules. I had done research on the previous year’s flight costs and had a ballpark amount of what I planned to pay for airfare. Well, last year’s amount’s could just be thrown out the window because the prices were significantly more for this yearL. I signed up with multiple websites to receive information if the flight prices were to drop and I was flexible with my dates so as to get the best deal. I visited airline websites pretty much every single day. They did drop some, but not very much. I told myself if they had not dropped by the end of the year (December) that I was just going to have to suck it up and get the flights. I had been told with international flights that the prices tend to go up rather than down as it gets closer to the flight dates, so I didn’t want to take any chances. Just before Christmas I purchased our flights. I had to get 7 tickets and it was not cheap, not even close- but at least we were goingJ. I was actually pretty frustrated with the prices I had to pay but I eventually got over it. I knew going into this trip that flights from Atlanta to Vancouver were going to be high; but I had hoped for a decent deal. It was a relief to have them purchased all the same. I was able to enjoy Christmas knowing the major expenses were done and paid for (the cruise was PIF and the flights were purchased). But once Christmas was over I got into serious planning mode; making plans for Vancouver, and planning excursionsJ. Up Next: Travel plans…
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to go on a Disney cruise to Alaska!
. We live in Georgia so I really had not been worried about make up days when I booked the cruise as GA is not exactly a snowy state; there have been several years that we got zero snow. But this year we got a LOT and because GA is not prepared for snow the whole state, including the school’s close down
. I was SO glad I had gone with the 31st sailing because there were a lot of rumors about make up days
. In the end we are still getting out on the 20th, so it would have worked but I sure would have been stressed worried about it if I had booked any sooner. 
because the prices were significantly more for this yearL. I signed up with multiple websites to receive information if the flight prices were to drop and I was flexible with my dates so as to get the best deal. I visited airline websites pretty much every single day
. They did drop some, but not very much. I told myself if they had not dropped by the end of the year (December) that I was just going to have to suck it up and get the flights. I had been told with international flights that the prices tend to go up rather than down as it gets closer to the flight dates, so I didn’t want to take any chances. Just before Christmas I purchased our flights
, not even close- but at least we were goingJ. I was actually pretty frustrated with the prices I had to pay but I eventually got over it. I knew going into this trip that flights from Atlanta to Vancouver were going to be high; but I had hoped for a decent deal. It was a relief to have them purchased all the same
). But once Christmas was over I got into serious planning mode; making plans for Vancouver, and planning excursionsJ.
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