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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I believe Colexis Mom and her family did the Deadliest Catch tour and enjoyed it She's got a great trip report on Alaska with the kids).
I did a whale watching tour in Juneau with Harv and Marv. It was mid-May, and the weather ended up being terrible so we only saw two whales. I would do whale watching in Juneau again, hoping for better weather
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Congrats! We sail in July. I'm also trying to decide where to do whale watching, and Holly has me thinking about Vancouver now. I just booked our tour for Skagway yesterday, and I'm on the list for the White Pass railroad - but apparently they won't start booking until fall. I'd requested July 9, and they emailed asking if I meant August 9, since it was already July 18. Nope, 9th is correct - for 2015!
A bit of advice on the White Pass Railroad. It sounds like you plan to book with a private contractor vs. Disney. Unless this is a big savings or offers something that the Disney excursion doesn't, you might want to reconsider and this is why I say this.
The day of our WPRR trip it was slightly overcast. On the train they announced that there would be a little fog/cloud cover farther up the mountain and Disney was offering to not charge for the excursion or to switch us to another excursion if we felt this would hamper our enjoyment of the trip. They made it clear that this offer was only good if we got off of the train right then. However, they said there is "still plenty to see". As the weather didn't seem that bad, we stayed on the train. Big mistake!!!!! There was no fog when we started, but as we started up the fog rolled in and got progressively worse as we went up. We saw next to nothing except for white (we did a round trip)
This is an expensive excursion and it was a total waste -the one sour spot of our entire vacation. I've heard others rave about the train trip and the amazing views and I wish we had been able to experience it.
So, long story short, if you book with DCL and you hear that offer -get off of the train and go straight to the excursion desk. I have no idea how other contractors would handle the same situation.
BTW, my sister and brother-in-law had a helicopter tour cancelled for that day and they were able to get on the train the morning of (although I guess they might wish they hadn't) so it isn't like the train was sold out.
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Ha!!! That's funny. I emailed wild whales and they got back to me really quick. They said we can book for august now so going to try and organise it this week.
Really excited, my hubbies not the sort for researching pre trip but when it comes to Alaska, he's asked me questions as apposed to just listening to me