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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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So. I'm poking around at the Disney site and see this incredible list of kids' activities. Is this for real? Would love to hear from anyone who's done this with little kids. I mean, Tinkerbell and Rescue Rangers and a search for experiments with Stitch...I can't even tell my kids about all that or I would have no choice but to book... Will they really do all this stuff, or do they get, say, one or two special things in the course of a cruise? (I do see some are for 3/4 nt cruises and others for 7 nts.) Here's the list for 3-4 yo's.
1) Yes -- it IS for real with no strings attached.
2) Yes -- the quality of the programs is awesome.
3) No -- You won't see your kids for a few days if they have their way!
4) No -- You won't feel apprehensive or guilty using the kids programs
These programs alone, in my mind, fully justify the price difference detween DCL and less pricey cruise lines. You have total freedom to enjoy your children and enjoy adult activities, literally on the spur of the moment. Your kids can do one or two things, or they can do them all. DCL will even feed them if you want to do something (ie PALO!!) during dinner time. I could go on and on.....and on. But you get the idea.
Check out Castawayclub.com and look at the personal navigators for children -- and don't let your kids see it until you're committed to booking!
They are for real and the kids have a great time. We couldn't get DD (7) out of the club, and only saw her on our at sea day when it was time for their "Goodbye" show (and we made her eat dinner with us - it was Pirate night)! Then she went right back in
DS (4) went in and out of the club, but still had a good time (and one night lasted 6 hours straight)! It was nice to have some adult time, knowing the kids were just a deck or two away (and a pager away as well)! The clubs are a main reason why I'll just consider cruising Disney at this point (other than we love Disney)!
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My favorite thing about the kids' activities was how age-appropriate they were. The stuff going on for the little kids was just what they wanted to do, the older kids didn't have anything too "dorky." The teens had a nice mixture of structure and "hang out" time. Warning...my kids prefer a DCL trip to anything else...and they talk about it every day! Still, even the teenager...not that I mind.
On our first 3 night cruise, we barely saw the kids, they were so involved. On our seven night, my youngest spent the majority of time at the pool and eating pizza with some other boys he met the first night at the lab (which meant DH and I spent a lot of time at the goofy pool too), my 11 year old spent time in and out of the lab and new kids area (She just attended the activities she was interested in.), and my teenager spent a few hours here and there with the family and otherwise was hanging with her group of new friends.
Hi, we took our boys, ages 6 and 3 at the time. We mixed up our schedule, so they spent some time in the club and some time with us. I felt like this was a family vacation, and I wanted to actually spend time with our kids!
Regarding the classes, my older son loves pirates, so he did all the pirate activities (He especially loved the 'learn to be a pirate" class with Captain Hook). The only one my 3 year old had a problem with was going on stage for the goodbye celebration, but the crew was so great and patience with him, and he ended up going and smiled the whole time he was on stage.
The rest of the time was spent in the pool and eating, which are two of my boys' favorite activities (especially dessert!).
We did do only one of the stage shows with the kids because they were so wiped out by the end of the day. My younger son was asleep on my husband's lap within minutes! But my older son loved it.
__________________
Lisa
With Mickey at Animal Kingdom, on a very cold day in Jan. 2008
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We took our nephew (5 yrs. old) and he loved the club. We spent a lot of time together as it was a family trip, but when we dropped him off at the club, he went gladly and talked about what he did when we picked him up!
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