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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Can anyone tell me about the cruises to watch Illuminations? I'm thinking about doing it but want to see if it's worth the price tag.
TIA!
Y'all are the greatest source of info a gal could want!
While we have never done the Illuminations cruise, we have taken the Wishes Cruise and it was great.
It was an hour long cruise. We boarded the boat at the CR and cruised around looking at the water side of the GF, Poly and Ft Wilderness, watched the Water Parade and then parked and watched the Wishes show with the music piped in the boat.
It is worth the money and we hope to do the Illuminations cruise when we go back in Nov.
Another Passporter family and mine did the Illuminations cruise last summer. It was a lot of fun! The one thing that was kind of a bummer was that all the smoke came our way and obscured the show a few times...but that was just the way the wind was blowing.
It was a nice way to view a show that is a favorite...a completely new perspective.
We boarded at the Yacht Club...so before hand my family and I got pizza at the window at Spoodles and just sat on benches at the marina and watched the lights on the boardwalk. Afterwards we all walked back to EPCOT through the International Gateway and had a great time at evening EMH.
The boat parks by the bridge between UK and France. If the wind is blowing that way, smoke will obscure a good part of the show. It's kind of pricey; we did it once bit wouldn't do it again
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Chapel Hill, NC USA
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I think the current prices are too high to make it worth doing anymore.
We did a cruise with some other families back in 2000 when it only cost $125. At that price it was worth doing. We enjoyed the show sitting down in the company of others and luckily the wind was not coming our way. The kids also had a chance to drive the boat a bit when the Captain took us around the waterways down by The Disney Studios before the show. That was their highlight!
Since we are a family of 6, even splitting it with another family doesn't make it "worth it" anymore. But if you could maybe 10 individuals or even 5 couples, some how to make it split more affordable, then yeah, it's worth it. It's a neat view and I've been blessed to have not had the smoke come my way!
DH and I did the Breathless cruise during our second trip in '97 but as a lot of people have pointed out the prices have gone way up for the fireworks cruises.
We used to do it every time we went - easier with a handicapped child in a wheelchair - otherwise, she couldn't see.
But, now with the price, I probably wouldn't do it. I was fun and always had a good time, but $300+ is a bit spendy!
We've done the IllumiNations cruises a number of times and love them. It's the ultimate indulgence to us, although it is getting pricey, even with the maximum number of people on the boat.
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Danielle Harmon
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