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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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There will be info. released later this month (the 29th I think) about the Dream and its itineraries. There's been lots of speculation about where it will sail etc. but most bets are maybe a couple of special things and then onto Florida to take over the Bahamas cruises. We can only wait and see.
I was really hoping when they announced the new ships that they would take over the Caribbean routes. One ship to The Bahamas and one to the West Coast/Alaska. And one to rule them all. Ooops, crossed thought paths.
I've gotten the impression from my DSM (who says she's only two paragraphs ahead of me) that the Magic and Wonder will be around for at least another 5 or 6 years.
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I don't think the West Coast will see either of the new ships for a while. I think they prefer to build their market on the West Coast with a smaller ship for a while, playing the same scarcity game they currently play in the Bahamas and Caribbean. Besides, they can't repo the big ships economically (if you call the tolls through the Panama Canal economical) until the new locks open in around 2015. There's also the deal they cut with the Port Canaveral authorities to home port the new ships there for an extended period in exchange for upgraded terminal facilities.
Will the Magic and Wonder only be around another 5-6 years? Maybe... that's sort of typical in the cruise industry. Maybe they get a major refit/stretch/additional staterooms and keep going on specialty itineraries for a while longer. Disney Parks and Resorts is a big believer in rehab rather than sell-off-and-trade-up, more so than a lot of other companies in the biz. Then, there's the floating hotel possibility in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Ko Alina, or elsewhere... It seems less likely that the company would sell them off to a second tier cruise operator. It's just not the Disney way.
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Yes, a floating hotel is not necessarily the best end, especially for a ship that's only about 15 years old, but it is one possibility. Disney once owned the Queen Mary, but never did anything meaningful with it. I have little doubt Disney would do a whole lot better operating its ships as floating hotels than the management of the Queen Mary does.
The thought came to me simply because land is at such a premium in both Tokyo and Hong Kong, and that both of those resorts are waterfront properties. Even better would be if they were moved into the East Asia cruise market (Land/Sea itineraries for Tokyo, Hong Kong, or both) which does have somewhat more modest expectations of cruise ships than the booming American market. Still, it's not likely that DCL would permanently move any ships to East Asia until they had 8 or more ships in service, and that could be a good number of years down the road. Before that happened... Who'd want to circumnavigate with DCL?
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
I feel you Dave about the lack of space and the expansion of the Disney into the Asian market. But to my Western sensibilities, a floating hotel is a sad hommage to a beautiful young ship. The battering it would take being docked/used that way...Though it would be a business decision and unfortunately, bottom line, Disney is a business.
It will be interesting to see what the next 20 years will bring in Disney cruising and if your prediction is correct.
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