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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Welcome to this, the second part of my trip report from our April trip. The pre-trip report and details of our first week in Walt Disney World can be found here.
This part of the trip report is dedicated to our first ever trip on the Disney Dream, a three night cruise from 14-17 April.
Thursday 14 April – part three: our first Dream sighting!
When we came down from Characters in Flight, we talked about going and renting a boat for half an hour before heading out to Port Canaveral, but we got sidetracked on the way and filled up with gas. $45 to fill up a tank? Bargain! Seriously. You want to talk about gas prices – come to the UK and see what we pay, then we’ll talk again. Try about $120 every time I want to fill the car up!
We parked up at the Marketplace, so Mark could have a row with our non-functioning sat nav system (GPS – it couldn’t find its way out of New York City... seriously! ) and so that I could go and use up the last of our snack credits, getting two drinks and two pineapple ice cream bars. Have I mentioned how much of a great additional they are to Disney yet?
Then it was time to hit the road bound for Port Canaveral with occasional cursing at our very useless sat nav on the way. That thing is so going back to Best Buy on the way back from the cruise.
As we drove along, so the excitement grew. You can’t miss the Dream as you go over the huge bridge now, as it’s such a massive ship. Obviously I have seen lots of photos of it and knew how big it was, but my goodness, as we got near to it, it’s about the size of the building along the quay. I was just in awe of the thing.
As we arrived, we started to get a feel for how busy it would be. I knew that this sailing was full and it’s probably just as well I knew that.
We waited in line in the car to get in for probably about five minutes and then were greeted with a very aggressive port employee, who was very keen to get us into the car park. We were told by the baggage guy that we met in there that they weren’t usually like this, but seemed to have issues today. That’s an understatement.
We headed towards the port building and had our passports checked by an English guy. This would be the first of many Brits that we would see.
Next: it’s nice to be a non-US citizen on this cruise!
I am so excited to finally get to hear all about your trip on the Dream. It definitely looks like a full crowd, but the ship looks so magical. A friend of mine was in Nassau and he sent me a text of what had pulled in this morning...definitely not nice to torture me with such a beautiful site of the Dream pulling in. Can't wait to hear more...
A friend of mine was in Nassau and he sent me a text of what had pulled in this morning...definitely not nice to torture me with such a beautiful site of the Dream pulling in.
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Can't wait to hear all about it - especially how you think it compares to the Magic & Wonder. Seeing the traffic at the port makes me glad we're taking the shuttle from the hotel and leaving the car there!
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It's truly amazing to see those giant ships just sitting there like a building. You have to stop and remind yourself - it floats!!! Crazy. Now I'm curious about being happy to be a Brit for your next segment??!!!
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It's truly amazing to see those giant ships just sitting there like a building. You have to stop and remind yourself - it floats!!! Crazy. Now I'm curious about being happy to be a Brit for your next segment??!!!
Let's just say we were happy to be British - and I bet there were a lot of Americans wishing they weren't Americans...
Great start! I remember being so excited to see the Wonder as we drove over the bridge. I think it will be even more exciting to see the huge Fantasy when we cruise next year!
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Seriously. You want to talk about gas prices – come to the UK and see what we pay, then we’ll talk again. Try about $120 every time I want to fill the car up! 
) and so that I could go and use up the last of our snack credits, getting two drinks and two pineapple ice cream bars. Have I mentioned how much of a great additional they are to Disney yet? 
You can’t miss the Dream as you go over the huge bridge now, as it’s such a massive ship. Obviously I have seen lots of photos of it and knew how big it was, but my goodness, as we got near to it, it’s about the size of the building along the quay. 
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