Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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08-30-2005, 07:11 PM
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#1
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Community Rank: Jetsetter 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 2,357
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Staggered dining
According to today's D-Mail, staggered dining is here to stay on the Wonder. It has apparently received "rave reviews".
Main seating 5:45, 6:00 and 6:15
Second seating 8:00, 8:15 and 8:30
No mention about the Magic.
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08-30-2005, 08:26 PM
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#2
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Community Rank: Navigator 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Davidsonville, MD
Posts: 6,563
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Re: Staggered dining
What benefit does staggered dining have to passengers? It was implemented on the cruise after ours in June, so we missed out on seeing a difference.
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08-30-2005, 08:52 PM
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#3
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Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: second star to the right
Posts: 13,308
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Re: Staggered dining
[ QUOTE ]
What benefit does staggered dining have to passengers? It was implemented on the cruise after ours in June, so we missed out on seeing a difference.
[/ QUOTE ]
I don't know about the passengers but I would bet that as far as servers go - you can serve more tables with less people by staggering the seating times.
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09-05-2005, 02:38 PM
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#4
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Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Ann Arbor, MI USA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 14,427
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Re: Staggered dining
They've started doing it on the Magic, too, although it didn't start until breakfast the morning we returned to Port Canaveral, so my direct experience with Disney isn't that good. That doesn't stop me from giving my opinion... 
We also experienced this on Carnival earlier this year. The big benefit for people dining in the second or third groups is that there isn't a long line of folks waiting to enter the dining room (there was still a backup for folks in the first group). Things seem a bit more relaxed when everyone isn't trying to get seated at the same time.
I'm not sure how much benefit there is for the servers. I can't see them reducing staff - it just means that some folks are starting on appetizers while others are on main course (not unlike what happens when there's a single seating time and folks arrive early or late). A bigger potential benefit can take place in the kitchen, as they don't have to have all the main courses ready at the same time. This (hopefully) means that they'll have smaller batches coming out of the ovens, and each batch will arrive fresher and hotter at table. |
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09-05-2005, 03:39 PM
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#5
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Community Rank: Jetsetter
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 2,584
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Re: Staggered dining
From my experience on the Wonder last week, staggered dining didn't really affect the passengers much. When you hear "staggered seating times" of 5:45, 6:00 & 6:15, there are not 3 separate times in each dining room. We ate in Animators Palate our first night for the 6:00 seating. Folks eating in Tritons for the early seating would eat at 5:45 and folks in Parrot Cay would eat at 6:15, for example. So it's not staggered in each restaurant.
What was nice, though, was even though we had the middle time for the early seating, we had the later of the times for our last morning breakfast somehow. If you can call 7:00am late!!
Regardless of Disney's reason for doing it, staggered dining, along with every other single thing they do, works wonders. It was a fabulous experience!
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11-12-2005, 03:33 PM
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#6
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Living Seas wannabe
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
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Re: Staggered dining
We had staggered dining this time on teh Wonder and as was stated - it is done by restaurant... so all of the Triton's folks were at 6pm, while AP was 615 and PC was 630. No major effect on us.
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*
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Sponsored links
Check out the many e-books by PassPorter. The e-books are free to download if you have a PassPorter's Club pass.
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11-13-2005, 07:26 PM
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#7
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Community Rank: Traveler 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Burb\'s of Detroit.
Posts: 410
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Re: Staggered dining
We had 6:15 dinner on our cruise. We had a lot of kids with us. The differences I noticed from other cruises (all non-Disney) are as follows:
No line of hungry people waiting for the doors to open!!
Servers seemed less rushed and more relaxed (when you've got a lot of kids, you notice things like this ... these two women who served us doted on these kids like nobody's business and spent TIME with them).
We never felt rushed! Even with another group coming in, we always had time to laze over dessert.
I think it's an inspired idea and a real 'win-win' situation all the way around.
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11-13-2005, 08:49 PM
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#8
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Community Rank: Jetsetter
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 2,357
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Re: Staggered dining
[ QUOTE ]
We had 6:15 dinner on our cruise. We had a lot of kids with us. The differences I noticed from other cruises (all non-Disney) are as follows:
No line of hungry people waiting for the doors to open!!
Servers seemed less rushed and more relaxed (when you've got a lot of kids, you notice things like this ... these two women who served us doted on these kids like nobody's business and spent TIME with them).
We never felt rushed! Even with another group coming in, we always had time to laze over dessert.
I think it's an inspired idea and a real 'win-win' situation all the way around.
[/ QUOTE ]
Was it Wonderful or Magical?
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11-17-2005, 08:21 PM
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#9
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Community Rank: Traveler
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Burb\'s of Detroit.
Posts: 410
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Re: Staggered dining
[ QUOTE ]
Was it Wonderful or Magical?
[/ QUOTE ]
It was both a WONDERful and MAGICal time .. on the Wonder! HA HA HA!
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