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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I also have a question. I have never been out to sea on a small boat nor a large cruise ship. We are wanting to go on a cruise for my sons graduation. My question is how bad is the seasickness on the large boats? I normally don't get to ill with things but I do get a little woozey with bad turbulance in the plane. Is this something that lasts the whole trip or do you eventually get use to the up and down motion? If you could PM me and let me know I would much appreciate it.
I also have a question. I have never been out to sea on a small boat nor a large cruise ship. We are wanting to go on a cruise for my sons graduation. My question is how bad is the seasickness on the large boats? I normally don't get to ill with things but I do get a little woozey with bad turbulance in the plane. Is this something that lasts the whole trip or do you eventually get use to the up and down motion? If you could PM me and let me know I would much appreciate it.
It depends on how prone you are. I'd say if turbulence bothers you, you'd be wise to take some bonine (non-drowsy dramamine) and/or some ginger capsules BEFORE boarding and for the duration. The ship has giant stabilizer "wings" that stick out to each side in the open ocean (as long as things aren' TOO rough, from what I understand) that really help with the motion, but you will feel some of it. What surprised me more than anything was that we STILL felt the motion about 2-3 days AFTER we got off the ship. I kept up with the bonine/ginger routine for 3 days, just to be safe, but we all got the giggles several times around WDW when we found ourselves randomly "swaying".
Seasickness rarely lasts the whole trip. That's not necessarily because you get used to it, but because on most itineraries you're usually not in rough waters for the entire journey. On the Caribbean/Bahamian cruises you're out in the Atlantic the evening you depart and the night you arrive back in Port Canaveral. After that, you're in (usually) much calmer seas. Sure, there are times when a storm will kick-up the seas, but during the course of a 7-night cruise you're rarely within range of those heavy seas the entire time. On the Bahamian cruises you're well sheltered within that huge chain of islands, so unless the storm is right on top of you, things tend to be pretty calm.
Now, if you're doing a Transatlantic cruise, everything I said just goes out the window.
Of course, I'm one of those weirdos that enjoys a bit o' the rolling seas. I've gotten sick from over-eating on a cruise, but the last time I was seasick was sometime back in the mid 60s on a ferry ride across Delaware Bay.
I'm not a big one for pre-medicating unless you know you're susceptible to motion sickness. On large ships the motion that causes illness is not as rapid or extreme as airline turbulence - you're not going to drop or rise 100 feet or more in a matter of seconds. Jennifer, who has a very sensitive inner ear when she's on theme park attractions, never has a problem on ships. But that's not necessarily true for others. I'd bring Bonine, just in case. Maybe dose yourself before you depart the first evening since it's likely to be the roughest seas you'll encounter, but then take a wait-and-see attitude after that. I do not recommend a Scopolamine patch unless you know things will be bad - the side effects can be pretty bad - why put up with them before knowing whether it's necessary?
Modern cruise ships are huge, and because of that, are less likely to cause motion sickness than smaller ships.
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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 am so glad you asked this, lbullard! I watched the movie "The Guardian" just yesterday and, well, those waves out there didn't look pretty. I'm not a good swimmer so this movie scared the heck out of me! I know that modern cruise ships are very (read: VERY) safe but this irrational fear tends to sneak up ever so unnoticeably. For me, it's the same with airplanes: I know that the plane always shakes both during take-off and landing but it still (after many, many flights) makes me think we're gonna crash any second I think it's due to the fact that we don't have any control whatsoever over the vehicle.
So, thanks for your reassuring posts, guys. Anyone seen the movie The Guardian and knows if the seas are really that rough?
On our 2005 cruise on the Carnival Elation, a passenger committed suicide by jumping overboard. She was last seen at 7 am and declared overboard at noon. So we had to return to our position at 7 am. I think every pair of binoculars onboard was on deck that afternoon. Although we were delayed 10 hours, the ship got in about one hour late. Once we left our station keeping position (we had to do figure eights for about 45 minutes), we made about 25 knots. Cruising speed is about 20-21 knots. We were stern down and making a pretty large wake.
A Coastie told a group of travel agents that almost every cruise has a "significant event", but most of the time the passengers never even know about it.
A Coastie told a group of travel agents that almost every cruise has a "significant event", but most of the time the passengers never even know about it.
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I know that modern cruise ships are very (read: VERY) safe but this irrational fear tends to sneak up ever so unnoticeably. For me, it's the same with airplanes: I know that the plane always shakes both during take-off and landing but it still (after many, many flights) makes me think we're gonna crash any second 
I think it's due to the fact that we don't have any control whatsoever over the vehicle.
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