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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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This has been bugging me for a little while and I'm sure this is the place to get the answer I'm looking for.
I'm cruising with my husband and his family who are all U.S. citizens however I am not (permanent resident). Will I be separted from them prior to boarding/debarking?
Even if I am at least I have time to organise a meeting place, and if not then everyone is happy!
It depends on the type of Id you have. If you have a foriegn pasport you must sureder it to the DCL, they will return it to you when you report to the imagration oficals early in the morning of debarcation. Once your done geting it stamped you can rejoin the rest of your party.
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Don't worry, you won't be separated, except for the few minutes it takes to check in.
They do have a separate check-in desk for non-citizens, down at the end of the same check-in area everyone else uses. Check-in is on one side of the cruise terminal lobby, in full sight of everyone. Once you're done with that, you'll have no problem reuniting with the rest of your group out in the lobby. They can be standing outside the ropes, waiting for you, or you can meet at some location you selected in the lobby before you got on the check-in line.
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hi there
my husband and i are planning to cruise jan 2010, and as we are australian citizens what is the process for us??? what things will we need to have on hand to go thru customs, and do they really take our passports???I'm a tad nervous about losing our passports etc. Its a long way to swim back home.
any other suggestions would be great for us "out of towners" re transport from airport to cruise, accom for night before cruise.
G'day!
I also feel it's a little strange to be taking our passports, maybe they think we'll find the Bahamas so nice we'll not board the ship to leave.
I guess the only way to have a little peace of mind is make sure you bring copies of each of them, at least then you have proof of your name/numbers etc if you have an issue.
I always travel with my passport, birth certificate, drivers license and copies of all just in case a question arises.
Yes, I think taking passports is very odd. The cruise lines claim it's some sort of "requirement", yet when I've asked DHS and all it's subcomponents, nobody says they require it. And I know Mexico doesn't. It used to be when one traveled in Europe, the hotels would ask for the passport. But not the last few dozen times I've been there.
Australia is part of the Visa Waiver Program. See Visa Waiver Program (VWP) for information. You might want to contact the local US counsulor office for more information. The State Dept website actually has all the information, it's just a matter of navigating through that mess to find it.
The pasport are held by the pasport control officer on bord the ship. They say that it is both a Bahamas and US requirment. Most ports agree to acept guests showing there "key to the world" card as prof that they are on the ship. If the local athorities actully require all persons on the ship to show there pasport you will be informed in advance.
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Last edited by EastYorkDisneyFan; 01-19-2008 at 12:26 AM..
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hi again
call me weird , but i really dont like anyone else having my passport....firstly because I'd hate to have it lost/ stolen, but more importantly....my passport photo is a shocker. what if they pass it around the crew and take photocopies and pin it up and then all the little kids will be saying " look mommy, theres that woman with the yukky photo" and the mothers will be saying " dont stare/ point/ laugh at the poor lady, she had a bad hair day and got sunburnt with sunglasses on". I only wanted to get a little bit of sun on my face to make the photo look good
poor poor me
but still, it is a weird requirement, i may just stay on the boat for 7 days and not get off, just so I dont have to worry.
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The passport requirement can't be modified. You can't promise to stay on board to get around the requirement. They hold them all, period.
In the Bahamas and Caribbean, there are established procedures where the cruise ships take responsibilty for "certifying" its passenger manifest at every port of call to the local authorities. Thanks to certification, no passports are required to exit or return to the ship, which saves a huge amount of time and money for everyone. If full passport inspection was needed at each port, then port charges for each passenger would go through the roof. (You will need some sort of government-issued photo ID if you want to leave the ship, regardless of nationality.)
My understanding is that, as part of the certification process, the ships are responsible for holding the passports of all non-US nationals for possible inspection by the authorities. When the authorities are satisfied with the passenger manifest, the ship is "cleared" to disembark passengers. If, however, they wanted to inspect the passport of a non-US national and it was not readily at hand, they'd have to chase-down that passenger wherever he/she was on the ship, and the rest of the passengers would have to remain on board until that was done.
Why are non-US nationals singled-out? My understanding is that it has to do with treaties between the US and neighboring nations. Since non-US nationals may be from countries that are not party to those treaties, they're subject to more stringent procedures.
As to your fear of embarassment... I'm quite certain the passports are immediately locked away in a safe.
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hey
thanks for the info..it makes a wee bit of sense now, but I'm still a bit uneasy roaming around without my only way back home...my trusty passport. I guess we'll have to just put our trust in "the mouse" to keep us and our passport safe.
but more importantly....my passport photo is a shocker. what if they pass it around the crew and take photocopies and pin it up and then all the little kids will be saying " look mommy, theres that woman with the yukky photo" and the mothers will be saying " dont stare/ point/ laugh at the poor lady, she had a bad hair day and got sunburnt with sunglasses on".
More likely "eat your fried rutabaga or you'll look like that lady". "Quit doing that to your sister or she'll look like that lady". "If you keep doing that, your face will stick and you'll look like that lady."
Or, worst of all, "look at that hot mama".
Any of those would be somewhat bothersome for me, but the Y chromosome may also have an influence.
I hope you took this with a bit of laughter. If you want to see me on a good hair day (when I had hair, good or bad), head off to We love to dive .
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and I'm sure this is the place to get the answer I'm looking for. 
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re transport from airport to cruise, accom for night before cruise.
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