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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 can't believe I am going to admit it, but here I go. Disney has me hooked on their photos. I have purchased the photopass CD on our last 3 WDW trips and I love it! I remember in 2003 when we cruised that I spent a fortune on pics from Shutters and all I have for it are the prints I purchased. I know that photopass is currently not available on the cruise ships so I am not going to hold my breath for that to change. But do they have pricing on the ships that will allow you purchase all photos and get them on a disk and not have to give them your first born or your right arm or worse BOTH? Any pricing information on photos from Shutters would be wonderful!
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As of 3 weeks ago there was no option that I saw to do that. We purchased the smaller package that gave you 10 6 x 8 photos for around $90. Unfortunately dh accidentally packed the photos the night before, and we couldn't remember how many we had. When we got home we found that we had only ever chosen 4 photos. How sucky is that???
My pet peeve is that you can't choose the sizes of you photos. I really don't like 8 x 10 photos, and a lot of the time that's what they print. If you like the photo you're stuck with that size. That's how come we only found 4 in the size we wanted! (In reality we had 3 6 x 8 and one 8 x 10. I guess dh had planned to go switch to a different package, but alas! it never happened)
We were told on our cruise that if you bought a package but later decided you wouldn't find enough photos that you wanted, you could get a refund and pay only for the photos you wanted. You can also exchange photos if, for example, you select all of the photos for your package in the first 2 days but find a photo you really want on a later day.
I too wish there were a way to purchase a CD with all of the images. I suspect that with the constant influx of new passengers and a limited photo staff, it would be difficult to assemble CDs for each person or group that wanted one, because that would mean knowing which photos went with which people. But we can dream...
We were told on our cruise that if you bought a package but later decided you wouldn't find enough photos that you wanted, you could get a refund and pay only for the photos you wanted. You can also exchange photos if, for example, you select all of the photos for your package in the first 2 days but find a photo you really want on a later day.
That's exactly how it worked when we were on the Med cruise last year.
One huge thing to keep in mind…the smaller prints, while costing less, are 6”x8” NOT the standard 5”x7”! You will have an impossible time finding frames when you get home (unless you buy from DCL, of course!) or have custom mats made for an 8”x10” frame! If you’re going to scrapbook the photos, then it’s not an issue (as long is you use bigger pages).
A - $169.95 (save $40) - Any 5 - 6x8 photos & Any 8 - 8x10 photos
B - $239.95 (save $79) - Any 8 - 6x8 photos & Any 12 - 8x10 photos
C - $299.95 (save $119) - Any 12 - 6x8 photos & Any 15 - 8x10 photos
All photo packages are refundable – if you don’t find enough photos you like in the quantity you bought, the difference will be refunded. You can also upgrade to a higher package if you find you'll want more pictures.
They also offer photo cards (cards are 4” x 8”) – have your Christmas cards done now!
Other services include film developing & processing ($10 for 24 4”x6” prints or $0.40 each); transfer digital photos to CD for @$15, 2D crystals for $59.95 (includes $50 of gifts).
The reason photopass isn't offered is the photography is run by a contracted provider (The Image Group). The photographers are employed by The Image Group, not DCL. PhotoPass is Disney's technology and I'm sure it's more cost-effective for them to contract out the photography (and spa) services then operate it themselves.
Photos are a huge part of my onboard budget! I always have a portrait session done before dinner, especially on formal night. Check your navigator for times and plan on getting their EARLY!
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Lynn
Yes, I am a Disney Addict... and I'd rather be cruising!.
I'll also mention that the 6x8s tend to be the photos with the characaters. 8x10s are the formal pictures, a few special character shots, dining room shots and your boarding picture. I also spend a fair amount on pictures on the CP cruise. One of the best deals they offer is the "friends and Family" page. If you buy and 8x10 (not sure if they can do it with a 6x8 or not) you can get a page of the same print for 19.95 that has 2 5x7 and 3 wallet pictures. I had that done with a couple of the portrait shots I had taken.
We were told on our cruise that if you bought a package but later decided you wouldn't find enough photos that you wanted, you could get a refund and pay only for the photos you wanted. You can also exchange photos if, for example, you select all of the photos for your package in the first 2 days but find a photo you really want on a later day.
Melissa
This is absolutely the case. Our problem was that we had packed away our whole folder, including the pictures and the receipt, so we were unable to take anything to Shutters for an adjustment.
Sounds like I need to start saving all of my pennies. If Disney did not take pictures you would not know that I have ever been on a vacation with my family. DH just does not take good people pics. Plus I am terrible at picking, I want them all!
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The reason photopass isn't offered is the photography is run by a contracted provider (The Image Group). The photographers are employed by The Image Group, not DCL. PhotoPass is Disney's technology and I'm sure it's more cost-effective for them to contract out the photography (and spa) services then operate it themselves.
Yep, I was going to mention this. We just found this out on our recent cruise after having a very nice conversation with one of the photographers at Shutters during a slow time.
I started looking back at our pictures from the last cruise and I was not in a single family picture taken with my camera. I know that the photo folks whole thing is to take your pic and you buy them. I got that! Don't worry photo folks I will pay you plenty. I have full intensions of buying the large amout of pics and hoping I'm not leaving too many, but I still want some pics with my own camera that I so that I have digitally. Is it like it is at the parks and there is a handler for Mickey who would not mind if you asked them to take a pic with your personal camera?
Yes, there is someone available to take pictures with your camera. For character meets, there will be a handler and photographer, just like in the parks.
__________________
Lynn
Yes, I am a Disney Addict... and I'd rather be cruising!.
Lynn, thanks so much for posting the link for the permission to reprint pics. We just got back from our cruise and I was planning to do a search to find it and you saved me so much time. I now have the release in my hand!
Unlike most folks, we only bought 3 pictures. My kids are 12 and 15 and we only had 3 sets of photos taken, ha! I knew there was the online release, so rather than buy the package for 85.00, we just bought the 3 individually (paid 60.00) and will reprint ones in the sizes we want to give to family and for our Christmas cards. We did, however, buy tons on our cruise when the kids were littler! Guess this time around I could spend extra on my bar tab, ha! The kids loved their trip and we had a hard time getting them out of the stack and ocean quest! DH and I haven't talked so much since before we had kids, 15 years ago!
I started looking back at our pictures from the last cruise and I was not in a single family picture taken with my camera. I know that the photo folks whole thing is to take your pic and you buy them. I got that! Don't worry photo folks I will pay you plenty. I have full intensions of buying the large amout of pics and hoping I'm not leaving too many, but I still want some pics with my own camera that I so that I have digitally. Is it like it is at the parks and there is a handler for Mickey who would not mind if you asked them to take a pic with your personal camera?
This works for the character shots because the handler is a Disney employee and they will use your camera. We had trouble with the formals though because the CM was not nearby and the photographer said he was only allowed to use the company camera due to liability issues.
__________________
Love, April
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass;
it's about learning to dance in the rain.
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One of the best deals they offer is the "friends and Family" page. If you buy and 8x10 (not sure if they can do it with a 6x8 or not) you can get a page of the same print for 19.95 that has 2 5x7 and 3 wallet pictures. I had that done with a couple of the portrait shots I had taken.
DH just does not take good people pics. Plus I am terrible at picking, I want them all!
I have full intensions of buying the large amout of pics and hoping I'm not leaving too many, but I still want some pics with my own camera that I so that I have digitally. Is it like it is at the parks and there is a handler for Mickey who would not mind if you asked them to take a pic with your personal camera?
The kids loved their trip and we had a hard time getting them out of the stack and ocean quest! 
DH and I haven't talked so much since before we had kids, 15 years ago!
Michelle
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