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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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So, wife and I were at the mall last night, and getting the stroller out and all the fun stuff that comes with a night out with the baby, and we started talking about the cruise (we do that a lot!). Our discussion revolved around whether or not we should bring the stroller, and we couldn't remember what people brought on board.
We can't decide between the regular stroller, which would give our 11 month old a place to nap during the day, or an umbrella stroller, which is obviously much easier to push around and carry (thinking airports and such).
Do people usually have their regular strollers on board?
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We did an NCL cruise with our first DD when she was 9 months old and we took her regular (Greco Metrolite) stroller with us. It worked out perfectly because she could nap anywhere on the ship and while we strolled around the ports of call. I also liked that it had a nice big sunshade for her. NCL's staterooms are much smaller than DCL and we managed to store the stroller in our room just fine along with all the other baby stuff we brought along.
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Thank you Sarah...I've never traveled with a stroller before, so this is a whole new ballgame. When my now 16 year old DD was that age, we lived in Southern California, so the stroller went to Disneyland, and we simply didn't have the money to even think about WDW.
We brought an umbrella stroller for DS when he was 4. We were at the parks before the cruise, and after, so had it with us. We didn't use it much on the ship itself (except for the first day as we carried it on) but it did come in handy when we went to the Atlantis Resort for the aquarium (and we found that resort to be NOT stroller friendly at all)!!
Right now I'm leaning towards something in between your two options. We'll be traveling with dd-15 months; and I dont' want to cart her big stroller thru the airport, and I don't want to check it for them to destroy it either! We are flying in 2 days early to visit some family, so I'm hoping to buy an umbrella stroller that has a canopy too (a little more than the cheapy ones). We keep going back and forth on everything though... maybe we'll get lucky and pack light enough to stuff one in the suitcase.... I do indeed want to have one for excursions though for sure.
Right now I'm leaning towards something in between your two options. We'll be traveling with dd-15 months; and I dont' want to cart her big stroller thru the airport, and I don't want to check it for them to destroy it either! We are flying in 2 days early to visit some family, so I'm hoping to buy an umbrella stroller that has a canopy too (a little more than the cheapy ones). We keep going back and forth on everything though... maybe we'll get lucky and pack light enough to stuff one in the suitcase.... I do indeed want to have one for excursions though for sure.
I'm torn here, because the stroller really works well to provide her a place to nap, without us having to go back to the cabin. On the other hand, it's big and bulky.
The ship has nice jogging strollers you can check out. They allow you to bring them off while in port. They don't lay flat for napping but they are able to recline slightly and look comfy enough to sleep in. We brought our clunky double stroller and ended up leaving it folded in the room but checking out the disney ones. In hindsight I would have just used a cheap umbrella stroller for my youngest (the older one could walk if needed) for travel and then check out Disney's nice strollers while on the ship. We sometimes just used one to push the baby around the boat but when leaving the ship we checked out another for my 3 year old. They can be pushed much easier on beach sand and such as well.
The ship has nice jogging strollers you can check out. They allow you to bring them off while in port. They don't lay flat for napping but they are able to recline slightly and look comfy enough to sleep in. We brought our clunky double stroller and ended up leaving it folded in the room but checking out the disney ones. In hindsight I would have just used a cheap umbrella stroller for my youngest (the older one could walk if needed) for travel and then check out Disney's nice strollers while on the ship. We sometimes just used one to push the baby around the boat but when leaving the ship we checked out another for my 3 year old. They can be pushed much easier on beach sand and such as well.
Is there a fee for this? Do we need to book/request it in advance?
Right now I'm leaning towards something in between your two options. We'll be traveling with dd-15 months; and I dont' want to cart her big stroller thru the airport, and I don't want to check it for them to destroy it either! We are flying in 2 days early to visit some family, so I'm hoping to buy an umbrella stroller that has a canopy too (a little more than the cheapy ones). We keep going back and forth on everything though... maybe we'll get lucky and pack light enough to stuff one in the suitcase.... I do indeed want to have one for excursions though for sure.
If you gate check a smaller stroller they shouldn't be destroyed. Also you would
have one for the airport instead of carrying her.
DCL does not charge for the strollers. They also don't have an unlimited supply of them, so be prepared to use your own stroller if they run out.
We've used strollers of various sizes on the cruise. The big ones sure are comfy, and great for toting gear around, but in a crowded stateroom, even folded they can be a problem (and especially if your little one is sleeping in a pack-n-play). Our best solution was a "high end" umbrella stroller, which could be reclined and has a sun shade. It was easy to stow in a corner in the stateroom, and comfy enough that Alexander had no problems sleeping in it. It wasn't cheap, but it was definitely worth it.
Note that stateroom doors are about two feet wide, so particularly large strollers (and double strollers) may not make it through the door unless you fold it first.
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We are doing our second DCL in August, with a 2 yr old this time. We are going to bring our umbrella stroller. My son is quite developmentally delayed, and he may still not be walking, so we definately wanted a stroller in case all the DCL strollers were taken. We might get a wagon for Castaway Cay, though...I've heard the sand is hard to navigate with a stroller.
We took our bugaboo chameleon which is quite a big set up, doesn't fold totally but it was well worth having for naps and because it has a total sunshade to put over. We also used it to pull up to the table at meal times if Jack wasn't quite up to sitting in a high chair cos he was tired but still wanted to join in.
We did the Med cruise so can't help with that side of things, it was certainly fine to get around the ship with and I know that because of the style it is it would cope with any terrain we took it on :-)
It did wedge in the room between the little cupboard thingy and the drawer unit if I remember correctly, there was still just enough room to get round the end of the bed.