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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 see the logic of them doing this, but I agree, it penalises those of us who only take occasional cruises because of the cost. We've only done two to date and it will take us a long time to get to five.
I know that someone else named Marx once said something about the history of the world being the history of class struggle, but... People have many reasons to select one vacation over another, cost being just one of them. I don't think Disney is in a position to assume that they're penalizing people who can't afford to cruise with them more frequently (even if that's what it does mean for some of us). Not everyone who can afford to be a frequent cruiser chooses to be one.
What Disney is doing is something they've been begged to do by frequent cruisers for many years - recognize the customers who choose to sail with them more frequently. And when you consider the actual value of that "recognition," DCL isn't really doing a whole lot. If someone chose to sail frequently on DCL just to get the goodies, it'd be like buying diamond jewelry just because you collect the boxes it comes in.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
My husband and I wish that they would count the longer cruises differently in this new tiered system though... We've only done four cruise so far, but three of those were two week cruises. So with seven weeks of Disney cruising under our belts we only qualify as silver.
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DLR Passholders and Disney Cruise addicts
(Prior Magical sailings - Panama Canal Aug '05, Halloween Oct '06, TransAtlantic Aug '07, Panama Canal May '08)
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
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I logged in this morning - my CC# is the same and I like the tracking option of which cruises you've taken. I agree that I think part of the reason they did this is that Disney has a high recidivism rate and when 80+% of your ship are CC members (like on the Panama Canal cruise) it makes it near impossible to book Palo, etc since it has all gone online. I wonder if Disney will issue new cards that reflect your status for check in, etc....
I I wonder if Disney will issue new cards that reflect your status for check in, etc....
I was thinking the same the since now they use white Donald key to world cards for first time cruisers, Goofy for repeat guest, gold Mickey for suites and Tinkerbell for land/sea packages. It will be interesting to see what they do.
I know it is disappointing for those who wanted the Castaway Club repeat guest party and they should have found some way to make it retroactive. I think part of the problem is the parties have gotten really big. My last sailing Peter the cruise director said that there were over 1,000 Castaway Club members on board. Both Wavebands and Diversions were full. If everyone came they would have to move it to the Walt Disney Theater.
I know that someone else named Marx once said something about the history of the world being the history of class struggle, but... People have many reasons to select one vacation over another, cost being just one of them. I don't think Disney is in a position to assume that they're penalizing people who can't afford to cruise with them more frequently (even if that's what it does mean for some of us). Not everyone who can afford to be a frequent cruiser chooses to be one.
What Disney is doing is something they've been begged to do by frequent cruisers for many years - recognize the customers who choose to sail with them more frequently. And when you consider the actual value of that "recognition," DCL isn't really doing a whole lot. If someone chose to sail frequently on DCL just to get the goodies, it'd be like buying diamond jewelry just because you collect the boxes it comes in.
Dave, I get what you're saying and I would agree, in theory. However, my disappointment is over 2 issues:
1) Disney didn't just add on perks for their frequent cruisers. They essentially took away from others. While the recognitions were extras that are never guaranteed, at some point, after years of providing a certain expectation, it ceases to be a "maybe" and becomes a "reward". Disney set an expectation and has now failed to live up to, let alone exceed, that expectation.
2) Disney's timing - the fact that it affects cruisers who are sailing in less than 3 weeks and does not meet the expectations they've had for months (or years, in some cases), on principal is a bad decision, IMO. I've also read reports of Gold level people who are at 99 days who were able to log on yesterday and book excursions. How many people aren't aware they can do this now and are waiting for their 90 day mark? Unless Disney is contacting all their customers (which they aren't, since the ones who've booked did so on a whim of checking their reservation), it stinks that those who accept what they were told when they booked may miss out on something.
I don't have a problem with the overall program and Disney's provisions for different levels of loyalty. But, there were probably better ways to roll this program out that didn't make a portion of those people feel like they've had something (whether it is onboard perks or at home timelines) taken away that they thought they had.
The part I don't like in the timing is all the people who will be booking on Sep 21 a whole week before I have access to book the repo cruise through the Panama canal. I have a 3 day cruise booked in Oct and a 7 day eastern booked in Jan 2010 which will give me my gold membership. Unfortunetaly I have to wait and pray there will be availability left on Sep 28.
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