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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
I have never cruised before nor been to WDW OR any DLR resports for that matter.
We are planning on going to WDW for DS's birthday in January but we also thought about going on a cruise towards September...thing is I'm not sure where we want to go. I want to know what's different about the Disney Wonder and the Disney Magic.
Also how do they work are they all inclusive? Please help us figure this out i'm getting jealous of you seasoned pro's I want to have all kinds of trips in my siggy too !
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
The Wonder and the Magic are very similar. They have different statues in the main atrium (one has Ariel and the other has Mickey), different names for a couple of restaurants, slightly different decoration styles (one is Art Deco and the other is Art Nouveau), and different kids' club policies for tweens (the Oceaneer's Lab on the Magic is for ages 8-10 and on the Wonder is for ages 8-12 -- on the Magic, there's a separate Ocean Quest area for 11-12 year olds).
Really, though, the major difference is in the itineraries. For most of the rest of 2009 and 2010, the Magic will run 7-night Caribbean cruises, alternating Eastern and Western, and the Wonder will alternate 3- and 4-night Bahamas cruises. Next summer, the Magic will be in the Mediterranean and Baltic. In 2011, the Wonder will be cruising to the Mexican Riviera and Alaska, while the Magic will be back to Europe. (A new ship, the Disney Dreams, will set sail in 2011 -- itineraries haven't been announced yet, but it will probably be based in Port Canaveral, Florida.)
Disney cruise fares include all meals (except a $10-$15 per person charge for the adults only restaurant, Palo); coffee. tea. and soda with meals or at the drink station on the pool deck; meals and snacks from room service; Broadway-style shows; kids' activities for ages 3 and up; and numerous onboard activities. You would need to pay extra for shore excursions, bingo, video games in the arcade, alcoholic and specialty beverages (e.g., smoothies and lattes), nursery care for kids under 3, and gratuities for the cabin and dining room staff. I may be missing a few things, but basically, everything you need is included but you may want to spend extra on some things you want.
Each night cruise passengers receive a schedule showing activities for the following day. For most activities, you just need to show up at the proper time and place. A few things (such as the galley tour for adults and tea with Wendy or Alice) require free tickets that you can get at the Guest Services desk. Once kids over 3 are registered for the kids' clubs, they can be dropped off and picked up at any time (except during brief transition periods when they're moving from one location to another).
The daily schedule also shows which restaurants are open for breakfast and lunch each day; you can go any time during operating hours. For dinner, you'll be assigned a specific restaurant each night (on cruises of more than 3 nights, you'll visit some or all of the 3 restaurants more than once). Although the restaurant changes each night, you'll have the same servers -- they rotate with you.
Those are the basics I can think of. Please post any and all more specific questions you may have -- the "seasoned pros" around here are happy to help!
I think Melissa's already given you some excellent advice. If you're thinking of taking a Disney cruise, I can thoroughly recommend the Disney Cruise PassPorter. It will be invaluable in your planning and will help to answer a lot of your questions.
We've only sailed on the Wonder. It's a beutiful ship. Understated elegance with Disney touches throughout. There's also the magic that only Disney can create; they announce your family as you board, there's the fireworks show, the sail away parties. On board there's plenty for famlies to together, plenty for kids of all ages to do on their own as well as the adult only areas. The Disney ships always rank amoung the top 5 for best ships with Conde Nast and Travel & Leisure. There's lots of videos of the ships, the sail away parties etc. on You Tube to look at and lots of great photos here on Passporter's to give you a better idea. Oh, can't forget the wonderful horn that plays "When You Wish Upon a Star"! good luck with your planning and enjoy your cruise when you go!
yes you need passports. I'm not sure the actual rule on children. It's worth the $$$ to not have to worry about it. 2 of our DD's have one already. We will be getting our other daughters closer to sailing.
For a closed-loop cruise (one that begins and ends in the United States) U.S. citizens do not need passports. However, it would be a really good idea to have them just in case anything goes wrong and you need to fly home from a port, because passports are required to enter the United States by air.
Ordering passports several months in advance is about the only preparation you'd need. The ships visit well-developed areas, so you wouldn't need any vaccines (although our pediatrician did recommend a hepatitis vaccine for the kids just as an extra precaution).
Once you know which cruise you want (or to get more information), you can talk to a travel agent. It is possible to book directly through Disney, but travel agents don't cost any extra and can monitor for discounts and other specials. Cruise fares are often less expensive the earlier they're booked. A deposit is due within a few days of booking, but the remainder of the fare won't be due until 75 days before the cruise (and reservations can be cancelled with no penalty up to that time).
An experienced travel agent can help you choose a cabin type. The Passporter guide to Disney Cruises has detailed descriptions of the cabin categories. The Disney Cruise web site has descriptions as well, but they're not as clear. Your basic choices are an inside cabin (no windows), an outside cabin with a porthole, an outside cabin with an enclosed balcony (verandah), and an outside cabin with an open-air verandah.
Once you get close to your final payment date, you can plan which shore excursions to reserve, but you can't book them until 75 days out.
I find planning for a cruise easier and less stressful than planning a vacation at the parks, because there's less that needs to be worked out in advance (no dining reservations except maybe Palo, no choices about which parks on which days).
I think Melissa's already given you some excellent advice. If you're thinking of taking a Disney cruise, I can thoroughly recommend the Disney Cruise PassPorter. It will be invaluable in your planning and will help to answer a lot of your questions.
Its worth the investment even if you're just thinking of taking a cruise. Mine has proven invaluable. Even if you decide not to now but think maybe sometime in the future you'll have a much better idea of what is to be expected. It is very in-depth!
About This Page: 
!
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Its worth the investment even if you're just thinking of taking a cruise. Mine has proven invaluable. Even if you decide not to now but think maybe sometime in the future you'll have a much better idea of what is to be expected. It is very in-depth!
Linear Mode
