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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Just booked our very first cruise for February 2011, 5 nights out of New Orleans to Mexico and Cozumel. Any tips would be very welcome. I just don't know what to pack, how to negotiate trips not booked while on-board, etc. I also don't want to get nickel and dimed to death, we are not drinkers, but would like to know the extra cost of things like Coke or iced tea. Right now the only drinks included are lemondate, coffee, tea and tap water. This is fine for us, but might want a Coke once in a while. Thanks!
You're on Carnival, right? I just went on my first cruise (Bahamas out of Port Canaveral), and it was on Carnival. Things I can tell you:
1) They should be arrested for calling wha they serve "iced tea". Blech!!!! If you ahve to have some tea, you cna brew your own w/ the tea bags they have out for hot tea and the hot water. We drank water, lemonade and hot chocolate (at night).
2) You can bring on board a 12-pk of non alcoholic beverages per person if you don't want to do the soda card. If you do want to do the soda card, wait until the shop leaves NO to save the sales tax. Even better if you want until the next day, the card's even cheaper (it costs I believe 6.50 per day). I took a soft sided cooler in my checked baggage, out the drinks in when we unpacked, and asked our steward to keep it filled w/ ice (gave her extra tip). When we went to the nighttime shows, we just took our soft drink w/ us. Might be tacky, but I'll never see those people again.
Thanks for the tips. We had read about brining on board 12 cans of pop each, and for 5 days, the 4 of us can bring a lot of pop for a lot cheaper than buying the soda card. You would have to drink a lot of pop for $6.50 per day each! I will try and stear away from the iced tea if it is that bad. I love real iced tea, but guess I will have to make my own if it is as bad as you say. Lemonade and water will be fine, too.
Bought a couple of books on cruising to get a feel for what it will be like.
Cruise Critic www.cruisecritic.com is a web site dedicated to cruising. There is also a message board on the site. I do have to warn you, the message board is not as friendly as passporter is. You can also find things like current ship reviews, pictures etc.. Cruising is the best.
What are your ports? iI you are docking on the mainland at all, I think it is worth a trip to see the ruins. We went to Kohunlich and enjoyed it, although if I had it to do over again I just would have sucked up the longer travel time and went to Tulum.
Are you on the Triumph? If so, we had one of our most fun cruises on that ship. You will have a blast!
Sounds like a wonderful cruise! Take a look at DouglasE's thread on the Globetrotting: Trip Reports forum. The thread is called "The Bubble and Beads Tour" and includes his experience on a very similar cruise out of New Orleans.
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Any tips would be very welcome. I just don't know what to pack, how to negotiate trips not booked while on-board, etc. I also don't want to get nickel and dimed to death, we are not drinkers, but would like to know the extra cost of things like Coke or iced tea. Right now the only drinks included are lemondate, coffee, tea and tap water. This is fine for us, but might want a Coke once in a while. Thanks! 
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