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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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What is the best way to back up my photos on my upcoming cruise? Right now DH and I both have large memory cards. Is it better to get several smaller cards, or to keep the bigger one and download the photos every night? I'd prefer not t schlep around the laptop, and I think with the # of pics we'll take, having Shutters put them on CD will get pricey. Should I just bring the latptop anyway?
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Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow, for all you know, tomorrow, the dream that you wish will come true.
I would think several smaller cards would be the way to go. Put them somewhere safe when you're done with each? I think thats what I'll do. Taking a laptop for back up is just one more thing to squeeze in the case and for me an un welcome reminder of home!
Kit
Bring your laptop for extra insurance. I, however, don't. I have a 16G and 8G card that I use for my pictures and then I *always* know where the cameras/cards are.
Are you worried you'll run out of space on the cards or somehow lose your photos? I'd simply get a more memory cards instead of dragging the laptop along and spending my valuable cruise time downloading. I travel with 7--4 GB cards which amounts to close to 500 photos a day on my camera, a DSLR. I switch them out each night and am ready to go the next day.
Memory has gotten so cheap that carrying extra SD cards is more practical than just about any other method of "extending" your photographic capacity.
If you want to back up each day, then the laptop is the way to go. However, if you feel safe simply swapping memory cards each night (so you don't lose all your photos if you lose your camera), then you can leave the laptop at home, and store your memory cards in your stateroom safe. Besides, if the laptop's home, it may save you some money on Internet charges. One thing to be sure of is, you don't want to pay onboard Internet fees to upload photos to a web site.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
I agree that SD cards are so inexpensive now that you don't need to download and suggest that if you are short on space you should consider getting the extra cards. Go with the 4g or higher.
I luv to snap pictures! On my 15 day panama trip I had 2 8g, 1 4g, 4 2g but then i took 2 cameras. So for me the download was a must (my little netbook fits in my handbag).
I am taking it all again for my Alaska cruise since I use each camera for different reasons...one does better on battery when in video mode than the other.
But I am still planning on getting another 4g or two before my next cruise, ha ha.
My BIL unveiled his new gadget this past Thanksgiving, a PC-less storage drive. I don't know much about his, but they have at least a couple of these "photo banks" on Amazon. They allow you to copy your photos directly to the device and they are compact so they are a big advantage over even a netbook.
I will definitely be looking at these for my next trip. I like the assurance of having two copies of my photos to be kept in two places, and one of these devices combined with several SD cards fills the ticket nicely.
Thanks for the input, everyone. I'd read that you ideally want to download every night or use smaller cards so that if anything happened to your camera, you only lose one day's photos at the most. I like the idea of just taking the smaller cards, but DH also wants another back-up for peace of mind. Our laptop isn't too cumbersome, but this is a big trip and the less to carry, the better.
So now our options are taking the laptop, buying a netbook, or the device mentioned above. I'll research that. Onkel - do you recall what this was called?
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Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow, for all you know, tomorrow, the dream that you wish will come true.
Personally, I would be sad to loose any of my precious Disney memories. So.. we bring along our laptop & download our memory cards every night to our laptop & to a very small external hard drive. Then when I get home, I burn the photos on DVD's & still always keep the little hard drive for additional back up. After our trip is over that hard drive stores EVERYTHING from our trip to Disney; including all of my obsessive planning & digital sheets from passporter. Then I always know where all my Disney stuff is. (I have had my CF cards from my DSLR cameras fail & even had a laptop crash on one occasion)
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Planning a trip to WDW is like planning a wedding... If you expect things to be flawless, you will be sadly disappointed. If you know that there will be less than perfect times & decide to just laugh them off, then you will be excited when you find the magic all around you.
Wolverine is a device I found on a photography chat board. Nexto is a high end device, I think it has two drives and saves your photos on both as a backup. Transcend is the brand that I saw on Amazon.
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I, however, don't. I have a 16G and 8G card that I use for my pictures and then I *always* know where the cameras/cards are.
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