"I'm a Caribbean amphibean...I love to hop in the tropical seas..." - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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'm a Caribbean amphibean...I love to hop in the tropical seas..."
Ok so I'm not Kermit the Frog but I do love the Caribbean! Can't wait till our Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy!
I haven't been on the Fantasy since the 3-night media preview and that was not nearly long enough to see and experience everything and I was on-the-go non-stop!
This will be DH's first time on the Fantasy and I can't wait for him to see it. I think he has the same preconceived notion that I did, that the Fantasy was going to be very similar to the Dream. I don't think he's at all prepared for Europa and all it has to offer!
I do love the Classic ships but I'm looking forward to some nightlife past 10:30pm. We were actually thrown out of Cadillac Lounge one night because it was past 10pm. People were still in there with drinks when they rudely asked us all to go somewhere else because they were closed!!! It will be nice to have options for places to hang out at night and hopefully make some new friends!
We will be doing the Caribbean Sea Safari tour which is my absolute favorite of all time Port Adventure that we've experienced once before by accident (our tour was oversold so they had to upgrade it...long story) but I'm so excited for the snorkeling at Turtle Cove and I even have a new waterproof camera that I got for my birthday that has multiple underwater "fish" modes so hopefully I can actually get a picture of the turtle when it swims up next to me!!!
We are also doing a Family Beach and Optional Nature Walk adventure at St. Maarten (DH's choice) so that should be fun. It seems to include a lot of the things that we would get nickled and dimed for if we tried to do the tour on our own. When you factor in transportation and food, the beach chair, water sports etc the DCL excursion is reasonably priced. I'll be torn between staying in the sand and surf or taking the nature walk so I'll have to make that decision at the spur of the moment!
You snuck in another cruise! Is this before or after the Pixar one? I've never heard of the Caribbean Sea Safari. What port is that in? All your plans sound wonderful!
This one is before Laurie, next week actually! The Caribbean Sea Safari is in St. Thomas. You get on a little speed boat thingy called the Virgin Breeze and you head out to Turtle Cove to snorkel with the sea turtles. The water is SO calm and so clear and there is gorgeous coral right underneath you and enormous sea turtles that swim right up next to you!!!!! They only seem to come to the surface AFTER you turn your camera off...stinkers! Then you go to "Water Island" aka "honeymoon beach" which is accessible only by water and you can snorkel more or just relax on the beach and it's secluded, it's just your tour boat there and a husband and wife team who grill lunch. There is an amazing drink that apparently has rum in it (didn't realize that until it was too late last time...i was thirsty!) that they hand out on the way back and you have about an hour on the beach for lunch and relaxing before you head back. I just love it.
Oh, wow... that sounds amazing! One day I really want to sail on one of the new ships, so I'm always looking for interesting Caribbean excursions. Next week!! That's great! Looking forward to hearing all about it.
Your cruise sounds great! I've been thinking about where DH and I should cruise to next and would like to book it when we are on the NYC/Canada cruise next month and this might be a candidate!