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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 cruise a fair amount, at least twice a year, mostly on Disney and Royal Caribbean. I know that norovirus is essentially a stomach virus that is highly contagious. It is not contained to cruise ships. I doubt a cruise sets sail that doesn't have at least one person on board with this bug. The people bring it on the ship when they board.
On my last cruise a few weeks ago (Royal Caribbean) we had an outbreak. According to our server (who says "you didn't hear this from me") they always have 2-3 cases. We had "more than 50." The first announcements started coming about the second or third day of the cruise. At first it was heightened awareness of the hand sanitization at the dining venues. By the end of the cruise, all buffets were monitored and crew members served our plates. We didn't even pick up our own plates and silverware. It was handed to us by a crew member.
The day we left the ship, I took a picture of a check off list that was taped outside every stateroom on the ship. This is what they had to do to sanitize the ship before the next folks boarded, since our level of illness had exceeded some "magic" number according to CDC. Wow! I'm impressed and feel infinitely better about the measures they go to control it.
By the way, neither DH nor I got sick, nor did the large percentage of those onboard. After all, "over 50" out of 3300+ isn't really a large percentage. I certainly feel for those who did get sick though. What a miserable vacation! I also don't envy those waiting to board the ship for the next cruise. They could strip the rooms, but couldn't start the major sanitization until we were all off. We didn't disembark until 10:45 or so and we weren't the last group to leave!
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That is vicious stuff. I've never had it, but a cousin we'd planned to visit on our way home from WDW a year ago called and said not to come because she had it. She was very, very sick for about two weeks, she told me later.
I agree that it's reassuring Disney took all those precautions for such a small percentage of cases. However, in a restricted environment like a ship, they likely were very smart to be that scrupulous.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
That is vicious stuff. I've never had it, but a cousin we'd planned to visit on our way home from WDW a year ago called and said not to come because she had it. She was very, very sick for about two weeks, she told me later.
I agree that it's reassuring Disney took all those precautions for such a small percentage of cases. However, in a restricted environment like a ship, they likely were very smart to be that scrupulous.
Absolutely reassuring. I think a lot of it was CDC protocol based on the number of cases. They were very much on top of it.
50 out of that many isn't bad but the reason why it's so highly contagious is that one person who has it touches something other people touch - tongs or utensils on a buffet line and then it can get transferred to the food too (how many times have we seen tongs thrown onto the food instead of resting at the edge of it?). Then other people come along and touch the same tongs and eat the same food. And no amount of keeping the food hot will kill the illness. Heat only kills bacteria. Yes, hand sanitizer will work but so does hot water and soap (and from Serve Safe training, you have to sing the Happy Birthday song twice for it to be an acceptable amount of time).
50 out of that many isn't bad but the reason why it's so highly contagious is that one person who has it touches something other people touch - tongs or utensils on a buffet line and then it can get transferred to the food too (how many times have we seen tongs thrown onto the food instead of resting at the edge of it?). Then other people come along and touch the same tongs and eat the same food. And no amount of keeping the food hot will kill the illness. Heat only kills bacteria. Yes, hand sanitizer will work but so does hot water and soap (and from Serve Safe training, you have to sing the Happy Birthday song twice for it to be an acceptable amount of time).
You are so right. We were told over and over to wash our hands with soap and hot water, but, of course, they have no control over people actually doing that. Therefore, they had, not just the machines dispensing sanitizer, but crew members with hand held Purell at every entrance to the dining halls, stores, etc. They were everywhere strongly pushing us to use it both going in and out. Those who got sick were told to not to go to the medical facilities but call the doctor to come to them. They were essentially quarantined to their staterooms as far as I know, but, people being people, I'm sure some didn't adhere to that.
I wish people would just wash their hands regularly. Many times I have seen someone leave the bathroom without washing their hands, sad to say it is usually older people. I work in a restaurant and I see every day customers coming in and just start eating food without going to the bathroom and washing their hands first. We work cafeteria style where they will get their food and then pay and people will start eating in line either chips or picking at their sandwiches and then get to the register and lick their fingers and hand me their money. Totally gross. Not only to me but I know they have not washed their hands before eating and licking their fingers. We never eat without washing our hands and thankfully none of us have ever gotten sick. Knock on wood.
I'm relieved you guys didn't come down with it. Sadly, I can't see the checklist, as the photo isn't showing up, but I'm sure it's impressive.
Oops! It's there now! My mistake. I had ended up uploading 3 copies of the picture to photo bucket because it was acting so weird. So I went back and deleted 2 of the copies, including the one I had used to post here.
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