Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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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.
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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.
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09-20-2004, 08:34 AM
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#1
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Community Rank: Trekker
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: NY (just north of NYC)
Posts: 1,269
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Wishes Fireworks Cruise
I GOT IT!! Called looking to book one of the Illuminations Cruises and just missed it, BUT was offered Wishes so I took it. I was told we get picked up right at the Fort Wilderness Dock which is certainly convenient!
I didn't want to tie up WDW-PLAY getting information.
Can anyone who has taken it, tell me what its like? Is it a pontoon boat? If so is it shared with other guests or do you get the entire boat to yourself and your party? Can you hear the music? Do you also get to see/hear the Electric Water Pageant?
I am still on the hunt for an Illuminations cruise. I just have to hit redial a bit faster.
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09-20-2004, 10:12 AM
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#2
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PassPorter Message Board Manager PassPorter Guide Author
Community Rank: Legend VIP
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Maidstone, Kent, UK
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 190,285
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Re: Wishes Fireworks Cruise
Congratulations on getting the Wishes cruise! I wish I could help you with some words of advice, but I've never been on it. I'm sure it's great fun.
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09-20-2004, 10:32 AM
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#3
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Community Rank: Jetsetter
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Arlington Heights, IL
Posts: 2,739
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Re: Wishes Fireworks Cruise
We took the Wishes cruise last year for DD's 3rd birthday and loved it!! Yes, it is a pontoon boat. When we took the Wishes cruise, we had the whole boat to ourselves. When we took the Illuminations cruise, we had to share the boat with two other groups. You start out by cruising around the lagoon, seeing the WDW Resort Hotels all lit up at night (very pretty). Then you stop in the lagoon in front of the castle to enjoy the fireworks. We could hear the music from the lagoon, but it is not piped into the boat so the music was faint. After the fireworks, we cruised back to the GF and were able to watch the EWP along the way.
You're going to bave a great time!!
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09-20-2004, 06:38 PM
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#4
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Community Rank: Trailblazer
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: East Amherst, NY
Concierge Level: 1
Posts: 5,128
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Re: Wishes Fireworks Cruise
I took that cruise 3 weeks ago. I had wanted the Illuminations cruise, but that was sold out. There were 11 of us there and it was my DH's birthday, so the CM suggested a Wishes birthday cruise (they call is a specialty cruise). We had a pontoon boat decorated with signs and balloons. We had cake and pop. It was a surprise to the kids and to my DH. Everyone loved it! We had a hard time hearing the Wishes music, but it was a lovely view. It was the highlight of our trip. We preferred Wishes to Illumination it turns out. We also left out of Wilderness Lodge. After the cruise we were able to hop the boat back to MK (and on that ride we got to see the Electrical Water Parade, or whatever they call that thing )We had a great CM as our skipper - his name was Bradley. I ended up losing my cell phone on the pontoon boat, but by the time I got back to PO-R, there was a message at our room about how they had found my phone. Have a great time (the fireworks show brought tears to my sister's eyes)!
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09-20-2004, 07:51 PM
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#5
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Community Rank: Legend
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Edmonton, KY
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 17,823
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Re: Wishes Fireworks Cruise
Rock,
please let me know how you liked it! It may be something I'll plan for our trip in Feb.!
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09-21-2004, 02:37 PM
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#6
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Community Rank: Traveler
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Florida
Posts: 282
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Re: Wishes Fireworks Cruise
I took the "Wishes" cruise this past August. It was awesome. I too had originally wanted to take the Illuminations cruise, but it wasn't available. NOW, I wouldn't take any other cruise . I know that it can depend on who your driver is, but ours was very knowledgeable about Disney and it's history. We learned so many interesting trivia facts. The pontoon boat was very comfortable and there were 8 of us. No other people were on the boat. We first set out and watched the Electric Water parade. I've seen it a dozen times or more, but never from so close...it was awesome! My children loved it. Next, we cruised around the lagoon until we found the perfect spot for viewing. You don't hear the music as well as you would watching from the MK, but you can hear some of it. You are so close and seeing the fireworks reflect from the water is beautiful. Afterwards, we were all tired, but our driver offered to continue driving us around the lagoon, all the while throwing out interesting Disney trivets of info. I highly recommend this cruise...you will not be disappointed.
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09-21-2004, 04:04 PM
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#7
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Living Seas wannabe
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
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Re: Wishes Fireworks Cruise
I have booked this for Cheryl as a suprise for her birthday (still trying to figure out a good reason to go to the Marina at WL after dinner... any ideas greatly appreciated). I ordered a cake (how do I convince her not to eat dessert at dinner...) and it will be just us and the captain.
I will definately include info about it in my report when I get back.
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09-21-2004, 04:54 PM
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#8
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Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: NJ
Posts: 568
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Re: Wishes Fireworks Cruise
Congratulations! We took it a couple of years ago when it was Fantasy in the Sky and had a wonderful time. When you book the boat, it's yours alone, no one else to share it with except your captain. Ours was a birthday celebration, but we decided against the extra bucks for the decorations and all, just brought some of our own snacks and drinks with us. We docked not right outside of MK, but a little further out near the GF. What a glorious sight it all was. You could see the fireworks very well, but we didn't hear much music, but the fireworks more than made up for that. Felt like you could reach up and touch them. As we looked around, the GF was just glowing with all the beautiful lights, and you could also see the Poly all aglow. It all depends what time fireworks are as to whether you will also see the Electric Water Pageant. While we waited for the fireworks to start, the EWP slowly glided past us. You could even see one of the operators hiding behind the float. It was so beautiful, truly a magical evening. It was one of my favorite things I've ever done at WDW and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
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