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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Tuesday June 7th (Home sweet home)
We got up this morning and quickly got ready for our breakfast that was scheduled for 7:15am in Triton’s. My dad wasn’t ready for breakfast, so he went for coffee and said he’d meet us outside of Triton’s when we finished breakfast. We enjoyed our final breakfast and hated that the cruise had come to an end. We had chip and dale yellow tags and were told we should be able to disembark after 7:45am. We were to be first to disembark other than passengers carrying off their own luggage since we had an 11:30am flight. After breakfast we took a bathroom break before meeting back up with my dad.
It was now 8am and they still had not called our character group. We waited near the exit since we knew we would be called soon. About 8:15am they started disembarking our character tags and the line to get off the ship was a little slow moving, but not bad. We went through customs quickly and then headed to get our luggage. We found most of our luggage immediately, but one piece was not with the rest. Thankfully it didn’t take too long to find it. Claiming luggage was a crowded area and could have been stressful if very many more people would have been there; thankfully we got in, got our luggage, and got out! There are no porters when you disembark, but they do provide you with free luggage carts that you can use all through the terminal.
We were then directed to the Disney transfers bus. It didn’t take long before we were in route to the airport. There was a bit of a line for both security and customs; but it wasn’t long before we were at our gate and we still had well over an hour before our flight. We spoke with some others that had been on the same cruise and that made the time fly by. I picked up some Chinese food to eat on the plane for lunch.
The first leg of the flight was just over 4 hours long and I purchased television for the kids again. The flight was easy and the kids did great. During the layover in Houston, I picked up some pizza for dinner to have on the second plane ride. The second leg of the flight was 2 hours and Austin and Winston slept through most of it while the others read their books. I got half way through my book (Escape) also (very good book by the way). Once in HOT Atlanta we boarded the airport shuttle to the van, dropped off my dad, and it was well after midnight before we got home. It is a few weeks later now, and we are still re-adjusting to the time change as far as sleep habits go… It was a great trip start to finishJ. Up Next: Final Thoughts
**********Final Thoughts (Random, in no particular order) **********
**The cruise itself was a wonderful vacation; this was our first cruise ever and I don’t plan for it to be the last… The boys really enjoyed the Edge, especially Dillon who spent the most time there. Madilyn loved the Lab and Austin loved the club. Winston really didn’t spend much time there and at 5 still preferred to spend his time with me. Cruising makes for a very relaxing vacation; it is so nice to have all your meals prepared for you and the entertainment options were great as well.
**The wave phones were great; I can only imagine there would have been some stressful times searching for one another without them… I did struggle to get the hang of them, but it was so great to just be able to call each other when needed. Also, Wesley and Dillon were participating in the Edge and I felt a lot more confident allowing them to go places themselves having the wave phones.
**Our servers were great! I had read TR’s before and I was worried about sitting through long dinners with the kids, so I was really appreciative that they got us in and out within an hour each night. They were also great with the kids; doing magic tricks and making hats out of napkins. The meals were great as well; I was not overly impressed with the desserts- but the appetizers and main courses were not too be missed.
**I didn’t really mention our room host in the report; but he was Sam and I thought he was terrific. On our comment cards; I made a point to sing his praises. Not only did he do a great job with both rooms; but he was always so happy and friendly. And what really set him apart for me is how he adopted to our schedule that was probably different than most other cruisers and had to be difficult for him to pull off… He quickly realized that many nights my kids were going to bed right after dinner and after the first night or two of realizing this- he somehow managed to have our rooms turned down every night by the time we got back from dinner, around 7pm. I really just can’t say enough good things about him!
**Alaska is breathtaking and I am so glad that we were able to go! We enjoyed all of our excursions and there really are no words that I can use to describe how beautiful Alaska is; it is something that everyone should see in their lifetimeJ.
**********Thanks for following along everyone! **********
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Thanks for sharing your trip with us! I really enjoyed it, and it makes me want to go to Alaska even more. Happy Cheryl will soon be going to Alaska, so I can live vicariously thru another TR. For us, trips to Hawaii and China will happen before we can go to Alaska, I think.
Thank you so much for sharing your trip with all of us!! Your pictures were great and it was especially wonderful to see all the great scenery from Alaska!
Welcome home and I hope you are all back in sync soon!!
What an amazing trip! The scenery was just breathtaking and I loved the animal photos, too. I really hope to go to Alaska someday! . Thanks for sharing your adventures with us!
Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us - it's been invaluable in helping to plan for our upcoming Alaskan Disney cruise and you've certainly made me a lot more excited about that!
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Great ending and final thoughts! Makes the rest of the time we have until our Alaska cruise hard to take, but better because of all the things you shared with us!
Great wrap and final thoughts. Even though I came into this TR really late, I enjoyed it and I'm glad to hear that it was cruising to Alaska was really nice.
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sorry to see your trip end.
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Glad you guys had a great time! Thanks for sharing your experiences with us! Get's me excited for next week! 
. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us!
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