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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 not sure if I'm just not seeing it, but I don't see much out there about Rooms for 2 people. They all list 3 or 4 or even 5. We're looking into cruising on the Fantasy next May, and i don't want to book the wrong thing.
Are there rooms designed with couples in mind? is there a honeymoon suite or anything like that? not that we'd afford it, but I just haven't really seen the option.
Thanks in advance. My Passporter Cruise edition is in the mail, we ordered it last night.
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No, they didn't design couples-only rooms. Disney chose to make all their staterooms family-friendly. However, the layout and decor is still perfect for couples - the only "exposed" bed is the queen bed, so those staterooms that are 25% larger than industry average (in order to be family-friendly)? They're that much more luxurious for a couple. The other beds are either fold-out or fold-down bunks. If you don't need 'em, you'll never know they're there - stretch out on the sofa, and enjoy!
The only smaller staterooms are the Standard Inside rooms (no small rooms "with a view" - unless you count the Virtual Portholes on the new ships). Some do just sleep 2, none sleep more than 3. Most of the space reduction is due to having a single bathroom, rather than the split bathroom (which takes up more space). That split bathroom is still great for couples - two rooms, two sinks (one in each room), bath separate from the toilet... what can be bad?
Now, the same is true of the suites. While the decor is more elegant (so seemingly more adult, not that any staterooms are decorated for kids) and it's much easier to imagine a couple living in high style, entertaining, etc. than a family sharing the space... none are truly adult-only spaces. Nice life if you can live it, though.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
My wife and I don't have kids and we've done 5 Disney Cruises - going on number 6 in just under 2 weeks (the Fantasy inaugural). We've either booked a Cat 9 or a Cat 5 when we've cruised (depending on points - we are DVC members and use our points to cruise). We really don't notice the size difference between the Cat 9 and Cat 5 - just the balcony.
Like Dave said, the couch is nice to have and the bunks aren't folded down if there aren't enough passengers in booked in the room. The nice thing with only 2 people in the rooms is the luggage disappears - lift the mattress and put it under the bed. The split baths make life so much easier than a regular hotel room. Great idea to whomever came up with the idea to do that.
My advice - book a mid-ship balcony room if you can swing the cost and read your Passporter guide cover to cover, then do it again. We don't go Disney without ours (parks or cruises).
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Upcoming - DVC ABD to NYC in Oct, Feb 2015 Princess Half Weekend and DCL 7 night afterward.
We cruise as a couple and we've stayed in various staterooms, from inside staterooms to ones with balconies and have found all of them to be absolutely fine for our needs. It's great that they're designed for more people, as you feel as if you have more room.
DH and I are sans kids for now and we have cruised DCL a few times in Oceanview deluxe and inside deluxe rooms & standard inside (Dream).
All of the rooms were more then suitable for us, although we felt very claustrophobic in the standard inside room on the Dream regardless of the porthole and would probably never book that category again on that class ship. For us it would be cramped even with one child, but that is just us.
We have an ocean view deluxe booked for Alaska. Balconies are great and so are suites if you want to spend the money. We never spend too much time in our room, and prefer to spend our money on great excursions, palo, spa etc. Of course if we could do that and a suite i guess we would but we do have to draw a budget line somewhere