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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 know you can do your own laundry on the boat. I was wondering does anyone know how much the laundry service is? I am thinking hey mom is on vac too why not just send it out. But I am wondering it cost to do that? How long does it take? So I was hoping someone here has used this service before.
I don't have a current price list. You pay by the piece, as with a shore-side dry cleaner. Rates are fairly reasonable, considering we're a captive audience - cheaper than a number of hotels I've been to. If I remember correctly, it was around $8 to clean and press my tux.
Service is typically overnight. Leave items in your room when you go to dinner (for your stateroom host/hostess to find), and you'll generally have them the next morning.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
After doing some asking I got an answer now the person told me these were from their cruise so they might have changed.
Regular service: next day 5pm
Same Day service: Add 50% to dry cleaning surcharge pick up before 9am and returned 5pm
Express srevice: Add 100% express dry cleaning surcharge call for pick up and returned in 3 hours.
Pressing only 50% of cost of dry cleaning
Dry cleaning
suite (2 piece ) 7.00
suite (3 piece) 9.00
coats 7.00
Pants 4.50
Shirts 3.50
Ties 2.00
sweaters 4.00
Blouses 4.00
Evening Dress 8.00
Skirts 4.50
Wow - the laundry service seems pretty steep - $1 for a pair of socks! The dry cleaning seems reasonable, though. Looks like I'll be doing my own laundry on board!
It's so tempting to say, "Heck, I'll just have THEM do it!" -- but those prices could add up pretty darned fast, huh?! And given the fact that we have to have tons of money on hand already for all those days of sight-seeing and shore excursions (and lots of new clothes to even GO on the trip ), I guess I'll be doing my own laundry, too.
Pity. I'd make such a good rich person. (It would come so easily for me!) LOLOLOL
Yes I must say I am doing my own. Our plan is to wash everything before we set sail at the hotel the night before. We are calling it any early night from the parks. I want the kids to get a good night sleep that night. So I might just do it then and not have to do it until I get home. Most of the time we bring our stuff home clean but this time I think my husband can do the wash when we get home. Ok so I might have to do it, but I can try the old I am still on Vacation.
Just so you know -- the laundry rooms were a hot spot on the boat, and always full. They also happened to be FAR away from our room. I know that doesn't help much! We tried to keep our clothes to a minimum, for example, I brought only two pairs of dress pants (navy and tan) for my boys and then four different dress shirts that matched (we were on the shorter cruise). I did the same thing with the boys' shorts, bringing a couple pairs of jean shorts that matched everything. I also had them wear a dress shirt the day we got on the boat so they wouldn't have to change for dinner.
Hope this helps!
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Lisa
With Mickey at Animal Kingdom, on a very cold day in Jan. 2008
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There's always a trade-off between cost and convenience. On shorter cruises we rarely need any kind of laundry services. Dry cleaning upon occasion, of course, and occasionally a pressing-only. On longer cruises we manage to squeeze in some time to do our own laundry, but it's not always an easy thing to accomplish. There's so much you can be doing on the cruise, and so little time. What's worse, is that most of those times you're free to do laundry, everyone else is, too. I'm not quite ready to break down and spend $50 or $75 on laundry services on a regular basis, but as my finances improve, it sure is more of a temptation.
Many other cruise lines don't even offer a self-service laundry, so we DCL cruisers have to count ourselves lucky that we even have a choice. We did have to pay for laundry services on our Mediterranean cruise with Royal Caribbean, but considering how busy we were researching everything, I can't imagine when we could have done the wash.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions