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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We will likely be flying in the day before our cruise leaves and spending the night at the Orlando airport hotel. We have purchased ground transportation through Disney to get us to the cruise. Will we have many choices as to what time the ground transportation leaves? We'd like to go as early as possible.
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I am doing the same thing in December.
Getting to the bus line too early might leave you (or me) just waiting in line). I plan on moseying down from the hotel to the DCL bus desk about 10 am (which is about the time I boarded the bus last year after getting off my flight). That got me to the terminal about 11 (and they don't start boarding until 12)
Since the cruise terminal doesn't open to passengers until 10:30am, there's little point to trying to get a bus before about 9:30am. From that time onward, buses will leave as soon as they get filled. While I'm sure there's a behind-the-scenes bus schedule based on normal travel patterns (how many buses will be needed between 10:00am and 10:30am, for example), that's invisible to guests. Magically, there seems to almost always be a bus ready to board.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
Also, I've been told you don't have to go all the way down to the DCL bus terminal from the airport Hyatt. I'm staying there a night before my December cruise, and was told that I'll be able to leave my bags outside my room for pickup, and head down to the lobby to meet up with the bus. Just be sure to tell the hotel staff when checking in that you're going on a cruise the following day and have transport to the port.
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Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah...Tip for Today!
Proud DVC Member since December 2010
Home Resort: Bay Lake Towers
Diagnosed Sleep Apnea June 2012
We did the Hyatt thing for our last cruise and it worked just fine. It was great not having to lug suitcases around the morning of departure. DH went down to the lobby ahead of us to check-in earlier rather than later. The earlier you check in, the earlier you get on a bus. The earlier you get on bus, the earlier you get to the terminal and get checked in, the earlier you get to board the ship and have lunch. I hate waiting in line for lunch, so this approach worked well for us. We noticed that empty seats in the terminal disappeared quite quickly, especially ones with any sort of view of anything. By the time we finished working our way through the line for getting our pager for DD (registered her on-line, but still had to sign paper for the pager) all the "good" seats were gone.
Added advantage to staying at the Hyatt - no worries about waiting for a shuttle to get to the hotel after claiming our bags (we always seem to have lousy experiences on that front). We also got to browse in the Disney store right near the hotel to help us get in the mood for the cruise - nothing like passing Goofy on the way to your hotel the night before leaving on DCL adventure!
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