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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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This morning I disembarked from the Disney Magic from a magical Mexican Riviera Cruise!!!! There is now a new age group on the ship, the 11 to 13's a.k.a. "Tweens". They do many of the same activities as the teens, but are located in Ocean Quest. There were four counselers there, and this must have started on the Panama Canal Cruise because the counselers say this age group is very new. Many people said that some kids were very immature, and some were very mature. This is a time where many kids are changing, and I think that some of 11's should have a choice between the Lab and OQ. And some 13's should have a choice as well. How do you feel about this new addition.
PS There were also MANY complaints of deck 2 being too noisy because of the kids and it is open until 1 every night.
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thanks for the news! we're on the Mexican Riviera cruise August 3rd. when we cruised in Feb, my then almost 12 year old DS felt too old for Oceaneer Lab. Now that he's 12 1/2, i know he'll feel the same. And he'd definitely feel intimidated by the older kids if he were allowed in the teen club. I think a choice would be great. if we were cruising with just our family, he'd go for the new tween club for sure. But in August, we're going with cousins, so I bet he'll want to be in the Oceaneer Lab with his 10 1/2 yr old cousin. I hope they decide to give kids a choice.
My poor sister-in-law is in a 2nd floor cabin right across from the entrance to Ocean Quest. do I dare tell her????
thanks for the update and hope your cruise was outstanding! We waved to you all as you were leaving San Pedro! can't wait for August 3rd!
That age group was in place on the Eastern in April. Actually, there were times it went up to age 14. DS (14) split his time between Oceaneers and The Stack. DD (10) also loved Oceaneers and spent a lot of time there, too.
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First trip DW--Nov. 1975; Senior Class Trip DW--Oct. 1979; First trip w/kids--Oct. 1995; Halloween at DW--Oct. 2002; Spring Break at DW--April 2004; Christmas/Pop Warner Nationals-POR--Dec. 2005;Cruisin'--April 2008; Mom/Son trip-POP--March 2010;Taggin' along w/DD on DH's conference-BWI--Oct. 2011; 50th birthday with the Gartner Geeks--Adults only!--BWI--Oct. 2012; The Trip That Almost Wasn't--BWI--Oct. 2013; We climbed The Summit (National Cheer Competition)--ASMovies--May 2014
That age group was in place on the Eastern in April. Actually, there were times it went up to age 14. DS (14) split his time between Oceaneers and The Stack. DD (10) also loved Oceaneers and spent a lot of time there, too.
That may be so because the Ocean Quest was available for 10-14's and some activities during the days, but now there are activities throughout the day and are more strict on not letting anybody younger than 11 in, other than free time.
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On our last two cruises this age group was in place (11.06 &3.08). It was a great place for kids not quite ready for the teen club. Our 12 year olds never even bothered with the lab, it was all about Ocean Quest for them! We stayed on deck 2 and never had any problems with noise, I'm guessing it's just those staterooms directly attached.
Thanks for the info. My DS just turned 13 & we are on the Panama Canal cruise in Aug. This may be a nice way for him to ease into the teen activities. Can the tweens still go to the Stack too?
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August 2010
Kathy, DVC Member
Upcomming Trips: 12/11 BWV, 6/12 Disney Fantasy, 12/12 Disney Fantasy
Thanks for the info. My DS just turned 13 & we are on the Panama Canal cruise in Aug. This may be a nice way for him to ease into the teen activities. Can the tweens still go to the Stack too?
Unfortunately no. My son tried to enter some activities, but said he had to go back to Ocean Quest. He was disappointed at first, but soon learned that Ocean Quest and the Stack have many activities in common.
My DD is 121/2 so she falls right into this group.. do you remeber any of the activities that were offered for this age group?
Some activities that the teens' also did was Brains and Brawns (My son's FAVORITE!!), Churro's for Sure-O's, Mickey Mania, Dodgeball (A cruise FAVORITE as well), basketball, lots of free time, scattegories and many more. Chris Wangard will be posting the navigators on castawayclub.com very soon and he has a thread on this forum too, for the full scoop on the activities.
We're just back from mex. riviera sailing of 6/8. My DS turned 12 a week before the trip. I was worried about this new change. When we booked, I was happy he could choose between either club. DS is really mature for his age, so I figured he'd be bored with the old 10-12 year group, but I still wanted that as an option. I was worried ocean quest wouldn't have enough planned activities.
Well, I have to tell you, I had to drag my son from ocean quest. He loved it. They had tons of planned activities and if the kids wanted to just hang out and do their own thing vs. the planned activity, that was fine. I was so happy with this new grouping.
As far as the noise level, we were in room 2075, just a three doors down from the back wall of ocean quest. Ours was an inside room, so on same side of ship as OQ. The outside cabins were across from OQ. I did notice more traffic being midship than our previous aft cabin, but I'm not sure it was from ocean quest. We noticed the most traffic on Cabo when people were walking down the hall to get off ship. With this being said, I have to admit, we had late seating and didn't come in until about 10:30 or 11:00 at night and when I did go to bed right away, I wear earplugs, so I may not be the best judge!
I did notice a side door to ocean quest, it was a CM door. I looked at my PP book and my guess is cabin 2066 would be across from it. (Main entrance faced elevators.) When we walked by, we could hear the CM's on microphones when they were doing activities. I think if you were directly across from this, it would be loud. We didn't hear any noise from that though, even during the day when we popped into the room. I loved our room location.
we have always been in either 2564 or 2064/2066 and never had any issues other than the normal kids running up and down the halls... but never late... have never had issues with sound bothering us!!
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New Kids Age Group on the Disney Magic
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