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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Hi All, it's been about 8 months since I last posted and my kids and I spent our Christmas vacation at WDW. Just to let you know it was Awesome! My crazy 14 yr old DD turned into the sweet kid she used to be before puberty kicked in and my DS (11) was so happy he's still talking about the trip. OK now the point of the post is to find out if anyone has done a 4night land/3 night cruise with teens, if so did the teens enjoy it? Do you have any advice for me? I'm looking at booking the vacation in Sept. when the rates are affordable for me and the parks are less crowded. I also noticed that to reserve the package is $300 now (50% of booking) the total price of the cruise for 3 people is $2,750 for mid Sept. Is this a good rate? Oh, one more thing. With the land/cruise package are the disney park tickets included in the rate when you book online with Disney?
Any help would be great. As this will be our first cruise, ever. I need help. Thanks
Hi All, it's been about 8 months since I last posted and my kids and I spent our Christmas vacation at WDW. Just to let you know it was Awesome! My crazy 14 yr old DD turned into the sweet kid she used to be before puberty kicked in and my DS (11) was so happy he's still talking about the trip. OK now the point of the post is to find out if anyone has done a 4night land/3 night cruise with teens, if so did the teens enjoy it? Do you have any advice for me? I'm looking at booking the vacation in Sept. when the rates are affordable for me and the parks are less crowded. I also noticed that to reserve the package is $300 now (50% of booking) the total price of the cruise for 3 people is $2,750 for mid Sept. Is this a good rate? Oh, one more thing. With the land/cruise package are the disney park tickets included in the rate when you book online with Disney?
Any help would be great. As this will be our first cruise, ever. I need help. Thanks
We just got back from our land / sea vacation, and all of us loved it, except that we wished we had 7 nights land AND 7 nights sea! Our teen (15) liked everything, but they both stayed with us and did not go to the kids clubs at all on the Wonder. I did get our teen to write down ahead of time his priority list of attractions, and you have been very recently, so you should already know what your teen likes. You check in for your cruise at your resort, so that can save you some time / trouble at the terminal. We got the park-hopper passes and it was all part of the package (my DW did the booking).
As far as cruising with a teen. When I took my daughter to Hawaii, I had to talk her into going to the Teen Club and boy did she enjoyed it They plan activities for them usually during sailing times so she was with us when ashore.... She made some friends that she still keep in touch with thru emails .....
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Kelly -- Disneyland Annual Passholder
My boys had blast. We hardly saw them! DS17 (then14) lived in the teen club. They both checked in frequently. They did tours on the island. But strange enough DS15 then 12, did our kayaking tour then went back to the ship to order room service and watch Ohio State football on ESPN.
Our in-laws tagged along and were amazed at the freedom we gave the boys. We did do dinners together. They both want to cruise again.
We just sailed in June. DS's were 15 and 12. We did have times when we required them to be with us (first meal of the day, port days when we did excursions, 2 of the evening meals), but they would have preferred to spend the entire times in their clubs. One was in the Stack and other at Ocean Quest. We had a notepad on the inside of our stateroom door. The boys needed to write down if they left the kids clubs and what time and then write again when they re-entered the clubs. DH and I also did the same thing, reporting where we were at each time we changed locations. That way we could always get in touch if we needed to. It was very effective. The boys had a curfew time at night, when they needed to come in. DH and I were always in before them, ha! They loved the freedom they had on the ship. They don't have that at home. We felt comfortable with it. It was our second disney cruise. I was much more worried the first time, course kids were younger, too. The kids thought it this was the best vacation we've ever had.
I haven't cruised with DCL, but I did do the QE2 with 4 teens (18, 18, 16, 14). There was a lot less to do on that ship than on one of the DCL ships, but we still let the kids run. They had to let us know where they were (there were 3 adults, and we stayed in much the same areas for the whole week - so the kids knew where to find us).
My mom took my kids last Oct. on a land/sea cruise and she reported that our 15 yr. old loved to never leave grandma's side. She said that the teen clubs were cool, but so was everything else. Our 10 yr. old about lived in the club.
The kids went where-ever they pleased, and just checked in when they moved positions.
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We went last Aug DD 15 spent all her time except for dinners at the Stack. She is even still in email contact with several of the kids she met on the ship. My younger two 8 and 6 went back and forth. All three of them want to know when we can do it again.
Thanks all for the responses. It sounds like my teens will have fun on a Disney Cruise. I haven't even thought about the excursions that we can do at the port stops, guess i'll have to look into it. My next step is to book our Cruise Thanks!!!
Disney is the premier cruise line when it comes to taking care of kids and "nearly adults". I don't remember where I saw it, but one magazine rated DCL as #1 and RCI as #3 and noted that the distance between DCL and the rest prevented them from having a #2.
Disney is the premier cruise line when it comes to taking care of kids and "nearly adults". I don't remember where I saw it, but one magazine rated DCL as #1 and RCI as #3 and noted that the distance between DCL and the rest prevented them from having a #2.
Thanks for sharing this. I love reading stuff like that!
The boys had a curfew time at night, when they needed to come in. .
My boys are the same age - what time did you make curfew? It appears that the teen program doesn't kick in until late.
What did your 12 year old think of the Oceaneer's program? My 12 year old is refusing to even consider it due to the age range of 10-12. He wants to join his brother and will be 2 months off 13 - will they let him? In Australia he is in high school which I think is a little different to the States (happy to be corrected)
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My boys are the same age - what time did you make curfew? It appears that the teen program doesn't kick in until late.
What did your 12 year old think of the Oceaneer's program? My 12 year old is refusing to even consider it due to the age range of 10-12. He wants to join his brother and will be 2 months off 13 - will they let him? In Australia he is in high school which I think is a little different to the States (happy to be corrected)
DS age 12 was in Ocean Quest, not the Lab. They changed the age groups. DS was very happy. He's a mature 12 and was worried that Oceaner's Lab when it was for 10-12 year olds would be too much of a little kid program.
Well, our curfew was VERY different on the cruise than at home. At home boys get to stay up til 11:00 on the weekends during the summer - not late at all! On the cruise, they didn't come in until midnight or 1:00, depending what we had going on the next day. I planned our excursions so we wouldn't have to get up early. IF the boys slept in until 10:00 a.m. or later, they could continue their late curfew. And IF they were in the room by curfew time, they could maintain the late curfew. DS1, age 15 at the time, didn't come in on time one night (midnight crufew night when we had to get up a little earlier the next a.m.) and the next night he had to be in at 10:00. That hurt him a lot and he wasn't happy with us, but it worked, he didn't miss curfew again! I would have preferred the boys to be in at 11 or 12, but they did have fun things planned for late at night and I tried to remember being a teen and I wouldn't have wanted to miss out either. DH and I had talked about this before deciding to cruise. We knew the boys would want to do this and we were o.k. with it. DH and I wanted a laid back cruise, time to relax and we got it. We were in the cabin by 10:30 or 11 each night and slept a lot, ha! (Of course, I didn't sleep well til the boys were in but DH did...) I also tried to remember that it was the boys vacation, too, and this was what they wanted to do and as long as it worked out with DH and my plans, we indulged them this once. Knowing they'd want to do this on vacation was another reason I chose DCL. I knew kids club programming was the best we could get and that made me feel more comfortable. The boys only left the clubs for one movie (and also to eat), so I figured they were in the clubs where there is supervision and that made me more comfortable with the freedom they had. I don't think I could have let the boys do this on another cruise line. Both boys have said it's the best vacation they've ever had. For us, we had a perfect blend of family time and husband/wife time and the kids got to experience independence like they've never had, yet still have family time.
Never saw DS (almost 15 at time of cruise). He spent most of his time in The Stack (and "closed" it every night!). He also spent some time at OQ because it was available for 13-14yo, as well. DD (10) was in and out of OQ and really enjoyed it. Now oldest DD (17) will tell you the cruise s***ed. I don't think she really had a bad time, but she never went near the teen club and said there was no one her age on the ship--everyone was under 12. Which, of course, wasn't true--especially since it was Spring Break. She wanted to spend her time sleeping and sunning. I think she was just trying to annoy me and DH. She would have done the same thing if the ship had some other name on it, but would've said it was great...(sigh) teenage girls!
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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
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and my DS (11) was so happy he's still talking about the trip. OK now the point of the post is to find out if anyone has done a 4night land/3 night cruise with teens, if so did the teens enjoy it? Do you have any advice for me? I'm looking at booking the vacation in Sept. when the rates are affordable for me and the parks are less crowded. I also noticed that to reserve the package is $300 now (50% of booking) the total price of the cruise for 3 people is $2,750 for mid Sept. Is this a good rate? Oh, one more thing. With the land/cruise package are the disney park tickets included in the rate when you book online with Disney?
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Pixie Dust
Jingled by Southern Belle, Lorraine 515, Omd, Rob DVC and i am grumpy--thanks
They loved the freedom they had on the ship. They don't have that at home. We felt comfortable with it. It was our second disney cruise. I was much more worried the first time, course kids were younger, too. The kids thought it this was the best vacation we've ever had.
Michelle
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