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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
I could swear I've read that you can give your kids the ability to charge on board and that you could put a limit on that amount.
I went to do the online check in and didn't see any such option. So I called DCL. They said "there's no way for us to do that. They either have charging privileges or they don't".
Did I mis-read something somewhere? I'd like to let my boys buy a drink (of the slushy persuasion), a game card or their souvenier without me having to go with them anytime they want something...but I also don't want to give a 14 & 18yo full charging privileges...Savvy?
If the CM is right, and I cannot limit the kids charging, how did y'all manage funds for your kids while on board?
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
There is (with the exception of the Castaway Cay post office) any cash used in the cruise terminal or on board.
If I ready Passporter Guide to the Disney Cruiseline and its Ports of Call (page 72 of current edition).
You can give the kids NO charge privileges
You can give them unlimited privileges
You can give them LIMITED amounts (amount, now where you can spend it)
You can even put each room key on a different charge card (for example if you and a friend cruise together --you can each put your own charges on your card
Thanks for asking this question because I went to the online checkin also and did not see this option, because I would also like to let my 13 and 11 yrs old charge a few things like drinks or maybe arcades but nothing else. Thanks for asking. deanna
We were unable to limit the kids' amounts on our last cruise (March 2008). They either had priviledges or not. We allowed our kids to have them, and told them an amount that they could spend ourselves. It's very easy to keep track. Guest services will give you a print out of each person's charges each day. Only our DS went over. That's a whole 'nother thread.
I decided not to give my kids (13 and 15) charging privleges....there are so many things that are included both food, drink and activities that I didn't feel the need for them to have charging on top of that. I can be with them to buy souvenirs. Our thing always is that we wait until the last day to buy souvenirs....that way they have seen everything and see what they really want. If I didn't do that, Id see several things per day that I wanted. Usually its one thing that they really want.
The way to limit the kids is to put a specific amount of cash on their card once you get on board.
There are a bunch of options that aren't covered by the web site check-in software. I suppose DCL didn't want to spend the money to develop software that would account for every possibility.
__________________
Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
The way to limit the kids is to put a specific amount of cash on their card once you get on board.
Thanks for posting this. I didn't know this on our last cruise. DS1 is not responsible with money and DS2 (younger by 4 years) is. So, DS1 didn't know it, but DS2 got to charge but DS1 didn't! This time, it will be nice to take a specific amount of money (that he's saved up) and put it on DS1's card.
The way to limit the kids is to put a specific amount of cash on their card once you get on board.
There are a bunch of options that aren't covered by the web site check-in software. I suppose DCL didn't want to spend the money to develop software that would account for every possibility.
We had done that on our previous cruise, but weren't allowed to last March. We were told any cash put down couldn't be for a specific card, it was for all cards with charging privileges in the stateroom. Have they changed back again? I hope so! We really liked that option.
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 2
Likes (Received): 7
Thanks (Given): 0
Thanks (Received): 1
Pixie Dust (Given): 0
Pixie Dust (Received): 0
We were not allowed to put a limited amount of charging on my niece's room key - it was all or nothing. We gave her charging priv - and then each day checked the account. We made it clear to her we would be keeping track, and that she needed permission from an adult before she spent $$. Of course - she was 9 at the time.
We are giving our DS10 charging this time. I did the charge without permission thing and there will be severe consequences! I think he understood. I also reminded him that he were going to WDW in June and taking one of his friends and that plan could change based on his behavior on this trip. Especially in the area of charging.
Only our DS went over. That's a whole 'nother thread.
Oh my, that sounds like a National Enquirerer type of story. "My son spent our retirement on our cruise." Right next to "Alien space baby is Elvis' last child."
We were told any cash put down couldn't be for a specific card, it was for all cards with charging privileges in the stateroom.
See, that's one of the things that's so odd. Each person can have a different charge card attached to their KTTW card...but you can't do that with cash? It just doesn't make any sense.
See, that's one of the things that's so odd. Each person can have a different charge card attached to their KTTW card...but you can't do that with cash? It just doesn't make any sense.
It almost makes me wonder if it's one of those "depends on who you talk to" things.
I just gave my daughter the privelages, and said that whatever you spend that is not in the budget I gave you, you pay for yourself when we get back to shore.
__________________
Ohana means family, family means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten. This is my family. I found it, all on my own. Is little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good.
This is so confusing........ I read you could buy Gift Cards & have the waiting in the room, so how does that work if you can only use your room key to buy things? Grandparents want to give gift cards for Xmas & Birthdays before the cruise, so GK will have spending money on the cruise. When we were at WDW, we just gave Disney Dollars & that worked real well. We don't cruise until next year, so maybe Disney will have this worked out .
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
That's a whole 'nother thread.
Angie
This time, it will be nice to take a specific amount of money (that he's saved up) and put it on DS1's card. 
Michelle
Right next to "Alien space baby is Elvis' last child." 
Ohana means family, family means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten. This is my family. I found it, all on my own. Is little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good. 
Linear Mode
