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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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My sister, my two girls (8 & 3) and I will be going on our second western cruise on Feb 20, 2010. I am looking for some tips on doing some excusrions ourselves. Last time, we did it through Disney and felt we just paid too much. So I am willing to do some legwork to save some money.
Key West -- I am thinking about renting one of those little cars with GPS for the day. Has anybody done this? How much? Do I need to think about a car seat for my 3 year old? Where should we go?
Cozumel -- We swam with the dolphins last year and it was great. Now I am just thinking about some quiet time at the beach. Which would be a good one with kids? Light surf etc.
Grand Cayman -- I went there many years ago and would like to go to Rum Point again. No need to swim with the stingrays. Any ideas about how to get there? I do know that it is a bit of a drive, but how much?
Thanks for any info. We are looking forward to cruising again, but we would like to try something different as well this time.
We did the Magic Western Carribean Jan. 2009. Lots of fun! We also did the electric cars with the GPS. I would for sure recommend the car seat for your child. The speed isn't that fast, but you are still on the open road with other cars, and the electric cars are all open. We didn't use the GPS because it was too hard to hear, there is so much traffic and you can't really go at a slow pace. We just used a map and kind of did our own thing. We drove to a beach, which someone told us about on our way around town. There are pretty sites to see, you can see a bigger area with the car, we were just overwhelmed with trying to figure out the GPS, hearing it and worrying about traffic. We had a good time, but wouldn't do the electric car again. I would recommend going to Sloppy Joes. The Southern Most Point is a must see. I agree with you about doing your own excursions, you can save some money instead of using Disney. Grand Cayman was our favorite!!! We grabbed a cab and went to 7 mile beach and got an umbrella and chairs and relaxed all day. We rented wave runners. The cab ride was $10 round trip. The rest of the time we just walked around town and did some shopping. Have Fun!! We are returning on a the Western Carribean in 2011.
When we were in Key West with our kids ages 4 and 8, we just brought our stroller and walked around on our own The aquarium and pirate museum are both within easy walking distance of the dock, along with of course many shops and restaurants.
Our family of five are on this cruise too. Thanks for asking the question. We plan to go out on our own in Key West and are considering the Pirate Museum.
We plan to do 7 mile beach on our own on Grand Caymon, as well.
Jungle Hike on Cozumel. Plan to leave the kids on the ship this day. I've heard some awful stories about Mexico lately. Would love to hear others opinions on this.