HOLD THE GANGPLANK!!! WE'RE COMING!! Updated 3/11 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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For any of you who have ever wondered just how close you can come to missing the cruise, here’s your answer!! Who’s involved?
Myself (AP – standing for, well, let’s just say I love to plan..extensively…detailed itineraries…notes on every flat surface…This becomes incredibly relevant very soon….FIRST OFFICAL DISNEY CRUISE!!! – I cruised on Premier, the Big Red Boat, the original Disney CruiseJ)
DD-17 (Tink – She is a spur of the moment gal - obviously the majority of the gene pool was away planning their next DNA adventure, leaving only one loose cannon available – This is her very first cruise! Coincidentally, it also came 4 days from her 18th BirthdayJ) Cruise Details : Jan 31 – Feb 4, 2010 Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom 2536 Traveling details: Hmmm…well, a snowstorm of literally historic proportions coming from the South towards us in VA beginning 2 days before the cruise complicated this just a little…
This trip actually came around very unexpectedly. I am a Family Travel Specialist, who handles all things Disney, world-wide. After over 50 trips to WDW, I can tell you how many steps it will take to get from Dumbo to the restrooms next to Peter Pan, BUT I had never cruised on DCL before. Planned other families’ magical journeys, but not mine. With 2 kids in college, and the third starting next year, it was not a biggie in our yearly budget.
Opening my e-mail 10 days before the cruise (Can you see how my little issue with planning begins to rear it’s ugly head?), I found an invitation for Travel Professionals to come on the 4 night Wonder, at a VASTLY reduced rate, knowing that we would take what level of stateroom came up. I called, just for kicks and giggles, and was sweetly told I had about 6 hours to make my decision, book, pay, register online, etc, before the availability disappeared. The hyperventilation began at that point.
I called my DH, who works in the Nuclear Field, and asked him calmly, “So, this is our 25th Anniversary year, and you were thinking of doing something a little special?”,
To which he replied, “Well, I was thinking we could take the day and go somewhere other than Olive Garden.”
I continued, “Hmmm, what do you think about a short Disney Cruise?”
His reply , “I would need to check my schedule, but that might be possible with enough notice.”
“I have this incredible opportunity for us to go and we need to decide really quickly and book and pay for the whole trip in the next 6 hours and it actually leaves a week from Sunday but I think we could do this and then you could skip Olive Garden this year and have some really amazing meals and it would be really romantic because Rian can transport Emily to school and soccer and you would only miss 4 working days so it’s really not even a week…”
(He later told me it was like talking to Minnie Mouse after she had ingested a few too many Mickey Bars)
His quiet response, “I just found out that I have a meeting in Aiken starting on February 2 and running the rest of that week.”
“Can you miss this one?”
His even quieter response , “I’m kind of running it, so not really.”
I must have made some sort of noise, because he suddenly grew very animated ,for him, and said, “Hey, why don’t you and Em go? It could be our 18th birthday present to her! Wow, that kills two birds with one stone, now we don’t have to try to figure out the perfect birthday gift AND you two could celebrate our anniversary at the same time!”
Now, I could go for the Birthday idea, I even loved it, but I made it clear that he was not getting out of Olive Garden that easily.
I called DCL back, and booked the cruise. For us. Not another family. It was a truly emotional moment.
THEN the CM kindly asked, “What airline will you be arriving on?”
Oh, right. We live 12 LONG, MIND-NUMBING driving hours away. We needed to fly, or that stateroom would not be big enough for both of us. I promised to call her back, and began a search for a reasonable airfare less than 14 days out, flying out of our, “We are tiny, but you would never guess that from our enormous fares!” airport.
First Shock. They had a flight that was only $59 per person each way! I was suspicious of this rate online, so I called the US Air desk at the airport, using a phone number I technically do not have since it technically does not exist. They confirmed that rates, and even offered to book it for me, although technically they can’t do that. I graciously accepted. (There is a strong possibility that some excitement may have leaked out at this point)
While I was wandering my office, possibly doing a happy dance and singing, the owner of the agency popped her head in. “Hi! You seem happy! What’s Up?”. ( I hope I explained the situation in a calm, professional manner, but that’s not likely. Things are a little fuzzy in my memory of this.)
She was very excited for me (She’s completely awesome), “So, you just need to make certain your calendar is clear of appointments, and then let me know what you need handled while you are gone!”
Oh, right. Work. Appointments.
Second Shock. I dragged myself over to my calendar, and forced myself to look. NOT ONE SINGLE APPOINTMENT FOR THE CRUISE DATES! It was destined to happen!
Coming up: The Good (Telling Tink), the mundane (Telling Rian he was on cat patrol), and the REALLY UGLY (Think Winter gone berserk)
I loved this! It sounds so much like us. I just put my DH through the same thing for the transatlantic--texting him every few hours to see if he could clear his schedule.
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