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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We are going to St Maarten for our 10th wedding anniversary in 3 months and it is really time for us to book our airfare! I had no idea the prices would be so high when I chose an island stay, so I am looking for advice as to get there unhassled and not completely broke
We will be spending several days in Disney World prior to our flight, and we have 2 flight options:
On AA we'd leave from MCO (Orlando) connect in Miami and then fly into SXM (St Maarten).
For the trip home we'll again connect in Miami, but this time we'd fly into Nashville which is about an hour from home.
This trip is about $1000 pp total
On Spirit we'd also fly out of MCO but connect in Ft Lauderdale before flying into St Maarten.
For the trip home, Spirit only flies us as far as Atlanta, but with it only being about 3-3.5 hours away it isn't unusual for us to fly into Atlanta and have family pick us up. Spirit is around $600pp for the flights including the baggage fees & travel insurance (which I generally don't purchase but this airline concerns me a bit).
What would you do? $400 per ticket is considerable savings, but I am not convinced that I trust Spirit, however I REALLY like that they are passing along the FAA tax savings.
My FIL gave us $900 toward one ticket, so with the Sprint fare, we would be paying what we originally budgetted for the flight, but you can also look at it that only having to pay one fare the $400 extra doesn't hurt quite as badly.
I can't find anything to make my AA trip cheaper. I've read about using the entertainment book for 5% off AA flights (which is only $50 each for us), but when I went to the site I couldn't confirm this was the AA offer--looks like $10 off per fare worldwide.
Appreciate any help anyone can can offer!!
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I would fly AA. They are a major carrier that in my opinion would be more dependable and on time. Spirt is a discount airline that has a lot of bad reviews. Do an internet search on Spirit Airline Reviews and you can read what some of the people had to say.
Do an internet search on Spirit Airline Reviews and you can read what some of the people had to say.
Yeah I did that back when we first found the fare, which is the reason I haven't booked with them. I've found some pretty good reviews of them too including Dave Marx here on the site. I guess I trust this community more than random strangers online, but I hear what you are saying. And then $400 starts calling my name LOL
I flew Spirit a long time ago. I remember being packed in like sardines. I also remember the interior of the plane being messy. The flight from Ohare to Orlando was ok.
Have you tried getting round trip from your destination to MCO and then round trip from MCO to St. Marten? Would that be cheaper?
__________________
Michele
I'm living the dream 20 minutes from Disney! Next trip...tomorrow. Follow me on instagram at ShirtsByShell
We flew Spirit last year in and out of St. Thomas and had no problems whatsoever. As long as you are aware of all the extra fees they tend to tack on, I say go for it.
I appreciate the help!! We did indeed go with Spirit Airlines. Even with all the extra fees included, we saved almost $400 off of the AA rate per person and that is not a savings to sneeze at! :
They do tag on a lot of extra fees, but even so with them passing along the FAA tax savings, that made up for quite a bit to us.
When we looked at seat options, we saw that each plane was over 1/2 full now at 3 months out, so we aren't concerned about flights being cancelled which was the major worry I have about budget airlines.
Again thanks to everyone who offered a suggestion or experience!
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