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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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So I may have just (on a slight whim) booked a cruise on the Fantasy! DH and I had been talking about it for a while, but hadn't gotten to the "book it" phase. Well I ordered the DVD and my kids were watching it. They got really excited. And so DH and I resumed conversation and I looked up online just to discuss some details and ended up booking the whole thing.
Now I'm a little overwhelmed as this is completely new territory for me. I probably should have just booked with a TA. Do you think it would be a good idea to see about transferring my ressie to a TA to help me with the details? I've been reading the PP cruise guide and it's making my head hurt. Shore excursions, travel to the port, what night to book something like Palo. It's all so unfamiliar as a first time cruiser.
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Secondly, deep breath - you'll be fine. There is a lot of information in your PassPorter, but it will stand you in really good stead, as a lot of cruisers won't have access to that information. You've done the hard bit - you're booked and you've got your itinerary and stateroom chosen, now you can concentrate on the on board activities and the shore excursions. Don't worry, you won't be able to do and see everything - just pick what appeals to you, a bit like WDW!
Congrats!! Booking excursions and such is quite easy. Take a deep breath and don't worry about it. I can't see that a TA would make a great deal of difference in this case. You would still have to make the decisions, which is the hard part. If you have questions, just ask away here and you will find all the answers you need.
Thanks! I'm sure I'll have lots of questions to post. I know how helpful this community is! Planned 3 WDW vacations with the help of all of you! As for the cruise planning goes how is the cruise line website? So far I am under impressed. I log in with the same account as I do for WDW website. I've "retrieved" my cruise reservation 4 times now and it NEVER remembers it. Do you have to retrieve your reservation every single time? Once it is retrieved it looks like you can't do much on the website. I know I'm not PIF and once I am (and the date is right) I will be able to schedule excursions, Palo/Remy, on-ship activities, kids club and do online check in, but can you use the website to do things like add ground transportation? I didn't add that while booking as I wanted to look into a more cost effective option. I figured I could always add it later. Was hoping through the website. Will I have to call about this? What about adding our passport numbers once we get them? I didn't see where I could do this myself online.
Thanks! I'm sure I'll have lots of questions to post. I know how helpful this community is! Planned 3 WDW vacations with the help of all of you! As for the cruise planning goes how is the cruise line website? So far I am under impressed. I log in with the same account as I do for WDW website. I've "retrieved" my cruise reservation 4 times now and it NEVER remembers it. Do you have to retrieve your reservation every single time? Once it is retrieved it looks like you can't do much on the website. I know I'm not PIF and once I am (and the date is right) I will be able to schedule excursions, Palo/Remy, on-ship activities, kids club and do online check in, but can you use the website to do things like add ground transportation? I didn't add that while booking as I wanted to look into a more cost effective option. I figured I could always add it later. Was hoping through the website. Will I have to call about this? What about adding our passport numbers once we get them? I didn't see where I could do this myself online.
Congrats to you on booking your cruise!! I will be following along here as we are also planning a cruise this year, and have only been on one other Disney Cruise, and it's been awhile!
I agree about the website!! I am hoping there is a way to have it remember your reservation. We were able to go back and input our passport numbers under the 'reservation information' tab. We are also planning on coming from a Disney resort and I was very confused about Ground Transportation as well.
I always have to retrieve my cruise, although my computer remembers what I have used previously, so it pops up with choices for me after I type in the first number. You will need to call the Disney cruise line to add ground transportation, I believe. That's what I did once I had booked my hotel and flights. The website, just like the rest of their website, is not particularly user friendly I think. You probably can view excursion options from the main page. Click on "Cruises and Destination" at the top and then select "Port Adventures" in the middle column. Then use can choose your various ports to see what is likely to be available. Of course, you can't book anything until your "magic date." I'm waiting until March 8!!
Thanks! I'm sure I'll have lots of questions to post. I know how helpful this community is! Planned 3 WDW vacations with the help of all of you! As for the cruise planning goes how is the cruise line website? So far I am under impressed. I log in with the same account as I do for WDW website. I've "retrieved" my cruise reservation 4 times now and it NEVER remembers it. Do you have to retrieve your reservation every single time? Once it is retrieved it looks like you can't do much on the website. I know I'm not PIF and once I am (and the date is right) I will be able to schedule excursions, Palo/Remy, on-ship activities, kids club and do online check in, but can you use the website to do things like add ground transportation? I didn't add that while booking as I wanted to look into a more cost effective option. I figured I could always add it later. Was hoping through the website. Will I have to call about this? What about adding our passport numbers once we get them? I didn't see where I could do this myself online.
Just got back from our first cruise aboard the Fantasy. 7 night Eastern Caribbean with stops in Sint Maarten, San Juan & Castaway Cay (my trip report is in progress). Remebering the reservation number is a function of your web browser so when checking, here at work, I would have to punch in the numbers every time. At home I would just click in the field and the complete number would pop up. We did our booking over the telephone and the CM was extremely helpful. She provided her phone extension number as well as her email so we could contact her directly which was very helpful. We booked the ground transfers through her at that time. It was just the two of us and we were being picked up at BWV and after the cruise we were booked in at OKW. That cost $70/person. We used the site to examine our options for shipboard activities and shore excursions but, as first time cruisers, could not make any bookings until 70 days out and then used the website to add them to our activities. I honestly don't remember having to provide our passport numbers but the online check in reminds you about documentation requirements.
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Thanks everyone for the information. Seems like it is not user error with the website and just a crummy website. Disney really need to devote some time to the website and mobile apps in my opinion, but then I'm a computer programmer and know what they could do and it always irks me.
Right now we are thinking we will not spend much time at WDW prior or after the cruise. One reason is funds. None of us have passports so there's that expense. And flights from MN can be pricey for a family of 4. We are likely going to fly down the day before the cruise as winter weather delays flights quite often. Not sure yet if we would stay somewhere closer to port that night or if we would take DME over to AoA for the night and bum around in DtD. Hitting up the parks, however, seems fairly unlikely.
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I will be following along here as we are also planning a cruise this year, and have only been on one other Disney Cruise, and it's been awhile! 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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