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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 anyone interested in our wacky planning up until this point, you can find the start of this PTR in the Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Report section of the boards. Here is the link:
Today we booked our airfare and an overnight stay at the Hyatt Regency!! I guess we are really doing this!!!!!
If you are wondering why we started this planning now, it’s because we always need a vacation on the horizon. We didn’t have anything formally planned after our WDW trip in just 3 weeks so we had to whip up a new adventure pronto!
Anyway!
We are flying Southwest on a 4:00 PM flight which arrives in Orlando at 6:35 PM. Our return flight is at 12:25 PM and arrives in Philadelphia at 2:55 PM. Incidentally, Muffin got my 2018 free companion pass!!!!! This means I fly for another whole year free as long as I am with him. Best perk in the world!!!!! Muffin also used points for the trip so our total airfare was 82.60 round trip!!!! For both of us!!!
I called DCL again today to add our flight numbers to our reservation for ground transfers. Since we are staying at the Hyatt, I had no memory of how the transfers worked on that end. I just remembered that you could sign up for them.
I spoke with a CM by the name of Faith, who was lovely and said that it was no problem to do the transfer from the Hyatt and put it on our reservation along with our return flight. She then sent me an email confirmation showing that she had added in the details I gave her. Thanks, Faith!
Unfortunately, I can’t really do much with our reservation until January 7th. That is a bummer. I am used to Royal Caribbean where you can book excursions and dinners and such well before your cruise. It will drive me nuts to wait until January to be able to fill in details.
Still, this gives me a chance to do some homework. Muffin is honestly excited as well, but he is already asking questions like is there enough for adults to do and am I going to want to throw myself overboard?
It’s taken me six years to get this man to go on a Disney Cruise and there is no way I am letting him off on this one! I am hoping to convert him for life!! I told him that plenty of my Passporter friends go on Disney cruises without kids and have a blast!! I will definitely be poring over trip reports in this area as well.
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Last edited by Tara O'Hara; 10-14-2017 at 08:33 AM..
Tell Muffin he'll love cruising. We take our 11th Disney cruise on the Wonder in January, then numbers 12 and 13 on the Magic in September. Can you tell how much we love cruising with Disney?
Wow! the companion pass sounds like a wonderful thing!!
. He’ll be fine!
Having that pass has enabled me to travel a lot more, for sure!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Tell Muffin he'll love cruising. We take our 11th Disney cruise on the Wonder in January, then numbers 12 and 13 on the Magic in September. Can you tell how much we love cruising with Disney?
He already does love cruising and I know he will enjoy this cruise as well! I know you guys are pros and I will surely be hitting you up for tips!!
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So I know this is all backwards, but I didn’t want to give away the outcome of this trip.
I am always trying hard to come up with a new creative way to officially start these reports out, but to no avail. : Some of you guys find neat ways to outline your who’s, what’s and where’s but mine are pretty boring. . So, true to form:
Who: Me, Tara! 55 years old and a lifelong, diehard Disney fan in any way, shape or form!! We honestly lost count of how many times we have been to WDW a while ago. I have also travelled to WDW by myself several times and had a few trips with some of you guys, too! I keep waiting to get tired of it but that just hasn’t happened yet!! I am also an avid cruiser and usually travel with RCCL simply because it is sometimes half the price of a DCL Cruise. RCCL also has a wonderful loyalty program and we are now Diamond members and get great discounts and perks. We took one cruise with Celebrity as well and one short cruise with DCL on the Dream. Ever since that cruise, I have been trying to get Muffin back on a Disney ship. He will go as far as looking at the prices and that’s where it usually stops.
Who else: Muffin of course! . Muffin just turned 61 and I think he is still as handsome as the day I met him. He travels for a living and owns a small business. One of the best perks of him traveling is that we all got to travel as well to many places I wouldn’t have dreamed I would ever get to! My kids grew up with a love of travel because of this! Anyway! Like I said in my blurb, as avid a cruiser as my husband has become and as much as he has grown to enjoy going to WDW, it has been like pulling teeth to get him on another Disney cruise! The cruise we took on the Dream in 2012 was amazing and we both had a blast, but I just could not move him past the price. However! Because of the way this trip morphed, it wound up costing way less than either staying in WDW in April or splitting the stay with another short cruise. So here we are!
When: April 6th, 2018 we will be traveling to Orlando and spending a night at the Hyatt Regency at the airport.
April 7th-14th, 2018 we will be onboard the Fantasy!!
Where: Well, we think it will be the Eastern Caribbean route but it could be otherwise depending on the recovery of the scheduled stops. The itinerary is for Port Canaveral ,2 days at sea, St. Thomas/St. John, Tortola, a sea day, Castaway Cay and back to Port Canaveral.
One of the Sea Days will be a Star Wars Day at Sea and being huge fans, we are geeking out over this!
Why: We planned a vacation for next April and this is the outcome!. You all know the backstory.
Unless I am missing the boat (get it?!), one thing Disney does not do is let you book anything other than the cruise earlier then:
1. When you are paid in full
2. 3 months prior to embarkation
At least not at our level, which is only a Silver Castaway Club member. This will drive me nuts! on Royal Caribbean, everyone is allowed to book shore excursions and many onboard activities well in advance. That being said, I could not be more excited about doing this cruise!!
I am currently poring over trip reports, reading anything I can get my hands on and scoping out things we would like to do on this cruise in the meantime. I also have our upcoming trip to WDW, Christmas, and the Eagles to keep me occupied until January 7th!
The things I remember most about our Disney Cruise is how much we loved the fun, interactive dining rotation!!! That was an absolute stand out for us and even Muffin is super excited about doing that again!! Also, the fact that we were so looking forward to Castaway Cay and how disappointed we were that we did not get to enjoy it due to the weather. It was not only rainy but the wind was nuts!! We are praying for better weather this time around because this island looks so cool!!
I am totally looking for any tips or must do experiences for this cruise from you guys who are experienced in this matter!!
You are going to have a terrific cruise, and I hardly think Muffin will feel inclined to jump overboard. Waiting until January will be hard, but you might have a better feel for the itinerary by that time. That could make things easier in planning. I do hope the ports in the USVI are back up and going by that time. They so depend on the tourist dollars for support and they definitely need the money these days.
You are going to have a terrific cruise, and I hardly think Muffin will feel inclined to jump overboard. Waiting until January will be hard, but you might have a better feel for the itinerary by that time. That could make things easier in planning. I do hope the ports in the USVI are back up and going by that time. They so depend on the tourist dollars for support and they definitely need the money these days.
Thanks, Pris and I couldn’t agree more!! We The Eastern Caribbean and we are so sad for the people who live there.
Anyone who wants to jump overboard either isn’t trying to enjoy themselves, or they started with a bad attitude about DCL and are trying to prove themselves right. So I don’t think Muffin will end up in that category. We’ve done a couple cruises without kids on Disney, and they were almost more fun than the ones with kids. Both couples we sat with at dinner on our most recent cruise were also traveling without kids. The six of us ended up doing a lot together (movies, trivia, shows, club activities) and I think that really added to the fun.
So excited for you!!!
Anyone who wants to jump overboard either isn’t trying to enjoy themselves, or they started with a bad attitude about DCL and are trying to prove themselves right. So I don’t think Muffin will end up in that category. We’ve done a couple cruises without kids on Disney, and they were almost more fun than the ones with kids. Both couples we sat with at dinner on our most recent cruise were also traveling without kids. The six of us ended up doing a lot together (movies, trivia, shows, club activities) and I think that really added to the fun.
So excited for you!!!
Yes, you're right, that's when you have to wait for making your bookings. We were only able to make ours for January in mid-September and that's only because we're finally platinum Castaway Club members.
Great start! Can't wait to follow along as you learn and plan!
Thanks, Cam!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Yes, you're right, that's when you have to wait for making your bookings. We were only able to make ours for January in mid-September and that's only because we're finally platinum Castaway Club members.
Well, it will be fun to look at stuff anyway, I guess! We’d probably just change things 900 times anyway!
This sounds like a terrific cruise. Hope all works out for you to get to the Eastern Caribbean Ports. I am going to follow these planning and cruise reports closely because I am feeling like it is time for us to book another Disney Cruise . Like you and Muffin, we have only cruised with Disney once.
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on a 4:00 PM flight which arrives in Orlando at 6:35 PM. Our return flight is at 12:25 PM and arrives in Philadelphia at 2:55 PM. Incidentally, Muffin got my 2018 free companion pass!!!!! 
This means I fly for another whole year free as long as I am with him. Best perk in the world!!!!! Muffin also used points for the trip so our total airfare was 82.60 round trip!!!! 
I am hoping to convert him for life!! I told him that plenty of my Passporter friends go on Disney cruises without kids and have a blast!! 
I will definitely be poring over trip reports in this area as well.
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
: Some of you guys find neat ways to outline your who’s, what’s and where’s but mine are pretty boring. 
), one thing Disney does not do is let you book anything other than the cruise earlier then:
. Like you and Muffin, we have only cruised with Disney once.
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