Is It Time Already?! OKW and POR, November 2013 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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True to form, this PTR/TR is going to be flying by the seat of my pants! I've only been planning this trip for about two years, so it's not like I've had much time to get ready...NOT!
I've been wanting to start a PTR for months now, but one thing or another kept getting in the way. Now, I have but days until our trip, so I'm forcing myself to sit still for a few minutes to get this started!
Travelers will be Jeannie (me), daughter Sophia, and son Evan. It will be a 3 Musketeers trip for sure! I'm the lifelong Disney fanatic, and I'm pretty sure it's in the genes because both my kids love Disney, too!
Through the incredible generosity of a wonderful friend who owns DVC, I was able to rent points to stay at OKW for the first 7 days of our trip. Then, I decided to tack on two extra nights at POR in a Royal Room as a surprise for the kids. Thanks, Megan (mcc0313) for helping me get that reservation!
If you haven't followed along on any of my previous few TRs, let me just warn you that you need to tell your brain to be flexible, because I will jump from thought to thought to thought in the course of my TR!
That being said, welcome aboard...and I'll do my best to keep y'all entertained on the wildest ride on the PassPorter Boards!
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Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Well, what do I have to report since yesterday? Oh yeah, I'm still not packed!
This is a crazy busy time for me every year...I don't know what I was thinking when I decided on November for this trip!
I volunteer for my alma mater chairing the interviewing committee for high school applicants in my area. This is the height of the early decision interviewing season.
Then, it's Evan's birthday next week, so we've been having little celebrations almost every day for the last few days with friends and family.
Thanksgiving I don't have to worry about this year since we'll be flying home on Thanksgiving!
Then a week after we return, it's Sophia's birthday, so I'm already working on planning her festivities!
I have to work two shifts tomorrow, so most of the day is taken up already. Then in between my two work shifts, I need to pick up the kids from school, finish the last minute packing, and finish the last minute house cleaning.
I don't think I'll be getting home from work until about 9pm tomorrow night. We need to leave the house around 5:15am Tuesday morning. I have a feeling I won't be doing much sleeping tomorrow night...come to think of it, I probably won't be getting much sleep tonight because I still need to finish some laundry before I can continue packing!
Sorry there isn't much planning detail so far...I promise I'll get to it...umm...at some point!
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Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
I'm so excited for you! Very glad the severe weather a lot of the country has been having seems to be over. If you'd been flying yesterday I think there would have been delays at the very least. Have a great time!
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Pixie Dust
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
PassPorter Guide Author
So sorry we missed you by a couple of days. 
OKW! Looking forward to reading about how much you love it, too!
getting everything done before you go! You'll be there before you know it 
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