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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I will be going to Disney with my children for the first time in January. Never been, so the messages regarding these "pins" have me a bit confused. What are they and what do you do with them? Sorry about being so "ignorant" on this subject. Thanks!
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There are lots of collectible cloissoine pins available for sale at the WDW resort. A lot of guests and cast members where lanyards that have pins on them and will trade pins. Cast members MUST trade, guests-to-guests trades are usually "fair value" trades.
I wonder if enamel pins would be the more accurate term? RobDVC covered it pretty well. On www.disneyworld.com you can find a section about pin trading. It explains it a little bit too. If you look on eBay or similar site, you'll see many of the pins available for sale. A lot of folks (like me) buy them on eBay from legitimate sellers (check their feedback) for less than the retail cost, then trade them at the park for fun for pins we like better. It's what we enjoy as a souvenir of the parks.
We went to Disneyland last year and got into the "pins". However, we do not trade. I buy pins that are themed about what we did or when we went.
My daughter loves Grumpy (she should, they are very similar in attitude) and I love Dopey (not for the same reason as my dd) So, she has a Grumpy pin that says Im with Dopey and I got a Dopey pin that says Im with Grumpy.
We also got pins that are ride related.
I am putting mine in a shadow box and putting them in my scrapbook room.
It's really alot of fun!! My son took to it right off, as well as my nephew. We go through all of our pins before each trip and take with us some that we definitely want to trade and some that we "might" trade. It's fun and a good way for kids to interact with the CMs. Some CMs wear green (I think that is right) lanyards which only trade with kids. It's pretty addictive. Be careful if you buy off ebay. I have done this several times with good success. Last year the pins were marked Disney@ on the back as they are supposed to be, but I later found out from a CM that they were counterfeit. I was emabarassed, especially since we had traded them all week.
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1969--DL, 1976 and 1980--WDW off site (childhood trips)
Feb 1998--WL, Feb 2001--WL, Feb 2002--WL, Feb 2003--WL, Feb 2004--WL, Feb 2005--AKL, Jan 2006--Poly, Nov 2006--AKL, Feb 2007--Eastern cruise on the Magic, Oct 2007--POP, Nov 2008--POR
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We're more of "collectors" than "traders." We buy pins that catch our fancy, and keep them in big pin-trading folders made for that sort of thing. I agree with everyone above who recommended you buy them on Ebay if you intend to trade. It's a much better deal than paying $8+ for a pin at WDW, only to give it away.
Be very careful when purchasing pins on e-bay. They may not be exactly what you think they are. I got a whole batch of Sedesma pins. They are kind of chincy (sp??) looking when compared with the pins we purchased at DL and WDW. I have heard good things about Official Disney Pins for Disney Pin Collecting and Disney Pin Trading and www.mousepinsonline.com , but I haven't actually purchased any from them yet. Anyone out there have any opinions to offer??
Jennifer
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!! OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
i have a standing offer to purchase pins for anyone who is interested in trading. i live 5 minutes (literally) away from a discount Disney store, and they are all 100% authentic Disney trading pins...they retail for 8.95-11.95 and i can get the for 2.95 to 5.95 brand new (still on the card)
if anyone is interested, please pm me...im also on ebay with 100% feedback, but i wont sell pins on ebay because i dont believe in buying them on ebay, there is too much risk....
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Be very careful when purchasing pins on e-bay. They may not be exactly what you think they are.
There will always be some people on eBay that are not as reputable and may not state they are Sedasma pins etc but there are also some excellent sellers on there too. I have many sellers saved to my favourites that I have bought from over the last few years and every pin I've bought has been proper. I guess it also helps if you know what you're looking for. DH and I also have our own shop selling pins that we've acquired. I would definitely give it a go but look on the official Disney pin trading website here Official Disney Pin Trading so you see the types of pins available. Hope this helps
We're collectors, not traders as well. We have only a few, but they're of our favorite characters, special events (last trip we had an AP - for the room discount - and got a cool AP pin!), etc. I put them on my purse/backpack while we're there, and last time we went to DL I bought the locking backs, since we lost one of our pins when it got bumped and fell off my bag. DD has expressed an interest in a lanyard this trip, we'll see if she'll actually wear it!!
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There will always be some people on eBay that are not as reputable and may not state they are Sedasma pins etc but there are also some excellent sellers on there too. I have many sellers saved to my favourites that I have bought from over the last few years and every pin I've bought has been proper. I guess it also helps if you know what you're looking for. DH and I also have our own shop selling pins that we've acquired. I would definitely give it a go but look on the official Disney pin trading website here Official Disney Pin Trading so you see the types of pins available. Hope this helps
Annabel - I did not mean to imply that all e-bay sellers are out to get us, just to be careful and know what you are buying. I didn't and got sc***** and would hate to see it happen to others too. I have also had good experiences with e-bay both as a seller and as a buyer (with stuff other than Disney pins) so I know that there are really great people out there!!
Jennifer
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!! OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
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You do need to be careful with pins you buy on e-bay. Even if the pins have the Disney copyright on the back, they can still be counterfeit...and the whole purpose of counterfeit pins is to make you think you're getting the real thing...so you are going to see them on the Disney Pins website...they are copies of real pins. My best example is of the Mickey dressed as Luke Skywalker pin. It's a real Disney pin. Has the copyright stamped on the back and was released only at WDW and DLR. There is a counterfeit pin also...looks exactly the same...only the copyright says Disney Hong Kong...this pin was never released by Disney at Disney Hong Kong. More common conterfeit pins will be copies of pins released at WDW and DLR, but have a Disney Store back stamp...and the pins were never released at the Disney Store. Another way pins are conterfeited is that Disney will order a certain number of pins from the manufacturer...let's say 2000, then the manufacturer makes those 2000, but then goes and makes an additional 1000 without Disney's approval and sells them. PinPics.com tries to keep track of counterfeit pins...the site isn't all that user friendly when it comes to looking up counterfeits, but it can be done. I've had the best results by putting in pin descriptions like "minnie ballerina" or "donald angry" AND...even if a seller on E-bay has great feedback...it doesn't mean their pins are genuine Disney pins...most people don't even know there's a counterfeit market, and have no idea they have purchased counterfeit pins. So, they do leave positive feedback. There are reputable sellers...many cast member sell the cast member only pins (even though they're not supposed to). Just be careful. I've never purchased from Belle before, but I'd say she's your best bet if you want genuine pins...I'll be contacting her myself here shortly. Pin trading is a great hobby...it can get expensive...I'm sure you'll have lots of fun!!
I really enjoyed trading pins during our trip in May. It was amusing -- other than CM, I found NO adults who wanted to trade, but lots of kids (ages 10-13) approached me - it was great!
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My next trip to WDW: March 2017!
We started trading in Dec 2000 when my daughter was 3. Now are hooked and trade whenever we go. Also trade with many great people online. Check out pinpics.com for a listing of pins. It is a great resource.
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Pins---Can someone explain this to me?
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So, she has a Grumpy pin that says Im with Dopey and I got a Dopey pin that says Im with Grumpy.
I've been BOOED!! Thanks, TinktinkTink!!!
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