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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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're planning to go to Yellowstone with the boys next June. Anyone have any tips or special places we need to check out? It's so big, I don't know where to start.
At least you're going at a much better time of the year than I went. I went years ago during my winter break and it was a -45 degrees with the wind chill. Defanitely see Old Faithful Geiser. Have fun.
We went as a family in Sept 07. It was amazing!! In fact, it's one of my all time favorite trips. Yellowstone is huge!! I would suggest staying in the park if you can. There are several places to stay, from one end of the park to the other. We stayed one night at Old Faithful Inn and 2 at Mammoth Hot Springs. The night at Old Faithful Inn was memorable since it was built in 1904, but cramped and somewhat rustic. The facilities at Mammoth were a little nicer and the room was much bigger. Also, we went during elk mating season and they were all over the area of Mammoth. All of the wildlife running free was one of the best parts.
The accommodations are not cheap, but it was worth it to be so close to sights. If you were to stay outside the park, it would probably take you an hour each way to get in and out, depending on where you were going- that's how big the place is.
I think there are five areas to the park, each one different. Each area has a ranger station with unique information. There is also a general store, shopping and most have some type of food. The food is not that good, but you don't go to Yellowstone for the food. Also, your children can get a junior ranger badge by completing some "assignments". You can pick up a packet at any ranger station.
I'm not sure how much time you're planning on spending, but I think a minimum of 4 days is a must to get an overview of everything. It takes a long time to go from area to area and you'll want to get out and hike. There are trails that take you to waterfalls, geyers, etc, that you can't see from the road.
You can start gathering information at the national park website. Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service). That starts the pages for Yellowstone. We homeschool, so our trip counted as school and we did quite a bit of research beforehand. I think it was helpful to the kids (who were 11 and 9) to know about the geothermal features(what they were, how they worked) and the animals we encountered and the history of the park. I felt like they enjoyed the visit more because they were seeing what we had been learning about.
As you can tell, I have a lot to say about it. I would be happy to answer any questions or give you more information, if you want to PM me.
Have fun planning!
I haven't been to Yellowstone (would love to go) but have been to several other national parks. My strong recommendation is to stay in the park. You really miss a lot of the atmosphere if you don't.
You need to make reservations early. I know some lodges at the Grand Canyon are completely booked within days of opening up for reservations.
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