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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 don't know about anyone else but it's not just Toontown not being there that makes the map look strange. I'm just so used to seeing something over there (20K leagues, then all the newer stuff) that it just looks funny to see just trees there (which we know aren't even there in reality).
I don't know about anyone else but it's not just Toontown not being there that makes the map look strange. I'm just so used to seeing something over there (20K leagues, then all the newer stuff) that it just looks funny to see just trees there (
which we know aren't even there in reality).
It is sad Toontown is gone....I had good memories going through mickey and minnies house...I guess you call it progress but I hope what they will put there in place will be good....what is it they are putting there?
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It is sad Toontown is gone....I had good memories going through mickey and minnies house...I guess you call it progress but I hope what they will put there in place will be good....what is it they are putting there?
It's going to be part of the new Fantasyland expansion - a Little Mermaid ride, a B&B castle, a new restaurant, a 7 Dwarfs roller coaster, a double Dumbo ride and Goofy is going to be rethemed.
It's going to be part of the new Fantasyland expansion - a Little Mermaid ride, a B&B castle, a new restaurant, a 7 Dwarfs roller coaster, a double Dumbo ride and Goofy is going to be rethemed.
Well CinderAbby I guess you call in progress for the better good...with all that land they could have kept toontown in tact and just expanded....its just sad.
with all that land they could have kept toontown in tact and just expanded....its just sad.
It is, but this is what Disney decided to do no matter what we thought. I too will miss Toontown but there's nothing you can do. The works been started now and there's no going back.
With all the available land, Disney should move Mickey's and Minnie's houses. Everyone I know that has gone to WDW loved to go through each of them. They were must see stops for my family. We will miss them.
There's a long history of folks on the web saying, "There's all that land back there." From the moment they closed the 20,000 Leagues sub ride, folks were speculating about how to use the space and the space beyond (the "space beyond" wasn't an issue as long as there was a body of water defending it like some sort of moat, but once it was clear the moat was going to be drained... ). The most persistent rumor was another mountain, housing a villains or dragons roller coaster - something that, logically, would have had a height restriction. A height restriction in Fantasyland??
Yes, I'm sure they could have expanded Fantasyland and left Toontown untouched. However, I think one point folks have missed is that Toontown really was ready for a major rehab or replacement. It was built as a temporary attraction, and Disney got a whole lot of use out of that "short-term" investment. Mickey's Birthdayland lasted two years. Mickey's Starland lasted six. Mickey's Toontown Fair, 15!!! And Disney never put the same resources into the WDW version as they'd put into Mickey's Toontown at Disneyland.
So, the question became, "Do we simply spruce-up the existing attractions, or can we do something bigger and better with the space?" Double Dumbos solves a lot of problems for Fantasyland. Placing Dumbo in a circus-themed area is as things should always have been. The conceptual art shows the circus tents that are currently Toontown Hall of Fame and The Judge's Tent surviving - it's even possible they'll keep performing the same functions, albeit with different characters to meet. Overall, with its new/expanded circus theme, it's interesting to consider whether it's a part of a larger Fantasyland, or is actually a separate Dumboland or Circusland. In the end, it may just be that "We doubled the size of Fantasyland" makes a better marketing message than "We added new rides to Fantasyland and re-themed Mickey's Toontown Fair." Or maybe it's just that folks expect Dumbo to be in Fantasyland. If Dumbo moves, Fantasyland moves with him, like a city annexing neighboring rural townships.
Donald's Boat, may she rest in peace, didn't have a whole lot of fans over the age of 5. The Judge's Tent meet-and-greet would have been nobody's favorite if not for Mickey's presence. Nobody is going to shed a tear for the Toontown Hall of Fame shop, although the princess/fairy meet-and-greet naturally had its followers. Meet and greets, however, are relocated all the time. It's about the characters, not the location. Face painting is almost guaranteed to return - Dumbo's pals the circus clowns need their makeup, and I suspect that they'll paint more faces than ever before because of synergies with the area's theme. Goofy's Barnstormer will get a re-theming but will still be Goofy and, as far as we know, the same coaster. Toontown Station? Funny, it doesn't look Toonish. It'll be just fine with a new name. So, that leaves Mickey's House and Minnie's House. Lots of great Imagineering imagination there, and it would be very nice to see that pun-filled spirit preserved in some way. If they manage to do that in the new Main Street meet-and-greet location, all will probably be forgiven.
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I have to agree with Dave. There was not a whole lot back there-I would like for them to save Mickey and Minnie's house. And they are keeping our favorite Goofy coaster. And the line is always long for Dumbo so in my opinion that is a good move. And then with them adding the new rides-can't wait to see them.
Maybe Donald's boat was more for the younger kids (as Dave points out "...under 5"). But being a father with a 5 year old, the younger kids need a place to play.
Donald's boat, Mickey's, and Minnie's houses made for great places to get out of the sun and heat. And Donald's boat, along with Ariel's grotto, had water to help cool down the little ones.
Change is inevitable. Change is almost always a positive move. But change needs to take history into account. Change for the sake of change - never good.
So far, Disney's announcements have focused on the big stuff. There has been no mention of playgrounds and water play areas, but that's pretty typical, since they generally aren't marquee attractions that draw people into the park (they make the park experience better once you're there). The trend at the parks has been to add water play areas and playgrounds, rather than to cut back on them. What we lose temporarily during construction/rehab is a different story. I'm sure Pooh's Playful Spot will be replaced, with or without Pooh theming. That was a much larger and more effective playground/water play area than either Ariel's Grotto or Donald's Boat. I have no doubt that there will be plenty of splash-and-run space once the construction walls come down.
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I just got my "customized maps" and Toontown is still on it.....so I guess that this set is a "keeper"
It's so sad that Toontown is gone, but I agree with Dave that the Disneyland version is much more detailed and better. My youngest son is bummed that the houses aren't going to be there. He even cried the first time I told him.
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It's so sad that Toontown is gone, but I agree with Dave that the Disneyland version is much more detailed and better. My youngest son is bummed that the houses aren't going to be there. He even cried the first time I told him.
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