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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Just saw a commercial for a Nikon D3200. Now while it looks awesome....I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with one....
I've also head cannon is a bit more user friendly, but not sure if it's fact or fiction.
I want to get into photography not only for trips, but of nature and people too....point and shoots don't seem to have the zoom I'm looking for or for action shots....but a manual that reads like rocket science wouldn't be good for me either...
please
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~ Jenn **Disney is REAL LIFE Magic, so much more than optical illusions **
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Nikon and Canon are both great brands and are relatively easy to use. I use both brands at work and have a number of friends that use them. I do not have any personal experience with the D3200.
As for zoom capability, that will be based on the lens you attach to the camera, the higher the zoom the more expensive the lens. The good thing (and in some cases the bad thing) is that DSLR's use interchangable lenses. Sometimes you can compromise with an intermediate lens and sometimes you need to carry (and change) multiple lenses. Of course, this will be determined by what you are photographing..
For example, I use Olympus cameras. My "walk around lens" is a 14-150mm (28-300mm 35mm full frame equivalent) and it does pretty much everything I need. I shoot nature, scenery, family, and wildlife. In my case I have 2 camera bodies and on the second body I use a 70-300mm (140-600mm 35mm full frame equivalent) and that is my wildlife/bird/distant scenery lens. Between those two lenses, I can pretty much photograph everything I want well. If I didn't have the second body, I would have to change lenses for what I was shooting.
I also carry a Nikon P-510. It is what they refer to as a prosumer camera, it's better than a point and shoot but not necessarily as complicated or fancy as a DSLR. While my Olympus cameras/lenses costs in the thousands, the P-510 was around $400. It is a high zoom camera (42X) with a range from 24-1000mm (35mm full frame equivalent), 16MP, light and easy to use. My last Disney trip, it was the only camera I carried just to see what it would do. I was very pleased with it and the photos.
There are members on the boards using all the different brands of cameras, including Sony, Nikon, Canon, Olympus and other DSLR's. There is also a new breed of "mirrorless" cameras out now, DSLR quality without the bulk and internal mirror mechanism. I have switched to the Olympus mirrorless cameras from my older DSLR's, and my granddaughter is happy because she got the old cameras and lenses.
Best advise, go to the camera store (Office Deepot/Best Buy/Sam's/Costco/etc) and touch/play with each camera you think you might be interested in. Find out what fits best in your hands and go on-line to check the specifications. There are multiple models because there are different sized people with different wants/needs in a camera body. Take your time and don't be in a hurry.
You can start out with a general system, using the provided lenses. They work well, and as you refine your inteests, you will know what specific lenses you will want/need.
When you find what you want, research prices on line and get your best deal, a little research can save you a lot of money.
And if there are any more questions, especially about specific models, feel free to ask, someone will answer
Here are a couple of sites I use for camera information/evaluations;
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please
~ Jenn 
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Pixie Dust
SO much! That is wonderful information 
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