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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Who: Maci (me!)
What: A WDW Trip!
When: May 25th-30th
Where: Hilton Downtown Disney
Why: To see my DCP Bestie from Amsterdam!
How I got myself into another essentially solo trip I'll never know... I mentioned it to a few people but I don't have any bites yet. Honestly, I'm feeling like it's too soon for me to be going back already, but I didn't pick these dates. I will get more into that in a later post I'm sure.
I just finished getting through all the Photopass Pics from the March trip... just have to get through all the actual photos I took now and we will be ready to get started but I have a lot of the writing already done so I think I will be able to keep up with it! And should at least finish the ABD portion of the other pretty soon I'm hoping!
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So as I mentioned, this trip is almost too soon for me, I’d rather space out the magic a little. Well, these dates were not my choice. Here’s what happened…
Back in August while I was in Amsterdam with Erik we had discussed the possibility of him coming to Texas for a visit around his birthday in the end of February timeframe. I was so excited for him to come stateside and get to show him around Texas! A few months later I followed up and he said coming to the states wasn’t going to be in the cards
Then in January, I had to move my flight for my now-void Valentine’s Cruise and picked Disney (Last Minute March trip) picking those dates knowing Erik wouldn’t be coming and with a friend’s wedding moving my typical May Disney trip around anyway (cancelled, rebooked a week earlier, then ultimately cancelled again for that one).
Maybe a month or so later, Erik sends me a message “I’ll be in Orlando May 25th - June 8th” (I think) and of course wants me to come meet him! I try to convince him not to spend his whole two weeks in Orlando and see if he wants to meet for a few days in New Orleans or something in between. Nope, they don’t want to bounce around too much. They will be doing some day trips around Florida but they are staying in Orlando.
So that’s why I got the AP and the TiW for my March trip… I knew that he would sucker me into a trip down to Orlando again… I picked the 25th-30th because it’s going to be crowded his whole trip, but this way I get weekdays, a day to recover when I get home, and only take 4 days of PTO!
He was my best friend on the CP that I worked with for sure, we spent a lot of time together If you’ve read some of my other TRs this all might sound familiar. He went with me for my birthday to WDW a few years ago and DLP with me in August as well as being my personal Amsterdam tour guide
He is absolutely the reason I’m going and I am tailoring my week to him although I’ll have some solo time as well as they are only doing TWO days at Disney Oh his favorite character is Dumbo and he used to work at Whispering Canyon Cafe and then at the front desk with me at Yacht and Beach!