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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 REALLY enjoy pin trading whenever we go to WDW...do they do the pin trading on the ships? I am going on a 4 night cruise in February and want to know if I should be ordering some pins!!!
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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
On my Nov 2014 Fantasy cruise they cancelled pin trading due to "cold\flu" season. However that was around the ebola outbreak and Disney didn't want to say that word. On previous trips there was trading. Each store had a pin book for trading. There was also a pin trading night. I have read reports that there is now trading again and I look forward to it on my Halloween cruise.
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I live in upstate NY. My wife and I have two children (19 and 15) and one puppy. We all love Disney.
The husband is a pin trader and has traded pins on all the ships. As the previous poster said, there is a pin board in one of the shops--just bring your pins and trade--I believe there is a limit to the number of pins that can be traded each time you visit.
And, check the Navigator for pin trading with ship's officers. We've seen it in the lobby but on our last cruise, it was in the area outside the shops.
Unlike Walt Disney World, you won't see the Crew wearing lanyards with pins for anytime trading.
Have a great cruise!
My DD's first experience with Disney anything, other than movies & the Disney channel, was our first cruise on the Fantasy in Feb 2014. I had pins from my many trips to WDW in past years so I loaded about 7 on a ribbon for her to trade. We didn't have them with us on our first trip into the shops (it's better if I don't enter the shops!), but she saw them on the crew members lanyards and was excited about the Officer trading event that was scheduled a couple days later... It was cancelled because they were on "high alert" for stomach bugs. She was super disappointed, of course. When on board the Fantasy this year, and after experiencing pins at WDW in the Fall of 2014, she immediately went to start trading. She told one of the crew members about missing out the year before and he invited her to be the "honorary" officer at the event on that cruise. In fact, she received an invitation in our stateroom addressed to her! That event went off and they provided her with a lanyard with pins that she traded with anyone who asked just as if she were a crew member! She LOVED that special attention. Sooo MAGICAL! And of course, she received a couple pins when it was over.
We were on the Eastbound Panama Canal cruise this year. They had two nights of officer pin trading, and every night the pin cart came out for 1/2 hour and they had many hidden mickey pins for trade. We don't trade for hidden mickey pins so we had to look closely to try and get pins that other cruisers traded and put in the books or officer lanyards. It was still fun.
In order to avoid mass confusion for the purchase of the Eastbound Panama Canal pin, they had us line up at 9AM outside the shops and purchase the pin, limit 2 per person. If there were any left over they went out on the rack in the evening.
They also put out any leftover westbound PC pins on sale on the last day.
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