DJ: Commentary on Today's Spontaneous Field Trip - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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 took DJ to the polling place at the municipal building across the street today to learn a little about primaries and voting. His teacher is encouraging them to dictate stories by telling about things they've done, so this is DJ's second trip report. (The first was like two sentences about the Crayola Factory. ) We emailed it to his teacher and it's so funny, I just had to share it!
I Went to the Voting Place Today by DJ
We walked across the street to the building where there were people. The people waited in line. They looked up the people’s autographs in the book by their names. The people wrote their names. Then the people from the line went into the phone booth and closed the curtains. The curtains were red. Mommy said the people did the voting in there, but I’m not old enough to use the phone booth yet, so I didn’t go inside to call the President. I just looked from by the chairs, but I didn’t see the phone. Mommy said there isn't one, but I think there is. Then I looked at a map of where we live. The lady said it showed the voting districts so that people know where to go to vote, but I don't know what that means. I just remembered it. We went home and had juice in our backyard. The end.
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That's cute....I tried to explain to Alex what his Dad and I were going to do tonight. I think it turned into a girls team vs. boys team concept in his head. And then the two teams are gonna play again next fall and see who the winner is!!
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And now I know all I need to know about the way Americans vote! I'd love to hear his take on our little cardboard partitions and the way the vote counting machine "eats" the ballots......
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That is the funniest story!! I'm sending it around my office. Funny, one of my early memories as a kid is of going with my mom to vote for Nixon. Glad you're introducing him to the process.
How funny! Sounds like he could already vote! Please...keep him involved in the process throught his growing up. He sounds like a very bright little guy! Maybe he could be President...do we have your permission to write him in? He could have juice in the backyard with world leaders and probably get farther than anyone in Washington!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
[quote=Danielle Harmon;2037250]Please...keep him involved in the process throught his growing up. He sounds like a very bright little guy! Maybe he could be President...[quote]
DJ is no stranger to the voting process! During the last Presidential election, he waited in line in a stroller with us for 5 1/2 hours to vote. We made the evening news. Unfortunately, the polling place was too mobbed during that election to really let him have a look around. Once we got near the front of the line (at the entrance to the building), one of the U.S. Marshals (or maybe it was a State Trooper) had to offer to wait with DJ by the exit door because the building was packed too tight for me to take the stroller or even DJ inside with me. Total madhouse. I'm not sure the officer who offered to watch DJ was terribly pleased with his assignment, but I don't think we were the only ones he had to help out.