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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 just melt Wilton dark chocolate disks -- spread on a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet.
Then melt white chocolate -- spread on top.
Sprinkle with crushed candy canes.
When I crush the candy canes, I usually end up with bigger "pretty" pieces, and a bunch of really fine candy cane "dust." I stir the dust into the white chocolate. It's not enough to turn it pink, but it will melt and add a faint peppermint flavor.
The trickiest part -- and I'm not always 100% successful -- is the timing.
Put the white chocolate on too soon, and the dark choc comes through and it looks muddy. Wait too long, and they don't bond well and come apart in layers.
Milk chocolate works just as well -- and is easier to find -- but we think it tastes better with dark chocolate.
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Carolyn
Last edited by Carousel96; 12-15-2008 at 12:56 PM..
Reason: forgot about the "dust" part
I just melt Wilton dark chocolate disks -- spread on a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet.
Then melt white chocolate -- spread on top.
Sprinkle with crushed candy canes.
I have a very simple recipe that comes out great every time.
1 bag chocolate chips
1 bag white chocolate chips
candy canes
melt each one separately in the microwave, crush up some candy canes and add it to the melted chocolate. Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper, pour the choc. on one side and the white on the other and swirl them together with a knife. Put it in the frig for about 1/2 hour and break up into pieces. It is very yummy!
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I buy 2 lbs of white almond bark and unwrap and crush 24 starlight mints. (In a Ziploc bag wrap mints in an old towel...hit it with the hammer but don't pulverize every piece.) Cover two separate cookie sheets with parchment or wax paper. Melt the white almond bark in a double boiler and when the last lump has melted, remove it from the heat and stir in the crushed peppermints. Then pour onto two separate cookie pans, spreading it out with a spatula to the thickness you like. Put the cookie pans in the fridge for 1/2 hour and it will firm up. Then break it up into chunks and voila!
I tried this last night... not too successful, I'm afraid! The chocolate chips melted perfectly in the microwave and formed a beautiful first layer. I tried melting the white chocolate chips in the microwave, but the chocolate hardened really quickly -- like as I was mixing it in the bowl -- and then wouldn't spread nicely on top of the chocolate layer. In fact, it melted the first layer of chocolate and all of it merged together into one dark mess! I almost tossed it, but decided to top it with the crushed peppermint and refrigerate overnight. I mean, how bad could chocolate be??? Well, it looks pretty much like one layer of dark chocolate at this point, but still tastes pretty good!
Anyone have tips for melting white chocolate? Would I have been better off doing it in a double boiler? Could I have put it back in the micowave when it started to immediately thicken? Maybe I'll try another batch!
To aspiring candy makers... As an FYI, I tried again; this time, melting the white chocolate in a double boiler and spreading it lightening fast. It worked much better! I had two nice layers of the two chocolates. Some of the pieces split (between layers) once I broke the bar apart, but all in all, a successful attempt! (And at this point, DH decides to tell me he doesn't like Peppermint Bark... GRRRR!!!!) Well, I know the rest of the family will appreciate it!