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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 meant to post this earlier. We were at Disney last week of June and during bus ride to and from DTD and Contemp, we noticed some major construction taking place in the area between Port Orleans and Ft. Wilderness. W could see that there is a lot of excavation and other construction taking place and we wonder if they are beginning to build yet another resort (DVC?), or maybe working on expansion of Ft. Wilderness or Port Orleans, or maybe there is gonna be a new park in the works (yeah that's wishful thinking here). Anyways, thought I would post the supposition here and ask for ideas on what this may be that is being constructed? Any one else see this as you drove past this area?
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They took the space from one of the golf courses there and it is going to be a residential/hotel space. Sorry, nothing nearly as exciting as another theme park!
Yes, that's the former location of Disney's Eagle Pines golf course. Originally, Disney was going to build a DVC resort on some of the land (while preserving the Eagle Pines course). Then the chose to redevelop the Disney Institute into Saratoga Springs, instead. Four Seasons is building hotel, timeshare, and private golf course residences on part of the Eagle Pines property, and will operate a "new" golf course as part of that resort. How much they'll change the old Eagle Pines course is beyond me. Whether it will still be considered a Walt Disney World golf course is questionable.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
Exactly. It works similarly to the Hotel Plaza Blvd. hotels, the non-Disney shops at Downtown Disney, the Swan and Dolphin, and the Crossroads Shops (back when Disney owned that property). Disney's the landlord at some level (sometimes Disney owns the buildings and land, sometimes the outside company owns the buildings but leases the land). The one "constant" is that Disney continues to own the land.
I think, in the case of Eagle Pines, that Disney felt the need to have a super-deluxe resort on property, but if Disney built it, they'd have some marketing problems - it'd undermine Disney's marketing of the Grand Floridian, for example, and push the other Deluxes down a notch as well. However, how could Disney's own super-deluxe resort not have a location at least equal to the GF - view of MK, monorail, etc.? If Disney doesn't own it, that's no longer a guest expectation. "It's not Disney, so of course it's not on the monorail."
No doubt the golf course will be upgraded to compete with Orlando's best and most famous courses, and the marketing will revolve more around the golf course than Disney is comfortable doing. Four Seasons can sell "golf plus Walt Disney World." Disney has to sell "Walt Disney World plus golf."
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
Thanks for the info. When you are over in the lands and look across you can see the area at Epcot I talked about I think we were in Germany when we were looking over across the lake and noticed a large tent like structure behind the one country. You cant really see it when you are in that area though only from the other side looking over.
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Thanks for the info. When you are over in the lands and look across you can see the area at Epcot I talked about I think we were in Germany when we were looking over across the lake and noticed a large tent like structure behind the one country. You cant really see it when you are in that area though only from the other side looking over.
You're probably seeing the World Showplace, a convention/catering facility out behind the UK and Canada. It's been there since the Millennium Celebration, when it was the Millennium Pavilion. There's an entrance to it between the UK and Canada.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
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