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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 have wondered, for many years, how many people out there think about the events of 9/11? Not just this time of the year but on say a random Wednesday in the middle of January. For me personally it is something that I think about daily. Is it because my street is renamed after an FDNY FF from my neighborhood? Is it because I see the kids walking around town who I know lost their dad that day? I don't know, I guess it's a multitude of reasons. My question is this: for those of you who don't live in the "impact area", how often if at all do you think about it? My DH always asks "I wonder if Middle America (and for him I think outside NY/NJ is "middle" ) ever thinks about what happened that day".
Just curious
OK, I'll answer. I don't really think about it unless it's brought up in the news or by someone else. I personally wasn't impacted by the terrorist attacks that day. The changes that have occured in security and such impact me but at this point have become ingrained in society to the degree that you don't think about them that much either.
(Other than Joanne, who is a member here and had to evacuate the towers that day and has had health problems because of it, I don't personally know anyone who died or was at any of the sites that day).
And not thinking about it doesn't mean that I don't care or remember. It's just not a part of my daily life.
I think about it a lot. When I see or hear a low-flying plane, when we get one of those crystal-clear, sunny, perfect fall days. I was working at the time for a group of hospitals in Boston. We quickly geared up with a blood drive, and thinking we could help out with an overflow of casualties. Sadly, there were so few wounded, that evacuation outside of the NYC hospitals was not needed. I used to live near NYC, so had many friends to worry about that day. I knew several people who lost family members. Just living in the city and hearing the subway announcements about un-attended bags --that's something we never had before 9/11. I would say it's an event that's never too far from my thoughts.
I always wondered about this too. Do people who live on the West Coast or in the South think about it as much as those who live in or were affected by 9/11? And even though I don't live in the city, I still have friends and family who live or work in the city. A good friend lost her father on 9/11. A friend from HS was suppose to be working in the North Tower on that day but was late to work. And I remember thinking on that day and wondering if Albany was a target or not. If so, I don't live far from the capitol. And not many people probably realize, but all of us in NY were affected in some way or another by what happened on that day. And at least for me, I still think about it. I still remember what I was doing when I heard about the first plane, what I was wearing, what I did and who I talked to that day and for the days that followed. Every time I travel, whether on a plane or drive down to the city, I think about it. And yes there are random times I will will think about that day. Sometimes I'll hear the date or look at the clock and it might say 9:11 and that will trigger a memory. It's a day I know I will never ever forget.
Being here in the Toronto area, it was close enough to home, that I think about it, but not everyday like when it first happened. I still remember where I was working that day (I'm in the field alot, but still remember the company I was auditing that day). I also remember that they put the radio station on over the speaker phone in all the offices so that we could hear what was happening. I can't say that I still think about it all the time, but thoughts pop in a random times, sometimes triggered by something around me, but sometimes for seamingly no reason at all. I honestly can't believe that it's been 10 years already.
I still remember the story of someone who was in one of the towers, that called home to the west coast to talk to a loved one - the person was still sleeping and didn't hear the phone. When they woke up, they listened to the message and their loved one was already gone.....
I bet there are a lot of people who remember exactly where they were that day. I do think about it sometimes, but especially as we get closer to the date. I didn't know anyone directly affected by the trajedy. But every time 9/11 rolls around, I feel like I should be doing something respectful of the date.
I think of it, but not very often. I think most people could tell you exactly what they were doing when they saw/heard the news.
One of best friend's son's birthday is 9/11, but not 9/11/01. We had friends and extended family directly affected by it, but here in "middle America", it's not as in your face as it may be there near the center.
We don't have streets named after victims, we don't see orphaned children, we don't worry about low-flying planes (I'd go nuts if that were the case - our large airport is nearby, as are 3 smaller ones and a military base - lots of low planes around here!). I think I compartmentalized it, along with the OKC bombing. We also had friends and family there, so to us they're about the same (Thank goodness no-one we directly knew was injured or killed, and isn't it terribly sad and upsetting that people could be so mean to each other?)
I think about it daily as well. Yes, I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing that day. I am not sure if the fact that I am from MA which the flights originated from and is so close to NY is a factor in why though.
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I think about it often too...not necessarily daily, but often. I think about it every time I get on a plane. I think about it everytime I put on one of my USA shirts (I have a TON because I bought enough to have a different one for every day we were in South Africa for the World Cup for 17 days). I wonder though if I think of it in a different way than others though. For me, it's almost a prideful thing. It is of course mixed with great sorrow, but I was awed and amazed and proud of the way the country came together afterwards and supported each other. I would never have asked that a tragedy like that occur just so we could do that, but I was proud with how we (as a nation) did handle it when it occured. I think of the bombing of Pearl Harbor often too, for the same reasons. I love this country so much.
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MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
I think about it but not often. I didn't know anyone personally that was in the towers or who was affected by it but just all of the events saddened me and I tried to block out most of what I could about it. At the time, it was fairly easy because Abby was only 1 1/2 and I was a SAHM so for me, it was easy to turn on kids programming instead of the news. I still get sad about what happpened but at least now I can sit and watch some programs about it or talk about it. And over the summer, even though I had my first flight since 9/11 (meaning all the security stuff was all new to me) it didn't even enter my mind that day as I went through security or anything (which for me was great as that would have been the last thing I needed to think about - planes crashing as I'm about to get on one).
I do think about it, pretty often. Like everyone, I remember where I was and what I was doing. I was in an insurance licensing class, and seeing as I now work in the insurance field, I'm reminded of it every day. I remember going home and lunch and just having a meltdown. I thought for sure that it was the end. I was hysterical.
I think about it quite alot! I did not personally know anyone who died that day, but a young lady from here did work in one of the towers, and did not survive.
I remember what I was doing that day, and how I spent that day and the next glued to the tv, wondering how anyone could survive such an attack.