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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 don't know what to get ds for Christmas. He doesn't either. He wants a Ipod but he already has a Nintendo DSI XL and we live out in the country and downloading things aren't easy. I feel as though he can wait til his birthday to get this in June, when money isn't that tight.
He isn't into sports other than Taekwondo. He loves Sonic the Hedgehog but can't find alot here on that. I am totally stumped. Any suggestions?????
I have dd gift bought (just got a store credit for her Leap Pad since it went on sale and saved $20 ) and the Just Dance Wii.
At ten, my boys loved anything they could build. In addition to Legos, there are tons of other building kits.
Would you trust him with a few tools of his own? Hammer, saw, pliers, etc. You can give him some wood scraps, too.
My boys also like comic books. My middle son liked collectible cards (Magic) and he just sold some of his and made over $2,000.00 so I guess they were worth it. Not something I would have said at the time.
My kids also would like things like gift certificates to ski, the movies, etc.
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Welcome to my world! My DS is 10 this year also, and getting him to give me gift ideas is like pulling teeth. (Which I totally don't get...when I was little, I could rattle off a gift list to my mom at a moment's notice! LOL) He finally decided that he wanted to ask Santa for a drawing table for his room (he is really into drawing and art), but as far as what DH and I are getting him....I've had to come up with most of it on my own. So far I've bought a couple things - Hero collection figures (I have no idea how to describe them....you build them together and end up with a sort of robot/alien looking figure...they are similar to Bionicles if you know those), a remote control "spy" car that has a camera on the front and projects what it sees back to a small display on the remote control that you are using to drive it, and a gift card for WDW since we are going there 3 wks after Christmas. I'm going to keep checking back to see if anyone gives any more ideas because I'm about tapped out right now.
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MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
Does he like to build things? Experiment? Take things apart and put them together?
What about a microscope? Or a science kit or simple chemistry set? Those kits where you build a radio ?
I'm in the same boat with my 13 year old. All he could think of was a better stand for his keyboard. He's not into sports, just music.
At 10, he enjoyed building large lego sets and video games like Wii.
Nerf dart tag was a hit one year. You know boys, anything that shoots.
Why do guys of all ages have to be so difficult to gift?
Same boat! Oldest DS turns 13 next week and then an 11.5 year old. Trying to get a birthday present and then 6 weeks later Christmas for 2! My boys like anything electronic and Legos! Last year we got them Lego Universe but what to do this year?!?! We already have PS3, PS2, Wii, PSP(s), MP3s, and multiple computers in our house. Can you tell my hubby is a tech geek too?!?! When I ask what they want I usually get a list of items that I've never heard of or can't afford or would never buy a child. Good Luck!
Thanks everyone
He already has the nerf dart type of game that irritates me so much. Wish I had never bought him it. He uses it too much and gets kinda in a "wierd" zone.
Legos...had them and doesn't use them much anymore but good suggestion Carolyn.
Huntersmom:He is always into is dads/ my dh boards, nails etc and has his own tools. He was brought up on Bob The Builder and I guess it is true that they do become what they watch
Ashli: He is into the spy car type of thing too and that is something I will have to consider. I am going to have to try to look up that Hero collection thing that you mentioned. I am like you...I could rattle so many things off when I was asked what I wanted for Christmas (and still can) but they can't. What is wrong with these kids If you think of something, please let me know.
Joanne: keep me posted on what you decide. I don't know what to do and I don't like waiting til Dec to buy gifts.
Queenmommy: we were posting at the same time lol. I don't have a clue, what half of those things that you just wrote were. So, that tells you how techno literate I am
This age group is just too difficult. If I were to get him an Ipod in the future, what will be next...an IPad? His own computer? Many kids have their own computer and he has my old one. UGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
Thanks everyone!!!
Last edited by Starbright; 11-08-2011 at 03:21 PM..
I just sent an email to my nephew's mom (my SIL) to see if she thinks he would like the Heroica game that Lego came out with. He's 9, and I think it would appeal to him , because it's both building things with Legos and game playing. Other than that, I have no idea.
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Disney World Trips So Far: 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015a, 2015b, 2016a (2016b in planning)
DS (10) just got the best birthday present from his aunt and uncle. It is called a sky swimmer, I think....I don't have the box anymore. It is a huge helium balloon that the kids assembled with some stick-on electronic stuff and a moving tail and some fins. They come in 2 options that I have seen - one is a shark and the other is a clownfish like Nemo.
This thing was amazing!!! It actually swims throught he air in the house and he controlled it by remote control. It can rise and fall and when it swam over me on the couch it felt like I was scuba diving on the bottom of the ocean. Sad ending is that DH told DS it was okay to take it outside without a leash on the second day he had it because the helium was weaker....long story short, it swam off over Toronto and was last seen heading out over Lake Ontario. Sometimes I wish my DH would stop and THINK!!!!
Anyhoo....a replacement has been ordered online and we are happily awaiting a new one. It's one of those things I probably would not have bought because it looked to good to be true - well it was very cool. The balloon itself can be emptied and re-filled with helium over and over again.
Our plans for Christmas for him include a science kit that makes special effects make-up (from JC Penney) and I am seriously considering a kindle or a nook colour because he is a huge reader at the moment - just not sure which way to jump. the kindles are actually a cheaper version of an Ipad which is more that I really want and I think he might then be tempted by the games on it, whereas a Nook colour is primarily for reading. I need to do a little more market research.
I think he mentioned something about a RC car. Will have to get him to look through the Sears catelog again and see if he mentions it.
SuzieQ: Where did he get the sky swimmer? That sounds really cool. What did you do about the helium???? You are from Canada, and you mentioned JC Penny. Do you have one there right now? I am in Sask and we don't have one and I LOVE LOVE the store.
What about an Erector set, Kinnex, etc.? I know it's going back to basics, but sometimes my kids LIKE to be "unplugged".
Does he have dreams of being a rock god? What about a guitar and some lessons?
I'm so over the electronic stuff - I'm tired of all the tech stuff. My kids love to get games and puzzles. There are some awesome games out there!
Ashli: He is into the spy car type of thing too and that is something I will have to consider. I am going to have to try to look up that Hero collection thing that you mentioned. I am like you...I could rattle so many things off when I was asked what I wanted for Christmas (and still can) but they can't. What is wrong with these kids If you think of something, please let me know.
I thought I'd give you a couple links, so you know what I was talking about. Here is the Hero thing: http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Stormer-3-0-2145 (That's just one, there are a bunch of different aliens though)
And here is the spy car: Ultimate Spy Video Car : Target I found them both at our Target.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pax
I take it he's not an avid reader? We bookworms always had EASY giftlists - the length of our arms, just book after book after book.
My DS is actually a HUGE reader, just like his mom , but he goes through books so fast, we much prefer the library to buying most of his books.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suzie-Q
DS (10) just got the best birthday present from his aunt and uncle. It is called a sky swimmer, I think....I don't have the box anymore. It is a huge helium balloon that the kids assembled with some stick-on electronic stuff and a moving tail and some fins. They come in 2 options that I have seen - one is a shark and the other is a clownfish like Nemo.
This thing was amazing!!! It actually swims throught he air in the house and he controlled it by remote control. It can rise and fall and when it swam over me on the couch it felt like I was scuba diving on the bottom of the ocean. Sad ending is that DH told DS it was okay to take it outside without a leash on the second day he had it because the helium was weaker....long story short, it swam off over Toronto and was last seen heading out over Lake Ontario. Sometimes I wish my DH would stop and THINK!!!!
Anyhoo....a replacement has been ordered online and we are happily awaiting a new one. It's one of those things I probably would not have bought because it looked to good to be true - well it was very cool. The balloon itself can be emptied and re-filled with helium over and over again.
.
That sounds so cool!!!! Do you mind giving the website to where it can be ordered? I don't think I've ever seen one in a store here.
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MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
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) and the Just Dance Wii. 
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) He finally decided that he wanted to ask Santa for a drawing table for his room (he is really into drawing and art), but as far as what DH and I are getting him....I've had to come up with most of it on my own. So far I've bought a couple things - Hero collection figures (I have no idea how to describe them....you build them together and end up with a sort of robot/alien looking figure...they are similar to Bionicles if you know those), a remote control "spy" car that has a camera on the front and projects what it sees back to a small display on the remote control that you are using to drive it, and a gift card for WDW since we are going there 3 wks after Christmas. 
I'm going to keep checking back to see if anyone gives any more ideas because I'm about tapped out right now.
) but they can't. What is wrong with these kids
If you think of something, please let me know.
Sometimes I wish my DH would stop and THINK!!!!
Guess where we were headed??
Hybrid Mode
