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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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If you have kids (must have more than 1), do you have a favorite? Do you know you do? Do other people tell you you do and which child it is?
My 3 DDs tell me frequently that one of them is my favorite, but I honestly could have sworn it was one of the others! I don't tell them that, though. I just ask why they think that one is my fave and then say "Yeah, I can see your point."
However - I always tell them "My favorite child is the one who needs me right then." It's the one I'm talking to at the time, the one who needs to cry on my shoulder or have me celebrate a victory with them.
The more I think about it, I don't really think I have one. Do you?
I think it is what you were getting at. Not exactly a favorite but the one who needs you most at that moment. When they get to be adults you will see the same. There are times one needs you more than the other, but you are still there for them all.
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Love the Magic of Disney Thanks Dad for our first 5 trips.
I've been thinking over and debating this question for about 2 hours now......and I know in my heart that I don't have a favorite.....but right now the "child" that is always on my mind and I actually "ache" to see is my "baby boy" the sailor. I have 4 children and they all are my favorite people in this world.
I only have two kids and they're so different that it depends on the moment as to who might be my favorite. When DD is being snotty and obnoxious, that's when DS is the favorite. When DS is being lazy and teachers are calling about late assignments, then DD is the favorite. Growing up, my sister was Mom's favorite. Mom even told the neighbors, right in front of me, that DSis was her favorite. Yeah, that made me feel real special.
I really try not to show favoritism to either of my kids. I love them both to bits and I hope they know that. So far, neither has either claimed to be my favorite or claimed that the other was my favorite. I guess as a Mom, all you can do is your best and hope it's good enough.
I only have one so she is my favorite. However, I wanted to add in to this that I believe while a parent shouldn't SHOW favoritism, I believe in some ways it's unavoidable. I am not talking love here...I'm talking like.
I think that as with all humans, some you have more in common with, some your opinions on things and life in general match more, personalities mix and clash...to me it's no different with your children.
I believe the difference is that as a parent your job is not to "show" that favoritism. I don't think it something that is unavoidable though, and I also believe that you can favor one over others in different ways (slighty different than the time wise others have spoke of above),
In the end every child is different, and your going to love them all...but because they are different, I don't see how that can't happen that you like one more than the others.
All this being said...I don't only have 1 child because of this notion, but I am glad I do in a way!
I don't know Sparky. I have two kids. One is a boy and one is a girl. I have more in common with my daughter. However, I really don't think that I like her better than I like my son. Really. They are very different kids and have different things to share with the world and I appreciate them for those differences. I love them both dearly and I like them both a lot. I've thought about this question since my first reply this morning, and I really don't see myself favoring one over the other in the big picture.
It might seem like I have a favorite but i don't. I am involved in one of my childs sporting events and have been for a long time. I try to treat each of them the same and spend as much time with them as possible.
We only have one child right now, but he is the favorite grandchild on my husband's side...at least when it comes to Pop-Pop. Unfortunately for the other grand kids, Pop-Pop makes it obvious he is the favorite, which has blatantly caused some hard feelings with my sister-in-law. I don't agree with how obvious he is about it, I can see it hurts the other grand kids feelings.
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I don't have a favorite of my 2 sons; the oldest was a "mini-me" around ages 5-7...looked just like me, had my lack of organizational skills, etc., but is now in character so much like my DH in introversion and sense of humor. The youngest has my extroversion but was daddy's boy from infancy to toddlerhood--to the point of, "No, DADDY change my diaper!" (no jealousy there). So I love seeing myself and seeing DH in both and have no favorite.
The hilarious thing they do, though, when one spontaneously does something nice, is that he'll say, "The good son loaded the dishwasher" (or whatever it was).
I don't think my parents had a favorite child of the four of us (unless it was me, as the oldest, and I didn't see it), but the youngest sure seemed to be the least-favorite with my mom, and I always feel bad about that.
We just have one son so without a doubt he's our favorite. But I have an older brother and a younger sister and although I'm sure my parents love us all the same I know my sister is their "favored" child. To this day my mother insults me in front of other people and family about my weight, my hair, my clothes and now wrinkles, while my sister can do no wrong and is perfect in every way. I love my Mom but sometimes it's hard to like her.
But I have an older brother and a younger sister and although I'm sure my parents love us all the same I know my sister is their "favored" child. To this day my mother insults me in front of other people and family about my weight, my hair, my clothes and now wrinkles, while my sister can do no wrong and is perfect in every way. I love my Mom but sometimes it's hard to like her.
That's so sad! I hope you limit time with her as much as possible; she's being cruel and you neither deserve it nor have to put up with it. I hope you can just love her from afar and not give her opportunities to belittle you. This reminds me of the mean mom in today's Annie's Mailbox column: Not So Funny Mom by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar on Creators.com - A Syndicate Of Talent .
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Nope, no favorites for me.. do I 'favor' each of them in different ways? sure.. that's expected DS1 (the oldest) is very level headed & practical.. he is only (almost) 20YO & is so straight laced even *I* shake my head sometimes.. I 'favor' him for practical things.. he is the executor of my will, he is the one I call when I need a legal type opinion...
DS (18YO) is my heart... he is my sensitive child so I know if I'm having a bad day I can talk to him & he'll listen.. DS1 would tell me to 'man up' where DS2 has a heart as big as the world
Now DD (almost 15YO) is my 'teen BFF' I favor her for the girl stuff... we are close & share a lot together..
You know, my brother & I grew up thinking/feeling we were each our Moms favorite ( Dad died when I was 2YO) & I think that is the testament of a GREAT mother.. that her kids feel like they are her favorite... Even tho I KNEW I was her favorite, it was nice that my brother thought he was too
Funny thing is right before my DS1 went back to college the kids were joking on who was Moms favorite & each of them made a case for why they were favorite & it made me feel good & that I had done my job pretty good.
Now that we have the dog I always joke that she is my favorite 'kid'
No favorite, absolutely not. My DS demands a lot of my attention, being a special needs child, but DH and I make it a point to spend time with DD also. My kids are so very different but so similar in some ways and are loved for their uniqueness. My in-laws on the other hand play favorites between DH and his sibs and the grand kids. We are not at the top of that list, lol.
My 5 are all grown (19-34) and I tried to never show favoritism when raising them. This was really challenging because we are a blended family - DH & I married when they were 12, two were 10, one was 6 and the last not yet born. There was lots of adjusting on all sides because my DD (10) had been the only one and DH's 3 had been given waaaaay too much freedom. Sometimes small allowance were made for somebody that was having a really hard time. Now that they are all grown, I definitely like spending time with some more than others. Our eldest is a real pain in the butt and rubs everyone the wrong way. The oldest DS is fun but very independent. Youngest DS is away at college and I like him that way...he is a very unique individual. I love him dearly and miss him every day but there is a lot less stress than before. We love to socialize with the other DD and middle DS and his wife. THey seem to enjoy our company and we share many good times. Don't get me wrong, I love everyone of them and would do anything for them but just enjoy some more than others. I hope I don't sound like an evil woman with this!?!?!
BTW, my Mom has always had issues with my sister but not so much me or my brother. She still tells everybody about all the things that are "wrong" with my sister. It gets really ugly and my sister has problems because of it. My sister is a very loving and kind person and is always doing special things but Mom never recognizes any of it. I personally think she has always been jealous even when sis was a little girl.
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