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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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 need to just vent this out but seriously what is wrong with people these days???
My 8 year old son had his first soccer tournament this weekend. He is on a travel team and his team is made up of 7 and 8 year old boys. They had 4 games in 2 days and were all having a great time.
About 3 minutes into game #4, no joke the game had just started, the coach of the other team did something and the official gave him a warning. The official was an actual official and not some high school boy that usually comes to the games. All the parents were on the opposite side of the field so we didn't really hear what happened but apparently the other coach was wondering up and down the side lines too far. They are supposed to stay in front of their own bench and he was crossing over into the "neutral" zone, if that makes sense. So he gets this warning and the next thing we know he gets a yellow card. Then he is screaming at the official and then gets kicked out the game but refuses to leave.
All of the kids are just standing there not knowing what to do. The parents are horror stricken. Our coach has our boys sit down and the other team goes and sits down but now that team is right next to the screaming. I heard 1 or 2 "f-bombs" dropped. The official had to go get the tournament organizers and the police and the guy still wouldn't leave and so he yells out to all his kids to go to their parents that they are ALL leaving. So the poor kids had to forfeit and no one got to play.
It was just a disgusting display and the sad thing truly is he is the father of one of those little boys.
We had a family on our team that came home from Disney a day early so their son could play in the tournament and then because of this jerk they didn't even get to play. I haven't heard if the guy got a fine or suspension or anything but our coach overheard them all yelling at each other that they were going to press charges. SERIOUSLY? All this over a 8 year old soccer game?
So I ask - what is wrong with people?
On a positive note our boys won trophies. The forfeit gave them the tournament win. We knew they were going to place somewhere but this sealed the deal. I tried to tell my son that they won because they played hard, scored lots of goals AND had excellent sportsmanship. This is the first trophy he won and not a general participation trophy.
I agree what is wrong with some people...these games are supposed to be fun and to learn what playing sports mean...good sportmanship. These are young kids and why do some people have to make it a life and death situation. Sports to me is looking up to 'good' role models but lately it seems that there are some adults who have forgotten that. Good for you for teaching your son the right thing.
I strongly suspect that parents as levelheaded and with the right attitude about sportsmanship as you have will coordinate efforts to get this guy removed from coaching. His behavior was so extreme as possibly indicating a mental or personality disorder, IMO.
Very, very sad for the kids on his team deprived of their chance to compete and win fair and square if able to prevail, but so nice that it worked out for your son's team.
__________________
“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
It sounds like you turned a negative experience into a learning experience and, as someone who has been in similar situations, I think that's about the only way to put a positive spin on it!
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There must have been something wrong with that coach. I can't imagine how he could have let himself get so out of control without something being wrong with him.
I think you handled the situation of getting the trophy with your son just right. I hope they get more tournaments to play in that go a lot better.
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First off....Congrats on the Win!! A forfeit does help the team ranking, but it was hard work and team effort that put them in contention to begin with. So they did great!!
Our DS is on a travel soccer league too. And the way our league is set up, I know that those in charge would have heard about it. The coach should have removed himself and let the assistant coach take over. He should not have cost his team the tourney. If I had been a parent on that team, I'd make my displeasure with the coach known to the powers that be. Those kids learned poor sportsmanship, their parents may be out the cost of hotel rooms, and those tourneys are EXPENSIVE for their clubs to enter. What a shame, all the way around, all because the coach was a jerk!
We didn't have DS try out for travel until he was heading into middle school. It was just local city league up to then, because that was more of a "fun" game of soccer. The travel leagues are highly competitive, and unfortunately the adults seem to act out the most. But we like to focus on having fun. Our team's parents tend to encourage the kids, praise a good play (regardless of whose team he's on) and try not to tell the refs how to do their job. A tad hard sometimes, but that's what they're paid for. Overall, I find that most of the kids and their parents are great! I'm glad for that since I'm a smallish woman and have had to field marshal a time or two.
My DS plays travel soccer, and my DD is a referee. Unfortunately I've seen that happen around here as well (and even at 2 of our "recreation" league games)! Sorry the kids had to be subjected to that! Congrats on the trophies!
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Congratulations to your son and his team on winning the tournament!
There is no excuse for that type of behavior! I feel very bad for that team and for the child who has that coach for a father.
It is terrible that we have turned fun into stress for kids. We pulled our older son out of basketball when he was 9 because I thought the coach was a bully. (local rec league)
I long ago decided that athletic prowess in elementary school is not what we should be aiming for. My DD rode horses and didn't start until she was almost 11. She became an excellent rider and was reserve champion at collegiate Nationals one year. In so many sports, there is no advantage to stressing kids out and having them play on a very competitive level before 10 or so. To me, it is more for the parents, which is why you end up with crazy adults being involved. And kids get burned out.
It sounds like soccer season is over and you can relax for a few months and enjoy the win.
What absolutely appalling behavior & from someone in a position that has authority, power & influence over children too. Congratulations on turning a horrible event into a learning opportunity & the win. Hopefully, you & other parents will raise a big enough stink with the league to get this man removed from coaching as he obviously has absolutely no business coaching children.
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It is disheartening to hear of this kind of behavior from adults in places of authority. It's worrying that so many children were witness to this behavior. It's also worrying that I'm sure some of the parents of the other team will think that coach's actions were justified and he was targeted by the official, unfairly.
When did children's sports become so important? They used to be about the fun and learning teamwork and sportsmanship. Honestly, that kind of behavior is the reason we removed our children from all team sports. The day I had to walk onto a soccer field and remove my child while a TORNADO approached because the coaches didn't want to stop the game and chance one of the teams having to forfeit was the last day one of my kids played. BTW - it was a U4 team!! FOUR.
In my experience, there is way too much of that type of behavior in kid's sports. I agree with Huntermom, that elementary children should probably not be in organized sports. When I was growing up (in the caveman days), there was basically little league only for elementary age and there was much less parental involvement. Kids rode their bikes to practice or were dropped off; Mom and/or Dad usually showed up for games but just sat in the stands and observed. Now we have 3-4 YO playing on soccer teams. That is just too young. Why can't kids be aloud to just play and have fun. Mom and/or Dad can teach them to throw and catch and then if they want to play with their friends for fun; go for it. I just do not understand why now days, kids have to have all these organized activities - sports, dance, music lessons, karate, art classes, cooking classes! Enough give these kids some time to just be kids. Sometimes I wonder how many parents push their kids to do all this stuff just to have the excuse of "we are just so busy". I really do not enjoy going to my grandkids events due to behaviour of parents and watching stressed out kids. Sorry if I am offending anyone...just my opinion and I get told often that I am weird and don't think like others.
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All the parents were on the opposite side of the field so we didn't really hear what happened but apparently the other coach was wondering up and down the side lines too far. They are supposed to stay in front of their own bench and he was crossing over into the "neutral" zone, if that makes sense. So he gets this warning and the next thing we know he gets a yellow card. 
Then he is screaming at the official and then gets kicked out the game but refuses to leave. 
The parents are horror stricken.
Our coach has our boys sit down and the other team goes and sits down but now that team is right next to the screaming. I heard 1 or 2 "f-bombs" dropped. 
The official had to go get the tournament organizers and the police and the guy still wouldn't leave and so he yells out to all his kids to go to their parents that they are ALL leaving. So the poor kids had to forfeit and no one got to play. 
Holly: 
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Overall, I find that most of the kids and their parents are great! I'm glad for that since I'm a smallish woman and have had to field marshal a time or two. 
Sorry the kids had to be subjected to that! Congrats on the trophies!
), there was basically little league only for elementary age and there was much less parental involvement. Kids rode their bikes to practice or were dropped off; Mom and/or Dad usually showed up for games but just sat in the stands and observed. Now we have 3-4 YO playing on soccer teams. That is just too young. Why can't kids be aloud to just play and have fun. Mom and/or Dad can teach them to throw and catch and then if they want to play with their friends for fun; go for it. I just do not understand why now days, kids have to have all these organized activities - sports, dance, music lessons, karate, art classes, cooking classes! Enough give these kids some time to just be kids. Sometimes I wonder how many parents push their kids to do all this stuff just to have the excuse of "we are just so busy". I really do not enjoy going to my grandkids events due to behaviour of parents and watching stressed out kids. Sorry if I am offending anyone...just my opinion and I get told often that I am weird and don't think like others.
Mary - not enough trips!
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