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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Out of curiosity, I used Expedia to "quote" trips to my most desired locations (not in any particular order)
Hawaii
Italy
Australia
New Zeland
Japan
Greece
I was surprised at how much it actually cost for airfare and hotel, it seemed rather reasonable (I'm really thinking I did something wrong!)
I was wondering how you globetrotters do it? Do you use timeshares, have really good jobs, scrimp or save, or just get really good deals? If any of you have been to any of the above locations, I was curious as to how you did it and what it cost??? I would really like to give my family a "trip of a lifetime" at some point....
I'm always on the lookout for good deals and you're right, you can find some good ones on Expedia. We're lucky to live in Europe, as it's very easy - and relatively cheap - for us to have weekend aways at many places across the continent. A lot of the money we save goes towards holiday and as DVC members, we never have to worry about paying for hotels when we stay at Disney, which makes those trips a lot cheaper!
I usually look at both Travelocity and Expedia when I am thinking about booking a vacation to get ideas on where to stay, etc.. Then when I know what it costs through those sites, I go directly to the airline's and hotel's web sites and always end up paying a couple of hundred dollars less. A little more extra work, but then we have some extra money to spend on tours, food, etc.
We're planning on going to Hawaii in a couple of years for our 25th anniversary (kids and all) and using our DVC for part of our stay and then booking a condo or something for the rest of our stay. After flying all that way, I want to see everything I can because I don't know if I will every get back. So, looking at Expedia will help us gauge how much we will have to save up.
I usually read a lot about the destination first. That way, I figure out what we wanna see and do and how much time we would like to spend where. Then, I check prices for plane tickets at various internet sites (like Expedia, Travelchannel) and check which days have the lowest fares (yes, there are sometimes HUGE differences and if you're flexible, the time spent for research might well pay off). We normally have flights with one or two lay-overs - they are cheaper than direct flights.
After the plane tickets, I try to find good hotel rates. I'm not quite sure how the system works in the U.S. but here in Germany there are tour operators that buy large contingents at hotels and offer rooms to individual customers. Their rates for a room are mostly below the ones I find on the internet. Lastly, I check for rates for a rental car. Oh, BTW, we normally save a lot of money by eating fast food (we're not sticking to that plan at Disney, but elsewhere), too.
So, yeah, long-distance travel isn't cheap but lots and lots of research has always paid off for us in the end! And it's mostly been "the earlier you book, the cheaper the fares" for us. Hope this helped a bit?
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Pixie Dust
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A little more extra work, but then we have some extra money to spend on tours, food, etc. 
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