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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 work at an ER vet and since the economy has been slowing down, our office has really slowed to a crawl. It's a small business - only 4 doctors and 4 technicians. Usually when we work a shift, it's one doctor and one technician. Well at the last board meeting (we're owned by a board of local vets) they asked our boss to ask us techs if we would take a pay cut. He absolutely refused to even discuss it with us and told them just that. He said we haven't gotten raises in the past couple of years and we don't get holiday pay so he wasn't going to ask us to take pay cuts. What really kind of irked me is that it isn't like we aren't making any money, just less than we used to. It comes down to the shareholders are making less, therefore they want us to make less so they can make more. It really is a great job - love the hours, love all my coworkers, good pay, and paid benefits (medical and dental). It's not like we can make people come in. I completely understand people don't have the extra money to spend right now, and if Fluffy can hang on until morning, then that's what they're going to do. I really don't want to have to try and find another job anytime soon, and if I had to it would mean a very big pay cut. Besides all the vets are getting slow (which is another reason we've slowed down, they're taking their own emergencies instead of referring them) so finding another vet job may not be all that easy. Sorry this got so long, I just despise worrying about this sort of thing and needed a quick vent.
Why don't board members ever want to take a pay cut? That just really makes my blood boil that the rich get richer while the rest of us lowly workers are forced to be laid off or take pay cuts or benefit cuts.
Why don't board members ever want to take a pay cut? That just really makes my blood boil that the rich get richer while the rest of us lowly workers are forced to be laid off or take pay cuts or benefit cuts.
I understand the sentiment but the boards I've sat on didn't get paid anything. They were not for profits, so I don't know if businesses pay board members or not. It would be nice if CEOs, CFOs and COOs would take a pay cut now and then instead of laying off workers or closing plants.
It's always OK to vent in a nice way.
It is going to hard to find the right place / market for your services. I would think that if you are all able to put your heads together you can come up with a way to hang on. You might have to do grooming or boardering or something for a while...
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I completely understand. I work for a vet too, and even though we are usually slow after school goes back in session, we are even slower because of the economy. It scares me on some days that I might not a a job, but then we have other days, like today, when we are so busy, I think we will be ok. I think the economy has everyone scared.
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I think everyone's hurting. And scared.
Look at the good side - your boss said no-way was he asking you guys to take cuts. Although why he felt the need to tell you about is beyond me.
Another bright side (and I know this is mean and sad) - the holidays are coming up. vets will be closed more hours, and people have more odd stuff for their pets to get into, necessitating a trip to your office. (let's hope not, but the reality is that it's true).
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It really is a great job - love the hours, love all my coworkers, good pay, and paid benefits (medical and dental). It's not like we can make people come in. I completely understand people don't have the extra money to spend right now, and if Fluffy can hang on until morning, then that's what they're going to do. I really don't want to have to try and find another job anytime soon, and if I had to it would mean a very big pay cut. Besides all the vets are getting slow (which is another reason we've slowed down, they're taking their own emergencies instead of referring them) so finding another vet job may not be all that easy. Sorry this got so long, I just despise worrying about this sort of thing and needed a quick vent.
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