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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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My DH came home last night and was talking about the deal. I already knew, thanks to these boards. He seems to like the idea, but Im not sure. about it. I think my ds3 would enjoy the super heroes around the park (DHS) but there would have to be a special area for them, like they have for Star Wars.
I think it's an odd combo for Disney to own Marvel, which is more adult-oriented entertainment/cartoons/comics, but then again that could be the point.
Not really. Marvel is very young kid oriented, too. There is no doubt that comics and the recent movies appeal to older boys and men. But there a slew of products such as action figures and cartoons that get gobbled up by the younger set
I don't think we're going to be seeing Spiderman at DHS any time soon. CNN money has reported that the contract with Universal for Spiderman, Ironman, Dr. Doom and the Hulk is perpetual--so unless Disney buys out the contracts--which BTW are only for EAST of the Mississippi River--we won't be seeing them at WDW, but the possibility certainly exists for DL from my understanding.
On another note--I think this is a really good buy for Disney. Marvel is a diversified company that can now take advantage of the "Disney" platform to lower publishing and promotional costs. It also gives Disney accesss to several new fan target groups--including the comic-con goer and boys age 5-85!
That is what I read too. So I am guessing we could be seeing some Marvel stuff at DL/CA.
That's what the ticket price & DDP price increases have or will pay for
Somehow, to have those characters in Disney --- even the Studios--- seems so, well... doesn't seem or feel Disney. Just my opinion --- another park, but that is not likely either.
For those who think that this deal is "inappropriate", consider this, Disney owns ABC, Miramax, Hyperion Publishing, and Touchstone Pictures. Most of these properties have delt with very adult material. Disney realizes that the word "family" means "all" members of the families - including adults. The Disney name will not be put on any project that is inappropriate for children. They know how to separate their various labels to fit certain age levels.
I don't know how to feel about this acquisition. What did Stan Lee do wrong? Is Stan Lee retiring, could this be what it is all about? However, as a future game art designer, I see a huge potential benefit wise. A lot of the games out now for Marvel are not that great. Marvel vs Capcom is one example of a bad game. Arcade wise, the Marvel games are pretty good. As for the fighting games, they need a lot of help. I can see where a merger between Disney and Marvel would possibly help the Marvel game franchise. I can see improvement in Disney games as well. Disney has struck well with their target markets for their games. Pixie Hollow, Toon Town, and Kingdom Hearts comes to mind as some of Disney's best games for their target markets. Marvel has some good games in Spiderman and the new Wolverine. Disney has done well with their computer games, but both Marvel and Disney need to work harder at their console games. I would like to work for the company to help them develop their games better. I see a large potential for improvement and I would want to be there to help them go in the right direction. Going from a movie to a game is always a tricky thing. You are taking someone's intellectual property and changing it to meet the needs of a target gaming audience. Sometimes it is the same audience that you are targetting for your movie audience, but when the game is created, you have to change the plot line from the movie enough to make it work better for a game. It is one thing to go from a comic book to a movie where everything is static. When you play a game you want to have choices but still restrict it to the original intellectual property. I think that acquiring Marvel was a good move on Disney's part. Marvel went from comics, to movies, to games, to merchandise and this is not always an easy thing to do.
Stan Lee hasn't been part of Marvel for years. There's actually been some lawsuits going back and forth, but they still have a fairly amicable relationship as far as I know.
but on that token... not only does Stan Lee's current company POW! Entertainment have a first look with Disney (see Stan Lee | StitchKingdom.com for a bit of info on one project), but the acquisition has his strong blessings. he said it was like 'your two best friends coming together.'
Stan Lee doesn't run the company like he used to 25, 30 years ago. Hes more of a part-time producer of comics and films an executive consultant if you will. Hes getting to old to start his own projects at this point or have heavy involvement with them. He used to make very interesting comic book series in his prime. Though in recent years he's become more of a personality and a PR face as the Comic Book living legend. He makes his living these days making public appearences and working as a consultant with movies based on his comics.
Which is in my opinion a good thing to do when your getting to old to run a comic book empire. Just keep a clean public image for the rest of his life for all those kids and people that look up to you.
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A famous Passporter once said "couldn't we just sleep through every day that does not include visiting Florida?"
I was interested when I heard this last night - it's not something I'd have expected and I must admit we did discuss the implications for Universal. I'd prefer to see the Marvel characters remaining there, rather than moving to Disney.
My kids would love that. But I can't picture them at WDW especiallly at MK. Imagine Spectromagic and after Mickey Mouse's float comes a float with Spiderman, Wolverine and Iron Man , uhh I don't think so. Maybe at DHS it could work.
I don't think that we'll see the Marvel characters at the Magic Kingdom. I think that they would either go at DHS or at a new theme park. I was also wondering why Disney doesn't try work out a deal with Universal that they can still keep their Marvel Island, but that Disney could also use the characters in their own theme parks. IOA has never been a real threat to Disney, although they may have more competition with Harry Potter. I would think that the Marvel characters being in more than one popular Orlando theme park could mean better promotion for the franchise.
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I'm on the fence about this . I know that Disney is trying to market for boys. I would just hate to see Spiderman clinging to the castle or the Hulk trashing the Spaceship Earth.
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Melanie
June 1985-off site/March 2004- Pop & OKW
Aug. 2004- Hurricane Charlie POR & FWCG/July 2005- Grand Villa OKW
Feb. 2006-Pop/Feb. 2007- AS Music, WL, AS Movies
Sept. 2011- Disney Med Cruise