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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Samoas are my all-time favorite, but i absolutely love the lemonades, too. They are new, and only one baker makes them. They are lemon shortbread with a lemon icing on the bottom only. I will cry if they stop selling those
When I was growing up, I actually sold them door to door without fear of sex offenders and crazies in the world. My how times have changed.
Samoas, Tag-a-longs, and Lemon Chalets.
I also liked the cookie with the chocolate at the bottom. They were called All Abouts. I wish they still had lemon chalets and all abouts
That is my style too, especially if I put them in the freezer and then eat them frozen,,,yum
I used to freeze Thin Mints, thinking they'd last longer. Then I discovered that I actually like them better that way
Quote:
Originally Posted by karadisney
Samoas, Tag-a-longs, and Lemon Chalets.
I also liked the cookie with the chocolate at the bottom. They were called All Abouts. I wish they still had lemon chalets and all abouts
We still have Lemon Chalet Cremes (though they're round now). I finished a box yesterday while scrapbooking.
I don't miss All Abouts as much as I miss the Thanks a Lots (same cookie, other baker). They made the best teacher gifts!
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheWicKids
Samoas are my all-time favorite, but i absolutely love the lemonades, too. They are new, and only one baker makes them. They are lemon shortbread with a lemon icing on the bottom only. I will cry if they stop selling those
We had those before our council switched bakers. We live near the edge of our council, so one of DD's friends at church sells "the other GS cookies." I always buy Lemonades from her.
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Carolyn
Last edited by Carousel96; 02-11-2011 at 09:20 AM..
That is a really cool program the Boyscouts have, but the reason I prefer GS cookies to the popcorn is I can buy waaaaaaay more boxes of cookies than I can popcorn for the same amount. That stuff is darn expensive!! I bought a 3-pack from Dnephew and it was $40! That's 10 BOXES of Samoas!
I will grant you that the popcorn is spendy. However, just so you know....the troops and their local councils get to keep 70% of the selling price. I think thats a pretty good return. Then that 70% is split evenly between the council and the troop. THEN....our troop (at least) splits their portion into 1/3 and 2/3s. The 1/3 is kept by the troop to supplement camping trips, buy new gear, whatever the troop needs as a whole. The 2/3s is put in an account that each scout can use towards paying for summer camp, uniforms, personal camping gear, anything scout related. So for me it's a little easier buying it knowing this....I look at it as more of a donation since such a small percentage is going to the company making the popcorn.
My DS managed to pay from $2000 of the $3000 it cost for him to go to National Jamboree last summer. Of course that wasn't all popcorn sales. Our troop also sells fresh Christmas wreaths and they run a Christmas wrapping table at a local mall. All the fund raisers are split up in the 1/3 and 2/3s manner. The harder the boys work, the more they can make!
I have been curious what the individual GS troops make on the cookie sales. I know when my niece was in scouts, it didn't seem like a lot, but then she wasn't in the greatest troop either. Anyone know??
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!!
OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
I have been curious what the individual GS troops make on the cookie sales. I know when my niece was in scouts, it didn't seem like a lot, but then she wasn't in the greatest troop either. Anyone know??
When my DD was in GS (she's been out 2 years) the boxes cost $4 to sell and I want to say that the troop got to keep either $0.75 or $1 box. I think it was determined by the individual councils what the percentage was, so it could vary from council to council. Really not a good rate of return!
When my DD was in GS (she's been out 2 years) the boxes cost $4 to sell and I want to say that the troop got to keep either $0.75 or $1 box. I think it was determined by the individual councils what the percentage was, so it could vary from council to council. Really not a good rate of return!
Okay - that explains why niece's troop did car washes and the like instead of pushing the cookies.....but I ALWAYS bought from her and, I admit, I am a COMPLETE sucker for little Girl Scouts.....course, the little Cub Scouts are hard to resist too. DS is finding it harder to sell popcorn now that he is 5'3" and almost 14 years old. Was telling me during the last sale...."Man, the Cubs have it made!!"
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!!
OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
I was just in the food store to pick up some things and I knew Keebler had Grasshoppers (which are pretty much the same at thin mints, to me anyway). Well, now they have Coconut Dreams, which are pretty much the same as Samoas. They didn't seem as "sweet" as the GS brand, but heck, if I can find them year round now, I'm going to be one happy camper (and they were $3.79 - a little cheaper than the $4 the GS charge).
I have been curious what the individual GS troops make on the cookie sales. I know when my niece was in scouts, it didn't seem like a lot, but then she wasn't in the greatest troop either. Anyone know??
Our cookies sell for $3.50 a box. As a troop we get to keep between 55 and 66 cents per box, depending on how many we sell.
Less than a buck goes to the baker for the cookies.
The balance goes to the local GS council. So the girls do benefit, because that is the money that provides the local programming, camps, etc. It's the only "operating money" we give to the Council, as the annual GS dues all go to the national organization in New York.
One of hte incentives the girls can earn here are are "cookie credits" (basically GS Scrip) which is way the Council allocates some of the money back to the girls who sold the cookies. They also have an incentive program where they pay a fee per box back to the "Service Unit" (the affiliation of troops in a local community). That money has to be used for girl programs and events.
So I think they do their best to see that the cookie money benefits the girls, even if the troop doesn't make a huge profit per box. My DD's troop is not a huge seller, but we have been able to "live off cookie profits" the last two years. I haven't paid a single activity fee for DD- the troop covers it.
I just sent my DS (the sailor) in Japan......6 boxes of assorted Girl Scout cookies.....I sent Thin Mints, Peanutbutter Patties and Caramel Delights (I still call them Samoas)......