We're going to WDW! Adventures of a Mom & Toddler the TR! 9/24-9/30/2010 - Page 19 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Sounds like things are moving along nicely. A little "mommy-time" is always needed here and there. I was able to have some this weekend when Evan slept over my sisters. I spent all Friday night "recycling" his toys. (pulling old ones out of the attic and putting them back into play and then removing some to place into the attic and then getting rid or some). Not the greatest "me time" but it was heavenly to sleep in until 9am on Saturday.
And Holly - I took a half day of vacation last week just to do stuff like that at home. I just can't seem to get anything extra done at home with the kiddos around.
And Holly - I took a half day of vacation last week just to do stuff like that at home. I just can't seem to get anything extra done at home with the kiddos around.
I know - crazy isn't it. We went away and it took me over 1 week to get the carry on bag unpacked because that had all Evan's stuff in it aka toys and everytime I tried to put them away it was like "what's that mommy", "I want to play with that". By the time he goes to bed at night (and I have to lay with him) - I'm ready for bed.
Glad everything is moving along with Skyler's schooling, I don't know what it is about how they list the services, Angel has been diagnosed that she has dyslexia, but the school system does not "test for it" so her IEP does not state dyslexia, her teachers know her issues so they work with her but I never understood teh logic of how they fill out the paperwork.
What a great Christmas gift - hope you get some mommy time before you leave, sounds like it will be a great class.
Thanks so much everyone. Sadly I still haven't found a Cooking Class from their list of classes I want to take yet (still looking), but I was so excited to open that Gift from DMIL & DFIL on Christmas Morning (and Erick had to tease me once again saying he knew what I was getting from his parents). I think it's a great gift for anyone trying to learn how to cook.
Our trip is getting much closer, and I am getting so excited. I am a tad bit sad we'll only see my mom for a few days since her 2 sisters and DBIL whom she's driving up with keep changing their minds on when they're coming out there are driving her crazy (she even admitted she could have flown out there and paid less flying than driving with them to have spent more time out there with Skyler & I). I'm just happy neither side of my family is feeling like they won't see Skyler & I (especially my Dad's Family). I still have so much laundry to do and packing to do without overpacking this time. Skyler's visit from the Easter Bunny will be split with a few small items when we're there, and the bigger items (Sand Toys, a new Toy Story Beach Towel, and a few other things I just don't want to lug with me, but they're more purposed for the summer) are staying home and he'll get them when we get back.
Still with the anticipation of our move, DMIL has strongly encouraged Erick to use one of his Fridays off of work and turn it into a 3 Day Weekend Getaway with Skyler & I (and take time off his other job). I know we're waiting to see exactly when the move is (DFIL is just working from home now or out of other offices within the area within the company he works for). I think they're still waiting to see if Erick's job can be transferred first. I do think Erick, Skyler, & I do need to get away and have some fun the 3 of us very soon.
Good news, Skyler's Meeting for School is this coming Thursday. I don't think I'm quite ready to be away from Skyler for a little bit 5 days a week yet, but I know he needs the socialization. We did find out that the Dental Hygenist at Skyler's Dentist's office (he had an appointment yesterday) is heading on the Disney Dream in May and is super excited for her first cruise (and it being Disney). We had a little fun talking about Disney for a few minutes too.
Thanks so much everyone for all of your kind words. It's been a rough few weeks with some of us feeling under the weather and a lot of appointments. I hope you all are doing well. It's a little hard to get on the computer now when Skyler wants to help me type.
Glad everything is moving along with Skyler's schooling, I don't know what it is about how they list the services, Angel has been diagnosed that she has dyslexia, but the school system does not "test for it" so her IEP does not state dyslexia, her teachers know her issues so they work with her but I never understood teh logic of how they fill out the paperwork.
What a great Christmas gift - hope you get some mommy time before you leave, sounds like it will be a great class.
Meg, I think for Dyslexia they may test for it the same way they do for ADHD by going through Psychologists (which my dad did with me our school district didn't do it). I know I had to fill out all of the parent surveys for Skyler before the Psychologist came to our home and he tried basing his own observation with those surveys and some other testing with pictures and puzzles. He was part of the committee that determined Skyler's elegibility.
I think I'm baffled with the logic too of it and how they can base his accomodations based on one observation, not his actual diagnosis. I know after his IEP Meeting on Thursday (whether or not I think it's the right services for him and if my DMIL can come with me to the meeting or not), I'm having her, my DFIL (since I know they've been through 3 different IEPs for Erick, DBIL & DSIL), and Skyler's Speech Therapist who won't be in attendance either make sure it's the right services for him before I sign his IEP.
I think they're quite confusing especially where I was on one in High School, but was never part of the whole process other than the check in Parent/Teacher/Guidance Counselor Meetings.
How does Angel handle her Dyslexia? I have quite a few friends with it. Actually a few programs that Erick and I use for the computer we were introduced to in college, that actually a lot of people with Dyslexia use and help them quite well with school. They have Kurtzweil which helps with reading, Inspiration (they even have a kids version called KidSpiration) for Outlines, and Dragon used for verbally writing papers. I don't know if some of those may help you with Angel in school.
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