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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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So glad to see you posting again and glad the family made it out there. I can't wait to hear more - like Laurie, I'd like to know how the teaching's going as well.
I'm glad to see you & the family are getting adjusted. I'm sure it is difficult to get used to the new cuisine. I love the pictures so far, I can't wait to hear more about your new adventure.
I was actually planning on trying to do a few topics about China before I jumped into teaching but you asked….
First I’ll get the gripes out of the way. On boarding and training was not bad but also not anything like they told me it would be. Disney always seems to have their act together and seem so organized but here in China things are a little different. I was told training would take 3 weeks and then I would be in Wuhan. It was suggested that my family not come out during training because they tended to be a “distraction.” So we booked plane tickets for three weeks out traveling to Wuhan. I arrived and the next day I was told that I should get my family to Shanghai A.S.A.P. So we could start their residence visas. A change in location plus flying out sooner cost us around $1000 with insurance.
I will say that I am glad they came out sooner as I was missing them terribly and I did cry like a big baby when I seen them. I found that I was less “distracted” with them close by.
The 3 weeks in Shanghai turned into 7 weeks. Which was great for sightseeing but 7 weeks in a hotel with 8 & 10 year old boys can be a challenge. We had a carefully planned budget for 3 weeks and eating out is a lot more expensive than cooking at home so our budget flew out the window.
My next complaint is about the Special Employee ID, which gets me into the parks. I found out it does not get me into Tokyo Disneyland, it has black out days and we are limited to 12 visits. None of this was disclosed up front. I was also told that the pass would be given to me when I arrived. At training I was told that the passes are processed in the states and it takes about 3 months to get them. When I was doing my center visits I witnessed a little presentation to two staff members who received their passes. The boss said “if you work here 6 months you’ll get your pass too.” I was NOT happy when I heard this. I emailed my regional director to ask him and I was informed that the passes are mailed bi-annually and the last batch was just received so I most likely would not receive the passes until 7 months in.
HR knows me well at this point and they know I am not happy about this. The thing that really stinks is if I don’t renew my contract or transfer within the company I lose my pass the last day of work…so basically I will be able to use my pass about 3 months.
Okay venting done. Time to focus on the teaching part. I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE working at my center. It is wonderful to go to work and see all the Characters faces on the wall smiling at me. The songs and content are wonderful. It is the best job I’ve ever had as long as HR and the perks for working for Disney English are not considered. My boss has worked his way through the ladder and he has been in my shoes. He is so very understanding.
My co-workers are great. I bring things into work to be translated for me and they give me small friendship gifts all the time. I am anxious to get to a point where I can reciprocate this token of appreciation.
I love having Mickey as my boss. Going into work is not a hassle but something I look forward too. We teach through fun and games. Seeing learners smile and have fun is a total delight to me! I feel like this job was tailor made for me.
As the holidays approach I do find myself getting homesick. Especially when my youngest says he wants to go home (which is not a constant thing just when he doesn’t get his way or when he sees pictures of home).
Sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision coming to China. I think, I pulled my children out of school, away from all their friends, away from their home, away from our church but I think in the end the life experiences will be worth it. They are doing online schooling which goes along with the Texas curriculum that we left. But the stories they will be able to tell will be amazing. I can say that at this point if I knew what I know now, I would do it all over again. I would be able to plan better.
It is night time here and I start my work week tomorrow. Tuesday and Wednesday are my weekends. I’m off to bed for sweet dreams. Have a magical day and I will try and post about the Yu Gardens and Bazaar soon.
I'd be really upset about the changed schedule and delay in the passes too. It sounds like they seriously need to improve their onboarding and communication. I'm happy to hear you are enjoying work though, so hopefully the other snags will work out in the end.
I agree, the life experiences for them is going to be amazing. They are very fortunate to have this adventure with you.
I'm so sorry to hear about the mess with the training and the passes. I'd be annoyed too.
At least you're enjoying the work - and I must admit it does sound amazing. It's a great experience for all of you, although of course I can understand the feelings of being homesick at this time of the year.
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I'd be upset if I were you as well. However it sounds like a wonderful experience! I am completely jealous!!! I look forward to reading about your adventures.
I'm thrilled for you that the "work" part of this experience is so good, but I'd be upset and very angry at all the misinformation from HR. Definitely misleading things about the training, and the benefits. Glad you're vocal about your displeasure-- hope they change things. Chances are, if they'd told the truth about the benefits and timing you'd still have signed up, but you'd have known what to expect!
So glad that you're enjoying the work... it sounds wonderful! But I would sooooooo be angry too at the mess with the training and benefits. They need to do a much better job of communication!
Thank you for all the love and support! I can feel it way out here!
After we finished visiting the temple, my new co-workers and I decided to go to the Yu Yuan (Yuan means gardens...at least that's what I've been told..hehe). Thus far my only viewing of "Chinese" Architecture had been the temple. We got out of the subway and headed toward Yu Bazaar. As we neared I was blown away. There were rows and
rows of pagoda style roofs and buildings. It was so pretty. Of course I took out my camera and started snapping photos as quickly as possible!
There were people everywhere. It was so very crowded. The sidewalk was lined with vendors wanting to make a deal. If you want to purchase a purse or a watch they are in abundance here.
The famous 9-turn-bridge is here. It crosses through the middle of a lotus pond and leads to a tea house. Legend has it that if you cross the 9-turn-bridge evil spirits will go away (they cannot turn corners). I did not go onto the bridge this time because it was packed with both tourists and locals.
We wandered on and seen beautiful jade jewelry, restaurants making dumplings, there was even a silk exhibit...complete with live silk worms and their cocoons. Way in the back of the bazaar I saw an entrance to the garden. The friends I was walking with had both been before and were not interested in spending another 40 Yuan to go in, so
I ventured in by myself. The garden appeared small at first but as I wandered through the tranquility I found myself lost in this ancient place. It was very peaceful and much less crowded than the bazaar had been.
The Garden began construction in 1559 during the Ming Dynasty. It was built by the Pan family. There were several structures inside the garden. Each building was separated by a wall with a dragon running along the top of it. There were ponds and bridges in abundance and each pond was filled with Koi begging for a snack.
I happened to wander upon a tea house and sat down for my own private tea pouring. My first in China!! I love tea! The young girl spoke broken English and explained that the tea had medicinal value. She gave me a list and asked me which I would like to try. It was a wonderful experience. The tea was fantastic. I ended up taking some away with me.
As I wandered a little further on I ran across a fan exhibit. The fans were very old. Each was hand painted. The details on these fans were stunning.
The down side of going into the gardens by myself was I had no one to take pictures of me so I decided to ask for some help, which is not always easy when you’re in a non-English speaking country. I was fortunate to run across two young Chinese girls who did speak English. They were delighted to take my picture and in turn I took their picture for them. We tended to run into each other often after this, each time exchanging cameras and taking pictures.
As I neared the end of my lovely journey through the gardens I saw an exciting photo opp. For only 5 Yuan I could dress in authentic Chinese robes and have my picture taken with my camera. My new Chinese friends seen me in the costume, they ran and jumped in my picture with me. It is a fond memory that I will always carry with me and I have the proof.
That's all for now...I am getting ready to head to work. Until next time.
Okay I know this is going out of order but I am so excited I can't keep it to myself any longer. I met a really nice lady at work. Apparently she is pretty high up in HR. She asked how I liked working for Disney English.....well she asked......I was totally honest. I let her know that I love working in the centers but on boarding was one huge lie and I was very disappointed about several things. I complained about the pass too. Later that day she told me to email her and let her know when we would like to visit the Hong Kong Disneyland. I must admit I was still skeptical. I mean most of what I've been told has not happened. To make a long story short....she arranged for us to get into the park!!! We leave for Hong Kong Disneyland Monday!!!! I am so very excited. We are surprising the boys. They know we are going on a trip but they don't know it's to Hong Kong Disneyland. The park is celebrating Christmas right now too!!! Wooohooo!!! I will take lots of pictures and be sure to let you all know about our trip. Toodles for now!
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I can't wait to hear more - like Laurie, I'd like to know how the teaching's going as well. 
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It still sounds like an amazing experience! 
I am so very excited!!!!
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