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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Trying to be as short as possible:
My older DD, Samantha, is a quadriplegic as is her DH.
My DH's family has ALL (and I mean ALL) of their family parties at his brother's house. It is a nice house, with a pool and a large walk-out basement. We don't even go upstairs for anything - kitchen, bathrooms, bedroom, TV, pool table, etc. all in basement.
In the past, when she was younger (and not married), we would carry Samantha and her manual (fold up) wheelchair down the stairs for these parties, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc. Now, we also have her DH, who is a large man and needs some special adaptations to his wheelchair that can't be accommodated in a manual chair. No carrying him down.
They've come to BiL's house a few times, but if it's raining, snowing, has rained recently, or is icy out - it's tough. Their wheelchairs get muddy going through the grass around to the basement. There was one time I spent over an hour outside with them, hosing off their wheels and then drying them because they got so muddy (it was in November, so it was COLD!!).
The last couple of years, they've asked people to celebrate at their house. They also have a large home with a walk-out basement and multiple kitchens. They do not have a pool, but in the fall/winter this is not really needed in Indiana.
Every single time it's suggested, everyone in the family will agree this sounds like a good idea, but will eventually back out. This is usually lead (always, but I'm trying to be nice) by DH's oldest sister. There are claims that DD has cats and people are allergic to them. Well, when BiL had cats, everyone just took allergy meds or just coped. It's too long a drive was another excuse - well, you all didn't have any problem having me drive over an hour when I was 9 months pregnant. Last Christmas the argument was that one of the nieces (the older sister's daughter) was pregnant (like 4 months) and she shouldn't have to drive that far. Her mother also claims she's allergic to cats and we shouldn't ask her to take allergy meds - even though she goes to Samantha's house a lot with no problem with the cats.
This makes it so DD can't celebrate the holidays with DH's family. They're not her 'birth' family, but DH did adopt her, and they've always claimed to love her. This all makes her feel very unloved and un-cared for. It makes me angry.
I want to nip this in the bud this year. I think a nicely worded letter, explaining that Samantha feels unloved and unwanted by the family, and that this makes DH and I very sad would be good. I don't want to say We won't be ever celebrating a holiday with them anymore, but I do. We're open to suggestions. last year we even offered to rent a hotel suite or a clubhouse type facility so we could all celebrate together. We were shot down. Nope, SiL wanted to have it at BiL's house (her brother, not her house) and that was that. All the others follow her, even DH's father.
So - any ideas? I'm tired of all my kids missing out on seeing their cousins for the holidays. I'm tired of my DH being sad he has to choose between his siblings and his kids (he always picks his kids, but it's hard).
How old is Samantha? If she's married, I would hope she is over 18. If she is concerned, she needs to let people know. I know she is disabled, but unless it effects her mental abilities, you should let her handle it. It may be a very different matter coming from her, not you.
Maybe she can write to everyone and offer to host a party. She doesn't need their permission to have a party and she can ask others outside of the family, too. Maybe you have two celebrations on different days and people can choose to go to one, both or none.
Also, I would forget about what happened when you were pregnant who visits whom when and where.
I know it is hard, but your DD may not be half as upset as you are if she doesn't want to say/do anything, If she doesn't want to address the issue herself, that's okay, too.
__________________
Charlie
Last edited by Huntermom; 05-20-2013 at 07:30 PM..
Reason: spelling
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Chapel Hill, NC USA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 36,592
Post Thanks / Like
I remember you talking about this previously. I'm sorry it's still a problem. I agree that if DD wants to host, she should send out an invitation for the next occasion...well in advance. Could it be that for everyone else, the known is better than the unknown? Changing things up can be hard for some people. And as bad as it may be, maybe they dont think the two of them can handle a large gathering. If she can just get them there once, show everyone a good time, maybe they will be open to doing it that way again. Good luck!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
I'm sorry you have to experience such indifference from family members.
I too think the letter would be best to come from your DD. As an parent you want to protect her, I understand that but Samantha is an adult and should invite everyone personally (maybe go so far as written invitations) and let them know she can handle the number of guests and if needed "xyz" are also on hand to lend assistance. I guess some people wrongly assume that Samantha and her DH are willing but not capable of hosting a gathering of larger size. So maybe including a handwritten note with the invite saying how much she enjoys family get togethers but moving around is much easier in her own home and she would be delighted to show others her hospitality! I also think that once the family sees how your DD copes with guests that they will be more willing to attend more often (maybe alternate one year at Samantha's and one year at BiL's).
Best wishes that a suitable compromise is reached without any hurt feelings.
I think letting Samantha make the invitation is a great idea. But I also think that I would call the SIL myself and just be straight up with her and tell her that it is her lead that others are following and that it is damaging the relationship that your family is having with the rest of the family. Tell her that you want EVERYONE to come and asking everyone to come at least this time would mean a lot to Samantha. Then if she shoots it down you'll know where you stand. Good luck. Family stinks sometimes.
IMHO this should be resolved between your DD, DH and his family. I agree that
your DH shouldn't have to choose but since this seems to be an ongoing issue I
think that might be a choice he needs to make. Telling his family that if the party
can't be somewhere DD and her DH can go then just count ya'll out would be hard
to do but justified.
Telling his family that if the party
can't be somewhere DD and her DH can go then just count ya'll out would be hard
to do but justified.
Good luck!
That's the problem - we all live here in the Indianapolis, Indiana area and we didn't spend Thanksgiving or Christmas together last year because of this issue.
DH has already told his family he will always choose his kids, and everyone in the family says they're on board, until the older sister gets into the mix.
I would let the mud get tracked all over the floors and see if that changes anything. "I'm so sorry for the mess on the rugs, maybe next time we should have this at my house."
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Chapel Hill, NC USA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 36,592
Post Thanks / Like
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoanneS
I would let the mud get tracked all over the floors and see if that changes anything. "I'm so sorry for the mess on the rugs, maybe next time we should have this at my house."
I would let the mud get tracked all over the floors and see if that changes anything. "I'm so sorry for the mess on the rugs, maybe next time we should have this at my house."
Is there no way to make some kind of temporary "ramp" at the other house for when the yard is messy? Sheets of plywood or something? Just a suggestion.
Is there no way to make some kind of temporary "ramp" at the other house for when the yard is messy? Sheets of plywood or something? Just a suggestion.
No. Stairs up to the front door are steep - way too steep for a ramp for w/c. Plus, the w/c each weigh over 350 pounds. Add a person - and it's 450 to 600 pounds!
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Linear Mode
