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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Nothing really new going on as far as planning. My in-laws my come with us, I think it depends if they take my brother in law and his family next summer. Just saving money. Still trying to decided if we should drive or fly. There is a lot to think about with that part.
I am starting to plan for their first birthday. Which will be a Mickey Mouse theme. Since our families are so big we already book the place we wanted to have it at. It's going to be 2 weeks before their birthday, but that's okay. Bad thing is its about 3 weeks after Christmas. ( Now you know why I'm planning everything now)
We found out Alex has to get a Doc Band (helmet). I've been thinking about putting Mickey designs on that too. Poor Little Guys.
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My son's first birthday party was Mickey Mouse themed. And my daughters will be Minnie themed. So much fun. There is a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse CD out there that has a birthday song on it. We played it at Cam's party.
I've had several friends who's kids needed those helmets. They survived without any issue. Bummer for Alex though.
Alex is loving his helmet. He get's mad when we take it off. Was planning on putting some Disney stickers on it for him. Just to make it a little more up beat.
Found a great deal at Babies R Us this weekend. Disney shirts on clearance for $2. So guess who got some and put them away for their first trip. I was so excited to find them. DH thinks I'm nuts for buying stuff, but sometimes when you find a deal like that you can't pass it up!
Glad the helmet is going well. I say buy stuff when you find it on sale. Kids never stop growing so it can get expensive to keep them in clothes. I know I have clothes for my kids for the next 2 seasons. And I keep stocking up for our trip that is still 4-ish months away. So I don't think your nuts at all.
So I'm trying to convince my DH to extend our vacation in 2015. We keep saying that we want to go to Universal while we are down that. Well my mom said that if we were to go early they would take the boys for a day and DH and I could go and have a day to ourselves. He keeps telling me if we have extra money. Well little does he know that I've been putting money away since June. Since we aren't fly this will save us some money. Fingers crossed that he agrees to the extra days!! So now I'm looking at leaving Wednesday Jan 21 and being down there by the 22. Then heading home Jan 30. Plus this gives a few extra days at Disney. Good thing we bought no expiration tickets before they stopped offering them
We took the boys for a long weekend get away to Michigan. I had to take the to Bronners, The Worlds Largest Christmas store to get their stockings. They did great, it's about a 5 hour drive and they slept almost the whole way. We left at 5:30 in the morning (that's what time we get them ready to go to Grandma's during the week), drove till about 8-8:30 (since they were sleeping) had some breakfast and then got back on the rode. They were such good boys the whole time we were gone. I'm glad my parents were there to help out at night though. Lukas was giving us a hard time, but once Gramps took him for the night he was perfectly happy. We are trying to plan a few mini get aways next year just so they get use to the car. St. Louis and possible Kentucky with my brothers family (nephew has a travel baseball tournament). I think next year is going to fly by.
I just realized that the boys will be 1 in 2 months!! Where has the year gone.
Well Alex no longer has to where the helmet!! What a great way to start the holidays!
Some day I will figure out how to upload pictures to the body of my posts.
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