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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We packed up the kids and headed to my sister's house in Pittsburgh, PA for Thanksgiving week. We left on Monday, November 24 and returned on Saturday, November 29. Along the way we stopped at the Toledo Zoo, the Disney Store in Pittsburgh, museums in Johnstown, PA, the National Aviary and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. I'm working on the full travel journal and will post it here in a few days. As I'm working on it though, I'm realizing that an annual holiday road trip has as much adventure as a once every four years Disney World trip. Adventure is where you find it I guess.
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Over the Thanksgiving holiday it was time for the family to hit the road. We piled into the rented car and drove to Pittsburgh, PA.
Monday, November 24, 2008
The day started with me going to pick up the rental car for our trip. Our cars kind of geriatric, so we don't like to subject them to long road trips anymore. I'd rented a full size car from Alamo figuring that would be enough for 2 adults and 2 small children and our assorted road trip luggage. The Alamo location at the Traverse City Airport considers a Pontiac Vibe to be a full size car. What?! There wasn't enough room in the back for my coat. So, I upgraded to a GMC Acadia. It was a little more expensive, but it was all wheel drive and lots bigger.
We got the Acadia packed and headed down the road at 1:30 p.m. It had been snowing all morning and was still snowing pretty good when I left. I figured that after I dropped a little south the snow would change over to rain. Well, I was right about that. I just miscalculated how far south I'd have to go before I ran out of the snow. We got to about Brighton (just west of the Detroit metro area), which is about 150 miles south of where we live before we got out of the snow. In between we had to deal with snow and icy roads. We saw many cars off in the ditch and a few rollovers. Remember: Ice and snow, take it slow. Apparently quite a few people were still trying to bomb down the road at full speed and ended up off the road.
On the way to Pittsburgh we had planned to stop at the Toledo Zoo to take in the Christmas light display, let the little ones exercise a little and get some dinner. I'm glad we did it. The girls had a great time.
Hannah on the brass lion at the Toledo Zoo (yep, she was a little chilly):
This is the 34 foot tall Norway pine tree:
We finished up at the zoo and piled back in the Acadia and hit the Ohio turnpike. My favorite time to drive the Ohio turnpike is at night. After an uneventful 4 hours and one stop at a Starbucks along the turnpike we got into Pittsburgh at about 1:30 a.m.
Tuesday, November 25
This was meant to be a sleep-in day and then go to the Disney Store. Well, the little girls were up at 7:30 a.m. anyway so there went the sleeping in part. We had some breakfast, dad (me) loaded up on coffee and we headed out to find the Disney Store at the South Hills Mall in the Pittsburgh area. I was reminded why I am not real fond of driving in Pittsburgh. It seems that wherever you are, you can't get to where you want to go without going downtown first. We had a little adventure of taking the wrong bridge and ending up by the USS and Mellon Bank buildings. We survived though and made it to the mall.
First we just got our bearings and then found the Disney Store. Wow, for a city the size of Pittsburgh, that was a tiny Disney Store. Lots of Bolt and Tinkerbell stuff. Not much else. The only pins they had were for Nightmare Before Christmas. They didn't seem appropriate for a 6 year old (at least our 6 year old didn't really seem to like them). Next, lunch. We found a place in the food court that sold whole pizzas and Mt. Dew in the huge size for mom and dad. The pizza was good and the Mt. Dew much needed.
Wednesday, November 26
We tried something different with the little ones and took them to Johnstown, PA for some history. They seemed to genuinely enjoy the Heritage Discovery Center as they got to pretend they were an immigrant child in the late 1800's. We took them to the Flood Museum and to the Incline as well. The Flood Museum was a little much for the small ones. They just didn't seem to understand what that was all about. The incline was fun, but it was cold, especially at the top of the hill. We thought it was interesting that there was enough coal laying out in the open that people could just go pick it up off of a mountain side. Obviously those days are long gone, but it must have been one of the factors that first attracted people to the valley.
The view of Johnstown from the top of the incline:
Thursday, November 27
Happy Thanksgiving! We spent the morning at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh. Our little ones love it and it's a great way to get them out of the house for a couple of hours. More driving adventures ensued. We ended up over by the Science Museum before working our way back to the Aviary. No harm done. Really though, Pittsburgh needs to mark the streets better.
A couple of the "performers" at the bird show. These were some juvenile flamingos. As they get older they will turn the pink we normally associate with flamingos.
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