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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I love to watch the Luge compitition during the Olympics. But every time it brings a question to mind. How do they get into Luging? I can see figure skating, skiing as I know people who do both and well, know where to go for both. It isn't like there is a luge track around the corner. Never once have I heard someone say I am going Luging this weekend. Is that even a proper term? lol
Anyone have a luge around them? Does someone just go learn it from seeing it on tv?
Pretty bad when this has been my whole train of thinking since the Olympics started
I think the track at Lake Placid used to be open to the public. I thought I saw when they profiled one of the US Olympic athletes (luge) that's where he said he got his start. I guess you'd have to be from that area, or have a great interest in it!
Luge started in the late 1800’s in the resort town of St. Moritz, Switzerland as a fun sledding pastime for guests. It has evolved into an Olympic sport run on ice-covered concrete tracks almost one mile long, with a vertical drop of 300 feet. There are only thirteen artificially refrigerated, Olympic-style luge-bobsled-skeleton tracks in the world, and three of them are in North America: Lake Placid, New York; Park City, Utah; and Calgary, Alberta, Canada. A fourth, located in Whistler, British Columbia, is nearing completion. There are two smaller, non-refrigerated tracks in the U.S., one located in Muskegon, Michigan and the other in the Upper Peninsula town of Negaunee, Michigan.
Great question!! I've wondered, too!! I think I'd probably be too scared to do it, but it looks really neat! But I've never heard anyone mention that they are "going luging this weekend" or anything like that!!
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We saw the one in Park City, but it was in the summer and it was closed. They do have training sessions there in season and you can pay for equiptment rental and instruction. When we were there we watched some people learning ski jumping on small ramps that ended up with a swimming pool. It was pretty cool to watch. The small musuem at the Park City Olympic park has a luge on display that kids can pose in for "action" photos. If you are ever in the Salt Lake City area I would recommend a stop at Park City to see the Olympic Park.
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Margaret and I got to see the Cubs play in October. They won!
There are two smaller, non-refrigerated tracks in the U.S., one located in Muskegon, Michigan and the other in the Upper Peninsula town of Negaunee, Michigan.
That's me! Negaunee is right around the corner. The luge World Cup was here about 15 years ago or so. Believe me, you go nowhere near as fast as those people do! And only the bottom 1/6 of the track is open to the public. It was super fun when we went, but I haven't had a huge desire to go back again
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*~*Tina
Picking up our Brasilian exchange student at the a/p
I'm wondering how the average kid gets his mom to say "Sure honey. throw yourself down an icy hill at 70-plus miles an hour."
Or convinces their family to uproot and move to Calgary or Park City because they are going to be lugers. Because that's what you always hear: So-and-so is from somewhere Alabama, but they moved to Park City when he was 14 so that he could be more dedicated to his sport.... I mean, who DOES that? I'd be more inclined to say, hey, how about I buy you some drums instead and you work off your energy that way.
LOVE this post!!! During the commentary they said one of the lugers got started on amateur day - hmmm.....what? How can you have amateur day for luging? I mean, that takes technique. And you're all right, who the heck says "today I'm going to allow my 14 year old (or younger) child to fly down an icy tunnel on amateur day"? I don't get it!
Also, after watching yesterdays competition with the double luger, (this is a bit off topic) but why in the world is that a competition? I get the luge, kind of - it's fun to watch and I'm sure there's a history behind it, but who started the double luge competition? What in the world is the point of two people on the same sled. Welcome to my thought process lol
And which is crazier -- luge, where you watch the track between your toes, or skeleton, where you speed down the track head first?
Don't get me wrong -- I LOVE the Winter Olympics. But these people are NUTS!
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Or convinces their family to uproot and move to Calgary or Park City because they are going to be lugers. 
Because that's what you always hear: So-and-so is from somewhere Alabama, but they moved to Park City when he was 14 so that he could be more dedicated to his sport.... I mean, who DOES that? 
I'd be more inclined to say, hey, how about I buy you some drums instead and you work off your energy that way. 
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