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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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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!
I've come to the conclusion that, with the vast majority of the sports at the Winter Olympics, you have to be slightly mad to compete in them...
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
I think its for people that have a very special relationship if you know what I mean. Wink wink nudge nudge!!!
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!
I've always heard that skeleton is slightly less dangerous because the athlete has full view of the track. But, I imagine a crash would be potentially much worse in that instance. Then again a crash at 80mph plus is always potentially devastating no matter what position you're in.
Yeah, that's a big difference in the Winter Games sports vs the Summer Games. Almost every event has a huge injury or even death risk.
Is this one of the sports that parents pick out for their kids when they want their kid to go to the Olympics? Most of the summer sports are super competitve even on the local level--your shot at joining the US luge team has got to be a lot higher than say the women's gymnastics team. So Mom and Dad are obsessed with having an Olympian so they move to Lake Placid and throw their kid down a mountain at 90mph? Maybe?
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!
Lake Placid, definitely. We used to love going there -- shopping, restaurants, sports! It was always a great time! My Dgang tried the luge, but it was only a small part of the bottom of the track. My Dguys were so disappointed! They wanted to do the whole thing!