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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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It is part of a standard greeting but if its family they possibly really do care. But just know if they stop asking you how you are....you can't start having hurt feelings that nobody cares. I have a family member that would get so upset with you for asking how they were but when we started getting tired of the attitude we were getting and stopped asking....she got all pissy. You can't have it both ways.
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Honestly, I appreciate it. It's not me personally usually, but every so often people will ask about my autistic brother. It means a lot that people actually care enough to take the time to ask, so try and think about it that way--maybe it's the only way they can try and understand or let you know they have you in mind.
I agree, Things are getting a bit intense..
I don't think anyone really understood my question..
My Dad has many health issues & never stops talking about them.
I'm not one to constantly discuss my fibro, my pain & all the stuff that goes
with it. So when I am asked how are you feeling today I think about my Dad & his never ending complaining & I don't want to be that way..
That's it
I agree, Things are getting a bit intense..
I don't think anyone really understood my question..
My Dad has many health issues & never stops talking about them.
I'm not one to constantly discuss my fibro, my pain & all the stuff that goes
with it. So when I am asked how are you feeling today I think about my Dad & his never ending complaining & I don't want to be that way..
That's it
There are a lot of emotions that come with feeling chronic pain and you should never feel guilty for having any of them!! It is a valid question. Your intuition will kick in and you'll be able to figure out who is looking for the long and who is looking for the short answer. Also consider, is it a time that you could use a listening ear or would you prefer to move on to a different topic.
I remember getting upset when people asked because I spent so much of my energy dealing with my health that I just wanted to talk about something else. It was like they were raining on my parade by bringing it up. There were times when I was embarassed too because I felt like when people looked at me they only saw my disease. It took a lot of work for me to come around to being simply grateful that they cared and not read more into it.
There are a lot of emotions that come with feeling chronic pain and you should never feel guilty for having any of them!! It is a valid question. Your intuition will kick in and you'll be able to figure out who is looking for the long and who is looking for the short answer. Also consider, is it a time that you could use a listening ear or would you prefer to move on to a different topic.
I remember getting upset when people asked because I spent so much of my energy dealing with my health that I just wanted to talk about something else. It was like they were raining on my parade by bringing it up. There were times when I was embarassed too because I felt like when people looked at me they only saw my disease. It took a lot of work for me to come around to being simply grateful that they cared and not read more into it.
I'm just curious here and have a small question. For those of you who have Fibromyalgia, how would strangers know you have the ailment? I worked for a rheumatologist and was involved in a very large fib study and, unlike RA and OA, fib generally has no visible factors involved. So I guess I'm not understanding how a stranger would know you have the ailment and why they would feel compelled to comment on it. Is it something someone is hearing you discuss with perhaps family or friends? If so, they are probably just trying to show support and compassion. I know when I have a customer, not necessarily a friend, just a customer, who I know has an ailment I will ask how they are doing b/c I think its the nice thing to do. I don't think of it as overstepping my boundaries or being rude or nosy. And yes, if I ask, I do care about the answer. If I didn't, I wouldn't ask. I certainly would have never guessed I might be offending someone by showing concern for their well being. Now, would I walk up to a total stranger in a wheelchair and ask how they are feeling? No. But would I make a comment to someone in a large foot cast who is discussing the ordeals of trying to get through DW with those around her? Yes, I probably would say something like, "bless your heart, that has to be a chore. I hope it doesn't hurt too much". But only b/c it was being openly discussed around me. I suppose it just comes down to my thought that if you don't want people to comment, don't discuss it in public. And if it's an invisible ailment like fib, a stranger wouldn't know you had it unless it was mentioned. Just my humble opinion, though. I will be more careful in the future!
Jodi,
To clarify, I am not talking about strangers, but friends & family (that I also clarified in post #19) that are well aware of my illness..
I know Fibro is one of many invisible illnesses, & as for people that don't know about my illness I don't have a problem with the "How ya doing" question..
I feel this is a excellent discussion here & we are all learning a lot of great info about how people feel..
Jodi,
To clarify, I am not talking about strangers, but friends & family (that I also clarified in post #19) that are well aware of my illness..
I know Fibro is one of many invisible illnesses, & as for people that don't know about my illness I don't have a problem with the "How ya doing" question..
I feel this is a excellent discussion here & we are all learning a lot of great info about how people feel..
Gotcha!! And I agree, good discussion! It's nice to be able to discuss stuff like this in an open way and be able to clarify things w/out anyone getting upset or whatever. Very nice!
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Yup I agree too! I know family and friends care and that they are concerned but I don't wanna be "debbie downer" with my problems. My health brings me down enough so to keep being reminded how bad i feel just brings me down further. If I hurt and i am having an issue I will be the first to let you know until then please know I am as okay as I can be and leave it at that. After a while I give them the "bus" lingo (post # 10) and it dies down for awhile because they get I just don't wanna talk about it! LMAO
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Tessa Tilli
Last edited by tessatilli; 05-25-2010 at 01:08 AM..
I don't think that people who haven't any disabling illnesses or injuries CAN have much awareness of how difficult it is to live with such things day after day knowing you're never going to get better (or gradually worse.)
Hubby shattered one knee and the opposite foot in a fall off a scaffold some years ago. He walks with difficulty using a cane.
Over ten years later, his parents FINALLY get it that he doesn't want to go to buffet-only restaurants, because it's such a pain for him to have to explain which foods he'd like, how much and so forth to someone who loads and carries his plate for him. Not to mention that he feels less disabled if he's sitting at a table being served along with everyone else.
I think it took his mother's becoming unable to walk easily herself before either of them began to understand that having someone else dish up and carry your buffet plate for you is more difficult and demeaning than it's worth.
While I'm sure it was hard indeed for his parents to comprehend that their son's injury rendered him little more able than his arthritic 80-year-old grandmother, having to say over and over again, "No, we don't want to go to a buffet place," was annoying.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
If someone is sick or has long term health issues then I want to here the bad stuff if that makes them feel better in venting. I will listen and hope God is listening also. I will listen and send up prayers for that person. I hear someone who cannot do something and think that I should thank God for what spoons I have and what health I have. Maybe that person you talk to has someone in their life who told them something that will make your life better. A person on Facebook has an autistic kid, a lady has lupus, and one has family that has quirks like my family.
If they do not want to know then they can stop me. I try to keep everything bottled up tight as I been told that I am a liar and that I make up things about my health. I had a lady tell me that I know nothing about TMJ, snort, had it for nearly 30 years and won't tell everything here, TMI and downer to boot. For me I hide everything I can because people think you lie or you are not an expert because you are not as bad off as they are.
Summation is that I will listen and will answer when people close to me are genuinely asking much like they ask how your family, pets, and job are doing.
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Mom calls to check on me and reminded me to pay the gardener. I love her so much.
Disneyland was fun with flag retreat and pickles. I have a home here, thank you. GAC is NOT a "front of the line pass".
She is gone but keeping signature. Laundry is getting done. My purpose in life is to help poor people in FL. Farewell, will miss you.