Reconstructing the Magic with Cam and Luke UPDATED: 12/23 Christmas Present and Our Final Day - Page 32 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Love your pictures of the parade, you got a great shot of the Headless Horseman. I really liked your party pins, great job getting them with out getting trampled. I really love your shirt. When we went we were too late to get any pins and were only able to get Jonathon a shirt that we found over by HM at the little cart there. I love his shirt and now wished I had bought one for me since they did have them in adults but for some reason we decided just to get him one.
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WOW what a great time!! I am trying to figure out our timing for our next trip and after Dylan saw you pics he said "Of course we have to go for the Halloween Parties". I might have to send him w/ you for the next trip cause you seem to find all the "cool" stuff we don't.
Shocking how the people reacted for the shirts. Really ripping items out of peoples hands. You would think it was Black Friday at Wal-mart.
Great update! Brings back fond memories of MNSSHP! Sounds like this trip was restful with continued opportunities for healing for you both. Hope Luke's hand is OK!
sounds like you all had a great MNSSHP - other than the stampede of people!!! Can't believe how rude some people can be!
It's always interesting to hear how others view/do the parties - you saw things that I didn't see - actually I don't think we even went into Tomorrowland! Other than to eat at Casey's the first time we attempted the party. Hopefully I can get to that part in my TR soon!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
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Sounds like you had a wonderful time at the party. I can't believe the stampede of people to get party merchandise!! That's crazy! My sister and I did the party in Disneyland last year, and there was plenty of merchandise at the end of the night. Love the t-shirts you and Luke wore as your costumes!
We didn't get any pins or shirts when we did the MNSSHP but from the sounds of it - I'm kinda glad. I wouldn't want to deal with the stampede. Although they are cute.
Sounds like a great time at the party! I can't believe the craziness that you saw when trying to get your party merchandise though, they've got to come up with a better system for that!
Oh.my.gosh. Cannot believe the stampede for shirts! C'mon people, is it worth hurting someone?!
Great view for the fireworks & parade, thought! But sorry about Luke's hand! Ouch!!
We thankfully survived some not so great moments to have a wonderful party time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemo125
Great update! That was such a fun time and we got alot accomplished. That parade was great - and we really did have such an excellent spot! Really good times that night! And Crystal's ride on Space Mountain was very funny! We all couldn't stop laughing when we got done w/the ride!
I've ridden SM every trip except one when it was closed for refurbishing and I've never heard a scream that loud and long.
Quote:
Originally Posted by goofyboysmama
I'm glad you guys had a good time at the party! ...Except for the stampede and for poor Luke's hand It was also a mess getting across the bridge over to Liberty Square for Haunted Mansion at the Christmas party. The shot of the Headless Horseman is pretty cool!
I have since wondered if it would have been smarter to backtrack through Tomorrowland and enter Liberty Square the back way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by taylan1
Love your pictures of the parade, you got a great shot of the Headless Horseman. I really liked your party pins, great job getting them with out getting trampled. I really love your shirt. When we went we were too late to get any pins and were only able to get Jonathon a shirt that we found over by HM at the little cart there. I love his shirt and now wished I had bought one for me since they did have them in adults but for some reason we decided just to get him one.
The Headless Horseman picture did not turn out quite the way I wanted, but the streaming line is kind of cool.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rhinohunter
We missed the pins and the shirts when we were there in September. Glad you were abe to get them.
I'm such a kid that I think I need a shirt, too. :
Great pics from the party! Crazy about how people go after the shirts! what a great night! Love the pins too!
I knew it might get wild as back in 2009 we had no trouble finding a shirt for Stefanie, but almost didn't find one for me. So that was why we planned ahead, but even with the CM's warning, I was caught off guard.
Quote:
Originally Posted by roaminggnome
WOW what a great time!! I am trying to figure out our timing for our next trip and after Dylan saw you pics he said "Of course we have to go for the Halloween Parties". I might have to send him w/ you for the next trip cause you seem to find all the "cool" stuff we don't.
Shocking how the people reacted for the shirts. Really ripping items out of peoples hands. You would think it was Black Friday at Wal-mart.
Another great update Cam!!
We had 3 PassPorters in our group this time, which I think gave us an advantage on finding lots of "cool" stuff.
Quote:
Originally Posted by twins4me
Great update! Brings back fond memories of MNSSHP! Sounds like this trip was restful with continued opportunities for healing for you both. Hope Luke's hand is OK!
That is an excellent description of this trip for Luke and me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lfredsbo
sounds like you all had a great MNSSHP - other than the stampede of people!!! Can't believe how rude some people can be!
It's always interesting to hear how others view/do the parties - you saw things that I didn't see - actually I don't think we even went into Tomorrowland! Other than to eat at Casey's the first time we attempted the party. Hopefully I can get to that part in my TR soon!
I love hearing through the boards how others enjoy the parties as I've gotten so many great ideas from everyone here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Sounds like you had a wonderful time at the party. I can't believe the stampede of people to get party merchandise!! That's crazy! My sister and I did the party in Disneyland last year, and there was plenty of merchandise at the end of the night. Love the t-shirts you and Luke wore as your costumes!
I don't quite understand the frenzy over the merchandise, but then I did want the shirt and the pins badly enough to brave the chaos.
I regularly have the parade song in my head, but it helps that the cd is in my playlists.
I have that CD and just love playing it.
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Originally Posted by mommapants
great update. I'm so bummed, when I went to MNSSHP it had rained and we didn't get the headless horseman at our parade. That picture is so cool.
He is amazing! And he truly looks headless!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coop
We didn't get any pins or shirts when we did the MNSSHP but from the sounds of it - I'm kinda glad. I wouldn't want to deal with the stampede. Although they are cute.
I'd probably do it again, but I think I'd get my shirt and move on as quickly as possible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Wow! Can't believe the frenzy over the MNSSHP merchandise!
It was definitely a new thing for us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKnott17
Sounds like a great time at the party! I can't believe the craziness that you saw when trying to get your party merchandise though, they've got to come up with a better system for that!
The various CMs I had talked to said the CMs regularly offer suggestions on how it can be done better, but guests keep creating new problems.
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