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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Who: My Mom, My sister Sue, my Brothers DGF Teresa and my self
What: The Indy 500
Where: Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway In.
The started at 4:30am that’s the time I got up and get ready to go. We were out of the house around 6 am and picked up Teresa. We got to the Track about 6:30am and head straight for the Suite. When we arrive the Hostess wasn’t there yet so we had to sand around and wait. Here is a view of Mom’s car from the entrance to the suite.
About 7:15 the son of Ron Hemelgarn Greg (I think was his name) showed up and let us in. We stepped out to the seats to have a look this was my view.
We we’re hunger and there wasn’t any breakfast since the hostess still wasn’t there so we walked to the infield of the track to have a bite and wait for my brother to head to his pits. We couldn’t get into the garage since we didn’t have a pass for that. We got breakfast of eggs, sausage patty, biscuits and gravy and Hot chocolate (Sue and I) and coffee (Mom).
Then we headed to Gasoline Ally to wait for my brother to emerge. Mom got tied of standing so Sue and I let her go sit while we waited. (a side note Teresa was at the garage she had a pass.)
Finally he came walking out and I shouted for him. He came over and gave us a kiss and I asked if he was heading to the pits he said yes. We told him we would get mom and meet him there. You see he had bought us tickets to sit behind him, but since we got the invite we had the extra tickets. Mom told him to sell them if he could but he was worried that we would be able walk behind his pits without them so he kept them. The yellow shirts (Security) will not let you in that area unless you have a ticket for a seat in that area.
We stayed and watch him get ready till almost 11 am and then headed back to the suite to watch everything. There was a lot to see and hear. First The parade of VIPs Julianne Hough, Kristi Yamaguchi , Drew Lachey, Some Soap opera girl and the Americas top model winner, a service man a general I think, Marlee Matlin and Fabian Sanchez and Slash (I couldn’t get his picture, my card ran out and I had to go get another one to use. I wasn’t happy.)
Julianne Hough
Kristi Yamaguchi
Drew Lachey in the white shirt
Marlee Matlin and Fabian Sanchez
The balloons
The fly over
The Military parade
Florence Henderson sang “God Bless America”, Julianne Hough from Dancing with the Stars sang the National Anthem, Then came the fly over from the air force, and Jim Neighbors sang “Back Home In Indiana”. Some where in there they honored the men and women of the Military, they had some march in. The balloons were let go and we heard those fame words, “Ladies and gentlemen start your engines!!
They were off. Well Buddy Lazier did ok he got 3 laps behind but he didn’t crash. Tony Kanaan, Sara Fisher and Milka Duna some of my favorites crashed so I secretly started rooting for Helio Castroneves. My big high was Danica Patrick; it’s no secret that I can’t stand her. She is very fake and not a friendly person at all, she hides from her fans and hates to give autographs. Well she was heading out of the pits and Ryan Briscoe was pulling out of his and he hit her. It was an accident. I’m sure he didn’t mean to hit her since he was doing well too and it put him out of the race too.
Tony Kanaan's car after the wreck
Sara Fisher's car after the wreck
My brother at work. He is the one changing the right front tire.
I crop it closer for a better look.
Boy was she mad and was going to hit him but security stopped her. I was inside the Suite at the time and all of us in there dislikes her, we had a field day cheering Briscoe on for taking her out.
So after the race Rhonda Hemelgarn asked if we were going to the garage to see my brother and we told her we could not get in. She told us she could talk us in and told us were to meet her. So we took the long hard walk to the Garage area and meet up with Rhonda who just had a few words and we were in.
Helio’s garage was across the way and when he showed up I went over to get a picture but people kept getting in the way so it never happened. We waited around till about 7pm then got a ride on a golf cart to the closest point near our car. Oh and for lunch we had fried chicken, some weird biscuit, potato salad and cookies.
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My Indy 500 trip Report
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