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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Gregor had his Canine Good Citizen evaluation today. Unfortunately we failed. It was a toughie but the trainers there who has known Gregor since he was 7 months old really let me know that even though he failed today they are amazed with how very far he has come.
Gregor is an 85 lb shar-pei mix. He is big, strong and an utter chicken! Unfortunately with fear driven dogs they need a lot of work to build the confidence since fear dogs are the ones that often can become biters. So even though today he failed the evaluation the trainers were giving me so much praise for how far Gregor had grown as a confident dog. So even with the failure we still had a good day.
The Canine Good Citizen evaluation consists of a set of tasks.
First you do a sit and then a down. Then you put your dog into either a sit/stay or a down/stay. We did a down/stay. Then I had to walk about 20 feet away from Gregor while he stayed in the down and then back. Gregor did spectacularly.
Next the evaluator held Gregor's leash and I told him to stay. Then I had to walk away about 20 feet and call him and he came with is usual gallop. He has a fantastic recall.
Then I had to walk him around the area we were in to show that he did a loose leash walk, no pulling. He did great again. Just loped along with me.
Friendly stranger tests: You put your dog into a sit and one of the evalators walks up and shakes your hand and you talk for a minute. Your dog has to stay seated. Then the evaluator asks if he make pet your dog. He leans over and pets your dog. Your dog can break the sit and interact politely while being petted.
Then the evaluator does a vet check. Has to be able to touch the ears, look at the teeth, touch all the paws and the tail. This is what Gregor failed on. He did fantastic for the first person but the second evaluator he dropped onto his side and very, gently set his teeth on her hand that was holding his paw. I knew when he did that he failed.
After that we did the group tests. First you do a separation. You have someone hold your dog or tether them and then we had to all walk out of sight of the dogs for 2 minutes. Then come back and they should be nice and calm. He did great and was calm. Considering Gregor's past separation issues this was a huge improvement for him. Very proud.
Next we have about 6 people milling about and you have to walk with your dog through the "crowd" and have him not lunge or really care about anyone. Gregor did great.
Last we all put our dogs into sits or downs while the evaluator threw around hula hoops and umbrellas to see how they reacted to distractions. Gregor just about slept through that part. He doesn't care about things or noises.
Last we have to walk past other people with their dogs and be able to shake hands and walk past with our dogs ignoring each other. That went great too.
So, everything was spectacular but Gregor just still isn't ready for strangers to touch his paws. So we get to do another 3 weeks of the class and try to do the test again in another 3 weeks. Soooooo very close.
I guess the next three weeks I'm going to be playing with his paws while feeding him his favorite treats every day.
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It was a toughie but the trainers there who has known Gregor since he was 7 months old really let me know that even though he failed today they are amazed with how very far he has come.
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