Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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07-13-2005, 09:32 PM
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#1
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Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 570
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Marching Band trip to Calgary, Alberta 7-5 to 7-13, Day Eight and Nine Up 7-25.
<font color="blue">Cast of Characters-
Those mentioned most frequently:
Elisa (your TR reporter)
Amanda "Dingy" (close friend)
Amanda H-R (close friend)
Misti (close friend)
Emily (staff)
Gilbert (staff)
Steph (close friend)
Katie (close friend)
...many others </font>
<font color="purple">
July 5, 2005 - Day One
Yay! We leave for our trip today. We don't technically have to get to school until 8:45 P.M. and then we won't leave until much later. ---- We arrived at the school and had to stand by our luggage. They had the K9 unit sniff everything out so we could make sure that we wouldn't encounter any problems at the border. Everyone passed and then we had a meeting. We were told all of the rules, Mr. Gilbert spoke his Greyhound knowledge (He had all the locations, phone numbers, and schedules memorized...I think everyone got the picture that he was DEAD serious about the rules), and we received our itinerary, which was complete with a day by day break down of what to expect, Canadian facts, and of course, some Canadian puzzles, word finds, crosswords, and quizzes to beat boredom. After that everyone made the ceremonial bathroom run (3x LoL!). Then we boarded the buses and finally left at about 10 P.M. Nothing too exciting happened. We figured out how we would sleep, Amanda on the floor, I got the seats, and then ate junk food. Then we all tried to sleep <-- we managed to sleep a little.
<b>Nothing Too Exciting---> I will post the first couple days of events as I didn't take the first couple of days as I was asleep most of the time.</font>
<font color="blue">
July 6, 2005 - Day Two
So, at roughly 12:30 A.M. we had our first rest stop. Of course, Kelly was desperate so she made us play cards with her until we got there. Once we were on the bus we all went to sleep, well, never the less, one hour later, I am awoken by a person crinkling a plastic bag. After 15 minutes of rearranging the bag over and over in the overhead compartment I had had enough. Thankfully, my nice reminder to stop it worked as they were quiet and I slept until 2 A.M.
Once that time arrived, we stopped, and Amanda and I switched places. I was on the floor, in very close quarters with two other people. Man...we need longer busses! We stopped again at 5:30 A.M. and did the usual, as well as watching the sunrise. I was amazed...Courtney started reading Harry Potter at 10:00 the previous night...she had only made it about 50 pages in. And she hadn't slept at all...Party on the bus? Hehe. Soon after we all fell asleep it was time for Breakfast in Minot, ND at a hotel. We had bacon, eggs, etc. and then three of us played follow the leader to the bathrooms. How else do you spend time? LoL. We borded the bus and continued our long drive.
Around 10 A.M. we finally made it to the border. After several gentle (yeah right) reminders to the rookies and those who had never crossed the border...the bus was clean enough to pass the Emily inspection. We arrived at the border and we all had to fill out cards so they knew who was entering and what they were bringing. After several confusions, and no one knowing whether or not we were attending a farm show and whether or not we were bringing tools related to our profession in...we finally had the cards done and we were aloud to cross! Yay!
By this time everyone was ready for a movie. Don't remember what we watched, but I decided that it was time to read Harry Potter. The sixth book comes out soon...so why not. Well, the time flew and we arrived in Estevan Saskatchewan. Our lunch was a bag containing a cookie, sandwich, and fruit and we were given bottled water. The best ammenity was the ONE girls bathroom in the courhouse. 120 girls vs. about 60 boys. Guess what the biggest complaint out of the guys was the whole trip- Yep you guessed it...WHY DO THE GIRLS HAVE TO TAKE OVER BOTH BATHROOMS!!
We left Estevan and continued our travels. Nothing too exciting happened. A couple rest stops and about 400 pages in Harry Potter later we finally arrived at our hotel. Everybody scrambled off the bus, ran to get their room keys, and began the long trek up the stairs (only mine wasn't long as I had three seniors in my room which ment, we were giving priority over the rest!). Our rooms were pretty big and the beds were so comfy. We somehow all decided to head down the elevator at the same time. Capacity: 12, number of WHS Marching Band Members: 14
Of course, we were all starving at 7:00 P.M. so we decided to go to A & W. We ate and became bored so we walked to 7-11. Then we were bored again so we went to Walmart and at that store that is where history was made.
SIDE NOTE: Every once in awhile my group of friends reflect on our childhood. We always have conversations about what our favorite foods were and we always concluded that we missed Dunkaroos and Koala Yummies the most.
BACK TO THE STORY: We walked into Walmart and the first thing we saw were the Dunkaroos..yep I bought two boxes. YUM! We also checked out some other stuff and then grabbed Gatorade. We made the journey to the hotel and went to sleep after watching the news, One Tree Hill, Country music videos, and ER. </font>
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