"Spring"ing Back to Branson - Regular Updates every 2-3 Days! - COMPLETE 10/15 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I was so glad to finally have an extended trip to Branson, instead of just 2 or 3 nights at a time. It really gave us a chance to check out some of those things we never seemed to have time for before. But having Jerry along was quite a challenge, especially during the two days of driving, when there was nowhere else to go to get some peace and quiet. Hopefully we won't be taking him along with us for any other trips - I left out all the details about him and what all he was saying, but trust me it was not pleasant at times, at the least it was just very annoying.
For our last two trips we had stayed at a different resort, Falls Village, so we were excited to be back at Big Cedar again. It's a great location for a relaxing vacation, but even Jay noted this trip that he liked staying at Falls Village because it was so convenient to get to everything in town. As much as we love Big Cedar, we may have to seriously consider our lodging options in the future, based on what we plan to do. My favorite part about our particular room arrangement was that Jerry had his own separate unit, so at least we weren't on top of each other during the time we spent at the resort.
What new things did we experience this trip? We got to ride the Branson Scenic Railway, and we checked out a couple of new shopping areas. The main thing, though, was finally getting to drive up to Springfield to see the main Bass Pro Shops. Wonders of Wildlife was really neat, and we all enjoyed Fantastic Caverns. It was our first trip to the Titanic Museum, and I think we might go back again, but maybe wait until Joshua is a little older so he can appreciate it more. We finally found time to walk the nature trail at the resort and eat at the Smokehouse.
What did we miss? Well, let's see - Celebration City, the trails at the Scenic Overlook area. Maybe check out their Ripley's Museum or the Hollywood Wax Museum just for fun. They're supposed to open a new Ducks ride/tour that starts at the Branson Landing Shopping Center that would be fun, since Jay didn't ride with me and Joshua on our solo trip last year. And I still have on my list the Dogwood Canyon Nature Park and maybe a musical show.
What would we do differently next time? If we're going to be going into town every day on such an extended trip again, we would definitely stay at Falls Village for the convenience and easy access - much less driving!
It's been fun sharing this with you, I hope you enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sticking with it!!!
Next up: Look for my Myrtle Beach trip report - our first time there!
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Hopefully we won't be taking him along with us for any other trips - I left out all the details about him and what all he was saying, but trust me it was not pleasant at times, at the least it was just very annoying. 
My favorite part about our particular room arrangement was that Jerry had his own separate unit, so at least we weren't on top of each other during the time we spent at the resort.
Wonders of Wildlife was really neat, and we all enjoyed Fantastic Caverns. It was our first trip to the Titanic Museum, and I think we might go back again, but maybe wait until Joshua is a little older so he can appreciate it more. We finally found time to walk the nature trail at the resort and eat at the Smokehouse.
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