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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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've been mulling this question over the last week or so (Eric says it is because I have all our Sept plans and ADRs made, so I am just looking for Disney numbers to be crunching somewhere ) I've always passed on the idea of an AP because of the "We don't do 11 days in the parks per year" issue, and it may actually be as cut and dried as that, BUT I thought I would get other reasoning on the issue to make sure I'm not overlooking major Disney magic by never getting one.
We generally go to Disney World about twice a year....I have gone more but generally in conjunction with something else we're doing in Florida. We keep tickets and if we're in the area, we try to do a park or water park any time we'll be in the area. We're about a 10 hour drive/ 1.5 hour flight away. Our longest stay was 10 days in 2005 and we used 4 park day tickets during that trip. This past March we took advantage of the 4/3 deal and stayed a week, and again only used 4 park days, in between I did 4 single day trips some of which Eric was not there for usually because we were taking the nieces and he had to work.
I really enjoy my time in the Disney parks, but tickets have always been gold to us and are treated carefully. We don't *waste* a ticket on 1/2 days or just running into Epcot for dinner (although I think those things could be fun), but length-of-stay tickets don't seem to be a good decision financially for the way we travel. I want resort time, DTD time, Orlando time, Outlet Mall shopping time, and we generally eat off-site for at least a couple meals per visit if it isn't free dining time. I just can't imagine having 7 days worth of tickets and not being 7 days in the parks; however if I only have 7 days I don't want to miss the rest of the Disney magic by only being in the parks all the time. I go to Disney enough, that I am not only parks all the time anymore. Disney atmosphere everywhere is where it is at. Hope that makes sense--sounds wierd anyway I type it!
As all PPs do, I love Disney and truly consider it a "happy place" for me. We also like to travel to other places both within the US and every couple of years overseas. I'm concered that with an AP we'll feel Disney is the only option, and we won't do that Grand Canyon trip or the Italy trip we have cooking in the back of our minds. I know I wouldn't get Disneyed-out (a complete impossibility for me ), but I can't imagine the depression when it runs out I have had Disney tickets in my possession to take advantage of a fabu deal at a moments notice for almost as many years as I can remember!
After Eric started experiencing Disney the *right way* , he became as addicted as the rest of my insano family. In fall of 2005, we bought 10 day park hopper, no expiring tickets with 5 water parks & more options; and we just finished using them up during our March '09 trip (other than the water parks option which every time they replace my ticket--which is almost every time I touch it ) they add more on since the promotion is now the same amount of fun options as big park tickets)
So the way I see it we have had 6 trips (well mine ran out in the early part or the March trip where Eric's either lasted till the end or he has a day left) using those tickets (which we paid around $700 for both of them), and we've never paid more than value season rack rate for a room because we generally travel during value season, but even if it is not we use AAA discounts or pin codes for rooms. AP discounts may well be more than what we're receiving, but I'm not sure what kind of rate that gets.
I'd guess for every 2 days we stay on-site, we go to a park 1 day on average, but every trip since Eric first experienced BB, we take in a water park as one of those days. Right now we have 2 unused 7 day, PH, no expiring tickets with 7 water parks and more options; Eric has about 7 more water parks and more options on his original ticket, I know I have 10 on mine, because the last ticket replacement that is what the CM put on it; and in addition to those we have about at least 1 single day ticket from last Sept's free dining promotion, and 2 more from the trip we've got booked in September (which we won't use any of on that trip because the Expedition Everest package includes the tickets we'll use in Sept!) We're just getting the tickets for the free DDP.
With roughly 9 no expiring tickets each & all 2009 trips accounted for (as far as we know ) already, we are probably good through at least 2013. But I was thinking, we could easily put tickets toward 1 AP if there is a good enough reason to get one. I mean we could get 2 APs without a huge OOP expense probably, but I just don't know if it financially makes sense since it will severely limit future trips when you have that ticket cost taking a bite out of your wallet at the same time as the trip!
for the novel, but I am interested in opinions both from ppl who travel like us and from those who see benefits we're missing doing things our way--which honestly so far is working pretty darn well. Anything that gets me to Disney on a regular basis is A-OK with me
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) I've always passed on the idea of an AP because of the "We don't do 11 days in the parks per year" issue, and it may actually be as cut and dried as that, BUT I thought I would get other reasoning on the issue to make sure I'm not overlooking major Disney magic by never getting one.
), but I can't imagine the depression when it runs out 
I have had Disney tickets in my possession to take advantage of a fabu deal at a moments notice for almost as many years as I can remember!
for the novel, but I am interested in opinions both from ppl who travel like us and from those who see benefits we're missing doing things our way--which honestly so far is working pretty darn well. Anything that gets me to Disney on a regular basis is A-OK with me 
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