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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Many of you have been kind to offer support with my planning woes, so I'm going to share more.
The short of it is that we're planning a trip to WDW for next August. This trip is a "replacement" trip of sorts for a trip we couldn't take this year. For several reasons, a trip next year is way better than a trip this year, but it was still a disappointment that we couldn't go in 2010.
The original plan was to invite either my sisters or my in-laws to come along with us, figuring that all of them would be interested in going with my kids. We had thought of getting some kind of villa, splitting the cost, and (unabashedly) having live-in baby sitters (The trip was meant to be our tenth anniversary present to each other).
So when we started this planning this year, I suggested that we tell EVERYONE (all of our family) we were going and whoever decided to go would go. I told my oldest sister and she grabbed onto the idea like it was gold. I had mentioned that I would really like to stay at the Polynesian, so she said that is what she would do.
She wanted to book at the Poly right away. Immediately. No ifs, ands, or buts--just do it. But, I couldn't. I needed to play around with the money. I needed to figure out what will be financially possible. I want to stay at the Poly, but realistically, I don't want to make myself broke to make it happen.
I finally convinced dh that we should book by the end of this month so that we could pay over time. He agreed, but wanted to do some research. I sent an email request to AAA to get some quotes, but have yet to hear back (it's been almost a week; is that normal?).
My sister called and said that she was going to book the Poly, and that she was going to drive down with my parents and her two daughters. Those were her plans, regardless of what we were going to do. She felt that since she had our parents she needed to be at a monorail resort. Dh was kind of resentful. He felt a little pressured that he was being forced to book the Poly. I didn't feel anything of the kind. She's got money we don't.
So last night, my sister called me and told me that she wanted to double check the dates because she was just going to book at the Contemporary. She found the Poly to be too expensive. And it would have been for her, too. She'll have five grown up people in her group--with the possibility of another sister joining her. Also, I think the CR is the best option for my parents--they're both a little limited in their mobility.
I felt immediately relieved. If she was going to book at the CR, then we could book somewhere else. I told my husband. His response was, "She would do that."
Oh well. I don't get it. Dsis and dh are passive aggressively butting heads over a trip that no one has booked yet. I should have kept my suggestions about inviting people along all to myself.
Do I tempt fate and price out a stay at the CR? Or do I just go ahead and book at our cheaper option--POFQ? Somehow, I don't think I'll win with either option.
Thanks for reading. This has turned out much longer than I intended, but I really do appreciate your reading.
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