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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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This thread prompted some questions last night with the family. Where else do we want to go besides Disney?
There are a couple of things feeding into our answers:
1. DB and I used to travel for work. So we've been to Brussels, London, Paris, Hong Kong. (I literally flew around the world on my last trip - US to Brussels; Brussels to Hong Kong; Hong Kong back home.) And our trips weren't short - if the company is going to send you over, it's going to be worth their time. Longest trip for me was 6 weeks; 3 in Brussels, 3 in Hong Kong. Oh, and I got to go to Israel a few years back. *swoon*
Domestically, I've been to NYC, WDC, LA, San Fran, Portland, Seattle and Pittsburgh. DB has been to NYC, WDC, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, San Fran and a few other cities I can't remember.
Other places I've traveled to without work are Canada, Ireland and a bus trip from MA to Denver (and back again), a family car ride to Disney years ago from MA with stops along the way.
2. Before DB and I met, he did a lot of traveling with his buddies. So he's been all over most of Europe.
3. Little Dude - the service dog. Traveling domestically with him can get tiring, having to explain who he is, what he does and "yes, he really is a service dog" gets so very tiring. Because of that, we tend to be rather boring in our routine - we'd rather go to the same place over and over again than try something new. Going to Disney last year with Little Dude for the first time caused a lot of stress in preparations. We didn't know how Disney would react, what would the cast members say, etc. I knew Disney was good with disabilities, but we didn't know how they dealt with small non-standard service dogs. In the end, it worked out wonderfully and we had a whole week of travel with NO questions about him. It was a great vacation.
Traveling internationally with him is complicated, especially if he would need quarantine. He'd need a pet passport for visiting EU, and that can take a year to do. He'd probably have to be re-micro chipped as most of the chips in the US don't met EU standards.
So, what would we like to have on our list other than Disney World? Another cruise, most likely. Probably a Disney cruise. By having the same room each night would prevent questions at each hotel "is he really a service dog?" It would give us a chance to see more locations, obviously. Need to research what it would take with Little Dude to cruise the Caribbean.
I know, we sound rather boring with our list - having a service dog really does change a lot of things. A lot of it for the better, Stitch can travel now (and by that, I mean even going to the local restaurant for dinner!) But it does complicate bigger traveling.