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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Hi friends!!!
For those of you who know me, hello again, and for those of you who don’t I’m Linny and I’m back with another PTR/TR!! This trip has been planned for just about a year now and I am super excited to get started on this PTR as I am just about 35 days away!!! Here is the rundown……
WHO is going on this trip??? Well let’s see…
Me: Linny, Linda, Lin, soon to be 38 (in just a few short days thank you) has been to the world many times but it wasn’t until I became a parent that I have gotten super obsessed with traveling to Disney. I love all the characters but I have to say my most favorite thing to do while in the world is to watch Wishes!!! From the hub on MS, or the beach at the Poly. Brings tears to my eyes every time.
Arnaud: 37. The hubs….for any of you ever wondering how to pronounce his name, it’s ARNO. Of course if you are a sassy European like his parents, you would have a nice little accent to it. I don’t. He was never to Disney as a kid, but somehow has managed to be going every year since 2007 with me!!! His most favorite thing about being in the world would be eating at Ohana’ and having a daily Mickey Bar!!
Josie: Will be turning 5 just after this trip!! This girl has quite a few Disney trips under her belt now. Her favorite things to do in the world are just about everything!!! Her fave princesses (at the moment) are Rapunzel, Jasmine and Mulan. However recently she has a new HUGE obsession with Lilo and Stitch……more on that in a minute though.
Andre: Will be 21 months at the time of this trip. He has been on a DCL last year at 9 months, but guess what gang??? This will be his FIRST VISIT to the world!!!!! I am beyond excited for this cat. His favorite characters are Mickey and the fab five……..and Pete the Cat!!! Wish we could run into him.
WHEN: Sep 10-19th.
WHERE: Polynesian!!!
WHY:……..uhmmmm, really?? Do I need a reason? Well OK, if I must how about just a family vacation and also celebrate Josie turning a whole hand old and Andre’s first visit!
For those of you who have followed some of my other TR’s you are probably noticing a few changes with the dates and resort. Well let me catch you all up on that.
Last Oct we sailed on the Disney Dream in October, but stayed one night at the BC before the cruise. There was a BB offer in the room for FD, so we jumped on it. The offer expired on Sep 29th. We like to travel later than that but went with it anyway. We booked Sep 24th- Oct 3rd and were still able to get the FD package. We knew we wanted to go back to the GF this time around, so that is what we booked.
Now with that all in place the only other thing to do now was sit around and wait till ADR time. About a week before that was to happen, Arnaud asked me what are dates were again because he had a business trip around the same time. Uhm, it was for the exact same time. YIKES!!!! I quickly called and priced out going a few weeks later, knowing I would lose the FD. The price difference was outrageous!!! So I asked about a few weeks earlier. That was actually like $200 cheaper. So we went with those earlier dates. Not real happy about traveling in the beginning of the school year, but Josie is still just in pre-school because of her Oct b-day, I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal.
Now with that taken care of I went into serious panic mode because now I was in the 180 mark for ADR’s and was certain I would get nadda of what we wanted. I frantically went online and within an hour was able to get EVERYTHING we wanted for just about the times we wanted too. I am still in shock over that one.
So now we just sit and wait till our trip gets here. However, a little surprise trip snuck in on me when just Josie and I went for down for a few days in May, and while there I changed my BB offer to what they had going at that time, which was for 30% off. I managed to save quite a bit more money there too. So in the end, that little trip was worth it in my eyes.
So now really, we just sit and wait for our trip. Until my good PP friend Kelly (OhToodles) messaged me about a TON of closures going on at GF during our stay. OOOhhhhhhh heck no!!! I was on the phone in minutes!! I knew of the DVC construction, and that did not bother me at all, but having the main pool, Gasparilla’s and the main gift shop all closed during our time there was a BIG problem with me. We are resort people and spend a lot of time there. Those closures would directly impact our stay. So again I called to see if I could maybe switch to the Poly, and to our luck I could and saved a few more bucks!
At first I was bummed to miss out on GF but then I thought about my very first trip, was at the Poly. Josie’s very first trip was at the Poly. Now my sweet boy’s first real trip to the world will be at the Poly too!! Plus a new favorite movie Josie has found now would be Lilo and Stitch, both of the movies too!! We have to watch them here quite often…….which will bring me to the name of this PTR!
I like to use song titles for my reports, but I was really drawing a blank here. Then came this obsession with Lilo and Stitch and how everything we do know has to be about Hawaii and hula dancing. Josie quotes that movie a million times a day and while tucking her into bed one night, with her new Stitch stuffy I might add, she says to me…” Ohana means family mom, and I love my family!” Heart melting!!!!!! You are so right my baby girl. Ohana does mean family, and now I have my sweet little family of 4 and we are all heading to the world, together, for the very first time. It couldn’t be more fitting.
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