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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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02-01-2013, 08:00 AM
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#1
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PassPorter Guide
 Community Rank: Globetrotter 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,041
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Feature Article: Amazingly E-Racing the Guilt - Keeping Kids Entertained at Epcot Food & Wine Festival
Amazingly E-Racing the Guilt - Keeping Kids Entertained at Epcot Food & Wine Festival
by Dawn Steinfeld
So there I was, creeping closer to departure day and deep into the planning for our fourth trip to Disney in five years for what is affectionately called "Jersey Week." (Well, being from Jersey, I'm going with "affectionately.") <b r/>
Jersey Week also coincides with the Epcot Food & Wine Festival each year and my husband Craig and I had yet to take full advantage of the booths around World Showcase. The reason was mostly that our two youngest boys (Tyler, 11 and Jason, 8) have multiple allergies and our teenager (Zach, 17) is picky and we felt guilty about eating around the world while they had nothing to do. So, what to do, what to do? What could I come up with to keep them entertained and having fun so they wouldn’t realize we were dragging them from country to country and food booth to food booth so Craig and I could sample the international wares guilt-free? Then it hit me! How about an Amazing Race around the World (Showcase that is)?! Craig and I have always loved the television show and thought it would be the only reality show we would ever want to do. Why not combine that with our love for Disney and keep the boys entertained at the same time? As an added benefit, I thought it would help a bit with our sixth grader Tyler’s teachers, since he would be missing a few days and this was his first year in middle school. I even emailed Tyler’s French teacher for help with the clue for France. But, I’m getting a little ahead.
Once I decided that I would surprise the boys with the race, I started doing some research online for ideas. Being a bit anal about my planning and obsessed with details, I wanted the clues to be as close to the race clues from the show as possible. I found a great website for a group that had done an Amazing Race-style scavenger hunt on Sanibel Island, and they had templates for the clue cards I could download. That saved me a lot of time. Again, I’m a bit obsessed with details, so I needed envelopes that looked legit, and I modified the "Detour" and "Roadblock" cards to match those from the show.
After I downloaded the clue cards, I needed tasks for the boys to do in each country, so I began searching for ideas for Disney scavenger hunts and facts about the countries in World Showcase. I did find a post from another board about an Amazing Race someone did for their daughter and took some clues from there. Each country would have a Route Info card with a task for each country, along with a space for the boys to get it stamped by the KidCot station cast members. In addition to the Route Info task, each country would either have a Roadblock where the boys would have to do an additional task, or a Detour where the boys would have a choice to do one of two additional tasks. To make me feel better about taking Tyler out of school this year, I tried to tie some of the countries into what Tyler was studying in school. He happened to be studying the Tomb Warriors of China and is also taking French so I counted those countries as "educational." (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.) For China, I took a picture of one of the Tomb Warriors from online and told the boys they had to find that particular warrior and tell me when they found him; they also had to take a silly hat picture and get their names written by the cast members in Chinese. For France, I emailed Tyler’s French teacher with a request to translate some famous Disney sayings into French, so that Tyler could ask the cast members to help him translate them back into English. We did "When you wish upon a star," "A dream is a wish your heart makes," and "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all?" Tyler’s teacher was more than happy to help and thought it was a great idea. Some guilt alleviated, check!
On the day of the race, I told the boys I had planned something fun for them to do while Daddy and I snacked around the World, and that when they finished, there would be a surprise for them. In keeping with the new Phineas and Ferb World Showcase Adventure, I got each of my younger boys a mini stuffed Agent P and a Vinylmation for all three boys at the finish line. We made the International Gateway entrance the finish line, because we were staying at the Beach Club, and put the prizes in lockers there. Then we made our way to Mexico to start. Here I explained what we were going to do and pulled out the first envelope. I had told Craig about the race, but not what any of the clues were, so he was just as surprised as the boys with the tasks, and I told the boys they could use daddy as a "lifeline" of sorts. Our boys are fun-loving and always up for a challenge, and were excited to get started, so they headed up the steps to the ancient pyramid and the race was on!
After starting in Mexico, the boys travelled the world, stopping to battle trolls, search for pickles, wish in a well, and flirt with pretty French cast members while translating Disney sayings. They also worked together to name famous Norwegian Vikings and discover what the five tiers of the Goju-No-To pagoda stand for. And for fun, they had to wish on a lamp, stand like a totem pole, run through a hedge maze, and search out this carved stone face making no stony expression.
While the boys were enjoying their race around the world, Craig and I were – guiltlessly – enjoying some delicious snacks like Hawaiian pork sliders, Australian lamb, Chinese pot stickers, Polish pierogies, and Canadian cheddar cheese soup. The boys were more up to the task of conquering the world than Craig and I were of conquering the food booths. Trust me, we gave it the old college try though.
So, although my race plans interfered with my husband’s original idea to make our own "Call Me Maybe" video around the World Showcase, we had finally found a way to take full advantage of the Food & Wine Festival and have non-pouting, non-foot-dragging, entertained children along the way. The boys had a blast and were thrilled with their new Perry the Playtpus', and hey, there’s always next year!
Added to PassPorter's Article Collection on 01-29-2013 01:01 PM
What do you think? Please add your own comments, experiences, or news related to this article in this thread! Reader feedback is welcomed and encouraged.
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