A Little Trans-Atlantic Magic - The (somewhat) LIVE TR! -updated 07/03/13 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Poor Meri! We had a similar experience when my DS was about 2 or 3, and lost his favorite dinosaur (from the Disney movie Dinosaur) when a wave hit him in NC - he'd been swimming with the dinosaur! He cried and cried, and then decided it would end up in Barcelona, and maybe a boy there would find it and play with it! LOL! So, maybe Meri will find that to replace the Magic! Is 13 years enough time for something to travel the ocean from NC to Barcelona?!
Awwww! Barcelona. Love that! I'll keep an eye out for the dinosaur! Maybe he's riding around on the Magic, underwater, now!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
"But that's all I have left of the Disney Magic, and now it's gone, and the ship is gone from Barcelona!" -- Oh, poor Meri!
I know, breaks your heart, right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Sounds like a great day and how neat about the fountain show!
You did fine with the spelling of La Sagrada Familia - I hope you love that as much as we did, it's a stunning building. You've certainly got a lot to pack in before you head out on Thursday - so looking forward to it!
We really do. Tomorrow is Montserrat, and then probably the beach in the afternoon if we get home in time. Then Wednesday is the zoo (and city park) and either the aquarium or the beach (I'm pulling for the beach, myself), and then packing. *sigh* Then Thursday we're outta here to Paris!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SugarRush
Love love loving this trip report. Spent the last 2 days reading your pre trip and now this read we have booked the westbound next year. It's our first cruise and I now can't wait the magic will have had its refurb too so looking forward to a fresh ship. I just hope the seas are as kind to us as they have been to you.
Hope you are enjoying Europe, should've added in a trip to Edinburgh...see the castle
I'm seriously considering the westbound next year. It would mean pulling Meri out of third grade for 2 1/2 weeks... but... I'm seriously considering it. Very seriously, lol. I know that's a lot of school to miss in the beginning of the year, but I might be willing... it's hard to say. We'll see. Meri wants to go on every other Disney boat now, to see what she likes best, so I am working on a possible combination next year, lol. We will see which big plans come to fruition. Much will depend on two big things... 1) Whatever new job I find (vacation time will have to work in my favor) 2) If we move to Orlando...
Sigh. All of this "work" and "school" nonsense is getting in the way of my travel plans.