Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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02-01-2014, 09:20 AM
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#11
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Community Rank: Adventurer 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 526
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Tower of Terror 10-Miler
The Finish Line:
What Doesn’t Kill Me, Makes Me Stronger-A Royal Transformation
“What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger. Just me, myself and I. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Stand a little taller…”
Crossing the finish line the tears instantly over took me…tears of happiness, tears of victory, tears of accomplishment, and the worst kind of tears there are tears of loneliness and emptiness. Here I was at the finish line, having a medal put around my neck...the piece of bling that I had longed for the last 12 months, the tangible symbol that I DID IT and I was feeling empty and alone, just like the song. This was not the picture I had in my mind at the finish line; I suddenly knew what I had been feeling as I entered DHS. I had always pictured the end being surrounded by my OCD princess friends. The plan was to allow one of the princesses to run her race ahead of us, but be there waiting as we crossed the finish line. I was supposed to be laughing with my evil stepsister OCD princess as we drug each other across the finish line. This trip, this run, this moment was supposed to be about friendship and here I was ALONE. I thought for a moment that I caught of glimpse of OCD Princess Ariel on the sidelines, but I am sure now that it was probably wishful thinking, because she so easily wrote me out of the trip and out of her life, why would she be there as we had planned? She wasn’t there when I needed her the most the last 8 weeks, she meant more to me than I meant to her, never once checked on me to see how I was doing, she didn’t care, she left me ALONE. But maybe that was a good thing, you see I learned something from being left alone. I learned what it felt like to all those friends that I had done the exact same thing to, written off and never looked back. I learned that friendship is about accepting the other person, faults and all, being honest with them when they are driving you CRAZY instead of holding it in and blowing up (only blowing up when they call you CRAZY), and you just don’t write a person off because you think it is going to end eventually anyway to protect yourself. That is the easy way out, if a person really means something to you than you fight for the friendship. I also realized that I had done exactly what I did not want to do in this race; I was so focused on the finish line that I forgot to enjoy each step I took, to live in the moment. I mindlessly made my way through the exit area picking up my snack box, banana, bottle of water allowing regret; sadness and loneliness continue to cloud my thoughts. Looking around me it was like a war zone of bodies all around me…sitting, laying, standing, and moaning. Where was the excitement and celebration that I dreamed of? I remember hearing the theme song of Dallas (NO KIDDING, REALLY) and a smile began to spread across my face and a little laugh came out…how absurd this whole scene was and my feelings…it took a silly theme song from my grandmother’s favorite tv show (YES, I THINK THAT WAS HER SPEAKING HER WISDOM TO ME THROUGH THE SONG). It was at that moment that my phone started going off again and I pulled up my big girl panties…this moment now had to be about ME and right now there are people that love and care about me (as apparent by the number of texts I was getting)...including 2 people waiting to celebrate with me the other side of this exit chute. I thought about the last 12 months of training as well as the last 2 months of emotional heartbreak.
This is unofficial time/pace. My RunDisney shows a more realistic pace for me around 15 minute mile. What is funny is the distance...that ain't 10 miles! LOL
I did what I had only dreamed of 12 months and worked so hard to accomplish despite being broken both mentally with a derailed trip & broken friendships and physically with a stress fracture. I stopped to take a picture of me and my bling (so not a good picture).
with the realization that...
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger. Just me, myself and I. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Stand a little taller. Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
And as I emerged from the exit chute onto Hollywood Blvd, I was no longer an OCD Disney Princess, but a Disney Queen about to party with the villains and no plan was needed. It took me 12 months to transform and what a roller coaster 12 months it had been…
Last edited by momabaarjo; 02-01-2014 at 11:58 AM..
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