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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
I like the sony line for P&S cameras with the DSLR capabilities... a friend of mine's mom has a couple of them and the way she talks you'd think she was Ansel Adams... her pictures are very good, but she can't tell you how the exposure happened lol
My first digital camera was a Fuji Finepix S602, one of the crop of cameras that looks like a small SLR but has a fixed lens. I was very happy with that camera, though I eventually upgraded to a DSLR. It had great color and lots of SLR-like features that made it a nice intermediate step between an P&S and an SLR. It's not made any more, of course.
A little bit of surfing turned up a current camera in the same class:
The Fuju S2000HD looks nice. It's 10mp, with a zoom equivalent to an SLR 27-414mm, and uses SD and SDHC memory cards. It also has a BIG 2.7" LCD and shoots movies at 3 different resolutions. Street price looks like about $260-$300. Fujifilm FinePix S2000HD Digital Camera - First Shots - The Imaging Resource!
This is just an example; I am not endorsing that camera, because I have never played with it myself, I'm just going by the specs, the price, and my previous experience with a similar Fuji camera. YMMV.
There are a number of good "combo-compromise" cameras out there...
Jan has the Fuji S5200, and she loves it. High zoom, wide angle, takes great shots in all situations...
I've played with the Olympus SP series (350 and 550) and they are both good cameras also.
My advise, like always, do your research, go to a good camera store that has all the models to play with, see how they feel, test them, and make your decision...
My first digital camera was a Fuji Finepix S602, one of the crop of cameras that looks like a small SLR but has a fixed lens. I was very happy with that camera, though I eventually upgraded to a DSLR. It had great color and lots of SLR-like features that made it a nice intermediate step between an P&S and an SLR. It's not made any more, of course.
I have a Fuji Finepix S5700; it's pretty much the same thing as you mentioned, but a later generation. 7.1 megapixels, lots of control options BUT still plenty of automation, and decent optical zoom (10x). A nice, inexpensive "bridge" camera, IMO. We'll see if I stick to P&S, or if I make the leap to DSLR, in a couple years' time ...
I've just uploaded some pictures (resized tremendously, down to 800x600) from a trip to the Southwick Zoo (in Mendon, MA) this weekend - some by me, with the Fuji camera ... and some by my DGF, with her brand-new Nikon Coolpix L18.
One of mine, a closeup of a black swan:
One of hers, a closeup of a kookaburra (and all of, at most, the fifteenth or twentieth picture she'd ever taken with the new camera):
Hers is a pure point-and-shoot, but it's s nice one IMO. 8 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, and up to 4x digital zoom (with resulting loss of resolution, but when you GOTTA, you gotta - and those 8MP give her plenty of resolution TO lose; she can go to 2x and still take "snapshot"-worthy pics, around 3-4MP equivalent, IIRC).
Both cameras were under $200; mine was around $180, hers has an MSRP of $130 (and sold for less, through Amazon.com). Keep in mind, that's before buying needed accessories like rechargable batteries (mine needs four AA's, hers needs two AA's), camera case, memory cards, etc, etc.
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I too have the digital rebel by canon (dslr) and it is fab. you can basically point and shoot by using the automatic setting, or you can choose all the settings if you place it in manual mode.
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