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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Switched our 30% discount at POP over to the $300 gift card and realized a 'net' savings of $165. THEN AAA kicked in another $25 gift card because they are running a promotion now for a net savings of $190! Merry Christmas to us!! Thanks Mickey, see ya end of January!
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I'm with those who said it's an odd time to announce anything - I suspect it may be an announcement that we're probably already aware of on the boards.... that seems to be the way with a lot of Disney announcements recently.
The parade mainly focused on the Give a day, Get a day promotion. Methinks that could have been the announcment. (Though we already knew about that on here!)
I think this is one of those "announcements" that was intended for the general public and not people, like us, who obsessively read about these things on-line. Most people don't know about the new Give A Day/Get a Day promotion or any of the deals announced for next year already.
They *do* know that Disney has been offering deals in 2009, but it hasn't trickled down to the general public about the specifics -- thus the "announcement" during the parade, when millions were watching.
Eileen
I think this is one of those "announcements" that was intended for the general public and not people, like us, who obsessively read about these things on-line. Most people don't know about the new Give A Day/Get a Day promotion or any of the deals announced for next year already.
They *do* know that Disney has been offering deals in 2009, but it hasn't trickled down to the general public about the specifics -- thus the "announcement" during the parade, when millions were watching.
Eileen
I think your right ... I was hoping for a big WOW .....
I think your right ... I was hoping for a big WOW .....
I know how you feel. I was fooled with the last big announcement they made. I was all excited for something cool and actually interesting...Eh, I don't hold my breath anymore.
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This might have already been known, but it was news to me... they talked about the Disney Channel Stars doing a special service thing at the parks in February.
As a number of folks have mentioned, December 25 is an odd day to make a "big" announcement. While Disney can take advantage of the parade broadcast to reach its loyal audience watching the parade, they can't reach the wider media on a day like the 25th. What's more, even if the media did have reporters available to cover the story, the story would have to run on the evening news on the 25th, and how many of us watch the evening newscasts on Christmas night?
Disney wants the reporters who normally cover travel stories to be assigned to its stories - they're most likely to get the story right. Those folks are almost always off on major holidays, so the story would fall to the skeleton staff that's normally on duty over holidays - people who may not have a clue about why Disney's announcement might be important.
Even if it hadn't been Christmas, Friday is a lousy day of the week for the kind of "news" Disney usually generates, because the story would show up in the Saturday newspapers - not the best edition of the week if you want to reach the maximum audience.
So, I'm not surprised that the "big announcement" came to nothing. And, as it turned out, it's just as well - they'd have been pre-empted anyway by a certain incident on a flight into Detroit.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions