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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Many of you know there is no love lost between me and Lenny's family and have read my complaints over the past few years of getting there and there only being gift cards and/or money for Abby instead of some sort of toy or book or something she can use while there. I fully expected that yesterday so we went with Abby's DS in hand and she was given permission to sit at the table and play it (and basically ignore everyone the way they ignore her). Needless to say, I was very surprised to find Abby actually had a gift to open yesterday (along with a gift card). What was the gift you ask? Candyland!?!? Yes, you read that right. My 11 year old daughter was given the game of Candyland. Abby might be Autistic but the doesn't mean she has the intelligence of a 3 year old. There's many a things I could say in this thread about those people but I'll keep it family friendly and not say anything other than this just confirms what I've known for years - they don't know Abby nor do they care about her. On the bright note though, Santa knows exactly what Abby loves and plays with because she got all sorts of age and interest appropriate gifts so she's not missing out on "good" gifts.
....I know EXACTLY where you are coming from regarding age / skill appropriate...or even just plain APPROPRIATE gifts that were given to my kids by family members. It was always one of our family "traditions" to hear the rants from my kids...and or wife.....after we left her parents house after being there for Christmas day. My son when he was younger...was a HUGE Star Wars fanatic (still is somewhat..at the age of 26!!)...and even when knowing this...my sister in law gets him Star Trek toys. The same was true with items that my in-laws got for my wife (their OWN daughter!) and our daughters. It wasn't a case of being clueless...it was a case of not caring one tiny bit. THAT was what drove my wife so completely nutso over the whole thing....because she agonized over every detail of buying a gift for someone else...and they couldn't care less. Perhaps...it's a good thing that her family doesn't associate with her (and us) any longer. There is just so much of being dumped on that anyone can handle....
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Abby is blessed to have a wonderful "Santa" at home your doing a great job don't let other distract you too much they are not worth it! But always vent here that's what we are here for
Did you read about how Brent got post-it's, a pen from a hotel, and a roll of tape from Todd's sister?
Families!
OMG - no I didn't. I wasn't on the boards at all yesterday and I haven't gotten very far today. I'm sorry to hear he got those. Part of me is glad to know it's not just happening to us. The other part is amazed that people can be that stupid/clueless/lazy - whatever term you want to put to it.
We have had the same issues with the inlaw and the outlaws (my family). They buy the most rediculous gifts sometimes. We tried giving them list, telling them the kids are bigger now and don't want another Hanna Montana calender or whatever but they don't listen. My kids expect it now and its not a big deal. Our big Christmas is with just our immeadiate family and I try to make that a special and memorable time for our kids.
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I try to stay home every year - and in 12 years of marriage, it's only happened twice . The first time we were having a really bad snowstorm and I refused to set foot out of the house with Abby to go get a gift card so Lenny went by himself. The second time was when Christmas was at his sisters house in Maine. We had the old van which we didn't want to drive that far, Lenny couldn't get time off of work at that late time (they always do things like one week in advance) and we were the only ones in the family not invited to stay in his sisters house. We were told "BiL and Sis normally come down for Christmas then go home the same day, why can't you do the same thing?" Needless to say, we said thanks but no, we're not going to do it.
Actually now that I think about it, it might have happened a third year - the year my father died. He died on Dec 23, 2004 and I have very few memories of that year. I remember some of the events from the day he went but not many. I remember one thing that happened on Christmas day (it happened here at home) but nothing else so I have no idea what we did. I hope that I told them to take a long walk off a short pier and that we weren't going over for Christmas but I just have no idea what we did.
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knows exactly what Abby loves and plays with because she got all sorts of age and interest appropriate gifts so she's not missing out on "good" gifts.
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Pixie Dust
Thankfully Santa knows how to shop for Abby. 
]Read all about our Disney Experiences on the Williams Family Blog: 
[SIGPIC]Ricky, Sharon R, Richard
. The first time we were having a really bad snowstorm and I refused to set foot out of the house with Abby to go get a gift card so Lenny went by himself. The second time was when Christmas was at his sisters house in Maine. We had the old van which we didn't want to drive that far, Lenny couldn't get time off of work at that late time (they always do things like one week in advance) and we were the only ones in the family not invited to stay in his sisters house. We were told "BiL and Sis normally come down for Christmas then go home the same day, why can't you do the same thing?" Needless to say, we said thanks but no, we're not going to do it.
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