Feature Article: Using YouTube for Disney Magic - Getting Your Disney Fix - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Feature Article: Using YouTube for Disney Magic - Getting Your Disney Fix
Using YouTube for Disney Magic - Getting Your Disney Fix by Melissa Solbach
After our first trip to Disney World, like many of you, it was really hard to go back to normal life! We all found we were missing that extra special Disney magic we had come to expect in the parks, and we needed a way to remember all the amazing things we saw and did.
There are a lot of great tips and tricks out there to help keep the Disney magic alive when you aren't at Disney, but we happened to discover one by accident. YouTube has really made a difference for our family. We had recently purchased an Apple TV unit, which has many wonderful features including a way to search YouTube and play videos on your home TV. One night as we were scrolling through some clips and videos, we stumbled upon a fireworks show for one of the Disney parks. According to our kids, that is one of the best things that has ever happened to them!
Our trip was planned for October, so we had bought tickets to go see Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party while we were there. We absolutely loved the parade and the fireworks show, in fact, I hate to say it, but I think the fireworks show may have been even better than Wishes! We made sure to take lots and lots of pictures and videos on our trip, to remember it all when we got back, but there are always going to be shots you missed or that didn’t turn out. As it was, we saw the parade from a pretty good location, but didn’t have the best seats along the route. All of this was fixed with YouTube!
We did a search for the Boo To You Parade with the year 2011, and were rewarded with a beautiful picture in a prime viewing spot. Now, we know this was not the exact parade we saw (it was recorded on a different night), but it still brings back the memories and feelings from the night we were there. We were so encouraged, we quickly searched for the Happy Hallowishes fireworks show, the Wishes fireworks show, the Main Street Electrical Light Parade, and Fantasmic! at Hollywood Studios, all things we saw on our trip. Once we had watched those clips a few times, we decided to branch out, and find views of things that we didn’t have time for, like the afternoon parades at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. I know there are many people out there who will probably say they would rather experience these events live and in person, and I agree with that! But I also know it will be several years between our visits, and they are constantly changing things up at Walt Disney World. I can also say that having been there in the middle of the action doesn’t compare at all to sitting on your couch watching it. Once we already had the memories, we could watch the clips and recapture the magic. Without having been there, it’s just a cool parade on TV. I think it would be just as special to see in person even if you knew what was coming, and I also know there are people that have been to Walt Disney World dozens if not hundreds of times and still watch these events each time like it’s the first.
Something else that we really benefitted from was there are people out there with far more time and knowledge than we had. We were so busy trying to soak up every last minute that we really didn’t want to spend a lot of time reserving a great viewing spot. And then when we did actually get to watch the parade, neither of us wanted to see it through the lens of a recorder! There are some really impressive-quality videos out there, shot in HD with great cameras from amazing locations. One website posting lots of Disney videos is http://www.attractionsmagazine.com - Orlando Attractions Magazine. They have a lot of really wonderful videos on all kinds of topics, including attractions and hotels.
Another great thing about this is that you can see things that may only occur once. For instance, we have two very big Star Wars geeks in our house, but we just can’t make the trip to Star Wars Weekends every year, so our son got to watch the evening show with Darth Vader, Chewbacca, and all the gang dancing around to current popular songs. That show in particular changes every year, so even if we do get to go to one, I know that while the premise may be the same, we will not see the exact same show.
The last point I have about why I think this is so much fun is because of my daughter. She was almost 3 when we went, so I know most of what she remembers will be from pictures and videos, and not necessarily her own memory. It’s no shock then, that she has been the one to request the videos over and over. I will be curious over the next few years to see what she does and doesn’t remember about our trip and I hope watching the clips on YouTube will at least help.
So to summarize, we went to Disney, missed being at Disney, found a way to bring a little piece of the magic back into our living rooms. And did I mention that it was free ... ?!
What do you think? Please add your own comments, experiences, or news related to this article in this thread! Reader feedback is welcomed and encouraged.
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.
YouTube videos are a wonderful means of getting a sense of things you've never had an opportunity to see or do to decide if any are a must for your next WDW trip.
Our last trip was right after New Year's Day, so we didn't get to see the Castle's holiday lights. But I found a professionally produced video of the Castle Lighting Ceremony that got me even more eager than I already was for our planned 11/13 trip.
YouTube is a terrific way to re-experience something you enjoyed or sample things you've not yet seen or done. Love it!
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
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