Jan 2016: Everyone and Their Mother Goes to Disney - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Jan 2016: Everyone and Their Mother Goes to Disney
It's early for a PTR but I'd like document the shenanigans involved with planning a trip with neighbors and family while they are fresh in my pounding head.
I'll start with some important disclaimers:
1. I love all the people who are going on this trip despite all the terrible things I will say about them. My neighbors are the best neighbors a person could ask for--we share a lawnmower, for pete's sake. Their rider broke and we have a big zero turn landscaper mower from when we had some fantasy of building a big house out of barn in the middle of field--don't do it, it won't end well--and now we just share it and hte job of mowing. Their kids and my kid are perfect matches despite the ages (10, 4 and 2). We raid each others fridges, coolers, and tool boxes. BUT, this has tried my patience. And my mother, we all know the story of my mother and her health nonsense. She's still improving, but as usual, the gung ho "I'm going to exercise and eat right this time" died off about 2 weeks after she was out of the hospital and I expect it to go fully dormant by winter. For a lady with no skin in the Disney/DVC finances, she's got a lot of opinions about how we organize a trip.
2. There is humor to be found, even as I'm pulling my hair out; my tendency toward sarcasm should be noted by the reader now and recognized as a coping tool. Sarcasm was my friend when I was eating on $10 a week, getting divorced, and having a surprise baby at 40--it's my friend now too. (note: these are all fine character building experiences, but I still think people should generally avoid experiencing them!)
3. I'm fully aware that I'm about to complain/kvetch about what my husband kindly refers to as #richladyproblems. You know, the kind where you complain about planning your third trip to Disney in 10 months. (true story: Catholic schools don't pay well, DC is expensive and $10 a week at Safeway gets you a decent amount of pasta and sauce; I once shared a beer with my roommate on her birthday, that's how little extra we had; and a $300 car repair bill put me in a credit card tailspin because I could only afford the minimum payment--I'm totally aware of how ridiculously fortunate we are now. Also note, we are, by many American standards, both rich and not rich, we live in a low cost of living area and my husband has a well paying job, but we'd be totally screwed if we lived in NYC or SF.
So take it all with a big handful of salt, get some popcorn, and sit back, 'cause this should be good!!
Oh count me in! I also am planning a multifamily trip. I like your coping mechanisms. And will be paying attention how you work out your "group therapy"!
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OMG - so excited by your PTR already. I've done what you are doing & it will never occur again. We had 17 people (started with 21) that ended up going. And we apparently have some things in common - got pregnant with my son at 40 - HUGE SURPRISE (was told at 19 absolutely no chance of getting pregnant - shows what they know).
I just know your PTR will bring some laughter into my days. TIA
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Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
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This is gonna be a fun one, I can tell!!! 
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