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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
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Where to start with this TR, that is the question. Yes, at the beginning is a good start but there really isn't a cut and dried beginning to this one. Last year, after we returned home from our Disney vacation on Tuesday August 18th, we all agreed it would be nice if circumstances allowed us to return this year but we didn't know if they would or not. Therefore, just like every other time we've gone, the answer to Abby has been "hopefully in a couple of years we can go back." Lenny, despite that however, decided on Wednesday August 19th to go to the website to see if "our room" (yes, that's how he termed it) was available for this summer. It was and since a room only reservation would be a small deposit, he decided to book it since we had quite a bit of "leftover" vacation money. His having done this will eventually lead to him asking me several times over the months "aren't you glad I booked the room?"
I didn't really do much of anything after that. I checked out SWA here and there to see what the release date would be for our time frame. For our August 2015 trip, our flight down was released in November of 2014 and our trip home was released in February 2015. For August of 2016, the dates for both legs of our trip were not getting released until February 18, 2016. I was surprised in the difference between the two years but I was happy to see it because the one thing I didn't want to purchase without knowing a trip is possible is airfare. Having those "extra" months was a huge help IMO not only mentally - no tickets to buy, nothing to worry about - but also financially - no tickets released yet meant prices wouldn't be going up and up while trying to save up for said tickets. So things were just plugging along. I was saving up everywhere I could in the hopes we could go but my heart wasn't set on it as I didn't know if we could make it work or not. We only had the room and I knew that could very easily be canceled.
In the middle of all of this, I bought a new to me car. Ironically enough, it was the same type we got as a rental last year. A Hyundai Santa Fe SUV. Now one would think that having done this would lessen our chances of returning to Disney but if there is one thing I do well it's planning ahead (I guess I don't have to tell some of you that). When it came to the car, I had planned ahead money wise so it didn't impact future vacations. Something else happened car wise that did however threaten to do just that.
The end of the year came and once again we had car repairs to deal with. The van had been making exhaust leak noises but on one of our errand days, it was much, much worse. So over Christmas vacation, we sent the van to the station where I work. Since they are not overly familiar with vans to begin with let alone Dodge brand vehicles, it wasn't something they would have an easy time of. They actually recommended replacing the vehicle for what it would cost me just in labor to fix it. Now that wasn't exactly what I expected to hear so I figured a trip to Disney was definitely not going to happen. Lenny, on the other hand, wasn't willing to give up the van - and I can't really blame him. It's a vehicle he likes and is comfortable with. Plus it's not one that can be easily replaced. What he did though was take it to his brother, who works on big delivery trucks, to have him look at it. He took one look and said it was something that could easily be fixed. For the station I work at, no, not so easily but for him it would be. Between him and Lenny, after a few hours and a little bit of money for parts, the van was fixed so what had looked really, really bad turned out not to be.
January came and we still didn't know if we'd be able to go to Disney. We really wanted to so Lenny and I discussed it and just decided we'd make it happen even if that meant carrying a credit card balance for a couple of months. Then something else happened that I had been expecting for a few months - Lenny was fired from Walgreens.
Things had not been going very well there for a long while - for maybe close to a year now I'm guessing - and it was just very wearing on everyone. I think it all comes down to the fact that Lenny had a very young manager who doesn't understand what it's like to be older with disabilities and truthfully didn't care. She wanted Lenny to be "normal" and when he couldn't be because of his disabilities, she treated him like crap. He even got written up for the stupidest things. One day, he was wearing a Walgreens provided t-shirt (which said Walgreens) and she wrote him up for it saying that he needed to wear a Walgreens provided shirt meaning the Polo type shirt they also had to wear. Other stuff happened but it all culminated in the one thing I did expect but was hoping would never happened - he was fired. I figured this would be a really, really huge setback to us getting back to Disney in 2016.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Now that I've started, please let me know if anything looks funny like has happened in the past. On my computer, everything looks fine so I need to know if I have to do something different for it to look right to you guys. Thanks.
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Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
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Pixie Dust
Everything looks great with your post as well. 
Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. 
Jenn
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