Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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02-10-2010, 03:34 PM
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#1
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Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Columbia, SC
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 7,014
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How to Beat the Winter Blahs!
“Mommy . . . Daddy . . . can you plan a surprise trip for us? Let’s say something in January or February?” 
I would say that Mary Devall waited perhaps a week (or most probably an entire day  ) before uttering those words after our September trip. The thought of waiting until next June before going back to her beloved happy place was just too much for her. And the fact that I had my own super secret Sousefest trip planned for December didn’t help with my guilt factor one bit.  So . . . when I received a pin code a few weeks later, the decision was made to do what we love to do best . . . surprise our little girls. 
We immediately decided to take advantage of a school holiday and take them either MLK Jr. Weekend or President’s Weekend. The first holiday was scrapped though when my friend who hosts a chocolate party every year  reminded me that it was always held the Saturday during MLK Weekend - - and we missed last year because of our cruise.  So President’s Weekend it was to be.
Mary Devall and I had enjoyed the GF so much in July that I thought we should take Thom and Maddie there too. Luckily, when I called about the pin code, I was able to snag a room back at the Sugar Loaf building. 
The problem came a couple of months later when I started looking at train reservations . . . and found nothing available.  The fact that it was a race weekend in Daytona coupled with the holiday weekend probably didn’t help at all. Since Thom is not a big fan of driving, I knew that he would go for my second suggestion of going the weekend before and pulling Mary Devall out of school for a day (even though the older Mary Devall gets he is less and less a fan of pulling her out of school  ) .
So over the Christmas weekend, I hid in our bedroom with the laptop and called Disney again. AP rates had just come out and I discovered that I could actually get us in the main building at GF with a Magic Kingdom view for less than what we were paying for Sugar Loaf with a pin code. Oh, how I love value season! 
Although the description of the available room was clearly in Royal Palm, the CM to whom I was speaking insisted that the Magic Kingdom view would be in Sugar Loaf.  Her explanation was “The outer buildings block the view from the main building so there are no Magic Kingdom views in the main building.” 
I decided to drop it because I knew that the trio formerly known as the CLT had stayed in the main building with a Magic Kingdom view.  I even did some additional research to make sure that we were going to be in the main building, but when I tried to prove my point to Thom, his eyes glazed over. I apparently was obsessing. 
We had planned to eat our breakfasts and light dinners in the lounge and just wing it with our lunches in the parks each day. After a bit of thought, I did decide to book a lunch at Sci Fi on our last day since the girls always want to eat there and they love to sit in the cars. One quick trip to online booking and I had an ADR for the exact time that I wanted.
Thom booked our train trip and was able to use Amtrak rewards points for our tickets on the way down. The four of us were able to travel round trip in a sleeper car for less than $400. I didn’t even book a town car to pick us up this time since I figured we could cab it for less hassle and about the same amount of money.
We wanted this to be an easy breezy trip for us with no place that we had to be and only a loose park schedule. With only two nights and three days, we knew that we couldn’t do everything but we knew that we could fill the time that we did have with lots of smiles and giggles.
Up next . . . will this surprise them or scare them to death?
__________________
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