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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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OMG-here's hoping they don't discontinue them. We go to WDW for our anniversary every year. Over the last few years, it's been so nice to get all the "Happy Anniversaries" from wearing our buttons. We're at 28 years, so I'd be so bummed out if they discontinue them before we hit 30 years. Maybe we should start bringing back our buttons from previous trips just in case!
So do we! Our anniversary was the reason for our very first trip to WDW. It has been our tradition ever since. It'll be very sad if we don't get buttons anymore. Definitely have to remember to take an old set with us in August.
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Well, I'm glad I got Happy Anniversary buttons for Ramoan and I last month. We didn't write anything on them so maybe next time we go we can reuse them.
I hope they keep some sort of button for all the 'events', and NOT go to a sticker..... I have ours from past trips, just have not decided how to display them yet.
On our last trip in October, I saw a girl about 14 or so wearing all the buttons they offer. Birthday, anniversary, just married, celebrate, happy ever after, and some I haven't seen. Are people abusing the privilage?
I just can't believe they'd take away all of the "celebration" buttons. Although the theme is changing for 2010, "celebrations" will always remain a key marketing tool for Disney and a cornerstone of good business. But time will tell... let's hope the magic continues!
I just called to order an anniversary cake for my ILs on the 12th, and the person I spoke to made sure to add to stop by any guest services counter and pick them up anniversary buttons so at least they will be there in the next 2 week . DS loved having the birthday pin last year, he got so much attention from CMs and other guests.
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Unlikely they will stop giving out birthday and anniversary buttons...but maybe they will cut back a little and not have a cart just sitting out for people to take from.
As for how much money could they save: on one button site I visited, 2,500 3 1/2 inch color custom buttons cost $1.999.95 or 80 cents each. Assuming Disney would get a whopping discount off that of say, 50%, if they ordered 100,000 of a given button, that would come to $40,000.00. Of course they would be ordering way more, probably in the millions. So let's say they ordered 10 million buttons. That would come to $4 million. (Somebody check my math!) So even for Disney, giving out all those buttons cost some big bucks.
But I still hope they don't discontinue them, as my son loves getting his for his birthday!
It would be a big shame if they withdrew the "celebration" pins totally.
As many people have already said, celebrating life's milestones at WDW means a lot to many, many people.
I think Disney may have "dug themselves a hole" by really pushing the "celebrate" theme, and as a result, "swamped the market" with too many pins. During our last stay I was given "Birthday" pins for DW & DD (DW had recently had a "big" birthday!!! You know, the one that comes after 30 but before 50!!!!) and DD had just turned 5. I was surprised, however, to receive a "I'm Celebrating" pin so I didn't feel "left out", and 3 "First Visit" pins, because it was the first time we'd stayed at the All Star Sports resort (it was in fact my 8TH trip to WDW!!).
Giving THAT many pins out on a regular basis must really have cost Disney a fortune!
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Originally Posted by yalibrarian
Unlikely they will stop giving out birthday and anniversary buttons...but maybe they will cut back a little and not have a cart just sitting out for people to take from.
When I first read this thread, that was my initial reaction - I doubt they're going to "do away" with them entirely - I expect they'll go back to the old way of a CM asking you if you're celebrating anything upon check-in, and then handing them out to you that way. Or actually having to go into Guest Relations and ask for them, rather than the free-for-all the button carts were.
Or actually having to go into Guest Relations and ask for them, rather than the free-for-all the button carts were.
I've never seen a button cart, I've always asked at Guest Relations. Yikes on the button carts, what a way for people to abuse them!! I know for sure where one of our anniversary buttons is, but not sure about the other one. I might have to ask for a new button when we are there in March (providing I can get one) so that I can set it aside with the other button. We celebrated our 15th anniversary at WDW and plan to celebrate our 20th as well. I'd love to be able to wear our buttons again. I'm going to be looking for that second button tomorrow!
DS has his 'My 1st Visit' button and 'Birthday' button on his dresser, he loves to point out his *special* Disney buttons! We only wear our buttons on the actual day that we are celebrating, but I've often wondered if people make it a 'week long' celebration.
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Me ~ Christina; DH ~ '92; DD ~ '99; DS ~ '06
My reasons for breathing!!! MGM Studios October 2007
We only wear our buttons on the actual day that we are celebrating, but I've often wondered if people make it a 'week long' celebration.
Last year was the first time we had ever been to WDW to celebrate anything specific, thus the first time we did any type of button, and I thought you were just supposed to wear it on the actual day of whatever you are celebrating. The CM who checked us in said "NO, you should wear it everyday!" So DS wore his birthday button all week, he loved it. If it would have been my birthday, I think I only would wear it on the actual date just because I can do without being reminded I'm getting older 500 times a day for a week .
I've never seen a button cart, I've always asked at Guest Relations. Yikes on the button carts, what a way for people to abuse them!!
There was an unattended button cart outside City Hall in the MK when I went in October. I admit I took two "1st Visit" buttons to surprise my parents who are taking their first trip in March. I gave them the pins as a Christmas present and they were so excited, they wore the pins all day already. I didn't feel guilty because I'm sure they'd be too shy to mention it at check-in. However there were lots of other people stopping by and grabbing a few buttons, and I did wonder how many of them were "legitimate" reasons.
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I really hope they keep the 1st visit buttons, I hope to bring some more rookies down sometime in the next year..... the buttons make a great keepsake.
They're not discontinuing their promotion for celebratiions this year. We are going down to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary and everything I've done to book our vacation has included the question "Are you celebrating anything on your trip?" Even when you book ADRs on line it's asking you that. I'm looking forward to proudly wearing our buttons in May. Maybe they should have a voluntary recycle program for the buttons at the end of your trip if you don't want to save them as a souvenier.
When we went in November, Ramoan and I wore our Anniversary buttons all week. However, we each wore our birthday buttons for two days. One day was the day we were celebrating our individual birthdays and then one extra day. That way we each had our special day.
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. DS loved having the birthday pin last year, he got so much attention from CMs and other guests.
I know for sure where one of our anniversary buttons is, but not sure about the other one. I might have to ask for a new button when we are there in March (providing I can get one) so that I can set it aside with the other button. We celebrated our 15th anniversary at WDW and plan to celebrate our 20th as well. I'd love to be able to wear our buttons again. I'm going to be looking for that second button tomorrow! 
MGM Studios October 2007
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