An Island Frame of Mind (A Cam and Luke PTR) Updated 5/22 - Page 4 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Once again we have a small window to possibly meet each other!! DD and I will be there on the 11th and the morning of the 12th. We leave that afternoon. We will miss out on Star Wars Weekends, but have scheduled the Sci Fi Character Breakfast, as I remember how much you enjoyed it last year. How exciting to be staying at the Poly in the brand new villas. I know you are excited about that.
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Great start! How great that you got to change your reservation to the Poly!
I was excited about staying at the BC again, but the Poly is brand new and who knows if we'll ever get in this easily again.
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Originally Posted by NanaTink
Neat! Can't wait to hear what you think! I'm going to be trying to change ours next month…
Now, when you are on a trip longer than 7 days, do you need to wait before changing or will they do it beyond the 7 days? we are there for 13 days in November. I've never tried to change one that long before and I don't want a split stay either!
They did all of our 9 nights all together so I would imagine that they would do 13 as well. Luke says you do need to call to change a DVC reservation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
Well done on the changes and congrats to Luke for coming through for the two of you! I stayed at the Poly back in 2009 in a Garden View Room and enjoyed my seven night stay here very much. I was in the Raratonga longhouse which is right next to the GCH, which made it quite convenient for breakfast, lounges and the monorail! The monorail would pass by my window and I liked going out on the deck to see this!
I had a feeling you might be staying at the Poly, judging by your TR title!
Your room sounds like it was in a neat area. I was hoping some would catch on to the clue in the title.
How cool that you're going to be staying at the Poly - I want to see lots of photos of your room! It's such a shame we missed the opening by a few weeks, now I have to wait until next year to try and get in there...
We have now lucked out twice. We stayed at Kidani Village about 1 month after it opened, and now the Poly a little over a month after opening. I promise lots and lots of room photos.
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Originally Posted by DMA
Wonderful that you were able to change to a POLY deluxe studio!
We are both very excited.
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Originally Posted by Tara O'Hara
Very cool!! I can't wait to see what your studio looks like!
Once again we have a small window to possibly meet each other!! DD and I will be there on the 11th and the morning of the 12th. We leave that afternoon. We will miss out on Star Wars Weekends, but have scheduled the Sci Fi Character Breakfast, as I remember how much you enjoyed it last year. How exciting to be staying at the Poly in the brand new villas. I know you are excited about that.
We are at Epcot on the 11th and MK on the 12th, but we could possibly arrange a place to meet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Great job, Luke, getting booked at the Poly! I was waiting to find out about the "island" in your TR title. Very exciting!
I just realized I forgot the last line of my update that connects the title, but PassPorters are getting it anyway. I knew we were a smart group.
OH WOWZAS!!!!!! A stay at the Poly AND saving some points, win/win!!!
I am so happy you get to experience the F&GF along with SWW.
We too have our eyes set on a trip to DL in the very near future, now coming from Dallas we will be a bit closer than NJ. I like to say we will be equally between both DW AND DL. However I haven't the first clue on how to book, where to book, what to do in DL..........so I'll be taking notes from your trip for Luke's b-day for sure
I know I have said this a gazillion times........but man do I love the Poly for one very big reason, and that is watching Wishes. It could be from anywhere at that resort, our room, the beach, the pool........I just love it. I also love just listening to the sounds of the boats coming in, the music from the MK........I'm so excited for you guys.