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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Thanks for all the good wishes. It's been over a month since I've updated - nothing much has happened until this past week:
1. Our Wait List for Beach Club Villas for 2 nights in December came through! This was quite a shock, but I happily cancelled the cash reservation made for the same time.
2. We are all squared away with airplane, room, and Dining Reservations for the family trip in January.
3. Our schedule for November has changed, and I thought I might get a chance at a solo trip to AKV - but Lou has rearranged our cross country driving schedule to land us in Orlando on the day our November Disney stay starts. We will be driving from Maine. I'm not sure how this will work out, but not too worried. November is our bonus DVC points trip.
4. The December trip remains unchanged and on track, except for the nice refund to my credit card since the Wait List came through.
5. PIF for our End of January Western Caribbean Cruise on the Wonder, and Palo and excursions booked.
We are currently in the middle of our cross country journey - in California for a few weeks, before driving back to Maine, then Florida.
Our pup is enjoying beach time with the grand kids ( and they are excited about their January trip to The Wilderness Lodge).
Yay for the wait list! These trips are coming up pretty quickly now. Just love those photos of Natasha and the girls and Natasha and the Easter bucket! Happy kids, happy dog!
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How wonderful to have so many Disney trips all lined up! I have to say I'm jealous of the BoG reservations. I made a last minute December Disney plans ( well 90 days out) and can't get anything, anytime for BoG. I'm very excited to be there over the holidays and can't wait to see your wonderful photos of Disney at Christmas.
Just found your PTR. Congrats on buying DVC and on the 3 vacations!
I have to add, I'm absolutely fascinated by your photos. Oh my gosh, they are amazing!
Yay for the wait list! These trips are coming up pretty quickly now. Just love those photos of Natasha and the girls and Natasha and the Easter bucket! Happy kids, happy dog!
Thanks, Laurie - the pup had a blast with the girls.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rlb38
How wonderful to have so many Disney trips all lined up! I have to say I'm jealous of the BoG reservations. I made a last minute December Disney plans ( well 90 days out) and can't get anything, anytime for BoG. I'm very excited to be there over the holidays and can't wait to see your wonderful photos of Disney at Christmas.
Thanks - I hope BOG is worth it I'll try to do a good job with the Holiday Photos.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Just found your PTR. Congrats on buying DVC and on the 3 vacations!
I have to add, I'm absolutely fascinated by your photos. Oh my gosh, they are amazing!
Thanks so much for the nice words. I enjoyed your TR - your boys are so cute!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Congrats on the BCV wait list coming through! Sounds like all is going well for each trip, too!
Thanks...we are glad about the waitlist. As for things going well ... read on
Wasn't going to revive this thread until we got into single digits. Had a little hiccup, thanks to Sandy. And, I do mean "little" hiccup - just some inconvenience, and nothing compared to what our friends in the Northeast are going through.
We have just arrived back in Florida after driving all around the country these past two months (and more) - our original plan was to drive to Maine from Arizona, but we diverted mid-trip because of Sandy. Now we arrive back at our house in Florida tomorrow (confused, yet?). No problem, except DH is determined to get to Maine sooner than later - we have some real estate transactions under consideration.
So - do we just cancel the November Trip, Leg 1 of the Trifecta? Well no, of course we can't do that I did agree to change the dates - and was able to do so. However, it will be a SOLO trip Don't feel bad - this is actually better, since I was worried how DH would handle so many Disney trips in a row. And, I will be free to focus on taking photos in the parks as much as I want.
New plans for November: Instead of 2 nights at Jambo House Nov 12-13, I now have the following:
Nov 27: Standard View Studio at Bay Lake Towers
Nov 28: Standard View Studio at AKV Jambo (BLT wait listed)
Why the split stay? Since I'll be by myself, and the MVMCP is the 27th, it's a perfect opportunity for me to check it out without worrying about someone else (who could that be?) getting grumpy because of lines, parades, etc. Staying at BLT will be very convenient.
There was nothing available at BLT for the 28th, so back to AKV. This will be fine, since it is just me. All I need is a pillow. And, it will give me an opportunity to get some photos at Jambo House.
No dining reservations - counter service / snacking works well for me. So, all in all, even though in some ways it will be less fun SOLO, in other ways it will be more productive.
Stay tuned to see how this all plays out ...
In keeping with the tradition of including a photo or two - here are C&D's cousins in the wild (Yellowstone, Sep 2012 - apologies for the repeat for those of you who have seen my Yellowstone TR):
It's a good thing you're able to just forge ahead, changes or no! This sounds good. It'll give you some nice, relaxing photography time, and Lou can concentrate on the house search and boat sale. I'm going to PM you right now about a possible meet during your solo trip.....
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Ok, I'm late to the party but signing in now. Love your plans. You have a lovey family and a really cute dog. Natasha is a lucky one to be so spoiled. We have a couple divas ourselves. I am loving all of your pictures! They look like professional prints - paintings even!
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I noticed you were going to Disney in November, so I decided to hop onto your TR, and I'm glad I did. Your photos are amazing! Do you mind me asking what equipment/editing software you use?
Glad you are still getting to make the November trip!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coop
Ok, I'm late to the party but signing in now. Love your plans. You have a lovey family and a really cute dog. Natasha is a lucky one to be so spoiled. We have a couple divas ourselves. I am loving all of your pictures! They look like professional prints - paintings even!
Thanks for the kind words ... some would say the pup ranks in the top percentile of spoiled Princesses
Quote:
Originally Posted by honeybee723
I noticed you were going to Disney in November, so I decided to hop onto your TR, and I'm glad I did. Your photos are amazing! Do you mind me asking what equipment/editing software you use?
Thanks for stopping by my rather disjointed planning thread. I mostly use a Canon 5D Mark III DSLR, and I use Lightroom and Photoshop for editing. I also do a lot of HDR or blending of images with different exposures - it doesn't always make a better photo, but I enjoy playing around.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugmonster
Looking forward to seeing more of your beautiful photos. And of course changes happen it is a Disney trip.
Thanks! Yes, changes happen, but fortunately these worked out.
I have ordered my MVMCP Ticket, and am very much looking forward to a couple days to play at the parks and spend as much time as I want experimenting with the camera.
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I have to say I'm jealous of the BoG reservations. I made a last minute December Disney plans ( well 90 days out) and can't get anything, anytime for BoG. I'm very excited to be there over the holidays and can't wait to see your wonderful photos of Disney at Christmas.
I'll try to do a good job with the Holiday Photos.
I did agree to change the dates - and was able to do so. However, it will be a SOLO trip 
Don't feel bad - this is actually better, since I was worried how DH would handle so many Disney trips in a row. And, I will be free to focus on taking photos in the parks as much as I want. 
Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
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