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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Took a small bus trip and Ferryboat!! Had a great deal of fun in a beautiful city called Susalito. Just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The weather was just beautiful and so I had to travel. We got a fairly expensive lunch(A Pastrimi Sandwhich and the fixens). We sawa art exhibit by Grace Slick for free! Does anybody out there remember Jefferson Airplane? Yea its been a while...Grace does some great art work....and the show was free. My wife starts her new job tomorrow. Yea! scott
I'm home (finally!) The roads got NASTY once I got out of PA, so it took longer than I'd planned. I was exhausted after getting up at 730 am, running my booth until 3pm, packing/loading until 430pm, then driving 9 hours home. I only had one gas stop (yay!), but I also bought a slice of pizza and a mountain dew, rather than drink the water I already had in the car and eat the snacky stuff I had. It wasn't even very good pizza Tolls were MUCH less without the trailer! The show turned out pretty good, so I'm happy about that. Right now, all of that money is going to pay off the business debt/invest in more merchandise, so I don't actually "see" the profit, but knowing that I got a good start against what I still owe will help me rest easier tonight (that and sheer fatigue...).
I haven't been posting in this thread as often as I should, so I thought I would start.
Last week my DH and I decided that whatever we didnt use of the budgeted money for groceries and household items would go with our vacation money to save for our trip next year. Our budget is $60 a week, which is possible, just takes some planning. Well, this week we had $13 and some change left, so that went into our vacation fund. Can we do it again next week? We'll see. Also we have stopped eating fast food completely which has been hard but it is shocking to see how much money is left when you don't eat out all the time. Actually we ate fast food twice last month, but we had to take an unexpected trip out of state for a funeral. I'll try to post on here more often and let you guys know how we're doing.
Major kudos to you Terri for your weight loss and new bargain jeans!! Some of mine are getting too big (yay, finally!) and I'm trying to hold off buying some new clothes - you're an inspiration.
I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised that I've been more interested in saving than spending lately - I really thought it would be much much harder. (I know, there are days!) For instance usually I'm terrible about holidays like Valentine's Day - DD just wants any cheapo valentine cards and I'm the one buying more more more - well, this year the $.89 Lil Bratz cards set & some Wendy's charity booklets of Free Frosty Coupons did the trick! And she's thrilled with them!
I did break down and buy my book club book at Barnes & Noble (with a coupon!) even though I had originally checked it out of the library. The copy I got had a broken binding and several "crusty" pages - it was too depressing to read.
Wow, you guys are all doing great and really making a concience effort!! I too, am starting to try and really, really save. We have 2 vacations (poor us ) and 4 weddings to attend this year. Obviously, this means 4 showers and 4 gifts for that. Also, it just so happens that February (yes, the shortest month of the year, go figure) is Valentines Day, DMIL birthday, DM birthday, and DNe birthday. Argh. Luckily, we're in that "we really don't need anything phase" so the presents are minimal. . . . I am a little late as today is already the 11th, but looking forward to getting involved here!!!
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I now go through agony because I want to buy a paperback book!!! Sometimes budgets are not fun. I hope to get one particular travel book for my birthday!! Thats kinda sad--I should buy it for myself. But I am trying to be good.
Well today was a GOOD day!!!!!!! i went to the bank and i paid my truck off COMPLETLY!!!!!!! i am SOOO excited....now i can dump that money into the other vehicle...and hopefully in a month or three i can have NO car note!!!!!!!
i went to CVS today to get things that we did need....(how does one run out of everything at once???) an with their sales and my coupons.....i spent 27$$ and saved over 30$$$$$. And...i got back a few bucks for my next trip...this CVS game is going to be FUN!!!!!!
Tomorrow is the grocery store.....and since i will be working late for most of the week.....i only have to buy for 2 (DH and DD still expect to eat ) so that will be a thin list i am SO excited..things are FINALLY moving...and i can see the debt slowly going away......thanks to you guys for all your support and for having fun on here with me!!!!!
Ugh. That was today's spending theme. I had to go to Hobby Lobby to pick up papers for the scrapbook kits I make/sell. They had some oh-so-cute new wooden shapes (pirates and princesses) so I said, what the heck, I don't have anything ELSE to do this week..., so I bought stuff to make 3 brand new page kits. STOP ME!!! I also had to restock my little doo-dad table (10/$1 embellishments) that was getting a bit picked over, plus I got some things for the American Girl Friendship Club meeting on Thursday. $175 later... It was late and DDs and hubby wanted Chinese for dinner (we NEVER do Chinese take out). I still had the grocery store to do and the buffet was right next door. I wasn't paying a bit of attention and just circled the things they usually like at a buffet. Went grocery shopping and stuck to the list ($83) then went to pick up the takeout. Imagine my HORROR when it was $60. Yes, you read that right, SIXTY bucks worth of Chinese food!!! It was 2 very heavy grocery bags. I looked at the paper and I'd circled "large" and not read that egg rolls came in 2s when I ordered 8 of them. I also didn't consider (I never do take out remember...) that each entree came with rice, so I'd ordered 2 large chicken fried rice as well. At least I can say that we will easily get 3 meals out of it...and it was all VERY good! Memo to self: do NOT order Chinese takeout when tired or rushed. Also: egg rolls come in PAIRS.
I too have been good (since last August anyway) but today I relented and let the older kids have a frozen Coke from Maccas..$4.90 NOT in my holiday fund now!
But my good news is that in the month of February I have purchased enough toilet paper, washing detergent, deoderant, pasta and tomato paste for at least three months on a massive special price point. I also have purchased the last of my DSs nappies and it is only pants from then on....I'm more than ready but he's not happy about No2s on the toilet!
Like many of us PPs I gave up "stuff" like chocolate bars, takeout coffees and TV dinners but now that way of life seems so distant. Why didn't I do it earlier?
Ouch, Chinese can definitely hurt. Good luck with DW's job, Scott, and congrats to all in general. I had to buy cat food yesterday, so I took my $2 coupon to Target (where they sell our catfood the cheapest) and the price went UP from 9.49 to 10.46. Oh well, it's still cheaper than the grocery store. I also needed vitamins for $8.04 and I wanted to give DH some chocolate for Valentine's Day. I wanted to get him something fancy from the V-day aisles, but knowing that they'd be on sale for 75% off in a week, I just couldn't do it. I bought him a small heart shaped box for 99 cents.
I got to the checkout counter and it came to $24. I wasn't expecting it to be so high and I was fumbling around a bit and couldn't find my debit card so I earned us some airmiles on our Amex. Once I was through the line I saw that I got charged $12.99 for the vitamins. I looked in the bag, and sure enough, I picked up the wrong bottle. So I went back and got the right one and got it exchanged for the cheaper bottle----but I also noticed that the bottle I did buy was supposed to be 10.64, not 12.99. But I was too exhausted to mention it to the Guest Services girl and just got my Amex refunded the $5 and went on my way. I was v. impressed with myself for that, the old me would have just said "oh, screw it" and sucked it up.
Another thing I learned---I emailed Purina to ask for coupons, and they sent me some!
Tigger 71: [I also have purchased the last of my DSs nappies and it is only pants from then on]
Isn't THAT a great feeling? Not only for the obvious reason, but for the savings as well--Congratulations to (both of) you!
My month has been hectic so far, at least for me. Trying to get used to DH's new work schedule, the weather has been crazy (more wintry mix tomorrow), and extra hours at work. Plus DS15 began Driver's Ed this week and was out driving the first day. Where'd my baby go?
I did get a cappucino today from Starbucks, but I used a gift card. And I put back the pillow that I had picked up for the couch. Yes, it would have looked great, but I'd rather have the $14.99 in my vaca fund. I did spend a dollar on some pink marshmallow's that weren't on my list, but I thinkthey will make the rice krispy treats for DD's V-Day party at school a bit more festive than the white ones would.
I also didn't go out for lunch today (this is my day off) I made a bowl of soup and had some crackers to go with it.
Keep up the good work everyone!
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No moola spent here today. We had leftover Chinese for lunch and I'll be making potato and dumpling soup for dinner. We'll have leftover Chinese again for lunch tomorrow and probably for dinner, too, since it's dance night. Did I tell you just how MUCH Chinese food you get for sixty bucks???
I've got to get a haircut. I've gone months and months and my last one wasn't that great to begin with so I've scheduled an appointment at a new (for me) salon that is supposed to be very good. Their haircuts start at $38, so they'd BETTER be. I cut DDs and hubby's hair myself (and do a very good job), but I can't cut my own. I don't spend $$ on makeup, nails, haircolor, clothes, etc, so I'm going to force myself to at least spend it on a decent, easy to keep up with haircut. Am I rationalizing???
Stefffe, I think I can save you some more money, but it involves your family only eating once a week!!! On second though never mind I better not tell you my plan. All is fine on the West Coast. A cheap lunch downtown and a BART ticket was all. Take care, scott
Congratulations, Terri! What a huge accomplishment!
Can anyone explain to me how the shortest month of the year seems like it will be the most expensive? I swear I have been to Target or Walmart EVERY SINGLE DAY for the last week? I either forget to pick up something b/c I didn't do a good job of making my list, they are out of what I need or one of the kids needs something for their class. DH and I don't typically "Do" Valentines for each other, but the kids are having a party in their classes this week, plus Valentines for their friends and a little something from Mom & Dad and Whammo . . . . a small fortune spent!
MTD "Grocery/household" spending: $241.47
Monthly Budget: $400
Balance left until end of month: $158.53 (yikes. . . can I make that last 2 1/2 weeks?????)
I hope everyone else is doing well. Please help keep me on the straight and narrow!
Jill
PS. Keep sending "Job Hunting Pixies" for my DH. He got called back for a second interview for the job he interviewed with last week. His next interview is with the President and the CEO of the company. <<<fingers crossed>>>
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Tolls were MUCH less without the trailer! 
The show turned out pretty good, so I'm happy about that. Right now, all of that money is going to pay off the business debt/invest in more merchandise, so I don't actually "see" the profit, but knowing that I got a good start against what I still owe will help me rest easier tonight (that and sheer fatigue...).
) and 4 weddings to attend this year. Obviously, this means 4 showers and 4 gifts for that. Also, it just so happens that February (yes, the shortest month of the year, go figure) is Valentines Day, DMIL birthday, DM birthday, and DNe birthday. Argh. Luckily, we're in that "we really don't need anything phase" so the presents are minimal. . . . I am a little late as today is already the 11th, but looking forward to getting involved here!!! 
Danny and I at Epcot 8/14/08
) so that will be a thin list 
i am SO excited..things are FINALLY moving...and i can see the debt slowly going away......thanks to you guys for all your support and for having fun on here with me!!!!!
GEAUX SAINTS!!
It was late and DDs and hubby wanted Chinese for dinner (we NEVER do Chinese take out). I still had the grocery store to do and the buffet was right next door. I wasn't paying a bit of attention and just circled the things they usually like at a buffet. Went grocery shopping and stuck to the list ($83) then went to pick up the takeout. Imagine my HORROR when it was $60. Yes, you read that right, SIXTY bucks worth of Chinese food!!! It was 2 very heavy grocery bags. I looked at the paper and I'd circled "large" and not read that egg rolls came in 2s when I ordered 8 of them. 
I also didn't consider (I never do take out remember...) that each entree came with rice, so I'd ordered 2 large chicken fried rice as well. At least I can say that we will easily get 3 meals out of it...and it was all VERY good! Memo to self: do NOT order Chinese takeout when tired or rushed. Also: egg rolls come in PAIRS.
Oh well, it's still cheaper than the grocery store. I also needed vitamins for $8.04 and I wanted to give DH some chocolate for Valentine's Day. I wanted to get him something fancy from the V-day aisles, but knowing that they'd be on sale for 75% off in a week, I just couldn't do it. I bought him a small heart shaped box for 99 cents.
I wasn't expecting it to be so high and I was fumbling around a bit and couldn't find my debit card so I earned us some airmiles on our Amex. 
Not only for the obvious reason
, but for the savings as well--Congratulations to (both of) you!
I swear I have been to Target or Walmart EVERY SINGLE DAY for the last week? I either forget to pick up something b/c I didn't do a good job of making my list, they are out of what I need or one of the kids needs something for their class. DH and I don't typically "Do" Valentines for each other, but the kids are having a party in their classes this week, plus Valentines for their friends and a little something from Mom & Dad and Whammo . . . . a small fortune spent!
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