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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Love the idea of an un-birthday! for decisions and just 'cause you need it.
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Just my opinion, but I think you've already made up your mind about a certain someone just by reading your post.
I know I've mentioned this before but he sounds exactly like my ex-husband.
I don't know your history, but from your most recent post, I'd say that man is abusive. Certainly emotionally, potentially physically. He's mad as hell that you aren't "where you belong," taking care of him; you aren't doing what he expects you to do. And because of this, he's lashing out and trying to make you miserable?! That's NOT someone who loves you. That's someone who loves himself and wants to *control* you.
It's blatantly obvious to an objective observer that your marriage is in name only. I know it's always more complicated than it first appears, and that there is more of a commitment to work things out when you have children and a long history together. But it sounds to me like it's time to take advantage of the situation you're in and start yourself a whole new life.
I'm sorry that you had such a difficult few days. Many, many for your and your family.
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"Too many people grow up. That's the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don't remember what it's like to be 12 years old. They patronize, they treat children as inferiors. Well I won't do that." ~Walt Disney
Got to agree with the last few posters, Sounds like your DH is not happy with things, & you seem happier in Florida. If you are given the opportunity for permanent work at WDW will you be ready to change your life for good?
You get one chance at life & you should be happy as possible
You all will never know how much I appreciate your kind words, support, advice, and perspective. Seriously. I had NO IDEA how much this journey would change me and my life just 3 months ago.
I've spent some time over the last few days talking with DDs about the possibilities. They are on board and understand that I'm better off here and they do NOT want to live with hubby. They do, however, want to visit, so if I do stay on, I will most likely be sending them back for a few weeks here and there. I do not want to deal with a divorce at this point in my life and I'm sure H doesn't want to, either. I know some couples who live a large distance apart, the dad visits the kids or the kids visit dad, then go back home. The key will be getting a J-O-B at the end of all this that will support us here. That's the part that scares me the most right now.
Yesterday was games MR. I was the closer, so when I went in, I found they had used the wrong spreadsheet (again). I have written out detailed instructions on how to print and use the spreadsheet along with all of the procedures, step-by-step that I have been working so hard on. The games MR side has been a hot mess which is why they thought it was a bright idea to put the vouchers in serial number order to control the loss. I have put together a much better process that controls the vouchers, and they've decided it works, so we don't have to do the numerical order thing anymore. It's been a lot of work tweaking it and getting it right. The trouble is NO ONE IS USING IT. I can't convince anyone that we really need a 30 minute training for everyone who works games MR to go over the new procedures, "no, they'll just learn it as they come in". Well, some of them are NOT learning it and no one seems to really care. How hard is it to READ THE PROCEDURES? OK, I've spent a lot of time and energy on this whole process, training the managers, working with other games MR CMs to train them, etc.
So, I go in yesterday to find that the opener (who had not bothered) was given a GSF card for extending to help cover the other side of the MR since someone had called in. I really don't want to sound like a whiner, but since I've been in MR, GSF cards have been impossible to come by. I extended 2 weeks ago in order to put the stinkin' vouchers in numeric order (and missed my breaks that day b/c it was just too crazy for me to leave them). No GSF card for that. I designed a whole new, more effective process for them. No GSF card for that. I still don't know if/when I'm going to get anything for the song they are using. I don't need the GSF cards for my own pats on the back, I need them b/c they are the only thing on my record card that hiring managers can see as a recommendation. It's very frustrating to me, can ya tell?
The next 2 weeks are going to be crazy busy. I work 50 hours each week, with only one day off. I have a couple of shifts that I'm working until 1230am! I'll be very happy with my paychecks, though! I have decided to join a direct sales company called Thirty-One that sells some awesome bags, so I'm very happy for the overtime. If for nothing else, they'll make great gifts for people, but if I do get to stay on at WDW, I'll have a lot more contacts who will be interested in parties. I've already casually mentioned it to a few people and they want to book, so that might be a way to supplement an income if I can only go seasonal at the end of my program. They are also having their convention at the Contemporary in June!!!
I'm less than 6 weeks away from the offical end now. I should find out in about 10 days if my extension was granted. If it was, I'll go ahead and accept that, then keep hoping and praying for a PI to come through.
Can you believe it's almost Easter??? It seems like just a few weeks ago, we were looking at the Osborn Spectacle of Lights...
The views and opinions expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily represent or reflect those of The Walt Disney Company and Affiliated Companies
I can't convince anyone that we really need a 30 minute training for everyone who works games MR to go over the new procedures, "no, they'll just learn it as they come in". Well, some of them are NOT learning it and no one seems to really care. How hard is it to READ THE PROCEDURES? OK, I've spent a lot of time and energy on this whole process, training the managers, working with other games MR CMs to train them, etc.
I feel your pain on this one! I work for the police (forensics) and have to manage a number of contacts out on each of our divisions. It takes a good few weeks to train them to do things in the very precise way that I need them to, and then lo! the divisional management (who are out of our department's control) decides that x isn't doing it any more and y will be instead, so all the time I've spent training x has gone to waste. Not quite the same as your problem but it makes me so !!!
It's awful that you've been overlooked like that...a lot of that goes on within the police too. Is there any way that we can make up some GSF cards for you and post them in anonymously..?!
I haven't posted this before but I just wanted to add my voice to the chorus of "way to go" and for sharing. I simply can't imagine doing something as epic and life-changing as what you're doing...and I don't have any DDs to worry about!
Best wishes and for the DH situation.
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Tinkerboo (or in the real world, Toyah) Reading Challenge 2015: 0/84
Follow my journey from sweaty panting mess to running goddess (I hope!) Out walking with The Boy...
Oh and PS - the Thirty-One bags look really nice... with that!
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Tinkerboo (or in the real world, Toyah) Reading Challenge 2015: 0/84
Follow my journey from sweaty panting mess to running goddess (I hope!) Out walking with The Boy...
Dawn - your DDs sound like they're happy with their life right now. I'm still amazed at how well Miss S. did with her disappointments on her b-day. You are on the right track - you sound so happy!
I agree with you - lots of couples live far apart and do well with short visits back and forth.
Bummer about the "atta boy" cards. maybe it's the only way they could get her to stay?
Hope things improve soon.