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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Has anyone been there?
Since we're doing Georgia in May, and a family obligation in MI in June, and gas prices aren't likely to drop anytime soon, we're looking at maybe just a long weekend trip for "summer vacation."
This is a place we've seen advertised, but we don't know much about it. I'm hoping someone has first hand experiece.
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Sorry, I wish I could help you. We saw the signs as we drove past on our road trip last year. We opted not to stop because we felt that it would be virtually identical to visiting our grandma's houses. Not a whole lot of difference between settlers in SD and settlers in the prairies of Saskatchewan. ::: shrug :::
I assume you've checked this website already: Experience De Smet, South Dakota Every picture on there looks exactly like what I grew up with....
Oh yeah, I've been to the website. Which makes it look like a long weekend, nothing more. Which is fine.
And the place made the cut in "Storybook Travels" which is a neat little guidebook for kiddylit fans.
But sometimes it takes a person whose been there to tip you off on the hidden gems, things not to miss.... or the fact that the place "ain't what it used to be"
It's funny,
I was reading this thread yesterday and then I saw an article in the paper about Frohling Meats Frohling Meats in Hecla, SD! I guess I will put De Smet, Hecla, and Mt. Rushmore on our list of places to go when we go to South Dakota!
We've been there. It's a fairly short tour. It's been about 9 years since I've been, so my memory is fuzzy!
You tour the surveyor's cabin where the Ingalls stayed one winter - I think during By the Shores of Silver Lake. The surveyor's cabin was moved from the original location. Most of the items in the surveyor's cabin did not belong to the Ingalls, with the exception of a few photos and Mary's organ. I remember thinking it odd that the displays in the cabin were roped off so you couldn't touch them, but the one thing that actually belonged to the Ingalls, the organ, was open so you could touch it.
Then you tour Ma and Pa's House in town. I can't remember if we walked or if we had to drive to Ma and Pa's house. For some reason I think we drove. I think they actually built this house after the girls were grown. There were a lot of items on display to view about the Ingalls family.
Both homes had guided tours, and the guides gave you a lot of information about the Ingalls family. One thing I thought was kind of sad is that there are no descendants of Charles and Caroline. Of their four daughters, only one had any children. Laura had one daughter, Rose. Carrie or Grace had stepchildren, but no children of their own. And Rose had no children. So their bloodline died with Rose.
I remember the guide mentioning the store building in town where they would spend the winter, but we didn't tour it, so I'm thinking it wasn't a part of the tour.
It really doesn't take that long, but I enjoyed it. There's also a gift shop where you can buy sunbonnets that are cute. All the books are for sale there too.
ETA: Here's the website about the surveyor's cabin/Ingalls house tour:
I live in SD. I've been to DeSmet and I wouldn't recommend building any kind of trip around DeSmet (but that just my opinion).
If you wanted to add other stuff, like Storybook Land in Aberdeen, or see the Falls in Sioux Falls, or Mt Rushmore in Rapid City (other side of the state) to your weekend, it might make your weekend more worthwhile.
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We went to DeSmet last August. We didn't take time to do any of the tours, but we visited the gift shops, drove by their homes, visited the cemetary and drove out to their homestead (the house is no longer there, but trees that Charles planted are still there).
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Michelle - with my step sisters!
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