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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I mentioned in Cathy’s (Nimros’) PTR that I am planning a Star Wars “Jedi Training” party for my son’s 9th birthday next month. She asked for the details and I started responding in her PTR—but then decided it would be best to post it in a new thread. Aside from not hijacking her PTR, I may also get good feedback from my fellow PP’s. Since I do not know much about Star Wars, I would appreciate ideas and insight from those who do. I am not an original star wars fan—but I am a huge fan of how much my son loves star wars! Anyone who read my last TR saw him do the Jedi Training. We are trying to plan our summer 2012 WDW trip to coincide with SWW.
The kids will have to complete a number of "tasks" to earn their Jedi Training certificate.
The party is still in the planning stages, so I would welcome any comments or ideas to help me pull it off and make it incredible for my son. Ben is in 3rd grade. There will probably be about 10 3rd graders at the party, 8 boys and 2 girls. My other kids and 2 cousins in the same general age groups will also participate, but it needs to appeal most to 9 and 10 year olds.
1. Make lightsabers (from pool noodles and duct tape).
2. We will have a face painter at the party. She can do yoda, storm troopers, darth, or anything, really. I am still thinking of a cool title for this task.Ideas?
3. I need a cool name for a traditional piñata to be one of the tasks in the Jedi Training. The piñata (we already have on hand) is a yellow star. We can add more decorations if necessary. We will cover the hitting stick with duct tape to make it look like a lightsaber.
4. I plan to steal the star wars quotes from Cathy’s TRs (keep ‘em coming!) and use them in a task. Here is my “rough draft” idea: Print the quotes on little “medallions” and place the medallions inside balloons. The balloons will be hanging from the ceiling. The kids will need to use their noodle lightsabers (that we will stick a pin in) and use “the force” to pop a balloon, while blindfolded, and standing on a balance board. I need a cool title for this task and I would love to have other suggestions for setting up this task. Is there something other than medallions that would make more sense in the star wars world? I thought of matching the quote to the character and then getting their face painted as that character. Since that is who the “force” chose for them. But I fear this would feel limiting for some kids and they may enjoy it better if they got to choose their own character for face paint. We also need the kids to rotate through the task stations equally, so we would not be able to have all kids make their lightsaber and do this task before face paint (we get her only an hour!).
I need one more task. Here are my choices. Let me know which idea would be better or if you have any other ideas:
Some kind of game challenging kids to keep balloons (as asteroids) up in the air and away from a planet or ship. They would use their pool noodle lightsabers to keep the asteroids up. If it is nice outside and not too windy, the group can get their crazy energy out before gifts by running around as a group. If we have to be indoors, we could give each padwan 30 seconds to keep the most balloons in the air.
Another possibility—Guiding the spacecraft through a black hole (throw paper planes through a hole cut through a large cardboard box).
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My Star Wars addicted son was just reading over my shoulder & said to tell you first, he's a Jedi Master ( @ 18YO) He said the medallions are an awesome idea & he also suggested Jedi trials
he said for the pinata call it trial of skill...
He's going to think on it some more & will get you more ideas I'm sure...
BTW.. he thinks it's a cool party idea & offered to come help ..
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Shelly - this sounds like such a cool party - can I come???
You sound like you've got some great ideas already - plus those links Ann and Carolyn listed.
One suggestion we though of is to see if you know of any martial arts instructor (maybe someone who has trained in kendo) who could come and give the kids a mini-lesson? They probably would have some light-weight foam 'battle batons' - which look a bit like light sabers - so it would be safe and fun.
We'll be thinking on this...probably all night now!
My Star Wars addicted son was just reading over my shoulder & said to tell you first, he's a Jedi Master ( @ 18YO) He said the medallions are an awesome idea & he also suggested Jedi trials
he said for the pinata call it trial of skill...
He's going to think on it some more & will get you more ideas I'm sure...
Jedi Trials. Got it! Thanks for the tip and please let me know if he has any other ideas!!
I think I started there and got the pool noodle idea somewhere on that site. I got overwhelmed looking through all the info. Seems like much of it was about cutesy decorations and food ideas. Although I scrapbook, I am not generally crafty! This is the first time I have put any thought into a kids bday party (we usually go somewhere and let others take care of it!).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nimros
Shelly - this sounds like such a cool party - can I come??? You sound like you've got some great ideas already - plus those links Ann and Carolyn listed.One suggestion we though of is to see if you know of any martial arts instructor (maybe someone who has trained in kendo) who could come and give the kids a mini-lesson? They probably would have some light-weight foam 'battle batons' - which look a bit like light sabers - so it would be safe and fun.
We'll be thinking on this...probably all night now!
The karate teacher is a great suggestion, but we already have the face painter coming.
As a Star Wars fan and perpetual kid, I have one thing to say to you:
Where the heck were YOU when I was growing up?
Don't get me wrong...my parents are awesome and did the best they could...but other than some pre-packaged Hong Kong Phooey plates & napkins, I never got a "theme".I don't think that creativity was part of my "parental package". My parties consisted of schoolmates, family friends and stupid cousins I hated. There I was in some uncomfortable frilly dress, sitting around an ol' rickety table in the basement, playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey or something dangerous like that (and my stupid cousin always thought poking me with the pin was funny as heck). Then we had cake and ice cream and I had to thank everyone for my gifts and then Mom would make me help clean up - ON MAH BIRFDAY!!! The horror!
I had no Jedi's, no lightsabers. I remember one year I was so disgusted with my party that I snuck upstairs (it was a Saturday morning) and Mom & Dad caught me watching the Jackson Five cartoons instead.
Your children are lucky to have such a creative mom! So much fun to read!
As a Star Wars fan and perpetual kid, I have one thing to say to you:
Where the heck were YOU when I was growing up?
I had no Jedi's, no lightsabers. I remember one year I was so disgusted with my party that I snuck upstairs (it was a Saturday morning) and Mom & Dad caught me watching the Jackson Five cartoons instead.
Your children are lucky to have such a creative mom! So much fun to read!
This is more a reaction to desperation than true creativity! We always did parties "out in the world" (pizza place, arcade, etc.). I did not want the hassle of kids destroying the house and the pressure to plan. Last year, DS asked if he could have a party at home instead. He had noticed that parties at kids home usually had more guests = more presents. Smart kid! Last year we had a "mario Kart" theme. I had a few activities planned. Not enough. It was chaos. This year I want to have it structured to keep everything in [my] control but also make it fun for the kids. This is confirming for me that a "good" party at home costs as much as a pizza party at ChuckEcheese (which is why I always opted for the mess to be elsewhere) but is a ton more work. We will see. Thanks for the encouragement!
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) He said the medallions are an awesome idea & he also suggested 
The horror! 
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