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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 read this yesterday in The Schenectady Gazette, an area newspaper.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">quote:</font><HR> A Saratoga County couple's planned honeymoon to Walt Disney World next month got an expensive jolt this week when a Pennsylvania-based travel wholesaler shut down.
Ryan Dreher and his fiancee Jennifer Peat spent nearly $2,700 for their vacation, arranging it through AAA Northway auto club's travel agency. But the auto club notified them this week that they'd have to pay again if they wanted the trip, because the tour wholesaler, Kingdom Vacations, had shut down without delivering the tickets and hotel rooms they'd paid Northway for.
"I didn't know there was a third party" involved in the planning until this week, Dreher said Friday.
AAA Northway spokesman Ian Pinkerton said the auto club had used Kingdom Vacations because it was approved by the United States Tour Operators Association.
Pinkerton would only say AAA Northway has "quite a few" customers caught in the shutdown.
USTOA President Robert Whitley late Friday said that the organization requires its members to post a $1 million bond or letter of credit, something Kingdom Vacations had done, and that he expected any customers who had paid by cash or check would get their refund by the end of August.
Those who paid by credit card, meanwhile, would be reimbursed by their credit card company, he said.
Dreher and Peat have rebooked their honeymoon, and this time, Dreher said, he's paying by credit card. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
That's a sad and terrible thing to have happen to anyone [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] but for a honeymoon trip it's an even greater disappointment. I sure hope they do get their money back, and have an extra special time at WDW.
This might also explain something I noticed in the most recent AAA magazine I received. Usually the first thing I do when we get it is to scan all the WDW trip info and ads. So I thought it was very strange that there were ads and trips listed for Universal Studios and Sea World, but nothing for WDW [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] I was wondering if there was a problem in the AAA/WDW relationship. Perhaps the lack of info in this issue relates to the intermediary problem... I hope they get it straightened out.
The matter of Kingdom Vacations closing its doors is not restricted to only those people who booked through AAA. Kingdom Vacations was one of the larger tour wholesalers of Disney vacations and used by many travel agencies, not just AAA.
You know, a few months back, my BIL-to-be told me that he went to AAA in PA (I don't know where or who), and they were quoting him over $1,000 a person (no airfare) for two adults in Disney for 5 days. I thought he was getting ripped off, unless he was staying in the most expensive room on property!
I've gone for 7+ days at a time, and never paid close to that, including airfare. My fiance and I are going with my BIL-to-be and his girlfriend in August, and its costing us about $600 per couple, thanks to Jean!
When I read the above article, I immediately called my travel agent at AAA. This particular office only books directly through WDW. No intermediary is used.
I have booked all of our WDW trips (2 in the past and 2 in the future) with the AAA office in Newark, DE. Each time, I have compared prices with booking directly with WDW and other travel packages. I have found the AAA prices to be better or comparable.
Best of all, I have developed a relationship with the AAA travel agent, Laura Bullock. She is fantastic and handles all of my travel with a wonderfully personal touch.
I guess the moral of the story is to really understand what is going on when you make vacation plans. Particularly ones that take quite a chunk of change, like every WDW vacation.
It is really too bad. Vacations are supposed to be carefree. I sure hope those people get their money back. Laura said many people were impacted by Kingdom Tours shutting down. The couple who had to repay for their trip where lucky in that they were able to swing it. Think of those who were not. Sad.
There was an update to this story on the 6 o'clock news tonight. So many people complained to AAA Northway about 1. having no idea there was a third party & 2. the fact that they paid AAA and not this third party, that AAA is absorbing the cost and not making folks pay again.
That's an amazingly disappointing story. I used to use AAA for a lot of things and I do realize that the offices are independent, but it sure gives AAA a bad name when something like this happens.
My family spends a year or more saving and paying for our WDW trips and after the first trip we started booking through Disney. I know that I would never be able to pay a second time and make the dates we plan on. I am glad to hear that AAA is going to honor the payments and let these poor folks go to WDW.
I wonder if Disney could so something nice for these people as well [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] !
Keep good records and always make sure you're using a reputable organization and then HAPPY PLANNING!
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