Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
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01-16-2007, 10:41 AM
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#1
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Guide since 2003
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: West Mifflin, PA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 11,546
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Please help- really did it this time!
Yikes, please help me save face.. Jamie is in 8th grade & every year they hold an 8th grade semi-formal dance which basically turns into a VERY formal dance for most of the kids.
This 8th grade group of parents are VERY strange & no one stepped up to run the 8th grade dance.. I'm good at thinking up ideas but I'm not a phone caller so I suckered er... encouraged my friend, Jill to help get the ball rolling for this dance. At the meeting there were only about 10 parents ( out of 280+ 8th graders) luckily some other parents took the harder jobs ( food, DJ, reception area, programs, tickets) but Jill & I got stuck with fundraising, gifts & decorations..
we've got the fundraiding pretty much set..we're going to do a hoagie sale & chocolate covered pretzel sale. Jill is handling the money end & I'm to look into the decorations & gifts .. that's where you guys come in.. I need some WOW SUPER FANTASTIC gift ideas for 8th graders..
We did decide on disposable cameras for each student but i'm stumped as to a gift.. in past years they got personalized candles & frames but i'd like to do something different..
sooo... any ideas on cool gifts for 8th graders ( perosnalized would be great.. class of 2007 type personalization)
& any decoration ideas would be apprecaited as well
help! After the last meeting Jill & I were kinda nominated to be in charge so she's about ready to strangle me for dragging her to the meeting so I'd like to show her i'm helping in some way!
TIA for any help.. i've been checking prom web sites but most of those gifts are too old for 8th graders
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01-16-2007, 10:51 AM
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#2
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Community Rank: Trekker 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Western Pa
Posts: 1,500
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Re: Please help- really did it this time!
Look at specialty advertising sites. http://www.adspecsinc.com/ is a company ran by a friend of mine. Their showroom is full of cool things like frisbees, hats, totebags, yoyos you name it. You can look at her website and get some ideas. |
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01-16-2007, 10:53 AM
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#3
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Community Rank: Adventurer 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 942
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Re: Please help- really did it this time!
My kids school is K-5. For last year's 5th grade farewell, the organizers has a professional photographer come to take a group picture of all of the kids there. They then printed up a big photo for each of the kids, with some sort of good bye message on it. It went over very well, but I'm not sure if it fits as well with the older kids and the more formal atmosphere.
Good Luck!
Debbie
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01-16-2007, 11:08 AM
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#4
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Guide since 2003
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: West Mifflin, PA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 11,546
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Re: Please help- really did it this time!
[ QUOTE ]
My kids school is K-5. For last year's 5th grade farewell, the organizers has a professional photographer come to take a group picture of all of the kids there. They then printed up a big photo for each of the kids, with some sort of good bye message on it. It went over very well, but I'm not sure if it fits as well with the older kids and the more formal atmosphere.
Good Luck!
Debbie
[/ QUOTE ]
the 8th grade did that this year before Christmas.. they took a serious group shot then a goofy group shot..(with some celebrity cut outs in the group as well) turned out really neat.
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01-16-2007, 11:22 AM
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#5
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Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Chapel Hill, NC USA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 36,592
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Re: Please help- really did it this time!
Wow...
No ideas....but I'm going to be paying attention. My son has an 8th grade prom later this year too. I don't know what they've done in the past, but I'd love to hear the ideas to share.
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01-16-2007, 12:09 PM
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#6
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Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Posts: 13,817
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Re: Please help- really did it this time!
What about mugs with the school's name and Class of 2007 written on it and fill it with m&m's. I know that m&m's do custom colours and messages, but not sure how much it costs and what your budget may be.
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01-16-2007, 01:24 PM
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#7
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Community Rank: Trekker
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Posts: 1,904
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Re: Please help- really did it this time!
Does the dance have a theme? Last year our 8th grade had the theme "Cruising Into High School". The hall was decorated like a cruise ship. For their gift, the 8th graders had their picture taken, just like on a cruise, and their photo was put into a frame that said "Crusing Into High School". My friend worked on the dance and it was a hit with everyone. I have a few years to go (DS is only in 4th grade).
Good luck with your plans.
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01-16-2007, 02:02 PM
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#8
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: in a Teeny Town, Oregon
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 7,714
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Re: Please help- really did it this time!
Theme ideas are great. And Oriental Trading Company has lots of stuff at reasonable prices.
Quiet honestly, the kids couldn't care less about the engraved frames and stuff like that.
Plastic cups (nice ones), things like themed memo pads, erasers, glitter (the cut out ones you put on the tables -- monkeys, flamingos, etc), squeeze balls, just think "kid" (even though it's "formal").
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01-16-2007, 02:13 PM
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#9
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Community Rank: Trekker
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Michigan & Florida
Posts: 1,601
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Re: Please help- really did it this time!
What price range are you trying to stay within?
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01-16-2007, 02:37 PM
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#10
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Community Rank: Jetsetter 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 2,121
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Re: Please help- really did it this time!
Are all the kids going to the same high school? If so you can give them something with the high school's name and year of graduation on it. We live near the ocean so we gave our kids beach towels with the high schools name on it and it was a huge hit. I love the cruise theme that soccermomof2 recommended!
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