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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Sorry...tent camping in FLORIDA...do they know what snakes are?? No way in a million years would I tent camp in Florida (and I am cheap). I can understand not having ADR some people only do CS meals (I did the first few trips I took)...however how could you NOT visit Epcot or AK? Have they lived in a glass bubble the last 25 years? Do they know that there are other parks down there BESIDES Magic Kingdom (honestly I could do MK over and over again but that is beside the point).
UGH....
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Robin Twitter name: @NKsDogwalker Find me on FB: robinkay6573@yahoo.com 38th Birthday with Mom, Dad and friends 2011
Next Trip: Cruise on Jewel of the Seas for Christmas 2012
Do they know that there are other parks down there BESIDES Magic Kingdom (honestly I could do MK over and over again but that is beside the point).
Actually you'd be amazed how many folks really think the Magic Kingdom IS Disney World in it's entirety!!
Case in point: every time we're on the boat to the MK from dinner @ Whispering Canyon, I hear more than one individual (as we're pulling into the dock) say "look Johnny, there's Disney World" or I've even heard "Okay we're in Disney World now".
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Actually you'd be amazed how many folks really think the Magic Kingdom IS Disney World in it's entirety!!!
Most of those people KNOW there are three other parks though (I use to talk to people at DS that called Magic Kingdom Walt Disney World....yet they still knew about MGM, Epcot and AK). To not know about the parks at all...sorry that is plan dumb!
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Robin Twitter name: @NKsDogwalker Find me on FB: robinkay6573@yahoo.com 38th Birthday with Mom, Dad and friends 2011
Next Trip: Cruise on Jewel of the Seas for Christmas 2012
A few years ago DBIL and DSIL went the week between Christmas and the New Year. DSIL loves Disney, DBIL hates it. He did nothing but complain about how crowded the parks were, how expensie it was, etc. What did he expect during the most busiest times of the year? I just don't get people sometimes.
Reminds me of the co-worker of mine that supposedly knows it all-tried to tell me we wouldn't be able to do any swimming on our trip in January because they "close all the water parks & pools in the winter".
I made sure I showed her the picture of us flying down the flume on Crush & Gusher.
That's just like my coworker who told me that AKL was going to be closed when she was going to be in WDW, I tried to convince her that they never close down an entire resort, even pulled up reservations, etc. She just would not believe me. Her DH told her so. I'm guessing that he just didn't want to pay for AKL!
They actually have closed down entire resorts before. Disney Landings was closed for a while after 9/11, and when it re-opened it was Port Orleans Riverside.
Shades of Green, used to be the Disney Inn, until it was leased out to the military. Saratoga Springs was the Disney Institute, which was shut down to be re-opened as Saratoga Springs. So it is not unprecedented for them to close down a whole resort.
Now having said that, they obviously did not close down AKL for when she is going. It may have been completely booked though. It is when I am going, and so are most of the other resorts the back end of the week.