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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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This has been a weird week so far. This is going to be a bit long so hold on to your seat. As many of you know I am the co-vice-president and the volunteer coordinator of our local “friends” group for the dog park. Since the inception of the park in September we have had several vocal neighbors complain about the park (noise, poop…whatever they could find that would “stir up trouble.”) Our park is 17 acres with a pond in the middle and the main pathway and the home is only separated by a fence and a road. The park sits almost on their door steps. I wasn’t involved with the dog park until January 2007 when the plans had already been announced and set and I only became an officer in February. During the building process (and after) I did make a few suggestions (fence? Berm?) to separate the neighbors from the park….all were rejected. After the signs went up we thought all was well. We were sadly mistaken. In late winter as soon as our president took office she suggested we try to start mediation with the neighbors (and have our partners the city & county involved…who we have a wonderful working relationship with). That is what happened…right before the calls from the mediator were being set up one of the neighbors called the Mayor of Lansing and complained about the park. He told the park commissioner to “do something”. This happened literally 3 days after we had our monthly Dog Park Taskforce meeting with the city, county, animal control and friends group officers. The park commissioner contacted everyone and told us that a fence was going up ASAP and blocking off a good portion of the park. The county (who oversees the maintenance of the park) then sent out an e-mail to me saying they were no longer responsible for the park. Apparently they felt slighted by the city (who owns the park) and were angry that such a decision was made with out consultation and BEFORE mediation.
Okay fast forward, we waited a week…no fence. The county and city finally discussed the “communication problem” and the county is now helping maintain the park again. Finally mediation happen and the results were revealed to the Friends group at our board meeting on Saturday. The agreement was to cut off about 1/3 of the park. WHAT?? I was outraged. How could our president agree to THAT?? We still have about 11 acres to work with but it seems like was lost an awful lot of land (the entire opening at the front of the park and on quarter of the side).
Needless to say this “agreement” ticks off a lot of people. I am on a Lansing dogs list serv and I have been a member for over a year. People on there started blaming ME for the changes. Scapegoat anyone?? I am not happy either BUT at least we still have a park and we still have a lot of land to work with (a pond, sandy field, forest….lots of room for the dogs to run and bounce and swim). Now I am getting attacked for trying to put a positive spin on the changes. Some of the posts got pretty nasty and probably stuff that you would never say to someone if they were standing in front of you. Thankfully the moderator of the group was able to delete a few of the posts before I even saw them (she said they were pretty hurtful). I did my best to be diplomatic and not to “stoop to their level”. My Co-VP joined the same group and posted a lot more information then I was willing to. Apparently she did something right because people keep thanking her for being so “helpful”. Now I feel like a twit for being diplomatic.
We have a public meeting with all the parties that will be mediated on May 12 to discuss what we are going to do with the rest of the park. It is going to be a very heated meeting and I almost want to bring ear plugs and sit in the back with a baseball cap over my head hoping no one notices me. People are VERY angry with the dog park board. I am trying my best to feel bad for the neighbors but it is so hard. They KNEW about the park well before it was even built. They KNOW where it was going to be located. They KNOW that dogs aren’t always silent animals.
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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
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Sounds like a lot of truly unnecessary drama. All around. The neighbors knew about the park, but didn't think about the impact - OR DID they? Maybe they expressed these concerns to someone who is now not saying so.
And who on EARTH would plan a DOG park that close to homes?
Best bet - change the area that is getting cut off to a "natural habitat area" and let it go wild. OR make it a parking area.
Sounds like a lot of truly unnecessary drama. All around. The neighbors knew about the park, but didn't think about the impact - OR DID they? Maybe they expressed these concerns to someone who is now not saying so.
And who on EARTH would plan a DOG park that close to homes?
Best bet - change the area that is getting cut off to a "natural habitat area" and let it go wild. OR make it a parking area.
Pixies that it all turns out okay.
I wasn't part of the park planning but I do know the neighbors had a meeting. The park users are being down right MEAN!!! I am sorry people I spend 10-15 hours a week dealing with dog park issues...now you are blaming ME because I don't address EVERY POST?? I am so sorry that I have a life? I am so sorry that I don't think it is right to share EVERY TIDBIT of information with everyone. We didn't want to start a firestorm BEFORE mediation. UGH...natural barriers won't work....the neighbors don't want that. We still have a pretty large area but people are use to larger. I just wish all these vocal people would HELP US instead of pointing fingers.
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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
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UGH. We had a similar issue with a municipal park w/ a playground. They took a dead end street and opened it up to the park area. All the homeowners (lived here since dinosaurs) put up signs in their yards like, "We don't want you here!", "Go home", and "Get off OUR street!" It was very unpleasant for people who took their kids to the park to have to see all of those nasty signs. We quit going b/c of it and I know several other people did, too, it felt like running a gauntlet. The homeowners knew the park was happening, but did nothing to stop it or contribute to a better solution, so I don't think they have any right to be nasty about it now.
I'm sorry you're going through this. that people lighten up on you and it can get sorted out.
Robin, people just like to complain-- hang in there and remembr youhave the best interests of the dogs in your heart! Pip sends a big old Wheaten kiss your way!
I agree with Teresa that maybe the home owners did say they didn't want the
park there but it was placed there anyway. As a home owner and a fur baby
momma, I wouldn't want a dog park that close to my home but I would like one
in the neighborhood.
Wheaten kisses are the BEST...I got a faceful from my friend's dog Murphy the other day. He weighs about 60 lbs but I pick him up and he just licks me and licks me.
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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
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The county (who oversees the maintenance of the park) then sent out an e-mail to me saying they were no longer responsible for the park. Apparently they felt slighted by the city (who owns the park) and were angry that such a decision was made with out consultation and BEFORE mediation. 
Now I feel like a twit for being diplomatic. 
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