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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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In June we stayed at Port Orleans and went to Islands of Adventure one day. The drive isn't very far but the traffic was terrible and it took us about an hour to get back to WDW around 5:00 pm. We have a DD(9) and DS(5). We really loved IOA. We would like to stay on site next time for 2 nights at Universal. We love Disney and we thought IOA lived up to the WDW standard. At Universal and IOA, if you stay on site you get "front of the line" privledges on all rides that offer their version of the Fast Pass. That perk alone makes me want to stay there on site next time, for a day or two, as well as the time consuming commute from WDW.
Joy
I just got back from 5 days at the Poly and 3 days at Universal. I am going to have a trip report soon, but will tell you a bit for now. I am not sure how many miles it is, we rented a car. It took us about 25-30 minutes to get to Portafino Bay at Universal from the Polynesian at Disney. My husband knows his way around Orlando better than he does back home I think though and avoided a lot of traffic. The last time I went to Universal it was just the one park. This was the first time I had seen IOA and City Walk. I was so impressed. I am a die hard Disney fan but let me tell you, they are giving Disney a run for their money. The hotel was out of this world. City Walk is the bomb, but my favorite thing is the front of the line access. It kicks Disneys Fast Pass in the butt big time. You don't have to wait for certain times like with Fast Pass if you are staying in a Universal Hotel. You just show your hotel room key (like a credit card just like Disney) and you bop right up to the front of the line. We did IOA in 3 hours, and that was with going on some rides twice. I couldn't believe it. We ended up going back to the hotel which is a boat ride or a 20 minute walk. You go though City Walk and then along a nice landscaped path. Then we went back later in the day to City Walk for dinner. There is so much to do around there too. The big FAO Scwartz toy store, and Wet and Wild is about 10 minutes away and all kinds of other things but we stayed at the parks and played. Some rides we got off and went right back on again while people were standing still in lines waiting to go on. You can't beat staying there. [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img]
I'll concur with purplemickey - Universal ROCKS and is definitely worth visiting. I'd NEVER to without staying at one of their properties, though, for 2 reasons. The front of line access for resort guests does, indeed, kick FastPass in the pants - but also the resorts are as nice as ANY - and I mean ANY - of the Disney Deluxe resorts. The same amount of attention to detail, theme, and luxury are all throughout. We stayed at the Hard Rock which was superb!
[img]graemlins/puter.gif[/img] YES, UNIVERSAL IS A MUST WHENEVER I GO TO ORLANDO. OR COURSE I ALWAYS DO DISNEY FIRST. WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY AUGUST 10TH AND ALREADY HAVE OUR UNIVERSAL TICKETS. IT IS NOT FAR FROM DISNEY. WE TAKE A SHUTTLE FROM THE HOTEL SO WE DO NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT DRIVING IN ALL THE TRAFFIC. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
By the way....WELCOME carol ann!!! [img]graemlins/wavin.gif[/img] Hope to see you around the boards! We're a fun bunch here!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
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