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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 was doing a little bit of looking online at the Cricut, and I saw what looked like computer connections for a Cricut. It seemed to be an accessory, but it didn't say much about it. I am wondering then if you can hook up the Cricut to your computer, and use it in a manner similar to the Wishblade?
Not sure how the Wishblade works, but you cannot "free style" with the Cricut...
There is a program (Cricut Design Studio) that allows you to set up your design on the computer, then cut it. The nice thing about it is that you can set it up using different cartridges and it will tell you to insert the cartridge when it needs it.
Actually there is a program called Sure Cuts A Lot that will allow you to free cut any SVG file that you can create as well as cut all the True Type fonts that you have on your computer. The only problem with it at the moment, it that if you also want to use the Cricut Design Studio program (which gives you access to any of the stuff on the cartridges) then you can only use an OLDER version of the Design Studio. Provo Craft put a block in the firmware that Design Studio (DS) uses so that Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) will not work after the newer firmware was installed. Now the problem with the older version of the DS doesn't have the information for the newer cartridges. It will have all the current Disney cartridges but not the newer ones just coming out.
Personally I like BOTH programs and am really frustrated about this contention between them. I like my True Type FONTS better than the Cricut fonts, but I like the SHAPES better on the Cricut cartridges (except for the occasional one that Cricut will NEVER have on a cartridge - like my favorite team mascot). There is hope that perhaps Provo Craft will lift the block and that both programs will work on the same machine. Let me know if you want more info on these programs.
Oh - btw - the cable needed to connect your Cricut to the computer is an USB with an A / B connector. Not hard to find at your local office supply store.
Actually there is a program called Sure Cuts A Lot that will allow you to free cut any SVG file that you can create as well as cut all the True Type fonts that you have on your computer. The only problem with it at the moment, it that if you also want to use the Cricut Design Studio program (which gives you access to any of the stuff on the cartridges) then you can only use an OLDER version of the Design Studio. Provo Craft put a block in the firmware that Design Studio (DS) uses so that Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) will not work after the newer firmware was installed. Now the problem with the older version of the DS doesn't have the information for the newer cartridges. It will have all the current Disney cartridges but not the newer ones just coming out.
Personally I like BOTH programs and am really frustrated about this contention between them. I like my True Type FONTS better than the Cricut fonts, but I like the SHAPES better on the Cricut cartridges (except for the occasional one that Cricut will NEVER have on a cartridge - like my favorite team mascot). There is hope that perhaps Provo Craft will lift the block and that both programs will work on the same machine. Let me know if you want more info on these programs.
Oh - btw - the cable needed to connect your Cricut to the computer is an USB with an A / B connector. Not hard to find at your local office supply store.
There are some really gifted people on the cricut message boards that can create wonderful things with Design Studio. You still have to have the cartridges they use, but most use George Cart. And some will design cut files for you using the cartridges you already have. There may be someone who can design the mascot. Or sometimes there are "hidden or overlooked" images that you wouldn't think were there.
You are right though the downside is you use SCAL then you can't update your firmware and SCAL still work. There are some ways around this by renaming files and switching back and forth between the versions (which may be a pain). I'm not sure how you do this but there are instructions on the Cricut message board somewhere.
Thanks for the information on this! I don't know much about either Cricut or Wishblade. However now that I can finally set up a craft room, having one or the other is sounding more attractive.
Believe me, you will LOVE having a cutter machine. Makes things go MUCH faster. And you can use it for other projects as well. Most of these machines can cut vinyl (not all vinyl, but the kind you would use to stick on the wall) and so you can cut out sayings for your wall. It's pretty cool.
About the firmware. I went to cut with my Disign Studio last week and it made me up date my firmware befor I could cut anything. So I'm not sure if that would interfiar with the Sure Cuts A lot.
Here's the 411 on the deal with the cricut firmware issues with SCAL. It's a copy of the pm I sent to Bill. My added comments are in red.
There's good and bad news on this front (the firmware you're running in your Cricut - it needs to be the old version). The good news is that the firmware is tied to the version of DS that you are running. So what you need to do is get an old like trial version of DS, install it, and choose update firmware from the menu. You can install it into it's own subdirectory so it can be separate from the newer version that you already have. If you don't have an old copy already, you can download one from http://www.mediafire.com/?zm43uxd2mtx
Now the bad news is that if you want to use both the newer DS and SCAL, then you have to keep going back and forth and updating the firmware. This is a big old pain, but not insurmountable. (you might need to use the more updated version of DS if you have newer cartridges.)
About a week ago, a gal on the cricut boards send a letter to Provo Craft with the results of a survey that she had taken for about 3 weeks on the messageboards over there of folks that wanted to use both DS and SCAL. She got over 250 names and email addresses and a lot of really constructive comments. So MAYBE PC will get the message that SCAL isn't a total threat to their business and will take the block out of the firmware. One can only hope.
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I don't know much about either Cricut or Wishblade. However now that I can finally set up a craft room, having one or the other is sounding more attractive.
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