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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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it was really small, but when my husband and i were doing the parent swap on DINOSAUR! this lovely lady castmember gave our daughter a year of a million dreams special edition pin with tinkerbell and cinderella's castle on it! it was just wonderful getting a dream come true! she was so excited!
that being said, going the past two years, the last one especially, was the best dream come true!
We didn't win anything for YOMD, but, while we waiting for the MK to open on DD's 7th B-Day the CM at the gate noticed her birthday crown and sash and picked our family to help open the park. It was the best "gift" she got in her opinion and she is still telling people about it.
During our October 2007 trip to Disneyland we won Dream Fastpasses for California Adventure when entering the park from the Grand Californian Hotel. Also, while in Mickey's Toontown in Disneyland, a CM gave us a Fastpass for an attraction of our choice.
During our October 2008 trip to Disney World a CM took us to the front of the line for Tower of Terror.
During our December 2008 trip to Disneyland at California Adventure a CM gave us a Fastpass for an attraction of our choice.
We never won anything of value, but on our first trip to Disney our family attended Star Wars weekend. My son through me researched all the things he wanted to do, and more than anything he wanted to be in the Jedi parade. We read that there was a sign up by Sounds Dangerous for this. So, at 6:30 AM my son and I arrived at DH to try to be the first in line. Nope, didn't happen. Several people were there for autographs, but we (I believe) were the only ones that early to try to sign up for the parade. At 9:00, we rushed as hard as we could to the destination, and to our dismay, the only sign ups was for Who wants to be a Millionaire- Star Wars edition. My son was disappointed, but took it like a trooper. Hey, its Disney and SWW! Well apparantly some of the CM's had been watching us, and one of them came up to Fisher and asked him what was wrong. He told him he came all the way from Arkansas to be a Jedi and walk in the parade. The CM told us they were randomly picking people throughout the morning, but told us to meet him at Indy in 15 min, he wanted to talk to us. Wouldn't you know it, here he came with an armband for Fisher!!! He was so excited and proud, and I can't help but tell you it made this "Fella" cry a lil to see Fisher walking in that parade as a Jedi! I walked behind him to take pics!!
Well, last year on our 2nd visit I seen that same CM walking through Toy Story Mania. I stopped him and started my conversation with " I know you probably don't recognize me...." and he said "Yes I do, from Arkansas right?" And we got to have a great converstion, including my appreciation to him for helping my son. Disney has been nothing but spectacular for my family, and I look forward to the next trip as soon as I get home from the previous. Truly Year of a Million Dreams!
We were there October 2007 for Halloween. Our first full day was Saturday before Halloween. We won an hour at MK after it closed. We were visiting the Princesses and on our way out they stopped us. It was fun.
My best memory was as we were coming off of BTMRR at the end of the hour and walking through Frontierland it was my two DD's and myself and noone else. My mom had my camera and was waiting at the front of the park, so I didn't get a picture, but I will remember it forever.
We were there in February 2007. It was our last day in the parks. We were flying out at 7pm on a Saturday (first week of Feb.) I didn't realize (don't ask me how I missed this ) that the dance teams were at the parks. This made everything much busier than we were expecting. So, anyway, we realized that we weren't going to get to do very much on that last day.
We were sad to be leaving and sad that we may not get to go on many rides but decided to enjoy our last hours in the park and just be happy being there. We went into MK at opening and headed to Buzz Lightyear. As we got close to the ride, a man in a tie was standing near the entrance saying, "come ride Buzz Lightyear". I thought this was unusual but we happily said, we are!
Well, much to my surprise, a team was handing out magical lanyards which had a fastpass for each of the major rides. Well, we were so excited that we could barely stand it. We were floating on air. We headed directly to Space Mountain (our DS's favorite ride). We started telling the CM how excited we were and how these lanyards made our day. He gave us each a FP for Space Mountain and took our picture.
Both of these things just made our day. I can't even begin to describe what a difference this made. We would have had a good day but we had an incredible day. A great note to leave on.....
__________________
1st Familiy Trip To WDW - 1/31/04; ASM
2nd Family Trip to WDW - 2/2-10/2007; ASM
3rd Family Trip to WDW - 1/21-31/2009; PQFQ
4th Family Trip to WDW - 1/22-30/2010; PQFQ
Last edited by Princess Charming; 01-15-2009 at 09:52 AM..
The first year we didn't win anything but a very kind man gave us his 2 dream fast passes for MGM. This summer we were at DLR and got Dream fast passes, the best part is that they were for both parks. Later in the week I was waiting for the family to get off a ride and I get the blue lanyard and 2 pins. All were way cool!
I am using my moms name on here . We didn't get to go during the yomd but my dream is going to come true. When I was in labor with my ds (7) my mom rubbed my back for 3 hours straight without stopping and the whole time she talked about how wonderful it would be when we take him to WDW. Just imagine the look on his face and how special it will be to take my baby to see my favorite..Goofy. Well after 2 heart attacks..one almost fatal..and a dd (5) I get to go to WDW this March with my babies and the best part is that my Mom will be there to share it with me. That is my dream come true
We had 5 trips during YOAMD and didn't even see a Dream Team. In fact in over 20 years worth of trips (a dream in and of itself) we have never even gotten an upgrade. But I have had lot of fun giving things to others. I have given out "WWWD" (What Would Walt Do") thank you pins to cast members, given little Disney toys out to kids during Christmas, given thank you cards with Ohio pins to resort cast members, and Disney pins to kids just for fun. This made a lot of magic for me- just to see the smiles.
Suzie