Lessons learned in checking school calendars - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Yes- heads up parents in NYState - because Labor Day is "late" this year, I know that in my school district they are considering starting the school year earlier, so if the calendar is already up, it may not be accurate - and is always subject to change. Here they are having a board meeting to discuss that very subject next week! Thankfully, we never go that time of year.
Our schools start mid August...we start Aug 12 next year. I don't mind that as much as the fact that we don't get out until the first week of June, because they take too many breaks! (Our kids get out each Wednesday at 2 p.m. and have at least one day off every month, plus fall break, winter break, spring break, etc.) My mom teaches in another district...they start the same time we do, but get out May 15 because they don't have as many days off. I would prefer that...easier to find a slow period to go to WDW!!!
Why do you go back so early. We never start before labor day. I hope our district didn't change too since Labor Day is late this year, I'll have to go to the schedule and check
There was a note on the calendar that said if Labor Day fell on the 1-3 (or 4th) day of September, school would start after LD. After that date, school would start before LD.
This is a change for me since I'm switching Andrew from the Catholic school Kindergarten to the public school 1st grade.
He'll be tired that first day, so I'm glad they don't do much the first few days of school. He will miss orientation though.
I'm curious...what hours do the kids attend school?
DD's school goes 7:40am to 2:30pm and that's considered a long day in our city (Actually, his school has one of the longest in the state) A half day for us is release at 11:30am.
I'm curious...what hours do the kids attend school?
DD's school goes 7:40am to 2:30pm and that's considered a long day in our city (Actually, his school has one of the longest in the state) A half day for us is release at 11:30am.
Mon-Tues-Thurs-Friday, she goes 8:30 to 3:30 p.m. On Wednesdays, they go from 8:30 to 2 p.m. All our holidays have started on Wednesdays, so we've never had a half day. (DD is just in kindergarten, so I don't know if that's just this year or if that's how it has always been.)
It definitely pays to check dates - both school and Disney. I was out looking at cruise rates and discovered that Disney prices drop when midwest kids go back to school (mid to late August). We are East coast and don't start until after Labor Day. There was a 2 week gap there with low prices and no school. We signed up quick. Then Disney offered the military discount so now we are doing both the parks and the cruise.
We start kintergarten next year but it seems like here the requirement to go to kintergarten is age 5 by Sept 1 & schools generally start on Sept 1 so all the kids are the same day on the first day of school. Its interesting how different regions do their school years.
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