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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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When DD was in Kindergarten she befriended a little girl that came to their class a couple of hours a day; she also ate lunch with them. Everyday the little girl would not eat her lunch, so DD Lauren started sitting by her and encouraging her to eat. Well, it got to the point that if Lauren wasn't at school this little girl would not eat lunch.
It made me feel good as a parent that she is listening when we tell her to be nice to people. Lauren is a loving little girl with others anyway, it just helps to nudge her along.
Lauren has a deaf boy who has implants. He still signs some things and the teacher has to wear a voice amplifier, but he does real well. Lauren checked out a book at the library to learn some signs to she could talk with him more. She did this on her own, we didn't have to tell her to do it.
I think there are some good kids and a bunch of others who weren't taught to be considerate; some of it stems from the parents.
ok, personal soap box time. look at what's on TV as funny. generally they are mocking others, insulting them or belittling them. its perfectly ok to be sarcastic and condesending to others and it all has a laugh track so its all good. i'm not saying its TV's fault, i'm saying that its reflextive of our culture as acceptable.
I have to say, this is one of the (many) reasons that we homeschool.
My 11 yr. old would probably be labeled with Asperger's; she's an extremely bright, intelligent, insightful child - but she's different. Different enough to be noticable to other kids and to be an easy target for being teased or made to feel bad about herself.
We've interacted with public schooled kids and with homeschool kids in open play situations - and I have to say, it's been our experience that most homeschooled kids are more tolerant of 'different' kids, whether it's physical, mental or whatever. They tend to not exclude them and generally go out of their way to make them feel comfortable in a group. They also tend to 'leave them be' when they sense the other child wants to be left alone.
And yes, we've met other public school kids who have been just as accepting and kind - but I've witnessed far more ps kids (and their parents!) that tend to follow the crowd and pick on the weakest member of the group.
Why? Is it our primal instinct to 'weed out the weak' to make the group iteself stronger? Is it because finding fault with others makes us feel better about ourselves? Is it because deep down inside, we all know we're a little 'different' - and so picking on someone helps us hide our own insecurities? I don't know....
most homeschooled kids are more tolerant of 'different' kids, whether it's physical, mental or whatever. They tend to not exclude them and generally go out of their way to make them feel comfortable in a group. They also tend to 'leave them be' when they sense the other child wants to be left alone.
This is one of the reasons that I love our homeschool support group. It is perfectly acceptable to be weird or different. The kids get together and play and hang out, no thought is given to age differences or personality differences. Everyone is accepted. I think it has mostly to do with the parents of the kids and the fact that we encourage and expose them to a lot of different things and situations and people. I don't know that all homeschool groups are like that, but I'm really thankful that ours is. We have every kind of family you can think of, different cultures, different religions, it's really cool.
ok, personal soap box time. look at what's on TV as funny. generally they are mocking others, insulting them or belittling them. its perfectly ok to be sarcastic and condesending to others and it all has a laugh track so its all good. i'm not saying its TV's fault, i'm saying that its reflextive of our culture as acceptable.
The more our DDs get involved in school, sports, 4H, etc- the more we see this behavior. I will not tolerate bullying and was actually very instrumental in bringing an anti-bullying program into our school. The squeaky wheel DOES get the grease . As a Catholic school, I felt this was one place for certain that my children should NOT be subjected to bullying behavior. It seems as though I was not the only one, b/c after I spoke up, the bandwagon began. So now every parent, every child, every teacher and every administrator must sign and adhere to a Covenent, with Zero Tolerance for bullying being one of the main points. Along with several presentations on the subject, I think everyone at school has a much better understanding of WHY we need to work on this problem.
What was important to me was that my DD understood that she was being bullied and what to do when it happened. At first, she had no idea how to handle it, b/c we all know teachers don't like "tattle-tales". So the program is designed so that bullies know what constitutes as "bullying behavior" and the victim knows what to do, how to report it, etc. Up until now, the answer would usually be "kids will be kids", "girls will be girls", etc. That answer was completely unacceptable to me b/c in my house there is no excuse for mean or rude behavior towards others.
Most studies show that bullying stems from the need for power or the need to be better than someone else. If a person has enough self-confidence and empathy towards others- they should not have a NEED for treating someone else poorly. So this is something we focus on a lot- understanding that anything & everything you do can & will impact others. So think before you speak or act. The Golden Rule- you just can't go wrong with it .
I have to say, this is one of the (many) reasons that we homeschool.
My 11 yr. old would probably be labeled with Asperger's; she's an extremely bright, intelligent, insightful child - but she's different. Different enough to be noticable to other kids and to be an easy target for being teased or made to feel bad about herself.
We've interacted with public schooled kids and with homeschool kids in open play situations - and I have to say, it's been our experience that most homeschooled kids are more tolerant of 'different' kids, whether it's physical, mental or whatever. They tend to not exclude them and generally go out of their way to make them feel comfortable in a group. They also tend to 'leave them be' when they sense the other child wants to be left alone.
And yes, we've met other public school kids who have been just as accepting and kind - but I've witnessed far more ps kids (and their parents!) that tend to follow the crowd and pick on the weakest member of the group.
Why? Is it our primal instinct to 'weed out the weak' to make the group iteself stronger? Is it because finding fault with others makes us feel better about ourselves? Is it because deep down inside, we all know we're a little 'different' - and so picking on someone helps us hide our own insecurities? I don't know....
Well said! When I was a PS teacher, I had a sign that said, "blowing out the other fellow's candle will not make yours shine any brighter" to caution them against that kind of behavior in my classroom. The other thing I have taught my children is, "There, but by the grace of God, go I".
The more our DDs get involved in school, sports, 4H, etc- the more we see this behavior. I will not tolerate bullying and was actually very instrumental in bringing an anti-bullying program into our school. The squeaky wheel DOES get the grease . As a Catholic school, I felt this was one place for certain that my children should NOT be subjected to bullying behavior. It seems as though I was not the only one, b/c after I spoke up, the bandwagon began. So now every parent, every child, every teacher and every administrator must sign and adhere to a Covenent, with Zero Tolerance for bullying being one of the main points. Along with several presentations on the subject, I think everyone at school has a much better understanding of WHY we need to work on this problem.
Wow, good for you! It is awesome that you took the initiative to get that program started in your school.
ok, personal soap box time. look at what's on TV as funny. generally they are mocking others, insulting them or belittling them. its perfectly ok to be sarcastic and condesending to others and it all has a laugh track so its all good. i'm not saying its TV's fault, i'm saying that its reflextive of our culture as acceptable.
In response to my DN who essentially has no left hand, I lost my breath each time I saw a promo for some new Mommy Comedy on ABC when they joke about the Megan Mulally character being pg by a one-night-stand with a one-handed guy...and she'd stroke her belly and ask "how many hands are you going to have?" all in the name of edgy good comedy. It just made me really uncomfortable.
I have no tolerance for bullying. I was one of the ones who got picked on as a child because my nose is a different shape and my eyes are further apart. Then I got made fun of for wearing glasses or eating with the “unpopular” girl at school. At the private school I taught at for 10 years, we had a no bullying policy. The administration really followed through and even expelled several students for it while I taught there. It was the parents of the bully who were impossible to deal with for the principal. I do not tolerate it at the daycare/pre-school either. It is amazing how young it can start! Hopefully what I am teaching them now, will stick with them through life!
__________________
Some Day My Prince Will Come!
Katie - WDW - August 2011
A quote I received with an encouraging email recently said, "Be kind to everyone because you don't know what private battles they may be fighting." A kind word that may seem insignificant to us may be the only one a person gets in a day. Our story is similar to Desurea's with DS who will graduate from high school in two weeks. We homeschooled for 4 years because of the bullying at public school and then had to endure the criticism for removing him from school (after 3 years of trying to work with the admin. to get the bullying stopped). Through it all we have tried to teach him to work through things and learn from each circumstance and as someone earlier said to become a stronger person. My BIL, (his uncle) is mentally challenged because of a juvenile stroke I have been very proud of him for the love and respect he shows his uncle and the kindness and respect he shows others no matter their circumstance.
All of these answers are very encouraging. It is good to know that there are those out there who do not encourage and propagate such behavior. Perhaps if we all stand together our voice would be louder and school administrations would have to listen. Bet they would listen big time when it came around to voting for extra taxes...
All of these answers are very encouraging. It is good to know that there are those out there who do not encourage and propagate such behavior. Perhaps if we all stand together our voice would be louder and school administrations would have to listen. Bet they would listen big time when it came around to voting for extra taxes...
I agree! We should also do this for ourselves. Even if it might not be the popular thing to do, I think that random acts of sniping and pointless people-bashing should always be pointed out for what it is. It's a hard thing to do and, I have to say it does not always get me anywhere, but it is worth a shot.
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. As a Catholic school, I felt this was one place for certain that my children should NOT be subjected to bullying behavior. It seems as though I was not the only one, b/c after I spoke up, the bandwagon began. So now every parent, every child, every teacher and every administrator must sign and adhere to a Covenent, with Zero Tolerance for bullying being one of the main points. Along with several presentations on the subject, I think everyone at school has a much better understanding of WHY we need to work on this problem.
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