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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Is this still pretty popular? Can you still find lots of them pretty much everywhere? And about how much do they cost? Thanks!
pin collecting is very big and is still huge and magical . they run anywhere from i would say 7.00 - 20.00 +++ depending on what you like at DTD the pin trader store is amazing . happy collecting.
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Just got back from the 'World, and I'd say Pin Trading is as big as it ever was! You can still trade with CM's - black lanyards and hip pouches are for everyone to trade; green lanyards and hip pouches are only for the kiddos.
The cost of pins has raised a bit, and they have a new pricing system - instead of putting the price of the pin directly on the hang tag, it's now coded blue, yellow, and green. Each color represents a price - $8.95, 10.95, and 12.95 (I'm quoting from memory, but I'm pretty sure those are accurate - however, I couldn't tell you which color matches up with the cost). They also have some pretty awesome pin sets - we saw a lot of Haunted Mansion ones - but those will set you back anywhere from $50-175, and are pretty much for collecting only.
They also do the "mystery pins" - you buy a pouch for $10.95, which comes with 2 randomly assorted pins that are part of a set. If you're wanting to trade with CM's those are your cheapest bet as far as pricing goes.
However, what's worked best for us (and many others), is buying a "grab bag" of pins off of eBay. We bought a grab bag of 50 for $75, and it was perfect for our pin-trading needs. In fact, we hardly bought any pins at all on our last trip (aside from the collectible ones we couldn't find on CM lanyards). It was a phenomenal way to add to our collection for very little cost.
However, what's worked best for us (and many others), is buying a "grab bag" of pins off of eBay. We bought a grab bag of 50 for $75, and it was perfect for our pin-trading needs. In fact, we hardly bought any pins at all on our last trip (aside from the collectible ones we couldn't find on CM lanyards). It was a phenomenal way to add to our collection for very little cost.
I would love to do this in prep for my next trip, but I always question whether or not the pins are genuine. Any way to tell?
We've never done the pin trading before but are going to this summer. DS9 is developmentally delayed and loves to talk to CMs (as well as buy every "stuffie" he sees in all the gift shops!). I thought pins would give him a focus and take his mind off buying stuffed animals.
We bought the lanyards and a grab bag of 20 Disney pins for trading from ebay. I think the whole thing cost me $30.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by unewillow
I would love to do this in prep for my next trip, but I always question whether or not the pins are genuine. Any way to tell?
Well, once you get the pins, they should be marked "Official Pin Trading" with a Disney Trademark (and sometimes a year) on the back. However, the best way to ensure you're not getting scammed on eBay is to check the person's seller feedback - if they've got plenty of positives, you've probably got nothing to worry about. However, if their feedback says things like, "Didn't sell us official pins!"...I'd probably avoid that seller.
We love to collect pins! The girls usually trade with CMs, but not that much. They like to buy their own special pins and those are for keeps! I have bought a few pins on ebay and that has gone well each time. I would definitely check feedback. I would much rather have the girls collect pins than stuffed animals, we have enough of those already!
sometimes you can get lucky on ebay. the person we bought our 50 pins from had them listed as containing some limited edition pins. i would say that a good 1/3 of the pins were limited edition. we ended up keeping a bunch of them for ourselves and used the rest to trade. definitely better paying $1.50/pin instead of $6.95/pin.
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i have a cousin who used to manage a Disney store. i asked him about some pins that i bought for my daughter before our trip, they were a lot smaller(about the size of a dime or penny) than the regular pins, and worked just as well. a pack of five little pins cost $1.00 at the store, and i was told that they are seasonal, and usually sell fast when the stores get them.
you might want to inquire at a nearby store if you have one. and when my daughter traded with the CMs, most had never seen them before, but gave us no hassels about trading.
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