I had to cancel my youngest DD's b-day party.. - Page 3 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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 have been through the same thing with DS's birthday before but luckily didn't have to cancel. We always have combined our family party with the friends so we end up with enough people although a couple of years he has just had a couple of kids there. Having a June birthday right after school is out is hard with people leaving for vacations. We tried it one year in May to see if it was better but it wasn't. All of his friends were playing baseball that time of year and couldn't come because of it so it seems like a no win for us.
This year he just got out of fourth grade and was done with the party stuff. He just wanted to have a sleep over with a couple of his close friends. It was sooo nice not to have to worry if any kids would show up to a party or not. I always RSVP because I know how hard it is to plan not knowing.
Glad you DD took it well despite having to cancel.
I am sorry you had to cancel the party it sounds like. Last year we had a party and kids came but not one child brought a gift. My DD was bit sad but was okay with it.
I can relate! My oldest son's b-day is June 26. Schools here let out mid- may. I usually send out invites the last week of school. We've learned the hard way that unless we have the party early, not many come and even fewer rsvp. Even my other kids, who have parties during the school year only have a few that actually rsvp. When my kids get invited to a party, we rsvp even if we can't go! Unfortunately, few people do this. We've had both extremes- virtually no one show and we've also had a few people rsvp and then dozens of people show up. It's hard to plan when people don't call!
SOrry you had to cancel the party. There's really no excuse for such bad manners - especially from parents who have all been through the same thing! Hope you have a great time at HP and DQ!
So sorry about her party. We go through the same thing here as DD is August, during the year kids have parties and everyone shows up but during the summer no one calls. I end up just having the two friends she is closest with come over and I do a party at home.
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