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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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's good to know that it's not Disney charging the fee...
However, another perspective on this is that programs like this are often more geared to larger charities -- for them, having to spend $1,000 to potentially raise lots of money, awareness, or to achieve big goals is factored into their budgets.
It's a shame that smaller charities will have a hard time taking part with Give/Get, but I can see why someone like Disney wouldn't want to administer such a huge effort.
I think I'll probably just send my favorite local charity $75 rather than try to get a free ticket. (Although, I should also donate my time anyway.)
Eileen
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I just thought it would be nice for people to give their time to their own community and still be able to be rewarded by the GAD-GAD program. But, there is no affiliate within 50 miles of our town.
I do understand that there must be some work behind the scenes to organize this program, but from what I remember, Hands-On Network is a government program started by the Bush administration. I would assume that they have enough government funding to back these expenses. If so, why do they need to charge such large fees?
I guess my point is, GAD-GAD isn't the program I thought it was. Our new thought is to purchase one day tickets ourselves and then raffle them off at the end of the year; every volunteer gets one chance for every hour they work. That way DISNEY gets the money and not this "network".
One thing that might be worth thinking about is the actual charity itself. Say there was no fee and just anyone could join there could be problems. I could turn around and start my own charity where I really just pocket the money. If I can say that I am affiliated with the Hands on Network I am all of a sudden legitimite no mater what I do with my donation money. When it comes out that I have just been keeping the donations for myself not only do I look bad but Hands on Network looks bad too and there other charities can suffer. The $1000 might be a little high here. I don't know about everyone else but I don't feel good giving my money to a charity that I do not know anything about.
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I'm glad Eileen and Karen cleared up the confusion between the Hands-On Network vs. Disney fee controversy. I'm kind of with aubs42 here though - it sucks that there has to be a "middle-man" to sort out the good from the bad, but unfortunately, there would totally be people taking advantage of "charity" to promote their own personal agendas.
Anyway, for what it's worth, whether you are able to donate your ticket, time, or money to a charity, I'm just glad Disney's reminding people that even when times are tough financially, there's still plenty of ways to help out your neighbors!
I'm kind of stuck in the middle on this. I'm glad it's not Disney charging the fee but it is a company affiliated with Disney and Disney knows about this. Yet, you can't just let any company sign up to be a "charity" because of the amount of scumbags in the world who would misuse it. Maybe there could be a compromise that after a charity is deemed reputable that the charity can get some of the money back?
Eh, it's sad we have to verify so much in this world!
in order to be an affiliate, one must first be a 501(c)(3) charity, so you can't just fork over $1000 and be considered a disney ticket scheme.
also I'm having trouble finding anything about the $1000 application fee. I see membership dues and the $1000 I see applies only those whose annual budget is between $700K and $1M. The fees can be as low as $50 per year for those whose budgets aren't as large.
most charities are businesses and rely on income not just for their cause, but to pay CEOs and board members, etc. heck, there are charities whose sole purpose is to spend money throwing lavish parties in an effort to just raise more money. very few have zero-or-close-to-zero overheads.
from what I read, HandsOn's objective is to have its membership fees total 1% of its affiliates' budgets. So the question then becomes is being a part of the HandsOn network worth taking a penny out of your dollar?
perhaps the real concern here is simply that there are spots that don't seem to be covered by HandsOn currently
Thanks for clarifying Brad, I took a look and it does appear that the dues to be part of HandsOn vary from $50 to $2500 based on the charities annual budget.
Whilst on the surface this looks bad on disney's part, think of all the scammers that would try to get their free tickets by working an hour if any for some unknown charity (not saying that the charity doesn't matter, just an example). If it costs the charity money then they must be serious about signing up volunteers and 'advertising disney' in order to pull the volunteers in. By using disney's name and pulling power the charity gains in getting helpers (who may just turn into regular volunteers). It just may turn into a win-win.
I just thought it would be nice for people to give their time to their own community and still be able to be rewarded by the GAD-GAD program. But, there is no affiliate within 50 miles of our town.
I do understand that there must be some work behind the scenes to organize this program, but from what I remember, Hands-On Network is a government program started by the Bush administration. I would assume that they have enough government funding to back these expenses. If so, why do they need to charge such large fees?
I guess my point is, GAD-GAD isn't the program I thought it was. Our new thought is to purchase one day tickets ourselves and then raffle them off at the end of the year; every volunteer gets one chance for every hour they work. That way DISNEY gets the money and not this "network".
I think that's a great idea. Good for you for moving on and finding a way.
According to that it would still be great to volunteer, just don't seek a ticket out of it.
That is a shame, but not a surprise. Many corporations do the same type of things I'm sure.
Our new thought is to purchase one day tickets ourselves and then raffle them off at the end of the year; every volunteer gets one chance for every hour they work. That way DISNEY gets the money and not this "network".
I think this is a great idea, too! It honors the spirit of the promotion while not putting an undue burden on your nonprofit!
I'm glad that Disney isn't pocketing the fees. But still, it would be nice if they had found a way to administrate the program in-house, so charities would have no cost. I'm sure a lot of of the volunteers will spend money on additional tickets and days, food, drinks, merchandise, and in many cases, lodging. I'm just sayin'.
This is why I no longer trust big companies with my donations. You just never know where the money is going to. So some people donate their hard earned money, just so they can pay to participate in a program?? Lame. I'll stick to donating directly to my town where I see it in action.
Sounds like a plan to me....at least then we know the money is being used for things that help the community and not to participate in a program like this. It is a great idea but the company paying to "buy into" the program really does defeat the purpose.
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