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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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View Poll Results: What do you think about the plan to phase out resort themed merchandise?
Heard that this was in the works. What do you think? I personally like resort merchandice. It's a great way to remember your stay or visit. I collect WDW ornaments so if I find a resort ornament I always scoop it up.
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That would be a sad (and bad) move. When you visit a hotel/resort anywhere, you buy resort themed souveniers to remember it by. Disney should be no different.
Gosh I hope not, I love to collect pins and different things from the different resorts we've stayed. I'm still mad that the refillable mugs aren't unique to the different resorts anymore.
I think it's a bad idea as well. I like going into the different shops and finding different merchandise geared to where I am. Years ago, the parks used to be like that too - you could only find Epcot stuff and Epcot and MK at MK etc, now I've found the same shirts at different parks and it doesn't make it fun to shop anymore when I can find the same thing everywhere.
We have limited resort experiences, but I would sure want to buy something resort-specific if we stayed at one of my dream resorts!
I'm still bummed they went to generic mugs -- I loved how the old ones reflected the spirit of the place.
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I would hate that! I love the Poly-specific merchandise in their gift shops and I've seen great stuff at other resorts as well. Makes me sorry I didn't buy the tshirt I was considering in June. Hope this is not true :-(
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15 total family trips with stays at the Poly, AKL, Wilderness Lodge, Beach Club, Swan, Dolphin, POFQ, Pop Century, All Star Music, Movies & Sports, and Coronado Springs.
I love the rustic style of the Wilderness Lodge. Every time we go I try to get something from there. I'd hat to see that type of thing go by the wayside. I think it's more fun to visit the other resorts just to see what they have for sale!
We've had a tradition for years of getting a Christmas ornament from each place we visit. It was not to be the past 2 trips as we could not find one for our resort. We had to really search but eventually settled on resort-specific pins. We asked a CM who said that in general the resort-specific merchandise does not sell well. Disappointing. Since you can get "WDW"-themed stuff everywhere, it's nice to have something more unique. I guess not enough people feel this way
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Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow, for all you know, tomorrow, the dream that you wish will come true.
Let's say that each resort sells 10,000 resort-specific t-shirts per year. That's 22 different designs that need to be updated each year, and manufactured in about 8 different sizes.
But if they replace those 22 shirts with a single WDW Resort t-shirt, then they're not buying 10,000 of each design, they're buying 220,000 of a single design, so they get a discount, because the manufacturing process doesn't have to be retooled 22 times, and the packaging is all the same, and only one design has to be updated.
It's both a good and bad business decision; it helps cut costs on procurement, which is good, but it can also significantly hurt sales, which is bad.
Personally, I love the resort-specific merchandise, and I don't just mean the non-Disney stuff you can find at AKL, WL, and Poly that fits the theme, I mean the stuff that actually says "Disney's Polynesian Resort" and "Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge" on it. I wasn't thrilled when they unified the All-Stars bu replacing "All-Star Music", "All-Star Movies" and "All-Star Sports" merchandise with the more generic "Disney's All-Star Resort" merchandise.
I can see how it would be cheaper to produce the same merchandise for every Resort, but I really hope they don't phase everything out. The Wilderness Lodge Mercantile is one of my favourite places to shop. There are so many gorgeous WL themed items, native american bits and pieces with that lovely WL logo, and I'm quite sure this is true for all the Resorts.
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as we could not find one for our resort. We had to really search but eventually settled on resort-specific pins. We asked a CM who said that in general the resort-specific merchandise does not sell well. Disappointing. Since you can get "WDW"-themed stuff everywhere, it's nice to have something more unique. I guess not enough people feel this way 
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