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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Just a heads up to any fellow DVC owners-they are not accepting any reservations for DCL using points until September 2011. Supposedly, this is due to a large number of DVC bookings on the Dream and Alaska cruises. Not a good situation for those of us wanting to use our points for a cruise...
Wow! Glad we booked already! We are using points for 1 and cash for the other on our B2B next year. Booked on board in July. Sorry to those of you who will be impacted! I would suggest renting out the points you would have used for the cruise and paying with the money you make.
*&$%^#^%^$ I am cursing and about to be sick to my stomach! WHAT THE HECK!? They can do this?!
We booked the Dream for May 2011 back in Nov 2009. Didn't roll it over to Member services yet because we were going to use points on 2 of the 4 of us and you have to pay the balance off when you have member services take it over. obviously not ready to pay the balance off.
I don't think we can afford the cruise without using the points! What to do?!? Gee whiz.
Guess I better head over to the DVC section and ask how to rent your points. I have no idea how to do that. geewhiz. My heart is breaking. this has been a rough week!
I can't believe this! We haven't booked our cruise on the Dream yet for April 2011, as we've been waiting to see what Mark's family were doing. I thought that was a sensible approach, as I didn't want to book, then pay to re-book, now it doesn't seem that it is. I'll be really upset if we can't use our points for that, as I've been looking forward to cruising on the Dream for months and we pulled our plans to cruise this year, so we could do it.
At least, on the plus side, thank goodness we booked Alaska, using our points, last year.
I called MS this afternoon for something on our next cruise in July. I then asked what was going on. The basic I was told we had booked more rooms on points than what was contracted. There is availability for cruises after Sep 2011 but you could be told no availability. I suspect DVC, DCL and Disney under estimated folks using points. I think they do not understand there are folks like us who do not like the lost of value we perceive at WDW. To many of us the point levels for cruises was very attractive compare to cash.
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Just a heads up to any fellow DVC owners-they are not accepting any reservations for DCL using points until September 2011. Supposedly, this is due to a large number of DVC bookings on the Dream and Alaska cruises. Not a good situation for those of us wanting to use our points for a cruise...
I am sick to my stomach right now. We have an Alaskan Cruise booked through DCL which I was going to switch over in December to DVC points (for one of us). I just banked some points in July (when I told them my plans they never indicated it would be a problem) and now those points aren't available til december. OUCH! The worst part is we are traveling with a group so it will be sad if we have to back out.
I just had a little bit of Disney magic happen. I called MS last night and they found availabilty for me and switched my DCL reservation over to points. The person I spoke to said she was happy that it worked out for me because it is not working out for everyone....especially those who want to sail on the Dream. I encourage others in the same situation to not give up and keep trying. I hope everyone gets a little disney magic......