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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!

Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!

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Old 01-03-2004, 09:50 AM   #1
mrsmaup
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The Most AMAZING Experience!!!!!

Last night, we had a blizzard. A family from Toronto was travelling from Minot(abotu 2 1/2 hours west of us) and they made it past Devils Lake and instead of stopping there, they tried to make it to Minnesota(visiting family there). They ended up in the ditch right behind our back field. My dh was out snowblowing and saw the accident, so he took the snowmobile out there to try and help. THere ended up being 3 cars that went into that same ditch while he was out there. A big rig driver managed to pull them all out of the ditch and 2 cars went on their way, but the family from Toronto was too shaken up. They asked about a hotel or resturaunt to go to until they settled their nerves, but we live in the land of NOTHING and there was no place for them to go for at least 20 miles, so my dh told them to come on over.

Okay, so I have drop in company who I dont know are coming until they are here. Mom, dad and 3 munchkins(from 2-9), so you can imagine im running around like a chicken w/my head cut off trying to dust, vaccum, etc before they get the family and their dog out of the van!LOL!!

The roads never did improve, so dh invited them to stay the night. We had a BLAST!! The kids just got along great, loved the mom and dad and talked until 12:30.

Put mom and dad in Brooke's room(queen size bed) w/the 2 boys, who wanted to sleep in the same room as their parents. Cody stayed in his room and Brooke and their daughter slept up in the living room.

They just left and it feels like we have known them forever. In Sept, when we go to MI, we are going to go up to Toronto and stay w/them for a few days.

I feel so blessed and it was just such an amazing experience to not only be able to help a family in need out, but to make new lifelong friends! Its situations like this that bond you together, plus the dad is a Rocket scientest(HOW FUNNY IS THAT???) and teaches at universities all over North America. They lived at the base we were stationed at in New Mexico for 3 months, so we were able to talk about all the places we had both been, PLUS we showed them all our WDW pictures and now they are going to go for a week!LOL!!

AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Old 01-03-2004, 09:58 AM   #2
LisaJ
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Re: The Most AMAZING Experience!!!!!

That is just the nicest story I've heard! And a rocket scientist to boot! How cool is that?!
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Old 01-03-2004, 10:16 AM   #3
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Re: The Most AMAZING Experience!!!!!

Thanks for sharing. That is a great story to start the New Year.
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Old 01-03-2004, 10:21 AM   #4
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Re: The Most AMAZING Experience!!!!!

<font color="purple">That was truly an amazing gesture Kristie! And then for you all to get along so well, was another blessing! God works in mysterious ways! Thank goodness there are still good people in the world like you &amp; your DH! Thanks for that great story! </font>
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Old 01-03-2004, 10:29 AM   #5
mrsmaup
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Re: The Most AMAZING Experience!!!!!

You know I could not resist! When I was making coffee, dad said "thank you so much for this" and I could not resist. I said "well, its not rocket science"BAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!LOL!!

I always wanted to say that to a REAL rocket scientest and I finally got my wish!LOL!!
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Old 01-03-2004, 10:36 AM   #6
mrsmaup
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Re: The Most AMAZING Experience!!!!!

I guess our thinking is that you just CANNOT leave people alone when they need help. If we had done nothing, what would they have done? The roads were TERRIBLE and they could see NOTHING(why they went into the ditch in the first place), so they would have been in another ditch before long.

You just have to be willing to help people, trust God that they are not axe murderers(I would not have offered if I was alone and it was men w/o a family, because I have children to think about) and open up your home. I told them that my only request, was that they do something for someone in need; to pass the kindness on.

That was just the way my dh and I were raised.
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Old 01-03-2004, 10:59 AM   #7
Irene
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Re: The Most AMAZING Experience!!!!!

<font color="blue"> What a nice story! </font>
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Old 01-03-2004, 11:07 AM   #8
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Re: The Most AMAZING Experience!!!!!

Kristie, I think you and your DH are AMAZING people for opening your home to these strangers at their time of need. It sounds like you have been repaid for your kindness with great new friends for life!
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Old 01-03-2004, 11:29 AM   #9
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Re: The Most AMAZING Experience!!!!!

Kristie, that is an amazing story and the best bit was when I read you're going to go up to stay with them for a few days. It's amazing how sometimes you can feel like that about people - what a great feeling and just think it would never have happened, had it not been for that blizzard.
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Old 01-03-2004, 11:30 AM   #10
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Re: The Most AMAZING Experience!!!!!

This is why I love small towns. This sounds like a story from the '50s, not 2004! It sounds like for some reason this was meant to happen. Very nice.
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Old 01-03-2004, 11:45 AM   #11
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Re: The Most AMAZING Experience!!!!!

<font color="0066cc">Kristie, that was a great story to share. That's the way I remember life being like when I was growing up. People used to keep the doors unlocked and food in the cupboard of their farmhouses when they moved into town for the winter just in case there was a blizzard and some stranded traveller needed food and shelter for a couple days. It's great that you're going to go visit your new Toronto friends next year.

P.S. That was some blizzard yesterday, eh? We were driving home from Saskatchewan in that and there were quite a few times I thought we should be pulling in and looking for a hotel before the police closed the highway and then you're stranded without a room. We only got 8" of snow but the way the wind was whipping it around, it was crazy!!!!</font>
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Old 01-03-2004, 06:11 PM   #12
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Re: The Most AMAZING Experience!!!!!

Thanks guys. Today I am still feeling all warm and squishy(which is a feat considering it is 8 below zero right now and due to get in the 20's below zero tonight). There really is no better reward than to give something of yourself w/o any expectation of a return, ya know?

Donna; That blizzard was a blizzard from H*ll was it not?!!! Not only did it come up super quick, but our area was not prepared, because it was due to stay much farther north.

Today when we went into Grand Forks, it was crystal blue skies(cold as a deep freeze though) and just looked gorgeous w/all the snow on the trees, etc. The only way you ever knew there had been a blizzard the night before was because there were abotu 10 cars still in ditches and tracks of many many more who had been in ditches.

Did you know it is forcasted to get to FIFTY BELOW with windchill tomorrow or Monday night? ACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you imagine the INgalls family in their little tar paper shack in South Dakota w/1 cook stove to keep all of them warm; no insulated columbia jackets and columbia snow boots, not central heat, no electric blankets. Thank the good Lord for Electricity!!!!!!!!!

So, if any of you ever get in an accident in the northern plains in the winter, fear not, you WILL get more help than you know what to do with!LOL!! Folks are bred well up here and im proud to be around them!

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Old 01-03-2004, 06:22 PM   #13
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Re: The Most AMAZING Experience!!!!!

What a nice story, glad to see you all made friends too. I only wish that all of life was like this.
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Old 01-03-2004, 06:34 PM   #14
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Re: The Most AMAZING Experience!!!!!

It is good to know that we can still trust people.
Thanks for a job well done.

Kim
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Old 01-03-2004, 06:52 PM   #15
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Re: The Most AMAZING Experience!!!!!

Kristie,
What a wonderful story and your family has some new
friends. Thanks for letting us in on a little secret...
what a great, caring family you have.
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