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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I just got back from a week at WDW with my wife and parents. My mom had to use an ECV (she borrowed one from a friend) and needed a charge while in MK. A cast member told us of a great spot near the Small World and Peter Pan rides. It's a group of tree stumps that contains electrical outlets to charge your ECV; they also have USB ports in case you need to charge your phone, MP3 player, tablet, etc. Does anyone know of spots like this in the other parks?
Sounds like the new Tangled restroom area they built as part of the new Fantasyland. If so, it's the only thing like it in any park. One of my Mouse friends has also charged in several places around MK, including in Space Mountain, at the First Aid station and during a TS meal. They are also reportedly able to help with charging at Guest Services. I am guessing they will add these features to the other parks soon, as its something people are looking for and will definitely be a plus for the visitor experience. As of now though, I don't know of any dedicated place like this at the other parks, although you certainly can plug in and recharge an ECV in any of them by asking a CM for the location of the nearest outlet.
They are not well known (yet!), but not secret either.
As far as I know, only Magic Kingdom has installed charging stations so far.
The ones you found are in the Tangled/Rapunzel restroom area.
Charging stations can also be found in the Tomorrowland Arcade and the FASTPASS distribution area for Dumbo and The Barnstormer.
Since there are so many people using electrically powered devices in the parks, there is a big demand for places to charge them.
I expect to see more places in MK and to start seeing them other places too.
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A friend and I went to WDW a few Christmases ago, and I was going to let her use my scooter, because she needed it more, and I wanted to save her the money of renting one. Unfortunately, my plan didn't work, as my friend is larger than my scooter's recommended weight limit, so later in the day, it kept running out of juice. We found a few places to charge it that evening at Animal Kingdom. We were going to see "It's Tough to be a Bug," and we asked the CM at the entrance if there were any outlets nearby. (There was lighting, so you'd think there'd be an outlet.) She couldn't find one, but directed us to a shop across the way, and we found an outlet outside the actual store. Later, a very kind CM at Dinosaur showed us one hidden in the bushes off to the right of the entry plaza.
Later we were heading to MK for EMH, but by the time we reached the TTC, my poor, old scooter (it was my Dad's back in the '90s, before he passed away in 2000) totally gave out. There's a little shop at the TTC with an ATM outside it, and we plugged it into the outlet's extra plug, and told the shop's CMs why we were leaving it there (so it wouldn't look suspicious). When we got to MK, I offered to push my friend in a wheelchair, but she insisted on getting an ECV, even just for those few hours. (It would be nice if they pro-rated them so late in the day.) She rented one at Epcot the next day, too, which was probably a good thing, because my day of "toughing it out" really took a toll on my bad left ankle and right knee. So I was able to use my old scooter while she rode the nice, heavy-duty one.
Sorry to ramble on so long, but that was the experience I had trying to charge my scooter.