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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We'll be flying out of Columbus, Ohio. The plan is to go *somewhere* in late January or early February. My husband thinks we need to go to San Diego, but I don't want to take an 18 month old and an almost 4 year old on a 6+ hour plane ride. Therefore, I'm researching Florida. Florida takes like 2 hours on a plane. That's doable.
The girls love a beach and I'd love a resort maybe? or maybe a nice vacation home rental and we'll rent a car? It's completely up in the air at this point.
Any ideas?
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Rachel
Blogging about whatever comes to mind at The New Smiths.
Since I'm originally from North Florida, I would always recommend people check out Amelia Island, any of the beaches on the Atlantic coast from Jacksonville down to St. Augustine, however during January/February it can still be pretty cold there. It would be warmer further south and since we just moved to So. FL, I'm not very familiar with what is all down here. There is also the west coast to check out as well. You could always go to TripAdvisor.com and search for highly rated resorts and start from there.
For that time of year I think you need to go further south in FL for warmer temps. We're debating a trip to the Keys and are considering 3 different resorts in the Keys; Hawks Cay in Duck's Key, Tranquility Bay in Marathon and Checca Lodge in Islamorada. I also think that Sannibel or Captiva off the Gulf Coast would be warm enough. We've been to West Palm, Cocoa Beach and Orlando during March and it's been pretty hit and miss on the weather as to if we swim or not. We probably did more so when we went to the West Palm area. There are lots of great places so good luck.
The gulf coast beaches are much nicer than the Atlantic coast beaches. As others have said, further South the better for warmer temps. My fave FL beach is Sanibel Island. It is BEAUTIFUL and not as super touristy as somewhere like Clearwater.
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MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
I third Sanibel or Captiva. Both lovely for a relaxed vacation. I also love the keys. We went down once over Christmas break. We had gorgeous weather in the mid-80's. Had a stop in Orlando on the way back and people boarded the plane wearing jackets, sweaters and fleeces along with hats and gloves.
I've been researching the same thing. I like the idea of Sanibel Island, but I read that they're having problems with brown water around there and Fort Myers because of runoff from Lake Okeechobee (sp?) I really like tripadvisor for info.
I'm just getting around to looking into this again after convincing myself that we needed to go on a Disney Cruise and then convincing myself otherwise.
What about Fort Lauderdale? It seems like it'd be far enough south.
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Rachel
Blogging about whatever comes to mind at The New Smiths.
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That way you get the beach and a touch of Disney magic as well. 
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