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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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like I mentioned in my other thread, if I could talk DH into a Disney couples trip, I would choose Disney. looking at early November. would I get that Disney feeling at Vero beach? I'm really not a beach person! can only lay around for one day max.
I love the idea of Atlantis because we love to have fun together. we'd love the waterpark and the aquarium. but is this a sketchy area? I was reading the passporter Disney cruise guide highlights about the Nassau port of call and I'm not sure we would be comfortable there. I would want to stay right at Atlantis for about 4 days.
would we be bored at Vero beach? honestly, I'm easily bored. not much on sightseeing except for zoos and aquariums. I also have that problem of feeling like nowhere is as great as Disney!
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If I'm honest, much as I love Vero Beach, I think you probably would be a bit bored there, especially at that time of the year. We've visited twice in December and there haven't been many activities on then. I assume it would be the same in early November?
There is a fair bit to see in the surrounding area though. You can visit Kennedy Space Center from there and that's a great day out. We've had a wander around Vero Beach itself and that took a pleasant morning, if I remember right. Somewhere else we visited (about an hour and a quarter's drive away) was Palm Beach and the Flagler Museum, which we really enjoyed, so there's another idea.
The one time we got off a Disney cruise in Nassau, we went to Atlantis and it looked like an amazing resort. I haven't felt tempted to visit Nassau itself, as it just doesn't look that great, but I know from reading the various Disney cruise trip reports here that others have and have enjoyed it.
I agree that Vero Beach is probably not what you are looking for and it may be too cold to enjoy the beach. I'd choose Atlantis since you'll find more activities and a warmer climate.
And I'd advise against comparing any other vacation to a Disney vacation. Go in with the thought that it's a different vacation for you and that you'll find plenty of fun together with new surroundings.
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I'm recalling now a mom at swimming lessons last year raving about Atlantis. She said her kids liked it better than Disney. Of course, they just must not be true Disney fans like us, right!?
Her kids are probably the ones that think the pool at the resort is the best part of the trip to Disney. At one point, my kids may have thought that. They were tired of the hot sticky parks and the cool pool was such a relief.
yes, I can see that. my kids love to swim, that's for sure. they have never asked to leave a park to go swimming instead. however, our first day at MK in December was so hot that they gladly agreed to my suggestion to walk back over to the C for a swim at the pool. it was approaching 90 degrees. We can't function in extreme heat, so we would never go to Disney between May and end of September pretty much. maybe we'd attempt May sometime for DH's dream of hitting a Star Wars weekend.
Ah heck, I think we'll save the couples trip for next year when we can pass off a bonus trip in November as the mid-point between our 40th birthdays. And if I can somehow justify taking the kids out of school in nov and February, I bet it turns into a family Disney cruise trip!