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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 always stop at my brother's house for a couple of days on the way to Disney. He lives 2 hours from Disney so we always get a good start on our first Disney day. We usually hit the beach for a few days also. Then we stop at his house on the way back to chill for a couple of days before heading home. Family visit and Disney all wrapped into one awesome trip.
If driving won't take days away from your actual time in Disney then I vote drive. You can bring anything you want and no one feels you up....unless you want to be. I just got the treatment at MCO last night! Flying stresses me, packing for flying stresses me and my 5 year old on a plane stresses me! She is mildly Autistic and I never know what I'm gonna get with her on a plane. And I hate being stuck in a flying sardine can with 179 other people while she's bugging out for 2.5 I hours. That being said, we drive and August because we have the time but we fly in October and December because we have to.
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Tough one.
Know you guys really enjoy the extra time you get to spend together while driving so that is a BIG consideration. Flying will get you there faster and home faster so less time way from home and ABBY and the other fur babies.
So it really is a question of which do you want/ need more. Disney time or together time. You'll figure it out.
Oh if you fly nobody gets to see great Spare Tire Chuck did a few years back
......those that see "the drive" as being part of the trip ....don't really stress the drive ( or the added "together time" with family ). After waiting a year to go on a vacation .....the 16 hr drive ...toward increasingly more scenic ...and different, vistas ....helps to detoxify the mind.
.....I've also flown "down south" from NJ before ....and when I look back at the 1 hr drive to the airport .....then 1 or 2 hrs in the airport ....and the 2.5 hr flight ...and then 2 hr baggage claim and travel time to get to WDW expenditure (plus the added cost ) .....the added 7 hrs of "me time" in the car ....doesn't bother me. Whereas ....our round trip drive costs rarely exceed $600 (gas food tolls).
.....but ...I guess, whatever floats your boat ....or fuels your plane or car ...will tweak the ultimate decision.
...... in the back of my head, the cost-factor of flying would be the thing really bothering me. Flying for 4 of us is going to be between $800 and $1000 ...minimum ....plus parking or taxi fare to the airport
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Last edited by JerseyDad; 04-29-2014 at 09:09 AM..
Yes even with the cost of a hotel room both ways while traveling flying for our family of 5 costs more pretty much always plus add the cost of about $12ish a day for parking our car at the airport.