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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 also wondered if Massachusetts wasn't on the list because of no fault insurance.
I have driven in LA and Texas a fair amount (we have family in both) and while I find the huge highways can be a challenge, I don't find the drivers particularly rude. I think that's what kills me about Providence-the lack of respect for anyone.
My son has driven quite a bit int he south during the winter and says it is scary. But I thought that was a lack of sand, salt and plows.
Odd because I expected one or two New England states to be in the top 5.
With the exception of Louisiana (because I haven't done much driving there and don't know), I can accept this. I am actually pretty proud that GA managed to be the one deep South state that isn't here! LOL TX is still the worst to me, but Alabama would definitely be on my list. I have never seen more people run red lights than I did when I lived in northern AL.
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MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
Odd because I expected one or two New England states to be in the top 5.
I have lived in Louisiana and South Carolina and driven a great deal in Alabama and Mississippi. When we moved from NY to SC our car insurance went up so much that we asked around about why. What we were told is that apparently it is because SOME drivers surrender the right of way by waving you on and then slam into you and claim 'pain and suffering.' This has made me completely reluctant to take the right of way when I am waved on and do not have the right of way. ONE time in SC in the middle of nowhere (as in there wouldn't have been any witnesses) Someone in a HUGE SUV-as in about 5 times the value of my little car-was trying to wave me to turn left in front of her at an intersection. I refused and no matter how much I shook my head, and waved my hand she kept waving me on even to the point of flashing her lights and beeping her horn at me. I very patiently put the car in park and sat there and looked at the clock, after about three minutes she opened her windows and started cursing at me through her mouth with some missing teeth. Finally she went away, but I am thinking, if someone wants to 'be nice' and 'let me go' why would they get upset if I didn't?Other places I have encountered this behavior I have sometimes had to just turn right or go straight to avoid this, but where I was, there was no right turn and if I had gone straight there wouldn't have been a safe place to turn around and I would have been an hour late picking up my daughter-told you-the middle of nowhere. But never, anywhere else have I had someone get upset with me for not taking the right-of-way when I didn't have it.
But I think the reason this is for the insurance is because in the tourist areas where you have people coming from the NorthEast where sometimes you will really never be able to turn left if someone doesn't give you the right of way, people are NOT reluctant to take it, even if there aren't any other cars around for miles. I did get frustrated near Myrtle Beach because people would often 'block the box' and there would be a great deal of gridlock. If you sit back, so as not to block the box, people go around you and block the box anyway, but they do NOT throw temper tantrums with their car horns.
I just think this is unacceptable to throw a temper tantrum with one's horn, and I don't think this behavior would be tolerated in (the south) any of the listed places. When I lived in Westchester, NY, I refused to drive south of the Tappan-Zee Bridge, just too nerve racking. In NYC there is a lot of horn honking. But where I grew up in Kentucky, people only honked their horn if there was an emergency of which they thought you weren't aware-'you are about to back in to me' or 'you are about to go and you don't see that car coming' or 'I am coming through this intersection too fast to stop-step on it' So one time in Westchester, I was sitting at a place that wasn't terribly crowded waiting to turn left. Every time it was clear and I was about to go, I would take my foot off the accelerator and start to go and the guy behind me would slam on the horn, so I would stop, afraid of a danger. Was my car really in reverse and I didn't know it? Was there a closer car coming that I didn't see? Was there a car coming from another direction? What was the danger? I would get this terrible adrenaline rush and have to take a while to calm down. I swear this must have happened around twelve times and I was just so physically upset I couldn't take it anymore. Around the tenth time it happened, when he would honk the horn, I would just put the car in Park. He was in his car throwing a temper tantrum with his horn and I was in my car. Then a pick-up truck pulled up behind him. Now to see a pick-up truck is very rare in this part of Westchester, Sleepy Hollow. After the second time the guy in the car slammed his horn and I put the car in park, I see from my rear view window that the BIG HUGE guy from the pick-up truck gets out and he is wearing work boots, and he marches up to me screaming at me about why won't I go when it is clear? So when I see him get out of the car, I get out of the car and go around the back and look at my back bumper. I explained to him that every time I tried to turn this guy would honk his horn at me so there MUST be some emergency -perhaps he hit me and he wants to be a good citizen and take responsibility. Then I explained how it is just a natural reaction for me to stop if I hear a car horn. So he stood there and made sure the guy didn't honk his horn at me when it was clear, and in a short period of time I went on and all was well.
But If-just as an example -in the general population only about 10% of the people are a type-A personality, then in Westchester 90% of them are, and those who aren't are married to a person who is, who is driving the car. So driving becomes this colossal competition. Apparently I complained about that so much while driving in Westchseter that I stressed out my daughter so much that she is unable to pass the driver's test. Oooops sorry baby. We have also lived in FL, PR and NJ and now we live in IN. Let me just say, I am glad I have never had to drive in MA.
I am going to a conference in Pittsburgh, and although I LOVE driving elsewhere in PA, I am reluctant to try to drive in Pitsburgh-which no one has mentioned.....because it isn't a state Does anyone have any views, suggestions about this?
I think overall city drivers are more aggressive and less patient. Too many cars, not enough room. One of the reasons I thinking driving in the north of New England is so different from the south, is to me a traffic jam is having to stop at the same red light twice. In Boston, I have sat at the same light for what seems like hours.
If you don't like city driving, can you park and use public transportation? To me, a good public transit system is worth its weight in gold.
I think overall city drivers are more aggressive and less patient. Too many cars, not enough room. One of the reasons I thinking driving in the north of New England is so different from the south, is to me a traffic jam is having to stop at the same red light twice. In Boston, I have sat at the same light for what seems like hours.
If you don't like city driving, can you park and use public transportation? To me, a good public transit system is worth its weight in gold.
We're in Vermont right now, and we've all noticed how nice the drivers are.
In Indianapolis, we're used to stopping at a green light to allow the people run the red. It's been nice not having to do that. Although - good lands, is there any direct route to ANYTHING?? A trip to the drugstore involves a 20-30 minute drive! For us, it's about 3 minutes. Maybe that's the reason everyone's such nice drivers. You know you're not getting there anytime soon, why be a behind about it?
I'd love it if we had public transport, but while the suburbs of Indy have grown, the bus system has not. Most workers in Indy live in the counties surrounding it and commute daily. WE have no rail system.
I haven't driven or been a passanger in all states... so.... this is just based off the ones I have been or have encountered in my own state (WI): Illinois, Ohio, and the one place I felt truly unsafe was the freeway in Las Vegas. The modified cars... : they are a menace on the highways. This all said I think bad drivers are everywhere.
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~ Jenn **Disney is REAL LIFE Magic, so much more than optical illusions **
Of all the states we have driven in, New York City was the most stressful!
No one would let me over, EVER!
Cars just swerve in and out of the lanes and even drive in dual lanes!
One car was driving on the sidewalk, literally!
Once we got to our hotel and parked the van, we did not take it back out until we were leaving!
Here in Georgia, people will slow down and let you over if they see you need to get over... They stay in ONE lane, and no one drives on the sidewalk....
With all that said, we are currently on the other side of New York and the driving seems to be "normal".... Apparently it was limited to NYC!
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We always thought New Jersey was the worst, never drive the speed limit won't let people in, try to take the front of your car with them, and don't even get me started with parking in the malls there. Ugh!!
I have to say. I just got back from Texas and so long as I stayed off the highways, the drivers were pretty good. The highway was no fun and it didn't help that DD's GPS had me going in the wrong direction.
Teresa. I assume Indiana is pretty flat. The hills and mountains in Vermont make straight travel more difficult.
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Does anyone have any views, suggestions about this?
: they are a menace on the highways. This all said I think bad drivers are everywhere.
~ Jenn 
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