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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Hello Passporters,
I haven't had a trip for awhile mostly because I've been settling into Washington, finding a job etc. I had asked on the boards if anyone would be interested in a TR on my move through Canada, the response was yes if there were lots of pictures. It's a little difficult to drive a 20 foot truck with an 8 foot trailer (totaling 32 Ft.) over rotten roads and take pictures but between my Co-pilot (DD 14 at the time) and me we did manage.
The beginnings:
I had lived in Alaska for almost 43 years and considered it home however things were drawing me in other directions. My oldest DD moved to WA with my 2 grandsons because SIL got a new job; now there was a new grandbaby on the way. I missed them so much. Also, a main goal of mine is a PHD but there are none in my field in Alaska but are available in WA. Next, I had never lived anywhere but Alaska since I was 8 years old although the rest of my family had and I was getting tired of driving in winter snow.
I spoke to my husband and DD 14, after a year my husband agreed but DD 14 was NOT happy. I set the date for after DD finished middle school thinking she would have to change schools to go to high school anyway. I went back and forth in my decision making 100 times trying to decide to hire to ship our belongings or rent a uhaul and drive myself. 2 things finally decided me - first I thought it would be cheaper (ended up being a little less) and I wanted to know where our belongings were plus I had this idea that since we moved to Alaska by driving the Alcan if I drove out it would wrap my Alaskan life up neatly.
Preparations:
We had a huge yard sale for 2 weeks, donated whatever didn't sale to a church fundraiser, rented the 20 ft uhaul because I thought that anything bigger I wouldn't be comfortable driving. Rounded up my brothers and nephews to help load and pack on Saturday June 9th and begin driving Sunday June 10th. My goal was to be in Washington Friday June 14th. On Friday June 7th we dropped my car off to a trucking place for transport. I had been to the grocery store to pick up what we needed for the trip, had bought a tent, had a campstove and all the items DD and I needed to camp out. We had taken out cats to the vet in preparation for Canada, gotten DD a passport, I already had a passport card (because thought I was going to help DD (29) move 2 years previous by driving through Canada). Arranged a going away party for DD 14 at her church youth group (known them 10 years).
A friend made the cake the high heels were adorable! (For DD's party)
I had brought poster board for her friends to sign and DD still has them hanging on her bedroom wall.
DD is 2nd from the left facing the camera, pink shirt, sitting with friends at end of party.
This is Bear Mountain and the view I saw everyday, for the 20 years I lived in this area and anytime I visited my brother since he lives in the area. I took several pictures of it throughout the last year.
So finally packing day came, my brother was awesome at fitting everything in making sure weight was distributed evenly in the truck. I had gotten tie down straps and he had at least 3 straps every 4 to 5 feet throughout the truck and when it was loaded there was still all of our camping gear, my bicycle, a computer chair, and several other items that I wanted to take so I got on the phone and found a uhaul trailer but it was in Anchorage (30 miles away) and they were closing in 35 minutes. DB and I raced to his house, changed his towing ball on his truck, and flew to Anchorage, managed to get there in time to pick up trailer. We got back to the house and hooked trailer to Uhaul, loaded it, we were tired . The rest of the evening we made sure everything was cleaned up outside and last minute stuff in the house. For the second night we slept on bedding on the living room floor.
Sunday morning while we were waiting for the landlords to come inspect the house, we cleared everything else out of the house, loaded the last bit of stuff. DH was flying out that evening to IL to visit mom which we had planned and couldn't get refund on ticket but he was very concerned about me driving by myself. I was raised to be independent and didn't see any problems.
Here's the truck and trailer all loaded, ready to head out
Wow! I'm really impressed that you drove the uhaul & your DD yourself! You were really determined to get out! Your Alaskan view was beautiful & I'm so sorry your DD had to leave her friends. I hope she's made new ones in WA!
Great start to your report and I'm so pleased you're going to be sharing this with us.
I hope your new life in Washington is going well?
Thanks Cheryl, now that things are settled down and I have a job I'm feeling better about being established. I really like the almost no snow but DH and DD want snow and miss it. DD is doing well in new high school and has made a lot of friends. We love seeing the grandkids and the new one is a girl! My other two are boys. DD and I have been back to Alaska for family Christmas each year and last June we went up for my nephews wedding. I really like all the green in Washington but miss the mountains. Over all am doing well.
I am so happy you are writing, and I will be reading along. You all did an amazing job packing.
Thanks Cam, packing is such a chore. I've been enjoying your latest TR's especially the cruise as DH and I have a 20th anniversary coming up in 3.5 years and when I asked about doing something special DH said he was interested in an Alaskan cruise so I asked if we could do Disney which cruise the inside passage and he said yes!
Wow! I'm really impressed that you drove the uhaul & your DD yourself! You were really determined to get out! Your Alaskan view was beautiful & I'm so sorry your DD had to leave her friends. I hope she's made new ones in WA!
Thanks! I feel like it was a real accomplishment. My DD has friends in both AK and WA, way more than me.
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I'm glad you came back to fill us in on your move! Quite an undertaking, sorting and deciding what will travel with you. It's amazing how much you can accumulate over the years and it's an emotional process getting rid of things. Must have been quite a feeling as you pulled out of your driveway.
About This Page: 
My oldest DD moved to WA with my 2 grandsons because SIL got a new job; now there was a new grandbaby on the way. I missed them so much. Also, a main goal of mine is a PHD but there are none in my field in Alaska but are available in WA. Next, I had never lived anywhere but Alaska since I was 8 years old although the rest of my family had and I was getting tired of driving in winter snow.
I set the date for after DD finished middle school thinking she would have to change schools to go to high school anyway. I went back and forth in my decision making 100 times
trying to decide to hire to ship our belongings or rent a uhaul and drive myself. 2 things finally decided me - first I thought it would be cheaper (ended up being a little less) and I wanted to know where our belongings were plus I had this idea that since we moved to Alaska by driving the Alcan if I drove out it would wrap my Alaskan life up neatly. 
We had taken out cats to the vet in preparation for Canada, gotten DD a passport, I already had a passport card (because thought I was going to help DD (29) move 2 years previous by driving through Canada). Arranged a going away party for DD 14 at her church youth group (known them 10 years).
Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
You all did an amazing job packing. 
Mary - not enough trips!
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