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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Wondering for those of you who have been since the DAS went electronic what your thoughts are: ease of use / difficulty remembering return time / etc? Personally I so wish they'd put some DAS kiosks around so as to avoid having to go to the ride for a return time. It's not the traveling to the ride I dislike it's getting there with DS and having to explain to him that we have to come back. Oy the stress it puts on him. Sending someone ahead to get a time doesn't work either since it's now just me and the kids. DS gets worried if his sister isn't with us and again, oy the stress on the kid. Anyway, any feedback would be greatly appreciated!!
For us, it was very, very easy to use. For me, since I don't own an iPhone and I don't take my iPad into the park, I just took index cards or a piece of paper to jot down the return time. Most times, I didn't even remember to write it down though . If you have an iPhone with you, they are now listed in the MDE app so you don't even have to remember them. The times are open ended so even if you don't get back at the "open" time you have until park closing to use it but you can only have one return time.
As for using it though, what you'll want to do is have your son go in the line first, the light will turn blue, not green, the CM will look to see that it's a DAS time, he'll let your son through and then when you and your daughter go through, the light will be green. At the second set of FP points, everyone will be green.
Does your son understand the concept of FP? Could you maybe explain that you're getting him a FP time and that will give you time to get a snack, use the bathroom or whatever until it's time to go back? That's how I ended up explaining it to Abby when she didn't quite get why we had to get a time. I told her it was just like a FP. For each and every ride we want to go on, we have to wait our turn but because of her and her father, we can get a DAS time. It's exactly like a FP time only it's the duration of the current line. If the line is 30 minutes, we can use this "FP" in 30 minutes, not sometime later in the day. She said she got it and once we got there and she saw it in use, she really got how it worked and was fine. Especially once she learned that we could get a DAS return time and while waiting, we could actually go and do another attraction thereby enjoying two attractions while everyone else was only doing one (this worked for us since we like "less popular" attractions - CBJ, Tiki Room, etc).
I'll second the feeling that the electronic version is as easy to use as the old card system. I'll also echo the OP statement that I wish Disney would implement "regional" kiosks, instead of having to go to the ride itself. For us, it isn't disappointment at seeing the ride and then having to wait, but it's much more the backtracking, crisscrossing the parks. We expend a lot of energy going to get a return time, especially at Epcot and Animal Kingdom, but certainly some at every park. It seems a no-brainer to me that WDW implement a customer service kiosk in each part of each park. They do it at Disneyland/ DCA. Why not in Orlando?
The electronic system utilizing the MagicBand itself is great, though. We prefer it to having to use the card.
In reading the forum, I saw a thread discussing the electronic DAS. I seem to recall that we had the paper DAS last time we went. So, can anyone describe how it works electronically now? We are going to Disney in December, so I better find out this new system since we need a DAS.
Thanks!
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Lilyian
Too many Disney World trips to count! Love every second of them!
I found this on the Mom's Forum:
The Disability Access Service (DAS) is now electronically associated with theme park media (MagicBands or admission cards).
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. If you have an iPhone with you, they are now listed in the MDE app so you don't even have to remember them. The times are open ended so even if you don't get back at the "open" time you have until park closing to use it but you can only have one return time.
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