Grand Floridian Greeter Richard is gone, RIP - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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He looked so very frail when we saw him last fall that I feared this news was not far in the future. Frail only of body, though, as we had such a lovely chat with Richard in the lobby while waiting to meet PassPorter member Jenifermg0 for breakfast at 1900 PF. Richard’s warm spirit, interest in guests and cheerful attitude remained strong.
A Disney icon is gone. He will be sorely missed.
Rest in peace, Richard. Those who knew you however briefly will always remember you.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
I read this and am deeply saddened. He always greeted us when we came to eat. He struck up a wonderful conversation with our family when we brought my Gram to celebrate her 94th bday back in 2007. Disney has truly lost a great one today. Thank you for posting this Dot. RIP Gerth and thank you for the wonderful conversations and neverending smiles.
Remarkably, Richard was a cast member in the theatrical and not just the Disney sense.
Mischievously, I once asked him what he recalled of Queen Victoria, expecting something suitably general about her long reign and influence.
Instead, he remarked that he recalled how sad everyone was at her passing. So very many wore mourning tokens for their queen.
“I was just a boy then, but I remember it well,” he concluded with a suitably sad look.
I was a bit stunned at how believably he carried that off since I knew he’d have had to be 120 to remember Queen Victoria’s death in 1901! An excellent actor deeply immersed in his role, that was Richard.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
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I'd have to look back but I'm fairly certain we met him one year. - was he from New Hampshire (I want to say near Lake Winnepesake)? I remember we were outside by the vehicles and Lenny struck up a conversation with an older gentleman and I want to say it was him. He was really pleasant.
This is so sad. I met him many times with my trips to dinner at the GF or staying there once back in 2010. Had such great charm and wit.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
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Grand Floridian Greeter Richard is gone, RIP
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Pixie Dust
Our last WDW trip as a family 
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but I know he's still sprinkling Pixie Dust 
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