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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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.....start thinking that you really don't want to go??? For some reason that's where I'm at right now. As most of you know my DH doesn't give a hoot about WDW, so my mom wants to take the boys and I for Christmas again (our 3rd time, her 2nd). But I honestly don't really think I want to go AGAIN w/out DH. He of course absolutely won't go. My mom has really pressured me into going, sooooo....now I have FOUR, NON-REFUNDABLE plane tickets, have already put the down payment on WL, but don't have a desire to go.
I'd really like to try to get out of this, but with the plane tickets alread bought, I don't know what to do! My youngest (12) really wants to go again, but my oldest (will be 14) doesn't really care one way or the other. DH would never let them go with my mom alone either. Oh, and one other thing....I have a new job, and technically don't have any vacation until the middle of May 2005, even though they would most likely be OK with me taking off without pay....I just feel guilty for asking off.
Have I lost my mind?!? Have I finally out grown Disney?? What should I do?
I'm sorry! I don't think you have outgrown Disney. I think you are just sad that DH isn't into it like you and that you can't experience it with him and your girls. Is DH maybe making you feel a little guilty about it lately? Or are you like most women and feel guilty for things that you shouldn't! Maybe you should talk to your DH about it and you can get some reassurance that he's not mad about another vacation without him.
I think once you got to the WL, you would get into it, but it would be nice if you could get that spirit before you go. If you told DH that you were thinking about not going, he would probably reassure you that you should.
I know exactly how you feel. I start re-thinking my plans every time. I just booked us on Tues. and am starting to have wecond thoughts (this is for a Feb. '05 trip)
And, I did do WDW without DH and wouldn't do it again without the kids being older.
Do you have the kids stay with you or do you let them go off on their own and check in at certain times? If you can let them go, you and your mom might be able to have some fun.
Do you run to try to go to everything, and exhaust yourselves in the process, or just meander, and enjoy whatever happens?
Don't have any advice, noone can tell you to go or not, but if it were me, I wouldn't cancel my plans. What is the latest you can cancel without major penalties? Maybe you could see what you feel like then, and make a decision.
1) Why did you want to go initially? Has that reason ceased?
2) What airline are your tickets with? Can you cancel and get a credit to travel somewhere with DH and kids without incurring MAJOR penalties?
I would go it I were you - but thats me - not you.
Ewww you are stuck in a dilemma arent you? Well what I usually do is sit on it for a while. You already have things set in place and maybe if you sit back for a few days, something will come to you on what to do. I wish that I knew what to tell you to do, but I dont. Oh, and dont worry, I get that way sometimes too! If it makes you feel any better, everytime I take time off, it's no pay for me either.
I'm sorry you're second guessing yourself.
I think Terri raised some good questions.
Can you spend some alone time with DH? You might feel better about the trip if you and he have some adult time together before or after.
Good luck with your decision,
Y'all are right I know...once I get there I'll be fine...I just wish DH wasn't such a....well....so stubborn! On the bright side...he wants to take the kids to Cancun or Cozumel next year. It's just he's a "been there, done that" person....so he's already met Mickey and doesn't care to again. He's a wierdo!
I'm just going to sit back a couple of weeks and see how I'm feeling then. I'm a little put out with my mom right now, so maybe that's got me feeling this way. Who knows...maybe I'm just wishy washy. (my DH would say, this is the case!)
I know a little of how you feel. I squeezed in a trip with me and my kids (and a friend and her daughter) before we were due to go as a family in November of this year. I got back from that trip and wasn't really into planning another one. Wasn't sure I really wanted to go again so soon.
After scoping the boards for a few weeks answering other people's questions with my recent trip experience, I slowly began to get into it again. Then I discovered two or three things that I really wanted to do at WDW that I hadn't considered before. So now I'm back to being excited again.
Find something new to look forward to at WDW. That might help.
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Find something new to look forward to at WDW. That might help.
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That's a great idea. Maybe a dinner show, a tour or even a day at SeaWorld or Discovery Cove (swimming with the dolphins?) That might make you feel a little more excited.
That did happen to me. We booked a trip for last May, and my son would have been under a year old, and I started rethinking it. We cancelled the trip (already had the non-refundable airfare) and decided to wait a few months until he seemed like he would be a little easier. WE had to pay a service charge to change our airfare, but we are using those tickets to go in September, and feel alot better about our trip (he's eating more foods, not napping as much, walking, etc.). Its a tough decision. I don't think I'd want to go without my husband either.
Is there any chance your DH would come down for the last day or two of the trip? That way he wouldn't be inundated with Disney, but maybe he could come in one evening, spend one day at HIS favorite park, go to a really nice grown-up dinner, and then leave the following day. Could he get onto the flight you've already booked to go home?
Any chance of something like that?
Also, I think that once you hit WL, you will be so happy to be back! And just keep thinking of walking under the train station and then seeing the castle!
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Is there any chance your DH would come down for the last day or two of the trip? That way he wouldn't be inundated with Disney, but maybe he could come in one evening, spend one day at HIS favorite park, go to a really nice grown-up dinner, and then leave the following day. Could he get onto the flight you've already booked to go home?
Julie
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Great idea Julie. If your Dh is a been there done that kind of guy, maybe the last couple of days you could plan new adult type of stuff and he could come for that...Does Discovery Cove interest him? Maybe just a night for you and him to go to V&A's? Just some time to walk on the boardwalk? Or if you are going for a week, maybe you, your mom and the kids can go to Disney for 3 days and change to a 3 or 4 day cruise at the end with your hubby catching up to you for that!!!???