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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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How soon do you begin packing? With still more than one week away, I am anxious to begin. That got me wondering how soon everyone else began the fun chore of packing.
I started to pack the day i made reservations for my last trip, i was fully packed 30 days prior, was nice not having to run last minute to pack things...now this trip in September, will have to wait, i gotta get back from PA first so only 30 more days till i start packing again
Oh my gosh! I usually started packing pretty early on (a few weeks) but that's not going to happen this time with moving, packing to move, having a wedding, and all that first, I think it will be a couple days before for our honeymoon trip in August. Although, if everything was somewhat intact, I would probably have started packing by now...and I still have less than a couple months! But notice how packing isn't so bad...but UNpacking...ICK!! (In my opinion). That is such a chore!
I have started getting stuff ready now for our trip Next August!! We are taking a group that have never been and so I am trying to get things ahead. have a basket sitting near the door that I am throwing stuff in that I find on sale and know that we are going to need.
Normally I am packed two to three weeks ahead of our own trip to the world..
I keep a Rubbermaid 3-drawer dresser in my office at home next to my desk. I call it my "Disney Dresser". As I acquire stuff thru-out the year to use for the trip, it goes in those drawers, that way I have everything in one spot. When it comes time to pack, I just unload everything from the drawers into a suitcase. I usually start packing the suitcases about a week or two in advance. Then when I come home, stuff that I'll be re-useing goes back into the drawers for the next trip.
I usually start collecting bathroom-type items along the way. I don't pack until I'm doing laundry the day before we leave. Wash, dry, fold and pack!
tenya
I ususally start a list of things to take about a month in advance. If I'm still wearing the clothes I plan to take the packing doesn't begin until the week we leave. If I'm not wearing the clothes then I start a bit earlier.
I make my packing list about a month in advance, and then I make sure I have everything I need, but I usually don't pack my suitcases until 2-3 days before. If I pack early, I always end up needing something out of it, or I question if I put everything in, and then I end up starting over the night before anyway...
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I keep a Rubbermaid 3-drawer dresser in my office at home next to my desk. I call it my "Disney Dresser".
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Me too, me too!! I have a big Rubbermaid bin that I keep all the park-hopping essentials and travel toiletries in. It normally stays in a top shelf of my closet, but a few weeks before we travel it goes on the guest room bed and I toss things into it as I think about them.
Two or three days before, I start separating out the clothes I don't want DH and DS to wear and the luggage is pulled out.
I start putting things in a box or bag about 3-4 months before we leave. I just start picking up items here & there that I want to bring (film, batteries, moleskin, ponchos, sunscreen, etc.) so that I don't have to do a big shopping spree before it's time to pack. Then I actually start packing my suitcase(s) 1 week before our departure day.