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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
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Totally off topic, but as a NJ native I find this thing about not being able to pump your own gas amusing, in part because I learned how to pump gas in NJ in the 1960s. It never occurred to me that there was specific law making it illegal, so call me a teen lawbreaker, I guess. Both my brother and my husband were service station attendants, pumping gas, checking oil, even remounting tires and find it funny that anyone would think it is tough to pump gas. Even our late elderly mother pumped her own and was proud to do it.
.....New Jersey and Oregon are the only 2 states that "forbid" motorists from pumping their own gas. I think NJ has had a law on the books since the late 40's / early 50's. ....with Oregon having a similar lifespan to this ridiculous law.
......I understand ...now ...that efforts to overturn the laws keep getting stricken down by proponents of the ADA laws ....which of course never existed +60 years ago. Of course, the idea of making a handicapped ...or elderly patron have to pump their own gas ...is preposterous. There will always be an attendant there to do that. NYC .....where I've done 95% of my engineering work ..has self ...and full serve fueling islands. So ..those that choose or can't pump their own ...don't have to.
......interesting side story: While i was doing a service station rebuild / redesign in NYC ...a building department examiner told me that I needed to have a handicapped access / painted space at the pump islands. My argument .. ...."handicapped patrons can choose full-service". As it turned out ..he didn't care about the handicapped patron ....he wanted a 5' foot wide ...blue striped path adjacent to the pump islands ...so that the WHEELCHAIR BOUND GAS ATTENDANT could maneuver between the car and the curbed pump island ....to pump the gas. I stopped short of telling him that no gas station will ever hire a person in a wheelchair to pump gas. Not because of any prejudicial feelings ...but because of the liability of having a semi-mobile ....mostly helpless individual with several hundred dollars on him ...be a prime target for robbery.
....he also had me lower the emergency fuel shutoff / fire extinguisher button from 6' above the floor ...to 3.5' feet ...so the same attendant in a wheelchair could reach it ...in an emergency ...when some customer accidentally tries to immolate themselves. Of course ...when we did this ...several able bodied attendants accidentally banged the big red button with their buttocks .....dumping a few hundred pounds of fire extinguisher dry-chem all over the place ....like a mini snowstorm!!!
.....sorry for the tangent .....but you just can't make this stuff up.
......I understand ...now ...that efforts to overturn the laws keep getting stricken down by proponents of the ADA laws ....which of course never existed +60 years ago
I am the wife of a disabled man who sometimes uses a wheelchair/scooter, and the mother of an adult man with autism (no driving there). I am also an advocate for people with disabilities trained by the Commonwealth of Virginia through Partners in Policymaking, a nation-wide program. I understand that people are worried they won't be able to get help at gas stations, but I don't think the policymakers actually pay that much attention to those of us with disability concerns that it would stop a law from being passed (still trying, after 18 years, to get the public library to put an access button on the restrooms). Many smaller gas stops have a single attendant who may be forbidden to leave the cash booth except in case of emergency (the station is on fire) so it can in fact be an issue for some people who would then have to find another open station to get gas. All the stations here in Virginia that I have visited have at least one pump that would allow someone to pay at the pump and turn it on without actually leaving the car. Of course, pumping it is still a problem. It would be an easy matter to simply mandate that all stations serving the general public have an attendant available to pump for patrons displaying a disabled placard.
So far as the person in a wheelchair not being hired, that may be true, although people do have temporary disabilities like a broken leg that may cause them to use a chair. My husband who has worked at service stations does agree with you that it would be unlikely that a person in a chair permanently would be hired for that particular job, although they certainly could be a cashier. Being 5'2" myself, I hate those buttons that are way over my head, so I think lowering it is fine, but 3.5 might be a bit too low. I know that when I look for handles or buttons, I am not looking 10 inches over my head.
.....guess we get to "blame" the lower prices on a quiet hurricane season ....so far. No storms in the Gulf of Mexico = no refinery interruptions. Not to mention that driving seems to be down this summer ....and the lower demand helps too.
I saw a story on TV the other day saying that we should be seeing sub $3.00 prices in October. Sure hope so, esp here in NC one of the highest price states due to high gas taxes).
Anchorage, Alaska....$3.83 a gal.
And it's time for me to fill up...
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!! OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
Today's gas prices here in Prince William County, VA (about 25 miles SW of D.C.) were as low as $2.79 at Valero, $2.83 at Costco and BJ's, and $2.97 - 2.99 at many other stations. Since we're getting ready to drive down in three weeks, here's hoping they stay that low!
.....on my way home tonite ...saw $2.75/ gal ....cash or credit on Rte 1 in Edison NJ. And THAT is part of the reason the stock market tanked today. If the oil companies can't squeeze you till you scream ....the market takes a nose dive!! ( That ....and the second coming of the Black Plague ...aka....Ebola)
It was interesting that this morning on NPR they were talking about fracking driving so much oil onto the market at a time when American drivers are selecting more fuel efficient vehicles. Down goes the price. Doubt it will last long though, with plans to export OUR oil to other countries, the price is bound to go back up.
It was interesting that this morning on NPR they were talking about fracking driving so much oil onto the market at a time when American drivers are selecting more fuel efficient vehicles. Down goes the price. Doubt it will last long though, with plans to export OUR oil to other countries, the price is bound to go back up.
...yes ...we'll be selling oil to THEM.....so.....here's a novel concept: Charge THEM more ....whomever the THEM may be ......all's fair in love and oil price gouging.
....FYI ....once oil hits -$80/bbl ......Texas oil will stop being pumped (not cost efficient) ...and the price will climb again.
.....now that the "political season" is here ......can't someone create a car that runs in "hot air"?
Over in Port Huron on Monday night gas was 3.59 a gal and a large % of the oil the US uses comes from Canada and the oil sands in Alberta.
Interesting, although a big chunk of the oil we use is domestic U.S. production, more twice the amount we get from Canada. Crude Oil Production
I don't agree that they will stop pumping Texas oil at $80/barrel because it won't pay--but they might because it won't provide the profit margin they want (I spent a few interesting years hanging out with both Texas and international oil types). Oil companies are making obscene profits right now, and even if you cut oil prices quite a bit, with the tax breaks they get they would still be profitable. There are countries around the world eager to buy our oil; if you read the business section of major papers or follow such discussions online, you'll see that is what many companies wish to do with American oil. Indeed, the oil that is to flow through the Keystone pipeline (if built) bringing Canadian oil to the Gulf coast, would not be for American consumption but would be exported.
So I guess we should just enjoy the slightly lower price while we can. Maybe slip in a quick road trip to the Happiest Place on Earth?
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