Cheaper by the Dozen – Lukas’ 1st Birthday Extravaganza! - Page 14 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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I dunno. I usually like to hear all about the planning process leading up to going. Then the plans and then as info comes along I'm not sure that was helpful LOL.
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One of the things I really wanted to do was a family photo shoot since the whole family was going. Originally I wanted to do one with the PhotoPass service at Animal Kingdom Lodge on Tuesday morning since that was kind of a free day and we'd be staying at the lodge. At $99.95 I felt it was a decent price, so one day I called to set up an appointment. I was then informed that the price had gone up to $149.95 and I had to put a non-refundable deposit down. NO THANK YOU!
I was disappointed and told everyone we wouldn't be doing a photo shoot and everyone could have a free day to do as they pleased. I was sad.
But, don't worry things I just couldn't let it go. I love pictures! And don't mind spending money on them. I mean the photos we did at JC Penney a few months ago I spent over $100 on and they that took like 15 mintues to shoot. My art at home is mainly family photos. I asked my FiL to bring his tripod and thought we could just do our own around AKL instead.
But being the over planner, picture obsessed person I am I decided that wasn't going to be good enough either. I didn't want anyone to 'work'. So I decided to venture out and research local Orlando photographers. I knew about Robyn Lynn, but she's a bit pricey at about $300+. I googled, looked at wedding websites and have a whole Orlando photographer excel spreadsheet now.
The big push came when Mike's sister and her husband decided to join us. How could I NOT have family photos taken now?! So I finally decided on one and we are now booked.
On Friday, September 23rd we will be meeting Lidia Carr in the Boardwalk lobby at 3pm! BONUS: She's also a Disney CM!! I hope this turns out to be great! We get 2 hours of shooting plus images on a cd for $175. I think that's a pretty good deal!
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That's a GREAT deal!! I've spent lots more than that on photo shoots where I didn't get the images to keep. I also have photos all over the house, and with an opportunity to get all of the family in the pictures, you would have regretted not having a photographer (rather than doing your own).
Good call!
I'm glad you decided to do the photo shoot. I don't see how it won't be worth the money-- 2 hours and all the shots on a CD. It's too good an opportunity to have all the family together on vacation.
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I'm not sure that was helpful LOL.
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Pixie Dust
Doesn't matter to me how you lay out the TR! 
I pretty much fine however you chose to write it! 
Susan
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
I was sad.
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