Taking Our (PassPorter) Friendship to the Next Level - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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OK, blah, blah, blah....Dawn is a pretty cool hostess I guess. That girl was itching to welcome you with those gloves, however she forgot the sorcer hat
I suppose her Mickey towel and toiletries were cool too, but whatever...............anyone can order take out. I kid!!! Glad you had a fun time with the kids....err, I mean Dawn. Where the heck was Craig, did he skip out on you ladies?????
Craig was there. Sorry I forgot to mention him. He's part of the next update though Craig is such a great guy!
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I was waiting with another family for Kelly's flight and I asked them if they were going to think I was nuts when I whipped out my Mickey pot holder to welcome Kelly. They thought it was great So, I stood there while people kept coming off the plane giving me strange looks until Kelly came off. I was so excited to see her and she's right, I felt like I've known her a lot longer than we have and I was so comfortable with her right away. Craig had asked me if I was nervous going to get her and I said "NO! I'm just excited!"
Yup, way too much talking and I ended up on the turnpike north when we needed to go south. But, she did get a much better view of the NY skyline and then a tour of beautiful downtown Newark, NJ Once we got going the right way, it was on to the house and our big welcome.
I did try to save Kelly from Jason but he was so excited to have her here. I think he thought she was coming for him. Kelly gave the boys and I St. Patty's Day necklaces that Dylan and Lukas made for us. Mine with a cool leopard print shamrock. A Mickey rice krispy treat for Craig and allergy safe gummie bears and lollypops for the boys. Thank you Kelly for thinking of us all and especially for making sure the boys were safe. And yes, we had take-out. Not all of us can be Martha Stewart like our girl Linny...but that's later in the trip. And North Jersey pizza kicks South Jersey pizza butt!
No, I can't remember what movie we watched first. Then again I can't remember what I had for breakfast today so.
I was up early today and eager to get going to meet my gals!! Well Dawn is no longer a PP’er friend, she is family now. We chat and see each other often; Arnaud even helped Tyler with his French homework the other night! As for Kelly and Melissa, I had not a worry in the world…….we Skype so often and our “chats” are never shorter than 2 hours, so I was just excited to get us all in the same place!!
I showered and got ready, finished packing a few things. I was having brunch here on Tuesday before all the girls left so I pulled a bunch of dinner plates, glasses, napkins, silverware etc….. And stuck post it notes on everything. I also tried to prep as much as I could for our meal and set aside with post it’s in the fridge. With all that taken care of I said bye to my family and out the door I went.
We were to meet round 11am but I wanted to get to Showboat before the girls and see if I couldn’t work a little magic on maybe getting an upgrade. We already had a sick deal on the room, but with it being a Sunday-Tuesday night stay in the low season I thought I could manage this no problem with a friendly smile and a bat of my lashes.
I pulled up to valet and meet the best employee ever! I can’t remember his name, but I feel like he never went home because we saw him every time we left the hotel. When he came up to me he asked about my car and how much it was??? I did think that was an odd question, but he liked the “woody” trim I had and was just curious I guess. He was friendly and super nice though, so I let it slide.
Once inside I headed for check in, only to find all females working………dang! I went up and gave my name and card; she had all the info ready and said it was too early to check in, which I figured. So I asked if there were any upgrades available, she quickly said “ well you have the best room available other than a suite” I was all, well OK, what is a suite going for? Pretty much it was out of the price range so I just said never mind and asked if I could just leave my bags with them until our room was ready. At that point she was all ……” OH look, a room jut became available” Gee, thanks. So with that she handed me our keys and I was off to make sure the room was up to standards for my gals.
Sure enough it was, however it was the second to the last room at the end of the hall………………BUT it did have a beautiful view!!! I unpacked a bit and put my things out of the way so the room didn’t look cluttered when the girls came in. At this point I had gotten a call from Melissa, she had taken a wrong turn somewhere and thought she was heading the wrong way. After talking to her, I assured her she was coming the right way and would probably be there in about 30-40 min. Sure enough she was!!!
I ran down to the lobby to greet her at the door and we went right into chatter as if we had just seen each other yesterday. It was so nice to give her a big hug and we walked up to the room so she could get settled as well. After nonstop chit chat with Melissa I got a text from Dawn that they were pulling up too!!! I wanted to tell them to just come right up to the room, but we were on one of those floors where you need a key to put in the elevator to get up to your floor. I told them to head straight down the main hallway and I would find them. After getting almost right to the main doors I hadn’t spotted them yet, until I passed a bit of commotion going on to my right with a few ladies and the awesome valet guy……………oh wow, it’s Dawn, he chased her inside because she forgot to give him the FFOB for her car. I quickly hugged them both and started to whisk them upstairs, again I felt like I had just saw Kelly the day before too………..chatter the whole way up to the room, it was an awesome feeling. This friends, is the start of a FABAULOS trip!!!
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Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
I'm totally loving the whole North Jersey/South Jersey thing going on. Sounds a bit like the Scotland/England thing but a lot more friendly! Is Atlantic City part of the what is called the Jersey Shore I have friends from New Jersey who always talk about holidays at the Jersey shore that sound fab.
Sounds like Linny scored a nice room but hope you were out painting the town red and didn't spend to much time in it!
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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So, I stood there while people kept coming off the plane giving me strange looks until Kelly came off. I was so excited to see her and she's right, I felt like I've known her a lot longer than we have and I was so comfortable with her right away. Craig had asked me if I was nervous going to get her and I said "NO! I'm just excited!" 
Once we got going the right way, it was on to the house and our big welcome. 
Then again I can't remember what I had for breakfast today so. 
to my family and out the door I went.
. We already had a sick deal on the room, but with it being a Sunday-Tuesday night stay in the low season I thought I could manage this no problem with a friendly smile and a bat of my lashes
??? I did think that was an odd question, but he liked the “woody” trim I had and was just curious I guess. He was friendly and super nice though, so I let it slide.
……dang! I went up and gave my name and card; she had all the info ready and said it was too early to check in, which I figured. So I asked if there were any upgrades available, she quickly said “ well you have the best room available other than a suite” I was all, well OK, what is a suite going for? Pretty much it was out of the price range so I just said never mind and asked if I could just leave my bags with them until our room was ready. At that point she was all ……” OH look, a room jut became available” Gee, thanks. So with that she handed me our keys and I was off to make sure the room was up to standards for my gals
.
…..chatter the whole way up to the room, it was an awesome feeling. This friends, is the start of a FABAULOS trip
"Sparky"(My first trip.)
PassPorter Guide Author
I remember those moments so well from meeting various PassPorter friends. 
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