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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Just seeing this thread now. My family is driving to Toronto at the end of the summer : ). About a 16 hour drive for us. When is your visit?
We are staying downtown also. Courtyard on Yonge. 4 nights there and two nights in Vaughan Courtyard near Canada's Wonderland.
We will be driving through the U.S. and stopping at the falls to show our girls for the first time : ). You most definitely must have Cows ice cream! This is Prince Edward Island's claim to fame (among other things) and voted best ice cream in the world! We only live 2 hours from PEI and must have Cows ice cream every summer.
My husband and I lived an hour from Toronto airport for four years. Traffic there is brutal and the part I'm not looking forward to! Once we check in downtown we will try not to drive as much as possible. I would say downtown is slightly less crazy than downtown Boston drivers in my experience. It's just the highways can be stop and go traffic for hours, especially on a Friday afternoon. Avoid morning and evening rush hour(s) as much as possible!
If you get the chance to go, Toronto Zoo is up there with San Diego Zoo and they have twin panda cubs right now!
I still haven't learned what the Casa Loma is, but it comes with the Citypass, so we are likely going.
Just seeing this thread now. My family is driving to Toronto at the end of the summer : ). About a 16 hour drive for us. When is your visit?
We're there from 17 - 19 September.
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We are staying downtown also. Courtyard on Yonge. 4 nights there and two nights in Vaughan Courtyard near Canada's Wonderland.
We will be driving through the U.S. and stopping at the falls to show our girls for the first time : ). You most definitely must have Cows ice cream! This is Prince Edward Island's claim to fame (among other things) and voted best ice cream in the world! We only live 2 hours from PEI and must have Cows ice cream every summer.
Good to know - I'll be sure to keep an eye out for that!
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My husband and I lived an hour from Toronto airport for four years. Traffic there is brutal and the part I'm not looking forward to! Once we check in downtown we will try not to drive as much as possible. I would say downtown is slightly less crazy than downtown Boston drivers in my experience. It's just the highways can be stop and go traffic for hours, especially on a Friday afternoon. Avoid morning and evening rush hour(s) as much as possible!
I'm glad, from what you just said, that we decided to book a hotel downtown and not drive around.
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If you get the chance to go, Toronto Zoo is up there with San Diego Zoo and they have twin panda cubs right now!
We were going to go, but it's just not going to fit in the itinerary and, in truth, much as I adore pandas, I prefer them when they're a bit younger than they are now. I've seen recent photos and, while they're still cute, they're not as cute as they were earlier this year, shall we say?
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I still haven't learned what the Casa Loma is, but it comes with the Citypass, so we are likely going.
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Yes, I know what you mean about the panda cubs : ). We will take giant pandas any way we can get them. We just fell in love with the ones at SD zoo and they are all grown up.
Oh that's a shame. I figured that might be the case...
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Yes, I know what you mean about the panda cubs : ). We will take giant pandas any way we can get them. We just fell in love with the ones at SD zoo and they are all grown up.
So glad you are coming to Canada : ).
Me too! We've only visited Vancouver and Victoria to date and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of the country this trip.