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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 probably will still use the magic band just for nostalgia,
Quote:
Originally Posted by disney_duke
Have we reached the point in time when the magic band is already nostalgic? This made me chuckle.
Yanno, I hadn’t thought until reading your reaction that it’s been a mere 5 years ago Drew and I got our first MBs and were terribly impressed by what they could do.
I find it a bit unsettling to realize MBs were ever so remarkable 5-6 years ago and may soon be outmoded for those of us with smartphones.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
Yanno, I hadn’t thought until reading your reaction that it’s been a mere 5 years ago Drew and I got our first MBs and were terribly impressed by what they could do.
I find it a bit unsettling to realize MBs were ever so remarkable 5-6 years ago and may soon be outmoded for those of us with smartphones.
It's amazing and scary how fast technology moves on, isn't it? I don't know about you, but I find myself watching films or TV series from a few years ago and staring in amazement at the cell phones back then. They seem to change all the time... and no doubt will continue to do so. I'm sure they'll be out of date completely at some point in the future and replaced by goodness knows what!
I imagine that there's quite a bit that Disney could use this technology for. Two that just popped into my mind are: 1) bus dispatching: guests tap their magicbands or smartphones at the bus stop to let bus dispatch know that there's people waiting for the MK bus at AKL or the DS bus at Pop. and 2) lockers: tap your magicband or smartphone to get your locker and pay for it and then tap at the locker to unlock the locker
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I use digital keys whenever that’s an option now at any Hilton hotel. I like feeling that I’m creating a little less plastic waste.
We’re at Disney’s Hilton Head resort now, and the rooms have now been set up for digital entry, even though they don’t have the ability to use MB’s. The CM said they’re just skipping over MB and going on to the next technology.
I like the idea of fewer MB’s being issued. Those are pretty wasteful.
If they were to make it watch compatible, I would be all over that, but I'm much more likely to take out the trash or go get something from the car without my phone than without my mb. I have not gotten to that place where my phone is glued to me, perhaps because I cannot have it with me at work due to security. That said, I have to lock up my watch for the same reason, but I do wear a regular watch while at work, so something on my wrist is second nature!
I like the Magic Bands and prefer to use those to access our room. They are fairly convenient too. When going to the pool or walking around the resort I often leave my cell phone in the room. I'm not someone that needs a cell phone 24/7 so I leave it behind a lot.