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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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And after thinking about this good and hard for the last 24 hours or so, I think I am going to pre-order mine so that hopefully I can get a good picture of the 6 of us to replace our old family picture of 4!!
I preordered because I spent almost $99 last year on pictures so it seems worth it and then last Friday I booked a photo shoot for dd & I at the Poly and it was only $25 and they will add the pictures to my CD. I just plan to hit every photographer we see.
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I think I will just go ahead and pre-order. If I am unhappy I can get a refund...but, I am rarely unhappy with anything to do with Disney. I don't think I can lose in this situation.
And after thinking about this good and hard for the last 24 hours or so, I think I am going to pre-order mine so that hopefully I can get a good picture of the 6 of us to replace our old family picture of 4!!
Oh good! I was just going to respond to your last post I really think you'll get some really nice pictures with the kids - and you're whole family instead of one person not being in the pictures because he/she is taking them all They also add some really cool enhancements (see my sig pic of Luke and Brooke holding Tinkerbell). The know just how to position you so you get some really great shots. Plus, you can add your own borders and such when you download the photos. It really is fun and even if you only stop at the photographers at the main icons of each park you'll end up with a CD I'm sure you'll be happy with!
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I have a question. Can the photos that they take on the rides, say Tower of Terror, be added to the photo pass?
I don't believe those can be added, not 100% sure though. But, some of the photo packages you purchase at the character breakfasts can be addd. The 8x10 in the package has a code number on it that you just add to the photopass.
I don't plan on pre-ordering for June's trip. I'm afraid if I do, I'll feel obligated to stop at nearly every photographer and I can't see that happening with 4 kids whom I am sure will lose interest quickly!
The photographers make it so much fun. It was like a game for our four kids (17, 14, 12, 9) to see who could find the photographers and then we would be sure to do a funny shot every time. And with all the characters that have photopass photographers now, I'm sure you will have a lot of pictures taken any way. 4 kids adds up to tons of pictures in the long run. JMHO.
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My 19 year old hero! Hurry home! (A.K.A. D_Stitch)
It doesn't matter if you have several cards. You can enter all of the card numbers on your account and get 1 CD. We were a group of 3 families and we ended up with 6 cards (one for each family, 2 from Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, and one from Blizzard Beach). If you go to a camera center in the park, they will combine them all on one card. BUT I would keep the original card. We had a problem with our pictures where some of them had not uploaded yet when they combined the cards, so those last pics never made it on the combined card. If I didn't still have the original card, I think it would have been much more difficult for them to find them.
make sure you read Disney's PhotoPass - May 2008 (as seen in the Passporter). it will tell you everything you need to know, want to know and more about photopass. there are a lot more than just tinker bell when it comes to magic photos (2 stitches, mickey, haunted mansion ghost, lilo, minnie, soarin', captain hook, baby simba, the list goes on).
BradK's site has great info, including a list of the sites where purchasing the photo package means you will have the code to add them to your PhotoPass CD.
Cinderella's Royal Table (Included in cost of dining)
Princess Storybook (added by me: I believe this is now included in the cost of dining)
Donald's Safari Breakfast
Chef Mickey's
Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show
'Ohana (Breakfast only)
Mickey's Backyard Barbecue
Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue
Enjoy your PhotoPass CD if you decide to get one!
Eileen
PRE-ORDER!!! We just got back from WDW and I have to say PhotoPass is the best deal on the planet!! If anyone's read any of my past posts, you know that my DH is world's biggest miser and even HE said that PhotoPass is an excellent deal!
We pre-purchased just a couple of days before our trip (DH didn't want Disney to have our money too far in advance). Whenever we had our picture taken, I told the photographer to feel free to snap away because we'd pre-ordered the CD. Most photographers were great and got several good pictures out of each time we stopped. At DHS, the photographer took my daughter off to the side and did a mini-photo shoot with her -- the pictures from *that* turned out particularly GREAT!!
All the BBB pictures were on PhotoPass and we were able to add the pictures from CRT as well. I was really happy we could add the CRT pictures because DS was really squirmy during his picture with Cindy and they didn't turn out well...so although we had enough people to get two photo packages, we just got pictures of DD with Cindy and none with DS. On PhotoPass, they included ALL the pictures they took of the kids and I was able to crop one with DS so you couldn't tell Cindy was about to drop him.
We were also able to add our Test Track pictures to PhotoPass. I bet they add this to more of the attractions soon. (I wish they had photographers in the character meals, too!)
After playing with the photos, cropping, etc., we ended up with more than 660 pictures on our PhotoPass CD. Granted we had LOTS of BBB pictures and we did the Grand Floridian photo shoot, but we felt it was an excellent deal. Plus, we could all be in the pictures. If all I'd had was the pictures with my own camera, you'd never know I ever went, because I am always behind the camera.
Oh -- another great thing! DS had a wonderful interaction with the characters at Epcot's Character Spot...people watching said that it was just like a Disney commerical! Because we knew the PhotoPass people were snapping away, DH and I were able to sit back and just watch the magic unfold without having to worry about taking tons of pictures (of course, we did take some, but we didn't sit there the whole time with the camera in front of our nose...we could enjoy the moment.)
Here at home, it costs $150 for me to get a copyright free CD of the kids' portraits from the photo studio we use and it will only have about 40 pictures on it. To get 600+ pictures for $100 is a great value in my opinion -- plus, it is satisfaction guaranteed. If you don't like the pictures, ask for a refund.