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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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My wife and 4 yr old daughter are the pin traders in our family. I'm usually the lanyard mule, relegated to carrying everything when everyone gets tired!
We tend to be "collectors" more than "traders" in the main (buying cheaper "sets" and individual pins to replace the ones we want to keep as souvenirs) so the two lanyards we have are reasonably "well stocked" for trading.
We only trade with Cast Members in the main (like 99% of the time). We've never come across a Cast Member who has appeared in the least bit frustrated or annoyed that we've approached them, and they are always more than happy to spend time letting you look at their collections. The politely follow the rules of "no duplicates", "only two trades" etc, but otherwise act is if you're the first people to ask that day! Cast Members will also give you an honest appraisal of the pin you are giving them and the pin you are trading for. They'll willingly point out rarer pins, unusal pins, Cast Member only issues, etc.
My daughter has traded once or twice with other kids (under parental supervision from both sides!) to ensure fairplay!
We've only traded once with a "professional" pin trader in Downtown Disney. We fell for the "you can have this one if you buy me that one from the store" ploy and ended up buying a "mystery $30 pin box thingy" in exchange for a "sitting Disney bear" pin. My wife and daughter were desparate to complete the set and we basically fell for the "plausible" explanation of the "fairness" of the transaction from the trader. Not something We'll be falling for again!
With regard to the "loss" of pins from lanyards we've found some really excellent "semi-permanent" backs on a well known internet auction site (Don't know if I'm allowed to name it here!) They are much better than the black plastic Mickey backs, more robust than the military style clutch backs, and don't need a special tool to release them (like the ones Disney sells). If anyone wants the details please message me and I'll send you the details.
Oh, also, Cast member's have pointed out that if you notice a pin on their lanyard that's backwards (the backing of the pin is facing out while all the other pins are normal) that backwards pin oftentimes is more rare. Not sure if it's true all the time, but anytime I've asked to see their backwards pin, it does turn out to be a good one.
WOW! You guys have given me some great advice! I told DH that this trip I wanted to start collecting pins - I really had no idea you could TRADE! just goes to show what a pin newbie I really am.
Thanks for all the good info. I am sure I will only trade w/ a CM. and will keep the ones I want to collect out of sight :-)
DD LOVES pin trading. She only trades with CMs since she is always on the hunt for Hidden Mickey (CM) pins. However, she has on a couple of occasions given a pin away to a younger child to let them start pin collecting. This happened when a little girl was admiring all the pins on her lanyard and during their conversation, DD learned that it was the little girl's birthday that day. Since the girl's name began with "M" DD gave her an "M" shaped pin with Mickey on it. I don't know if the girl traded that pin or not, but I do know that DD was really happy about being able to make her birthday a little more special. For Christmas, Santa and I gave her a bunch of pins for her to trade. He also brought her 7 Hidden Mickey pins, but 2 were duplicates for her collection.
I like the idea of the military clutch backs for the pins. I will have to get some for her to use on the ones on her lanyard. She can keep the Mickey backs in a baggie.
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