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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We enjoyed St Louis -- we're history geeks, so also did Cahokia Mounds and the site Lewis & Clark left from (don't remember it's name)
You HAVE to have custard at Ted Drewes. I fell in love with Dad's oatmeal cookies.
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I was just there over Memorial Day. My sister lives across the river in Illinois.
We did the Arch, the Bud tour, the Busch Stadium tour. We went to Ted Drewes on the way to the airport when I was leaving.
We dined at Zia's on the Hill, which was good, but I've honestly had better Italian in MA and NJ. (I'm married to an Italian, so we eat a lot of Italian.) We also went to the Old Spaghetti Factory down near the Arch which I really enjoyed. The building itself was beautiful! And the food was pretty darn good too. (Everywhere else we ate was back over in Illinois, but I really liked Eckert's in Belleville. It's a farm/country store with a restaurant. They do have a website too if you get the urge to check them out and maybe take a drive.)
The river was amazing to see. The day I arrived, it was really high. The street between the river and the Arch was flooded - completely under water. (I'll try to post pictures.) And then when I left (less than a week later), the street had just opened again and they were finally able to start running the riverboat cruises again - but we didn't have time to do that.
WHAT!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!! Well, at least I can say I've been on the riverboat.
The McDonalds boat was removed when another boat broke from its mooring and clipped it on the way down the river. They removed it not long after that. It was sad. I have many fond memories of going downtown and eating on the boat.
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and I wanted to say THANK YOU to all of you for your suggestions! We had a really great time.
Our favorite restaurants we visited were Roosters for crepes and Cielo at the Four Seasons for a Fourth of July cookout. Yum! We did try Ted Drewes and it was fun for the experience but I am just more of an ice cream person than a frozen custard person - something about the texture and the consistency. A couple of the places we wanted to eat were closed due to the holiday weekend, so we will just have to go back!
The City Museum was a BLAST - I highly recommend visiting first thing in the morning so you have the place to yourself! Also, we did the Anheiser-Busch Brewmaster Tour for $25.00 (I think the regular one is free) and it was soooo worth it. We got to go right down on the factory floor and taste beer right out of the cooler. We also did the Arch, the zoo, and saw a part of the Fourth of July Parade. Did some fun Route 66 stuff en route to and from as well.
If anyone is planning a trip and has specific questions, feel free to message me or leave a message!
Glad to hear you had a great time in our city. I've lived her almost my whole life and haven't done some of the things you did. I will have to check into some of it.