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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 work for my husband, Ebenezer Scrooge, Jr. (just kidding). It's hard enough to get time off for a trip, let alone time to prepare for it. Which, of course, means that much of my planning is done at work when I have a few free minutes. I'd love to be able to take a day before and a day after to prepare and recover, but it never happens.
If I took time off before I would just be wondering why we weren't leaving earlier so I don't do that. But the four weekends before the trip are all about getting my act together.
I do take the first work day after off...especially if the kids have school. I get the laundry done, the grocery shopping done and a bunch of photo work done. And it gives me time to adjust before getting back to work. It also lets me start my next countdown.
I usually try to wrap my vacation with an extra day on each end, I took an extra day before on my upcoming trip, and two days after since I have vacation time to use up.
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Pop Century April 2011,
I'm a stay-at-home mom, so I don't really count , but DH seldom takes off the day before. He insists on having a free day once we get home though, so I voted for "time after".
Yep!! I take extra days off before and after the trip. I am the planner, the packer, the coordinator.........if I didn't have everything ready, DH would probably loose one of the kids!!! LOL I also do it for my own sanity!!
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Most of the time we don't take time before a trip, but we often try to return home on a Saturday so we have Sunday to get ourselves together for the coming week and catch up on rest.
I usually do not take any time off and the last few trips, I've got home from work around midnite, finished packing, shower and get dressed and find myself dozing on the couch until the alarm goes off.
Not this trip! I took off half a day from the full time job and requested off two days prior from my second and third jobs. We are staying in a villa and I need to do last minute grocery shopping before final packing. We're driving so we'll be leaving around 5am.
We're coming home Saturday nite so I have Sunday to recupe and unpack.
in recent vacations i have either been staying home or in school. In 2007 we planned our trip in between semesters and it worked out perfect. My fiance` was still living an hour away at teh time so he just came to my house the night b4 we left.
In 09, since he had moved in with me, he just balanced his job to get a week off and went back to work the day after we got back.
this yr in oct '11 once i get my dates approved for vacation we will book our trip. Nick doesnt need to ask for dates til like a month b4. so once i get vaca dates approved we should be fine.
We try to plan our vacations so they end on Saturday and I don't have to take that extra day off.
But I take half day off the day before we leave and I still go crazy making sure everything is organized.
Back when I was working, I never took any more time off than needed due to lack of vacation days! And now, my DH doesn't take off any more than needed either. So I voted - no, only for the vacation. But I'd love to have my DH home before the trip so I could get more done before we all go to bed!!
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Tanya
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I wish I could take more time off but unfortunately I can't or actually can't do it. I am the HR/AP/AR/Office Manager and I do so many positions that they will only allow one week at a time....We are a small office and just can't do it.
I usually take the day before the trip to pack, clean (can't stand coming home to a mess) & make sure we don't forget anything. Then, we try to come home late on Saturday, which gives us one day before we have to get back out there.
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, but DH seldom takes off the day before. He insists on having a free day once we get home though, so I voted for "time after".
I also do it for my own sanity!! 
Counting the days to our June vacation 
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