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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 bring our daughter's manual wheelchair for a couple reasons.
1) Although Disney World has quite a few ride cars that wheelchair accessible, some are only manual wheelchair accessible, not accessible to power wheelchairs.
The usual reason is that something sticks out from the bottom of the ride car that would hit the bottom of the power wheelchair, the ramp to get into the ride car is too steep or the space is too tight. Those attractions do have a manual wheelchair at those attraction that a person could transfer into, but my daughter is not able to sit in those types of wheelchairs.
2) My daughter does not have the stamina to drive her power wheelchair for a whole day at Disney World. I can drive it from the side, walking along next to her, but it is tiring for me to do that for long periods (arm and back position).
3) My daughter doesn't mind being pushed and really enjoys looking around - its a lot of mental work to keep watching everything going on around and be alert and ready to stop quickly or move out of the way if someone suddenly steps right out inform of you - which happens often.
4) A power wheelchair is more likely to get damaged on the plane trip than a manual wheelchir because there are so mny more pieces that need to work correctly.
Another possibility that might work for them would be to bring BOTH wheelchairs. We have considered that, but decided travel with one wheelchair is enough for us.
Some of the ECV rental places also rent power wheelchairs for people who are already experienced using one. We did look into that, but our daughter's wheelchair is an unusual size (very narrow adult) and she has a lot of custom items, like her seating system, that would not work if we could not get a wheelchair the same size as hers. Plus, she has other things, like a special seatbelt and foot straps.
If your friend's daughter has a more 'plain vanilla' power wheelchair thn my daughter has, taking the manual wheelchir and renting a power one might be an option for her.
Thanks again SueM. The young lady who uses the wheelchair is a young adult (early 20's). I know that she can transfer from her chair into ride vehicles so finding a ride vehicle that will be able to accomodate a power wheelchair is not a concern. It is good to have all this info. I will pass it on to my friend.
Great photo, Sue! A picture is definitely worth a thousand words, especially with access!
How old is your daughter now?
Thanks.
That picture was from our last trip in late October 2012. My daughter is in her mid 20s, but looks about 15.
She can't stand or walk without total support, but can bear weight to do a stand and pivot transfer (at least some of the time). Because she has cerebral palsy and tends to have arms and legs flying all over when she is excited, we do a lot of lifting transfers at WDW.
Luckily, she is small - 5 feet tall and about 82 pounds - so is easier to transfer than if he was bigger. People who see her in her wheelchair are surprised how tiny she is because she looks taller and her legs look very long when she is sitting there.
Last edited by SueM loves WDW; 02-26-2013 at 08:37 AM..
This is a picture of my daughter in her wheelchair secured in the DME accessible bus.
Each bus has at least 2 wheelchair spots ; seats can be moved to make a space for a wheelchair.
Seeing the picture made me think of a couple of things to point out.
You can see some yellow stars on the wheel spokes and some of the flat black parts of the frame. You can only see a few of them, but they are actually on both sides of all the spokes.
Those are glow in the dark stickers. They were actually part of a set to make glow in the dark constellations on your ceiling and have held up quite well on the wheelchair.
They glow in dark queues, dark rides and at night. They are not bright or obtrusive, but provide a nice 'there is something there in the dark' marking for the wheelchair.
We also have a set of lights that we put on - purple and aqua. Again not bright, but makes the wheelchair more visible.
The neon green duct tape is marking the safe points for bus drivers to attach the tiedown hooks and straps on the bus. My daughter's manual wheelchair does not have built in tiedown points (her power wheelchair does). We picked out safe spots when she got the manual chair and marked them with duct tape.
Safe spots are welded on parts of the actual wheelchair frame - not anything that is bolted on ( although some wheelchairs come with tiedown loops bolted on, those are attached with stronger bolts designed for that purpose). You want 4 spots - 2 near the front, 2 at the rear and you want them as high up as possible on the frame. In my daughter's case, anything that is bright fuschia paint is part of the frame. Anything black is not.
Marking them saves time and makes things safer. I can just say 'you can attach the tiedowns where ever you see green tape' - no need to do a lot of explaining about which cross bar you mean and if the driver tries to put the hook somewhere you know is not safe, you can direct them back to the green tape.
(I have had drivers who are used to the more standard folding wheelchairs try to attach hooks just below the push handles because it is a high up spot. Maybe safe on a standard heavy duty folding chair because it is part of the frame. Not safe at all on my daughter's custom chair where the seatback folds forward to fold.
The tape markings are also useful for CMs in attractions with tiedowns, like the Safari and Toy Story Mania.
Last edited by SueM loves WDW; 02-26-2013 at 08:38 AM..
Thanks so much! She definately has a power wheelchair. I hadn't thought about how heavy it would be to lift and put under the bus. Her Mom (my good friend) is currently trying to decide whether it would be better to bring a portable wheelchair or her power chair. I'm trying to get as much info for her as I can. (I ordered Passporter's Open Mouse last night).
So glad you ordered the Open Mouse. I hope it helps! :-)
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