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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
One week until I leave!!! Awwwww…..I originally thought I would be leaving on September 13th but apparently they want me to arrive on that day.
I must admit I have been a nut case this past week. I am a planner. I love my passporter and I LOVE to have everything ready to go AHEAD of time. Apparently China and Corporate Disney do not feel the same way.
The process to get to China is a long and drawn out one. Step 1 turn in lots and lots of documents. Step two is waiting for the Employment and Welcome letters. Step 3 Get my Visa. Step 4 Go to China. Sounds easy right?!? Well the step one was easy enough….the step two almost sent me to the looney bin. China didn’t even type up my letters until August 28th. Then they mailed them overseas and they don’t celebrate Labor Day so that through us off a day. Due to the holiday DHL was backed up. I called them to track my package and found out because I am a residence they will deliver mine after all the businesses received their packages. Once I received my package I needed to fill out the remaining documents to receive my Visa (I could not fill them out until I received the employment number and the website does not allow you to save the document). I finally received the documents after 6!!! I then had to quickly type, print and rush my documents into Fort Worth, which is usually about an hour away. The last Fed-ex pick up was 7pm!!! My angels surrounded my car and helped me fly! And I did! We made it 10 minutes before the store closed and off my documents went!
I received an email today and my Rush Visa, which cost $190 over the regular visa price because of the rush, should arrive tomorrow before 10:30! I also received my flight itinerary. I leave at 5:56 in the morning on Sept 12th!
Time is flying. The family who was suppose to lease the house could not come up with the deposit and refused to do the background check so please send pixie dust and pray for the house to be leased. We did sell one of our cars for a good price! This allowed us to purchase DH and sons airline tickets! They will be leaving Texas and joinging me in Wuhan on October 2.
Whew it’s been a week! I have no doubt this next week will be just as crazy! Poor DH, he remains calm while I have my meltdowns.
On a good note I did get my hair cut and dyed in preparation for the trip. Cast members must have shoulder length hair....hehe...I will very soon be a cast memeber...and I had cute Mickey’s painted on my toe nails!!! More to come soon!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
That's a lot of details to keep track of! Good luck with leasing the house. Certainly not a good sign when a potential tenant refuses a background check! Hope all goes smoothly. You'll soon be there!
Good luck with leasing the house. Everything will manage to fall into place, just take some deep breaths. I can't wait to hear more about your adventures.
Thanks for the kind words and pixie dust everyone. MGW I am now a cast member. :-) After orientation and training I will be teaching English to Chinese Children ages 2-12. Goggle Disney English. It's pretty cool!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
The big day has arrived! I can hardly believe that I’m writing this blog as I wait in the terminal to board my first plane. I will be flying to Chicago where I will catch my connecting flight to Shanghai. This week has been a roller coaster. Last minute Visas and Airline tickets but as always the good Lord works things out.
Today has been a day full of tears and laughter. I know I am doing the best thing for my family. A good job, great benefits, and the opportunity to experience such a unique culture….but it was awfully hard to walk through security as my boys waved bye with tears rolling down their cheeks. I cried all through security. When I finally got through the checkpoint I found a glass window and we were able to see each other and talk on the phone. I don’t know if that made it worse or better.
Friday Sep 14
Good Morning from Shanghai! Did I just write that!!!! It is Friday at 6:30 in the morning. I basically lost a day in travel. I am feeling better this morning after skyping, emailing and texting my family. I LOVE technology. It helps so much that I can see their faces and hear them at the same time.
Disney was right on target. I had a car waiting with my name on it and I met my first co-worker on the ride home from the airport. My hotel room is little but very nice. When I got to my hotel room, I crashed. The flight was very nice but lllloooonnnngggg. I am not looking forward to that again. I have met 4 more people that are here with Disney English as well. I was getting hungry but a little nervous to venture out on my own at night. Luckily there were 2 other people that felt the same way. I met them in the lobby. The first was from Los Angeles and he has spent the past couple of years teaching in Italy. The second was a girl from South Africa who has spent the last couple of years teaching in Korea. We were all hesitant and nervous about the food but we went for a walk and found a nice looking place. Once inside they had the food sitting where you could just point to it. J I choose noodles and beef. They put it inside some sort of broth. The broth had a minty, cilantro taste to it. I do admit it is not my favorite but it worked to subdue the hunger.
I was up early at 5:30. Couldn’t sleep any longer. I got up and skyped with my DH, DS1, DS2 and MIL. Then heading to the lobby. There is Wi-Fi in the lobby but nowhere else so I went and sat on the couch to text all my people back home.
I am an animal lover and I had to leave my precious pugs in the states to come out here. When I was in the lobby I noticed a man walking by with a pug!!! Of course I darted off the couch and out the door. When the man realized I was excited about his dog he let me pet it and we tried to talk...I think we were a little successful! This made my morning better. Even though it was not my puggies it was a little piece of home.
Got to go for now. I am due in orientation this morning! More to come….
So fantastic! You're there! I know it was incredibly hard to say goodbye to your family, but they'll soon be there with you and you can all settle in together. I'm glad there were other new CMs there to have dinner with and share experiences.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Glad the visa got sorted out and sending lots of 
Linear Mode
