Jeffrey made me do it, but it’s almost free for our three!! **Updated 5/19** - Page 27 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Jeffrey made me do it, but it’s almost free for our three!! **Updated 5/19**
Okay, so we returned from California nearly 3 weeks ago and I’ve yet to start my TR. Now that I’ve managed to organize my computer files, I’m ready to give this a go! [Read…Dyan neglected to archive the photos on her laptop for 1 ½ years, which wasn’t exactly a smart move It only took me more than a week of evenings burning more than 2 dozen CDs and DVDs on a computer running extremely slow due to my stupidity! I won’t be doing that again anytime soon (waiting to archive, not the archiving itself…. …don’t want to go there again! : ) Long story short – back up your files regularly! ]
Now playing: “Jeffrey made me do it, but it’s almost free for our three!!” A trip report by DyanKJ130 featuring her family's Southern California Adventure: February 15, 2008 – February 23, 2008.
Adventurers:
Jeffrey (43) – my charming husband, 911 Dispatcher/EMT/Fireman, NASCAR fan & converted die-hard Red Sox fan (Like he really had a choice….he’s married to me! )…and after the last time we saw Bronson, he’s sold on being his fan too!! I knew he’d come around eventually! Jeffrey is happy doing whatever, as long as it’s already planned Gotta him, even if he is PAINFULLY shy! This is his 1st trip to California. Actually, the farthest west he’d ever gone before this was Pennsylvania.
Jeffrey wearing Bronson’s ring!
Dyan (40) – that’s me! 7th&8th grade Special Educator (I run the Behavior Adjustment Resource Program in a junior high school….trust me, it’s A LOT of fun! Never dull, anyway), trip manager, player & tour guide. I’ve been a Red Sox fan since birth and a fan of Disney ever since I can remember. I’m also an admirer of one of the sweetest, most sincere baseball players on the planet…Cincinnati Reds pitcher, Bronson Arroyo! Let’s just say that DH every time I walk away from a conversation with him! Anyway, back to the trip…I could talk about Bronson all day, but I’ll save that for another time… This is my 3rd trip to California (& DL), with the last being in 1988, when I traveled alone to attend California’s Rainbow Girls’ Grand Assembly.
I’m the one on the left!
Kyle (15) – our son, high school sophomore , Red Sox fan, saxophonist, black belt in Oki-Ryu Kenpo Karate, Wii junkie, Rubik’s Cube aficionado, seasoned WDW adventurer and 1st time visitor to California! While he may be the sarcastic teenager, at times, we are still very close as we battled some turbulent storms when he was very young. (His unfortunate observation of my abuse by his biological father, the disappointment of his lack of involvement after our divorce and the sadness of dealing with his death in 2005) The farthest west DS had been prior to this trip was Oklahoma, where he was born, but he doesn’t remember much of where we lived in the Midwest as we were permanently back in Rhode Island (3/1995) 6 months before his 3rd birthday.
Kyle playing it cool!
So, why the trip name? This trip wasn’t even a thought in the back of our minds (at least not mine) until my aunt called me one day in the fall of 2006 to ask if we would like to use some of her timeshare points that she was going to lose if she didn’t use them. She told us we could use up to 150,000 points; the only stipulation was that we had to book before she lost them. She gave me the website to research destinations. Kyle could have cared less, just as long as he didn’t have to fly. Jeffrey immediately focused on DL, while I tried to explore other options as well…all within the United States as we don’t have Passports…Hawaii…Washington, DC…Lake George, NY… I was afraid that they would be disappointed with DL, but Jeffrey kept going back to the possibility so I agreed. There were only 2 choices in the Anaheim area and after much reading we decided upon Dolphin’s Cove Resort. My aunt couldn’t book it until February 2007, but a major part of our expenses were already going to be taken care of!
So, Christmas 2006 comes along and my aunt drives down from her home in Cherry Valley, NY to spend my dad’s birthday and the holiday with us. We were having a lovely time Christmas morning opening gifts, but imagine our surprise when she gave me a card with a note inside letting us know that she was going to be taking care of our flights to California by using frequent flyer miles she has with Continental Airlines!! We were dumbfounded! What an amazing gift!
With accommodations and airfare taken care of, all we had to worry about was our one night stay in Los Angeles, tickets to attractions, food and transportation! Not quite free, but that’s close enough for me!
So, there you have it…..the 5 W’s of our trip….. Who? Jeffrey, Dyan, & Kyle What? Our Southern California Adventure When? Friday, February 15, 2008 – Saturday, February 23, 2008 Where? Renaissance Hollywood Hotel – Los Angeles (2/15) & Dolphin’s Cove Resort – Anaheim (2/16-2/23) Why? Hmmmm……because Jeffrey made me do it, but it’s almost free for our three!! hee hee