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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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So is New England (MA, NH & ME) the only districts that make up snow days at the end of the year?? We get Christmas vacation (almost 1 1/2 weeks this year), February vacation and April vacation......Right now the last day of school is set as June 11th or something. My senior year of high school (2000) we didn't have 1 snow day... It always managed to snow on Friday afternoon. Needless to say we all got out of school in very early June that year. If it's possible, my district will always try to either only have a 2 hour delay when there's snow or they would let us out a little early - that way we wouldn't have to make up days..... I'm glad I don't live in NY! I wouldn't have been happy having vacations taken away from me!
The system in our district is a bit odd, in my opinion. They assume that they'll miss something like 11 days each year for snow, floods, flu, etc, so they figure they'd need to make up 70 hours (or whatever the amount is), and they divide that amount by the number of days of school and add that time on to each day. So basically, the school days are extended by 30 minutes or something. This way, they never have to extend the school year into June. The particularly odd thing, to me, is that in the seven years we've lived here, this particular district hasn't missed more than maybe three or four days all year. So using 11 as the standard number of days to be missed seems really high--it seems to me like they're taking advantage of the teachers, who are therefore working an extra 7 days or so without pay every year!
I noticed on your school calendar that you don't start until September. I'd think August would be a good time to go, as far as crowds go. We start school in July, and that or mid-August seem common in this area--I imagine attendance would be lower in August since a lot of people are probably already in school.
__________________
DD and DS, May 2008
"I am purple today; Bright and happy like a butterfly in the air." -Kira Willey
I am going to book tomorrow for April and then I am going to pick a similar week in August as a backup. I would go for the longer stay in August except for 2 reasons: a) we are not going to AK this time and b)I realllllly want to see The Flower and Garden Fest in Epcot! But I will keep August in mind for the future. (And in case we use more than 7 snow days!)
I know the NY system is random, but once you look at the calendar (I posted a link earlier in the thread) it makes a little more sense. I don't mind giving back snow days usually because our Spring Break week is often Easter week and so the first half I relax, or my DBF and I go away for the weekend before Easter only and then we have Easter festivites Fri-Sun with our families so its already busy but this year it was just different since Easter is in March. But if it allows me to sneak a WDW trip in, who am I to complain!? lol!
Hello - Wanted to add my opinion to this thread,,,
I am a teacher in MD and we went to WDW last year the end of July. This year we tagged along w/DH's conference and went in late Oct. I took 3 sick days to go. In our county you can take 3 sick days in a row and not be penalized. After 3 days you have to have a doctor note. You can also put your sick days in ahead of time. We also get 2 personal days a year. You can not use a personal day before a holiday. However, you can use sick days. I hate that we can not travel at any time during the year like other working adults. It is definitely a drawback to this career! We are basically asked to take our vacations in the summer or at holiday breaks. We are currently planning another trip to WDW for 2008 and having a hard time trying to decided when to go. We are looking at mid-June, Thanksgiving week or late Jan 2009. Non are ideal...
Good luck with the snow days! When we go over our built-in four days they add them to the end of the year. When we don't use our four days they take them off the end of the year. I have only experienced the taking off one time - we had two days subtracted from the end of the year!
Debbie
Good luck Mel! If it helps, I heard that this is supposed to be a mild winter......
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by guarn3md
I hate that we can not travel at any time during the year like other working adults. It is definitely a drawback to this career! We are basically asked to take our vacations in the summer or at holiday breaks.
Amen to that!
Once I have tenure I may test the waters here or there for a long weekend but since this is only my second year teaching I am going for the old fashioned cross-my-fingers-and-hope-for-the-best method! lol!
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DD and DS, May 2008
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