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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 feel for you. What I did was , I picked the date and then invited the others in our group. They were fairly easy, except for my brother, who procrastinated until the time when I made our ADRs. He reaction was " I told you I was coming, why did'nt you made them for 15?". I told him until he was booked I was'nt going to add him to anything.. Which led to more crap. He did book , but went off on his own and had to "one up" everyone elses plans. Best rooms, Deluxe DP, La Nouba tickets (best seats) etc.... The rest of us averaged out what seemed to be a common average budget that would work for everyone. So at this point we are all PIF....guess who is not. (mwha ha haaaa........sorry had an evil moment). My point is make plans and look after your immiediate family's interest. If others want to come they will. Try not to stress out.
I'm sorry. I would have been really disappointed, and my feelings would have really been hurt!
But, if you went with them, they most likely would ruin your vacation anyway. I am not very happy with my relatives right now, either, so I can sympathize.
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
I just thought I would share an update about this "mess".
I've been feeling super guilty about pulling back on the Magical Gathering. Mostly because I feel like I'm making everyone pay for a few jerks in the family.
So, I contacted my sister today (the one who is married to the control-freak) to ask her if they still intended to go in February. I said that if they were going, I was willing to plan the Special Safari for groups of 8+, but that was all I would plan. She wrote back and said that she was confused why I had been withdrawn, and was hoping we could still all do the safari, Luau and Hoop-Dee-Doo together.
Well, I felt really bad, and told her I would make the ressies if she could make sure no one would resent me... I just didn't want to drag a bunch of resentful sad-sacks around my precious Disney! After more conversation, we got deeper into the problem, and I told her exactly how I felt about everything.
At first, she was very receptive to me and understood what I was saying... but at some point she became defensive and told me I just didn't understand her husband. He's not picking on me... only trying to have fun, and I'm obviously just missing the humor and being too serious. (NOT!!!) UM -- It's only funny if EVERYONE gets to laugh, right??? AND - is there anyone on the planet that likes to CONSTANTLY be the butt of the joke or the constant target of jabs and barbs? I doubt it.
I finally told her that I was sorry I opened up to her because it obviously made her feel defensive, and made me feel uncomfortable. She ended the conversation by saying that he doesn't have the best way of doing things, and that she loved me... so she and I are ok. BUT, I still regret putting myself back out there and stepping back into the planning role. I swear I'll never learn!
Hey, sometimes trying to be a peacemaker can hurt, but it says a lot about what kind of good person you are.
I think you did the right thing in sharing your feelings with your sister. She needs to know how you feel are else resentment can just keep building up. That won't help anyone.
I went to WDW solo last year and had a blast. I was going to have a friend go along but I realized that I wasn't willing to give up control to her and she and I didn't vacation the same way. We cordially decided not to go together. Now I tell friends and family when I am going and people are welcome to take a trip at the same time, but that I am not sharing "my" trip. We can hang out, etc, but we are all free agents to do what we want when we want.
Unfortunately we all want our loved ones to react certain ways but we can't get them to do that. They probably feel the same about us sometimes.
Take the family that will enjoy it and have a blast. Those who stay behind will probably be happier there.
The funny thing is, I've said over and over again: "This is what I've planned to do, but no one else has to do it..." I don't know how to make everyone understand that I don't CARE what they do - I'm just sharing my plan and they can do (or not do) whatever they want! I'm not controlling - just suggesting.
So, it sounds like you and I probably feel the same way about our precious Disney time!
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I agree with Darren, You did good by opening up to your sister and expressing your feelings about her husband. From the way it sounds, she didn't seem like a happy camper about what you told her. I wish you all the luck in the world, and hope that everything goes well for you and your group. Just don't let him get the best of you. Become Teflon darling, better to have one idiot in the group....and not two (sorry, it really sounds a lot better in Spanish). Enjoy.
I am sorry that your BIL was not co-operative. Better that you found it out now rather than later. I will keep my fingers crossed that you can upgrade your hotel.
I also want to thank you for posting this thread. I am trying to plan a trip with my two sons (maybe 3) and my DIL and 5 grandchildren in June 2012. We will be using my timeshare. I have been to WDW before (Nov 2000) without a plan and while fun, learned the hard way a plan would have made it better and cheaper!
My DIL and oldest son (with the grandkids) are more sleep in and "go with the flow" kind of people. Reading this thread made me realize that I need to let them have their space and their timing.
My youngest son and I can get to the parks early and meet them there. We can take a midday break and meet up with them again later.
I was afraid of missing those "special moments" with my grandkids. But you made me realize that we all might enjoy "them" more, and have more of "them" if we gave each other some space.
My DIL and oldest son (with the grandkids) are more sleep in and "go with the flow" kind of people. Reading this thread made me realize that I need to let them have their space and their timing.
I agree with you. It's no fun to drag people around a park if they don't want to be there, and quality is better than quantity any day.
I just thought I would share an update about this "mess".
I've been feeling super guilty about pulling back on the Magical Gathering. Mostly because I feel like I'm making everyone pay for a few jerks in the family.
So, I contacted my sister today (the one who is married to the control-freak) to ask her if they still intended to go in February. I said that if they were going, I was willing to plan the Special Safari for groups of 8+, but that was all I would plan. She wrote back and said that she was confused why I had been withdrawn, and was hoping we could still all do the safari, Luau and Hoop-Dee-Doo together.
Well, I felt really bad, and told her I would make the ressies if she could make sure no one would resent me... I just didn't want to drag a bunch of resentful sad-sacks around my precious Disney! After more conversation, we got deeper into the problem, and I told her exactly how I felt about everything.
At first, she was very receptive to me and understood what I was saying... but at some point she became defensive and told me I just didn't understand her husband. He's not picking on me... only trying to have fun, and I'm obviously just missing the humor and being too serious. (NOT!!!) UM -- It's only funny if EVERYONE gets to laugh, right??? AND - is there anyone on the planet that likes to CONSTANTLY be the butt of the joke or the constant target of jabs and barbs? I doubt it.
I finally told her that I was sorry I opened up to her because it obviously made her feel defensive, and made me feel uncomfortable. She ended the conversation by saying that he doesn't have the best way of doing things, and that she loved me... so she and I are ok. BUT, I still regret putting myself back out there and stepping back into the planning role. I swear I'll never learn!
I am sorry that you had to go through that. Trying to keep peace is hard. But you did right about telling her about how you felt. Good luck in planning and having a peaceful happy time of it.
Sorry about your family...
Sometimes it is easier to do a "individula planning" and let everyone follow your lead (or not). We´ve done a couple of family&friends travel. Usually I came forward and book my dates way in advance...then who wants to join is welcome to. We did this in 2009, a family of friends joined us but they were "not planning at all" types, hated the idea of ADR´s for example. We booked ours, and they accept one breakfast together when we celebrate DD and her firend Bday. Other days we told where we would go, and use celphone to meet there (they decide to stay at a different resort). This year we did another family vacation, and we did the Bahamas cruise together. They booked their staterrom and we informed that those reservation were attached, so we had the same table to the meals. The port of cal adventures we manage to discuss and booked the same. But later we stayed at the same resort, but they wanted to visit different parks, and we kept dinner reservations around 6pm together and we split the groups during the day.
I'm of the school that you should only surround yourself with positive people. You have no choice in having Mr. Negativity at your holiday table, but you do have a choice in letting him invade your Disney Bubble.
The more I read about Grand Gatherings (and experiencing a mini one myself) I'm under the impression that they ain't so grand. Does anyone really have a good Grand Gathering story??
I've had both amazing and not so amazing experiences. We have people that we travel really well with and despite any mishaps felt like we had a magical trip.
I tell my girls when you compromise with someone it should always feel good. You should feel happy that everyone's needs are met. If it doesn't feel good then a true compromise wasn't made. If there is a person you cannot communicate effectively with, then you just have to take care of you and your own. Don't let other peoples crazy take over your trip and don't be a martyr.
OOP I don't think it is immature to distance yourself by going to another resort. I think it is smart. You will need a retreat.
In Sept we will be having our third (yes, third) trip with the extended family. After our Nov/Dec trip last year, hubby said ..."no way, no more. From now on we go with just our two younger children and possibly the grand child, buit the adult children can stay home!"
So, we picked a date, made our reservations and let my DIL know so she could plan on babysitting for the grand daughter if she didn't want her to go. She said she didn't want her to go with out them...so it was settled...until a few weeks later...they decided they were all going with us. They would plan their trip and we would plan ours.
Somehow, about a week before ADR time...they invited themselves to have dinner with us each night. No problem.
Our plans this year call for us to have dinner together for 4 of the 7 nights we are there. We might be at the same parks each day, or we might not. We will get up early and head to the parks...and they will sleep in. Since our rooms aren't connecting this year, they will have more privacy and everything should work out just fine.
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I'm sorry. I would have been really disappointed, and my feelings would have really been hurt! 
- It's only funny if EVERYONE gets to laugh, right??? AND - is there anyone on the planet that likes to CONSTANTLY be the butt of the joke or the constant target of jabs and barbs? I doubt it.
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