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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
OK...interesting work development in the next post...
Sure - tease us why don't you.....
__________________
Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!! OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
I was way early for work today, not enough time to do anything, but too much to just sit around, so I decided to poke my head in to see if I could set up a time to talk to my VP about my meeting yesterday. She invited me right in and once I told her what it was about, had me close the door.
I can tell you now that the meeting yesterday was about moving me to attractions to get me another line of business on my resume. I was very excited about the possibility, but also nervous about it. I'm not sure that counting guests and loading rides would give me nearly the same guest interaction that I have now and that I LOVE. I've also been in retail since I was 12yo and I've always been a "shop girl". I spoke with 2 of my leaders who recommended I meet with the VP to get her take on it.
I {heart} her. I can't go into all of what she said, of course, but it was all very encouraging and flattering to me. Talk about a boost! She made some very good points and gave me a lot to think about. True, attractions might look good on a Disney resume, but if I don't stay at Disney for "personal economic reasons", it won't do me much good outside of a theme park. Merch also has more opportunity for upward movement (in better economic times, of course). Lots and lots to think about over the next few days. The guy I met with yesterday is coming out to my location Sat for another meeting, so I'll have to have a better sense of where I'd like to be.
I got a 4th GSF card tonight, which was icing on the cake of my day. :grin: I also spoke with another of my leaders who told me she thinks I need to be in Guest Relations, so we may start looking into how/if I can get in over there in May.
I didn't get off until 11pm and I'm still reeling with everything that was said this afternoon. Part of me still is that person who let her husband knock her around and tell her she was good-for-nothing almost 20 years ago, so I have a hard time hearing (and believing) good stuff sometimes. What I heard today, forget Wishes...I'm over the moon and into the stars!!!
Sheesh, I'm chatty tonight, but I wanted to share something someone told my DDs today...
This was a lady in her 70s, a CM at DAK. She apologized for leading my children astray, but she told them to NEVER pass up an opportunity. She said she had a list and she's done every last thing on it, from climbing a volcano to learning to fly to going on a real safari, she's done everything, but one...watch planes take off from an aircraft carrier. She told them she had the chance to see it, but did the responsible thing and went to work that day when a bunch of "young kids" had called off. She said it was her only regret and if there were ever a time you have to choose between a dream and being responsible, take the dream.
While I don't buy into her philosophy quite as wholeheartedly, I certainly was on her same wavelength. Don't postpone your joy (or your dreams). It wasn't long ago that I ranted about my hubby and that I didn't feel that I should have to ignore my dreams in favor of his. I rummaged around, found my dream, dusted it off, and made it happen by going back to school. Making dreams happen won't be the same for everyone, some people might just need a kick in the pants while others may need a complete paradigm shift, but I will never have to look back and wonder "what if" about this particular dream anymore.
As a personal side-note, one of my to-do things was to live in Alaska. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to live in Alaska. When my oldest DDs were young, I had the opportunity to go to a teaching job fair in Anchorage and was privileged to be chosen to interview for 2 districts (it was VERY competitive). After the interviews and spending a week there, that "dream" changed for me. Alaska wasn't as romantic as it had seemed (2 trips out per year and a Ski-Doo! ) The big story, though, was that I WENT. Even though it was a dream-dead-end, I never have to ask the what-if. Dreams will change, and that's OK, too.
Oh wow Dawn - what an amazing day you've had and what exciting opportunities you're being offered. It is so wonderful to come along on this journey with you and I'm loving every step of it.
Dawn, I DEFINITLY think you are guest relations material. And I think you are playing it smart looking at how your experiences at Disney can translate into other areas of the job world. This is, after all, a college program. It's not meant to be a long term job, even though it may turn into one. So guest relations, which is all about customer service / recovery, directly correlates to almost any job market. And customer service is what Disney does best, so you would be learning from the master. Good luck with continuing on with your dream.
So glad yesterday was such a wonderful day for you! Congrats on it all. You do have a lot to think about, but I know you will do what you feel is best for you in the long run. Thanks for all of the inspiration!
Congrats on the the outcome of the meeting. Good luck with the upcoming one. I agree with MaryAnn. You are most definitely Guest Relations material. I think the 4 GSF cards is evidence of that. I'm sorry you missed out on the Tiger exams, but how cool that your DD finally saw the candy lady in Japan.
DAwn ... great news on the Work front. Take those complimants from your SUpervisors and believe in them. Its hard to let go of the bad stuff from our past and those words are seem so powerful. But let the new strong POSITIVE words be the one you hear. They will be the words that will sustain you. hear the negative ones as words to challenge you. I so love hearing your Disney Adventures, I know you have worked so hard to make this dream happen and I am glad its a dream that was worth having. You will be a great fit to the Disney ideals and I hope that it can fit your " personal economic reasons" so you can havce a Career there if you want. AS for future positions. I hear what you are saying about being a Attraction attendent. Though I think it would be fun to let people into the Haunted mansion. the thought of saying "please watch your step" as they are unloading would drive me batty ( haunted mansion... batty) I hope your dreams continue to happen and come true
__________________
Aug,1978- LBV;Apr,1987-Disneyland;March,1993-offsite;Jan,1997-offsite;Aug,1999- CBR;Sept,2000- ASMo;Aug,2001- ASSP;Aug,2002- ASMU/AKL;Jan & July 2003-POR;June,December 2004- PC;January 2005- ASMU; Aug 2005-PC;Dec 2005-AKL;Jan 2006-CBR ; July/Aug-Saratoga springs; Dec. PC;April 2007- Disneyland;Aug 2007-Disneyland & So Cal;Dec 2007-POFQ; Aug2008-POFQ & Nov 2008 PC,Y&B May 2009 ASmu, June 2009 PC ; Nov 2009 WL & POFQ;Jan 2010 BW & WL; June 2010 POFQ ; Aug 2010 Poly ;Oct 2010 WL; Jan 2011 PC
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ballston Lake, NY
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 46,162
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 94
Likes (Received): 241
Thanks (Given): 0
Thanks (Received): 139
Pixie Dust (Given): 3
Pixie Dust (Received): 4
So glad the meeting went well. Sounds like a great day with your DD's. And thanks for the little story about living your dreams. We should never have to wonder "what if"
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Dawn, you rock! 
I hope your dreams continue to happen and come true
Linear Mode
