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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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As someone who was a SAHM for several years but then went back to work, I know how good it feels to get praised outside the home! Its like someone sees you from the outside, and values what you can contribute. Keep up the good work!
This is so true whether you are working at Disney or otherwise. Definitely enjoy all of the magic of your program but keep the big picture in mind as far as where you want to be - not just in work, but in location as well for the long hall in regard to all of the people affected. College Program is a great opportunity and looks great on a resume!
Wow - if you decide to stay, sounds like you're going to have a hard time convincing your DDs to do so.
This is something I'm struggling with. As an Army brat, following my Dad's career was a no-brainer. He never questioned where he went and we always made the best of it ("bloom where you are planted"). I'm of the mindset that the kids will just have to suck it up and 10yo needs to just deal with the fact that I have to do what is best for most of us right now, which is to have a near-full-time, regular paying job that may pan out into a position with insurance. Is it easy? Of course not, but when we left my best friend behind, it was to move across the Atlantic and we could only write letters in those days. She can talk to her BFF every single day. I'm still sorta mid-century pre-Dr. Spock, I guess.
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So - how is the dog?
Our dog, the Jindo Zoie, is back home with hubby. He says she's driving him insane, but I think he really does like having her around. I don't miss the undercoat shedding into tumbleweeds. Oldest DDs have a chihuahua, Lola. Ugh. I am NOT a fan of this dog. It's not her fault, she was a stray, adopted from the shelter and has been treated like a baby rather than a dog for several months. She still poos on the floor, rummages the trash, and is the most ADHD dog I've ever seen. I'm sure we could put her on The Dog Whisperer or It's Me or the Dog. Younger DDs and I have tried and tried, but we can't even get her to focus for a few seconds. It's very frustrating b/c the younger ones were really looking forward to having a lapdog. 10yo's psychiatrist had prescribed a service dog to do certain behaviours to help with her panic disorder and she was really hoping that she would be able to train Lola to do them, but so far, no good. We can't even get the dog to sit reliably, much less be a good citizen. DD had been working with a service dog trainer with Zoie before we moved and was doing well, but we all decided it would be best to not bring Zoie along b/c of Lola and to see if we could work on training her instead. DD knows what to do and has been very consistent, but we can't get the older DDs to buy into the necessary behaviours, which just confuses poor Lola. They remind us that Lola is THEIR dog and I remind them that younger DDs and I are the ones who are feeding, walking, and training THEIR dog. It's been a "bone" of contention.
Have you tried crating Lola to train her? What about using the pads so that you don't end up staining the floors.
I don't know Lola's background but I've had a couple of triends who have gotten pet store dogs (out of pity) and then been unable to train them because they've spent so much time excreting in the crate that they lose the idea of you don't foul your home.
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Have you tried crating Lola to train her? What about using the pads so that you don't end up staining the floors.
I don't know Lola's background but I've had a couple of triends who have gotten pet store dogs (out of pity) and then been unable to train them because they've spent so much time excreting in the crate that they lose the idea of you don't foul your home.
Good luck with everything.
Diane
I just bought a crate and that is the next thing we're working on. We're still in the stages of tossing in treats and getting her to walk in and out. She utterly refused to go in after her Kong (her favorite thing in the whole world) and stood outside whining and barking the first few times. She is VERY skittish, so we're having to take it very slowly. Part of the problem with the poo on the floor is that older DDs left her alone so much before we got here and never took her out for very long when they were home. Younger DDs have put her on a walking schedule and she has gotten better, but still has an accident now and then. I bought a trash can with a lid for the kitchen to nip that in the bud, but if we leave a bathroom door open, it's a mess. I warned older DDs not to get a dog b/c of their lifestyles/work hours, but they didn't listen to me. I worry about Lola whenever we all go our seperate ways...she may have to come live with us...
Glad things are working out so well for you, Dawn. You are a wonderful communicator, and I agree with everyone who thinks that you would do very well in Guest Relations.
I admire all you are trying to do-including taking responsibility for a pet that isn't yours. When we first crate trained our dogs, we would feed them right at the door to the crate. It made them associate the crate with food. We also always kept water in the crate and would only give treats in the crate. Our younger dog was a bit food aggressive so initially she was fed in her crate and had to stay in until the other dog was finished with his food out of the crate.
I also think that it's in the nature of her breed to be a bit high strung. It's great your DD's are walking her regularly. I do hope that someone keeps caring for this puppy. We adopted both our dogs from rescues and I felt that they were very particular about the dogs placement.
Sound like everything is going great with work Dawn. I so admire you living out your dream and honestly reading your posts have made me think about some of my own dreams that I haven't thought about in a long time!
I would just say to take it day by day as far as staying on goes. Follow your heart and you will know what to do.
When we first crate trained our dogs, we would feed them right at the door to the crate. It made them associate the crate with food. We also always kept water in the crate and would only give treats in the crate.
Diane, thank you for the great idea...I hadn't considered putting her regular food in there. I think we'll give that a try this evening and see how it goes.
I've written exactly nothing for my paper as of yet. I have a really bad attitude about this class. I'm not keen on professors who think they are "all that" and bust people for perceived grammatical or formatting errors when his own posts have more than a few themselves. Our first team assignment came back with a 0 for formatting and when I asked him if he could please return our paper with corrections, he told me no, that I would have to post it in the public forum and then he might look at it. I've already dropped the class once b/c the other professor was even worse (megalomaniac to the nth degree), so I've got to stick this one out.
You have definitely earned my admiration (which isn't something I say lightly!) for the way you are "living your dream" and dealing with every obstacle that appears in your way.
Thanks for the paper pixies! I finally got it done (all 3,000 words of it, ew) this afternoon and instead of being a total slacker, went ahead and started on next week's project. I'm proud of myself for not procrastinating. I'm about halfway done with it, so as soon as it's finished, I'll jump ahead to the next week. I have one more 3,000 word-er after that, then I can take a BREAK for awhile! My Disney U class starts on Friday, I'm not looking forward to the overlap which is why I'm trying to work ahead now.
I worked Saturday (sorta ) I was scheduled 9-3 in games, but had our first RAFIKI meeting from 10-1130. At 9, I was set to "tasking" b/c they really didn't need me on games, so I putzed around stocking and fluffing, was bumped out for my meeting at 930. The managers were talking about being over on hours for the week, so I did my civic duty and requested an ER (early release) for noon. Went to the meeting, got back at 1145, just in time to find out my ER was approved and it was time for my bumpout! I putzed for another 15 minutes and went home to work on the darned paper.
The RAFIKI meeting was awesome and it's such a great program. I'm really hoping other areas will implement something similar (we're the first park to do it and the only the second semester it's been around).
At the end, the Cast Services Manager I've been meeting with about my "career options" asked if I was going to have a few minutes back at my location to chat, but I told him I'd put in for the ER (and why, don't want him to think I'm a slacker!). He told me that he and the VP had visited about me on Friday and he'd like to talk with me more. YAY!
I also put in more applications for Professional Internships starting in June. I now have Sports Complex management, Animal Programs Conservation Education Coordinator, and the one I'm hoping for most of all (if not mgmt)...Animal Programs ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE education coordinator!!! That one is actually coordinating the cultural/educational programs at AKL, not so much just about animals/conservation. The PIs run June-Jan which would be perfect, I'd have 2-3 weeks off between the CP and the PI.
I start training in the money room this week, so pixies are appreciated there! It's a big responsibility and I don't want to mess anything up. I train this week and I'm in money room for real next week!
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ANGIE
I've already dropped the class once b/c the other professor was even worse (megalomaniac to the nth degree), so I've got to stick this one out.
I putzed for another 15 minutes and went home to work on the darned paper.
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