How to Meet Friends and Alienate Children - *Updated 8/10* - Page 5 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Oh wow! Talk about making the rest of us pale in comparison by getting all these updates out! Glad I saved reading all of them until I got home from work becuase my sides are already hurting.
Quote:
We looped up out of the building and around the area again – this time being careful not to take the wrong ramp for fear that the pointing CM would use a different finger altogether if we made the same mistake twice.
Let's not forget me screaming "RIGHT LANE" from the back seat!
OMG, these updates are just too hilarious!! Hilarious is all I can say. Well,I can also say that I'm still a little jealous that I couldn't go. Can't wait for more!!!!!
Oh my gosh! I have missed you so much! What a fantastic tr and you guys haven't even made it to a park yet! You needed a camera crew following you to capture all of those moments!
And I asked Thom if he knew a Singleterry from NFL Network and he named Mike Singleterry before I even got that far - - I think he could go one-on-one with Karen on sports.
the updates!! Your style of writing gets me everytime. I feel like I am right there with you!
As a special educator, I can surely appreciate your references to the "short bus." I call it the "twinkie bus" though. I had a student quite a few years ago who hated that he had to take the "short bus." For some reason he started calling it the "twinkie bus" (bad experience with a snack cake, I guess). Ever since then it just kind of stuck. Looking forward to more references to the "short bus."
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As a special educator, I can surely appreciate your references to the "short bus."
It makes me cringe though... thinking that people might think we're making fun of people with a disability. Honestly, it was just a silly voice and a silly face...
I'm glad the updates have been appreciated. I don't think I'll be able to keep up with that many in a single day, but I'm hoping to crank them out. (I'll probably sacrifice the pictures and let the gazillion other cameras take all the photographic glory!)
Eileen
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It's snowing here today, and school has been canceled. The Children of the Corn are doing their chores and I would really, really love to read some more! Oh please, oh please!
I have to chime in just a wee bit. I told Zack that I wasn't writing a trip report because I can't (ahem) seem to finish them. He told me that he'd help, and when I mentioned that he wasn't exactly with us on this trip the reply was, "But don't you just make up half the stuff anyway?" True, but it's based on fact. Kinda like a docudrama, or maybe more like a Kitty Kelly book.
Anywho... the high-larious Miss Eileen was quite nervous about this trip. She thought that perhaps our reputations for bringing the funny would outshine our actual ability to bring the funny. I told her not to worry. I'd bring the libations, she could bring the snorting laugh (seriously it is a comedic thing of beauty,) and no one would be any the wiser to our lack of real-time funny. She was still a wee bit nervous and after our stop at a Starbucks for her macchiato, the combination of nerves and caffeine were enough to unleash a brilliant case of verbal diarhea that lasted from Salinas to King City. Quite enjoyable I must say.
SPEAKING of Starbucks, Eileen must have spent about 5-10 minutes perusing the menu and then asking lots o' questions of the oh-so-helpful barristas. I found THAT tres amusant because I totally have the "I'm-too-good-for-this-but-bring-me-my-espresso-anyway" look down pat. We Californians couple that look with the rapid fire ordering made famous in "You've Got Mail" like you're supposed to in a Starbucks. Eileen? Total Starbucks newbie. The barristas loved her; probably because they thought I'd just rescued her from the Australian outback Crocodile Dundee style.
Eventually, though, the caffeine and nerves started to wear off and we stopped at the lovely Holiday Inn Express in Ventura. Joan? The toilet paper, sadly, did not say "Wipe." But, the pillows were labeled "Firm" and "Soft" just in case you couldn't tell. After In 'n' Out and a quick shopping trip, I strategically returned us to the hotel just in time for 24 because if you miss an episode of that feh-get-about-it.
Eileen had never seen it and was tragically lost, but just to put it in context there is an assassination attempt on the current President Palmer (brother of the already assassinated President Palmer,) Magic Mountain has been nuked and yet Bauer is still able to drive around LA in sub-segments of a 60 minute TV program, Bauer's brother has been killed by his father, who's connected to the last President who killed Palmer 1 and provided the nukes to the Russians who are evilly behind the latest attack. Got it? Because in the midst of this COMPLETELY far fetched scenario (which I BTW) Eileen notes that they are prepping the light for African American President Palmer's speech using a caucasian stand-in. Eileen was totally agahst as she exclaimed, "That's completely unbelievable, no way would they use someone white to test the light for an African-American." Of course, I replied in loving tones, "THAT'S what you find unbelievable." Funny, funny girl.
It was lights out after 24, and after a quick breakfast and the authentic tour of LA traffic that I provided graciously to Eileen we were pulling into LAX to pick up Dawn. We had a few minutes to spare due to a slightly late arrival on the Indy flight, so we stopped in the restroom. My phone rang right at 9:05 when the Indy flight was expected to arrive. I looked at Eileen, started jumping up and down, and excitedly reached for my phone. Unfortunately, it was not Dawn, only a sad sick little child calling from San Mateo. After I explained, in nurturing tones, to Zack that I couldn't really do much for him seeing as I was 400 miles away, I told him to call my sister and hoped he felt better. Nice, right? Of course, when I hung up with Zack, I replied, "Carp (not really, but ya know family board and all), I thought it was Dawn and it was just my sick kid." Lovely, eh?
So, we retrieve Dawn, drive to Disneyland, and yes, I turn into the parking lot by mistake. But, I don't think you all are adequately appreciating the thing of beauty that was my deception. We're waiting in a small line to talk to the gate attendant (booth to the left of the car) and Eileen is so far up on her high horse she's in danger of getting a nosebleed. I note that there is no line at all and more importantly a booth to the right of the car, if I just swerve strategically between some pylons and orange cones. You know the barriers that tell mere mortals NOT to go somewhere? I say nothing, just swerve, straighten, pull up, lower Eileen's window. A thing of beauty!
One more little funny before I go, what set off the snort-that-scares-children at the gates of the Grand Californian has not been told. As we were pulling up to the oh-so-classy Grand, there was quite a loud volume inside the vehicle (imagine that!) Well usually, the volume inside the vehicle is caused by my stereo. So, I started to roll down my window and at the same time reached for the volume knob on the radio. Eileen and Dawn immediately saw what I was doing and dissolved into loud cackles and snorts at the thought I was trying to turn them down. Good times. Good times. And now, my dear Eileen, resume away!
__________________
Karen, aka Zack's Mom - Lover of all Things Disney and the San Francisco Giants!
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the updates!! Your style of writing gets me everytime. I feel like I am right there with you!
I had a student quite a few years ago who hated that he had to take the "short bus." For some reason he started calling it the "twinkie bus" (bad experience with a snack cake, I guess). Ever since then it just kind of stuck. Looking forward to more references to the "short bus." 
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