Shhhh ... A Very Merry Surprise! ~ PTR for 11/4 - 11/12 2011 - Page 7 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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YEAH!!! You did not give in....I know it must have been so hard not to!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lexiemom
Good job not spilling the beans! It must be so hard to keep a secret like that, but you can do it!
Thanks for the support, guys! It really is helping me stay on track with keeping the secret!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
Glad to hear about the Osborne Lights, my best friend is taking her son for his 1st trip and I was so upset as they were going to miss them, I actually have it set that they were going to be at DHS on the 10th so this is great news (now to update their itinierary )
Isn't it great news?!?!?
Quote:
Originally Posted by dsteiny23
Oh, that must have been soooo hard!! But, you did it!! They are going to flip out when you do get to reveal the surprise.
I know, it is going to be so much fun when I finally get to reveal it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DisneyKYFan
Just found your report today and loved reading it. I want to do a surprise trip for my DD and DS, but I know I could never keep it from them. with keeping the secret, it will be worth it. We are taking our next trip 2 weeks after yours. Can't wait to hear about your trip!
Loved reading your plans!!! Great job writing it!! Your resort looks amazing - I love the pool!!!
We have eaten at Garden Grill and we love it there.
I cant believe you have kept it a secret!! Good for you!! I am a blabber mouth and cant keep a Disney secret for the life of me!! Its hard for me not to tell the boys about Joshs Bday surprises nevermind keeping the entire trip a sercret!! The girls are going to be thrilled when they realize they are going to WDW again!!!
This year will be our first MVMCP too - thanks to you - lol - that day we were talking at school and I went home and booked a trip ....Our trip is in December so you will have to let me know what we have to see!! We are moving though so Josh wont be in that school anymore so we will have to keep in touch!!
Loved reading your plans!!! Great job writing it!! Your resort looks amazing - I love the pool!!!
We have eaten at Garden Grill and we love it there.
I cant believe you have kept it a secret!! Good for you!! I am a blabber mouth and cant keep a Disney secret for the life of me!! Its hard for me not to tell the boys about Joshs Bday surprises nevermind keeping the entire trip a sercret!! The girls are going to be thrilled when they realize they are going to WDW again!!!
This year will be our first MVMCP too - thanks to you - lol - that day we were talking at school and I went home and booked a trip ....Our trip is in December so you will have to let me know what we have to see!! We are moving though so Josh wont be in that school anymore so we will have to keep in touch!!
Thanks, Jen! It has been REALLY hard to keep the secret, but I'm having fun with the challenge Josh's birthday surprise sounds awesome, he's going to love it!!! I hope you have a fabulous time on your trip! I'll definitely let you know all about MVMCP, it's so cool that you have two trips planned this year. So jealous! We'll miss you and Josh next year at school though! Good luck with your move!
With summer in full swing, our Disney planning has been on the back burner so there is not much to update you all on We have some friends who live in Newport, RI, so we decided to take a road trip to see them for a long weekend, and we had a wonderful time. We took the opportunity to stop and explore Mystic, CT as it was on the way. It is a cute little town, my DD's had fun exploring the shops and watching the boats in the river. We visited the aquarium and did enjoy it, but for what they had I thought it was a bit overpriced.
I did manage to get a little planning done though, I brought my passporter along for the ride and started working on my packing list and some loose itineraries for our park touring. Slowly but surely I'll get everything done, and excited as I am for this trip I'm trying to not think about it too often. I don't want to "wish" the summer away daydreaming about Disney. We've got too much fun in the sun to be had now
I'll also be working on some Tshirts for my DD's soon. I was able to snag a deal on shirts at Michaels last week, they were on sale for $2 each and I had a 25% off coupon that I was able to use too. Now I've just got to get some iron on transfers and come up with a design!
I agree...the trip will be here soon enough and we want to enjoy our summer as well.
I did t-shirts a couple of trips ago and also jammies. We still wear them.
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