PassPorter's Club hints, PLEASE???? - Page 9 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Wow. It looks very nice. Unfortunately, I won't be joining any time soon. I hate to be the big downer here, but I don't agree with it. I know everyone is entitled to join, but it really does seem to be a status kind of thing and to me it looks like a way to separate the group into the cool kids and the not-so-cool kids. I buy a Passporter every year, but now I feel like maybe I won't be getting all the information available unless I pay to be a member of the club. I mean absolutely no offense to anyone that chooses to join. I have been here for almost five years and have made some really good friends and that will not change, but I find the whole Private Club thing just so ..... not me. Again, sorry to be so negative.
I respect your opinion joyjoy! I guess I just look at it differently. I compare it to going to a Fast Food restaurant and ordering a cheeseburger. "Do you want fries with that?" Some people will want the fries, some people won't. But either way, it doesn't affect the flavor of the burger! Same here, nothing will change on the main PassPorter Boards. : There is just some new "side dishes" available for purchase!
I buy a Passporter every year, but now I feel like maybe I won't be getting all the information available unless I pay to be a member of the club.
Hi Mel- I just wanted to touch a little on that..
This Passporter club in NO WAY will take ANYTHING away from the guidebook.. Jennifer & Dave have always striven to make sure that ALL of the information is always available in the guidebooks and that the books are their first priority in EVERYTHING they do .. so rest assured, you will not miss out on ANY information available..
The E-books available are simply fun little extras offered to club members & I don't see any changes in the guidebooks or message boards if a person joins or doesn't join.. As was mentioned previously, the message board guides served as guinea pigs for the new club & let me tell ya.. we can be a tough bunch & I think we kept poor Jennifer on her toes asking questions & adding this or that.. we all wanted the club to be great for everyone and to not make it a social club but an informative club!
I think Sara said it perfectly.. it's like you going to a fast food place & super sizing your meal .. you're still getting the same burger just a little more coke & fries!! they'll all taste the same!!
Now, I'm hungry for McD's.. !!! thanks Sara!!
Wow. It looks very nice. Unfortunately, I won't be joining any time soon. I hate to be the big downer here, but I don't agree with it. I know everyone is entitled to join, but it really does seem to be a status kind of thing and to me it looks like a way to separate the group into the cool kids and the not-so-cool kids. I buy a Passporter every year, but now I feel like maybe I won't be getting all the information available unless I pay to be a member of the club. I mean absolutely no offense to anyone that chooses to join. I have been here for almost five years and have made some really good friends and that will not change, but I find the whole Private Club thing just so ..... not me. Again, sorry to be so negative.
I purchased just one month today to see if I'll need the club for an entire year (that calendar is so enticing )...if I do then I've just paid 5 bucks more per year than everybody else and I can live with that. If this club is something that I don't need for a full year then I'll just use a month now and then buy another month in several months and so on and so forth (that's OK right Jennifer?). I put a lot of thought into this today and this is the solution I came up with for myself since I buy way too much information just to plan my WDW vacations. You don't have to purchase a full year. You can just try it out for a day to see if you like it...it costs $1. I belong to several message boards and on most of them there are private groups that offer something different in addition to the services they provide for a fee. I think that everyone who purchased into the Passporer Club that they have joined up for a year or whatever is making it seem like it's a "group" type of thing, but it's no different from the "Who Got Their 2006 Passporter Yet?" type of thread. It's just a different type of product. I have one of the E-books and in the terms it says you can't share it...you know what? Here's an idea...
***Why not give a rank badge to the folks who participate in the message boards who bought Passporters and E-books as well as the Passporter Club to make things "fair" for all. I don't mean to rain on the parade of the Passporter Club subscribers, but I think it's a god solution. There can be a badge that says "Passporter Owner", another that says "Passporter & E-book owner" and so on and so forth. If it's a bad idea then it's a bad idea .***
That's my 2 cent...I'm going to go mind my business now. I do get what you mean though Joy. I hope you reconsider and give it a try whether it's a day or month at the least. It may just work out for you.
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Tanya "The Filofax Queen" Proud Passorter "Deluxe" Owner
I was wondering if any mention of that would come up. I felt the same way as Joyjoy did, but I signed up for one month to check it out, see if it fits my needs, and if I feel I only need one month, then there is no harm done. I just looked at a couple of the ebooks, and they are huge files. One is 113 pages. I'll have to pick and choose which ones to print out. I'm also going to DL in Dec. so I liked the 35% off coupon that is attached as an added benefit. But looking around, I didn't see anything that should of been added in the book for the price I paid. But I see your point as well.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Thanks to all who addressed my issues with the club. That's what's nice about this group - I can state my concerns without the worry of a public flogging. So thanks, y'all. If I look at the club as NOT a club, but just an additional product available for Passporter enhancement, I'm good. Not something I'll need, probably, but good all the same. My main concern was that the group that "joined" the "club" weren't just going to be a bunch of people that bought the same product, but a different class of PPers, better PPers. I think I noticed a forum over there, and that's what immediately turned me off.
Anyway, I'm satisfied with everyones' explanations of cheeseburgers and french fries , and I hope I didn't cause any anxiety on the part of the administrators and moderators.
Oh, and I appreciate the thought you put into it, Amirah95 and I see your points, but I personally don't think it's necessary to do the different badge thing. It might be just me, but I think the star system they use now is plenty good.