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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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That would be great! I love my Kindle app for my iTouch and have lots of travel-related info on it already for our upcoming trip (currency exchange with all the various cities, and currencies, we'll experience), a London Tube app, weather for all our cities, etc. It would be great to have a PP to open on my Kindle!
Hopefully for a future trip!
I should note that books like PassPorter's Walt Disney World are not going to be on ebook readers like Kindle because of the heavy formatting, unless ebook readers evolve soon to allow for better presentation of formatted books like that.
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.
I should note that books like PassPorter's Walt Disney World are not going to be on ebook readers like Kindle because of the heavy formatting, unless ebook readers evolve soon to allow for better presentation of formatted books like that.
...but PDF versions would work on it! According to all reports the new 2.5 upgrade on the Kindle will handle PDFs beautifully...along w/ zoom, etc.
I can't speak to how well it works since my Kindle hasn't been updated yet!
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.
Most e-book vendors don't want to carry PDFs, though - the bandwidth requirements for download are so high. Even with the Kindle upgrade, I haven't seen a hint that Amazon will actually start selling PDFs (and I just got back from Book Expo America, where e-books were THE hot topic, and a top agenda item for me). For the time-being, the PassPorter Store will probably continue to be the primary source for our e-books in PDF format. It will be cool when Kindle owners can easily view PDFs they import from other sources. Despite the iPad's ability to beautifully display PDFs, it doesn't look like Apple will be selling PDF e-books for the time-being, either - you'll need to import them as attached files or use a PDF reading app that includes import features.
Apps for Apple and Android are another avenue we're pursuing. They seem to be the right choice for some of our books, because they offer more sophisticated ways to present the information in our books and can add new capabilities. However, apps aren't an answer for folks who use Kindle, the Sony Reader, etc. It's possible that we'll be producing some of our books in at least three basic types of e-format (and several more sub-categories).
This is a fast-moving field, so the solutions available a year from today may look very different - I saw some very interesting stuff at Book Expo. So, stay tuned!
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
iBooks on the iPad will see a PDF feature added next week. This would be a great way to read the eBooks and the others that have yet to see their electronic debut like the Passporter proper and the Special Needs book.
I really would like to see the PDF files in the Passporter Club lose the holes templates on the sides as they can be distracting, but other than that, there shouldn't be much if anything you'd need to do to make that leap (unless I'm missing something big).
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.
I'm holding my breath to see the PDF upgrade for iBooks to see just how, say, PDF downloads from the PassPorter Store will be handled as a process. Also, there's no hint that iBookstore will be carrying PDFs, which means we miss out on selling our e-books to folks browsing that store (re-formatting most of our books for ePub format is very challenging).
Removing the looseleaf hole template from the PDFs is something for Jennifer to address. In addition to the folks who want that feature (we'd have to make both versions) there are also issues about the work needed to remove that element from the layout every time a book is updated.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
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