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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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It looks like our next major trip will be to Hawaii for 2016 - thinking summer time frame; I guess this is a low crowd time of year? We are just beginning to discuss it.
At this point travelers will be myself (would be 45), DH (would be 51), and DD (would be 7.5)
I have never been to Hawaii; always wanted to go. DH was there for work once briefly.
I am looking for suggestions of great guide books to assist in planning. Any other suggestions appreciated. We want to have some experiences appropriate to our daughter's age. This would likely be a once in a lifetime kind of trip.
We went to Hawaii for eight nights in November 2013 and loved our time out there. I used my trusty Dorling Kindersley guidebook to plan our trip and found that very useful. We stayed at Aulani and did day trips to Maui, Kauai and Big Island and I've done a few articles for the PassPorter newsletter about our time, if you want to check those out.
I don't know if you're planning on staying at Aulani at all during your visit, but if you are, then PassPorter's Disney Vacation Club Guide may help you, as it's got a section on the resort.
I would recommend a cruise with Norwegian's ship Pride of America. This way you can get to experience different of the islands without having to fly from island to island and stay in different hotels. The ship departs from Oahu so there are no sea days and it is a 7 day length. During that time you get to see Maui, Kauai, and both sides of The Big Island. There is an excursion selection in Oahu for the day the ship sets sail or docks depending on what time the flight is back home or you could come in a few days early or stay over to tour there as well.
Thank you for the input! The idea of a cruise is interesting. My DH is not super excited about it but it is worth investigating for sure.
We also checked with Aulani and they want $500/night for summer and $450/night for holiday season.
Plus it is on O’ahu – and we would not be able to see any of the big island. Still something to keep in mind.
The 2015 DK guidebook isn't available until June it looks like. I am not sure I want to invest in a 2014 version.... looking at Frommers and Fodors... possibly Andrew Doughty's series of books such as "Kuai Revealed", "Oahu Revealed", etc.
Anyway, thanks again and hopefully the suggestions keep coming!
The 2015 DK guidebook isn't available until June it looks like. I am not sure I want to invest in a 2014 version.... looking at Frommers and Fodors... possibly Andrew Doughty's series of books such as "Kuai Revealed", "Oahu Revealed", etc.
I personally wouldn't worry too much about which year the DK guidebook is from I've bought updated versions before now, and have been disappointed with how little I've found has changed between them - it's not like PassPorter, where there are lots of visible changes.
We took the Norwegian Cruise Line Hawaii trip - absolutely awesome!! 7 days and we saw and did so much. We picked the excursions and we did split up a couple of times. Ziplining, Snorkeling with Turtles, Land Adventures - everything we did was fun, uncomplicated and someone else took care of the details.
We just booked our next NCL cruise to Western Caribbean so this cruise line is wonderful
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