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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Years ago there was a wonderful story written by a wonderful writer by the name of Zamgwar. I read it on here and I fell in love with it so much that I have it posted in my kitchen for all to see.
Sadly, I cannot find the article anywhere online to link it.
*But* with his written permission and a big smile Here is the story in it's entirety.
And a special thanks to Dave for helping me get in touch with him!
Thank you!!!
So you think you understand Disney?
It’s easy to forget what things are all about. What you were so upset about this morning. What the book you read last month was all about. It’s also possible, in this time of layoffs and mothballed hotels, to forget what that 40 square miles of Florida known as Disney World is all about.
With apologies to Dr. Seuss for borrowing his rhyme scheme, there are many things, that while related to Disney World, are not what it’s really all about.
It’s not about Mickey or snow globe parades. Nor breakfasts, or lunches, or new pins to trade. It’s not about light bulbs or things that once were, or oversized characters covered with fur.
It’s not about steam boats with whistles that blow, or will there be new rides next time that you go. It isn’t about Peter, Tine, Hook or the Croc. Nor about profits, and mergers and stock.
It’s not about marketing surveys, what’s right and what’s wrong. Or when you can go, when the lines aren’t too long. Not Dole Whips, or Churros, or iced Kaki Gori, or Pressler or Eisner in some newspaper story.
It’s not about Muppets who appear in 3D, or about Pooh, where Toad used to be. It’s not Bashful, or Grump or Sleepy or Doc, or colorful lions that live at Pride Rock.
It’s not The Castle, the colors or some new plush toy fad (It’s not? It’s not? Surely Zamgwar’s gone mad!) It’s not that a century’s passed since Walt’s birth or a park filled with animals, or a celebration of Earth.
It isn’t character photos, with The Beast or with Belle, or even if Main Street has that cookie dough smell. Not The Tree of Life’s carvings, or a salute to show biz. But there is one thing it’s about, that it certainly is!
It’s about magic!
Not the kind of magic that makes rabbits appear from hats. But the kind of magic that can stir the soul.
In an adult’s eyes, the sights, sounds and smells of the Mouse can work magic on a faded memory. They bring back a time long ago, when Walt filled the screen on Sunday nights and Uncle Henny told you not to sit too close to the old RCA because it had radiation. It reminds of when Mom the THE Mom, and if your KITCHEN smelled of cookie dough, you might get to lick the bowl.
In the spring and summer, the fresh cut grass and fragrant roses of Disney World’s wondrous landscaping can whisk you to backyard days of scabby knees, cardboard refrigerator box rocket ships.
In its winter holiday splendor, you might recall the pictures askew on the wall and a trail of pine needles on the floor, signaling that Dad had recently dragged a Christmas tree through on its way to the living room.
Disney World’s attractions bring to life long ago View Master 3D pictures of Disneyland. Pictures you might have looked at in youthful amazement before drifting off to sleep, to dream of a far away with where the Matterhorn was a ride, and monorails were real.
During the clackety-clack of Big Thunder Railroad, as it climbs the hill, you may catch a glimpse of a child, clutching his big brother’s hand. The sight might suddenly transport you back to your own brother’s side, at parks with names like “Playland” or “Palisades” or “Freedomland”.
Then as the wind blows through your hair on its descent, it peels back decades, compelling you to seek out a hug from an oversized mouse.
A pause on a bench in Epcot can stir the feelings of amazement that were part of a childhood family trip to a glorious World’s Fair. A place where the wonders of the future, and the beauty of the cultures of the world, shared the same stage.
Whenever age works its cynical, critical ways on us, it’s important to remember what it’s like to be a kid, in a place where fairies fly overhead, every day is the Fourth of July, and bedtime stories come to life. In the eyes of a child, even the awful Big Hat may just be the most “splendiferous” thing they’ve ever seen. Remember, to a 6-year-old, causing Dumbo to soar skyward at the pull of a handle, or seeing a bright red steam engine pull into Main Street station *is* and E-ticket attraction. That’s because Disney’s magic never seems to fail on kids. They still believe everyone, regardless of appearance, is a potential pal, the good guys always win, and every story has a happy ending. To the young, and the young at heart, the magic is in how they feel in surroundings that to them are, like Mary Poppins, “practically perfect in every way”.
It only fails on people who may have lost the magic of childhood, in themselves. For as I’ve always said, it isn’t the place that makes the magic, it’s the people.
If you can keep the Magic of childhood alive inside you, it will keep not only Disney World, but the real world, a wonderful Carousel of Color, and tomorrow will always be just a dream away.
I love that story I will be sharing it with a gal I work with her and her hubby go to disney several times a year and her hubby is always talking about the disney magic
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That gave me Mouse tears. Not many people in my life understand my love of Disney. Even if they have been there, they don't feel what I feel when I am walking down Main Street. It is nice to know that there are others who feel the same way I do!!
Thank you for reposting that! I just got that deep down in the pit of my stomach butterflies that I get every time I walk under the RR station and see the Castle at the end of Main Street. Still get that feeling after all these years.
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About This Page: 
So you think you know Disney?
Here is the story in it's entirety.
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Pixie Dust
. Thanks so much for sharing
New Years Trip 2014/2015
Cassie
PassPorter Guide Author
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