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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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In the past few months we've considered the following for a Summer or Fall trip:
San Diego
Hilton Head
Ireland
Maine
I KNOW, we're all over the place - literally.
Our current contender is Maine. We'll be driving from Ohio with a 3 year old and a 1 year old. We'd like to stick to coastal areas with 5-7 days and staying in one location.
Any suggestions?
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Blogging about whatever comes to mind at The New Smiths.
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I used to live in Camden, mid-coast town on Penobscot Bay, so I'm partial to that area. There's a lot to do there and in the nearby towns of Lincolnville, Belfast, Rockport and Rockland. Beautiful scenery as well.
Any one of those would be a great choice! My DH's family is from the same area in Maine where Laurie used to live - Searsport on Penobscot Bay. I also love Ogunquit, Kennebunkport, and way up in Bar Harbor. It is a beautiful location!
My parents live in Hilton Head and we have really fallen in love with HHI.
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My bff lives in Winter Harbor, Maine and its beautiful. I will say though, we drive from just south of Boston and its still like an 8 hour drive and dh and ds complain the whole way. There's no way I would want to make the drive with any child younger than ds, who is 7.
We've spent the last 3 summers in Camden, Maine. It is a beautiful area, as Laurie said. There is a nice park (with ducks), a nice harbor with lots of boats, and nearby hiking trails. I'm not 100% sure how the kids would like it, since one of the attractions for most people is dining out on the waterfront.
Further north, in Bar Harbor, you have Acadia National Park - again, beautiful scenery and hiking, but not a lot specifically for kids (which may not be an issue for you).
San Diego does have a wonderful zoo, and it should be warm enough to swim in the ocean (less likely in Maine, although people do swim at the beach), and perhaps a hotel with a pool if the kids like to swim.
Maine is a beautiful state and I feel there aren't too many places where you can go wrong. Where you go depends on how many things you want to have access to and how much driving you are willing to do.
Southern Maine is more built up, which by Maine standards is not very built but you can drive to chain stores and restaurants, easily go to a movie or bowling and shop. The further north you go, the more spread out things will be until you reach the Canadian border. where there are a couple of bigger towns.
Also be prepared, the water is on the cooler side. Actually, the gulf stream makes for warmer waters sometimes further north-like in Nova Scotia.
I personally do no think you can go wrong with a Maine vacation, but if you want to stay in one place, remember it is a large state and you will have to do a lot of driving.
We have always liked the Wells area for a quick weekend trip. Although not a quick trip for us, Acadia has much to offer, especially if you want a more rustic or laid back vacation. You can camp pretty inexpensively and still get the same views.
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Charlie
Last edited by Huntermom; 03-28-2013 at 05:44 PM..
Reason: computer key stuck
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Count me in on the Maine Bandwagon. My aunt lives in Belfast (I think there's a running theme for that area) and we've always found things to do even with Abby but it does all come down to what you are looking for. Visiting my aunt was obviously tops on the list but we've taken Abby mini-golfing up there, Belfast has the "city park" where she's played in the playground and then we've gone down to the beach to skip stones on the water and look at life in the tidal pools. One year we did the train ride out of Belfast (I forget the details on it but could find it for you). We visited the Owl Head lighthouse. We went to visit another lighthouse (again, I forget the name) but it was out on a breakwater (??) that was something like a mile long. Only Abby and I headed out but then we got tired and cold (it was a rainy day so we really had to watch our steps) so we turned around. We went to the lighthouse museum in the area. One place we wanted to go but never made it was the Golden Compass - it was on a Food Network show once. There was another park we went to. We went out into the Bay on one of the tours. Like I said, it all depends upon what you want out of it but we've found things to do up there besides swim in the indoor pool at the hotel (always a huge favorite of Abby).
We always used to go to York Beach for a week when the kids were little. They had the zoo, and mini amusement park. The beach was right there, and there was a cute downtown area that you could walk around. We would take daytrips to Portland/Freeport (LL Bean) and just next door to Ogunquit and Kittery.
I've never been to Maine, but we will be visiting next summer so this thread is of interest to me.... With my research so far, we plan to go to Arcadia National Park and drive the Arcadia byway....
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I went to college in southern Maine (Portland area) and I loved my time there. My friends and I spent a week in Boothbay Harbour a few summers ago and had a great time but as others have said, the Kennebunt and Ogunquet areas are also very nice.
yay maine! i LOVE maine! and even sticking close to the coast, there's a variety of great options. it depends upon what you are looking for in a destination.
i've been to ogunquit, boothbay harbor, bar harbor/acadia, and portland. i'd say for a young famimly, ogunquit or bar harbor are your best bets. do you want mountains (bar harbor) or beach (ogunquit)? boothbay is great for a relaxing, kitchy trip with lots of great seafood (and a side trip to monhegan island, which i maintain is one of the most under appreciated destinations in the US) and portland is great for dining (oh the food...the food...) and shopping.
We always used to go to York Beach for a week when the kids were little. They had the zoo, and mini amusement park. The beach was right there, and there was a cute downtown area that you could walk around. We would take daytrips to Portland/Freeport (LL Bean) and just next door to Ogunquit and Kittery.
I spent three different summers at my church's "resort" center (more like a church camp as far as the accommodations were concerned, but the food was terrific) near Saco, so I know the area you mention pretty well. It really is lovely.
The only drawback in terms of dipping body parts in the Atlantic is that the water is COLD even in July and August. Not unusual for the water temp to be in the 50's that time of year.
Shopping at LL Bean's store is a must if you like outdoorsy things. I still use the Swiss Army knife I bought there...ulp...almost 30 years ago. Great place to find quality products.
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My DH's family is from the same area in Maine where Laurie used to live - Searsport on Penobscot Bay. I also love Ogunquit, Kennebunkport, and way up in Bar Harbor. It is a beautiful location! 
I'll keep all of these suggestions in mind if we go next year.
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