Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
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If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
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08-15-2002, 10:29 PM
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#1
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Community Rank: Wayfarer 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Montgomery, Alabama
Posts: 120
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Live Chat?
Has the idea been passed around for a live chat room on these boards? Might be pretty neat to pose questions "live" and get a real time answer. It could be where you have to be logged in before you could enter the chat room. Just a thought.
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08-15-2002, 11:24 PM
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#2
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Mrs. Jack Sparrow
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Aboard the Black Pearl
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 21,228
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Re: Live Chat?
Sounds cool.
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08-15-2002, 11:27 PM
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#3
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PassPorter Guide
 Community Rank: Trekker 
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Pine Bush, New York
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 1,900
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Re: Live Chat?
This would be wonderful. It could be a great place to hang out and at the same time keep some of the silly fun stuff live instead of lingering.
Susan
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08-17-2002, 09:06 PM
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#4
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Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Ann Arbor, MI USA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 14,427
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Re: Live Chat?
There are technical problems in creating a chat room that takes advantage of an existing PassPorter Posts message board login. As neat as it sounds, it's a bit beyond PassPorter's budget and the capabilities of our message board software.
I'd like to suggest two alternate solutions, either of which could be implemented almost immediately.
1) Use the existing chat rooms that are part of either the PassPorterWDW Yahoo! Group, or the PassPorterWDW_News Yahoo! Group. Currently, both of these groups are only used for our e-mail lists, but they have many other useful features, chat included. Anyone interested in chatting needs to create a Yahoo! membership or use an existing membership, and subscribe to the group we designate for chat. After that, folks can just sign into Yahoo! and chat whenever they want.
2) Use an AOL Instant Messenger Chat Room, like we already do for Joe Carioca's Sunday trivia games. In this case, we'd assign a permanent room name ("PassPorter Villa Chat"?), and anyone wishing to chat can use AIM to open the room, or join the chat already in progress. (Regular AOL members can also enter the room, using their existing AOL software.) The advantage of using AIM over Yahoo! Groups is that folks can use AIM for one-on-one conversations at any time, even when there aren't enough folks to keep a regular chat humming. (Our Profiles include a space for an AIM ID.)
One of the problems of operating a round-the-clock chat room with a community of this size is that the room will frequently be near-empty. People show up, wait a few minutes for others to arrive, and leave. Scheduled chats would be a better idea, at least in the beginning. I suggest that if folks want to chat, that we create a Chat Announcements topic in the The Backyard: Gatherings, Meets and Group Trips forum. Anyone interested in scheduling a chat could post a Reply in that topic, announcing their intent to "host" a chat at a particular time. The host would be responsible for being there to greet all others for the duration of that scheduled chat, but would have no other official responsibilities.
Your thoughts?
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08-17-2002, 09:59 PM
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#5
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Mrs. Jack Sparrow
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Aboard the Black Pearl
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 21,228
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Re: Live Chat?
Dave thats good advice, we wouldn't want to cause trouble for you.We will have to try it.
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08-26-2002, 04:55 PM
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#6
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Community Rank: Legend 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Slate Belt, PA
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 15,346
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Re: Live Chat?
Funny this should come up. My DH and I were just kicking around the idea of hosting a weekly AOL Instant Messenger chat due to the sudden surge in group meets. I'd love to host them myself, but the baby won't stay quiet for that long and DH won't always be available. We're not sure if we'd have the time to host an hour or two hour long chat every week, but maybe I could post a weekly invitation in The Backyard and ask for someone different to host each week. PM me or post in The Backyard if you'd be interested. Let's get the ball rolling!
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