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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
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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07-29-2006, 05:42 PM
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#1
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Community Rank: Adventurer 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Dracut, MA
Posts: 790
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welcome to holland
have you seen this. i first read this in 1996 when my son was born. I nurse at the hospital gave it to me, and every now and then i like to read it. You know holland has been great for us, and I would not give it up for Italy in a million years.
Welcome to Holland
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.
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07-29-2006, 06:48 PM
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#2
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Community Rank: Navigator 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Peoria IL
Concierge Level: 1
Posts: 6,423
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Re: welcome to holland
I read this for the first time a few years ago and it is one of the best things I have ever read about having a child with a disability. The first time I read it, I cried for an hour. It brings me to tears everytime I read it.
While there are days when I wonder what it would have been like to go to Italy, Holland holds its own special charm.
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07-29-2006, 06:52 PM
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#3
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Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Dracut, MA
Posts: 790
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Re: welcome to holland
[ QUOTE ]
I read this for the first time a few years ago and it is one of the best things I have ever read about having a child with a disability. The first time I read it, I cried for an hour. It brings me to tears everytime I read it.
While there are days when I wonder what it would have been like to go to Italy, Holland holds its own special charm.
[/ QUOTE ]
yeah I cry too
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07-29-2006, 08:17 PM
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#4
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Community Rank: Traveler 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Mustang/Yukon Ok.
Posts: 227
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Re: welcome to holland
When my son was born premature in 96, It was in the handbook they gave out to parents who have children in the NICU. It also made me cry and is perfect to share with other parents when sharing your story.
Thanks for bringing back a fond memory.
Jennifer
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07-29-2006, 09:02 PM
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#5
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Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 821
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Re: welcome to holland
While I did land in Italy, I am in constant admiration of those who's journey has taken them to Holland.
Thanks so much for sharing this.
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07-30-2006, 05:42 PM
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#6
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Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 782
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Re: welcome to holland
I just wanted to make sure to attribute "Welcome to Holland" to its writer Emily Perl Kingsley. She wrote it after her son Jason was born and diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Here is a link to an interview she gave about the article:
http://www.creativeparents.com/EPKinterview.html |
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07-30-2006, 06:26 PM
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#7
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Maryland
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 14,723
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Re: welcome to holland
I have never read this. Wow, it was very powerful and brought me to tears. I've been to Italy with DS and Holland with DD...they are both special, unique, beautiful places. I am blessed to have experiences with both.
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07-30-2006, 10:52 PM
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#8
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Community Rank: Scout 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,685
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Re: welcome to holland
I have never read this before. I have never been to Italy or Holland (and am unable to go there). I admire all the people that have been to Holland (some have been there more than once). The people that have been to Italy are to be admired also. God Bless all the parents that have visited Italy and Holland.
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08-02-2006, 01:26 PM
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#9
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Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Dracut, MA
Posts: 790
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Re: welcome to holland
[ QUOTE ]
I just wanted to make sure to attribute "Welcome to Holland" to its writer Emily Perl Kingsley. She wrote it after her son Jason was born and diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Here is a link to an interview she gave about the article:
http://www.creativeparents.com/EPKinterview.html
[/ QUOTE ]
I was not talking credit for it. I could never write anything that good. |
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08-02-2006, 01:40 PM
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#10
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Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 8,784
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Re: welcome to holland
This got me through a tough time when my oldest DS was first diagnosed with autism spectrum. I really can't read it without crying.
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08-02-2006, 03:58 PM
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#11
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Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 35,829
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Re: welcome to holland
What a briliant, brilliant way to express herself
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08-03-2006, 12:54 AM
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#12
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Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 782
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Re: welcome to holland
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I just wanted to make sure to attribute "Welcome to Holland" to its writer Emily Perl Kingsley. She wrote it after her son Jason was born and diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Here is a link to an interview she gave about the article:
http://www.creativeparents.com/EPKinterview.html
[/ QUOTE ]
I was not talking credit for it. I could never write anything that good.
[/ QUOTE ]
I didn't think you were.
I've just seen a lot of people post the 'Holland' story on different boards. They got it from someone who thought it was really good (as you posted you did), but that person also got it from someone who didn't know where it came from.
I think the story is even more interesting if you know something about the writer, and also that her son wrote a book with another young man with Down Syndrome. |
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08-03-2006, 08:24 AM
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#13
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Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Dracut, MA
Posts: 790
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Re: welcome to holland
thanks for the info
Phil
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08-29-2006, 12:42 AM
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#14
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Community Rank: Jetsetter 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
Posts: 2,858
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Re: welcome to holland
I got a copy of this from my DD's physical therapist when she was about 2. It still makes me cry everytime I read it. Thanks for posting it here. Now I know where to get a copy if I need it!
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08-29-2006, 08:16 AM
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#15
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Community Rank: Trekker 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Maine
Posts: 1,406
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Re: welcome to holland
[ QUOTE ]
While I did land in Italy, I am in constant admiration of those who's journey has taken them to Holland.
Thanks so much for sharing this.
[/ QUOTE ]
My sentiments exactly. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/angel.gif[/img]
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