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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Let me preface this by saying - we are not going camping this year. We are staying at a different cottage and we'll be renting a fire ring from the park office for the first time. So we'll have a campfire and a 4 year old. What kinds of things do you do around the campfire?
In my experience, singing and toasting marshmallows are about all a campfire is good for, but DH seems to think the greater part of our evenings will be spent around this dangerous little (in)convenience. (Sitting around a hot campfire on a muggy August night is not my idea of time well spent. I am not sedentary on vacay. I like to be up and moving and making the most of my vacation time at the park.)
I was thinking about getting one of those ice cream makers that's shaped like a ball. Thought that would be a fun way to pass the time each evening around the campfire with the grandparents and my niece and nephew (ages 12 and 14).
DD and her cousins actually cook over the campfire when they go on their annual camping trip. My Dad taught them everything they know about camping which may or may not be a good thing.
Liz
If you get tired of roasting weinies and toasting marshmallows, make camp pies! Get a couple pie irons from a camping store and then you just need bread, butter and a can of pie filling. Be careful when eating them, because the filling gets really hot.
1 lb bag of M&M's, 1 ounce box of raisins, 1/2 ounce pkg of peanuts? Grin!
I've never used one, but the ice cream balls are supposed to be great fun, and work great! I'm having a bday overnite party... maybe I'll get one for that... keep the girls busy for a while!
When we camp with Girl Scouts we use campfire time for story telling, singing, and of course S'mores. When we camp with family (DH, me, DS15 and DD13) we use campfire time to talk, sing, plan upcoming family events, and just chill. If it's daylight, we cook, or read, or listen to music. If it's night time, we watch the stars, listen to the sounds of the woods, etc. When we're camping, we're up and around all day - hiking, swimming, etc., so by evening we're pretty worn out and don't mind not "being active".
We also have a fire pit in our back yard that we use for camp fires on weekend evenings all spring, summer and fall. Our kids enjoy the "downtime" at the end of a week, or sometimes they invite friends over for marshmallows. We just use it as chill time. Catch up with each other. DH and I get some quiet time togteher, as the kids usually just hang out long enough for a few S'mores. Sometimes they'll be in the back yard with us, playing frisbee or throwing baseballs or footballs around. Just general low-key family time. Highly recommended!
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Jenny Harris
Next Trip: WDW in December 2014
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Camping/Camp Fire Question
We are staying at a different cottage and we'll be renting a fire ring from the park office for the first time. So we'll have a campfire and a 4 year old. 
What kinds of things do you do around the campfire? 
(Sitting around a hot campfire on a muggy August night is not my idea of time well spent. 
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