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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I have been pouring over everyone's scrapbook pages on this site and all over the net, basically. I have seen quite a few pages that use postcards as an embellishment. WHAT A CONCEPT. Never would have thought of that one. :headache:
I know the hotel shop (POP) should have a nice selection of them but where else would I buy them from in the parks? I'd like to get ones of restaurant signs and ones of the rides especially. Do they sell them like this? Or are they mostly of characters, castle, park icons, etc? Can someone point me in the right direction?
What else would you include as embellishments on your pages other than the typical stickers, die cuts, etc? I would really like to make a whopper of an album for this trip and I'm getting so excited. I've also seen people cut up the park maps and brochures and use pieces of them also. I'm sure for this I'll need that archival mist stuff. But I'd really like to get some different examples. Please tell.
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PAM WDW October 1993--HONEYMOON--(stayed offsite) WDW May 2001--First trip with our boys--(offsite) WDW June 2005--Vacation w/ the inlaws--(hey, they PAID)!!! Stayed at All Star Movies
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Location: SW PA/a.k.a. "The Tundra" in the winter & "A Sauna" in the summer
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I was pretty disappointed with the postcard selection - particularly in regards to characters. You'll find that taking photos of characters is a lot easier than finding specific postcards.
However, that didn't stop me from buying! I found that what I saw at the resort was pretty much the same thing sold in the larger gift shops.
Here are some variations - in Epcot WS, I believe there were postcards unique to the countries (someone please correct me on this). But I recall seeing at least postcards of flags plus those specific WS shots. In Animal Kingdom, I bought a packet of postcards of all of the KS animals.
I scanned those AK postcards and made tags for my pages and was pleased with the final product. And the great thing about scanning and printing, I can vary my sizes on things! Here are some pages from the AK section of my book. I used the elephant background paper because of the whole "Big Red, Little Red" storyline. I used Jolee's dimensional elephants plus die cut elephants. The shapes cut from black cardstock came from a stencil sheet I found once in the $1 section at Target.
I buy magnets, keychains, even pins to add to my pages. I have no compunction whatsoever about lopping off the pin part to use it in my scrapbook. (I don't use especially limited editions or expensive pins, though.) In fact, if they're thin enough, I can run them right through my Xyron 250 to make them into stickers. I also save wrappers, ticket stubs, things I find (steel rings from the carousel can be found all over the park on the ground at Knoebels), even a bolt I found on the ground not far from our cottage one year. DH was teasing me about the rides - saying that the world is only held together with bolts. So I found a bolt in the park that day and it made DH howl with laughter. So I saved it for the scrapbook.
Location: SW PA/a.k.a. "The Tundra" in the winter & "A Sauna" in the summer
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Too funny! You're of the "if it's not nailed down" (or should I say "bolted down") school too! Reminds me of my honeymoon. DH & I had been a long distance dating couple - so every time we were together I was always collecting stuff - ticket stubs, airline boarding passes, you name it. We had been joking about that on our honeymoon as we were packing and I was running around collecting my last minute souvenirs. He walked out of the bathroom about the time I started to take the iron from the closet - "I can't believe you!" he said. "What? I'm just ironing my shirt!" Somehow I don't think I could have scrapped the iron that easily! HA! To this day, he teases me about that and always reminds me to "pack the iron" when we're leaving a hotel!
I did freak him out on our last flight - grabbing a barf bag! Would you believe I did find a way to use that in my scrapbook? I created a journal block from it! Chalked it, put vellum cloud stickers on it and a girly bow - dressed up that barf bag!
SO - anything goes - if it's not nailed or bolted down, get creative and use it (well, except the iron!).
I'm another "If it's not nailed down, I'll put it in a scrapbook" person. Once when I was doing a layout of our breakfast at Donald's in AK, I saw a piece of one of DD's old puzzles laying on the basement floor (it must have fallen out of one of many boxes of old toys). I picked it up and turned it over only to find it had part of Donald's face on it. That to me was a sign that I had to put it on the page.
As far as things at WDW, just keep your eyes open and look at everything. Napkins, children's menus, wine lists (I got one from WCC that had a beautiful picture of the WL on it) swizzle sticks, fast passes, resort brochures, resort maps and newsletters (that you get at check in) and the list could go on and on.
Just make sure if you uses things like this that you protect your photos and layouts from future damage. Don't use them in direct contact with your photos and if you want to be extra careful, use an arichival spray on any questionable items.
Location: Physically stuck in Michigan while my heart and soul reside in Disney.....
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I did freak him out on our last flight - grabbing a barf bag! Would you believe I did find a way to use that in my scrapbook? I created a journal block from it! Chalked it, put vellum cloud stickers on it and a girly bow - dressed up that barf bag!
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You gotta laugh at this! I did the same thing but never would have had the guts to admit it....LOL I scrapped mine with the maps of the parks inside it, like a memo keeper. (of course it was non-used for traditional purposes!) LOL ....ONLY a scrapaholic would understand this obcession!
I forgot to add - anything that I deem too bumpy to fit in the scrapbook, I take a picture of and cut out to use as an embellie.. I have countless pictures of flowers, pins, keychains, food, candy, dirty shoes and rainboots, even one of dog poop. (You had to be there. )