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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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As any of you who were in the band or are/were band parents you know that weekends are for PARADES...
Today was the seasons first Christmas parade & Jamies band director tries to make things fun so he had a contest for the tubas & the one who decorated his/her tuba the best as voted on by the band staff will win a pie.. ( our current fundraiser! )
I am not crafty at all but fortunately, Jim is, so he & Jamie devised a plan to make the tuba as a fireplace with Santa at the bottom & a christmas tree with gifts underneath.. and put a string of battery operated lights around the tuba We had a hard time finding fireplace/brick paper to use & luckily we had a roll in our attic for them to use..
My idea was to cover the entire front of the tuba with the brick paper & have santa going down the chimney but obviously the crafty people in my house know better as Jamie tied for first place... not too shabby for a freshman..
I did add a little input & made the tiny stockings on the fireplace, Jamie put all of the tuba players names on them & I made little gift tags with "TO ____ ____" & each band staffs name on it & Jamie put them on the gifts ... AND I thought of the cotton snow at the top
half of the gift had fallen off at this point & since it was daylight you couldn't see the lights turned on but I think it was cute.
Any suggestions you have for decorating the tuba for next year would be GREATLY appreciated.. I will have 2 kids in band, playing tuba so we need as many ideas as possible.. Brendans already thinking of ideas to beat his brother next year
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Next year, how about making Santa's face around the bell and have the opening be his mouth and make a speech bubble with "Ho, Ho, Ho!" or something of the like on it.
That is, provided the "Ho, Ho, Ho!' isn't offensive to anyone by this time next year.
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That is such a cool idea, decorating tubas! Congrats to Jamie for tying for first place. Judging by the other tuba players around him in the pic, his had the most detail. As for next year, I think that round tuba shape is just begging for Mickey Ears on top and a Santa hat, with a beard on the bottom.
BTW, in our area every year during the holidays, there's a TubaChristmas concert, where they invite all the tuba players in the area to asseemble for an afternoon of holiday music. They used to do it at the mall, but now I think it's held at one of the colleges. I'll have to see if I can dig up some info on it for you.
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-Lisa
The World is a book. Those who do not travel read only a page." - Augustine
As any of you who were in the band or are/were band parents you know that weekends are for PARADES...
Unless you're a bandgeek growing up in Alaska like I was... we didn't even march in the homecoming parade! Season is just too short to even bother!
congrats! sounds like so much fun, I can't come up with anything craft as we weren't ever able to do stuff like that... we had a very traditional band director (read in boring as we had her from 6th grade to Senior year! )