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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 don't want to scare anyone out of foreign student exchanges, but I just read this story, and the way AFS handled this student's situation was horrible! And they haven't even given the family their money back!
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That's really too bad. I hope he doesn't suffer any permanent effects.
When I was growing up we were a host family for about 15 years for International Agricultural Exchange Association, sometimes taking in 2 or 3 students at a time when other hosts or students requested a change. (Unfortunately it happens) We had adult (ages 19-29) exchange students from England, New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and I think the Netherlands but by that time I had moved away from home. We used to love it when our Swiss guy's Mom sent care packages.... Swiss chocolate anybody?!! Omg! I just realized our first student would be nearly 60 years old now! I totally enjoyed learning the different cultures (although those Kiwi's can keep their Toast & Marmite!! blech) and my sister went to New Zealand for 7 or 8 months as an exchange student herself. She didn't have a great experience there with her host family either, although she wasn't starved!
That is a really frightening story. I hope that he will be ok and that the program will re-evaluate its policies in light of this situation. It may be an isolated incident, but it never should have happened at all.
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I couldn't read the whole story....second page wouldn't load.
How awful.
I had neighbor that did an exchange to Turkey when I was a kid. She came back looking a lot like that boy. She got sick though (I can't remember the disease). I just remember my parents talking about how awful it was for her there.
And I had a classmate who went to Australia on a sheep farm. He said it was awful too, they used him like slave labor.
Turned me off to the whole idea.
I'd be willing to take someone here if my DH was up for it, but I won't send my kids away that long.
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Kudos to the boy - he still wants to make a difference in the world. He still wants to go help build homes this summer in Zimbabwe.
for him and his family. It is an absolute shame he had to go through such an ordeal. Hope his health improves quickly and that there is no long term problems.
Wow! And the whole idea that AFS discourages parental contact during the students experience is troubling.
My kids' school has an exchange program, except it's only for a couple of weeks. The school discourages contact - other than once or twice. They've found that if the kids talk to their parents more than that, they tend to get caught up in what they're missing - and of course, parents don't help by saying things like "We really miss you" "It's so hard not having you here" "your sister doesn't know what to do without you" which they mean to use a way of saying "your prescence is missed, and we won't forget you" but is usually heard by (all ages) as "We can't cope without you"
I find myself a little suspect about some of this story - one of the things I can't understand is the family being ignorant about what the host family would expect. I always find out - through the school, whose program is no-where near as stream-lined as AFS - what religion the family is, and what that might mean for my DD (I would NEVER expect a Jewish family to feed her pork, or a Muslim family to feed her during the day in the season of Rhamadam)
Maybe he thought he could do it, and then was embarrassed to admit it wouldn't work for his body.
That poor boy does look pretty awful, though. Many, many hopes and thoughts that this can be resolved. Here's hoping that he gains some weight and is healthy once again.
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Omg! I just realized our first student would be nearly 60 years old now! 
I totally enjoyed learning the different cultures (although those Kiwi's can keep their Toast & Marmite!! blech
) and my sister went to New Zealand for 7 or 8 months as an exchange student herself. She didn't have a great experience there with her host family either, although she wasn't starved!
for him and his family. It is an absolute shame he had to go through such an ordeal. Hope his health improves quickly and that there is no long term problems.
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