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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 was in Caribou Coffee today and they had this cute garland of felt coffee cups personalized for each of the employees. I commented on how cute it was and the manager told me that one of the employees made it. She said that last year they had stockings but "corporate complained" that they made customers uncomfortable.
Can someone explain how a company that sells "Ho Ho Mochas" and "Fa La Lattes" can find stockings unacceptable?
I don't know the actual reasoning, but one possibility is that while "Ho Ho Mocha" and "Fa La Lattes" use phrases vaguely indicative of Christmas, stockings are an overt declaration of an impending visit from Santa. For customers who don't expect Santa to visit (that is, those who don't celebrate Christmas) seeing a row of stockings could be off-putting. Even more, employees who don't celebrate Christmas might feel uncomfortable.
As someone who doesn't celebrate Christmas, I have no problem with tinsel, wreaths, and even trees decorated with colored balls and other ornaments, because they seem to relate more to brightening up the winter darkness than to the specific meaning of Christmas. I don't even mind decorations or background music that involve Santa, reindeer, and elves, because they have become secular symbols of the season. However, stockings are personal -- they show that specific people expect to have them filled, and I'm not one of those people. Would seeing stockings for employees be enough to make me stop patronizing a business? No, definitely not. Would I be more comfortable in a place that didn't have personalized stockings? Probably yes. Would I prefer to work in a place that didn't give me a stocking? Definitely yes.
As I said, I have no idea if this was really the rationale, but it does sort of make sense to me.
It seems weird to me. One of the local businesses we frequent has a menorah on display during Hanukkah. I think it's lovely and it would never occur to me to complain about it.
Having a display of faith or belief is completely different, IMO, from forcing those beliefs on someone. If you don't like the display, don't support the business with your dollars.
Everyone is going to be offended by something, somewhere. I think some people go around looking for things to be offended by, quite honestly.
political correctness has gone to far. religion or lack of it should be able to tolerate a stocking. I don't think Budda , Abraham, Jesus, Zeus, Venus or Mother Nature even wore them
You know...there are an awful lot of things that people do or say that make me uncomfortable, but I don't see anyone changing their behaviors or things they display to suit my tastes. If someone doesn't celebrate a particular holiday that is their choice, but why should the people that do be unable to enjoy or display their holiday cheer/decorations because of it? Last time I checked I defended a FREE country where freedom of expression is guaranteed to EVERYONE in the First Amendment, regardless if that expression makes someone uncomfortable. Yes, there are words and phrases that we should not use out of respect for dignity of the human race, but that is my only limitation.
I am not trying to say everyone has to believe in the same things, I am saying we all get way to wrapped around the axle trying to be politically correct so as not to offend anyone or make anyone uncomfortable...which means we have effectively thrown the First Amendment out the window.
I see the other point of view, I can respect (and I defend)the right to hold it, but it isn't for me.
You know...there are an awful lot of things that people do or say that make me uncomfortable, but I don't see anyone changing their behaviors or things they display to suit my tastes. If someone doesn't celebrate a particular holiday that is their choice, but why should the people that do be unable to enjoy or display their holiday cheer/decorations because of it? Last time I checked I defended a FREE country where freedom of expression is guaranteed to EVERYONE in the First Amendment, regardless if that expression makes someone uncomfortable. Yes, there are words and phrases that we should not use out of respect for dignity of the human race, but that is my only limitation.
I am not trying to say everyone has to believe in the same things, I am saying we all get way to wrapped around the axle trying to be politically correct so as not to offend anyone or make anyone uncomfortable...which means we have effectively thrown the First Amendment out the window.
I see the other point of view, I can respect (and I defend)the right to hold it, but it isn't for me.
You know...there are an awful lot of things that people do or say that make me uncomfortable, but I don't see anyone changing their behaviors or things they display to suit my tastes. If someone doesn't celebrate a particular holiday that is their choice, but why should the people that do be unable to enjoy or display their holiday cheer/decorations because of it? Last time I checked I defended a FREE country where freedom of expression is guaranteed to EVERYONE in the First Amendment, regardless if that expression makes someone uncomfortable. Yes, there are words and phrases that we should not use out of respect for dignity of the human race, but that is my only limitation.
I am not trying to say everyone has to believe in the same things, I am saying we all get way to wrapped around the axle trying to be politically correct so as not to offend anyone or make anyone uncomfortable...which means we have effectively thrown the First Amendment out the window.
I see the other point of view, I can respect (and I defend)the right to hold it, but it isn't for me.
So stockings are offensive, but it's still totally okay to play "Here Comes Santa Claus" in the background and drink something called a "Ho Ho Mocha," even though I'm pretty sure no one else uses that term, but Santa?
Clear as mud. :-) I understand keeping things holiday neutral...I'm just failing to see some of the logic on this particular topic.
You know...there are an awful lot of things that people do or say that make me uncomfortable, but I don't see anyone changing their behaviors or things they display to suit my tastes. If someone doesn't celebrate a particular holiday that is their choice, but why should the people that do be unable to enjoy or display their holiday cheer/decorations because of it? Last time I checked I defended a FREE country where freedom of expression is guaranteed to EVERYONE in the First Amendment, regardless if that expression makes someone uncomfortable. Yes, there are words and phrases that we should not use out of respect for dignity of the human race, but that is my only limitation.
I am not trying to say everyone has to believe in the same things, I am saying we all get way to wrapped around the axle trying to be politically correct so as not to offend anyone or make anyone uncomfortable...which means we have effectively thrown the First Amendment out the window.
I see the other point of view, I can respect (and I defend)the right to hold it, but it isn't for me.
I don't know if this happens in any of the establishments you frequent, but in many of the local bars employees put up stocking as a way for regulars to leave them christmas presents--ie an extra holiday tip. Perhaps Coffee Corporate was afraid thats what they were for!
When I had a Staff of abot 15 people I put up small stockings around my office window which looked out on the kitchen. Each Stocking had the name of the staff person who worked for me currently and they were all filled exactly the same .. lottery ticket, candy, etc. A woman who had worked for me til June and the switced to another Section with in our Building came to me and asked me why had I had not included her since she had worked for me til the end of May. I explained that she no longer worked for me and worked for someone else now. But the interesting part was that she was from a country & a religion that did not even celebrate Christmas. But she was disappointed to not get a Christmas stocking. It showed me that most people want to be a part of a celebration, even when they don't celebrate it themselves. Had she worked for me still I would have included her with the stocking, much the same way that co workers who celebrate Ramadam would invite me to their home for the feast at the end of it. People who brought in foods or holiday expereinces that were from their culture or religion. I love hearing about or being asked to share in someone elses holiday cheer. Its too bad about the stockings, but I love the coffeecup Idea.
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