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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Two by Two Who?
Cast of Characters:
Me, Brandy (Full time student, Full time mom to 5, Part time substitute teacher) 3rd WDW trip
Ds, Dillon (5th grade student, Reading fanatic, aspiring film maker and astronomer) 3rd WDW trip What?
A mother/son trip to Walt Disney World When?
Thursday March 11th – Sunday March 14th Where?
Pop Century Resort How?
We will be flying out of Atlanta at 6pm Thursday night. And we have a return flight Sunday at 1pm. Why?
I told the kids a few years ago that I would take each of them on a 1/1 trip after they turned 10. I told them they could choose the destination (within reason). Not necessarily for their birthday or right after they turn 10- but simply sometime after their 10th b-day. My oldest son (Wesley) turned 10 first in 2007. He chose Washington D.C. In April of 2008, we went to D.C. for a few days- just the two of us and had a great time. Dillon was next. He turned 10 in April of 2009. Dillon chose Alaska. I was thrilled with his choice, as I had always wanted to go to Alaska. But a little research quickly proved that it was going to be expensive and require more than just a 2 or 3 day trip. Finally, I told him if he wanted to go to Alaska- it wasn’t happening anytime soon and that he may want to come up with an alternate destination. He chose Walt Disney World! Perfect! I knew it was affordable and I knew we would have a great time even if it was only going to be a short trip! The reason behind the title:
For starters, I’m just not that creative… But the number two represents our trip in many ways- there will be two of us… Dillon now has a two digit age… We will only be spending two days in the parks… You get the idea Up Next: The Planning
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That is cute, I am doing a Mother/Daughter Trip with my 7 year old daughter in December. Excited to see some of the things you and your son will be doing. We are going for 4 days, so that is good, but she is used to 7,
That is cute, I am doing a Mother/Daughter Trip with my 7 year old daughter in December. Excited to see some of the things you and your son will be doing. We are going for 4 days, so that is good, but she is used to 7,
We are in the same boat- We've always taken longer trips (8 and 10 days). So this will be a new experience. I expect it to be a pretty easy going trip.... Thanks for reading!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
It was after Christmas and around the New Year that I had Dillon pick an alternate destination. When he chose WDW, I immediately started checking for any promotions and trying to figure out when we could go.
The kids had off President’s day and the day after. There was a promotion out, but we didn’t qualify. It was the gift card promotion- but you had to stay 5 nights and we could only stay four nights for those dates. I decided that those dates were a little too close for planning anyhow and I kept looking.
Finally, a promotion came out for 25, 30, or 35%off of a stay through June. I had already been checking on dates and knew Dillon had a long weekend off school in March- the kids have an in-service day. This would only be three nights, but that was about all I was looking to do anyhow.
I had never used a travel agent before, but decided to go that route this trip. I contacted Judi (lukeandbrookesmom) from distrips and we were officially booked the next day! This was actually much less time consuming than calling Disney to book! So we were officially booked the first week of January for a mid March trip- so I had a little over two months to plan the trip… Up Next: Airfare
Nice to see your PTR started Brandy. If I haven't said it before I"ll say it now.. I'm in awe of you being a full time student and full time mom to 5! You rock!! I'm looking forward to hearing all about your special one-on-one trip. Very !