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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Our trip almost wasn't because of the death of my DF, but after talking it over with the rest of my family, they insisted that I continue as planned.
It was then almost postponed because of the horrible poison ivy we both got from working in the backyard. We both recovered from that, then on our last day of work, we took care of patients with the bad intestinal bug, severe vomiting and diarrhea. So, yes, Margo got it on Saturday, one day before we were scheduled to leave! I carted her to the local Urgent Care center, where I almost killed her before they took care of her. (Let's just say she wasn't herself). They gave her some IV fluids, medication for the nausea and diarrhea and several prescriptions to take home. After about an hour and a half, I came back and picked her up, but there was no way we were able to travel the next day.
I called SWA to find out what our options were. The CS was sooo nice, and we rebooked for Monday at the same rate. I then called Disney, explaining that we would not be arriving on Sunday, but Monday, because of Margo's illness. The CM I talked with was not very sympathetic to our predicament, cause it was only one day notice, but how were we to know that she would get so violently sick? She finally agreed to rebook us starting Monday, and gave us a refund for Sunday.
So our 7 day trip had now been reduced to 6,and Margo was not a 100%. On top of all of this, I was feeling queasy, but didn't get sick, thank goodness.
I was in nurse mode for the rest of Saturday and Sunday when we drove to Mississippi to catch the flight on Monday.
Monday 5/3
The fight was uneventful, except for a little turbulence. I have decided that flying is the way to go. We spent more time in the airport waiting to board, then we did actually flying to Orlando.
DME was easy to use, we go on the bus without much of a wait. It was a little hard to find, but we just kept walking down, and finally found it. The trip to POP took about 25 minutes and soon we were checking in. I had used online check in at the 10 day mark, so it was just a matter of getting the packet and changing the KTTW card to deny charging privileges.
I had requested a ground floor room, as Margo has fibromyalgia, it was even noted on our reservation, but we got a room on the 2nd floor. Room 4231 was going to be our home for the next 6 days. We got a preferred room, but I didn't know that our view would be of the service area between the buildings. Oh well, we weren't planning on being in the room much, so the view wasn't that important. It was on the backside of the building, so we didn't get the pool noise.
We dropped our carryon stuff, and took off for DHS. We live in S. Louisiana, so we know hot and muggy, but the heat coming off the pavement was horrible. We took our time and did get to a few rides. We loved TSMM and vowed to come again before we left. I rode the RnRc and we walked around some before the heat just got too bad for me. Margo was a picture takin' fool, I think she took about 1300 pics during our trip, and while I sat in the shade, she was roaming, taking pics. We had reservations at WCC for supper, so we decided to go the the WL early, to cool off and get some pics.
The WL was wonderfully cool, so we waited to check in for our ressie until about 30 minutes before our time. We both decided to get the skillet and it was wonderful. The meal punctuated by a server that was really into the character and we had a good time.
We decided to go home after eating, as we were both feeling the time and heat.
I started feeling more queasy, so I took medication for it and slept like a baby the whole night. (We took enough meds with us to fill a small pharmacy).
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Great start! I am glad to hear about your positive experience at WCC, it seems like a lot of people have been reporting that the cast members haven't been as in to it lately.
It sounds like you really needed this trip. Sorry to hear about your DF and the less than magical start but hopefully things got better quickly. What did you think of Pop? We're staying there in Oct. for the first time for one night and I'm actually really excited about it.