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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Originally for this trip I bought the Spiral with the intent to take it with us, but the more I think about, it is so heavy! Has anyone used both the Deluxe and the Spiral and is the Deluxe any lighter? Someone mentioned taking out sections they didnt need and it got me thinking.
I take my Deluxe with me on all my Disney trips. I can't travel without it! LOL! What I like to do is take out what I need from my Deluxe whether it's the pocket pages( them!) for each day when I'm touring the parks or even the handy fold out map for each of the parks. It keeps me organized and informed!
I've taken both a spiral and a deluxe. But, I've never taken them to the parks with us. I leave it in the room, and write notes on regular paper throughout the day. At night, I re-write everything into the Passporter.
I go nowhere without my PassPorter, even the grocery store! There is always at least one PassPorter in my car at all times (never know when you'll have a WDW vacation emergency ). But I don't normally carry it into the parks with me. I review it at night and make notes in a small notebook, then write about our day in the PassPorter when we get back, and stow any receipts in the pockets.
One thing I dearly love about PassPorter is the high quality of the maps, much better than Disney's. So even though I'm a rare books librarian by training, and it hurts to admit this, I have taken the maps out of my PassPorter to take with us to the parks. I put them back in the pockets when we are done. I do get a new PassPorter every year (we go every year), so I can actually take the maps from the previous year. Maybe this is the year we should order the Deluxe...
I have taken the spiral into the parks with us on occasion, we just threw it in the backpack (which DH carries so I can't comment on how much heavier it makes it ) The main reason I was carrying it was for confirmations and notes I had made to myself. I started just putting them into my iPhone so we could keep the spiral safe in the resort room (the last day I took it to the parks, it ended up with coffee and hot chocolate on it because someone, not naming names, but it sounds like dusband, threw our resort mugs into the bag without rinsing them out.)
I like the idea of just pulling the pages out of the delux you need, that's a great idea too.
We always take our Deluxe with us, so we have it if we need to consult it, but we leave it in the room, as it's too much to carry into the parks every day. That way, we have it if we need it, but we're not taking it everywhere with us.
I have both versions, but always pack my Deluxe on my trips. I love having the pockets in the binder to place anything I collect from the parks like maps and receipts. There has also been times when I've typed out some important info I wanted to bring along and poked it over the rings and into the book.
I always leave my books in the room though.
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Offsite May 2005, POR September 2006, POR August 2007, POFQ December 2008, POR February 2010,
Pop Century April 2011,
I always take my Passporter with my to Disney. On our journey, it is where I keep my travel documents. Once in Disney, I just keep it in my room. I used to carry it into the park, but now we are all about traveling light. I just plug all my dining reservation info into my phone and head off to the park.