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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 have been planning a Magical Gathering for February 2012 since last June.
We had a meeting back then to decide the basics (who, what, where & when). Everyone seemed happy and excited but we barely scraped the surface.
I figured that since we hadn't really talked about it since then, now would be a great time to get together, have lunch and discuss the finer details (dining, budgets, special dining events, etc.) That was last night.
It became very apparent that there are a few people in the family who are very controlling & want to make it difficult to make plans (controlling behavior like: being 1-1/2 hours late for our meeting, eating out on the way to the meeting and not telling us - even though we all planned to eat together and our food was getting cold waiting for them, heckling me for the first 15 minutes of our meeting until I had to yell, making fun of everything I said, trying to make my sister and her kids leave almost as soon as they got there, making rude comments about having a schedule... the list goes on and on). Basically, it's my sister's husband and his adult kids that are the problem. He has a problem with women, and tries to rebel at every turn -- even if the plan makes complete sense. They follow his lead.
So, after last night, I threw in the towel. I told everyone today that it's too difficult to please everyone, and that they can make their own plans.
I think I had this idea of what a wonderful family vacation would look like, and suddenly I've been thrust back into reality. Sometimes relatives stink... and it willl probably never be the fun and relaxing time I've been picturing.
I still intend to take my other sister, her best friend, my mom, my daughter and her boyfriend, but it won't be a family reunion like I dreamed of.
Anyway - I just needed to tell someone who would understand, and I know you all understand how special Disney is, and how hard it is when things don't work out.
So glad I at least have my anniversary trip to look forward to.
Sorry you have certain family members who ruined this for you. But, look on the bright side, without them in the mix your vacation will probably be MORE fun and relaxing then it would have been with them there by the sounds of it.
I do feel bad for my sister (the one who is married to the control-freak). She tries to keep peace, but he makes it really hard and in the end, he gets to make all the decisions anyway.
She asked me why I decided to withdraw, and I just told her it was too hard to please everyone. I just can't tell her the truth because she loves him so much. I don't want to hurt her.
It's just so darn sad. I was all excited to show all the newbies around, and now it's just become a sore spot.
Sorry you are having such a hard time. I've had a similar experience with trying to plan for November 2011. Mine wasn't really anyone in particular being difficult, it is not worth the stress. I was given the responsibility of getting the beginning stages of planning. (pricing, resort, tickets & dining) Once I got the information from the TA everything started to fall apart. I got pricing for 2 different dates and 1 hotel from each level of resorts (value, moderate & deluxe) The first family that wanted to do this backed out and then life's little changes occurred in other families. (pregnancies, etc.) Ultimately our grand gathering is cancelled and I'm very relieved it is.
In my honest opinion, I think the best way to do a grand gathering is for the person that is setting up the initial reservation to pick the date and make their personal ressie and then let everyone that is interested to make their own reservation by contacting the TA themselves. You may get a lot of people to go and you may not but at least you aren't stressing over YOUR vacation while trying to provide fun for everyone else.
Go & enjoy yourself and have a relaxing time. That's what vacation is all about.
I'm hoping to go this year but I don't think it is my year to go. So far none of my plans have seemed to work out. It can't be that bad missing a year of Disney can it?????
In my honest opinion, I think the best way to do a grand gathering is for the person that is setting up the initial reservation to pick the date and make their personal ressie and then let everyone that is interested to make their own reservation by contacting the TA themselves. You may get a lot of people to go and you may not but at least you aren't stressing over YOUR vacation while trying to provide fun for everyone else.
Actually, I made an itinerary of the restaurants that I was intending to experience, and said "Here's a list of where I'll be for meals... if you wanna join me - check the box, write in the number of adults and kids and give me the paper by July".
It was entirely up to each family if they wanted to join me, and I was happy to make the reservations while making my own.
I didn't force it down anyone's throat, and all of the breakfasts and lunches were optional. The only meal I encouraged was dinner (cause if we don't get together for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and he resisted being in the same park, then why go together at all???)
That was too much "control" for him.
You are all correct ------ we will have a better time without them. I guess I was just wishing for a "real family", and have to face the fact that it'll never happen. Silly, I guess.
you will have a great time whether they decide to join you or not. the same thing would happen if i tried to do this with MY family as well. there are always those who do not "get it" about the planning in order to have a good time. keep your spirits up!
Hey, I have a controlling obnoxious BIL too! Maybe we should start a club?! I think you will still have a fun time, although I know it won't be the dream reunion you wanted. I would love to plan a great trip with my family, but they are all out west. The best I can do is haul myself and the kids out there every 3 years to visit. One of the families (see comment above about BIL) goes to Disneyland several times a year and also cruise once or twice a year. You'd think they would want to come east and see DC (in my backyard) or even meet up for WDW, but if it is not his idea, it's not happening. The good side of that is I only have to deal with him every 3 years. Look at it this way: Disneyworld is a special, magical place and it will remain that way for you since he won't be there to ruin it!
I went with my sister and her husband and their daughter on their first Disney trip. We had been 2 times before and I told her up front "we are out the door early and move fast early in the day....our rest occurs later in the day. You are welcome to meet up with us whenever you want". She told me "oh no...we'll do it your way...you're the pros".
Commence vacation. Commence whining about waking up early. Commence "Small World isn't going anywhere...we don't have to run." Halfway through, I learned the best way to do a grand gathering is to have everyone meet up at certain points throughout the vacation, but each family is responsible for their own enjoyment and their own schedule.
I do not like waiting and I will never again make myself feel responsible for someone else's pleasure on vacation. I will also never again allow my feelings to be hurt by someone who travels differently than I do...it's their vacation and they can spend all the time they want standing in line or sleeping late and missing wonderful things!
i'm so sorry about your meeting. i'm also sorry you won't get your dream reunion. but--if you look at the whole awful situation in a slightly different way, that meeting really was a blessing in disguise. you now know what at trip with all of those people would be like, and can be content planning (and enjoying) a trip with only the people who are worth your time. honestly, if a meeting to plan the trip was that stressful, imagine how awful the trip would have been! thank goodness that happened--you'll have a much better trip without them!
i hope everything works out. honestly--it sounds harsh, but some people just aren't very nice, and thus are not people you should associate with...even if those people are related to you. nice is thicker than blood...or something like that!
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I have been planning a Magical Gathering for February 2012 since last June. 
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. Look at it this way: Disneyworld is a special, magical place and it will remain that way for you since he won't be there to ruin it!
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