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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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've never purchase the ride photos but the inclusion of them on M.M. interests me. How does that work? Do you show your wristband at the picture desk at the end of the ride? Do the pics automatically show up?
Thanks! I feel like a WDW newbie after tons of visits with all this new technology.
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I'm with you on feeling like a newbie because of the technology but I too would like the answer to this one. We added the memory maker to our ressie so it'll be good to have a clue (when it happens so rarely ) when we get there.
I am interested as well. I believe that I read somewhere that you just have to tell them your photo number and then they scan it to your band... Hopefully someone will clarify for all of us
We purchased Memory Maker last month and loved it! Just find your photo on the screens after you have ridden, then let them know the number at the photo desk. They will pull it up and have you scan your band. It's so easy!
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One thing nice, is that as long as you have everyone in your group linked to your MDX, even if you aren't riding, but others in your group are, all they have to do is give the photo desk their photo number and scan it. It will automatically go to your MM. I am so glad we got MM for this spring break trip. The photos are great and I 've enjoyed adding the stickers and/or borders that Disney supplies.
We purchased Memory Maker last month and loved it! Just find your photo on the screens after you have ridden, then let them know the number at the photo desk. They will pull it up and have you scan your band. It's so easy!
I thought the link was automatic, I did not realize you had to stop at the desk. I am happy I saw this.
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I thought I read somewhere that there could even be random pics or candid pics. Anyone who what that means or how they would get them and know you are in them?
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I thought I read somewhere that there could even be random pics or candid pics. Anyone who what that means or how they would get them and know you are in them?
I've read that, too, though I haven't experienced it yet. I've heard reports from a few Passporters that they rode a particular ride and wound up with the ride pic in their PhotoPass account, even though they didn't go to the photo counter and scan their Magic Band or do anything themselves.
The way it works is that a Magic Band actually has two separate ID systems in it.
There is a passive RFID chip, which is powered solely by whichever reader you touch the band to when you make a purchase, have a PhotoPass pic taken, or show up for a FastPass ride. This part never wears out, but its range is very limited, which is why you have to actually touch your Magic Band to the Mickey head readers at turnstiles and checkout counters and FP kiosks.
The second system is a powered system which sends a signal out. This system has a battery in it, which is supposedly good for up to two years, and allows Disney to track your Magic Band's location within the park using hardware they have installed behind the scenes, similar to the way a cell phone's location is tracked even when you're not using it, because it makes contact with the nearest cell tower at all times. But while a phone's location can be narrowed down with great accuracy by the GPS system built into it (the GPS system triangulates the location based on signals it receives from GPS satellites), I don't think the Magic Band has a GPS receiver in it. Rather, I think it's just a homing beacon that broadcasts a low-power signal, which is picked up by Disney's hardware in the parks to determine the Band's location.
The powered system is how random pics can be included in your account. If you ride a ride which has a receiver built into it, and the receiver picks up the signal from your Magic Band as you pass by the ride's camera, then the PhotoPass system can send the photo automatically to the PhotoPass accounts of each Magic Band that is detected in the ride vehicle.
Privacy advocates dislike this system, because if Disney were to install enough antennas throughout the property, they could theoretically track your exact location at all times.
Of course, besides PhotoPass, there are some theoretical positive applications to this tech, as well. If Disney does wind up installing enough antennas on property for park-wide location tracking, it could make locating lost children a snap - or, more commonly, when a lost child is found, it could make locating the parents who are running around the park like panicked chickens a snap!
This tech could also be used to personalize attractions. Imagine Turtle Talk with Crush or Mr Potato Head at TSMM taken to the next level - if those attractions read the Magic Bands of each Guest who entered, they could be automatically programmed to use the Guest's name when addressing them, or switch to Japanese or Spanish. Games like TSMM could recognize young children (based on the ages listed in DMX) and give them an age-appropriate difficulty level.
Ten or twenty years from now, I can even imagine Disney resorts having colored lights installed in the hallways which would guide you to your room, based on the ID they get from your Magic Band.
Reportedly, there will eventually be an option in MDX to turn off such location tracking, but I haven't seen it so far, and my suspicion is that it's not currently needed because Disney may not have finished installing all of the hardware needed for complete location tracking, except in a few attractions.
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