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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 won a door prize at an art show-tickets to some inaccessable American classical music at the local symphony! I was 19, I took my 17 yo sister, I don't know how we sat through it, but it was fun to get all dressed up!
I won a cake in a cake walk in elementary school It was a strawberry cake from a box. I could not believe it and I think it has led to an overall sense of being lucky my whole life!
DH and I won free fries in Monopoly a couple weeks ago. See how lucky I am!?!?
I used to be super lucky. I won concert tickets, gift certificates, stuff like that. In 2003 I won an all expense paid trip to Nevis, staying at the Four Seasons. I would KILL to go back. Nevis is amazing, so quiet, and gorgeous. Sadly, I haven't won much since then.
I won $99 from a radio station quite a few years ago. They were on channel 99, hence the $99. It wasn't really that big a competition. Every morning they would randomly pick a date and if it was your b-day, you called them. One day, they announced my b-day.
I was nominated for Nurse of the Year a couple of years ago, but didn't get it. It went to other RNs who were retiring later that month (it's a state-wide competition).
Yesterday, I view as a win. I was at the grocery and noticed an advert for a new pediatric practice in our town on the grocery carts. The doctor is our old pediatrician who moved away a few years ago after being forced out of the practice he started! (he doesn't believe in telling patients "you have to wait until tomorrow for your sick child to be seen, we're closing in 10 minutes" and does not believe patients and parents should just take any doctor/PA who is available to see them if they don't like that MD/PA - he was voted against, and left because he didn't feel they were caring for patients the way doctors should) We've followed him since he was a resident in the Pediatric ICU at the hospital DD Samantha was taken to when she was injured, 25 years ago! We couldn't follow him to where he went after his last practice, as it was a 4 hour drive from us. WE've driven an hour, but 4 would be too much. Now, he's closer than ever and I don't care if our insurance covers him 100% or not, DD Lauren is leaving our Family Pratice MD and going back to Dr. Duck! (how can you not love a doctor who goes by "Duck" because his name is Donald and he loves Disney?)
And I feel the obligatory nod has to go with winning life; a loving, wonderful DH, and 3 awesome DDs.
In my teens I won two tickets to see the Bay City Rollers in concert. I couldn't go because I was traveling with school to Japan so I gave them to my sister and my friend Molly. Also, in a period of about 3 years I won 3 stereo systems for a car.
In 2001 when Disney was opening Mission: Space they had an online contest for a computer and I won it!
When my older sister was in elementary school they had a carnival. One of the booths was throw the ping pong ball into a cup with a gold fish. I was about 4 and just sat there and threw ball after ball into cups and won several gold fish. One fish lived for several years and was way bigger than a gold fish. I named him Charlie.
I won about $1,000 at a slot machine in Vegas many years ago. I also won, many years earlier than that, two statewide speech contests for my former employer. I competed at the national level, finishing once in 7th place and the other time not making the final group.
I once won tickets to see 98 Degrees (yes, I went through a boy band phase) and the seats were really good. I also won movie passes to see Pocahontas through a coloring contest and passes to see an advance screening of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
DH and I won free fries in Monopoly a couple weeks ago. See how lucky I am!?!?
I thought it was just me! Between DH and I, we won 2 medium fries and a breakfast sandwich in the last month.
I won $100 on a $5 scratch-off lottery ticket a couple of years ago and DH and I won $150 in a football pool one year that DFIL was running. That's about as "winning" as I get when it comes to contests, I guess.
A friend of mine since junior high school was on Wheel of Fortune once a few years ago and won BIG . . . $128,000 which included a Winnebago. I was slightly jealous. LOL
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Hmmmmm.... I won tickets to a women of faith conference off the radio many moons ago... I won a friends board game off of a television trivia question a long time ago also... My daughter "won" us dream fast passes back when that promotion was going on... That is all I can think of off hand...