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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 feel like it has been forever and a day since I’ve been on the boards. I have missed everyone and I’m sure lots of good trip reports. Life, as it does, has a way of just overwhelming people at times and that is what has happened with me lately.
Let me just reacquaint you. I’m Holly, single mom of the best little boy in the world, Evan, he is 8 and a very active 2nd grader.Sorry I have no updated photos to post. I can barely take photos let alone post them but I will need to do so soon.
I’m a “computer programmer” I say that loosely as that is what my schooling and training is for but not really what I’m doing any more. It is hard to clarify what exactly I do. My official title is Regulatory IT Analyst. It is a fairly new position and between my boss and me we are finding our way. I work in a hospital so what my responsibility is, is to monitor the Information Systems security for HIPAA regulations. Basically protect all the patient information that is on our computer systems. We have to find potential weaknesses and then correct them. The Federal Government is going to begin to audit all medical services, we are told to begin in 2015 but no one knows for sure. Places like hospitals, doctor’s offices, insurance companies, medical billers, pharmacies, drug companies, etc. everything is up for a possible audit. Problem being no one knows when the audits will begin, who will be selected or what they will be looking for. With all of that in mind I have been preparing for an eventual audit. The committee I’m on has been working on various training and revamping of all our HIPAA policies and procedures (what fun reading all of them). So with all that back ground of my work I can tell you things can get crazy.
Before this new title I wasn’t very busy at work and could spend time catching up on things on the boards. I’m much busier now so I’m now just checking things out at lunch time or when I need a quick break. For the longest time I had such a slow internet connection at home I never went online. Now I can check things at home but in all honesty I just don’t have much time in the evenings to surf the web or check the boards so I have been MIA for quite some time.
Let me see…just to catch you all up on a few other things…
Evan, my son, he has been quite the handful. Last year in school he struggled most of the year with his behavior and his reading. He ended the school year a little behind in his reading and writing but was tutored all summer so he wasn’t too far behind when second grade began. He doesn’t like school and it was a battle all fall just to get him up out of bed and into school. I felt bad for him, having worked at places I couldn’t stand I know what it is like to HAVE to go to place you HATE. But he had to go. I would say at least once a week we had tears before school. (then I would be crying too). By November his behavior had gotten so out of control we had to have a conference with the teacher, principle and guidance counselor to try and put a plan into motion.
I made an appointment with Evan’s pediatrician but those appointments take 2 months to get and we began to implement changes in the house and daily routine. Things began to improve. At his doctor’s appointment in February he was officially diagnosed with ADHD and has begun taking medicine for that. I was very happy that he showed improvement before he started the medicine because it only validated our efforts and clarified that the medicine is just one more tool in his toolbox and not the miracle cure-all. He was giving a 504 at school and right now things could not be better with him. Evan is getting stamps at school for good behavior – almost every day. He is getting along better with his classmates and teacher and his reading is improving. He told me the other day he LOVES homework and doing his required word searches. He said to me “I sorta-kinda like school now”. What a far call from the crying we had in December/January. I’m very pleased that things are looking up and we are moving in the right direction.
The other major thing to update on is my mother. Many of you may remember she was diagnosed with cancer about a year ago. It was breast cancer that reoccurred after 10 years but not back in her breasts but in her lungs and bones. She also has some major memory issues unrelated to the cancer but just as big of a concern. We cancelled our summer 2014 trip because of her illness. But more on the trip in a moment. At this point Mom is doing okay. The cold winter temperatures really bothered her. She has good days and bad days and is battling depression right now. Her end prognosis is not good but we all hope she has several more good quality years with us.
She is driving me crazy as she is bored and somehow I have become her entertainment committee. She will call or text me every day saying she doesn’t have anything to do and what am I doing and do I have plans for dinner? Evan is playing 2 sports right now so we have practice or a game almost every night. Plus I have 2 old dogs that need to be let out and fed and usually one of them has an accident everyday so that takes time to clean up each night and to top it all off Evan has 2 new Guinea pigs which “he” (cough, cough) is caring for. I feel bad because I can’t just drop everything and come over to her but I have other priorities.
It is difficult for me to see my mother, the person I count on, to have become so dependent on me. I feel like I have inherited another child. I’m lucky in that my brothers and sisters are all close so we are sharing the work but it is difficult when I see my mom and know that the woman who raised me, the woman who was my mother just doesn’t exist anymore. We never laugh and just talk like we used to. She is just much more angry and stressed and her life has become so insular. Of course then I feel guilty because I can’t really imagine what is going on in her head or how I would handle myself if in the same situation.
Right now she is not doing well. She has a scan of everything in early April and another visit to the doctor. I think he will be changing her meds again, this will be the 3rd time and each time they become more aggressive and bring a new set of side effects. We will know more in April how/what is going on. Now that I have depressed you, onto the good stuff.
When I cancelled the Disney trip last year (2014) I told Evan I would take him this year instead. We booked everything and I paid my deposit and then the waiting. The plan was to stay at POP for about 12 days. Flights for Southwest were not available until February. I knew I was planning on using my tax refund to pay for this trip. As the time drew neaerr to book the flights Mom was up and down with her emotions and health. My sister in England was talking about coming for a visit and my mom wanted to go to her annual reunion at least one more time. The reunion is in Georgia. I looked in to refi my house but my credit card debt was too high. I began to formulate a plan…
If I cancel the trip in August (AGAIN) I could take the $4000 I budgeted and pay down/off the credit card. That would also free up vacation time for a visit with my sister. If I drive my mom to Georgia then I could take Evan to WDW for just a few days…HMMMMM…..Done.
So that is what we have planned at this point, reunion for Mom, Disney for me and Evan and a few days when my sister and her family visit.
Of course all of this is dependent on how my mother is feeling. If she is not up for the trip to Georgia (we live in NJ so it is like an 11-12 hour drive) then we will cancel everything.
So keeping my finger crossed that this WILL happen. My poor little boy we have had to cancel 2 trips to Disney in 2 years. The only good news is I’m saving for that big trip back to The World and shooting for 2017.
Holly, your life has definitely been over-full for a while now. Sending loads of that all goes well for this trip to WDW. So wonderful that Evan is now enjoying school and you have several tools to help him continue to succeed.
It's good to see you back here, Holly, and GREAT to hear how well Evan is doing in school. I've been wondering how you were doing, and about your mom, and am so sorry at the very rocky road her path has become. I hope she can manage the trip south. I'm glad you have your siblings around to help, but I know this is just so hard on you all.
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Good to see you back here Holly!!! Evan is growing so quickly!!! Glad that he is doing much better with school and peers!!! Sorry that your mom continues to struggle and that you have had to adjust your plans once again, I will keep my fingers crossed for you that you and Evan get those few days in the bubble!!!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
Hi Holly! Good to hear from you!
So sorry to hear about the trouble with Evan and your mom. Glad Evan is doing better and actually like school now!! for your Mom and I hope the trip happens!!
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Wow! You sure have had a lot on your plate!! Tons and tons of that things will get better from here on in!! You sound like a terrific Mom and daughter!! You also sound like a very pragmatic person, who will do what is necessary and make it work!! Your son is adorable and he is lucky to have such a wonderful mother!!
It seems as if life has had its hand in quite a few people's lives lately. I have been MIA on the boards too as life has been less than stellar here the last few years. Just have to keep plugging in there though.
Glad to hear that Evan started to enjoy school again. I can't imagine how hard that was to see your lil man crying before school because he didn't want to go.
Lots and lots of for you, your Mom and your family. Even though my Grandma was ailing from something else before she passed, I do know that having to deal with them not being themselves and the person you've known is difficult and frustrating.
I sure hope that your Mom will be well enough to go to her reunion in Georgia and that you and Evan can get to WDW. I also hope that you get to spend some time with you sister.
Holly - It really helps me me to know that I am not the only daughter that has become Moms source of entertainment. My mom has taken to guilting me when I do not answer a call because I am in a work meeting. *hugs* Know that you are not alone!
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Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
So glad to hear that Evan's school is going better! I may need to "lean" on you for some tips and hints as we transition my youngest to kindergarten.
I'm so sorry about the cancelled trip and the stress of work (I know all too well about might or might not happen audits) and your mom's health struggles.
Sending many
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The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
[URL="http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/sharing-adventure-disney-world-trip-reports/288847-ch-ch-changes-ptr-july-16-24-a.html"]
Thank you everyone for following along. Mom is having testing done today and heads to the doctor Friday for the test results.
Woke up this morning and my dog's eye was all swollen. Took her to the vet and she has a scratch on her cornea poor thing. Ka-ching $100 please.
But some good news. Evan got his report card and I quote "Evan has his focusing issues under control and he is now one of our best students. THIS IS A HUGE IMPROVEMENT!"
He improved in 18 out of 33 areas and held the same in all other areas - no regressing.
He was in the car with my sister the other day and said he really likes school now. I have tears in my eyes as I'm writing this. I'm just so proud of him and all his hard work and so happy that he is happy.
SO happy for you and Evan! I know your getting right onto solving the problems as soon as they cropped up last year made all the difference. How great to have your happy boy back! Ouch for the poor dog! I had a scratched cornea on my very first Disney trip and it was so painful. In photos it just looks like I was getting showing my "Disney Side" by playing pirate.
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Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
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