Cars, washing machines....nothing wants to work! - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Cars, washing machines....nothing wants to work!
Today has been a trying day!
This morning I was driving down a major main road (6 lane) heading to the bank when all of the sudden the car just suddenly lost power and a big yellow wrench came up on the dashboard! I tried to accelerate but there was nothing, I was basically coasting. So I pulled over to a side road (thankfully there was one there) and stopped. The car kept running but it was almost stuttering. I quickly called my hubby who told me to stay put, he would be there as soon as possible. I didn't feel completely safe where I was parked, so I turned off the air conditioner, the radio and put it into drive. It barely moved, but I was able to pull into a parking lot of a restaurant. I turned off the engine and decided to wait. After about 10 minutes, I decided to try to turn it back on. It stuttered but started. I put it into drive and it accelerated just fine. Also the big yellow wrench was gone from the dashboard.
I called Allen and told him I was going to attempt to drive on to the bank and meet me there.
I made it, parked it and went into the bank. I waited on Allen and when he arrived, he drove it all over the parking lot. Nothing. We decided he would drive it home and I would follow him.
I called the Ford dealer and we are hopefully taking it tonight so that they can look at it tomorrow. But, we leave for Denver on Sunday, so if they need it longer, they can have it next week.
Of course, that leaves me with nothing to drive to finish my errands.....but I guess I will do those tonight with Allen's company vehicle!
This Ford Edge has had so many electrical issues. My key fob has never worked correctly. It doesn't work at all now. I can be driving down the road and all of the sudden it decides to do the automatic lock of the doors. Not when I first get going, but randomly about 4 miles down the road! Then it unlocks the doors....not always, but randomly! It is almost spooky!
Then when we got home with the car, I came into the house with the washing machine dinging the error message. The washing machine has decided it doesn't want to do the spin cycle. Lovely....
I had a load of dark clothes in a tub of water with no way to spin it all out.
Yeah.....it has been one of those days.
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I'm sorry you're having such trouble. And it always seems to happen to multiple things at once. I'm not a fan of todays technology in things that worked for years and years without it (cars, washers, ovens, etc). It would be nice if we could go back a few years in terms of technology - I for one don't think we need everything computerized. It's making the prices to buy the things outrageous and then they're made "disposable."
I wonder if reprogramming or replacing your keyfob might solve the lock/unlock problem. We had that happen once and just got a new keyfob. However, ours was warrantied so cost us nothing. Would have been around $200 if we'd had to pay for it, I think DH Drew told me.
Good luck getting all that straightened out! Of course, such things hit right before you're going to travel when you really, really need everything to behave as it should.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
I'm sorry you are going through all this right now with the holidays looming. Good luck with the car repairs. And if turning washer on/off/changing cycles doesn't help trying unplugging it. It is likely stuck in a mid cycle & needs reset. Happens often with our dishwasher especially after a power surge. Since unplugging it isn't easy we switch off the breaker.
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I'm with Darlene-the simpler the better. The last time my washer brokeeee the guys at our wonderful, family run appliance store found me a beautiful used washer. The newer ones are too big to fit in it's spot and I did not want a front loader. It's been a good 7 years and that thing still agitates, spins and rinses-all it needs to do. Plus, if I remember, it was under $100.
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So So Sorry. My car did something similar yesterday. Except I couldn't restart it. I had to get towed. (I was actually on my way to the car repair place because it started strangely). Turns out I needed a new alternator. Nothing like an unexpected expense at Christmas. But, the good news is it happened before we left on a 14 hour drive to Michigan next week.
You might be able to fix the spin cycle thing on your washer yourself. Google the problem and look for a YouTube video. There are a couple things that it could be that are easy fixes including clearing out a drain area of debris. Try that first before spending money on a repair guy. (then again it could be a dead electrical panel like happened to us a few years ago at Christmas).
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Thanks everyone! The car is at the Ford dealer, hopefully they will be able to fix the problem today and it won't cost a fortune!
Allen worked on the washer last night. We schlepped buckets of water outside until most of the water was gone and then he pulled it out, unplugged it for 30 minutes and then plugged it back it in. We turned it back on and put it on the spin cycle and it worked!
So, hopefully today as I finish up the laundry before out trip, it continues to work and I have no issues!
It sounds like you had a black cloud following you around for a day! I'm so sorry. It always seems like nuisances come in groups. I'm glad your washer is being more agreeable, and hopefully your car will be home soon.
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Today has been a trying day! 
I tried to accelerate but there was nothing, I was basically coasting. So I pulled over to a side road (thankfully there was one there) and stopped. The car kept running but it was almost stuttering. I quickly called my hubby who told me to stay put, he would be there as soon as possible. I didn't feel completely safe where I was parked, so I turned off the air conditioner, the radio and put it into drive. It barely moved, but I was able to pull into a parking lot of a restaurant. I turned off the engine and decided to wait. After about 10 minutes, I decided to try to turn it back on. It stuttered but started. I put it into drive and it accelerated just fine. Also the big yellow wrench was gone from the dashboard. 
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