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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
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I know this has been asked before but it's been a while so I thought I'd ask again.. How did you find PassPorter??
Me? I own a reselling business.. my DH, Jim & I bid on & buy storage auctions, buy out estate sales etc & I sell a good portion of the stuff on Ebay & other avenues.. I have been selling on Ebay since 1999 & at one point I was a certified ebay instructor teaching people how to sell on Ebay.
Well, in 2001 we were in Disney World & Jim had fallen in love with the monorail track set AND all of the add ons (spaceship earth, castle) etc, we had an AP coupon for 25% off (I think) so Jim bought the entire set (ka ching$$) along with some other stuff .. we had asked that the items be delivered to our resort.. well, after 24 hours the items weren't delivered, we contacted WOD & they assured us it would be there the following day .. I was worried as we were leaving the day after that but was hopeful.. When they items weren't delivered the following day, we called WOD who checked & saw the items were lost somewhere in WOD .. We told them that we were leaving the next day & they told us they would re-fill the order & send someone over immediately with our order, which they did . We packed up the stuff in our van & started our drive home
2 days later when we arrived home we had a HUGE box on our porch from WDW.. I couldn't figure out what it could be & when we opened it, it was our entire order.. I immediately called WOD & told them of their mistake & offered to send them back & imagine my surprise when they told me to KEEP THEM.. ( now as I said this wasn't a $20 order- more like $500) ..
Now, what was I going to do with 2 monorails, 2 contemporary resorts etc.. Sell them on Ebay!!
One of my buyers wrote me & we started to talk about Disney & WDW & she told me about PassPorter.. It sounded so interesting, I immediately popped in & I lurked for a couple of weeks & then made my first post. I have loved it here ever since & recommend PP to everyone planning a Disney trip of any kind..
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Fun! I had serious (I mean, like serious ) post-disney depression after my first trip in 5 years and my first ever trip as a parent, in Feb 2014. I found passporter forums when doing an internet search for post-disney depression, looking for som commiseration.
DH and I found a Passporter in a local book store not long after our honeymoon. I didn't purchase it then, but I remembered the name and looked it up online a few months later. I lurked on the boards for a long time before I started posting.
I found the Message Board first. DH and I had been in WDW and noticed a SOG bus. Even though DH was retired from the Navy, we had no idea the Military had a resort at Disney. When we returned home, I did a search for Shades of Green and the PassPorter Boards popped up. I loved all the information and joined the boards. I ordered my first PassPorter, too.
It was 2002. I was turning 40 and on my way to eventually losing 60 pounds and DH and I were planning on going to WDW. It was also the first time since 1984 when we would be going alone. I was so excited and wanted it to be special so I started checking out websites and that's how I found Passporter. We had originally booked a Contemporary Garden wing room through AAA, but one day I got a call from them and found out they had overbooked and we ended up being moved to the Poly with concierge!
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Cindy
Last edited by luvnwdwgal; 02-24-2016 at 06:32 PM..
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Pretty sure I found the website first - I actually don't remember. Even though we had been quite a few times, I still looked (still do) for new ways to do things and tour the world.
A friend had found the book immediately after seeing it I googled it and found the website and the store and purchase my first book in 2010 . I also Lurked on the boards for a while before posting. Now I'm hooked . I also tell everyone about passporter especially while they are planning a vacation to Disney
I was in a book store looking for a Hidden Mickey book and came across the Passporter book I picked it up started looking through it and I new I had to buy it. And from that point on it is the only book I buy.
Luke found my first PassPorter book for me back in 2003 when we decided to plan a trip. Oddly, it was in a different section of our Books-a-Million than the Birnbaum guides. But the minute I saw it with all its wonderful organization and PassPockets it had to be the one I bought. We only had about five months to plan for this trip and I just never noticed the info in the book about the boards. But when I bought another PassPorter for the trip the following year, I noticed the website info in the book and decided to check it out. I lurked for a few months before officially joining.
My best friend bought me a passporter for my birthday in 2009. She knew I was doing lots of planning for our big family trip and well, I fell in LOVE and lurked on the boards and eventually joined and have been on and off ever since.
I found the book in Barnes and Noble in October 2003 and used it to sort of plan DD's first Disney trip (which my parents and, at the time, college age sisters also went on with us) during Christmas week 2003.
Once we returned from that trip, we immediately started planning our next trip, for October 2004, which would be our first trip on our own with kids (no grandparents along to help, just me, DH and DD!). In skimming through the book, I found mention of the message boards so started lurking for a little while then, in May 2004, I finally made an account!
I remember exactly. I had purchased the Unofficial Guide to WDW in preparation for our first family trip in 2005. I read that book from cover to cover and came across a passage that went something like this "It may seem strange to plug another guide book, but we highly recommend the Passporter's Guide to Walt Disney World as an excellent resource." Well, when a very popular and well know guide book endorses another in the text of its own book, I figured it was worth checking out. I went to the bookstore and bought one. I found the boards shortly thereafter but lurked for a bit before I became an active member.
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