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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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'm driving for the first time (not counting High School music tours on tour buses) from Chicago. Because my mom has some joint and arthritis issues, we decided to take it slow. We're leaving Friday when I'm done teaching, and our goal is to get to the resort Sunday mid-day. We're starting to plan our route and I'm looking for hotel/stop recommendations along the way.
If I were driving from Chicago over three days I would stop in either Lexington. Kentucky or Richmond Kentucky the first night. Depending on what time of day you leave. There is a very nice Holiday inn express in Richmond and great Mexican restaurant. The next day I would stay in Macon Georgia. There is a nice Comfort suites that we have stayed there multiple times. Valdosta always seems soooooo far away that we we go just to Macon. We usually leave Macon about 9am and end up on property around 2:00
You have 2 options of ways to go. You can go down I57 in Illinois and then over through Paducah, KY then to Nashville and the route is the same from there south. The other option is to go through Indiana. That route takes you through Indianapolis, Louisville, KY and then Nashville. Mapquest says the second route is faster, but we prefer the Illinois route. You trade Indianapolis and Louisville for Paducah - which rarely has any traffic. It takes us 19-20 hours of driving for the trip plus stops. If you're leaving after work on Friday traffic will be heavy so depending on how late you want to drive you might want to stay in Southern Illinois (Effingham or Mount Vernon are good options) if you go I57 or maybe push it to Paducah. If you're going through Indiana you could stay in southern Indiana - south of Indianapolis. The second day I would try to get to southern Georgia. We have stayed at both Tipton and Valdosta and there are lots of hotel options at each. We usually stay at Hampton Inns, but have also stayed at Holiday Inn Express. Both are generally clean and offer breakfast in the mornings.
We used to drive from NE Lake County IL, taking I-57 to I-24 (outside of Mt. Vernon), to I-75, to the FL Turnpike. We would leave early morning (around 4:30/5:00) and usually made it to Clarksville TN the first day (just over the KY/TN border) - one year we made it to Nashville, but that was a little too long in the car. On day 2, we'd leave around 8:30/9:00 am and make it to Valdosta GA. On day 3, we'd usually make it to WDW late morning/early afternoon. We usually stayed at Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express.
Leaving after work on a Friday, you may want to stay the first night in southern IL - like someone suggested, either Effingham or Mt. Vernon. Paducah KY isn't too much further from Mt. Vernon, so that's another alternative. It would leave longer drives for the next 2 days, but you wouldn't have to drive through the night or worry about stopping for gas/stretch breaks in unknown areas at night.
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Driving from Chicago - Where to stay?
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