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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Am seriously thinking about writing a trip report upon return of our November 6-16 Disney trip, because I enjoy reading others so much! Obviously I've never done one before, so I am looking for advice on the easiest way to do this. My thought was to bring my pocket-sized dictaphone and lots of tapes and actually carry it around with me as I go and report everything as I do it. Then, when I return home transcribe it all and post it. Any better suggestions out there?
A trip to Walt Disney World, as special as it is, is still "just" another experience in your life. There are no tricks to saving Disney memories that would be different from saving any of your other memories. We're all individuals, so what works best for one may not work well for another. I'd gather from your message that you prefer speaking to writing, and from past experience know that a dictating machine will work well for you.
What's probably more important is to plan in advance what kind of information you wish to report, and the depth of your report. Some folks like to report on each attraction they experience, the time of day, the queue conditions, and detailed recollections of their experience during the attraction. The same may go for meals, resort accomodations and all other experiences during their stay. Others may focus on the emotional highlights of the trip -- those magic moments we all hope for in a Disney vacation. There's a wide range of approaches, and you should find one that is going to be pleasant and enhance your vacation, rather than one that becomes a chore.
I suggest you read other people's trip reports to see how their reporting styles differ and what kinds of items they cosnsistently report upon. Think also about the kinds of things that interest you most, as they'll be the easiest to focus upon (and to remember to record) during the course of your vacation. When you're done with your analysis, outline the key points upon which you want to report, so you have a checklist of sorts. If you're using a dictating machine write-out a simple cue card to carry along so you remember all the points you wish to record. If you prefer to write it down, then print-out sheets for each day, (or each hour if you're going into deep detail)and carry them with you.
No matter what approach you choose there are going to be people who appreciate your unique focus and voice. Rather than tailor your report to what you think others "need" to know, focus on a report that will bring you and your family pleasure in the years to come.
I do this for a living. I know from my own experience how the careful recording of information can get in the way of complete enjoyment. You, fortunately, don't have the same duty. Your first duty is to have a wonderful vacation. Please don't get so caught-up in reporting that your traveling companions miss your company, or you have to read your notes to find out if you had a good time.
Depending on how your memory works, you may be able to limit your in-park activities to recording short phrases and key pieces of information. I find that's usually all I need later on to get my memories flowing. Other times, when I think my impressions will be too fragile to recall or too special to risk to memory, I may write several paragraphs on the spot.
Here are some other ways people approach recording their experiences:
Photographs. The visually-oriented find snapshots to be a great jog to memory. You can have the photos processed during your vacation and annotate them while the memories are still fresh.
PassPorter. The PassPorter was designed with this very thing in mind. It includes a day-by-day record of your experiences covering not only the hard details, but magical memories, "best" and "worst" experiences, and the like. The daily PassPockets can hold papers, mementos, and photos, too. Some folks fill things in throughout the day. Some families sit down together at the end of a day to record their special memories while they're still fresh. Others do it on the long ride home.
These days Jennifer and I carry PassPorters and Palm Pilots. PassPorter provides the framework for our days, but due to our professional needs we gather far too much information to fit into a PassPorter (or even two). We've developed carefully-structured information databases for our Palm Pilots, so that all the notes and information we gather in the field can be easily transferred to our networked computers back at the office, and readily accessed and analyzed as we work on the book. When we're visiting Walt Disney World just for fun all we need is our PassPorters. Regardless of whether it's business or pleasure, we always fill in the "memories" section of PassPorter for each and every day of our trip.
Good luck with your plans. Anyone who puts this much thought into organizing their trip report is destined to produce a winner. I look forward to seeing the results when you're done.
Yes, a "Palm Pilot" (that's the old name -- these days it's just called "Palm") is a pocket-sized computing device. They're officially called Personal Digital Assistants, or PDAs. They're really palm-sized - about 4 3/4" x 3 1/3". Rather than use a keyboard (although a keyboard is an available option) you write on a pressure-sensitive screen with a stylus, using a special alphabet called "Graffiti". Graffiti is automatically converted to digital text. They're very cool, and very popular. The basic Palm is designed for keeping addresses, appointments, notes and the like, but there are thousands of programs available. You can read more about Palms at http://www.palm.com
I could go on for a while about this, but it's probably better for everyone else if I don't.
They are about the same size as a calculator! I find it amazing that you can hold a computer in your hand. My father (when in the Airforce) use to work on the IBM computers when they were the size of a city block(I am going back to the 60's ). Now they hold more info, go at faster speeds and can fit just about anywhere!
This could make a good Christmas present for my husband
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Take Care & "Remember the Magic!"
debe-nj
Shelly I think that is a fantastic idea! There was some evenings that I forgot to do postings of the day happenings and wish I had! Even taking index cards (bland) to write on while in the parks was forgotten due to having so much fun!
Think I will look into getting a tiny recorder for our next trip! Thanks for the great idea
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Take Care & "Remember the Magic!"
debe-nj
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Regardless of whether it's business or pleasure, we always fill in the "memories" section of PassPorter for each and every day of our trip.
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