| PassPorter.com Feature Article Original article at: http://www.passporter.com/articles/passporter-boards-love.html Why I Love the PassPorter Message Boards: The PassPorter Communityby Cheryl Pendry, PassPorter Featured ColumnistLast modified 05-29-2014 All of you reading this have obviously found PassPorter in some way, and I suspect for most of you, it was through the PassPorter guidebooks. After all, travel guidebooks are what PassPorter is best known for. For me, I found PassPorter more than a decade ago through the PassPorter message boards, when my husband said to me "have you seen this website?" The rest, as they say, is history. Some of you will be familiar with the PassPorter message boards, but for those who aren't, firstly I'll say that I'm not usually the sort of person who frequents Internet message boards. I'm on Facebook, like so many people, although I don't visit it every day, and I certainly don't post that much, unless we're on vacation, when I love to share our photos of the (hopefully!) wonderful time we're having. There are some message boards out there on the Internet that aren't exactly friendly, or welcoming, and I'm a member on one or two of them, but the fact I do't visit them any longer tells you something. That's what I absolutely love about the PassPorter boards. Not only are they friendly, visit often enough and you feel as if you're part of a family, albeit a very unusual one with the members scattered all over the world. This sense of family is highlighted by how often PassPorter members get together in person. I've lost count of how many fellow PassPorters I've now met in person, and it's not all Disney parks. Outside of Walt Disney World, Disneyland in California, Tokyo Disney, and Disneyland Paris (yes, I've met online friends at all those parks!), we’ve met up with people in places as far apart as New York, Utah, Seattle, Chicago, Vancouver, Alaska, various towns in the United Kingdom, Germany, plus some more that I'm sure I’m forgetting! I’ve personally formed many wonderful friendships over the years, and we’ve played host to some of those friends when they’ve come to stay with us from across the pond. Apart from the friendliness of the PassPorter message boards, I love the variety of discussions that go on there, invariably all respectful of each other and people’s differing views. Of course, Walt Disney World is a major focus, and so is Disneyland in California. The Disney Cruise Line doesn’t miss out, and there’s even a forum for anyone considering visiting Disneyland Paris. Included in those forums is the ability to post reviews of Walt Disney World resorts you’ve stayed in, while you can also either upload photos of food at Walt Disney World or on the Disney Cruise Line, or just stare longingly at the screen, wanting to devour every photo you see. Can you tell that’s a problem I often have? Something I personally love is reading trip reports, whether from Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or the Disney Cruise Line. It’s a lovely way of keeping the Disney magic alive in between vacations, whether it’s reading what other people get up to, or sharing your own experiences. I’ve lost track of how many great ideas I’ve got from people’s trip reports over the years. If you've got questions about the other theme parks in Orlando or Southern California, there are forums to ask those in, and you can even get advice on forays into the wider world, with Globetrotting forums dedicated to vacation planning, and trip reports. The questions, and the trip reports cover literally the whole globe, with just the ones on the front page alone covering Hawaii, Alaska, national parks, the Caribbean, France, Spain, the UK and China! If you’re interested in a destination anywhere, the chances are one of our PassPorter members has been there already. Outside of Disney chat, there are forums set up for topics as diverse as photography, books, TV and music, sport, craft activities, and family news. I bet you never realised that there was so much included on what are predominantly Disney message boards. If you've never visited a set of message boards before, then I really can’t recommend PassPorter's highly enough. Sometimes it’s very daunting to actually go and post on them, and I remember that feeling very well, even though it was a long time ago now, so I know how you feel. However, I can 100% assure you that you’ll have a very warm welcome from everyone there. I hope some of you reading this now, who either haven’t visited the PassPorter site before or perhaps who are members, but have never posted, will come along and join in with some of the discussions on the friendliest, most family orientated Disney message boards anywhere online. I look forward to meeting you virtually over there – please do pop over and say hello! You can visit the PassPorter Message Boards at http://www.passporterboards.com/forums. About the Author: Cheryl is the author of the e-book, PassPorter's Walt Disney World for British Holidaymakers, and is the co-author of PassPorter's Disney Vacation Club Guide: For Members and Members-To-Be. Cheryl and husband Mark live in England and love to travel, particularly to Disney, and they have travelled around the world, taking in a number of Disney cruises, Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Aulani in Hawai'i, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disney and Hong Kong Disneyland on the way. Click here to view more of Cheryl's articles! This article originally appeared in the PassPorter newsletter -- subscribe to our popular newsletter today for free at http://www.passporter.com/news.htm Updated 05-29-2014 Check for a more updated version at http://www.passporter.com/articles/passporter-boards-love.html |