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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We will be staying in a Bay Lake Tower studio on family's points for 6 nights this summer. I know we will not receive daily mousekeeping. If I'm not mistaken, I think they'll clean on the 3rd day and then after we leave?
Anyway, I was just wondering how much to tip. Do I tip the same amount I would tip if they were cleaning every day (since they will have more than one day's mess to clean up), or do I tip my standard $1+ per person just for the times they clean?
For a 6 night stay, you will not get any full cleanings. Stay must be at least 8 days in order to receive a full cleaning.
You will get what is called Trash & Towel service on the 4th DAY of your stay. That includes your check-in day...if you arrive on a Sunday, they will do the T&T service on Wednesday.
Trash & Towel service is exactly what the name implies--they will empty trash cans and give you fresh towels. They also typically put new toiletries in the room.
This schedule is pretty typical in the timeshare industry. Since owners pay for the cost of housekeeping, limited services are the norm.
If you want the room fully serviced while you are there, you can schedule that with the front desk. I believe it's $30 per day for a Studio. If you want clean towels more often, it's $6 per replacement. Extra trash bags are usually left in the room and there are trash rooms scattered throughout the resort where you can deposit a bag when it's full.
As for tipping, you'll get a lot of different opinions there. Housekeeping isn't considered a tipped position by Disney. Staff members like valet attendants, bell services and restaurant wait staff receive wages that are below minimum wage and gratuities are expected to supplement that income. Not the case with housekeeping.
The room is only being serviced once so I think it's appropriate to tip what you think is appropriate for that one cleaning.
We usually stay in One and Two Bedroom villas and I will typically leave $10-20. Depends upon things like how big of a mess we've left behind, what condition was the room in when we arrived, were there towel animal in the room, etc.
I've never seen any sort of concensus on what's appropriate. Go with your conscience.
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Why do you think it is necessary to tip the Mouse(house)keeping staff? Disney is paying them to do the job and I do not believe a tip will get any different service, sonce you will not see the housekeeper again while you are there. I reserve tipping for those I beleive have given excellent service. Not those who are doing their job. I know now everyone is going to call me scrooge, but thats how I feel.
I wouldn't pick a fight with anyone who doesn't think a tip is necessary. As I pointed out, housekeeping is not a tipped position.
Disney is a company known for having high expectations for their staff. They are selective in who they hire and have lofty standards for employee knowledge level, quality of interactions with guests, etc. Yet Disney's wages are not particularly good.
I view tipping as one of my few opportunities to directly show gratitude toward the staff. Perhaps that money left at the end of the stay won't go to the exact person who prepared the room before I arrived--but there's very little I can do to correct that situation. Hopefully it all works out equitably in the end.
After spending literally hundreds or thousands of dollars for personal pleasure while on vacation, $10-20 doesn't seem like much of a sacrifice. And it could potentially make someone else's day quite a bit brighter.
Thanks for all of the information. It's given me some things to think about and has helped in my planning. I didn't realize housekeeping isn't a tipped position...however we've left tips before and I'm sure we will continue to do so. All of the info on tipping during DVC points stays was very helpful - thanks!
We generally leave $5-$10 on trash and towel day, and $10-$15 at the end of our stay. Make sure it is in an envelope clearly marked for housekeeping. Just leaving cash around is not a good idea, as they are not allowed to take it. We usually leave the envelope in a prominent location, like on the towels!
New Passporter member here. Former lurker.
We've stayed on points 3 times so far since becoming DVC members and every time we have not gotten our trash emptied at all during the stay without calling and our towels are outside our door in the evening of the 4th day. Is there something I'm missing here?
I'm used to 'typical' timeshares that require you to do it all and charge you if you don't clean up after yourself at the end. What am I missing?
That is VERY strange, unless you had the do not disturb sign on your door, they are suppose to change your towels and take out the trash. And EWW, I DO NOT want my clean towels left on the floor of the hallway
Towels should not be left merely stacked in the hallway but housekeeping does use small laundry baskets. They are often staged outside of the rooms which need to be serviced at the start of the day. Helps housekeeping track which rooms need attention.
The DND sign could have been an issue, or just housekeeping not getting around to the room yet. If guests are bringing in the towels themselves, that would help explain why the trash isn't being emptied. With the full laundry basket sitting outside the room, housekeeping knows that the villa still needs towels replaced and trash emptied. No laundry basket = no servicing required.
We generally leave $5-$10 on trash and towel day, and $10-$15 at the end of our stay. Make sure it is in an envelope clearly marked for housekeeping. Just leaving cash around is not a good idea, as they are not allowed to take it. We usually leave the envelope in a prominent location, like on the towels!
We do the exact same thing. We've made it a tradition to decorate the envelopes with our favorite characters, stickers, and Disney art. Our boys STILL do this and they're going to be 14 and 11!!
Towels should not be left merely stacked in the hallway but housekeeping does use small laundry baskets. They are often staged outside of the rooms which need to be serviced at the start of the day. Helps housekeeping track which rooms need attention.
The DND sign could have been an issue, or just housekeeping not getting around to the room yet. If guests are bringing in the towels themselves, that would help explain why the trash isn't being emptied. With the full laundry basket sitting outside the room, housekeeping knows that the villa still needs towels replaced and trash emptied. No laundry basket = no servicing required.
Both times it was in a laundry basket, but the first time I left it there for an entire day waiting to see if it would be brought in. I assumed the next morning when it was still there that I was supposed to bring it in myself. We have never felt the need to use the DND sign since we are almost never in the room. In addition, we never really have much trash for the same reason so it never really mattered.
It bugged me the first time that I waited a whole day with my fresh, new towels outside in the hall since it was at SSR (outside in the hall literally means "outside" y'know?). I just washed them myself when I brought them in so we'd feel comfortable using them. It worked out in the end...the more towels the better.
Now that I know that this service is supposed to be provided though, I'll be making sure to take advantage.
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That is VERY strange, unless you had the do not disturb sign on your door, they are suppose to change your towels and take out the trash. And EWW, I DO NOT want my clean towels left on the floor of the hallway
Well, floor as in "in a basket on the ground outside the door"
I agree about eww though. I like my fresh towels to be... well, fresh! Not sitting outside where the bugs and creepy crawlies can get into them. Like I said, We never need to use the DND sign since we are never in the room. I really appreciate this information. I'll call mousekeeping if it happens again!
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