Those of you who live in Florida and are members of DVC, - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Those of you who live in Florida and are members of DVC,
is there a reason you keep your membership or join DVC? Can someone tell me the extras with a DVC? My DH and I did the tour in October, I forgot to mail paperwork back, they called Saturday and I am putting paperwork in Fed Ex box today. We have contemplated a change, moving to Florida? So this thought has crossed my mind.
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We bought into DVC in October 2009 - 3 months after we moved here We had looked into it when we lived in MA but with airfare prices we never bought. Now that we can drive whenever we want to WDW it's great! We use our points for weekend trips (not the best use of points for everyone, but for us it's great!) and for our annual Christmas trip.
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We currently live in Indiana, but are in the process of moving to southwest Florida by the end of the summer.
We are DVC members and I am thrilled that I will be able to drive up to WDW for a long weekend using my points!
Before when I had to fly, I always thought I should go for a longer period of time to justify for the cost of the flights.
In fact, once we have moved and are settled, I am hoping to purchase more points!
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If we ever moved to Florida I would definitely keep our Grand Californian points. That would give us the 11-month booking window for occasional trips to Disneyland and access to whatever perks DVC may offer.
FL residents get good AP discounts including a special pass which is very cheap but has blackout dates. However on the traditional AP with no blackout dates, residents who are also DVC members will save a bit more.
Whether or not we kept points for use in Fl would depend upon our proximity to WDW. If we lived less than 45 minutes away, I don't think I could justify keeping many points for personal use. It's rare that we spend money on a hotel stay that close to our house now, and I don't think Disney would change our minds. As nice as the hotels are, if we lived close enough to enjoy the parks at will, we would be quite content retiring to our own beds at night.
We live in FL and use our DVC membership for quick weekend trips and longer trips since it's about a 6 hour drive for us. We've stayed anywhere from 2 days all the way up to 9 days.
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Stephanie
Riding the Magic Carpets with Jasmine and Aladdin
Location: Port Saint Lucie, FL USA 90 minutes from WDW!
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Lived in Florida for 30 years and bought DVC in 2000. We are still far enough away from Orlando that it still feels like a vacation when we stay. All the different types of resorts keeps the variety for us. We do take vacations other then Disney but its still our favorite!`
We moved to Kissimmee FL last August and have been DVC members since 2005. We decided to sell our 400 points but bought a small contract (25 points) so that we could remain members. We don't need to have points to stay on property anymore but we like the DVC discounts-- they're better than the FL resident discounts!
We live in Orlando, about 20 minutes from Disney and we bought in November. We lived in Mass before that and thought about it but the timing was never right. We realized living here that we do still want to stay on property once in a while to "get away" and use it for other things. We are going to Disneyland in May using points, and are doing a cruise next year with points.
It also comes in handy when people come to visit. Our niece is coming for her first trip and we booked just one night at BLT so she could have the full Disney experience. Worth every point!
We are contemplating moving to the Jacksonville area and I'm not thinking of selling any of my points. I would love to have get away weekends and be able to go at Christmastime when airfares from NJ are unbelieveably high. My points would be ideal for those times.
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We had looked into it when we lived in MA but with airfare prices we never bought. Now that we can drive whenever we want to WDW it's great! We use our points for weekend trips (not the best use of points for everyone, but for us it's great!) and for our annual Christmas trip.
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