Relinquished control of my reservation, and now I'm a little "panicked" - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Relinquished control of my reservation, and now I'm a little "panicked"
I don't know if panicked is the right word - maybe too strong.
I had booked my first WDW resort stay & reservations myself, online and over the phone w/ Disney. I had complete control, could modify things when I wanted to, didn't have to ask anyone to do anything for me.
This 2nd on site stay, I also booked directly. But, just a month or so ago, I decided to transfer my reservation over to a travel agent. And now I feel so helpless. My 180 days is coming up, and I plan to jump on the computer first thing in the morning. But now that my reservations are not Disney Destinations travel agency, am I going to have a nightmare of a time booking my dining reservations? Anyone have any experience with booking your trip with a travel agent, but handling/making your own dining reservations online? (I really want my 180 +10, and I'm going to be on an airplane trying to book these, I won't be able to call anyone if I am having trouble booking!)
If you want to do your own ADRs, you shouldn't have any trouble. Just make sure to get your Disney resort confirmation number (some travel agencies use their own numbers, you need the official Disney number). When you go online at your 180 day mark, it will prompt you to enter your reservation number and it will allow you to make your 180 + 10 ADRs.
I think you can just get your res# from your TA. You can also try using your phone # and name. That used to work. Good Luck getting the meals you want.
Just to let you know I felt the same way when, after 3 times booking my own WDW vacation, I booked our DCL with a travel agent. I felt so helpless when I wanted to check the reservation for the Disney hotel the night before the cruise! It all had to go through the agent. But great you can do your ADR's yourself! From now on I will be doing my own reservations but for the cruise I earned ship credit for booking with an Agent :-)
Your TA won't make your reservations for you? That's the only reason I have used them in the past, so she can mke my ADR's and change me over to Free Dining if I book before the discount comes out.
Just to let you know I felt the same way when, after 3 times booking my own WDW vacation, I booked our DCL with a travel agent. I felt so helpless when I wanted to check the reservation for the Disney hotel the night before the cruise! It all had to go through the agent. But great you can do your ADR's yourself! From now on I will be doing my own reservations but for the cruise I earned ship credit for booking with an Agent :-)
I'm so glad I'm not the only one that has felt this way!!! And a cruise is how this happened! We decided to book one for February 2012, she gave us great on board credits. And I decided to have her manage our November WDW trip, so she could track any good deals that come out, that I may miss. She said either she or I can make the reservations, but I *assume* she won't get up at 7am to make them! Plus I still want to be able to pick and choose my times myself.
Thanks so much for the reassurance everyone! I do have my Disney confirmations numbers, they haven't changed from what I originally booked myself. Sounds like, long as the Disney site isn't acting up, I should be good to go! (10 days and counting!)
She said either she or I can make the reservations, but I *assume* she won't get up at 7am to make them!
Many of us are up and ready 7 days a week at 6AM EST (when the online system opens for the day) to make ADRs for our clients so I wouldn't just assume your TA won't do the same for you!