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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Is it just me or is anyone else getting a little upset about all the free DDP that Disney is giving away these day's? I wish DVC owners could at least get a discount off the price of the plan! I know that we can buy the TIW card for a 20% discount BUT compared to all the free dining that they are giving away I don't think that compares. Plus we find that the DDP works better for our family then the TIW card would. Also I just read in another post that someone had free dining and was able to pay to upgrade to the deluxe, what a great deal! I just feel like we are getting the shaft on the whole dining thing. (Sometimes it feels good to vent! )
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I'm not too disappointed. Considering the price we're paying for our DVC rooms compared to rack-rates for the same rooms, I think we're still making out better than those paying cash and getting Free Dining.
While I think we're making out better in the long run with DVC, I do admit I sigh longingly each time free dining is announced. But I don't think it would be worth 10 days of "togetherness" cramped in a trundle room at POR to get it... been there, done that!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
DVC owners CAN get the "free dining" under the same terms as any other resort guests. All you need to do is pay full rack rate for guest rooms plus park tickets in a package.
"Free dining" isn't really free anything. It's just a marketing ploy to get people to spend thousands of dollars on accommodations and tickets. If that works out better than using your DVC points, go for it. Bank the points into the next year, use them for a separate trip or rent them to a non-member.
While I think we're making out better in the long run with DVC, I do admit I sigh longingly each time free dining is announced. But I don't think it would be worth 10 days of "togetherness" cramped in a trundle room at POR to get it... been there, done that!
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I agree I think with DVC you make out better overall, and I think that you have more flexibility. As a new DVC member I haven't stayed on my points yet, and my recent trips have all be at rack rate and I feel like I have been crazy paying it. Also, the times of year we like to travel, they have not been offering free dining, so I haven't been able to take advantage of it.
I agree with others... $1000 a night rack rates in July, 12-15 nights, For 5 of us the AP will save $700 vs theme park tickets/reg price AP, avail of kitchen for easy snacks and breakfast and 20% off TIW... or we can still do DDP.... Ill take my DVC, as that is the only way we could afford to stay at these nice deluxe+ accomadations.
Only 273 days till we go home.....
I agree with the others. We get such a great deal out of the DVC in the long term that it really doesn't bother me. I think it's nice to see Disney giving something to those who are still paying a lot more than we are for their vacations. That's the way I look at it.
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It always stinks to see a dining discount Disney offers that you just can't use. But if you look at the facts, the free dining promotion is only a clever marketing tool. "Free dining" is, in fact, nothing else than a discount on the rack rates. Better for Disney, though, you don't get the discount off the rate you pay for your room but instead Disney ensures that you spend your "discount" on dining on property. So instead of giving you the option to use your discount the way you please (e.g. eating off property...), Disney ties that discount to the condition that you add the DDP to your package.
For those of us who dine on Disney property most of the time anyways, this doesn't make a difference. But there are plenty of people who vacation at Disney but hardly ever dine on property. Well, through "free dining", Disney draws these vacationers to their restaurants as well...
So, do I feel bad that Disney offers these discounts to non-DVC'ers? Nope. I absolutely feel that we got the better discount - yes, I do see DVC as a sort of permanent long-term discount. And most companies only let you use one discount at a time instead of being able to combine discounts.
Hope this makes sense. As my old economics teacher in high school used to say (on a daily basis):
I just have to pipe in with an opinion on the other side. Our family has done free dining every time it's been offered and we're booked for free dining again at Christmas this year AND next August.
We became DVC members because we love the idea of having our resorts costs all paid up for years to come (and for our kids and someday grandkids). But call me a sucker if you want, I LOVE when Disney offers free dining. We are a family of 2 parents and 2 teens. The dining plan would cost us approximately $160 a day and we LOVE the dining plan (it's a good fit for our family and the way we eat). So when Disney offers free dining, we book a value resort and enjoy all the restaurants we wouldn't do if we were paying the bill. Typically the cost of a value rack rate room is less than what we'd pay for the dining plan, so for us, it works out economically real well.
Plus we don't mind the value resorts. For those trips when we stay value, we go to the parks a lot and rarely spend any time in the room besides eating and showering.
Even though we are now DVC members, I think we'll continue to book free dining offers when they come along. Hey, it means extra trips to my favorite place in the world and that can't be bad!
__________________
Past Trips: 21 to WDW & 1 to Disneyland Upcoming Trips: October 2009 - Halloween at Kidani Village; June 2010 - Celebrating 2 graduations at Kidani Village.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Location: Physically stuck in Michigan while my heart and soul reside in Disney.....
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I think Disney offers several deals to different groups, ie..PIN codes, free dining, birthday entry free. Like others have said, they are not excluding you, if you feel it is that great of a bargin, by all means book a package at full rack rate when the deal is offered. I know others that do it and have no problems. But all in all I think Disney offers a great selection of money saving promotions, DVC included. Its up to us, the consumers, to choose the right one to meet our needs.
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cramped in a trundle room at POR to get it... been there, done that!
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