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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Just Wondering, on your Average WDW Vacation, How much do you Spend?
We Always Stay at Deluxe's, and we Usually Spend about $5500 ($5400 this upcoming) which includes our Rooms, Park Hopper Tickets, DDP & Airline Tickets
The one time we stayed at ASM, I believe it came to about $3000
Good question, I never added up everything, so just did for our upcoming trip in Aug.!
So with airfare for 3, 4 nights POR & 5nights WL, 1 - 10 day park hop + water park ticket, & car rental while in Ft. Lauderdale, before we go up to WDW $3622.00
I didn't add in the 2 AP's we got a couple of weeks ago during our Jan. trip.(would that count toward the Aug. vac.?) So with the AP's add another $1000. That would make it $4622.00 So far! Hoping for an AP discount! Right now I have the 30% bounce back for all but the first 3 days. Our stay starts 8/20 & bounce back doesn't start until 8/23.
On our last trip, we spent $750 on the resort (we had a 40% off discount at CSR), $1300 on food (we had 13 sit-down meals, which is why that's so high - it's a first for us to have that many TS meals at WDW all in 7 days, lol), $300 on souvenirs, $325 on the rental car and $100 on gas.
So that's... $2775.
Crikey, when you add it up like that... that's twice what I normally spend. Darn those awesome TS meals!
We always travel in value season, stay at a value resort, and get discounts about half the time. I can tell you that last December we spent about $1,110 for a six night package w/7 day PH tickets for 3 adults (yes, we had a pin code) in a standard room at All Star Music Resort. Food cost more than usual as we ate at Boma and T-Rex which added about $200 for a total food cost of about $800. We get refillable mugs and use them often. We also have a medical fridge so we can have things like yogurt and cheese & crackers at hand along with the medications we take. We normally spend around $150-200 on extras like gifts to take back. Driving down and back, including rooms one night each way is roughly $400. So including tips and a little slop in my calculations, we brought it in at around $2,600 more or less.
This year we also have a pin code, but will be in a preferred room (our agent is magical--she got them to apply it to the standard room base price, but then let us pay the upgrade for a preferred room due to mobility issues). So this year's package of six nights w/7 day PH for 3 will cost $1,353. Gas is a bit less this year but we still expect to budget around $400 for travel down and back. I expect to spend about the same on food and extras as well, since we will probably have at least one non-CS meal again this trip. Plus my husband has discovered the coffee bar in Morocco...
We are a family of 5--3 adults, one teen & one 5 yr old....family suite at ASM w/ hopper pass and quick service plan is $3600 for 7 nights/7 day hopper pass. Hope that helps
The trip January 26 - February 03, 2009 came to about $2000. I stayed 8 nights at ASMu had 7 day park hoppers and the qsdp and got in on the pay for 4 get 3 free deal and got a $200 gift card. I saved $287.57 with the "pay for 4 get 3 free" deal and used most of that ($272) at Undercover Tourist to buy my mom a 3 day park hopper since she was joining me for 4 nights. The majority of the $50-$70 in cash that I spent was on my travel days as I had $100 on 2 gift cards already and Disney gave me a $200 gift card I used those to pay for my oop (Boma and a few cokes) food and almost all of my souviners.
My December 2007 trip was probably about $3000. I stayed 10 nights at ASMu had 10 park hoppers with water parks and paid oop for food.
Thanks ... Its Interesting to see everyones figures
The fact that we usually travel in Peak Season along with staying at some of the more pricier Deluxes would explain the differences
Quote:
Originally Posted by eff051102
I would say around $5000 since we stay Deluxe with the DDP.
Ahh.... I don't feel quite as bad now knowing I'm not the only one to wind up spending $5000 ... LOL
I guess its not so bad.. Before 07, We only usually went to Disney once every 2 years which I can justify $5000 for, but since we're going every year now its just becoming our main vacation
I just booked our trip for November, staying at the Poly, DP and 7 day park hopper total was $5100. I will probably need about $2500 more for airfare and spending money.
For our upcoming trip in August...
We are a family of 6 (the 2 youngest are still free though)...we are staying at ASMu Family Suite for 7 nights, 7 day hopper and DDP...it came to $3000 because we were able to use the "Stay 4, Get 3" . We'll also be spending an additional $150 for one more night at a DTD hotel so we can see some family before we head back. And we're driving so we'll spend an additional $600 - $700 on our way down & back between gas, tolls, food and a hotel for one night each way...so in total we're spending about $4000 plus whatever we spend on souvenirs and stuff like that (and with 4 kids that can get pretty pricey)
For the two of us, about $2500 for a week with everything included, but we're in driving distance, so we don't need airfare. We like to rent DVC points and stay deluxe at moderate price, so that cuts down on the cost a bit. The rest of the price is the dining plan, 6-day park hoppers, souvenirs (although we don't spend much on this), and travel expenses.
Our August trip was about $1500 for POFQ/BC for 10 nights. Park tickets were $1000. Airfare was about $800. And we spent about $1200 on meals/souvenirs. So about $4500 for 10 days.
Lat year we did 9 nights at Pop, DxDDP, 10 day tix w/water park fun n more, there were no discounts, went May 24th, and our airfare was $1350 RT on SW nonstop flights, spending money was about $900, total trip was about $6500.
This year, doing the 4 for 7, going May 5th, 7 nights at ASMo, MYW base tix, basic DDP, airfare is $660 RT on SW nonstop flights YAY!, spending $ about $600, so our total trip will be about $3500!!!
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