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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I have a question regarding annual passes. We're looking at purchasing annual passes for our upcoming trip in June 2011. We've never had annual passes before and not sure how the purchase process works. If we purchase the pass through the Disney website, we know that they send us a voucher that we have to exchange to get the actual annual pass. What we don't know though is does Disney actually mail us the voucher or do they email it to us? If they mail it does it come by mail or do they send it by courier? We're just concerned that if they send it by courier there is no one available to sign for it.
When we bought ours this year, they emailed us the info. We printed it out and brought it with us (Picked ours up at DTD) You also have to show your ID when you pick them up.
When we purchased ours all we received was a confirmation # in an e-mail. I printed the e-mail and also had to show my ID and my DVC member card since I got the DVC discount.
I ordered mine thru Disney this year, on the phone, and I got plastic credit size cards, with Exchange Certificate printed on the front. They were sent in the (regular) mail I think . I was able to access the AP site online using the card info so i can check out the AP offers.
I'm,keeping these in my handy-dandy Deluxe Passporter, love those slots on the inside cover
Once I get to WDW I can exchange them for APs at any customer service in front of the parks or DTD.
The time before I got our APs at WDW, exchanged my Park Hopper tickets for APs.
Hi Mystic! I just ordered annual passes for my boyfriend and myself on Saturday. They are coming regular mail and in a plain white envelope. The cast member who assisted me made sure to tell me that I should look very closely at all the mail I receive for the next 10 days so that I don't throw the voucher away. BUT if you do, as long as you have the confirmation number you were given, they can get you your annual pass anyway!
I was also told that I can activate the pass at any park customer service location. You can also activate the pass at Downtown Disney. If you choose to activate the pass at a park and you are driving to the park, you will need to pay the parking fee!
__________________
Ginny
Sept 2007 First WDW Trip All Star Music
Sept 2008 All Star Music/Jan 2010 Pop Century
Dec 2010 Summer Bay/May 2011 All Star Music/Nov 2011 Summer Bay Timeshare
Jan 2013 Old Key West
Hi Mystic! I just ordered annual passes for my boyfriend and myself on Saturday. They are coming regular mail and in a plain white envelope. The cast member who assisted me made sure to tell me that I should look very closely at all the mail I receive for the next 10 days so that I don't throw the voucher away. BUT if you do, as long as you have the confirmation number you were given, they can get you your annual pass anyway!
I was also told that I can activate the pass at any park customer service location. You can also activate the pass at Downtown Disney. If you choose to activate the pass at a park and you are driving to the park, you will need to pay the parking fee!
Thanks Ginny. We are driving but we'll be heading to DTD for dinner the first night so we'll be activating the pass there so no need to worry about paying for parking (yes we're driving). But as resort guests we wouldn't have to pay to park anyway.
The windows are marked "Guest Services" (to the right of the turnstiles at the MK and Epcot, to the left of the turnstiles at AK and, I think, DHS) There's also one at Dowtown Disney, behind the Team Mickey store. You won't be able to exchange them at your resort, however.
Also, don't forget to take photo ID with you -- they'll need that to set-up and issue the AP.
The windows are marked "Guest Services" (to the right of the turnstiles at the MK and Epcot, to the left of the turnstiles at AK and, I think, DHS) There's also one at Dowtown Disney, behind the Team Mickey store. You won't be able to exchange them at your resort, however.
Also, don't forget to take photo ID with you -- they'll need that to set-up and issue the AP.
Don't worry, we'll have photo ID since we're flying down. Anyway, even if we were driving down, we'd still need photo ID (ie passports) to cross the Canada/US border.
I always forget to put it in my pouch when I head to the parks though... and they definitely turn you away if you don't have it -- so it never hurts to offer up the reminder.
Enjoy the AP. I've been without one since June (first time since 2002) and I seriously feel like I've had an appendage amputated.
Enjoy the AP. I've been without one since June (first time since 2002) and I seriously feel like I've had an appendage amputated.
I didn't mean to but that made me chuckle! I know what you mean though... we didn't have them for the past two years with being pregnant and having an infant we didn't want to travel as much. Now that I have one again I'm trying to figure out a way to sneak in extra trips on any long weekend. I really wish I had long lost family in Orlando, LOL
I always forget to put it in my pouch when I head to the parks though... and they definitely turn you away if you don't have it -- so it never hurts to offer up the reminder.
Enjoy the AP. I've been without one since June (first time since 2002) and I seriously feel like I've had an appendage amputated.
Yes they do! The time I wanted to exchange my Park Hoppers for AP, I forgot to bring any photo ID. I just use a pouch and maybe a wallet cross body bag, but because I use WDW transportation, I don't carry around a drivers licence I got turned away.
I always forget to put it in my pouch when I head to the parks though... and they definitely turn you away if you don't have it -- so it never hurts to offer up the reminder.
Enjoy the AP. I've been without one since June (first time since 2002) and I seriously feel like I've had an appendage amputated.
Well it won't be an issue about forgetting our photo ID. Not only will we have out passports but we're renting a car so we don't have to rely on Disney Transportation this trip so we'll always have our driver's licenses on us at all times so that won't be an issue.
I have another AP question - I plan to buy mine and my dd's before we head down next August. We will be checking into our hotel on Friday night and we are hoping to get an AP discount but I won't be activating the AP's until the next morning. Is this going to be a problem?
Kris, generally it's not been a problem. When I've been in this situaton, I've just explained it to the check-in CM and offered to come back the next day with the activated pass. That's usually been okay...
So, fingers crossed, you'll have the same experience.
Eileen