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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Can Disney gift cards be used to pay off the room charges on the KTTW card? I would prefer to just use KTTW vs. carrying around all of our gift cards (we have at least 4 of them).
If they can be used, how do I go about doing so? Do I give them to the CM during check in, or do I go to the front desk prior to check out and have them applied?
Can Disney gift cards be used to pay off the room charges on the KTTW card? I would prefer to just use KTTW vs. carrying around all of our gift cards (we have at least 4 of them).
They sure can. In fact, that's how I do it -- I set up a charge account with the KTTW and use that to make all my purchases. Then I pay the room charge balance off with gift cards (that I leave locked in the room safe until I need them.) The gift cards, if lost or stolen can be used by anyone who finds them. The KTTW card can be instantly re-issued if lost or stolen and you can contest the charges with Disney right then and there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by srsatkowiak
If they can be used, how do I go about doing so? Do I give them to the CM during check in, or do I go to the front desk prior to check out and have them applied?
You can do it either way -- set up a cash balance at check-in using the gift cards, or you can just stop by the front desk whenever you'd like to pay it down with the gift cards. (Remember, each resort level has a charge limit. Values allows $500 before it has to be moved to a credit card or paid off in cash. Moderates allow $1,000 and Deluxes allow $1,500.)
Just make sure to stop at take care of it on your last night. Otherwise they will charge the balance to your credit card/debit card on file and it's a hassle for them to "pull" the charge back so you can apply the gift card.
They sure can. In fact, that's how I do it -- I set up a charge account with the KTTW and use that to make all my purchases. Then I pay the room charge balance off with gift cards (that I leave locked in the room safe until I need them.) The gift cards, if lost or stolen can be used by anyone who finds them. The KTTW card can be instantly re-issued if lost or stolen and you can contest the charges with Disney right then and there.
This is exactly why I didn't want to carry the GCs around as it will be quite a loss and just about what we want to use for spending money. We usually set up a charge account with the KTTW and use that to make all purchases as well. We carry little cash and no CCs around the parks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caldercup
You can do it either way -- set up a cash balance at check-in using the gift cards, or you can just stop by the front desk whenever you'd like to pay it down with the gift cards.
I didn't know about the cash balance. I assume after you have used up the cash balance part, the rest will be put on the charge account you have established? If we didn't use all of our cash balance up, would they would give us a Disney GC back with the remaining amount?
So, can I deposit my gift cards into my account at check-in and have my charges pre-paid? We've never done this, just carried them around but using them to pay off my KTTW charges would be much smarter. I lose stuff a LOT!
Yes, you can pay the room charges from your KTTW card with Disney gift cards. If I have a gift card to use, I just go to the desk the night before we check out and settle any charges then. Any charges after that would be applied to your credit card on file.
I have also heard of people applying gift cards to their account when they check in, creating a cash balance, although I haven't personally done that.
I prefer to charge everything on my KTTW card vs. carrying gift cards also.
The way a "cash balance" works is you give them the gift cards at check in and they create an account from which KTTW charges will draw down. If you would like to have them set up charging privileges with a credit card to cover any charges that exceed the cash balance, I'm sure they'd be able to do it. (The thing about Disney is, I think they've faced just about any situation a guest can put to them.)
If you do a cash balance and don't use it all up, they refund it to you however you'd like. I've heard of people requesting cash and being given that. I've heard of people asking it to go back on a Disney Gift Card and they do it that way.
I'm not certain of how they handle surplus cash balances at WDW, but I suspect it's consistent with what they do on DCL. Surplus cash is not normally refunded at check-out, unless there is also a credit card number on file. They have to protect themselves from charges that have not yet entered the system by check-out. On DCL there are still charges entered into a plain receipt book, and the photo gallery can still be open for business. They may not issue a refund check until a week or more following the cruise.
At WDW, I suspect the same should be true, as you can check out long before your KTTW expires (you can normally charge on it until 11:59pm of your check-out day). I don't know whether the cash registers at the Downtown Disney restaurants that accept the KTTW have finally been tied into Disney's computers, but in the past, they were not tied in - again, it was a paper charge slip transaction, so the charges might not be entered for a day or more (I've seen some charges "drop" days after the transaction took place). Naturally, you might say, "Then invalidate my KTTW right now, so I can't use it later in the day." But, of course, Disney would rather you kept spending until 11:59pm.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
You all are such a wealth of knowledge! It seems like I just have to think a question and someone on here has already asked it and there are plenty of great responses. I was thinking about the GC question just earlier today...love passporter and all the members!!
At WDW, I suspect the same should be true, as you can check out long before your KTTW expires ...
I believe you have to have a credit/debit card on file if you withdraw the cash funds. But I do know that WillCAD has gotten cash back when he closed out the cash balance and had the funds refunded to him as cash.
I agree with Rosanna, virtually every question I'm mulling over, someone on Passporter boards has already asked and answered. I really appreciate fellow Disney fans and their great insight! This answered my GC question as well! Glad this outlet exists for us Disneyphiles!
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