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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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"Enjoy a FREE meal at a quick-service location per person, per night" when purchase stay (room + MYW tickets) at a VALUE RESORT (no discount on room or tickets).
Offer Details
Book Through
February 29, 2016 Valid Travel Dates
For arrivals most nights May 29 through June 30, 2016 and July 5 through August 13, 2016
Important Details
The number of rooms allocated for this offer is limited.
Advance reservations required.
Minimum 3-night length of stay is required.
Minimum 2-day Magic Your Way base ticket purchase is required.
Offer Restrictions
Cannot be combined with any other discount or promotion.
Offer excludes campsites and Disney’s Art of Animation – The Little Mermaid Standard Rooms.
Excludes alcoholic beverages and gratuities.
Children ages 3 to 9 must choose from the children’s menu, if available.
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Just to be clear - this is NOT the Free Quick Service Dining Plan. It is one free quick service meal per person, per night when you stay at a Value Resort.
Not a great deal IMO. You get to pay full price pkg and only get one meal a day instead of the full QS DDP .
I think Wdw is testing the waters to see if people will settle for this, and pay the same price of getting the Free DDP promo. More WDW cut backs.
If people buy into this, it spells the end of free dining I think. Personally, I'd rather the room discount.
I, for one, am very happy with this deal. It works out great for our family (though I realize it doesn't for everyone). We are a family of 6 -- 3 true adults, 2 teens, and a tween -- so all "Disney" adults. We eat a few table service meals during our stays, but most of our meals are at QS restaurants. We are booked in a suite at AoA for this trip. We've been to Disney numerous times and always stay for 7 nights and always the 3rd or 4th week in June. Today's deal will save us a minimum of about $600...and with a little planning, it could save us much more. Using the QS meal credits at BOG and WPE (2 places we *always* eat at) will save us about $300 alone....and we'll still have 5 more "free" meals after that. The only discounts we've gotten that saved us more money were free QS dining (saved us ~$1200 which was significantly more than the room-only discount at that time); the Buy 4/Get 3 Free discount on room and tickets (which saved us about $900 on that trip); and last year we got a package discount with the park-hopping option added for free (that saved us about $800). A room-only discount saved us about $200-300 on other trips which was better than nothing.
So, for our family, this is a great discount. And to top it off, we were still able to stay in a Nemo suite with this deal. The other two times at AoA we had to switch from a Nemo suite to a Lion King or Cars suite to get the discount rate. This is a win-win for us.
I, for one, am very happy with this deal. It works out great for our family (though I realize it doesn't for everyone). We are a family of 6 -- 3 true adults, 2 teens, and a tween -- so all "Disney" adults. We eat a few table service meals during our stays, but most of our meals are at QS restaurants. We are booked in a suite at AoA for this trip. We've been to Disney numerous times and always stay for 7 nights and always the 3rd or 4th week in June. Today's deal will save us a minimum of about $600...and with a little planning, it could save us much more. Using the QS meal credits at BOG and WPE (2 places we *always* eat at) will save us about $300 alone....and we'll still have 5 more "free" meals after that. The only discounts we've gotten that saved us more money were free QS dining (saved us ~$1200 which was significantly more than the room-only discount at that time); the Buy 4/Get 3 Free discount on room and tickets (which saved us about $900 on that trip); and last year we got a package discount with the park-hopping option added for free (that saved us about $800). A room-only discount saved us about $200-300 on other trips which was better than nothing.
So, for our family, this is a great discount. And to top it off, we were still able to stay in a Nemo suite with this deal. The other two times at AoA we had to switch from a Nemo suite to a Lion King or Cars suite to get the discount rate. This is a win-win for us.
I'm just sorry this seems to be replacing free dining, while paying the same price. They don't even throwing a resort mug :-(.
For you this still maybe a good deal vs room discount because you have a large family. But for the majority I don't think it's a great deal.
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I'm just sorry this seems to be replacing free dining, while paying the same price. They don't even throwing a resort mug :-(.
For you this still maybe a good deal vs room discount because you have a large family. But for the majority I don't think it's a great deal.
You know, The Walt Disney Company is a profit-making enterprise. They don't owe anyone free dining. If I get a discount, great. If I can't find a room or other discount, I might delay my trip, but I don't feel Disney OWES me a discount. It's just business, folks. Why would they give away profit if they can get the rooms filled with a more modest offer? That wouldn't make any sense at all.
You know, The Walt Disney Company is a profit-making enterprise. They don't owe anyone free dining. If I get a discount, great. If I can't find a room or other discount, I might delay my trip, but I don't feel Disney OWES me a discount. It's just business, folks. Why would they give away profit if they can get the rooms filled with a more modest offer? That wouldn't make any sense at all.
Yes. I get that . And I believe that's what's happening here. They're testing the waters to see if people will book with just getting one meal free instead of the DDP.
Personally getting a room discount for us is better, it's just myself and adult daughter that goes.
No, Disney doesn't owe me a discount, but if they stop giving discounts, I'll stop going. Wdw is slowly pricing people out of going. The price hike of our APs was hard to choke down. And if room discounts dry up too, we will be priced out of Disney.
I'm just going to mention that while I'm very happy with the dollar amount this discount gives us towards our trip, if I didn't have a trip already booked, the amount we're saving ($600-700) wouldn't be enough of an incentive for me to plan a trip.
I read on another message board that some people think this promotion is due to the Olympics being held in Brazil this summer and many of the tour groups that typically make their way to the Value Resorts won't be making that trip this summer so Disney needs to fill up those resorts.
I read on another message board that some people think this promotion is due to the Olympics being held in Brazil this summer and many of the tour groups that typically make their way to the Value Resorts won't be making that trip this summer so Disney needs to fill up those resorts.
Interesting. I was wondering why it was only being offered at the values.
I can see how this adds value to a trip for a large group occupying a suite. For us, we're generally only two in our party. A 20% value room discount works about equal to this deal. Plus, you have to book a package to take advantage of this offer. The exclusions are pretty standard, but for this offer, I don't see why they need to exclude the LM rooms. I mean, if you're paying full price, which is several dollars more at AoA, they won't throw in the meal? I get that it's easier to fill those LM rooms, but I wouldn't choose that resort, pay full price, and have to pay OOP for all my meals when I could pay less and get a meal thrown in across the bridge at Pop.
Now, I've never gotten free dining. I'd love to, but it isn't a deal breaker for me. I can either afford the trip, or I can't. A discount is nice and always appreciated, but when I plan my trip, I plan for full price and then look for ways to save. The reason I choose value resorts is that it affords us the opportunity to visit once a year. I was fortunate to get a PIN code for 25% off the room this year. That saves me more than I'd get with a free meal for each of us.
I guess my mental meandering is just to say that these offers mean different things to different people. Maybe Disney is testing the waters for the possibility of free dining, and that would impact some, but certainly not everyone, and they know that.
Now, I've never gotten free dining. I'd love to, but it isn't a deal breaker for me. I can either afford the trip, or I can't. A discount is nice and always appreciated, but when I plan my trip, I plan for full price and then look for ways to save. The reason I choose value resorts is that it affords us the opportunity to visit once a year. I was fortunate to get a PIN code for 25% off the room this year. That saves me more than I'd get with a free meal for each of us.
...
We're the same way. We book our trips assuming we will be paying rack rate for the room, tickets, and food. If we can't afford the trip at that price, we don't go. Any discount (in whatever form) is a bonus for us. Although I will say that we had decided that on this trip we were staying in a Nemo suite no matter what. We've always booked a Nemo suite to begin with and end up moving to a LK suite to get a discounted rate. We were originally going to book 2 rooms at POFQ for this trip but because other family members are saying at Pop, we decided to go back to AoA again. But we really wanted to stay in a Nemo suite this time simply so that it would feel "different" than our last two trips. I did say that if a discount came out that would save us more than $400, I would once again give up the Nemo suite to save the money. I'm very happy that our TA was able to get us the Summer Meal promotion and keep us in a Nemo suite. She said she was ready to pounce on the discounts at 6:00 a.m. yesterday and that ours was the very first one she did. Double bonus for us this trip!
I read on another message board that some people think this promotion is due to the Olympics being held in Brazil this summer and many of the tour groups that typically make their way to the Value Resorts won't be making that trip this summer so Disney needs to fill up those resorts.
Interesting. Hadn't thought of that, but it makes sense.
Quote:
Originally Posted by joelsmom
The exclusions are pretty standard, but for this offer, I don't see why they need to exclude the LM rooms. I mean, if you're paying full price, which is several dollars more at AoA, they won't throw in the meal? I get that it's easier to fill those LM rooms, but I wouldn't choose that resort, pay full price, and have to pay OOP for all my meals when I could pay less and get a meal thrown in across the bridge at Pop.
If they can fill the rooms without offering a discount, they'll exclude the resort from the offer. Making Pop a better deal will entice some to move to Pop from the LM rooms for the exact reason that you would, opening up those rooms for booking for those willing to pay full price without the offer.
We are weighing our options...if we go from POR to POP we can get another day in the parks, 1 free meal per person per day/ and water park option ...and still save $200 (not including the cost of the free meals). I am thinking we will switch but we are going to discuss a little more first.
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. And I believe that's what's happening here. They're testing the waters to see if people will book with just getting one meal free instead of the DDP. 
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