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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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For those of you thinking of using your DVC points towards the 2011 cruises and especially the new Alaskan destination, I called Member Services yesterday to see if there was any information about how many points it would be. There isn't yet and the woman I spoke to didn't know when they'd have that information. She told me to look at DVCmember.com, but I pointed out that when the Baltic cruises for 2010 came out, I called and got the points charts and it then took about four days for them to appear on the website.
After pointing out that these cruises go on sale for Castaway Club members on 9/21, she told me to try calling back on 9/19, which I will do.
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I hate that they seem to wait until last minute to inform even the CMs! Sigh, it's not like I'm going to be able to go, but I can't wait to see how many points it'd take!
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I called again yesterday and they still have no idea when the charts will be out - I was told to try on Sunday. Having read in the Disney Cruise Line forum that they're introducing new categories of staterooms - i.e. 5a, 5b, 5c, like a lot of other cruise lines, I'm sure that's probably got something to do with the delay.
I called them this afternoon (Sunday, Sep 20th) about another topic and asked about the cost/points chart - nothing yet, and the reservations for the "upper crust" CC members starts tomorrow! How can anybody plan a cruise if they don't know how much it's going to cost??
I called them this afternoon (Sunday, Sep 20th) about another topic and asked about the cost/points chart - nothing yet, and the reservations for the "upper crust" CC members starts tomorrow! How can anybody plan a cruise if they don't know how much it's going to cost??
I called them yesterday morning and the Cast Member I spoke to was very apologetic. She said they'd been told that the charts would be ready for booking this morning and she advised me to try the Member website after they closed, which I've done this morning, and still nothing. I guess I'll be calling when they open to see how many points it's going to take and where we go from there...
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I wonder if the new "classes" of staterooms are the issue. With all those "5a, 5B, 5c", etc, I'm thinking each class is going to be a different point amount.
I don't think I would want to be a CM at MS, DCL or a travel agent this morning! :
I spoke to a Cast Member and was her first call of the day. Her terminal wasn't working, so she had to go and talk to someone else for every set of points I wanted. Poor thing.
I got the points charts for the cruise we were looking at - for category 7 - 5, it varies from 325 down to 273 points per person, which seems fairly reasonable. Sorry I can't help with more info for others, but I didn't dare ask Jamie (who sounded like she was having a really bad day!) to look anymore things up...
So if I called now would they be able to give me a points conversion for 2011 cruise for our family. If I don't have enough points do you pay in cash or buy points? I am so new to DVC I am still trying to figure out how best use our points.
So if I called now would they be able to give me a points conversion for 2011 cruise for our family. If I don't have enough points do you pay in cash or buy points? I am so new to DVC I am still trying to figure out how best use our points.
They have the points charts now. If you don't have enough points, you can pay cash for the remaining members of your party, however, the cruise must be paid in full when you book.
You might be pleasantly surprised with points availability. When I booked the members cruise in 2007 for 2008, I didn't think I had enough points for DH and me. (I was sitting on the side of I-84 on my cell phone with my American Express in my hand ) But the CM was able to make it work with borrowing. Depending on when your use year is, you might have 2012 points available to borrow for this cruise!