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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Thanks for the info, I'm glad we are already booked!
Kind of on the same subject, do you see Disney raising the price of meals, which will affect the price of cruises and (on-shore) dining plans because of increasing costs of shipping food?
DCL only takes on food at its home ports (Port Canaveral, and Port of Los Angeles for the West Coast itineraries), so I don't see transportation costs being significant for the food. The cost of fuel to transport the food once it is on the ship is undoubtedly included in the surcharge. Since the only meal DCL charges for is Palo, and the food costs for Palo are just a drop in the bucket compared to overall food costs, I don't see any change in the Palo charge either.
Since cruise lines (including DCL) use demand-driven pricing (there's never an announced "list" price), they can slip in a price increase at any time without folks knowing why it's happening (or even that it's happened). The only reason to tack on a fuel surcharge is to be able to blame external circumstances and separate that cost from the list price of the cruise. The same is true of the current policy changes for airline baggage. It's a way to pass along cost increases without increasing the quoted base fare of the flight.
As to the cost of the dining plan and meals on land? People in the restaurant business will tell you that food is only a fraction of the cost of any meal, and transportation costs are only a fraction of the cost of the food, so I don't see Disney adding a fuel surcharge to the dining plan. Restaurant prices will probably creep up, as food costs are going higher even when you don't include the cost of food. I expect Disney will hold off on a dining plan increase until the 2009 dining plan is announced. After all, if fewer people go to WDW because they perceive prices to be going up, then Disney has a whole lot more to lose than just a few dollars on each dining plan.
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Since the only meal DCL charges for is Palo, and the food costs for Palo are just a drop in the bucket compared to overall food costs, I don't see any change in the Palo charge either.
While we were looking thing over, DH noticed that Palo is now $15 (it was $10 as recently as December), however that may have been a Jan 1, 2008 change we didn't pay attention to. But, they did increase it by 50%, saying that the increase would be for the servers and the original $10 would be for upkeep to the facility.
What if you are already booked for Sept. 2009 and you want to change to June 2009? I have friends who are contemplating this now. Is that a new booking?
It would be considered a new booking. So do it chop-chop if you can.
As far as making it part of the price vs a surcharge (here comes tacky), if it's a surcharge, it's not commissionable.
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I noticed in that email response it said "changes in package" does that apply to adding something to your current cruise? Not changing the date, not changing the stateroom, just adding one of the packages? (I think we've decided to add the romance package....that's why I am asking). I'm sure we'll add it before the end of next month anyway, but I was just curious.
I noticed in that email response it said "changes in package" does that apply to adding something to your current cruise? Not changing the date, not changing the stateroom, just adding one of the packages? (I think we've decided to add the romance package....that's why I am asking). I'm sure we'll add it before the end of next month anyway, but I was just curious.
I got a pretty quick response using the "contact us" feature on the DCL website (lived for that planning trip #1, too), so you might want to contact them directly and get a firm yes or no.
A "change" would be "we've changed our minds, we want to upgrade from a Cat 12 to a Cat 1". Of course, after the laughter settled down, they'd give you the new rate with the fuel surcharge.
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Since the only meal DCL charges for is Palo, and the food costs for Palo are just a drop in the bucket compared to overall food costs, I don't see any change in the Palo charge either.
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