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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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.
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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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Interesting ideas. I like the current system as is, but can see the advantage of a bank of centralized FP machines in addition to having them still in front of the attractions, not instead of. If this test is to determine if they can do away with the machines in front of the attractions, i wouldn't like it. Just centralized machines would cause huge bottlenecks.
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Personally, I prefer the current system. The new way might be more convenient physically, but if anyone's ever made it over to Pixar Place after rope drop, you've noticed the same thing I did - one giant mess of people boiling around - in fact, sometimes the lines for the FP's are so big and congested that you can't even get to the standby line. I realize that TSMM is a new, exciting attraction, and that hopefully after it's been established awhile, the excitement level will drop, but still - it's like this with every "new" ride introduced at Disney - and even now, RnRC and EE have massive lines most days, with FP's selling out before 3 pm. However, by putting FP machines right in the entrance to the park, are we not creating the same, clusterish mess as soon as you get out of the turnstile?
Furthermore, I think it's ironic that they're testing at AK - the one park where even on a good day, there's still tons of people just milling around the narrow pathways, and walking around normally can be trying, at best, with all the crowds.
Another thought I had with this is the next available FP return window. What good is having a centralized location when you can't come back and get a FP for at least an hour or more? It might be somewhat more convenient if they left the FP machines with the attractions as well - then you could have a touring plan of attack and make your way around, gathering FP's as you go. But the flaw in that plan is now the same as you always have - what if the FP's run out by the time I get to that attraction? What if the wait time is too late in the day?
And I'm with others - I think having a central, visible FP location will encourage FP's for the day to go by much more quickly - whether it's by convenience, or simply people grabbing ones just in case.
I'm wondering if this isn't also a bit of Disney advertising -- you know, saying "Hey, folks. Check out our FastPass system!"
Since the purpose of the system is to manage waits and customer satisfaction -- yet many guests don't know how it works or that it's free with admission. If they had a big line that attracted attention and a CM to explain the FP system to newbies, maybe the stand-by lines wouldn't be so long and guests would have a better experience. (All of which benefits Disney, even if there's the extra cost of the CM at the centralized FP machines.)
Eileen
I will have to respectfully disagee with centralized height checks with wristbands. I've seen that at other parks and it was amazing the number of parents that will stretch the band off the arm of the kid that IS tall enough and put it on the arm of the kid that ISN'T tall enough and send the first kid back to be remeasured because he "lost" his armband. Sort of defeats the whole purpose. And if a CM decides to "remeasure" because a kid is OBVIOUSLY too short regardless of armband, then all heck breaks loose with the parents. I like the "you have to be THIS tall to ride THIS ride" signs. And I would rather they DIDN'T have how many inches THIS is so folks can't argue. It's just amazing how many folks would rather put their child's life in danger just so they won't be disappointed about not getting to ride an attraction.
It's just amazing how many folks would rather put their child's life in danger just so they won't be disappointed about not getting to ride an attraction.
And those are the same folks who would sue Disney if the slightest injury occured to their kids because of their own negligence and dishonesty.
Eileen
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I will have to respectfully disagee with centralized height checks with wristbands. I've seen that at other parks and it was amazing the number of parents that will stretch the band off the arm of the kid that IS tall enough and put it on the arm of the kid that ISN'T tall enough and send the first kid back to be remeasured because he "lost" his armband. Sort of defeats the whole purpose. And if a CM decides to "remeasure" because a kid is OBVIOUSLY too short regardless of armband, then all heck breaks loose with the parents. I like the "you have to be THIS tall to ride THIS ride" signs. And I would rather they DIDN'T have how many inches THIS is so folks can't argue. It's just amazing how many folks would rather put their child's life in danger just so they won't be disappointed about not getting to ride an attraction.
I see your point about the wristbands, but maybe a hand stamp would work instead. Hand stamps with daily ciphers worked fine for park re-entry at WDW and Universal for decades before the new biometric turnstiles came about, and still work at dozens of theme parks around the country.
I like the idea of CONSISTENCY in measuring a kid's height. I've lost count of the number of stories I've heard on the boards of kids who measured tall enough at half a dozen rides, only to be turned away from another ride because one CM measured differently or was in a bad mood. Inconsistency in measurement is completely eliminated by a centralized height check with clear, simple rules.
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I like the current system. Initially I thought how nice not to have to run to toy story or the like first thing but as Eileen points out if its easier more people will take advantage of it. We have for years trekked from one side of the park to the next if we desired a FP for that special ride. Otherwise as Danielle H does we will pick a location and concentrate on it. I also need to disagree with the wristband idea. The time it would take to measure each child and band them would be incredible. Would you do it at the entrance? Would you need to bring your child to a special "measure and band" area? With the amount of children who visit WDW each year could you imagine the lines to be measured? When my DD was questionable I exercised personal judgment and said next time or asked a CM to measure to be sure. More parents need to follow guidelines as they aren't there to make you or your child angry/sad they are there for everyones safety. I like everything just the way it is!
I like the current system. Initially I thought how nice not to have to run to toy story or the like first thing but as Eileen points out if its easier more people will take advantage of it. We have for years trekked from one side of the park to the next if we desired a FP for that special ride. Otherwise as Danielle H does we will pick a location and concentrate on it. I also need to disagree with the wristband idea. The time it would take to measure each child and band them would be incredible. Would you do it at the entrance? Would you need to bring your child to a special "measure and band" area? With the amount of children who visit WDW each year could you imagine the lines to be measured? When my DD was questionable I exercised personal judgment and said next time or asked a CM to measure to be sure. More parents need to follow guidelines as they aren't there to make you or your child angry/sad they are there for everyones safety. I like everything just the way it is!
The system in place now requires any child who is near the height minimum to be measured every time they try to board an attraction - far more time-consuming and frustrating than a central measurement facility, and far less consistent, too, since individual CMs at the various rides each measure differently than the last.
It's not the height guidelines that are the problem, it's the fact that the CMs are not enforcing them consistently; if a kid is too short to ride RnRc, so be it, but if he measures tall enough to ride on Monday and is measured by anotehr CM on Thursday and told he's too short, THAT's a serious problem that is out of the parents' control.
I see central measurement areas at Hershey Park whenever I visit; the lines are not terrible and the kids seem to enjoy matching themselves up to the appropriate candy bar for their wristbands. Similar central measurement systems are in place at theme parks around the country and work just fine; I'm sure that Disney, the industry's worldwide leader in crowd control and queue management, could come up with simple and easy ways to make central height management - or central FastPass distribution - work without undue lines or snarls.
We just returned and used the centralized FP machine. It was good for when we first got in. After that we didn't use it again.
That's what we did. We only really used it when we first got there. Other than that we were closer to the ride the FP was for. The one thing I didn't like was no return times posted. We got one for KS and hoped it was before our lunch ADR time.
It's like rebates -- the more people who actually remember to use them, the less they'll offer them.
If you have to "manage" FPs and do a little legwork, the majority of people won't want to deal with the hassle and more FPs will continue to be available for those of us who do the legwork.
**sigh**
Eileen
Bingo...
Believe it or not PassPorter pals we are among the few truly informed. Over the past 2 trips I have met many many many people who did not know about FP's or thought the cost extra or you had to be staying on property, etc, etc....
One time we went to TL when my son was just in that grey area of being able to do all the rides depending on how carefully he was measured. One of the CM's gave him a wristband to save him from having to be re-measured over and over. Another time we went back and specifically asked for the wristband and a CM put one on him after measuring. So it sounds like they do offer this...it was convenient for that summer when he was right on the height line.
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