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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We have just bought our points and will be booking for our first DVC holiday at our 11 month window soon. We are a few points short, and want to pay for the extra few. Can we do that at the time of booking, and hence get the whole holiday booked at 11 months, or do we have to wait for 7 months to add a final day?
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Interesting. I didn't know either, but here's the official DVC word on that:
One-time-use points may be used for Disney Vacation Club accommodations in the 7-month booking window. One-time-use points may not be used for Home Resort Priority....The purchase just needs to occur at the time you're making the reservation that requires them.
Huh. I didn't know this. I thought you could simply buy a few when booking your home resort at 11-7 months out.
Makes sense, I presume, that the home resort booking advantage goes first to those with sufficient points.
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you definitely have to wait. If you really want to do it at 11 months - when you need to get with another owner and rent from them,
otherwise you can rent an entire day from one of the rental sites (I think)
Maybe I don't understand how this would be an advantage...
Would it be less expensive than buying a few points to add to however many you had for booking one more night? I don't see why renting the whole night makes sense unless, I suppose, you banked your remaining points, planning to use them next year. Definitely wouldn't work if you must bank-use-borrow to get the stay you want for your next trip.
Wouldn't that mess you up booking ADR's for the rented night? The owner has to do that for you as renter, right?
Unless I'm not understanding, this seems much less convenient and workable than merely buying one-time points.
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It is possible to book with points at 11 months only at the resort where the points are owned. One-time use points are not owned at any specific resort, so they can't be used for a booking more than 7 months in advance.
So, someone who does not own enough points on his own to book the stay he wants 11 months in advance would need to rent those points from someone else who owns at that resort. This can be done directly from an owner or by working with a rental site that works with the owner.
An owner without enough points can also borrow from the following year's points, as Chezp mentioned.
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Let's say you want a studio at BWV, your home resort, during FWF.
You are points-poor having just bought into DVC and haven't quite enough points even with borrowing to add that extra night.
Let's say you need fewer than 6 points.
It makes sense in this case, needing that 11 mo. advantage as fast as studios book up, to rent those few points. Right?
Do owners commonly rent out that few points? Wouldn't you have to shop around to find a deal for that few, or does the broker do that for you? We've never rented points, so I clearly don't know.
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Thanks for the thoughts. We've banked this year, and are using 2019 as well as our 2018 allowance and are just short. Is it worth booking at 11 months out for all bar the one day and adding on 1 day at 7 months? I don't know how popular Polynesian studios are
I just checked and found a full week in a standard view Poly studio in late July, so there may be something available if you wait until 7 months unless you're planning a stay near a major holiday.
I'm not sure we'd want to take our chances at 7 mo. despite being in the U.S. We prefer to be certain we can get what we want well in advance because we have very little date flexibility.
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Thanks for the thoughts. We've banked this year, and are using 2019 as well as our 2018 allowance and are just short. Is it worth booking at 11 months out for all bar the one day and adding on 1 day at 7 months? I don't know how popular Polynesian studios are
That would be what I'd do. Then you know you have all the nights secured except one. If you have to move out for one night, it's a real pain, but honestly, it's not the end of the world, especially if you can get in somewhere like Bay Lake Tower or the Grand Floridian. I would think if you're online on the day seven month bookings open, you should be fine.
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