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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I am making my ADRs this week. Are the lunch buffets less money than the dinner buffets? You can't tell the prices anymore when looking at the menus on the WDW site. If lunch is less, we don't mind eating our big meal at noon.
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There might be a small difference in cost, but, personally, I would just go with whatever fits your touring schedule best. I, too, suggest the menus at allears.net They will give you the prices as well as any discounts that are offered, with any restrictions on discount uses.
The problem you run into estimating character buffet prices is that All Ears menus give a range which doesn't tell you much.
The low end is a typical price for the least expensive room season whereas the high end reflects the price near major holidays or during the priciest season of the year. If you don't know in which "stay season" your trip dates fall, that can make estimating difficult.
Personally, I would calculate to find the halfway amount per person to see if I could afford that, totaling for adults and kids in your family.
If you can't afford that, then a character meal may be unaffordable altogether, an unpleasant reality it's better to discover in advance.
Otherwise, plan as if you're certain you'll have to pay the maximum price per person which may leave enough extra to cover the tip and then some.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
In most cases, lunch at buffets will be a bit cheaper, but I always say with Disney, the only constant is change. When we did Biergarten a few years back, lunch was $5 less than dinner; dinner had a couple of additional meat dishes but was otherwise the same. All Ears seem to have different prices shown for lunch and dinner so that might be a place to check.
Lunch is usually a little bit less expensive, but filling up at lunch tends to make you less willing to tour in the afternoon. But if you're used to eating your big meal at lunch, then go for it. I don't think the savings will be as much as you expect, but it should be cheaper.
Lunch is typically cheaper and that's the meal we chose for years and I have to be honest, sometimes those lunch meals are hard. It's nice to have that afternoon time in the air conditioning but we had to stop what we were doing and spend anywhere from one to two hours to have that meal (at least 15 minutes beforehand to check in and typically 90 minutes for the meal - and that's if we got seated on time). We had to watch the clock and make sure we were in the "right" area at the right time.
While I don't regret the years we did do that, we won't be going back to it anytime soon. We either do the breakfast meals and get in the park early or stick to dinner time when we know we'll be running out of steam and it's easier to be in the right place at the right time.
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What should I choose, lunch or dinner?
If lunch is less, we don't mind eating our big meal at noon.
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