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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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're going to try the Quick Service plan for our trip (SOON!!) and this will be the first time we're using one of these. But based on our track record we tend to do 2 QS meals a day and snack a lot. So it seems to be our best option - our two ADRs on the 23rd (my bday!) we'll pay out of pocket, but generally we don't do table service places that often...
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Cat
Pirate & Princess Party - February 14, 2008
Last night of our Hunnymoon trip!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
I was on the line as to which way to go but now after reading everyones posts I do believe we are going to get the Basic Dining Plan. My husband will be with us on this trip and he prefers to sitting down and relaxing alittle while he eats so we do have plans to do a table service every day so I think that will be the way we go. Thanks everyone for clearing that up for me.
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Sherry
Beach Club June 2009
Coronado Springs Aug 2007
POR June 2006
Disney Institute Villas 2001
(IMO, if Disney is smart ... next year they'll change the Basic plan to give you a choice of appetiser OR dessert.)
Coming from the restauurant/hotel business....here's MHO, I think they did it this way because people are more likely to order an appetiser every time and more likly to skip dessert. When you first sit down you are hungry and have big eyes...at the end of the meal you are ull, more likely to turn down a free dessert. So by ofering a choice, most people would go with the appestiser...by ofering the dessert, many probably pass on it, thus making Disney more money on the dining plan.
Quote:
On the other hand - if the payments they receive from the DDP program, per credit, don't cover their costs for the meal? They just LOST money. And remember, "costs" is more than "cost of ingredients", it's also the salary of the cook(s), server(s), dishwasher(s), and so forth ... all the way down to the guy who cleans out the toilet bowls, and all the way up to the General Manager of that restaurant.
It's amazing how much profit is worked into menus. Most restaurants, especially established places with a built in audience like Disney, have a food cost (which includes all the things you've listed above, not just food) of 30%!! That's 70% pure PROFIT!!! Crazy...I don't see why they wouldn't re-sign!
ok on the Dining plan PDF thingy it says included is appetizers( age 3 to 9 only)
Does that mean my daughter who is 3 can order an appetizer but me and my hubby cant with our meal? Which is fine with me if so cuz who could eat 3 appetizers 3 entrees and dessert WHEW ....... can you let me know if that is correct what I am thinking ?
Right, she'll be able to order an appetizer, entree and dessert. No worries, they aren't large at all. Most of the times, my kids just got the combo meals: pizza, cinnamon apples and carrot sticks. That was a typical combo meal.
One time they ordered a salad, a burger I think, and ice cream.
Frankly, I wasn't all that convinced to add the Dining plan at all. Particularly since my daughter would be 10 when we went and there is no way she would ever eat $30 worth of food every day. However, our plans have changed and I think we're going earlier - she'll still be 9 and therefore eligible for the children's prices.
I think we will just do the counter service meals because we aren't formal and we don't feel the need for a sit down meal every day. Because my daughter is a "grazer", I'd rather have the extra snack per day. And, I feel that the table service meals will just take too much time away from the parks.
We haven't formalized any plans yet, but I think for the convenience of having the meals prepaid, I'm going to choose the quick service meal plan.
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Thank you very much for the information. I've been looking for the prices and only saw the Dining Deluxe Package price, none of the rest of them. I think DH and I are going to have to think of which package to go with now eventhough most of our dining plans are based on Deluxe.
You'll want to check the list of dining locations before deciding on a plan. There's big differences between the 2008 and 2009 lists. In 2009 there's fewer restaurants at Epcot and Downtown Disney.
There appears to be two brochures out there for the QS dining plan. THe one does not list CSR and some of the DTD locations. I found another link to the QS meal plan brochure that shows more locations:
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
There appears to be two brochures out there for the QS dining plan. THe one does not list CSR and some of the DTD locations. I found another link to the QS meal plan brochure that shows more locations:
I don't know which one is right but Disney needs to straighten this out.
I found this too - people have been successfully using the QS plan at the additional places that are listed - Wolfgang Puck Express, Tangeriene etc. I think they made the QS plan quick locations match the QS locations that are on the standard dining plan. I think that the brochure in the first post here needs to be updated. I'm excited because a lot of the restaurants that were missing in the first brochure are great!
I found this too - people have been successfully using the QS plan at the additional places that are listed - Wolfgang Puck Express, Tangeriene etc. I think they made the QS plan quick locations match the QS locations that are on the standard dining plan. I think that the brochure in the first post here needs to be updated. I'm excited because a lot of the restaurants that were missing in the first brochure are great!
I e-mailed Disney and they sent me this link for the WDW QS dining plan:
We used the basic dining plan for our last two trips, but I'm still debating what to do in December. If they had just removed the gratuity, it would have been a no-brainer, but . . .
I usually order an appetizer and almost never order dessert, so it's a little more complicated. I wish they had given us the choice, especially if they're as health-conscious as they profess to be. ;o)
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We used the basic dining plan for our last two trips, but I'm still debating what to do in December. If they had just removed the gratuity, it would have been a no-brainer, but . . .
I usually order an appetizer and almost never order dessert, so it's a little more complicated. I wish they had given us the choice, especially if they're as health-conscious as they profess to be. ;o)
I agree- I wish we could choose between a dessert or appetizer. Especially if doing the basic dining plan where dessert is included with the CS and TS meal. One dessert is enough for me per day. With that said I do love sweets, but at times I might want to try the crab cakes over the cream brulee. :-)
Thank you for this info!! I was just trying to figure it out in my head how much it would all break down to and I was getting very frustrated!! Sadly, my family could easily eat $72 per person worth of food! Especially after looking at all food pics!
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Sadly, my family could easily eat $72 per person worth of food! 
Especially after looking at all food pics!
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