Jan 2016: Everyone and Their Mother Goes to Disney - Page 5 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Your mother is definitely entertaining! It's funny how your dad chimed in & made her see the light!
What else is going on with Mrs. Neighbor & the points?!
So glad you asked!!
Okay, so we left off with Mrs. Neighbor and her stash of points. We planned to transfer some to our account, they would still have enough for 10 nights, Savannah view at AKL AND another trip in December, in a studio.
We waited to call about transfers and bookings until flights for January opened on SW. While I know SW will credit differences when the prices changes, we were both hoping to align our trips to the cheapest flights with the best direct flight times. They plan to go for 10 days, we plan to go for 7. Personally I prefer Sat-Sat because it gives me Sunday to get my act (and my laundry) together, but I'm also cheap. Turns out that the direct flight on Saturday were terrible!! Like departing NY at 6PM terrible. That's not how I want to start vacation. Sunday was the same price but at better time (2PM, getting us there by 5), still later than I prefer, but better overall. The return trip is late as well, but I think we'll enjoy having a full final day. I know I'll be happier packing the morning of rather than the night before!! Last time we had to check our luggage by 5:45 AM in order to make it sure it was on our mid morning flight and I just can't sleep knowing that some things are packed and others aren't. It bugs me.
We confirmed on the DVC site that the rooms we wanted were available and then I bought three tickets for Sun-Sun, Mrs. Neighbor bought four tickets for Wed-Sun--we arrive on different days, their trip being longer, but all come home on the same flight. Works for me. Not to mention that first weekend in MLKJr Holiday and I really didn't feel like dealing with extra crowds due to the long weekend. This way I've only got one day of that nonsense (by nonsense I mean crowds, not MLKJr, he's not nonsense...)
THis all seems so easy, doesn't it. Buying plane tickets after picking dates. I wish it were like that, but of course opinions of this plan are like a--h----; everyone has one. My mother isn't sure if they want to stay for two weeks or three, before or after, get a hotel or sleep at friends houses. And she needs to confirm a dialysis center. She wants a scooter, and maybe a mini-van, she's made that clear, but I tried to get her to refocus on the date question at hand. No luck. My parents still don't have tickets and this saga started, what? A month ago? Fine.
Moving on. So now that we have dates. Let the grand point transfer begin!!!
We call, as you must do when transfering points, and I patiently explain our needs and that fact that Mrs. Neighbor needs points for two trips, we need points for the one, that the bankable/borrowable need to be appropriately distributed, blah blah blah. There is much confusion.
The CM backtracks, takes notes with paper and pen. But she keeps saying the wrong point numbers. She keeps saying that Mrs. Neighbor has no current points, only Dec 2015 UY points, but none now. Mrs. Neighbor questions this. Gets out her contract. There is much back and forth. And then I knew. When she bought a contract wiht 2015 points on it she thought it meant that they were for right now; she didn't understand Use Year and that 2015 points aren't current until your Use Year month is here...
Jumping Jesus on Pogo Stick.
I never questioned her, she said she had 90ish points now that she planned to bank, was getting another 140 in December 2015 and another 140 the December after that; more than enough to give me 36 points, book her 10 nights now and another week 11 months later. More than enough.
But she doesn't. She has 90ish coming in December and 140 in December 2016. She's off by 140 points. And we all have airfare already.
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OMG, what a nightmare with the points. She clearly has no idea how it works. Is this her 1st time using her DVC membership? You didn't give her the money for the points that you were borrowing before this discovery, did you?
Same here. I had a feeling the use year and not really having points when they thought they did was going to be the issue. I'm having my own point decision fiasco, but it's just me and deciding if I want to push my trip back a week or so or be there for my ACTUAL anniversary and what kind of accommodations I want.
I hope this was straightened out soon - and not too much of a hassle.
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