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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 LOVE my DVC! Sometimes I think it is what gets me through the hardest parts of the year knowing I will be going back to my happy place with my immediate family and dearest friends.
The thing that really rains on my parade is when extended family members decide to announce on a regular basis their desire to go to WDW or DLR and stare at me waiting for me to offer to take them or give them our points. I never do offer because they are ours. To me it's like someone ordering a burger and the person next to you says " I wish I had a burger." and they expect you to just hand it over.
Do any of you deal with that? How do you handle it?
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I haven't run into this problem. My suggestion would be to say something like "Oh, that's great. Let me know if you need help deciding where to stay and what to do" or "I just read about some great discounts that might work for you."
LOL. I know what you mean! I just really tell them about the discounts available and give them mousesavers, allears and this website and how I would love to help with advice and opinions. I agree however, they are our points and I work and have worked hard to be able to be a DVC member and visit WDW for my fix!
We are taking my brother and his son this year and I have considered giving my mother some points to go to HHI if able. When I tried to give her some for her birthday to take a trip, she wouldn't accept it! She didn't want to take away from us. Wish everyone was like that.
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If it's so obvious that they are suggesting you supply a free trip, I would simply point out that you pay quite a bit for the DVC points and intend to use them in a manner which best serves your immediate family. (Sugar coat it however you wish but the point is that DVC isn't just some free vacation plan you happened to stumble into.)
And then, as others suggested, offer to help them plan their own trip.
Not like that. Usually when extended family talk about Disney they roll their eyes and ask when we are going again. Hey if they don't get it then it isn't my problem.
Not like that. Usually when extended family talk about Disney they roll their eyes and ask when we are going again. Hey if they don't get it then it isn't my problem.
That's the reaction we get from some family as well. The other reaction we get is jealousy that we're able to go so often and don't have to pay as much as they do whenever they go.
That is really not a problem for us. We have never told any of our family members that we own DVC so they never bug us. I wouldn't give/sell it to them anyway because it was purchased for us to use with our kids.
Not a problem for us. My in laws usually come every other Dec with us. We always offer to take them. We've even bought them 10 tix so that way we didn't need to worry about buying them tix every trip. My family is coming this year. It was my idea. My sister has been wanting to do a family trip for years. My parents finally gave in. I doubt after this trip they will ever want to go with us again.
At family get-togethers, we always hear a lot of "When you going back?" and "I haven't been there in so long..".
Just enough to make us feel self-conscious, but not to the point of feeling guilty about it. DW and I work our tushies off to afford this "luxury", just like they work very hard to afford the luxury of renting a shore home for $2000 or more for a week.
I haven't run into this problem. My suggestion would be to say something like "Oh, that's great. Let me know if you need help deciding where to stay and what to do" or "I just read about some great discounts that might work for you."
Melissa
I really like that idea. I'm going to direct them to Mousesavers.
We take our parents and others that are really close to us but we make sacrafices in order to have our vacations. I hate that sense of entitlement that some people have. I guess that is my biggest issue. We would rather donate our points to charity than give them to someone because they annoy us enough.
On a similar note...anyone travel with family and struggle with how to put everyone into the room? We are traveling with extended family coming up soon and getting a 2 bedroom. We have 2 kids and when we have stayed in a 1 bedroom - we had the master and the kids slept in the living room. Getting a 2 bedroom my dh is pretty set that my family can have the extra room but we will stay in the Master bedroom. The problem with this is that my brother may come too and it would just be awkward for everyone if they had to share a room and not to mention a pain to get everyone out of the main living area when we want the kids to go to bed. Seems like the best option is for us to share the second bedroom w/the 2 beds with the kids, let my parents have the master and brother sleep in the living room. However - according to DH these are our points - so why should they get the better accommodations?? I'm starting to wonder if it is a good idea for us to ever travel w/family using DVC...
When we bring parents they get the master. It's easier having the space in the studio because the master is usually all bathroom anyway and we feel they made plenty of sacrafices for us so we are willing to give up the big tub.
I have never had to deal with this . but i could see the issues that come up. good luck and like others have said we paid alot to enjoy this with immidite family !!
and even when mom and family have come master bedroom is always mine!!!!!
Well we're brand new to DVC and although our families know that we joined, nobody has so much as hinted that we should bring them along. We want to to a big trip in a GV at BLT someday with both of our families.
We tried this year to have a big family vacation using our points, but everyone wanted to make all these conditions on where they would be willing to stay and in what months they would be willing to go!!! So, we had to make some excuses up and postpone that trip because DH said they were our points and we were gonna go when it was convenient to us and stay where we wanted, so that was that.
On a brighter note, we asked my MIL if she wanted to go (when we planned to go anyway) and she's just so excited she doesn't care when we go, where we stay or for how long. I just love her
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