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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 are getting ready to book Disneyland for 12/5 through 12/9. Four adults, a 3 year old, a 2 year old and a 6 month old. I remember reading that the meal plan was not worth the $ at DL, that it wasn't the same as the ones we have gotten at DW. What I connot remember is why...can anyone enlighten me before we book our trip?
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It is a voucher system and you get an $ amount to spend on meals rather than a set meal at a savings with the exception of the character meals. We had used the meal plan once and it wasn't worth the hassle trying to make sure we spent the set amount at each location because you don't get change back. Go with out of pocket and see if you can get any discounts from D23, Disney visa, ect. Although food tends to be more expensive in California, there are a lot of great quick service options.
It is not entirely true that you can't save $ with the meal plan at DL, BUT it really isn't designed to save $. They trialed a key based system like the DDP in WDW but nothing has moved forward with that and that was at least a year and a half ago (maybe longer). I did the meal plan on a family trip once, I actually DO think it can be nice in a few situations. These are my thoughts on when it's a good idea for your family.
A) You want to pre-pay and stick to a budget. If you are booking and paying for your trip via WDTC and you are say using your Disney Visa- you can get nearly all of your meal costs paid ahead of time with that 6 month no interest payment fee. That works really good for some families.
B) Disney Visa, AAA, AP discounts can be used to pay for the food and still get the discounts. The vouchers are paper booklets with dollar amount values (except for the character dining vouchers which CAP at a certain $ but are otherwise good for most of the character dining options). So if any of the above were discounts you could use, you can still save a *little* bit and then count on paying with some cash/change to cover the difference.
C) I think we did the 4 day meal plan (it's been a long while, like 2006 since we did this) knowing there would be probably 1 or so meals not covered. I never "underspent" and lost $ that wasn't given back in change.
That said, I would really love to see the plan go to non paper vouchers. I was constantly scared of losing those things! What DOES happen if they get lost/stolen or destroyed (some water spilled on some of ours but they were still ok after they dried out). Having mild anxiety over losing hundreds of $$$ in these silly paper vouchers was the biggest drawback to me. Even if you don't save alot or any $ there still can be convenience in pre-paying (for my family it helps us NOT overspend, for example) PLUS if you have a Disney Visa or other credit card rewards program, you can put the earnings on the $400-$800 or however much, meal plan toward your other spending on your trip.
However, unlike the DDP there are not "participating vs NOT participating" restaurants. Everyone is participating (except the small non-permanent rolling snack carts and/or walking vendors, I THINK) so in that way, you can use them wherever you want (Maybe not Carthay? Not sure since that is new).
We are getting ready to book Disneyland for 12/5 through 12/9. Four adults, a 3 year old, a 2 year old and a 6 month old. I remember reading that the meal plan was not worth the $ at DL, that it wasn't the same as the ones we have gotten at DW. What I connot remember is why...can anyone enlighten me before we book our trip?
You 'buy' coupons with set amounts on them, like $5.00, $10.00, etc. If you have a meal tab totalling $4.50, you would give them a $5.00 coupon and they would KEEP the difference. A $40.00 meal would require $45.00 minium in coupons, again, Disney would keep the difference. They DO NOT give change back. I think this is they wayof ensuring that tips would be made. As a long time Disneyland guest, I would say NOT to get involved with this system as it sucks. Besides, unlike the WDW plan, there is NO restraunt in the Anaheim Downtown Disney that takes these coupons, only those in both parks and all three hotels will take them. Again, NOT WORTH IT !
I agree with all the posts above and want to echo the fact that the quick service dining options are much better in DL than WDW (in my opinion) and there is a lot of variety so you won't find yourself being stuck with chicken fingers every meal.
We just received our Disney Premier Visa info booklet in the mail today and there is a 10% discount on DL food for cardholders.
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