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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Not at all. We told our guide upfront we were in no position to buy at the time. He still spent plenty of time with us and answered all our questions. It was very casual.
We called him 6 months later to buy - and we weren't bothered at all during the 6 months.
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Definitely not. Ok, so we took ours back in 1999, but we decided it wasn't right for us then and bought in three years later, but there was never any pressure and I'm not aware anything's changed since then.
To an extent it depends on how many questions you have and how many details you want. We asked a lot and I think we were there for about two hours. That includes the time we spent at the end in their free scoop ice cream area. Then they drove us to the Magic kingdom.
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Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow, for all you know, tomorrow, the dream that you wish will come true.
They told me an hour to an hour & a half. He mailed me info prior and said it would cut the tour and make it around 30min. Apparently they give 3 fast passes to each person in your party. However each member has to show up in order to get them.
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Not at all. We told our guide upfront we were in no position to buy at the time. He still spent plenty of time with us and answered all our questions. It was very casual.
We called him 6 months later to buy - and we weren't bothered at all during the 6 months.
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We bought 7 years after we toured. Same sales representative too.
Are the on property tours really pushy? Going to check it out in April 😉
As others have stated, the sales reps generally aren't pushy. They know their product sells itself to a large extent. Ask questions, be specific. All total, expect about an hour and a half to two hours from the time you're picked up to the time you're finished. You can make it a faster tour if you let them know ahead of time you have to get back to a park/resort/ADR.
I recently attended a presentation with a couple that were interested in purchasing DVC. The sales rep was very low pressure, but when our friends brought up resale she told one outright lie. She stated that if DVC used ROFR that they would lose their deposit! I actually got into an argument with her, but she would not back down and we agreed to disagree.
I recently attended a presentation with a couple that were interested in purchasing DVC. The sales rep was very low pressure, but when our friends brought up resale she told one outright lie. She stated that if DVC used ROFR that they would lose their deposit! I actually got into an argument with her, but she would not back down and we agreed to disagree.
Sometimes I wonder if Guides intentionally lie on topics like this or are just horribly misinformed.
In general, I don't think that Guides go to great lengths to educate themselves on the resale process. A lot of the info they give out likely comes from coworker hearsay or a partial understanding of the process. Another common (erroneous) claim is that DVC uses ROFR on most or all resale offers.
Not forgiving bad behavior, but I find it commonplace for people in a sales role to stretch the truth. Tough spot to be in when your livelihood depends upon making sales.