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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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New information on the dashboard for those who have not looked lately.
Effective February 25, 2018, to be eligible for Membership Extras, Members must own and maintain a minimum of 75 Vacation Points purchased directly from Disney Vacation Development, Inc.
All Members who are eligible for Membership Extras as of February 24 will not be impacted by the 75-Vacation Point requirement, as long as they continue to meet the previously implemented eligibility requirements. For more information, visit Important Membership Documents.
As Her Dotness says “Guess too many people are buying resale.”
Well I'm not surprised too many are buying resale given how expensive points have become.
Given that membership extras are not contractual nor guaranteed seems a flaky justification for going direct and if someone was serious about resale and had done the sums this shouldn't impact the decision. What it will stop is all the resale buyers buying 25 points direct and I can't see people justifying 75 points add on as easily.
Seems like a bit of a home goal by disney to me
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Last edited by Thomhazel; 02-28-2018 at 02:11 AM..
I guess maybe people have started to sell off their larger contracts to buy resale perhaps and were maybe keeping just 25-50 point contracts? That's the only reason I can see for them introducing something along these lines. I have to say it surprises me, as I didn't think it would affect that many people, but I guess it must....
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I haven’t seen many here say they did a 25 pt. add-on for the extras, but I recall a discussion somewhere else by a number who said their main was a minimal 100-125 resale with 25 direct bought solely to get the extras.
As many as touted that as the smart way to get benefits made me think the practice quite common.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
I have a question for future reference. My in-laws have stated at some point that they will "give" us some of their DVC points when they are done using them (they are in their late 70's and really don't use them anymore, they have been gifting them to children, grandchildren). They bought enough points to give each of their children (who wanted them) 150 points. What happens at that point? Do we get the perks/extras or no?
My understanding is that unless you are given or inherit at least 75 points bought from Disney, you would not get membership perks without buying the necessary points from Disney yourselves.
That’s assuming you aren’t already DVC members but would become members with this gift.
If you’re currently members with perks, you would have only to keep up the current requirements and wouldn’t be affected as long as you didn’t sell all the direct-buy points you own. For instance, you are members who bought a resale contract to become owners and then wanted to get the member perks so added 25 points bought from Disney. You wouldn’t be affected by this change as long as you still own the 25-point contract and maintain your points as currently required (and Disney doesn’t move the goalposts in future).
That’s how I interpret this, but I could be wrong.
You could call DVC Member Services and get the official word on how you may be affected.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
My understanding is that unless you are given or inherit at least 75 points bought from Disney, you would not get membership perks without buying the necessary points from Disney yourselves.
That’s assuming you aren’t already DVC members but would become members with this gift.
If you’re currently members with perks, you would have only to keep up the current requirements and wouldn’t be affected as long as you didn’t sell all the direct-buy points you own. For instance, you are members who bought a resale contract to become owners and then wanted to get the member perks so added 25 points bought from Disney. You wouldn’t be affected by this change as long as you still own the 25-point contract and maintain your points as currently required (and Disney doesn’t move the goalposts in future).
That’s how I interpret this, but I could be wrong.
You could call DVC Member Services and get the official word on how you may be affected.
Well this is good news. All of their points were purchased directly from Disney. We do not currently own DVC so our points would strictly be points that we get as a gift from them. I believe they had told us it would be 150 points per child, so we would be above the required 75. Thank you for your response. Gives us something to look forward to in the future.
Well I'm not surprised too many are buying resale given how expensive points have become.
2017 was DVC's best year for direct sales since at least 2011, so they aren't hurting. And those figures don't include Aulani points, which may have pushed the year ahead of '11.
I haven’t seen many here say they did a 25 pt. add-on for the extras, but I recall a discussion somewhere else by a number who said their main was a minimal 100-125 resale with 25 direct bought solely to get the extras.
In January alone, they sold 115 contracts of 25 points or fewer.
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Originally Posted by WDW Traveler
I have a question for future reference. My in-laws have stated at some point that they will "give" us some of their DVC points when they are done using them (they are in their late 70's and really don't use them anymore, they have been gifting them to children, grandchildren). They bought enough points to give each of their children (who wanted them) 150 points. What happens at that point? Do we get the perks/extras or no?
Most transfers of ownership are considered a "sale", and thus the points would be reclassified as resale points which are ineligible for perks.
That said, DVC has been known to make exceptions for transfers to immediate family members, assuming no money changes hands. There is special paperwork which needs to be completed to get this approved. At the very least, DVC should agree to waive their Right of First Refusal on the transfer. Not 100% sure if they will extend perks to the new owner. Such policies are subject to change at any time.
Also note that individual contracts cannot be subdivided under any circumstances. If they have individual contracts of 150 points, they can each be assigned to a new owner. Or if they have a 100 point contract and a 50 point contract, those could be transferred to a single owner giving them 150 total.
But, if they have 450 points in a single contract and hoped to transfer to 3 separate families, that is not possible.
A single contract could have multiple owners listed on it. (e.g. two families sharing a 300 point contract.) But it's a deeded piece of real estate, meaning there are consequences to joint ownership. DVC contracts are typically attached as assets whenever any owner deals with loans (including student loans, mortgage, etc.), divorce or bankruptcy. The death of a single owner can impact others.
And from a practical standpoint, ANY owner can make, change or cancel reservations. ALL owners are jointly responsible for dues payments.
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2In January alone, they sold 115 contracts of 25 points or fewer.
Interesting, but I'm assuming that's a small proportion of their overall sales?
Also, is there any way of knowing how many people will be affected by the new rules - i.e. how many have 75 points of less? I assume not, but I'm just curious, as I genuinely didn't think it would affect that many people, but I'm guessing if Disney are introducing this, then it must?
Interesting, but I'm assuming that's a small proportion of their overall sales?
Agree. Frankly I'm surprised Disney didn't increase that minimum when they announced the perk restrictions in 2016. The paperwork and filings on a DVC purchase cost about the same on 25 points as it does for 500 points. When you factor in all of the labor costs, selling so many 25 point contracts just wasn't worth it.
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Also, is there any way of knowing how many people will be affected by the new rules - i.e. how many have 75 points of less? I assume not, but I'm just curious, as I genuinely didn't think it would affect that many people, but I'm guessing if Disney are introducing this, then it must?
Nobody is affected now because they grandfathered everyone prior to the new restriction being put in place. Those who owned at least 25 direct points prior to Feb 25 are fine...provided they don't sell the direct points at some future date.
Thank you tjkraz for that information. Things to keep in mind. They haven't started to think about it yet, it was just mentioned that was what they wanted to do. I know they will get all the info necessary before doing anything. And I guess things will play out the way Disney allows them to, perks/no perks. We shall see!
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