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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Hi,
My family just returned from a wonderful ten days at the Yacht Club. On our last day we decided to view the DVC facilities and ended up buying into the AK villas. My question is.....I just love the Yacht Club area, will I ever be able to stay there without using my points in a stupid way? I know it is easier to stay at your "home" resort but the Beach Club Villas have been sold out for years so that was not an option. Do you think we did a wise purchase? It seems everyone says the decision should be based on whether or not you are happy with your home resort. We have stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge but usually prefer the Epcot Area. Does anyone know anything about the pool area at the AKV? I know about the existing pool but nothing about the proposed pool. I guess I am just feeling the affects of a great time at the Yacht Club. Do any of you reserve stays at other resorts than your home one? Is it harder than just being a regular visitor as opposed to a DVC member? I have never had trouble getting the dates I wanted for the Yacht Club, so that was a worry. Thanks for all your help.
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There are many who will say buy where you want to stay. That is a wise plan since you will always be able to book at 11 months out (though you may not always get what you want if you go during peak times). I am also fairly new, and an AKV owner, but was able to book AKV at 11 months and then switch to BCV at the 7 month mark for a 2 bedroom for the whole week. I think I got lucky. Of course I would never plan on getting a room there or the Boardwalk during the Food and Wine festival! One thing you will never hear from a DVC guide is that you CAN buy into those sold out resorts, but you have to buy resale.
It looks like the new water area at AK is going to be incredible!!! Even though I haven't stayed there yet, I am VERY happy about my decision to have that as my home resort. It looks so peaceful and relaxing with a lot to do right at the resort. I like the idea of having some down time when I'm on vacation!
Congrats on your purchase! and Welcome Home!
We own at VWL, with a secondary ownership at SSR. We have stayed at every DVC resort on property (staying at AKV in 8 days! ) and booked many at the 7 month or less window. Like Karen said, don't expect to get into the Epcot area during the F & W festival, and the first two weeks of December are very popular. With that in mind, in October 2006 we were able to book a 1BR at BCV for all 8 days of our stay, right smack in the middle of the F & W festival!
DVC is becoming more popular and that might impact availability, but with the new openings of the Treehouses and BLT, it might be easier to get into some of the other resorts.
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Thanks for the advice. I agree about DVC becoming even more popular with the addition of BLT. But maybe it will free up some other of the resorts. I also love the serenity of Animal Kingdom Lodge. Plus, I think the decor is amazing in the rooms, a little different than the pastel shades in the beach villas. I think we made a good choice, who can go wrong with Disney!!!
As membership in DVC grows, it will become more challenging to get into non-home resorts.
That being said, I'm a member at SSR, and have stayed there once. I was able to book these non-home resorts at the 7-month window:
-HHI: 1br week in July (peak season)
-BCV: 2br week in late August (value season)
-BWV: 1br 10days in late August (value season)
We watched the show on Disney's Best Kept Secret last night and honestly I am amazed at my husband. He is not a Disney fanatic like me, but is so enthusiastic about this purchase! No holding back for him. I think he also enjoys the fact we can use our points on other destinations that Disney offers besides Disney World. He also made the comment that the amount of money we spent on two rooms at the Yacht Club will probably never happen again, particularly when you can use your points at the Vacation Club and have more room! That being said, I will not have a near future stay at either the Yacht or Beach Club, so I don't have to yearn for that happening! Thanks the the Welcome Home!, can't wait to start the planning!
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I'm a very new owner (just a couple of days) so I don't know how easy it is to change - although I've heard stories that usually, it's not too hard. However, when we saw the presentation, our Rep said he could sell us BWV. We had questioned why to buy through Disney, when we could get a DVC cheaper via resale and get either Beach Club or Boardwalk. Apparently, they buy some contracts on Right of First Refusal and resell them for the full current point price (no incentives). So, if you really want Beach Club, your Rep could get it for you.
I'm a very new owner (just a couple of days) so I don't know how easy it is to change - although I've heard stories that usually, it's not too hard. However, when we saw the presentation, our Rep said he could sell us BWV. We had questioned why to buy through Disney, when we could get a DVC cheaper via resale and get either Beach Club or Boardwalk. Apparently, they buy some contracts on Right of First Refusal and resell them for the full current point price (no incentives). So, if you really want Beach Club, your Rep could get it for you.
That's very interesting to know! Maybe we should give her a call. Do you call the person that sold you the property? For example, Maribella gave us the presentation although Drew finalized the papers. Who do we call and what number do we use? I haven't received anything yet via email, have you?
Larry Hope showed us the property when we were there in June. He's the one we called this past weekend when we had more questions, and we ended up taking the plunge.
Do you have that hardbound DVC book? In the back, there should be one of their business cards. Oh, also, when we had more questions, we started looking at the Disney web site. They have one of those on-line chat things. It was really easy. She then left Larry a message that we needed to talk to him. You could probably try that route.
That's very interesting to know! Maybe we should give her a call. Do you call the person that sold you the property? For example, Maribella gave us the presentation although Drew finalized the papers. Who do we call and what number do we use? I haven't received anything yet via email, have you?
As others have said, don't expect to get into the Beach Club during the Food and Wine Festival or early December, but at most other times of the year, you stand a good chance of getting in there. Congrats on your purchase!
I just got a ressie for a BCV studio in April at the 7-months out window, and I didn't have any problems with AKV or VB, either. Still, being able to book during the 11-months window gives you more peace of mind. We own at SSR and wouldn't mind at all staying there for our entire vacation. We try to get into other DVC resorts at 7-months (we wanna stay at each one at least once) but aren't too disappointed if we can't get in as we love SSR.
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) and booked many at the 7 month or less window. Like Karen said, don't expect to get into the Epcot area during the F & W festival, and the first two weeks of December are very popular. With that in mind, in October 2006 we were able to book a 1BR at BCV for all 8 days of our stay, right smack in the middle of the F & W festival! 
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