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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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'm not sure if this is the right place to post or not so please feel free to move if needed.
I was wondering how everyone books their trips. I know you can do a room-only booking and then you only have to pay the price of the room for 1 night to reserve. If you do this do you still pay for the whole thing at your 45 day mark? When/where do you buy your tickets? Is it cheaper to do room-only?
I've always booked the whole package together - room, tix, dining. I believe if you do room-only, you can pay your balance at check-in. For a package, everything has to be paid off 45 days before arrival. Since I've never done room-only, I don't know if it can offer significant savings, but I'm sure someone will come along who knows. HTH.
I mostly use packages now, but I added two room-only nights after I booked this year. So I paid for the package part with $200 at reservation time, and the balance at the 45 day mark. I paid for the other two nights with a one night deposit. I will pay the other night at check-in. (I don't know if that means I will pay at my "original" check-in or my second check-in, since you have to check out and check back in again if you have two different reservations. ) This is how is worked the last time I used room-only; one night's deposit, and pay the rest at check-in.
Yes, you can buy tickets later. You can convert a room-only to a package by adding tickets. Or you can buy tickets through an online discounter like Undercover Tourist or even buy them at check-in--they will ask you if you want to buy them if they don't see them on your reservation.
It can be slightly cheaper to do room-only and add tickets from a discounter, but remember that you will not have a package then, so you cannot add the dining plan, if this is important to you. The main advantage to room-only is the smaller deposit and the ability to cancel closer to your reservation date without penalty--I think you can do it as close as 7 days, but don't rely on my memory for that!
We find packages easy to book in that we just tell our TA how many nights we need and how many days to put on our tickets. We often get a pin code too, for unknown reasons, which takes the price down a bit. Disney now includes some freebies in their packages, like a Planet Hollywood voucher and a free mini-golf game that are nice if you use them. We mostly don't so a package isn't cheaper for us, but it is a timesaver for me. By the way, we use an online agent, so my planning time is minimized, with no running to the TA office to pick things up. Everything is done online and our package documents arrive in the mail about 2-3 weeks before we leave.
Last year I did a room only ressie. I bought my tickets through undercover tourist at a slightly discounted rate. I paid my 1 night deposit upon booking and paid the remaining balance upon arrival. You do not have to pay a room only ressie 45 days out like a package, it is due upon arrival.
We usually do room only. One night required for deposit, and then you can pay the balance at check in, although we always pay it off before so we don't come home with a large bill! We've either had APs, or I've bought our tickets from Undercover Tourist!
I book room, dining plan and tickets at the same time through my favorite TA. She watches for savings and gets those when they appear. I pay in full when I book, because I don't book until the money is already set aside,
I book online and book a package with the required $200 deposit. December 2007 the package was hotel + tickets, January/February 2009 the package was hotel + tickets + qsdp, and February 2010 will be hotel + tickets + dp. Any changes I call since you can't make changes to an existing reservation online.
We usually do room only. One night required for deposit, and then you can pay the balance at check in, although we always pay it off before so we don't come home with a large bill! We've either had APs, or I've bought our tickets from Undercover Tourist!
That's what I do, room only, you pay 1 night deposit, then I wait for the discounts to come out I sometimes change to a package if I want to add the DDP. I have an AP this year because of multiple trips.
When I don't have an AP and I am booking a room only without DDP, I'll buy our park tickets thru Undercover Tourist, using the link from mousesavers.com you can save as much as $25 off each ticket depending on current specials.
Thanks everyone for the input! I was playing around one afternoon and it looked as though it was a little cheaper if I would have booked room-only and bought the tickets from undercover tourist - lessons learned!
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