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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Now what if you leave the do not disturb thing on the door knob and housekeeping does not clean the whole time you are there what would you leave? I was thinking 5bucks a night. Does that sound right?
I believe Disney (and it might be a State of Florida thing) requires that they have access to clean the room at least every three days. Can someone confirm that? It's something I remember someone mentioning here not that long ago...
If for any reason, Mousekeeping doesn't clean the room, I'd guess that they have to do twice the amount of cleaning the next day, so I just double the amount of the tip. Or... I guess it's that I feel as if it was *me* who kept them from doing the room and getting their tip, so I feel like I owe it to them.
We had one night on our last trip that we left the DND sign on and DH just went out to the cart in the hall and asked the housekeeper for more towels. He gave her $2 or $3 since she wouldn't be getting the tip in our room that day.
We would add a few dollars the next day if we did this. Sometimes my husband just doesn't feel well and stays in the room while my son and I go to the parks. We have had the Mousekeeper hang a bag of clean towels, shampoo and soaps on the knob over the Do Not Disturb sign--so we got "service" even though she didn't enter the room. Also, if we ask them directly for something (like extra towels), we tip a dollar or two to the person who gets them for us.
I should have mentioned I am one of those anal people who clean up after themselves in hotels and also when we are out to eat. I guess I am weird lol. I was concerned about the housekeepers propping the doors open while they cleaned. Meaning anyone could pop into our room and take things if they wanted. Not that we would have anything worth taking except laptop.
I know that when DH and I travel, we always lock our suitcases with a TSA-approved lock -- for the very reason you worry about strangers being in your room -- however, with the "lockable" suitcases, that's where I store all of our valuables (laptop included!) when we leave the room!
By doing this I have "peave of mind" no matter where my luggage is -- when it's out of my possession -- and this includes when it's with Bell Services, etc.
So, if security of personal belongings is a concern, maybe utulizing something like luggage locks would help you feel better when you leave your room.
I agree with doubling up on the tip if you do not want Mousekeeping in your room for the day.
Even though I am a neat freak at the hotel (clean/pickup before we leave for the day) it's still nice to have someone come in and make the bed properly, give us fresh towels, etc. I am on vacation and want to be pampered!
I agree with the lock thing but have nevered done it. DH and I take our laptops and the kids have their ipods and DH has his ipod touch. as a rule they do not take them to the parks because we are on family vaca and they could get lost in the parks. I never even thought to put these items away? I guess I am just a trusting person? If you feel the need to be concerned then yeah try the luggage lock. Its funny because I guard the things at the airports like they are gold but we hit hotel and it all goes away..... weird I guess...never thought of it!
I try to pick up to-but i like for mousekeeping to come in and make the beds, take out the trash and leave new shampoo and soaps and just refresh the room. We don't bring anything of value. our wallets we lock in the safe.
We lock our valuables in the wall safe, and the laptop in the luggage. I like Mousekeeping to come in to make beds, leave towels, soaps, etc and empty trash and clean around sink. I'm on vacay I don't want to clean! However, I do tidy up after myself and don't leave my things all over the place.
I wondered about a similar question on pour last stay in a Sheraton near Boston. The hotel, as part of their "green" initiative asks if you want the housekeeper from skipping your room. In exchange, they give you a $5 voucher for hotel food or drink.
My thought was that it was probably saving more money for the hotel than doing much to save the environment, and it really must have hurt the housekeeper who wouldn't be cleaning as many rooms (and collecting as many tips).
Call me a thrifty Yankee, but I can't see the reason for tipping someone for work they didn't do.
I wondered about a similar question on pour last stay in a Sheraton near Boston. The hotel, as part of their "green" initiative asks if you want the housekeeper from skipping your room. In exchange, they give you a $5 voucher for hotel food or drink.
My thought was that it was probably saving more money for the hotel than doing much to save the environment, and it really must have hurt the housekeeper who wouldn't be cleaning as many rooms (and collecting as many tips).
Call me a thrifty Yankee, but I can't see the reason for tipping someone for work they didn't do.
I have to say I agree with you here. Tips are given for good service, they are a tip, not expected. If mousekeeping doesn't clean my room, I won't tip. I agree with tipping when requesting extras and when they do come in and clean.
I am not sure about the doubling up stuff, as many people on here have said about leaving your tip for the day as you could have a different mousekeeper everyday or a combo of 2-3. So leaving a double tip the next day does nothing for the one who missed out today.
I like the idea of not having mousekeeping everyday. I don't need fresh towels, bedsheets and vaccuuming everyday. Every other day is sufficient for me.
Hotel thieves have a system, a ritual they go by when they enter a room.
First, they enter and leave quickly; sticking around even a few minutes exposes them to discovery. So they grab whatever is loose and bolt.
Second, they know the common places where people "hide" valuables - under the bed, under clothes in the drawers, and inside luggage. They automatically and quickly check these places.
Third, they know that you would not lock your suitcase unless you had something inside it worth stealing. So when they see a locked suitcase, they know there is something valuable there, and will often just take the whole suitcase. After all, locks or not, any soft-sided suitcase or bag can be easily cut open with a pocket knife, so all they need to do is get it into a private place.
So, how to you improve the safety of your stuff?
A) Don't take too many valuables on vacation with you. Jewelry? Leave it home. Cash? Leave it in the bank and only take out a few hundred at a time. Electronics? Take only what you really, really need.
B) Don't think that "hiding" stuff under the bed, in drawers, or in your luggage makes you any safer; not only does it not make you safer, it actually makes it much easier for hotel thieves to find and take your stuff.
C) Lock up anything that fits in the room safe - iPods, phones, cash, jewelry, spare credit or debit cards, passports, and ANYTHING that has your ID info on it (identity thieves work in hotels, too).
D) Lock up your laptop with a steel cable. Don't lock it to furniture - furniture breaks, moves, and is not secure. Lock it, at minimum, to the wire shelves in the vanity area (I like to weave the cable in and out among multiple tines of the shelf).
E) Keep your room clean. The cleaner it is, the less time housekeeping will spend in it, and the less chance you'll have of being a target of a hotel thief.
F) Keep your stuff out of sight. Close curtains, put your stuff out of sight behind furniture, etc., and make the room look unoccupied; a thief might pass by a room that looks like someone just checked out, because there isn't anything worth stealing in an unoccupied room.
None of these things will make you COMPLETELY safe, but put them all together, and you decrease your likelihood of being a victim of a hotel thief.
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-- however, with the "lockable" suitcases, that's where I store all of our valuables (laptop included!) when we leave the room!
I don't want to clean! However, I do tidy up after myself and don't leave my things all over the place.
"Sparky"(My first trip.)
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