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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 noticed that when you purchase the quick service dining plan & the deluxe dining plan you get a free refillable resort mug . We have opted for the middle plan, but it doesn't appear to come with the mugs. Does anyone know why that is or if the plan does come with the mugs? Thanks for any help
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This is one of the strangest things they do with the DDP. Why not just add $10 or $12 to the per person cost to the regular plan? Would that amount be a deal breaker for anyone when comparing the plans??
This is one of the strangest things they do with the DDP. Why not just add $10 or $12 to the per person cost to the regular plan? Would that amount be a deal breaker for anyone when comparing the plans??
Yes and no....my kids don't need refillable mugs. We rarely eat at the resort and it's much more cost effective for me to spend $4 and bring a couple boxes of Capri Suns for the kids to drink in the room. Even the time me and DH have bought them, we haven't used them all that much.
But if it only raised the ddp price like $1-2 a day, it might be worth it.
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Ok, I can understand that. But since they are already built into the QS and Dx, why don't they just include them in the regular? The only reason I can imagine is that more people choose QS than regular and they want that price difference to be as little as possible to try enticing people to upgrade.
My theory is that the QS and Deluxe versions needed a "value added" plus to make them more palatable to the consumer. The regular dining plan was already doing fine without Disney needing to do anything else to draw people to it.
Especially with the QS, the average guest is more likely to eat at least one meal per day in the food court.
I always get the mug, even if I'm not eatting in the resort food court, I grab a coffee in the morning on my way out, and an ice tea or lemonade or 2 for my mid day break, and something at night coming back from the parks. So I get good use out of it.
It would be nice if the mugs came with all the DDP plans.
My theory is that the QS and Deluxe versions needed a "value added" plus to make them more palatable to the consumer. The regular dining plan was already doing fine without Disney needing to do anything else to draw people to it.
This is reason that I have heard as to, more than likely, why they don't offer them with the basic plan. Less and less people were opting for the higher and lower tiered options so they needed a selling point for those.
We always get the refillable mugs, as we stay every year at AS Music, a value resort, and eat at the food court at least once per day. We find the mugs very useful as we drink a lot of diet Coke, hot tea, and lemonade, so the mugs save us quite a bit over buying one drink at a time. After trying the QSDP for "free" last year, we decided to get it again this year for our trip because of the convenience, but without the refillable mug being included, we might have chosen to skip it. The price of the QSDP is actually about the same as what we would normally spend OOP, so it is the refillable mugs plus ease of use that make it worthwhile for us.
I think they threw them into the deluxe plan to make it seem, well, more deluxe, but I also think that they could add them to the regular DP for only a little bit more and make everyone happy, or at least, happier.
I love the refillable mug because we actually use them everyday at home when we get back. Use them in the winter for hot chocolate and for ice tea in the summer.
Thanks everyone for the responses. I believe that if your going to offer them for two of the three dining plans, then they should offer them for all three! We are planning on purchasing two of the mugs, but it would have been nice if they were included.
Disney calculates the value of everything in each plan. If the mugs were to be offered with the regular dining plan, it would increase the cost of that plan. Not everyone needs or wants the mugs, so I think it is better to have a plan that doesn't automatically "throw" them in (and of course, nothing is thrown in in WDW! It is all figured in the cost. Just like how "free dining" is not free ).
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no milk or juices, just whatever is available on the beverage islands although you could buy the milk and juice in bottles then pour them into the mugs