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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Hello all. This is my first ever attempt at a PTR. I'm not sure how interesting it will be, but it will help me organize plans and take suggestions from helpful Passporters. I enjoy reading other's PTRs, as so many of you do a great job of making the planning part exciting.
I'll get to the trifecta part in a bit, but first I'll backtrack with a mini TR on our DVC exploring adventure.
Background
The primary players are me (Sharon) and DH (Lou). We are both retired, and our primary residence is in South Florida. We enjoy travel, and are currently spending the summer in Maine. The other member of our little family is Natasha - our 8 month old cocker spaniel pup. She may be slightly spoiled.
We have visited Disney World many times, often when the kids and grand kids visit from California. One of our best memories is visiting Epcot just a few months after it opened - commando touring from start to finish. I think Lou allowed a stop for two sodas the entire day! Epcot is our favorite resort, mostly because we love to eat.
I worked in the construction industry, and WDW in Orlando was a large client, so have fond memories of seeing the development take place. I became interested in purchasing DVC after we cruised on the Dream in March of this year. We took an exploratory trip to Orlando, staying at the Boardwalk Inn. Previously, we'd always stayed at the Yacht Club, Beach Club, or Grand Floridian. The Disney photos here are from our trip in May.
Lou wasn't nearly as interested in DVC as I was. My thought was this would help give us some planned vacation days close to home - we are both tired of airplanes. But, he was a good sport, and agreed to check it out.
We visited the DVC Sales Center and took the tour. Fortunately, I had done a lot of research, so knew what questions to ask. Our guide was helpful, but it was surprising how much stuff he glossed right over. Lou was adamant he did not want AKV as a home resort. SSR and the Treehouse Villas appealed to him, so he wanted to take a tour out that way. We did this on our own, as the Guide was really only interested in talking AKV and Aulani. We have previously stayed at AKV and OKW, so no need to visit this trip.
Lou decided to make it a game, and insisted we use only Disney transportation to get from the Boardwalk to SSR.
After a day of busses, boats, and monorails, we were worn out. After getting lost in the Treehouse Villas, lunching at Whispering Canyon, and hiking back through Epcot on a very warm May day - we were toast!
I figured my dreams of owning DVC had died a very warm death on this day. After a refreshing shower (and short nap), we went to the Belle Vue Lounge for a cocktail. Lou had some questions about how it all worked. We didn't discuss specifics.
After a nice dinner at The Flying Fish, we called it a night.
We had breakfast at Kouzina's the next morning, before heading home. Lou was still asking about details, and wanted to know about resale - it was nice to get wi-fi at the restaurant, so I could give him some examples.
We recapped the visit, and agreed we liked the Boardwalk, but didn't really love it. I was still edging to BCV, for it's proximity to Epcot. Surprisingly, Lou said he wanted the Villas at Wilderness Lodge. What???? His reasoning - it was the one place that didn't remind him of Florida. (I may not have mentioned that he hates Florida in the summer). He then said - just get both. Some points at BCV and at VWL. Well ........ OK then, decision made.
That's probably enough for what was intended to be a short introduction.
Coming up next - Where do we buy, and what plans do we make? (no fair for those of you who have seen my post in the DVC section)
Hello all. This is my first ever attempt at a PTR. I'm not sure how interesting it will be, but it will help me organize plans and take suggestions from helpful Passporters.
We all judge ourselves very harshly (myself included) - you may not think what you type is interesting but I do (and I'm sure more people will come along and agree). Even what you don't type (i.e the pictures) is very enjoyable IMO so if you do this report just like the one you've been doing for Maine (or even like your blog which I enjoyed), I'm going to enjoy it. Not every trip report has to be heavy on details (like mine tend to be) so do it the way you're comfortable doing it.
Great beginning! I always love reading about planning and how everyone goes from the idea of a trip through all the decision-making.
Sorry you didn't have the best DVC tour guide. I own at BWV, which was the only Epcot DVC property at the time. If I had the choice at that time, though, I'd probably have chosen BCV-- not sure, though. I love BWV more and more every visit! I like the combo of BCV and VWL-- two very different-feeling resorts.
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We all judge ourselves very harshly (myself included) - you may not think what you type is interesting but I do (and I'm sure more people will come along and agree). Even what you don't type (i.e the pictures) is very enjoyable IMO so if you do this report just like the one you've been doing for Maine (or even like your blog which I enjoyed), I'm going to enjoy it. Not every trip report has to be heavy on details (like mine tend to be) so do it the way you're comfortable doing it.
You are so nice, Darlene. Thanks - I hadn't thought about including some of my previous photos until I was typing it up, so hopefully that will help
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Great beginning! I always love reading about planning and how everyone goes from the idea of a trip through all the decision-making.
Sorry you didn't have the best DVC tour guide. I own at BWV, which was the only Epcot DVC property at the time. If I had the choice at that time, though, I'd probably have chosen BCV-- not sure, though. I love BWV more and more every visit! I like the combo of BCV and VWL-- two very different-feeling resorts.
Thanks, Laurie. Our guide was "ok" - he may have figured out we probably weren't going to buy that day. Interestingly, we would have preferred to buy direct if it was possible to get our resort of choice (I know it can be done, but they don't make it easy unless you really push it).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Great introduction! I all your photos!
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Originally Posted by JKnott17
Great start! Your pictures are beautiful
Quote:
Originally Posted by queen2
Great start. Your pictures are awesome.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nght10gale
Your pics are beautiful! Enjoyed reading about your DVC adventure and looking forward to more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by disney fan 46
Good stuff
Thank you all, for your kind comments, and for stopping by!
Our DVC Purchase, and the reason for the Title of this PTR
I did a lot more research and spreadsheet number crunching on DVC than it may sound from the post above. Lou, however, really only paid attention during our quick trip, and he came to his recommendations at that time. He had already said, "do what you want to do," but what's the fun it that?
I'll take a short detour and share one additional detail on my desire to purchase DVC at this time. Way back in 1980, I joined a little investment club with some friends I worked with. It was called "TTR." That stands for Tijuana Total Return (We were living in Southern California at the time). Despite the name, our club was fairly conservative, but we did fairly well over the years. Disney was always one of our stocks - not always a winner, I might add I made a regular monthly contribution to the club for the past 30+ years - since it was a direct payment each month, I never missed it. We decided to cash in my TTR fund as we were consolidating for retirement. I had always said that this was to be "fun" money, and would be used for something special - maybe a sports car, or something like that (I'm not talking ferari here ). I decided to earmark my special savings for Travel. Thus, purchasing DVC gives me a long term association / payback with my savings plan started so long ago
Now, back to purchasing DVC: Within a couple days of returning home, I found a 160pt, Dec UY contract for the Villas at Wilderness Lodge. We put in an offer, it was accepted, and we passed ROFR about a month later. We are now closed and I was able to access the online booking site on Saturday.
What about Beach Club? Wellllll ... to tell you the truth, I'm not 100% sold. I love the location, but I'm just a tad concerned that there really aren't many options with a view there. We tend to be "view snobs" when booking a resort room. Will we be satisfied with no lake views at BCV? At VWL, it doesn't seem to matter too much - trees, trees, and more trees.
For this reason, we will stay in a BCV villa before making a purchasing decision. In the back of my mind, I'm drawn to BWV because of all of the view options. So - this leads us to how we scored the Trifecta.
To make it simple, let me define the Trifecta - 3 DVC Stays in 3 Months:
Trip No. 1: Nov 12-14 - 2 nites at AKV
Trip No. 2: Dec 11-13 - 2 nites at VWL + ???
Trip No. 3: Jan 6 - 10 - 4 nites at VWL
I'll go into more detail about each trip starting in the next post.
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DVC sounds like a perfect use for the TTR money! When I first toured DVC OKW was just opening and they were offering free stays if you took the tour. Even so, it was really laid back, no pressure. I had told the guide I probably wouldn't be buying yet and it didn't seem to matter. I waited a couple of years, until BWV was being built and bought through Disney sight unseen. Over the years, I've added on points via resale. I like the idea of the Trifecta! Hope you can do the one night at BCV, as that will give you the complete picture. The view issue is one reason I'm getting more and more fond of BWV, in addition to the fact that I'm such a fan of Flying Fish and Belle Vue Lounge. BCV I love for the pool (but I don't swim, and it's a bit too busy for me), and I like the room decor a smidge better.
The great thing is that they're all great properties and you'll end up loving wherever you call "home".
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
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(We were living in Southern California at the time). Despite the name, our club was fairly conservative, but we did fairly well over the years. Disney was always one of our stocks - not always a winner, I might add 
I made a regular monthly contribution to the club for the past 30+ years - since it was a direct payment each month, I never missed it. We decided to cash in my TTR fund as we were consolidating for retirement. I had always said that this was to be "fun" money, and would be used for something special - maybe a sports car, or something like that (I'm not talking ferari here 
Congrats on having three trips in the works! 
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