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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
We're planning on going to WDW in June of 2014. My husband wants to book everything through Disney itself as he's assuming a travel agency HAS to overcharge in order for them to make any money.
He's already booked our room for next year through WDW, but he was told to call back in August to buy park passes (not really clear why he couldn't do it all at the same time....but that's what the agent told him).
So I'm wondering if at this point it would matter if we handed over the rest of our plans to a travel agent? We already spent a lot of time on the phone with WDW and couldn't even book everything. Can the travel agency get us the exact same price on park passes and dining plans?
Just curious as what some of you "Disney experts" do in regards to saving the most money you can on booking.
Travel agents can indeed get you the exact price. Also, if you work with a Disney expert TA, they will often find you available discounts. WDW will not mention those discounts, you have to ask for them usually. You can also get tickets at a slight discount through ticket brokers (very reliable) such as AAA or Undercover Tourist. You can definitely save a little money if you try.
Disney expert TA's get paid by Disney and can only charge you what Disney would charge you so they do not inflate their prices. As Pris says the TA will usually be able to inform you of discounts that Disney themselves won't mention. The TA I work with also throws in some goodies for the kids when she mails us our final paperwork.
The reason you could not buy your tickets at the same time as you booked your room is because Disney does not release their package prices for the following year until July/August. You booked your room at last years highest rate and the rates could change when the new packages are released.
The reason you could not buy your tickets at the same time as you booked your room is because Disney does not release their package prices for the following year until July/August. You booked your room at last years highest rate and the rates could change when the new packages are released.
So even if we let a travel agent take over at this point, they couldn't sell us the park passes either? Sorry for my confusion but I was just hoping to book everything all at once.
I have done both the DIY and TA route. If you have the right TA then it makes life easier. It is perfectly possible to do it all yourself, but yes, a good TA will get you the same price you get from WDW Travel. (Others can explain this better, but when you book a package with Disney, it is WDW Travel Company).
I could be wrong, but there is nothing stopping you from getting tickets right now from Undercover Tourist (never used them but I hear good things about them) for the trip. WDW tickets stay "fresh" until the day of your first use.
Of course, none of this will get you package discounts, etc. It's all a trade off, IMHO.
My TA (happy to recommend) lets me play around and steps in as I need her. This year I'm doing an AP for the first time so I've really needed her help as the AP world seems to be harder to figure out online.
edit: to answer your last post, tickets/packages are usually available or they aren't. Having a TA doesn't change that. They save you time on the phone and bring knowledge of what to ask for as was mentioned previously. They know the keywords to use. Also, WDW Travel can give you some messed up info on the phone, (as they did to my TA this trip) but a good TA (like mine) knows that the CM on the other end is clueless and doesn't cost me money. This might sound incorrect, but you don't always get the same answers from different people about prices, etc on the phone.
We booked one trip through Disney. They did our complete trip including airfare. I wasn't very happy with how the did the airfare and realized I could have done much better myself. That was a long time ago and I book all trip myself now. You learn a lot on these boards of what discounts are out there. If you book yourself I would check them once in a while. Years ago we used a TA for trips to Hawaii. I was never happy with them but everyone is different. If you can find someone you like, trust and who knows WDW that would be good.
Is there a time limit to change your reservation over to a TA? I booked my trip in Jan for August.
I believe my husband said the WDW agent said we could cancel if need be. It just would be so much easier if they could've sold us the entire package while we were on the phone - we're only booking one year out. I would think that they would know what the 2014 prices would be by now.
But can the travel agent sell us the park passes now? If so, why can THEY do it before the 2014 prices are listed, but WDW will not do it when you call them directly? Makes no sense to me.
Thank you everyone for your input - I appreciate it.
You can buy theme park tickets right now, which will not expire until 14 days after first use. So in theory, you could buy tickets now (at the new 2013 prices ) and not use them until the year 2020. Many people do this to hedge against future price increases on admission.
What you cannot buy yet are the Magic Your Way vacation packages. The basic vacation packages include tickets, plus a number of other things like a voucher for $15 or so at Planet Hollywood, a discount on boat rentals, etc. If you wanted to buy one of the dining plans, you would also need to buy a package with theme park tickets.
If you know the vacation packages are not of interest to you (and that you won't be buying a dining plan), I see no reason why you couldn't buy your tickets right now. FWIW, Disney loves to sell packages.
__________________
"Esprits et fantômes sur vos fièrs destriers, Escortez dans la nuit la belle fiancée." -- Madame Leota in Phantom Manor, DL Paris
We have booked using AAA, direct with Disney, and using a TA who specializes in Disney. It is much easier using the TA--and she saves me money. One year she had us move our trip by 1 day to take advantage of a room discount code she knew about, and we saved $300 on the trip. TAs are paid by Disney, so you are getting the same or better prices as booking through Disney direct. A good TA will also make sure you are getting the best price for your trip, looking for and applying discounts even after you book if you are eligible. Disney won't do that. Like many here, I am happy to refer people to my wonderful agent.
I want to add that if you decided to transfer to an agent, be sure to get one recommended by folks here on the boards--an Authorized Disney Travel Planner who has earned his/her Ears. They will have a form that you can fill out to complete the transfer. But if you decide to stick with your original plans, do some investigating to be sure you are taking advantage of any discount that applies to your trip.
__________________
YA Librarian
Last edited by yalibrarian; 06-07-2013 at 09:07 AM..
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
) and not use them until the year 2020. Many people do this to hedge against future price increases on admission.
Linear Mode
