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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 heard that you can get fixed weeks at the Poly. Is DVC doing fixed weeks at other resorts? That would be a major negative for us because we have gone at different times based on our school/work/college schedules.
I hope that it is not the future of DVC to have fixed weeks.
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I doubt they'll ever move that direction other than a few units. Most other timeshares have moved away from that model toward points or seasons because fixed weeks don't work for many people, as your family clearly shows.
They've already done them for the Grand Floridian and Aulani, but they account for no more than 35% of sales at any of these resorts.
Personally I have no interest in them, as to me, it's a move back to traditional timeshare sales, where you take your same week or two weeks every year and it certainly doesn't work for us, but I guess somewhere people must be going for them, as otherwise the DVC wouldn't keep offering them.
One of the huge advantages of DVC IMHO is the flexibility to visit whenever desired. I think Disney realizes that a majority of folks prefer that option.
I agree that the points system rather than a fixed time is what sets DVC apart and makes it appealing. I love having the option of going for Food and Wine one year and Flower and Garden or Christmas the next.
As another poster stated, DVC will sell no more than 35% of all rooms as Guaranteed Weeks for any single week. Buyers must purchase approximately 10% more than the normal amount of points to book that week, and are exempt from any future reallocations of the point charts. (In other words, if they tell a buyer they need 130 points for a Standard View Poly Studio for Week 49, they will ALWAYS get that week regardless of how the point charts change.)
And the kicker is, the can always waive the Guaranteed booking and receive 100% of the owned points for use toward any other reservation.
If you know that you will often vacation during a specific week and don't want to risk being shut-out, the Guaranteed Week is a viable option. I think there are owners of Guaranteed Weeks at VGF and Aulani who are very glad they went that route--particularly for periods like early-December at VGF and holidays at Aulani.
On the occasions when those owners want to try different dates or a different resort, they just cancel the guaranteed booking and spend the points just like all other owners.
Just out of interest Tim, is there any way of knowing just how well the Guaranteed Weeks are selling at those three resorts as a percentage of overall sales? I'm curious, given the feedback from everyone to date, as I can't see many people going for it...
I guess it is a good idea for those that want to book Thanskgiving or Christmas weeks. I wonder how much of the booking circus for December going on just now at VGF is due to fixed weeks.
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Just out of interest Tim, is there any way of knowing just how well the Guaranteed Weeks are selling at those three resorts as a percentage of overall sales? I'm curious, given the feedback from everyone to date, as I can't see many people going for it...
This information is more than a year out of date but as of August 2013--less than four months after the start of VGF sales--they had sold 127 Guaranteed Week deeds.
I guess it is a good idea for those that want to book Thanskgiving or Christmas weeks. I wonder how much of the booking circus for December going on just now at VGF is due to fixed weeks.
Christmas is so high-priced that I'm not sure that one is necessary. Probably the usual DVC peak times: early-December, Food & Wine Fest, some periods in January around Marathon and MLK holiday, etc.
I'm sure Studios are most troublesome at VGF. Between the higher room occupancy (space for 5) and the overall high nightly point costs, I'm sure Studios at VGF are more sought-after than other properties. With only 47 available every night, and a portion of those locked-in as Guaranteed Weeks, it's a tough get even at 11 months during dates with the highest demand.
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