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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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OK so it is no secret that I am planning a trip for nine people to Disney World. We have all of the snafu's worked out. Basically I'm in charge. Period.
However, Our friends from Atlanta who will also be in Disney the same week and wanted to join us wanted to manage their own affairs. And that was more than fine by me. If we see each other, we see each other. No sweat off my nose. Well just trying to make conversation I asked what fast passes they got. SHE WASN"T GOING TO MAKE THEM! Why you ask? because One adult needs to ride the ride to see if their son who has had neck surgery can ride the ride I told her she can fast pass shows and other things too. And I told her about rider swap since I know she loves coasters. The think that kills me is that I bought and shipped her a copy of the passport book. She says she didn't know any of this!!! I even offered to make her fast pass reservations for her if she told me what parks she wants on what days.
And she wants to have at least one meal with us. Needless to say I've already
booked our ADRs so the only thing I'm willing to do is a QS breakfast. Is that wrong of me?
Needless to say I've already
booked our ADRs so the only thing I'm willing to do is a QS breakfast. Is that wrong of me?
Truthfully? No. You've already made your ADR's and whoever said you had to get together over a TS meal? A QS one will most likely be more enjoyable as you don't have to worry about bills being separated or if someone is running late or changes their mind. You're in Disney and you're getting together - isn't that the point? Not the meal itself?
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No, you're good. You've been making yourself crazy with planning for all those people; you just don't need the stress.
What I might do in your shoes is print out all your FP+'s and send them to her so she can see how it works and where you'll be. (I started to write "and ADRs", then I realized she'd be bugging you to add her family to your ADRs, which are already for a big group to start with!)
Don't let their lack of planning bother you. You did what you could, plus it's still possible to have a perfectly wonderful time at WDW without having FastPasses....they'll just wait in line a lot.
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You can't make people read, I've learned. I sent my in laws a copy years ago before they took one of the grandkids to WDW. When they got back I asked all sorts of questions.....they didn't do anything but sit around on benches and wait for him to ride things. They thought there wasn't anything they'd like. Ugh.
Don't worry too much about her and her lack of preparation. Especially if she doesn't take you up on the FPs. She'll just have a very different trip. And having a QS meal together is probably better anyway....so plan one with them.
No, it's not wrong of you.
We had friends who years ago were planning a trip to WDW, with their 4 kids - 8, 10, 13, and 15 (about). I gave them guides, I offered to help them set things up, I offered to talk to them about our experiences and how to best tour - they said they were fine.
They went over EASTER break. They hated it. Couldn't understand why we went every year or even more often (our 3 kids were the same basic ages as their 4). They stayed in the Ft. W. cabins - and ate ALL of their meals in the cabin. Every day, for 5 days, mom took the 2 youngest kids to the MK and dad took the 2 oldest kids to DHS (MGM back then). When I asked why they hadn't tried EPCOT and AK, they said they didn't know those parks were WDW parks. When asked why they didn't all go to MK - well, that was for little kids only, wasn't it? Why didn't they eat out at least once a day? - well, they didn't want to waste an entrance into a park just to eat - they had no clue about the restaurants anywhere else, and they wanted to eat dinner together.
That was when I learned a very important lesson about WDW - you can 'lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink'.
Sorry, so frustrating! Many people I've met who don't like WDW simply did little to no research or planning before they went and, therefore, made some really poor choices! Teresa, the story of your friends' trip is really . Why would anyone want to spend a big chunk of money on a trip and then do no research about what they'll do or see? Especially when they have someone who has been there willing to help them out
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I have been to WDW many times, and have always had good trips (although I will never go over Easter again). I seldom do much planning and personally did not like fastpass+. I enjoy going with the flow, doing what I please. I no longer have must do's and can be happy with minor attractions.
I think your friends can have a fine trip to WDW. Different people do things different ways, neither is better or worse.
Having ADRs 6 months in advance does not make or break a trip (I prefer to book at mealtime-we eat late and I do not do buffets and character meals)
If super planning is your thing, great, if relaxing is, great. Do not judge.
Most of us PassPorters are mega-planners with difficulty comprehending why everyone doesn't realize how necessary planning is to best utilize money and time.
Except, as Huntermom pointed out, all that planning ISN'T necessary.
People can and do go all sorts of places with an openness to discovery and an aversion to knowing anything in advance but how they'll get to their destination. Such likely think there's something odd about those who want things planned beforehand, ruining the spontaneity that's the essence of an adventure.
"Everybody to their own notion," as my mother used to say when I'd remark how peculiar someone was who did things differently than I.
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I agree that no matter how much advice and planning tools you give to people, you can't make them plan a trip. I think that if you want to meet up for lunch or whatever, there is nothing wrong with QS. And it isn't your fault if they can't get on their favorite rides because they didn't plan ahead. Hopefully everyone has a great trip and in the end that is all that matters!
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No. Your friends made it perfectly clear from the beginning that they would be doing their own thing. You already have all your plans made and it's not easy to try and change things around last minute.
I would say to, maybe, look online and see if there is any availability at the restaurants for all of you. If there is, great. If not, oh well you tried. Don't sweat it. You did try to help her.
WELL in an update. I found out my friend booked her trip through a TA that supposedly is Disney trained and my friend was feeling overwhelmed because all this was going to be taken care of. Needless to say the TA did not take care of it. My friend asked me to book her fast passes so I did and she got some pretty good choices!! And in the process I realized her reservation for Tusker House on Thanksgiving day wasn't on her itinerary so she is checking in to that! Hopefully that is a crisis averted.
We still haven't planned breakfast but we are moving in the right direction!
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I told her she can fast pass shows and other things too. And I told her about rider swap since I know she loves coasters. The think that kills me is that I bought and shipped her a copy of the passport book. She says she didn't know any of this!!! I even offered to make her fast pass reservations for her if she told me what parks she wants on what days.
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You've been making yourself crazy with planning for all those people; you just don't need the stress.
. Why would anyone want to spend a big chunk of money on a trip and then do no research about what they'll do or see? Especially when they have someone who has been there willing to help them out 
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