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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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So we are going to try to book the Poly at 7 months out (October trip). What is the best plan of attack? I plan to try the website that day, but what time can you book online? And if we don't get it, what's the best way to go about waitlisting? I know some of you have done one day at a time or the whole time. I've only done the whole trip as waitlist, so please explain the one day at a time scenario.
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I just had experience with this at Christmas when I booked Aulani. We are going there this summer for DD's high school graduation.
DVC gave me this advice and it worked: Log on to the website the day your booking window is open. Have your room preference and dates ready to search so at precisely 8:00 a.m., you can hit that search button. This is something I am very used to and comfortable with from the runDisney race signups that sell out in hours. Anyways.... just do the search for your dates, room size, and the actual DVC member. This way you won't lose the reservation to another guest while you are busy filling out all of your family's information. The DVC member info. is partially already filled out. You just call DVC at some point thereafter, and they can add the rest of your family to the room reservation. We wanted 10 nights and I could only book 7 at a time, so I had to do this for a few days. It worked like a charm! I got the dates I wanted and the room I wanted during one of Aulani's busiest times. The really nice part was that each time I had to call DVC, I had absolutely no wait. Bonus, I got to talk to someone who was just as excited about my reservation as me! Good luck!
Poly has typically not been filling-up until 5-6 months prior to arrival.
Only way a resort fills if if owners are booking every single room before 7 months. At other resorts, the typical outcome is that more popular rooms may be gone before 7 months--things like lower-cost views (Standard, Value), elite views (BoardWalk, Aulani Ocean view) and most Studio rooms. But Poly really has only the one room type. Full occupancy is unlikely to be reached for any dates other than the absolute highest demand (early Dec, NYE, WDW Marathon).
If you are prepared to book right at 8am when that 7 month window arrives, I doubt you will have any problems.
I echo Amy's advice - I did that exact thing this morning to get a 2BR handicap accessible at Boardwalk. We're still doing a split stay (first two nights in a 2BR handicap accessible at VGF), but I was happy to get the remaining nights at BVW I tried this last year, but didn't get to the website until a few minutes after 7 am CT, and there were no 2BRs at either Boardwalk or Beach Club. So being all ready to go a few minutes before 8 am ET is key.
I echo Amy's advice - I did that exact thing this morning to get a 2BR handicap accessible at Boardwalk. We're still doing a split stay (first two nights in a 2BR handicap accessible at VGF), but I was happy to get the remaining nights at BVW I tried this last year, but didn't get to the website until a few minutes after 7 am CT, and there were no 2BRs at either Boardwalk or Beach Club. So being all ready to go a few minutes before 8 am ET is key.
Thanks so much!! Looks like I'll arrive late to work that morning, but hopefully it will be worth it!
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