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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 recently attended a presentation about DVC and I had a few questions. I am hoping that if I put them all in one place that it will be easier for people to answer the one(s) that they have advice on! Thanks!
1) Grocery Delivery - the DVC rep told us that you can order groceries and for the cost of groceries plus a $10 fee, they will have them in your fridge for you when you arrive. I've never heard anyone on here mention that before, so I'm assuming it's more expensive than something like Garden Grocer? I was just surprised to hear this so I thought maybe there was a 'catch.'
2) Buying Extra Points with Cash - they told us that you can pay cash (I'm thinking $10-$15 per point but I don't remember what they told us) for up to 24 extra points per year. (Like if your accommodations required 124 points but you only had 100, you could pay for the extra 24). Again, I don't recall anyone talking about this, so I wasn't sure how this worked or if anyone takes advantage of it.
3) Booking Online - Is the online booking system easy to use? Does it get confusing with banking and borrowing points?
4) Use Year - do you get to pick your use year? If so, what would the best use year be, in your opinion?
5) What types of incentives do they usually offer when purchasing DVC? They were offering us a bonus of points the first year equal to the number of points that we would purchase.
6) Is it hard to book at 7 months? Right now, Poly (and Aluani) are the only options to buy directly from Disney. Poly would be great and we would love to stay there, but it's also one of the more expensive ones. If we wanted to stay anywhere else, we wouldn't be able to book there until 7 months. Is there typically still availability at the other resorts at 7 months, or does this start to get difficult? I don't want to buy a product that I have difficulty using when I want.
I think those are all my questions for now. I know that this is something that I won't be doing in the immediate future, I am just trying to constantly educate myself about all aspects of the process so that WHEN (not if we are ready down the road in the future to purchase, that I know all the ins and outs. Thanks in advance for reading this lengthy info. and providing your feedback!
The only catch with the grocery delivery service is that you pay Disney prices for the goods. Items available are the same things stocked in DVC resort gift shops. You're talking $1 for a banana and $4 for a 2-litre bottle of soda. I doubt that many people pay to stock up from there. It's more of an emergency shopping destination, in my opinion.
Yes, extra points are available for $15 each. They cannot be used to book a home resort at 11 months--only for 7 month bookings.
The online system is fairly straightforward, IMO. System maintenance outages seem to be more frequent than one would expect. Maybe 2-3 times per month for a few hours. Impacted members tend to voice their frustration when it happens but in the grand scheme of things, it isn't all that frequent.
The only real relevance of Use Year is its relationship to point banking deadlines. You only have 8 months to bank points that will not be used. For that reason, it makes sense to pick a UY which immediately PRECEDES your typical vacation dates. E.g. If you expect to frequently vacation in June or July, a June Use Year would probably be best.
But if you intend to use points at a variety of different times and/or see your vacation habits changing of the years, Use Year doesn't hold much importance at all. Our habits have changed dramatically in 12+ years of ownership, yet we've never lost a single point due to any UY related issues.
"Free" points and/or cash discounts are the primary incentives they offer.
Generally speaking, there will be many options available when booking right at 7 months. But I could spend an hour writing about all of the nuance without doing it justice. October - mid-December is a very popular time among owners so that entire period can be tough to book at 7 months. BoardWalk View rooms at BWV are high demand. Any of the "Value" or "Standard" views at various resorts tend to go early to owners because of the lower cost. Studio rooms tend to have the highest demand, followed by Two Bedroom then One Bedroom.
Getting a Standard View Studio at Bay Lake Tower in early December would be really tough at 7 months.
But a Savanna View One Bedroom at Animal Kingdom in May is pretty easy.
Tim hit all the right things on the head.
When it comes to try to book at 7 months out, it depends on where you are trying to book and what. For example, I recently booked 7 months out at vgc in California and could only get part of my stay booked. Since they only have one dvc resort at Disneyland, that really limits me. I sit here each day trying to book the rest of my stay at one of the hotels but can't- Disneyland hasn't opened up 2017 bookings yet.
As to your question about resorts are available to purchase now, are you sure Aulani and the Poly are all they have?
I'm not sure there's much more I can add to what Tim's already said, as he's done such an excellent job of answering your questions.
I'd just say the online booking system is very simple to use - thank goodness, as Disney don't have the greatest reputation when it comes to easy to use websites. I've found banking and borrowing points to be very straight forward, as the system takes you all through it and double checks everything with you before you make bookings.
We went with an August Use Year, because we usually travel in the cooler months - October to April and we were advised to pick a Use Year away from when we usually travel. It's worked out fine for us.
We own at the Beach Club Villas and Animal Kingdom Lodge and love both and use our 11 month booking window to stay there. We also own at Saratoga Springs and almost never stay there. They were selling points there for a long time at a very good price, which is why we went for them. We often stay at other resorts and book at the seven month mark and rarely have a problem. The only times we've ever had any issues was in early December or in October trying to get into the Beach Club (we stupidly used our points for something else ) due to the Food and Wine Festival - at that time, they and the BoardWalk do fill up quickly.
You have already been given good advice. I would add two things to think about.
1. There is a resale market for DVC where you can save some money. But know that resale buyers have some restrictions on their points (you cannot book certain collections) and cannot access DVC perks like discounts on APs and special DVC events. Every DVC resort is available via resale but be sure that you do plenty of research on this option. Each resort has their own end date, and what may look like a great buy may not be such a good buy when you consider that another resort has an additional 12-20 years on the contract.
2. If your primary goal in buying DVC is to visit WDW, I would be cautious about buying an off-property resort (VGC, HH, VB or Aulani). You can use those points to book WDW DVC villas, but personally I would rather know I can book my home resort at 11 months and switch at 7 than have to worry about what is available 7 months from my trip.
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Did DVC change their policy on purchasing one-time use points? I thought there was a limit (15 over the lifetime). Did that change to 24 per year?
This is the information we have in PassPorter's Disney Vacation Club Guide, and as far as I'm aware, this is correct - if it's not, someone let me know and I'll get it changed.
Disney now offers the option to buy up to 24 points per Use Year for one-time use, at a rate of $15/point (including tax).
It has been 24 per year per membership for as long as I can remember
It has always been 24 per year, dating back to when the "one time use" point option was introduced. The points COST $15 each, so maybe that's where the number comes from.
I recently attended a presentation about DVC and I had a few questions. I am hoping that if I put them all in one place that it will be easier for people to answer the one(s) that they have advice on! Thanks!
1) Grocery Delivery - the DVC rep told us that you can order groceries and for the cost of groceries plus a $10 fee, they will have them in your fridge for you when you arrive. I've never heard anyone on here mention that before, so I'm assuming it's more expensive than something like Garden Grocer? I was just surprised to hear this so I thought maybe there was a 'catch.'
We always use Garden Grocer for our stays, and have had no issues in many visits. Much cheaper than Disney prices as has been mentioned.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CheerDisney
3) Booking Online - Is the online booking system easy to use? Does it get confusing with banking and borrowing points?
We have found it to be very easy to use, and have had no problems. The only thing I might recommend is to make a reservation at your 11 month window for your vacation - to ensure that you have someplace to stay - and then call Member Services to make the change at 7 months. The reason I say this is that on-line, if you don't have enough points available, you have to cancel the first reservation, and then go in to make the new one at 7 months. It is possible that you could lose both in that few minute time frame. Member Services can simply switch it over on their systems, so much safer, at least to us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CheerDisney
6) Is it hard to book at 7 months? Right now, Poly (and Aluani) are the only options to buy directly from Disney. Poly would be great and we would love to stay there, but it's also one of the more expensive ones. If we wanted to stay anywhere else, we wouldn't be able to book there until 7 months. Is there typically still availability at the other resorts at 7 months, or does this start to get difficult? I don't want to buy a product that I have difficulty using when I want.
There is a misconception that they will only sell you Poly or Aulani. You can buy direct from Disney for ANY resort (well, except VGF right now). You may have to go on a wait list for a few weeks or months, but don't let your guide tell you that you cannot buy from AKL or BWV or BCV if that is where you want your home resort to be. Get a different guide, because it is simply not true. VGF isn't available because the wait list is over 2 years long, and they have stopped taking requests for now.
We own at SSR, but have stayed at BWV, AKL, OKW, VGF, and VGC - all reserved at the 7 month point. You do have to know the limitations, though. BCV or BWV during Food&Wine will be much tougher, though we did get a 1 bedroom at BWV in October, so it can be done. We have not had any trouble switching up to this point, but we know that may not always be the case. We always have our SSR reservation if we cannot switch.
Obviously, the closer you get, the harder it will be. SSR, OKW, and AKL usually fill up last, as they are the largest resorts. But those will still fill up completely as you get closer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CheerDisney
I think those are all my questions for now. I know that this is something that I won't be doing in the immediate future, I am just trying to constantly educate myself about all aspects of the process so that WHEN (not if we are ready down the road in the future to purchase, that I know all the ins and outs. Thanks in advance for reading this lengthy info. and providing your feedback!
Lindsay
Thanks!
Good luck! The people here are a great source of information.
There is a misconception that they will only sell you Poly or Aulani. You can buy direct from Disney for ANY resort (well, except VGF right now). You may have to go on a wait list for a few weeks or months, but don't let your guide tell you that you cannot buy from AKL or BWV or BCV if that is where you want your home resort to be. Get a different guide, because it is simply not true. VGF isn't available because the wait list is over 2 years long, and they have stopped taking requests for now.
Last I heard, they also are not taking any requests for points at Beach Club or Grand Californian.
Some caution is advised when considering older properties. Many are MUCH cheaper on the resale market. Plus the number of years and price should be given careful consideration.
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we are ready down the road in the future to purchase, that I know all the ins and outs. Thanks in advance for reading this lengthy info. and providing your feedback!
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
I've found banking and borrowing points to be very straight forward, as the system takes you all through it and double checks everything with you before you make bookings. 
) due to the Food and Wine Festival - at that time, they and the BoardWalk do fill up quickly.
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