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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We found the new enforcement to work well, creating opportunities to get them much later in the day than previously. Just had to plan better when picking them up to mske sure we could use them at their times.
Thats good to know. I am glad they are enforcing the times and it should make it better for everyone.
I agree. I've heard some people complain about the enforcement but I think it will improve things.
I for one am glad that they are enforcing the times. I never could understand why there were such long lines in the fast pass side if they only allow a certain number for each time period.
I hope that it will make going through the fast pass side will make it easier......
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Me- Self proclaimed Disney nut. Love everything and anything to do with Disney.
DH- Not as obsessed as me, but still rather obsessed. Can talk like Goofy, but only does it to annoy his son
Chris 5 years old MNSSHP...2002
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This is a change I fully support! It's time they started enforcing their rules instead of bending over for every whiney, complaining guest. You have a FastPass with a printed time on it. Make it work.
This is a change I fully support! It's time they started enforcing their rules instead of bending over for every whiney, complaining guest. You have a FastPass with a printed time on it. Make it work.
I couldn't agree more!
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Me- Self proclaimed Disney nut. Love everything and anything to do with Disney.
DH- Not as obsessed as me, but still rather obsessed. Can talk like Goofy, but only does it to annoy his son
Chris 5 years old MNSSHP...2002
I don't know how this new Fp rule will work, I can foresee difficulties if you have a Fp for tsmm, then want to go to tot, while waiting for your Fp time, and then miss it by a few min. Kinda curtails what you can do while waiting for fear of missing Fp time. I think it will cause more stressful touring, and take longer to get everything done, cause there will be more hanging around waiting, so you don't miss time.. Just my opinion. Guess I'll see in aug.
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You don't need to be a whiney guest. I used FPs after the window simply because of riding something else with a long wait that caused me to run past the window. I asked if it was alright and I was told that as long as I wasn't early for the time it was okay.
You don't need to be a whiney guest. I used FPs after the window simply because of riding something else with a long wait that caused me to run past the window. I asked if it was alright and I was told that as long as I wasn't early for the time it was okay.
This!! But now with strict enforcement you'd be out of luck if that happened I guess.
So to me it seems there will be a lot more hanging around and waiting, like if your 20 min till FP return time, you wouldn't want to risk doing something else so you'd just end up hanging around till the time. So longer day :roll eyes:
Sue is right- that's exactly what they're trying to get away from with enforced FP times. You can no longer return and say "oh, the show was longer than we thought," or "we had to wait 30 minutes to ride ToT, so we didn't get back in time." When we were there earlier this month, as we were getting FPs at TSMM just after rope drop, the CMs were standing at the machines stating the return times before you inserted your park tickets and asking everyone "Is that time going to work for you?" There were also signs on all of the FP machines (not just TSMM) that said "Please return within your one hour window."
It really didn't affect us, because we have always made every attempt to return during our window anyway. The only time we missed our FP return window in the past was when DH got FPs for TSMM as I was signing DS up for Jedi Training, and of course, the times were the same!
The real problem wasn't "a few minutes late." It's when the leniency for a few minutes late turned into "hours late," and guests came to depend on it when planning their days.
The system actually depends on having a certain number of unused FPs. That's factored in when they calculate the anticipated length of the FP queue. If, say, the goal is no more than a 10 minute wait, then they issue enough tickets to get that result and no more. Say, for the moment, that a 10-minute-long queue would contain 50 guests. If they issued 50 tickets for that Return Time and everyone showed up, that would be perfect. If they issued 50 tickets and 30 guests showed up, the queue would be shorter. In some ways, shorter is better, but if 10 minutes is still acceptable, why not give out enough tickets so you really have 50 guests in the queue? That means more guests will be happy. And happy guests is a key purpose of FP.
So... by not enforcing FP return times (a higher percentage of tickets actually being used), the FP Return queues were longer than they were intended to be. Something has to give - either they accept the idea of longer queues (longer queues means lower guest satisfaction), or issue fewer FPs (meaning they'd have more guests unhappy that they couldn't get an FP)... Or enforce the Return Times, and bring the system back to its "design parameters."
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
When we visited Disney World in 2008 we stuck strictly to the times. I couldn't wait to ride the rides, so we were there and waiting, ready for the FP time slot.
In 2010, we again stuck to the time slots on the FP.
One day in Animal Kingdom a CM came up to us and asked my son if he'd ridden the raft ride (can't remember the name). My son said no and the CM gave us three FP's. I said thank you and looked at the time, which had long passed. I asked the CM and he said it was perfectly fine, go ahead. I felt so nervous as we walked down the FP queue and when we got to the CM on the ride, I explained the situation. She just smiled and said that it was no problem, we didn't have to stick to the times.
A few days later we were in Hollywood Studio's when a CM gave my son 3 FP tickets for The Tower of Terror. It was early evening and the passes said 1pm. Again, the CM assured us this was no problem.
The only times we used FP out of the time slots was on these two occasions. I am quite happy to stick to the times.... I have no desire to abuse a system.
So I agree, you didn't have to be a whining, complaining guest to have used FP past the designated time slot.
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