What do you wish you would have known before? - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 agree with everyone who says they wish they bought sooner. The first time we went on a DVC tour was back in the early 1990s when the only DVC resort was OKW. I don't remember how much it was to buy in at that time but I'm sure I would have been paid off a long time ago and would be able to buy additional points now.
I agree with everyone who says they wish they bought sooner. The first time we went on a DVC tour was back in the early 1990s when the only DVC resort was OKW. I don't remember how much it was to buy in at that time but I'm sure I would have been paid off a long time ago and would be able to buy additional points now.
Totally agree! We had been looking at dvc as a family since old key west was built also. Would have been paid for and added to by now!
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Teresa
Sammy 5 years and Peyton 15 months - September 2013
One thing to keep in mind if you are planning to buy a large number of points is the possible resale value. It is much harder to sell 500 points than it is to sell a contract of 100 to 150 points. If I were to buy a lot of points I would probably try to do more than one contract just in case I wanted to sell them.
This is great advice.
Now to what I wish we had known/done sooner...Like everyone else buy more and purchased sooner. For DW and I we spent 4 years traveling to WDW spending tons-o-money each trip. IF we had realized how affordable DVC is back then, we would have it paid off already.
I bought in early 92 so couldn't have been much sooner ($51 a point back then). Like others I have added on since then once it became clearer how we would vacation. We initially thought we would split our stays between a studio and a 1 bed but quickly realised that at OKW we just loved the 1 bed.
Others have said they wished they had realised where Disney would build next as they would have preferred to buy there. All I would say is buy where you want to stay. The more members there are the more difficult it is to get into some of the resorts at the 7 month point.
Don't be afraid to buy resale if that is the resort you want, it will almost certainly be cheaper than buying through Disney.
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2011 trips
May in Bermuda
August on the Magic in the Med
Jan 2012 back to WDW
Dh and I are planning on buying into DVC in September 2011, we are planning on getting 170 points to start and adding later if we want. I have been reading everything I can find about DVC and we went through the sales thing at WDW in November. My question to all of you that are DVC members what advice would yu give to someone thats about to buy in and is there anything that you wish you would have known before you purchased? TIA!
What a great question! I cannot wait to read all the responses!
Add me to the "wish we'd bought sooner" group and I also wish I'd known how addictive being a DVC member is - you just want more points all the time!
Absolutely agree with this!!
In looking at how many points to purchase, we chose the points we would need for a 1BR during a week we typically travel to the World. But we will need a 2BR soon enough - hoping to be able to add on soon, but it won't be right now. As it is, we probably will not do a lot of banking of points - we just love our DVC trips.
As for info that could be useful, know that you can ask for a different use year month than they offer you. This can make a difference in terms of borrowing and banking. I got this advice on these boards and it was very helpful.
Count us in the "Wish we had done it earlier" group too!! But besides that, I'd wish we had chosen a different Month for our use year. And wished that we had listened to our DVC rep when he suggested we split our original 270 point contract into 2 smaller contracts so it would be easier to give to the kids later in life, although DH jokes that he's going to be around for every single minute of his DVC ownership!!
I cannot say anything more then what Cheryl said DVC is addicting !!! especially after your first stay is like a sign the deal buster !! and you will never look back again!!!
I would have bought sooner and more points. It sounds easy to add on later, however if you are adding on through Disney then you can only add on a min of 100. That can be a nice chunk of change. Also, if you buying at AKV and want to add on at BLT, you can only book at the 11 month mark at BLT for the amount of add on points you have, and same for AKV- you can only book at the 11 month mark for the points you have at AKV until the 7 month mark. So for us adding on has been a bit of a pain. Spend time studying the charts and make sure you are buying the amount that best fits you. We have 320 and I am shocked at how fast they go!
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Teresa
But besides that, I'd wish we had chosen a different Month for our use year. And wished that we had listened to our DVC rep when he suggested we split our original 270 point contract into 2 smaller contracts so it would be easier to give to the kids later in life, although DH jokes that he's going to be around for every single minute of his DVC ownership!!
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