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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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You'll want to check the list of dining locations before deciding on a plan. There's big differences between the 2008 and 2009 lists. In 2009 there's fewer restaurants at Epcot and Downtown Disney.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
How does Disney keep up with how many meals have been used? Does each person have their own meal ticket? How does this work?
Your party's credits are coded onto your Key to the World card. If you bought a package (which you have to to get a dining plan), your room key, park passes and dining info are all on the same credit-card-like card. Dining credits are all grouped together (but each person in your room will have the information accessible on his/her kttw). Your server will scan your card and give you a receipt that tells you your balance. Check your receipt each time as mistakes have been known to happen, but overall it is very easy and efficient.
Also, Peggy - that same card can be used to charge ANYthing to your Room account. You do not need to carry actual Credit, Debit, or ATM cards into the parks, nor to the other Disney resorts. Just your KttW card. The convenience of that is, IMO, a major selling point for staying on-property.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
So has anyone done the math with the different plans? What is your better deal? I am thinking about the quick service plan but I really like the dining plan we did a year ago.....My waist band didn't cause we gained about 5 pounds per person on that trip w/ all the food...} Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.
So has anyone done the math with the different plans? What is your better deal? I am thinking about the quick service plan but I really like the dining plan we did a year ago.....My waist band didn't cause we gained about 5 pounds per person on that trip w/ all the food...} Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.
I look at these dining plans just as a prepaid plan not so much as a savings. It's just nice for me to know that I have about 95% of my food paid for.
I like the quick service idea because of the refillable mugs, but I do not know if I want all counter service. I like the basic dining plan because you can have a sit down meal everyday and all but the tip is taken care of!
I look at these dining plans just as a prepaid plan not so much as a savings.
I would totally agree with this -- it's more that you've pre-paid for your food.
While you can "work" it (by knowing which restaurants give the best value for your credit and using TSs for dinner only), it isn't that much of a savings now that gratuity or the appetizer is no longer included in the total cost. (If you have kids in your party, that's different -- you definitely save if you have kids aged 9 and under.)
So has anyone done the math with the different plans? What is your better deal? I am thinking about the quick service plan but I really like the dining plan we did a year ago.....My waist band didn't cause we gained about 5 pounds per person on that trip w/ all the food...} Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.
Yes, I have. Of course, the specific amount each plan will cost you - or save you - is dependant entirely on your dining plans. In our case, we have a lot of Table-service reservations, plus a dinner show and one Signature Dining reservation.
I guesstimated the average CS meal price at $15, and the average table service meal at $30. (Without gratuities, mind you.) Since I know we'd use as many snack credits as we had on cold drinks (if nothing else), I pegged those at $3 ... and assumed sixteen would be used over the course of our stay, regardless. (The trip is for 9 days and 8 nights.) I also know we would be getting the refillable mugs, regardless, so that went into the "pot" too.
Not counted is one, single meal - we'll be having dinner at T-Rex on our day of arrival. Since I've omitted it from every plan's covered-or-not calculation, it keeps the comparison accurate.
Thus, I started with:
Mug x 1 ($12)
S x 16 ($3)
C x 13 ($15)
T x 9 ($30)
SOA x 1 ($60), TT
CRT x 1 ($50), TT
(25 meal credits total: 12C,13T)
Now, paid entirely out of pocket, that's pretty simple math
OOP / no meal plan
Mug x 0 ... pay $12 OOP
S x 0 ... pay $48 OOP
C x 0 ... pay $195 OOP
T x 0 ... pay $380 OOP
(total OOP = $635)
(plan = $0)
TOTAL COST = $635
Note that the "T" line includes the dinner show & signature dining costs. And the total is still "sans gratuities" as well. This pegs the per-adult cost for food to $635 for the trip.
So, anyway ... the three options for meal plans in 2009 come out as so:
QS/DP; $30/day
S x 16 ... covered
C x 16 ... waste [3C]
T x 0 ... pay $380 OOP
(total OOP = $380)
(plan = $240)
TOTAL COST = $620
B/DP; $40/day
Mug x0 ... pay $12 OOP
S x 8 ... pay $24 OOP
C x 8 ... pay $75 OOP
T x 8 ... pay $140 OOP
(total OOP = $251)
(plan = $320)
TOTAL COST = $571
D/DP; $70/day
Mug x 1 ... covered
S x 16 ... covered
24 credits ... pay $45 OOP (for 3xCS)
(total OOP = $45)
(plan = $560)
TOTAL COST = $575
As can be seen, all three entail at least a small savings over a purely-out-of-pocket approach. In some cases, such a small savings as to be negligible, to be honest. The best savings would have been the Basic dining plan, but we decided that the Deluxe dining plan offered us sufficiently greater convenience that the extra $34 was worth it.
Specifically, while we're big eaters ... we tend to balk at the price of a meal, once things start adding up (which also factored into my CS-vs-TS price assumptions, above). Knowing that we CAN, without significant added expense, add appetisers and/or desserts to our meal means, we won't hesitate to do so if we're hungry enough (and/or what's available just looks yummy enough). The only increased price of doing so will come from the gratuity ... which will make the added cost small enough, we'll still be able to ignore it.
Now, of course ... those with more Table-service plans than we have, will find the Deluxe plan to be a better and better deal. Those with LESS - even by just one - will find that it's costing them extra, at least by a wee little bit.
Thus, each personneeds to do this analysis for themselves, based on what they know of the people involved, the plans laid, and so forth.
I've found that if you like even one table service meal a day particularly for dinner) and you go ahead and get an ADR, you are most likely to get your money's worth. If you don't like planning for meals ahead of time I wouldn't get the basic or deluxe dining plan. You'd probably be better off getting the quick service plan if any at all.
Don't worry, by the end of the year they will all be back on the plan.
Rumor has it that that might not be the case this year. There is a good chance that only the current World Showcase restaurants listed and current resort establishments will be included. Coronado's food court, restaurant, World Showcase restaurants owned by outside vendors are not planning on signing up because they are losing too much money. I know this happened every year, but there has been a lot of talk that this year it will be a reality.
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} Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.
I would totally agree with this -- it's more that you've pre-paid for your food.
for Disney?
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