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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 sort of feel that way....but we only do the DDP on some trips (like two weeks ago). Most of the time, we stick mostly to counter service. So on the trips that we do the DDP, the dining is part of the whole tour for us and something to look forward to.
We mostly do early dinners. We go to park at opening and tour through lunch (counter service) take a break midday and go back to a park at dinner time or after if the meal is at a resort. Then we start our park touring again. It gets us back out of the room and into the parks again.
I feel that way to an extent when we are on the DDP. Sometimes I just didn't feel like eating where we'd planned but then my brain would kick in with -- Must. Use. Credits. -- and we'd stick with the ADR.
For our next trip we're going DDP-less and I feel a bit more relaxed, knowing that if we decide to skip an ADR we won't have paid for something that we may not use up.
With us, we usually only do one TS meal a day, and it's normally in the evening. The meals are something we look forward to and we really enjoy the sit down time. However, my boys are bigger (9 and 14 now), so I can see it being more difficult with younger kidlets! One thing I have learned over the years that makes it less stressful with ADR's is that you don't have to be exact! A little early or a little late hasn't ever caused me a problem! I remember years ago my mil, my two boys, and I literally RUNNING through EPCOT to get to our ADR in WS! When we got there about 15 min late, the girl told us no need to run! They would have still honored it as long as it was close! Now, granted, you prob couldn't show up hours early or late, but in the ballpark is close enough! Lesson learned and no more running through EPCOT for us! Though the thought of how silly we must have looked still makes me laugh!
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I definitely know how you feel. We love a good sit-down meal, but hate having to rush around, trying to kill ourselves to get there, all the while possibly missing something fun!
We've changed our touring/eating strategies a bit. I try to limit the ADR's I make in resorts. IMHO, although they offer some of the best dining on property, these really are the time-eaters. When you consider that some of them require a little bit nicer-than-park attire, and then figure in the time it takes to get from your hotel to that hotel, you've wasted a good portion of your day. And it's even worse if you don't have a car!
I've had the same feeling. Our first trip, we had free dining and I was just overwhelmed...mostly because the kids were 1 and 2 and a TS everyday just seemed a bit much. Rushing from naps to make an ADR...just not fun to feel that "pressure" and that you "have" to be somewhere at a certain time on vacation.
Our second trip, I revolted and did all CS. That got old quickly and I realized I missed out on some good experiences.
So, our upcoming trip, we're going middle of the road. We've got 4 ADR's and it works out to one every other day. I'm hoping this will be the solution to my ADR woes!
They do not run our vacation, we plan on what we are doing each day before we make ARD's. Then we pick our favorite place to eat then make them. Weather it is at a resort or park we do not let the ARD's run the show.
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We have also found ADRs to be a blessing and a curse. One a day is very doable for us since we have visited the parks often and there aren't a ton of must see things on our list. We tend to be a little more laid back than some who don't visit quite as often. We do enjoy the break and the opportunity to get out of the crowds or heat. Quick serve can be a little nerve wracking as you try to get every ones order, find a table and such. However there have been times when those set times do make things more stressful. Its too bad WDW is so big that walk ups are no longer really an option. Its tough to know so far out what you may want to eat on any given day - but the good thing is that the decision is already made so you don't have to debate with your family all of the many food options when everyone is tired and hungry
I've had the same feeling. Our first trip, we had free dining and I was just overwhelmed...mostly because the kids were 1 and 2 and a TS everyday just seemed a bit much. Rushing from naps to make an ADR...just not fun to feel that "pressure" and that you "have" to be somewhere at a certain time on vacation.
Maybe it worked for us when the kids were younger because we didn't stop for naps!
I would let them nap in the stroller or carrier (LOVED the Beco we used w/ the TWO year old!) while we were on the go and it worked out great!
I don't feel like dining runs our trip at all, we seem to like the "structure" in our schedule. I choose our itinerary for that week first by choosing which parks we will go to, then I choose where we will dine and make our ADR's from there. I space each meal out appropriately so that by the time we sit down to eat we are truly hungry, and ready for a break as well.
We normally do the deluxe dining plan, so we are used to having 2-3 ADR's each day. Which is a lot, but we really enjoy all the dining WDW has to offer. This year, we are only doing the basic dining plan, so we'll only have one ADR per day, which is going to be very different for us this trip!
This past January, they did. I made the mistake of making 2 ADRs per day, EVEYR day. We spent half our time in each park with an eye on the clock, to make sure we didn't miss our next ADR.
Well, that won't happen again. Many days will still have an ADR for breakfast - good and early, preferably a bit before the park opens. Other than that, I'm looking at a non=breakfast ADR maybe once in two days ... and half of the time we have one of those, I'm aiming to SKIP the breakfast ADR altogether. Especilly if we do a Lunch ADR!!
So double-ADR days will be very few and very far between.
Further, I got us fairly late breakfasts (9:30 or 10:00), and somewhat early dinners (6:00 or 7:00). I'm going to make the breakfasts much earlier (8:00 ... earlier if I can), and the dinners much later (as late as 9:00 or even 10:00, park closing time permitting).
I think that will take control of our day away from our ADRs, and put it back in OUR hands again.
It also means the Deluxe DDP is less likely to be a *financially* sound choice for us, this next time around.
I understand your thoughts... and can tell you that we've "lived and learned!" After overscheduling our second trip with tons of ADRs and special activities, and then following that up with "free dining," which made us feel we simply couldn't "waste" a a TS meal, we realized that one ADR per day is more than enough for our family. Actually, I usually schedule about 5 or 6 of them for a 7/8 day trip. While we love the dining experiences, we also really appreciate a couple of days with absolutely no constraints. So we can grab a dog at Casey's if we like, or try to get a last minute reservation if the urge strikes.
For us, the hard part is mixing in old favorites while also trying new places each trip! Last time, we splurged on Narccossees (during which DD fell asleep!) and tried Tusker House for breakfast, which was awesome!
I sort of feel that way....but we only do the DDP on some trips (like two weeks ago). Most of the time, we stick mostly to counter service. So on the trips that we do the DDP, the dining is part of the whole tour for us and something to look forward to.
We mostly do early dinners. We go to park at opening and tour through lunch (counter service) take a break midday and go back to a park at dinner time or after if the meal is at a resort. Then we start our park touring again. It gets us back out of the room and into the parks again.
That's pretty much what we do, make ADR at or near the park we plan to be in that evening, so no, it really doesn't interfere with our touring. We also take an afternoon break, for a swim, lounge by the pool with a good book!
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I definitely know how you feel. We love a good sit-down meal, but hate having to rush around, trying to kill ourselves to get there, all the while possibly missing something fun!
We've changed our touring/eating strategies a bit. I try to limit the ADR's I make in resorts. IMHO, although they offer some of the best dining on property, these really are the time-eaters. When you consider that some of them require a little bit nicer-than-park attire, and then figure in the time it takes to get from your hotel to that hotel, you've wasted a good portion of your day. And it's even worse if you don't have a car!
I couldn't agree more. I love eating at resorts but instead of a fancy dinner at night, I'll schedule a late lunch/early dinner close to the park that I'm visiting. For example, Boma for an early dinner on an EMH night at AK, Kona for an early dinner before heading back to MK.
The other option is to combine your late afternoon break with early dinner. You'll feel more refreshed after dining at a restaurant in Epcot at 2 or 3. Get an ADR at Hollywood Brown Derby at 3. You'll get your break from the heat, a fine meal, and a break from rush, rush, rush.
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not really... I try to do a TS a day (so an ADR a day) and the ADR is based on what park I want to go to... and I sometimes have to really force the ADR to fit or it just doesn't happen on the trip... most of the time.
the only time I was going to do the opposite was last january when I wanted an ADR to Le Cellier, told them I wanted it and whatever time (preferrably lunch) was fine by me. I got in at 1:05pm on the day I wanted. SCORE! so yes and no I guess is my answer.
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