The Eighteen Years in the Planning Pre-Trip Report - Page 3 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Sometimes I do have to work. Big Sigh... well how else am I going to pay for this obsession! Here is the next installment.
Room Reservation - all set. Airfare – all set. Now about those admission tickets… Back to purusing various Disney sites looking for the best admission price possible. Mousesavers newsletter has by far the best deal – at least for the research I had accomplished. This trip hasn’t even started and I already have plans for trip #2. Alicia and I will be going in May of 2009 for a “girls” trip. We were going to try the week of her spring break (first year away at college), but as it turns out it is the same as Easter week, so forget it! But that is another TR! No brainer as to getting DD and Mom AP’s since we will be going back. I went to undercover tourist and ordered the boys tickets online. Originally I was only going to buy 7 day park hopper passes even though we will be there eight days. But the price difference for the three tickets was a total of $18, so I bought the boys 8 day park hoppers. For an extra$18, I liked having the option of going into the park if we change our minds about our DTD day. The service was great from Undercover Tourist.
Next, my call to member services for AP vouchers. The wait time wasn’t too bad. I had a couple of experiences waiting on hold for what seemed like forever, but this wasn’t too bad. The CM (are they still called a CM if they work for DVC member services?) who answered the phone was polite at best. He wasn’t actually rude, but he was not really very helpful either. I told him I wanted to purchase Annual Passes for Alicia and I. He asked several times (well okay, only three…) if Alicia actually lived in the same house. I understand the policy through DVC is you can only purchase AP’s for members of your immediate household, but after telling him YES she does live in the same house as me and that she was my daughter, you’d think he’d figure it out! He then asked why I was purchasing them so soon, since my trip wasn’t until August. Personally I don’t think it is any of his business! But evil tongued Karen stayed quiet and I told him, “In case the price goes up before then”. He answered very emphatically that “The prices are not going to go up!” Well what does he care when I buy it then! He then proceeded to tell me I would only be getting a voucher and not the actual passes. Yes, I understand that. Yes I understand I still need to go to guest relations. {Yes I think you are an idiot for talking to me like I am a two year old.} Okay, evil Karen didn’t really say that, but I did think it! After a MOST exasperating time, I was finally able to purchase my “voucher” for two Annual Passes! YAY!
My tickets from Undercover Tourist and Vouchers came within a couple of weeks. I was a bit befuddled when the first package arrived. It was a plain wrap (yes they did tell me it would be) and I was very confused as to what it was. It never dawned on me that it could be my tickets until after I opened it. I was jumping up and down, so excited!! THEN the nerves hit! YIKES what if I lose them? I am notorious for putting things “some place safe” in my house so they won’t get lost. Of course then I forget where that someplace safe is! Not to worry, I actually have a safe, so I put them in there. The voucher came a couple days later. This time I was on the ball and knew right away what it was!
Great update! I agree with you ; as for that cm, what does he care why you are purchasing the tickets so far in advance? I like to get stuff like that out of the way early on also. As far as loosing them (Putting them in your safe is a great idea, I am embarassed to say that mine are in my purse, how stupid is that?) its suggested that you photo copy the backs of them so that if there lost they can easily be replaced free of charge. Congrats on getting the tickets and AP's! Can't wait to hear more!
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Previous trips: POFQ 2005 & 2007, Boardwalk 2008, BCV & AKLV 2009 (our honeymoon) & 2012, BCV & BLT 2011, BCV 2013, AKLV 2014
Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
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