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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Wait, what?
Yup! In four months.
Wait, WHAT?!?
*flails*
Let me explain a bit. My husband found out today that he'll be able to attend a work related conference at the Swan in May. He surprised me with my own plane ticket so I can go to WDW with him. I'm torn between being super excited and total panic because I have NOTHING planned!
I don't have any reservation numbers for the resort room yet since it's being paid for by company hubby works for. Once hubby gets that, will I be able to plug that into my MDE app/account? And we'll still be getting magic bands yes?
I'm also going to be getting park tickets so that I'll have something to do while hubby is busy at the conference. Should I wait until after we have confirmed hotel reservations? If I do, will they automatically link to our resort magic bands?
I've never done a trip this way before and it feels a bit complicated.
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.
I believe that once you get a reservation number you can link it (and tickets) to your account.
As for magic bands they can link the ones you purchase (via Disney online store or in the parks) to your account/park entrance(tickets). I'm not sure if your magic bands work for your room and charging to your room at the Swan but I'm sure someone else can help with that.
* the answer may be in the Tech primer http://passporterboards.com/forums/s...d.php?t=279318
Woohoo! Four months is plenty of time to plan. Don't despair!
Once your DH gets the reservation numbers, you can link it to your MDE account. You may have to call Disney to do it, because sometimes you get different confirmation number than the Disney system uses. This is true of any ticket you may buy, also.
You won't get magic bands with a Swan and Dolphin stay. You will get to reserve FastPasses 60 days in advance, though. You can either use an old band (preferably not more than 2 years old, due to battery life), buy a new band and link it when you buy it, or just skip the band. Swan & Dolphin won't let you pay using a magic band, anyway. It's only useful as ticket media and for FastPass, but you can use the card type ticket for those things.
You should see if you can get tickets through your DH's conference. Conference tickets can offer good discounts. You'll still be able to link them to MDE. Conference groups also offer evening only tickets (after 4pm entry) at an even bigger discount, so you may be able to have your DH join you for an evening in the parks.
You won't be able to use Magical Express with a Swan stay, so plan to either rent a car or take a cab or Mears Shuttle.
I think you'll love the Swan! It has a great pool, you can walk to both Epcot and DHS, and the resort restaurants are great. Especially for a grown-ups only trip. Have fun!
Last edited by TLCdisneyfan; 01-17-2017 at 04:32 PM..
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What fun!
As I understand it, you won't be getting Magic Bands for your stay at the Swan (I could be wrong about this; if so, please someone correct me).
However, if you have MBs that are less than 2 years old, they should still be active. If not, you can buy them directly from Disney....but I don't know how this is done, sorry.
You'll need to purchase your tickets in order to get your FastPass+ ressies...I don't know whether Swan counts as on-property for FP purposes. If it does, you can do the FPs at 60 days out (if you have tickets); if not, you can't do that until 30 days out.
If it were me, I'd purchase the tickets as soon as I possibly could; mousesavers.com predicts that the prices will go up quite soon, but no one really knows when that will happen.
Hope someone knows a bit more about how the Swan & Dolphin work in respect to being considered on-property for FPs than I do!
I can give you all sorts of tips about solo trips--I've done this and I love it! Anything specific you want to know?
First tip: if you've ever wanted to take a guided tour, this is an excellent time! You'll be around other folks, and you only have to pay for one person, so it's that much more affordable.
At DLR back in September, I did the Happiest Haunts (Halloween time) and Walk in Walt's Disneyland Footsteps, which was fun. WDW offers even more tours, but I've never done any WDW tours myself.
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Note that although you can't book FastPassesyet, you can book dining reservations and tours now even if you're not staying on property.
You may have trouble getting on the super popular rides (Soarin', Mine Train) without a long wait, but most rides had many FP+ times still available the day before we arrived last weekend, so booking a few months in advance should be fine.
Remember that while in the parks, you can use the My Disney Experience app to check wait times and book FP+ on the go.
Happy planning!
Melissa
__________________
Planning for Disney Magic in summer 2019
Last edited by MelissaL; 01-18-2017 at 06:56 PM..
Reason: Mistyped "park tickets" instead of FP+
Solo trip with a buddy in the evenings! So lucky!!!
Going solo means that even if you don't have FP+ for something, if YOU don't mind waiting, well, no one else will either! I got in a 70 min line for SDMT when I went solo shortly after it's opening. I would NEVER get in a line that long with anyone else ever. But I had a blast. Talked to my neighbors, enjoyed the little details, did a little logging of my trip experience. Never an unpleasant moment cause I only had myself to please.
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.
Solo trip with a buddy in the evenings! So lucky!!!
Going solo means that even if you don't have FP+ for something, if YOU don't mind waiting, well, no one else will either! I got in a 70 min line for SDMT when I went solo shortly after it's opening. I would NEVER get in a line that long with anyone else ever. But I had a blast. Talked to my neighbors, enjoyed the little details, did a little logging of my trip experience. Never an unpleasant moment cause I only had myself to please.
Happy planning!
Good point!! There are some rides i cannot get him onto unless the wait is 20min or less because he thinks the little rides (dumbo, carousel, ect) are 'lame', yet he wants me to wait double that for space mountain (which I don't care for)? Yea, no thanks.
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.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrsbruhaha
Why can't i get park tickets now?
All ADR are made
I bet she meant you can't do FPs yet. You can buy tickets whenever you want, of course...but you might take the advice of a previous poster and have your husband check for conference-linked specials!
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And for solo time in the parks: It sounds as if you're usually a big planner for Disney trips, and I see you already have ADRs.
I would suggest you take the opportunity to drift along one time (outside of the ADR & FP+ ressies) and let yourself make spur-of-the-moment decisions about where to go and what to do.
After my first solo trip, I realized that trips with other people mean that every.single.decision. is a discussion and a compromise. Going mostly solo on a recent trip to DLR meant that I could (and did!) stop and get my first-ever beignet (yum!) when they caught my eye, rather than negotiate over whether it was too close to a mealtime, or whether a beignet was an adequate substitute for a meal, or whatever.
Also, one of the biggest perks of a solo trip: nobody cares if you decide you have to go to the restroom every time you pass one! No one rolls their eyes (looking at you, DH!) or taps their feet or asks, "Didn't you just go?" Same with snacking, or shopping, or stopping to look at something that catches your eye.
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