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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
In the past, if you were staying at a resort with conference facilities you could expect that packages you sent or ordered to be shipped to the resort would be received through the conference center business servies and there would usually be a fee per package.
The other resorts, though, there was no fee to receive a package for a guest.
I have seen reports on other boards that this has changed and there is now a $5 fee per package at the other resorts.
Checking the WDW page about Mail Services, it appears this is the case:
" Please note that a $5 per package handling fee may apply to all packages that are received through the Front Desk or are delivered to your Disney Resort hotel room. "
This will have an impact for us on how we send things down / who we order from and what we pack in checked baggage vs ship/order.
One thing in particular: some retailers (eg Amazon) will often send multiple shipments for a single order instead of consolidating them into one shipment. This could get pretty expensive pretty quickly at $5 per box.
A heads-up for those who may encounter this.
If people do or don't, it would be nice to hear about it so we know what we can expect.
I doubt it will include grocery delivery services such as Garden Grocer & WeGoShop. Those things are only being stored for a few hours or a day at most. I think what Disney is trying to cut down on is having things being stored for days or even weeks before the guest arrives. The shipped packages take up space that may very well be needed to store things for guests that are arriving, departing or already at the resort. There's also the liability factor if a package goes missing or was delivered to the wrong place Disney could potentially end up on the hook for that new $500 camera the guest swears was in the package that the USPS, FedEx, UPS website shows as being delivered five days ago.
[QUOTE=pipperj;4584308]THANK YOU. I was going to mail a small package in a few days to avoid having to check luggage. Now I will have to rethink this whole thing. :
Shipping plus the fee may still be cheaper than checking a bag depending on who you fly with and the size of your package.
But with a checked bag that means more room for souvenirs.
Thanks for the heads up. Frankly though, if we order something in the States or our friends get something for us, $5 is a heck of a lot cheaper than the charge to post it over here.
I was not at all impressed with the service with regards to packages on our last trip. A friend sent a package and Disney Cruise Line messed up and sent our travel documents to our travel agent, instead of us, so she sent them to us at WDW. On both occasions, we weren't told we had anything waiting and had to enquire. We were told it shouldn't be like that, but it certainly didn't seem to be working from our experience.
Shipping plus the fee may still be cheaper than checking a bag depending on who you fly with and the size of your package.
But with a checked bag that means more room for souvenirs.
So True! And we all love our Disney Goodies!
I detest luggage claim on the way home So, I ship my dirty clothes home making room in the bag for the goodies. Also if anyone is so bold as to steal my package, BOY are they in for a surprise!
Which resorts have the service that will send your packages out for you to your home. I was thinking of rather than check my return luggage to have it shipped home via UPS or FedEx.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
[/url
PassPorter Guide Author
Linear Mode
