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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Okay, going to WDW in January.
We already have ressies at our home resort but REALLY want AKL or Kidani.
I know what days and what time we can start booking ADRS and FPs.
I also know what day I can call for trying to get into AKL/Kidani. Does the DVC line open up at 7:00 am like the others?
Guessing I will have to be up at 3:00 am to account for the 4 hour time difference, but I want to be sure.
Thanks!!!
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!!
OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
Member Services opens at 9am eastern. Website begins taking reservations for the new day at 8am eastern. If you wait until 9 to call, you're an hour behind people who chose to book online.
Now, since I already have a reservation that I am hoping to modify, I am guessing that it will be better to talk to a real person instead of trying to book online.
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!!
OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
Technically, I think its not a modification. You're cancelling one stay and booking another. I think a modification would be if you were switching views, or adding or subtracting days from your current reservation at your home resort. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that ...
If you check availability online and it's open for what you want to switch to, you can go online an hour before you can call, cancel your first ressie and book the non-home resort that you want. You run the small chance someone else may snag it in that same moment, but I've never had any problem doing this. Be quick about it. If you wait until an hour later, it may be gone. It's a gamble either way, as the system will show you if it's available, but it won't show you how many are available, and you've no idea how many (if any) other are trying to do what you're doing.
If you have enough points available, you may be able to go ahead and book what you want first, then go in and cancel your home resort. In that case you are guaranteed success. But you have to have enough points to have both booked for those few minutes.
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Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow, for all you know, tomorrow, the dream that you wish will come true.
If all you want to do is switch out one reservation for a different resort, it's easy to do online. We've done it a number of times before with no issue.
Now, since I already have a reservation that I am hoping to modify, I am guessing that it will be better to talk to a real person instead of trying to book online.
Thing is, you run the risk that all remaining rooms will be booked during that hour between the daily start of online reservations and Member Services opening.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lumieregirl
Technically, I think its not a modification. You're cancelling one stay and booking another. I think a modification would be if you were switching views, or adding or subtracting days from your current reservation at your home resort. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that ...
I don't think you can do any sort of modifications online at this time. You can only book new stays and cancel stays.
Back in December DVC claimed they were adding some sort of modification features to the site in 2018 but no news since then.
Quote:
If you have enough points available, you may be able to go ahead and book what you want first, then go in and cancel your home resort. In that case you are guaranteed success. But you have to have enough points to have both booked for those few minutes.
Agree. This is the safest way to do it. But you need to have enough points to hold both reservations simultaneously without borrowing any points. (Points cannot be un-borrowed!)
Canceling one reservation and attempting to book the other runs the risk that you could lose out on both.
Trying to book AKL at 7 months probably won't be a problem. As long as you aren't trying to get a Value or Concierge room or booking any dates that coincide with the WDW Marathon. MLK holiday weekend could also be a little iffy. If you're clear of those things, you should be able to call Member Services at 9am and take care of it.
We will be there starting on 13 January till the end of that week.
We are actually wanting to have a savanna view room so hopefully those will available. The husband of the couple that we are going with had a dream of all of us sitting on the balcony drinking coffee and eating muffins one morning and watching giraffes. We’re going to try and hope the dream is prophetic and we will actually get what we want.
When is the marathon going on?
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!!
OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
We will be there starting on 13 January till the end of that week.
We are actually wanting to have a savanna view room so hopefully those will available. The husband of the couple that we are going with had a dream of all of us sitting on the balcony drinking coffee and eating muffins one morning and watching giraffes. We’re going to try and hope the dream is prophetic and we will actually get what we want.
When is the marathon going on?
The marathon is on 13 January, according to the Disney Run website. If you're arriving later on the Sunday, at least all the road closures will be done, but from memory (and I'm sure a runner could confirm) the road closures are in until around 9:00am.
The marathon is on 13 January, according to the Disney Run website. If you're arriving later on the Sunday, at least all the road closures will be done, but from memory (and I'm sure a runner could confirm) the road closures are in until around 9:00am.
And I'm guessing some runners will stick around at least through Sunday night, impacting resort availability.
A 1-night off-prop might be the solution when you arrive.
You can get some very nice stays at the hotels across from DSpgs for about what a Moderate costs.
We’ve done that at the Lake BV Hilton which is literally across the street from the DSpgs Marketplace entrance. Disney Deluxe rooms at a Moderate price.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
So send us pixies for Wednesday morning!!!! Our non-home resort window opens up then!
Hoping to switch from two deluxe studios at the Poly to a 2-bedroom suite (with savannah view please) at AKL (either Jambo or Kidani - we are not picky). After talking with our traveling companions, we will try initially for AKL and if that doesn't work, we will go for OKW and then Saratoga. Surely ONE of those will have a 2-bedroom for us!!!
My friend's DH had a dream that we were all sitting on a balcony drinking coffee watching giraffes. He is saying it is prophetic and that it will all work out! FINGERS CROSSED!!!!
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!!
OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books