Anyone ever purchased a Southwest Vacation Package? - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
I looked into it but the reasons I choose not to were:
1. You can not use flight credits to pay for vacations or vacation credits to pay for flights
2. If the price of your flight goes down you can not get the credits like you can if you just buy the airfare
3. Everytime I priced it, it came out more then if I booked the package through Disney and airfare separate through SW.
I know there are people who post here who have booked them so I'm sure you'll get some first hand experience.
I have booked several WDW trips with a SW vacation package. I love it! It is really convenient to get your flight, resort, tickets, dining, and insurance all at one place - and at a great price! I always price each component separately first, but it has always been cheaper to buy them together. Also, unlike United Airlines vacation (which we used ONE time), the SW reservations show up almost immediately in the WDW records, so if you need to call and schedule anything (my daughter is doing the POR pirate cruise in Oct) then your resort reservations are available for the CM. When we did the UA vacation, our reservations didn't show up until 3 days before our trip! I didn't like that at all!
Therefore, yes, I really like Southwest Vacations. However, as is mentioned in the previous post, you do have to pay in full up front. However, I always link to the site from MyPoints (so I get credit for the gift cards that I use for Christmas, presents, etc) and I always use my Discover card to pay (so I get the CashBack bonus). Therefore, I consider paying in full a pro rather than a con.
I hope that this info helps.
__________________
Beach Club Villas - Jan 2014, Villas Wilderness Lodge - Jan 2013
All Star Music - January 2011, Saratoga Springs - June 2010
Port Orleans Riverside - October 2009, Caribbean Beach - June 2009
Coronado Springs - June 2008, All Star Movies - April 2008
Pop Century - June 2005
Offsite: June 1997, 1999, & 2000
My first trip in 2005 was through Southwest and it was much cheaper than going through Disney at that time. We received everything we needed in a timely manner and had no problems. At that time if you booked a vacation you couldn't check in for your flight on line and that stunk, but I think they may have changed that policy now. (not sure best to check)
The past two times I have used Disney, once with a flight included (which you must pay for in full at the time booking, but can pay off the Disney portion of the trip) and this trip I booked a flight separately because it was cheaper.
So, while I prefer using Disney (especially this time because I got a free room upgrade several weeks after booking) Southwest is just fine especially if apples for apples the price is cheaper.
Everyone gives advice, and who can tell more specifically about each insurance generalliabilityinsure.com for a small business?
For example, the person insured small business in a particular company, on what conditions, etc.
Also interested in the question - how do insurers assess business risks, otherwise different companies say the cost differently. That`s will be useful. Thanks
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.