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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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
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Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
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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.
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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.
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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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Hope this isn't a repeat, but I can't find the answer!
On the DDP, for a TS we get entree, dessert, non-alcoholic beverage -- suggested tip is 18%, but is not included and we need to budget for that OOP. Pretty straightforward, no confusion there.
But, if we order items not on the plan, like appetizers or alcoholic drinks, the brochure says "A gratuity may also be added automatically for ordered items that are not included in the Disney Dining Plan."
So, do we get a separate receipt for any non-DDP items, and then we need to check it to see if they already included the tip? And then we get a different receipt for all DDP items, so we know the actual dollar amount the meal would have cost OOP and can calculate the tip for that?
__________________
Katiebell
Citizen of Disneyland,
and I looooooove pirates!
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I know when I went 2 years ago to Trails End, our dinner was on one receipt and my DH's beer and birthday cake (what a combo) were on a second receipt and yes, on that the tip was already figured into it. But that was when tip was automatically included in the dining plan. I would assume you'd still get 2 receipts (dining plan and non dining) but I don't for sure know how the receipts are this year (tip figured in or not), so I would say just look over them carefully first, and then figure your tip on the total amount of both (if it's not there already.)
Thats a great question, I would ask the server when you order if it will be one bill or two and if you are concerned just have them seperate your bar bill (or whatever the extra is) from the DDP bill. Keep in mind proper tipping etiquette is 10-15% for a buffet and 15-20% for regular service.
Thanks for all the replies, though...I'll just check my receipt carefully. I remember going with a large group to dinner (not at Disney), and our waiter was dreadful -- dismissive and inattentive. It was a Moroccan restaurant with no utensils, and you were expected to use pieces of bread to pick up your food -- novel idea, until you run out of bread and then can't pick up your saucy, messy food. We had to beg the waiter repeatedly for more bread and he ignored us or kept "forgetting" ( I wanted to just ask if he could bring us forks!!!)
After figuring out my family's share of the bill, including tip and tax, I added a few dollars extra just to be sure. Then when they were figuring out everyone's share, the hosting family asked me if I was SURE I gave them the right amount. Embarrassed, I triple and quadruple checked my figures (had already double checked them!) and said, yes, I even gave you extra, and showed them. So the rest of the group bickered over who might be short...
Nobody figured out until the NEXT DAY that the tip was already included in the total. So our truly terrible waiter got a 36% tip!!!!!!!!!
Needless to say, that's made me a bit cautious about "gratuity may also be added automatically"
__________________
Katiebell
Citizen of Disneyland,
and I looooooove pirates!
Things might have changed with the advent of the new- not-so-improved DDP, but in the olden days, I recall ordering a Glowtini at Coral Reef and the 18% gratuity being automatically added to my bill, whilst on the DDP.
I wouldn't be surprised if this practice has continued.
I would hope that since tips are no longer included in the DDP that they wouldn't be automatically tacked on to other things ordered--as that does not seem fair at ALL!
BTW--the experience you had at the Moroccan restaurant is known in the industry as "Double Dipping." Every server, bartender etc hopes you don't notice that the gratuity has been included. People who don't read their bill end up with high fives all around once the server hits the back of the house! ( I know -- I do it too--sorry--the extra money is a nice bonus!) READ YOUR BILLS!
I believe that you will receive two separate slips -- one for the DDP credits used, where they will also include the calculations of what the tip at 15%, 18%, or 20% would be. (Someone posted a picture of this the other day.) Then you will receive a second slip for what you ordered out of pocket. You would pay a separate tip on that.
I believe that you will receive two separate slips -- one for the DDP credits used, where they will also include the calculations of what the tip at 15%, 18%, or 20% would be. (Someone posted a picture of this the other day.) Then you will receive a second slip for what you ordered out of pocket. You would pay a separate tip on that.
Yes, that makes perfect sense...and we will just need to review that second receipt to see if a tip was already added to the total, since the 2008 DDP brochure says it "may" be...
Oh, and I do want to clarify -- the restaurant I am referring to is NOT the one at Epcot; it is one in my city. Interestingly, though...I just realized it's also called "Marrakesh" But I am positive there is no connection between the two...it's just a local place.
__________________
Katiebell
Citizen of Disneyland,
and I looooooove pirates!
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