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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Hi guys, I just reached my 75 day mark. I stayed up until midnight to be able to get those beloved Palo Brunch Ressies. However, after midnight the website would not let me access my activities. There was a red box that said I was not paid in full and that I needed to make a payment or contact my travel agent. First, I am paid in full and second, I did not use a travel agent. I sat there refreshing the page and signing in and out for almost an hour with no success, so I emailed Disney about the problem. Now this morning it is working correctly....But guess what NO brunch reservations are available!!!!! I am furious! This happen to anyone else?
Unfortunately, that's a rather common occurrence. As everyone on those same timetables is also logging in, the system doesn't handle it well and you get error messages or even can't get into the system. Refreshing doesn't always work either as it's better to log out and log back in again. Even without system problems, brunch is hard to get at 75-days out.
I'm sorry that you're frustrated but know that they do keep a number of reservations available to book on board. Best advice is to get in line PRONTO where they are taking Palo reservations. Brunch is by far the hardest to get as there are even fewer tables than at dinner as it's only held on sea days. Ask to be put on a wait list and keep checking back at Palo if you can't get a reservation right away. Good luck!
__________________
Lynn
Yes, I am a Disney Addict... and I'd rather be cruising!.
I had the same thing happen to me when I tried to book online for my recent cruise. It is VERY frustrating! The good news is that once I got on baord I was able to get everything I wanted. As Lynn said - go to the Palo line as soon as you board the ship and then stop by Palo in person if you still can't get a reservaion. Persistance pays off!
The same thing happened to me on our last cruise. This is disappointing but don't give up hope! Just make sure to be inline for Palo reservations at least 15 minutes before they start. (Don't just show up at 1:00! )
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.
OMG the same thing happened to me just 2 days ago!!!! We are on the DVC member cruise, so I know it's paid in full!! Here I was at midnight, and couldn't make my ressies. I finally got on at about 12:15, and I got the exact same thing...no Palo brunch ressies left! I emailed Disney twice and my answer was to check when I got onboard. I am actually going to bring a copy of the email with me when I get on board.
I hope you get what you want when you get on board!
Good luck with getting those ressies. I tried from 5am last week (that was our midnight LOL) and it kept telling me reservations weren`t available to me. I tried later in the afternoon and got everything we wanted.
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 also had trouble a couple of days ago. I am actually kind of relieved to see it wasn't just me. I got up at midnight and I couldn't even get the website to respond without an error message until 4am. I guess my tenacity (certainly wouldn't want to call it patience) payed off and I finally was able to get Palo dinner and brunch ressies. I had to work off of two hours of sleep the next day but small price to pay. I sure hope you get what you want when you get on board! Good luck!
Thanks again for everyone's response. Disney did email me and thanked me for letting them know about this problem. Hopefully, they will get their tech people on it to help with the midnight overloads!
Another potential problem that could happen when you have booked through a travel agent. I booked through mine and paid off my balance a few days before my travel agent required payment (10 days before the Disney cutoff). I figured this was plenty of time for Disney to get my money and lo an behold, when I logged in at 75 days, it said the same thing. I'm sure it depends on the travel agent but they mail the payment to DCL and then it has to be processed. if mail gets held up then you could be out of luck. You paid your TA on time so you won;t lose your room, but could be delayed in booking extras. Luckily my TA fixed everything and I got everything I requested.
__________________
Love, April
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass;
it's about learning to dance in the rain.
THis somewhat happened to me when booking the cruise to begin with. I tried for a couple days to get a reservation through and ended up calling the number and talking with someone while on the site with the payment information. Very nice and helpful then. I called a few months ago to check on things and ask about a credit that I was supposed to get for booking online and was told that I booked it all through them and could not get the credit. First person very nice, but could not give me the credit, told me that she would transfer me to the supervisor who should take care of this. Not only was she not helpful, she was short and told me to cancel the reservation and rebook the entire cruise at an additional $600 ( I booked over a year ago), I somewhat politely told her she was crazy and thanks for not helping me. I sent an email to some sustomer service that received no response. Anybody got any idea what to do, or just eat the credit and not worry about it. THis was the first non helpful WDW or DCL person I have dealt with, but relly left a bad taste in my mouth just from the circumstances being their fault. I know the creidt will not amount to much, but $50 is $50 and they are getting it spent on the boat and alot more, so it is not like they are just giving me money to blow somewhere else.