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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We have "technically" a party of 5 - or 6 - depending on who you ask. I am wondering if anyone knows this from a recent experience...
We obviously do not have the 2yo on the DDP because she is under 3. She will just eat from our plates, she's not picky and I will pack some extra snacks for her too. Will she count as a person when they figure the 18% for parties of 6, or will they consider us a party of 5 if we don't order anything for her. I think it's kind of unfair to make us pay the 18% minimum if they are not bringing anything additional for her that they wouldn't bring if she wasn't there, ya know? They are doing the same amount of work as they would for a party of 5. Am I crazy?
Even infants count in your "party" - even if you don't order anything for them, they still need to be counted on the reservation. I don't know the answer for sure, but that makes it sound like they will charge you the automatic 18%. Seems like they should have told you for sure when you made you ADR's (unless you did them online). Maybe someone will have a definite answer, I'm curious to know as well.
I was told no, you will not count as a party of 6 regarding gratuities. We had a trip planned for when my ds would have been 2 and that is what dining reservation people told me. However, we ended up postponing the trip till he was 3, so I did not get to experience it first hand.....
Perhaps I'm confused by the question. You will be charged 18% on the food and drinks you've ordered. Therefore if you are not ordering anything extra for the 2 year old, you wouldnt be paying any additional gratuity either?
Perhaps I'm confused by the question. You will be charged 18% on the food and drinks you've ordered. Therefore if you are not ordering anything extra for the 2 year old, you wouldnt be paying any additional gratuity either?
Right, but I am wondering if we will be charged the automatic 18% at all. The 2yo makes #6 but we won't order her anything so I am wondering if she would count as a person to make our party 6. If she does not count then they will not charge us the automatic 18%. Since we are not ordering her anything, the server is doing the same amount of work as if there were only 5 of us, so I don't think she should count.
The reason I am even concerned about it is this... with a 2yo and 5yo we have most of our TS at buffets so we aren't spending time waiting for food. I have worked in food service, so I've been on the other side of this, please don't flame me for it, but I think 18% tip for a server who does nothing more than bring some drinks, is just a little high. Sure, sometimes they go above and beyond, and in that case I do tip high when it is earned, but if we see our server 2 times the whole meal to get a drink refill, that's just not worth a $30 tip to me. We eat at Goofy's Kitchen (a buffet) in DL a few times a year and I have only maybe 2 times ever received the level of service that made me want to tip more than 15%, sometimes less if we really felt they were not attentive. A tip should be based on performance, not strictly on the number of people in the party - IMO.
I think that infants are included in the party size.
But...If you don't think the tip is warranted please call over a manager. They can adjust the tip as necessary.
It really burns me up to see people leave a restaurant unhappy because of poor service and they paid a really nice tip because of party size. If a server is excellent--give them their due. If they are bad--let the manager know and get that tip adjusted!!
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The standard method is for Disney to count the 2 year old as part of the party. I've heard differing results as to whether the server then entered them in their Point of Sale system as a party of 5 or a party of 6 -- some have had the 2 year old put them into the auto-18% and others haven't.
If it's important to you, I'd ask the server about it when you're seated.
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Maybe someone will have a definite answer, I'm curious to know as well. 
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