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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Im just wondering what areas you and your family "cut back" in to save money for Disney or other vacations? Coupons? No cable? What do you do to help save money so you can splurge elsewhere?
On a sidenote, I feel like a drug addict needing a fix. I was just there for 11 days in January, but the last three days or so Disney has been on my mind 24/7 I just need a "fix"
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I love this picture because my daughter's facial expression matches the Queen of Hearts exactly, and it was completely unintended!
We make coffee at home. No stopping daily to buy coffee.
We make and bring our lunches to work (don't order out).
We avoid fast food and take out. We may go out to eat 1 or 2 times a month.
We are currently saving for a trip this coming Jan. and we put $100 every week in savings, plus we cut out eating out, down grade our netflix, stay home a bit more so we save some on gas.
I know what you mean about needing a fix. We are going in Jan but I still look at Sept. 2011 dates and wish I could go. lol.
I am trying to pay off some debt, so no saving for Disney for me. But to pay off some debt, I am trying to bring lunch from home. I am thinking of dropping Netflix, especially where they just upped their prices.
Wanted to add that we don't do Netflix/On Demand or the like. I've been borrowing DVDs from the public library. I haven't bought any books in several months (excluding my DCL PP ) -DS and I have been using the public library a lot this summer.
Vacations are our "thing" that we like to indulge in so we're willing to sacrifice in other areas - we only have one car and it's nothing fancy, we don't go to the movies too often or use babysitters for DD, we've been known to put furniture purchases on hold in favor of a trip. Eating out is our other "thing" so that would be someplace else we could cut back to save money but so far have been unwillng to give it up.
We rarely go out to eat, especially if we are looking to go soon. I cannot even remember the last time I went to the movies. Have not gone to the hair dressers in a while (my poor hilights! lol).
We bring lunch for work and our own water. Skimp and save! Also like others said Disney is our only real vacation so its easy to save with one goal in mind.
I was gonna make a list of what we do, but it's easier to say we don't do anything except buy food and pay bills. It's not a glamorous life, but we will enjoy our WDW trip, paid in full with all the "extras" we need paid for in advance.
I am an extreme couponer (not as bad as those on TV, but i do save over $100 each grocery trip). I also gather any spare change around the house and toss it in an old candle jar then hide deep in my closet where the other members of my family can't find it.
My sister-in-law gave me a great idea for saving too... she takes any $5 bills she has and puts them in her Disney savings. She'll spend the $1, $10, $20, but anytime she gets a $5, she puts it away. I've started doing that and it's actually become quite the thing! My husband is starting to think i'm nuts every time i snatch a five out of his hand and say 'we can't spend that!'.
Back from Disney just 9 days ago and I already have $100 saved for the next trip!
Buy meat in bulk on sale - portion yourself and freeze until needed.
Buy fruit/veg/bread/eggs and diary items from the markets - try to take in turns with a friend and share bulk buys.
Don't be tempted by prepacked or small packets of products for lunchboxes - they are often very expensive for less items. Buy in bulk and portion in ziplock bags yourself.
With food shopping I try to go only every fortnight. Each trip I try to stretch the date one day longer so I eventually miss a whole trip. Bonus $$ for Disney!
Use the internet when shopping around. Never pay full price, never buy on the first day!
Do the kid's haircuts myself (online tutorials are great).
No hairdressers, no manicures, no massages/spa treatments unless they are gifted
Buy petrol (gas) on the cheapest day of the week AND use a coupon/discount
Ensure I claim all of my allowable deductions come tax time. Same for medical insurance claims - it's easy to let one slip and end up out of pocket.
We don't smoke and I don't drink either but my Dh and I both go to the gym - we have recently cut down from personal training 3x week to 2x (saves $80 week)
Pay in advance for any utility bills that offer discounts to do so, we never pay interest on credit cards, we do not have any store cards to avoid impulse spending
Online payment of bills (in Aust) usually is the cheapest payment option - we do this and only pay on the due date so as to keep the money in our acct longer!
Put any coin change into a jar daily - I never spend any coins, I only spend notes!
Sell outgrown clothes, unused toys and last years' text books on ebay
Pay your kids an allowance in return for chores. In return my kids can spend their $$ at WDW on ANYTHING they want - no limits. They work for $0.05 -lol.
Swap name brand for generic. Shoes to pies, sometimes you lose but mostly u win!
Turn off appliances at the wall esp. TVs that sap energy. Do we really need that second fridge, freezer, computer or TV ?
Every couple of years we hold a garage sale or take our large stuff to a carboot sale. Otherwise I sell on ebay a few times a year.
Can you swap services for goods or services that you need? Eg Sewing, cooking, babysitting, book keeping for lawn mowing, pool cleaning, hair cuts etc.
We use a library card to get books, magazines, CDs, DVDs and games that we otherwise would not afford to buy. Return on time and it's FREE.
Takeaway is once per week but if we skip some weeks, we can do a restaurant meal once per month instead. Not both.
I am careful to check my bank statements for overcharges and added 'fees'.
Being organized and ready in advance helps me to avoid 'necessary' purchases. I carry a bottle of water filled at home, everywhere. I never leave the house without taking a snack 'just in case'. No shop bought coffees/sodas for me. DH?
OMGosh - Thanks for reading this far. I guess I am really passionate about travelling AND saving money. DH will not allow us to travel on credit so I try hard to watch the pennies and educate my kids to do the same. Good luck.
Thanks everyone. We do some of the same. I have an 8gallon plastic water jug that all the change goes into. I also stick in whatever is in my wallet occasionally. It has 20s, 10s 5s and lots of 1s. I just pulled 100 out for some much needed clothes, but it still has, at last count, 476 dollars in it.
However, I am terrible about waste, we throw out so much food. I am getting much better about eating at home. I'm someone who likes to be out and about, so I was spending 120 a week on gas minimum. ( my 2011van has over 23,000 miles on it) I'm staying home more, and that is a huge savings.
Keep the ideas and suggestions coming.
__________________
I love this picture because my daughter's facial expression matches the Queen of Hearts exactly, and it was completely unintended!
In order to afford a few luxuries, including DIsney:
My husband takes his lunch from home
We gave up cable tv (but still have high-speed internet & Netflix)
We drive older, paid-for cars (not so great on gas, but much cheaper insurance) and I don't drive often
I try to plan my days so that I do errands all at once
We have a very small house compared to our friends
We don't spend much on entertainment--some museum/zoo memberships, but not many movie tickets or DVD purchases
I'm good about saying'no' in Target/the supermarket when my children are begging for things they don't need--and I'm good at stopping myself from buying superfluous things!
I gave up manicures and my high-maintenance hair color
We frequent the local library--they have a surprisingly good selection!
I know we could do more. I'm not great about coupons and such, but I think I do a pretty good job with what we have.
Im just wondering what areas you and your family "cut back" in to save money for Disney or other vacations? Coupons? No cable? What do you do to help save money so you can splurge elsewhere?
On a sidenote, I feel like a drug addict needing a fix. I was just there for 11 days in January, but the last three days or so Disney has been on my mind 24/7 I just need a "fix"
We cut back by watching movies at home, not eating out except maybe once a month and at a cheap place like subway. No specialty drinks smoothies coffees, ect...
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) -DS and I have been using the public library a lot this summer.
. Eating out is our other "thing" so that would be someplace else we could cut back to save money but so far have been unwillng to give it up
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PassPorter Guide Author
) a lot of our budget up.... it means more money to eat out when we get to Disney! 
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