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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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If flying on Southwest, can you pay partially with points and the balance on credit card, or does it have to be all points or all on a credit card? We are thinking about a WDW trip and have enough points for one way, so we are trying to figure out if it is better to purchase additional points or not. Also, if each member of the family is enrolled in RapidRewards, how would that work when redeeming the points for a family trip (to WDW, of course!!)?
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Hudson River view from promenade at Liberty State Park in NJ - Disney Magic in Hudson River, passing the new One World Trade Center
Contemporary/Red Boat 1993; Dixie Landings 1994, POR 6/2007; CSR 8/1998, 6/2005, 2/2011; 8/2012; DCL (Wonder)/Boardwalk 2000; AKL 1/2003, 6/2003, 6/2004, 4/2006, 6/2009; DL 7/2007, 7/2010; 8/2011; CBR 4/2008; Polynesian 12/11; Hollywood Hotel (Hong Kong Disneyland) 8/2008
You can see how buying points works here: Buy Points
We have used Southwest a great deal & been very, very happy with them over other airlines. Even our bags fly free.
I recently purchased tickets for our family of 4 to WDW. I am a huge fan of Airfare Deals - Cheap Flights - Airfarewatchdog so I signed up on there many months in advance & started watching the airfare to & from MCO. The trip priced out much better to book one way tickets to MCO when there was a good deal & then I waited for a good deal to purchase one-way tickets home. I didn't have enough rapid rewards points to purchase all of the tickets so here is how I did it:
first set of 4 tickets going to MCO $5,940 points each or $121. in cash. I paid 23,760 points & got all of those tickets free.
return tickets from MCO 10,020 points each or $177.80 in cash. I only had enough points to purchase 3 return tickets using points so I purchased 3 tickets with points & then went back in to the website & purchased a single ticket with cash.
Here is the tricky part. Each person flying has to have their own Rapid Rewards account. So... any tickets purchased with cash: will add points to the person's RR account who's name is on the ticket. So the points are kind of spread out this way. You must pay either all in cash or all in points for each transaction. You can purchase additional points, but I have never done this because the math never worked out. It was always cheaper to just pay cash for whatever I did not have enough points for.
I had enough Rapid Reward points in my own RR account to buy tickets for the entire family. I got a bonus for applying for their credit card & I add points to my account by taking online surveys. The bad part is that if points are not added to in 24 months they will expire. It is not difficult for adults to add to their points even booking rental cars or hotel rooms or using the credit card (It does have an annual fee). The bad part is the only way that my kids can add to their RR account is by flying because they are too young to do anything else.
Does that make sense? Now I will tell you that I do not work for Southwest & they are constantly changing their policy. So... you may want to look them up online & give them a phone call & ask your questions. They are super friendly & helpful. The above is just how it works out best for me.
Best of luck finding good airfare. Start looking way in advance & keep your eyes open. I find the the lowest Southwest fares are purchased only months or weeks from your trip. If your fare goes down you can re-book it for a credit in dollars or points. The only downfall to that is that you have to actually re-book & fly on Southwest within 1 year of the credit or you loose it.
I hope that this makes sense & helps at least a little.
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Planning a trip to WDW is like planning a wedding... If you expect things to be flawless, you will be sadly disappointed. If you know that there will be less than perfect times & decide to just laugh them off, then you will be excited when you find the magic all around you.
Each person flying has to have their own Rapid Rewards account.
You lost me when you said this. Last year when I bought our tickets, I was able to buy all our tickets with my account - granted I paid cash - but I wasn't required to have a RR account for Lenny and Abby. And from what I'm reading for the points, any points I earn, I can use to buy tickets for anyone I want. Are you just talking if I want to earn more points for flights to have individual RR accounts?
if I want to earn more points for flights to have individual RR accounts?
Yes, that is correct. I'm sorry I was not clear on that. I too bought all of our tickets using my own RR account. however, if you want to earn RR points on the tickets that you pay cash for, the points have to go under a RR account that has the same name as the person on the ticket. Make sense now? It is a little confusing. best of luck with your tickets.
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Planning a trip to WDW is like planning a wedding... If you expect things to be flawless, you will be sadly disappointed. If you know that there will be less than perfect times & decide to just laugh them off, then you will be excited when you find the magic all around you.
Yes, that is correct. I'm sorry I was not clear on that. I too bought all of our tickets using my own RR account. however, if you want to earn RR points on the tickets that you pay cash for, the points have to go under a RR account that has the same name as the person on the ticket. Make sense now? It is a little confusing. best of luck with your tickets.
Thanks for clarifying. I kind of thought that's what it was but now I know for sure - no longer confused (for once )
One more variation on the question - what if each family member has enough for a ticket individually but not for all family members? Does each ticket need to be purchased separately or can one person purchase for the whole family using each person's RR number and points?
__________________
Hudson River view from promenade at Liberty State Park in NJ - Disney Magic in Hudson River, passing the new One World Trade Center
Contemporary/Red Boat 1993; Dixie Landings 1994, POR 6/2007; CSR 8/1998, 6/2005, 2/2011; 8/2012; DCL (Wonder)/Boardwalk 2000; AKL 1/2003, 6/2003, 6/2004, 4/2006, 6/2009; DL 7/2007, 7/2010; 8/2011; CBR 4/2008; Polynesian 12/11; Hollywood Hotel (Hong Kong Disneyland) 8/2008
One more variation on the question - what if each family member has enough for a ticket individually but not for all family members? Does each ticket need to be purchased separately or can one person purchase for the whole family using each person's RR number and points?
I believe each ticket would need to be purchased separately. From my experience you would need to log in under each person's RR account & purchase a single ticket. I always start out on the SW website & do a search for the exact number of tickets that I need to be sure that there are enough seats on the plane to accommodate all of us before I start purchasing individual tickets. Then I go back in & log in with each separate RR account a purchase the number of tickets that are needed under that account.
Make sense? You could also call Southwest Rapid Rewards & ask them this question to see if I am correct. However, if you purchase tickets while on the phone with them, I believe that there is an additional fee so that they cost more than if you buy them on their website. Again... you could ask them to be sure that I am accurate on all that I have told you.
Best of luck with your tickets!
__________________
Planning a trip to WDW is like planning a wedding... If you expect things to be flawless, you will be sadly disappointed. If you know that there will be less than perfect times & decide to just laugh them off, then you will be excited when you find the magic all around you.
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