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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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So when I did online check in recently, I had to provide my CC info so that the balance of my room-only reservation could be charged on my arrival (I guess this now lets you skip the front desk entirely??), and for charges made to our room. I then had to choose pins for all of us to use when making purchases with our Bands. I could not skip this part, even though I have no intention of using our Bands to charge to the room.
Does this mean Disney is automatically going to put a hold on that card when we arrive? (for the charging, in addition to the room balance). If memory serves the amount is $1000 for moderate resorts. I will have that available, but I really don't want that much "charged" as a hold, even though it is temporary.
I'm wondering if I can call maybe a couple weeks prior to arrival, ask them to pay off the room at that point, and not have my card on file for room charging?!
I don't think there's a way to not have a CC on file with the resort (or any hotel for that matter), even if the intent is to pay off all "incidentals" in cash. As for the dollar amount they will hold on the card, I don't know. I agree with your idea of calling - it doesn't hurt to ask, and the worst they can do is say no.
At the values on our recent visit, the room charge amount was $1500 so I'm thinking the moderates will be at least that but as far as I know, they don't actually put a hold on the card. Holds use to stay for 30 days and I know after our 2 week vacation, my available balance was only my credit limit minus what had actually been charged to the account.
At the values on our recent visit, the room charge amount was $1500 so I'm thinking the moderates will be at least that but as far as I know, they don't actually put a hold on the card. Holds use to stay for 30 days and I know after our 2 week vacation, my available balance was only my credit limit minus what had actually been charged to the account.
Wow, then they must have raised the limits! The only time I've ever done this (paid for stuff via my [then] Key to the World Card) we were at Port Orleans and that was the limit there, back in 2008!
I will def. call before we go. I get (and don't mind) a card being "on file," I just don't want a large chunk of my card being held up. I'll ask about that, too!.....get it sorted out as to exactly how this will work.
Do you have a credit card you can use rather than a debit card? When we travel I always use a credit card for hotels for the exact same reason you mentioned- I don't like have a large amount of my money/cash being "held". So, I've got to where I only use credit cards rather than debit cards. With credit cards, my experience has been they don't literally "hold" the money.... as in - it doesn't show on your cc at all unless you actually charge something to it. Kind of like when you get gas at a gas station- before you get the gas- they just make sure your card is valid (sometimes you might see a $1 pending hold) but they don't actually charge anything to your card unless/until you purchase the gas. Not sure if that makes sense....
Do you have a credit card you can use rather than a debit card? When we travel I always use a credit card for hotels for the exact same reason you mentioned- I don't like have a large amount of my money/cash being "held". So, I've got to where I only use credit cards rather than debit cards. With credit cards, my experience has been they don't literally "hold" the money.... as in - it doesn't show on your cc at all unless you actually charge something to it. Kind of like when you get gas at a gas station- before you get the gas- they just make sure your card is valid (sometimes you might see a $1 pending hold) but they don't actually charge anything to your card unless/until you purchase the gas. Not sure if that makes sense....
It does make sense. Back in '08 at POR, I did use a bank/debit card, and I know they "held" a certain amount, then reconciled the charges at the end of our stay and only charged that actual amount.
This trip I am using an actual credit card; I just don't want a big charge put on it (it would put me too close to my limit), which was my concern. However, if they don't do that with an actual cc, then I'd be ok with it! I wouldn't actually mind the convenience of using our Bands for paying for some stuff, but hadn't planned to due the reason I just stated.
Thanks for clarifying the difference, though! Never occurred to me to think of it in those terms.
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Also using a credit card affords you some protections when you travel versus a debit card. Heaven forbid your card become compromised while traveling. Or worse yet your bank account. The amount you are liable for in a credit card is far less than debit cards.
While I agree with the others that using a credit card rather than a debit card certainly adds safety when you are dealing with a corporation as large as Disney,
you don't have to worry about them putting a large hold on your account.
Disney only puts a $1 pre-authorization on your card to be sure that it is valid.
You will be charged for the balance on your room only reservation upon check in.
If you put charging on the Magicband, your charging limit will be pre-set at $1500 for value and moderate resorts, and $2000 at deluxe resorts.
That is the largest amount you can accumulate before they will put the charge through. If you don't reach it, you will be charged when you are "checked out" of your resort - in my experience, whatever the balance is when they run the account at midnight is charged on the day you check out. That doesn't turn off the charge account - you can still use it until midnight on your day of checkout, and they will put through any charges made on check out day the next morning.
So - if you don't spend it, they won't hold it.
Very different from many hotels and other travel companies. My Amex holds $100 every time I fuel up, and my little 4 cyl engine only takes about $20.
If you put charging on the Magicband, your charging limit will be pre-set at $1500 for value and moderate resorts, and $2000 at deluxe resorts.
That is the largest amount you can accumulate before they will put the charge through. If you don't reach it, you will be charged when you are "checked out" of your resort - in my experience, whatever the balance is when they run the account at midnight is charged on the day you check out. That doesn't turn off the charge account - you can still use it until midnight on your day of checkout, and they will put through any charges made on check out day the next morning.
So - if you don't spend it, they won't hold it.
When we went back in 2014, they didn't even charge the amount until we told them to. We were using our Magic Bands for meals, etc. We were in Animal Kingdom ordering food at Flame Tree BBQ and were told our Magic Band was "denied" for charges. ??? We had no idea what was going on, paid for our meal in cash and then stopped at the hotel desk when we got back. They said we had to pay off what we had charged before we could charge more. We did have a credit card on file but they didn't automatically charge it. We had to authorize the pay off. So I agree with others that they don't put an actual "hold of cash" on your card. We only had the amount we actually used charged, nothing more.
When we went back in 2014, they didn't even charge the amount until we told them to. We were using our Magic Bands for meals, etc. We were in Animal Kingdom ordering food at Flame Tree BBQ and were told our Magic Band was "denied" for charges. ??? We had no idea what was going on, paid for our meal in cash and then stopped at the hotel desk when we got back. They said we had to pay off what we had charged before we could charge more. We did have a credit card on file but they didn't automatically charge it. We had to authorize the pay off. So I agree with others that they don't put an actual "hold of cash" on your card. We only had the amount we actually used charged, nothing more.
That happened to me this trip - I went to buy Abby a Shellie May plush and the MB got denied. Thankfully I had my credit card with me as Abby would have been upset - and possibly the CM in trouble as she has already cut the tags off of it. I went to the front desk as soon as we got to the hotel and it was all taken care of in about 5 minutes. It would have taken less but I asked for a printout too.
We went to Vegas a couple years ago and ran into the debit card issue. After a very frustrating conversation with the front desk, we came to understand that they were going to charge $300 on my account in case I wanted to use it and whatever I didn't use would be returned to my card 2 weeks after I returned home. We decided then to never use the debit card for the "room card." We pay for everything on the trip with the debit card and when we get there, or in the case of Disney we attach a credit card so we don't have to worry about it.
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No holds but charge limits do apply. Some folks like to have their daily charges paid off at the desk rather than waiting for Disney to roll the batch onto the credit card. At the end of your stay or when you reach the resort limit, they will automatically roll your charges over onto your card and start you a fresh charge limit. They did raise the charge limits which were a pathetic $500 for value resorts; we stay value so we can spend more on dining and other things. You can ask at your resort desk to have charging blocked on children's cards; I do this for my son.
I've also had a similar experience as Darlene's, when for some reason my MB stopped charging. I always take a credit card and a twenty with me to the parks along with my ID and I was able to complete my purchase this way. Your resort desk can assist you with any MB issues or questions.
Not the same thing but related, make sure to notify your credit card company that you are travelling before your trip. Often if a company thinks a large charge is unusual they will make you go through a long verification process over the phone. If they have on record that you are travelling to Disney they are less likely to deny charges.
We have never had money "held" by Disney and we use our magic bands for everything. We just make sure to apply all of our gift cards to our balance well before midnight on our last evening because that is when they run the charges.
Not sure if you have a dining plan or not, but you need a PIN to use your magicband for dining credits. My brother and girlfriend ran into this last week. They didn't want to charge anything to their bands, but still needed a PIN.
Also, I enjoy the convenience of charging to my MB. Last week we charged to them and then midweek went to the desk and paid it down with gift cards. We went down again before check out and paid it off with gift cards. You could do the same with cash if you wanted.
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You can ask at your resort desk to have charging blocked on children's cards; I do this for my son.
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