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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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This may be a stupid question, but when the park hopper plus tickets say pluses, is that visits to the minor parks and water parks? We're looking at park hopper plus tickets vs. uph tickets, since we'll probably do the water parks only once or twice, no Pleasure Island, too many young kids yet! lol, and no Disney Quest. Would this be a cheaper way to park hop is we don't want all those extras? Thanks, Ruth
p.s.- Also, I wanted to check since I can't find my notes since last trip....can unused days be refunded on a park hopper plus ticket? What I'm trying to find out deals with some tickets we got on 9-11. We were in AK when they closed the parks and were given paper 1 day/1 park tickets. I was told when I called that they would have to be verifed in person when we get there. So I'm trying to find out if I should buy the 6 day php tickets, figuring they should honor the paper ones, or be safe and buy the 7 day tickets, and maybe get something back or to use next trip if we end up with an unused day? Sorry this is so long winded! lol
Plusses mean admission to the water parks or Pleasure Island, not Disney Quest. I don't believe you can get a refund on unused admissions, but they can be saved and used at a future date. They never expire.
Park Hopper PLUS passes come with a set amount of days, each of which is good for one day of park-hopping admission to the 4 theme parks (also called 'major' parks), and a set number of Plusses, each of which is good for one non-hopping admission to one of the 2 water parks (also called 'minor' parks) or to Pleasure Island or Disney's Wide World of Sports complex. PHPs can not get you into DisneyQuest.
Ultimate Park Hopper passes are simply carte blanche admission to the theme parks, water parks, DQ, PI, and WWOS. However, UPHs must be bought for the entire length of your stay, and if you don't use them on one day you don't get the money back for that day.
PHPs are almost always a cheaper option unless you are taking a very short trip of less than 3 days.
Your paper one-day/one-park passes may or may not still be good. Unused portions of PHPs never expire, but the passes you got on 9/11 might be specialty passes. Look on the passes themselves; if they have an expiration date it will be printed on the pass. If it's not, then they are still good.
And if you have any questions, I would just call WDW direct and find out. No sense buying more days/tickets than necessary.
Usually, the park hoppers are a better way to go because the days and plusses never expire. With UPH's, they are only good for the length of stay, no matter if you get to the park or not.
Sorry this took so long. No chaos. The CM's were very helpful in getting everyone out of the park, though they didn't tell us much. And they did give out the tickets to make up for the inconvience of the parks closing. As for what they said...the man who came out and stopped the FOTLK show where we were at the time just said that due to the terrible events going on in NYC and the east coast that the parks would be closed for the rest of the day, and unknown if they would be open the next. Asked us to remain calm and proceed to the exit in an orderly fashion. The only real problems were the buses! We were at the All STars...need I say more?! We hadn't watched the news that morning, just got ready while the kids watched free Disney channel. We had to ask someone next to us what he had meant by NYC and what had happened! So much for our first ever WDW trip! Ruth
No refunds are given on unused days on PHPs. The unused days never expire though, so you can bring any PHPs with unused days with you on a subsequent trip.