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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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While we will not be able to take advantage of this great deal WDW has going with the free dining option,(we check in October 8...arrgghh!)it has me thinking whether the dining option would be cost effective for our trip. I think some days it will be...character meals and full days in the parks...while other days...like water park or slower down days it won't be.
My question...Is the dining option tied to the number of nights you are staying or the MYW tickets? We usually do not go right into the parks on the first day and we leave early on our departure day. I think I understand the pass part of it to be pretty flexible. We can stay 8 nights but only purchase a 7 day pass. It's just the dining option that has me a little confused.
Thanks and I hope I haven't made this overly confusing!!
it's the number of nights you're staying, but all your credits (1 snack , 1 table service, 1 counter service, all per person per day) are pooled together on one card and available immediately, so in theory, you could use all your credits in one day. the disney signature restaurants and the dinner shows all consume 2 table service credits each time as well.
as to whether it makes sense to buy it, you'd have to plot it out to see how much of it you'd use and where. it's easy enough to justify $10/day per child i'd think, but $35/adult requires some thought. you would have to purchase it for all 8 nights and you will not get any sort of credit back if you don't use all the credits.
You can go to allearsnet.com's menu section and check out the places you would like to dine at.....there are prices listed on the menus. This would probably help you determine if it would be cost effective for your trip. I know for my family, we would pay for it even if we weren't receiving it for free. on your decision!
Oh, and the plan correlates with the # of nights booked on your package. HTH!
One thing to think about...This is what I was told by my TA:
Did you book your hotel and park tickets separately or did you book a package? If you booked your hotel separately then chances are you may have received a discount like AAA. If you want to go with the dining option then you might not get a discount on the hotel and you might have to pay the rack rate.
We booked the WL with a AAA discount. When I inquired about the dining plan I was told I would have to pay the full rack rate for the hotel. I would then also be paying for the dining plan. When I played with all my numbers, the dining plan and the rack rate hotel ended up being much higher. The dining plan would not be saving me any money.
We are going to WDW for first time in Nov and we purchased the dining plan. I thought I read somewhere that you only have so many days to use it. How does it work? We are staying at Poly for 7 nights. Can we use the plan on day we arrive and up to day we leave? Hope this is not a silly question...just confused on all this stuff.
see my initial response. it depends on how many nights you have (and yes, it expires at the end of your last day). you have a card that has all the combined credits on it. you can use them any way you like (just remember your credits are divided into adult/child and snacks/counter service/table service). So you could end up using all your credits before your last day or you could end up with extra ones when you leave. i would try to plan out the table service credit usage as much as possible before, which is important since a lot of the times you'll need to make advanced reservations anyway.
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...just remember your credits are divided into adult/child and snacks/counter service/table service...
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It is my understanding (from doing a lot of bb reading) that your meal credits are not divided by adult/child. If you have 2 adults and 3 children on the plan, you have 5 TS, 5 CS, and 5 snacks per day to use as you see fit (not 2 AdultTS and 3 ChildTS, etc.)
I could be wrong since I haven't used the plan yet, but I've read it in multiple reports from those who have.
I hope this hasn't changed since it's a possible way to get a bit more value out of the plan.
sorry, yes, i believe you're right. where i confused myself is the rules that children must order off the children's menu, but it's still just a credit.
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the plan correlates with the # of nights booked on your package. HTH!
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