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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 long story short. My DH has not been involved in planning until now- when the plans are already done. He is involving the 4 year old and the mother in his crusade. I'm days away from getting our packet in the mail too To which I add curses youtube and google for allowing my husband to see pictures and videos of resorts.
Here are the choices.
1. Do nothing. I picked, I planned, too bad he doesn't think he is going to like the Contemporary. But what's done is done. Pro: no more work for me, CR is paid for and on budget, budget envelopes are done and we are just in the process of filling them now. We are Con: DH and now dd and my mom won't feel "included" and I'll feel guilty even though it isn't my doing
2. Move the whole vacation to AKL. I can get 25% off but my 40% pin would just be gone as there are no more rooms at that rate. The room would be Sav view standard. No concierge level available. To avoid a $200 penalty we would have to add a day to our vacation. This would make the package price greater than what we have now. Pro: The gang of 3 gets what they they want. CON: Multiple adrs will have to be redone, distance to MK- where we are spending bulk of our time. DD will miss 4 ballet classes (5 counting the one the day after Thanksgiving when the studio is closed) a month before a recital that I payed $150 in fees for. THe cost of our vacation will go up about $500ish.
3. Compromise. There are rooms at the Poly. I can get concierge level ( I'm the one who wants this), no adrs will have to be redone, the gang spokesman says they will be happy at the Poly as long as we dedicate 1/2 day to spending at AKL watching animals and budget more pool time at the poly. CONS: The only way to get any discount is to book a rack rate package for 10th and 11th. Then book a free dining package the 12th through the 19th with the hope that they will just let us stay in our room. The budget will suffer a complete blowout and the scraps will be used as confetti for Disney's celebration of making 4th quarter profits. DH says he is willing to take the money out of our delinquent tax sale savings account to pay for it.
I'm the only one that voted but I would leave it be. If your DH and his moter were so interested in where to stay they should have piped up before this. That's a huge amount of work and there is no guarantee that you will be able to get the ADRs you want if you have to change. Plus the $500 is big deterrent for me. CR is great. Save AKL for next time. Gives you something to look forward to. But that's just me
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Personally I would also leave things as is. Try to explain that its is nearly impossible to change without a huge cost overage at this point. I know DH said he would be willing to pay the extra but instead you could use that to book your next trip on a bounce back and stay at the resort of their choice on that trip. Good Luck with this very difficult situation!
I know its tough but really... did they not know they were going to Disney? Will it be more fun to be over budget and to have to give up good ADRs for whatever you can scramble at this time? And what's the big deal about the resort? Are they spending more time there or at the parks? (psst the beds are the same)
If they want to be involved then I'd hand them my Passporter and say "Make a Must Do / Want to Do" set of lists and we'll go from there IN the Parks.
I said leave it as it is. Sounds like alot of time, stress and possible money to make the changes. Hopefully next time if they are going to have strong opinions they'll get involved upfront.
I personally hate when people jump in at the last minute and want to rejigger everything. My parents did this to me a few trips ago and it was very stressful. They knew the plans for like 9 months and then a few weeks out they were no longer happy staying at a Value so they wanted to go mod or deluxe. When nothing was available they then sent me on a wild goose chase to add something "special" to the trip. Ummm, I was kind of insulted because I thought I'd planned a pretty special trip already with MVMCP, CP dinner package, nice ADRs, etc. Okay, off my soapbox!
I said to keep it too. You did all the work ahead of time. There is nothing wrong with your decision. He knew that you were going to WDW and I am sure that you must have talked about it (most of us on this board can't keep things like Disney to ourselves). Like another poster said, give them something to do ie; a list to decide which rides to go on etc.
My hubby will try to pull something like that at the last min too and I don't let it happen. All of a sudden, after I have sat down, shown him the calander and the dates etc and we agreed to the itinerary, months later he is shocked with how long we are gone-duh! He helped me decide this. Men (sorry...no offence to any man reading this....hormones talking right nowlol). Keep it as is.
He needs to understand all the work you've done so far. I'm assuming you tried to get his input sooner?? And he probably said "whatever". Well, he surely will learn his lesson now! LOL!! If he wants to have input, he needs to give it sooner!
It's Disney, you'll have a blast no matter where you stay! For us, the resort is really inconsequential in our planning process.
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Actually up until 2 weeks ago he was A) Anti Disney but doing it for the daughter and B) specifically told me more than one time he only wanted to hear about the trip when we got in the car to go there. I'm not saying I talked about it nonstop but I made attraction rating sheets for every park with a must do scale for each attraction and show and every night at dinner tried to turn the conversation to Disney material. But I wasn't obsessing or anything.
It was his idea to bring my mother as well. He and my mother are like frick and frack; I think he married me to get to her ;p
but you are all correct. I'm just wavering here because the 4 year old has been talked into participating in the push for a different resort. As soon as my packet arrives I think I'll be clear
Show him this thread and the responses.
The Contemporary is one place I have not stayed, but I know people that have and loved it. Then you can visit the other resorts and let them see if that's where they would like to spend the NEXT trip.
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I voted to keep things the way they are. After all the time and effort put into planning a great vacation, you don't need the added stress of trying to re-do things now. I'm sure they will have a great time at the Contemporary which I've heard is a great resort. If they want to see more of the animals then visiting AK, you can think about booking one of the Safari packages at the AKL (I think you can book these even if not staying at that resort, someone here will know for sure). I might have answered differently if it was his mom that wanted the change but seeing as it's yours, this should make it not as hard to put your foot down and keep it as is. Good luck whatever you decide!
I would stay where you are at. CR is a great place and there is no sense changing now if you are going to lose your discount. If he wanted to be involved in the planning he should have thought about that earlier.
I say stay at the Contemporary, although I wanted to pick two options, as to be honest, moving to Animal Kingdom Lodge would be a great choice - there is nothing like watching the animals from your balcony.