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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We are looking at a trip to California next Aug, so it's a little early to book yet, but not to stop me looking!
Are there any specific hotels that would have a Disney view (I think actual DLR hotels are out of our price range). My kids are asking if we could still see the fireworks from any of the hotels in the area?
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Several of the Good Neighbor and other hotels advertise that you can see the fireworks from them--of course, you'd have to be in a room facing that way, or on the roof or something.
Take a look at this map: https://disneyland.disney.go.com/hot...-neighbor/map/ , and you can see the locations of all the GNHs. You can more or less tell from their location near DL park whether you could see the fireworks. If you're interested in a non-Good Neighbor hotel, MapQuest will show you the same thing about it, too.
I recently read a tip (in the soon-to-be-released as e-book DLR PassPorter) about someone seeing them from the Howard Johnson, I believe. Looking at the map, you'll see it's located directly across from the park and parallel to Sleeping Beauty Castle, so I'd expect a good view from there. That hotel's a little pricey (way less than the Disney hotels), but it also has a fun little waterpark your kids would enjoy in August.
Also, I saw a LOT of people leave DCA just before the DLR fireworks and park themselves in the Esplanade between the parks to watch them. You could just walk in there without a ticket and watch the fireworks, if you can't see them from your hotel. You miss the special visuals and narration (as you would from your hotel), but you still see the fireworks show.
Like Ginger said, I was there last week and literally hundreds of people were just sitting on the Esplanade between the parks to watch the fireworks at DL. All you can see is the tops of the fireworks, you can't see the projections or anything, and I don't think that they pipe the music in out there.
This hotel is a year old now. They advertise fireworks views from their penthouse suites which sleep four persons. I cannot find reference to this hotel in the Live Guides. It is located at 1411 South Manchester Avenue, Anaheim, CA 92802. We read about it in another guide. The hotel seems to be as close to the castle as any of the Disney properties. It has pretty good reviews. Free breakfast included.
Back from our trip now. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites Anaheim Resort at 1411 South Manchester Avenue. We had booked a penthouse fireworks view suite, but when we arrived we found it faced out on the noisy interstate highway. Many motorcycles and other loud vehicles. Also DLR had no fireworks scheduled during our stay. The penthouse suites could be on Floors 1 through 5 - all on the curving edge of the building. We moved to the side of the building away from the interstate and had a great (and quiet) stay - except we were able to see some unannounced fireworks over the roof of the building next door during two nights of our stay. The front desk staff offered a choice of rooms when we were not happy with the room we had booked. The new room had more beds so the kids did not have to share. We had a great time.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sadie22
Back from our trip now. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites Anaheim Resort at 1411 South Manchester Avenue. We had booked a penthouse fireworks view suite, but when we arrived we found it faced out on the noisy interstate highway. Many motorcycles and other loud vehicles. Also DLR had no fireworks scheduled during our stay. The penthouse suites could be on Floors 1 through 5 - all on the curving edge of the building. We moved to the side of the building away from the interstate and had a great (and quiet) stay - except we were able to see some unannounced fireworks over the roof of the building next door during two nights of our stay. The front desk staff offered a choice of rooms when we were not happy with the room we had booked. The new room had more beds so the kids did not have to share. We had a great time.
Thanks for posting your review. Glad you had a good trip!
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