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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Hubby and I are planning a visit to Chicago in June. It's a somewhat strange trip because in the middle of the trip, we'll be heading south for a few days for my niece's graduation. They live across the river from St. Louis, so while we're flying in and out Chicago, we have to be down there for a few days too.
The plan is to fly to Chicago on Thursday and stay at least 1 night and catch a White Sox game. Then head to my sister's on Friday for the weekend graduation. Then about Tuesday, we're going to head back to Chicago to catch a Cubs game and then fly home again on Thursday.
Neither of us has ever been, so I am researching! We could do 2 separate hotels since it's almost like 2 separate trips. We don't want to break the bank, so we're definitely looking for under $150 per night (hope that's possible). Does anyone have any suggestions?
I am doing a lot of research - Trip Advisor, etc., but figured why not ask the travel folks at Passporter.
It all depends on where you want to stay. If you want to be near the Magnificent Mile, it will be hard to find a hotel under $150 a night. I really love the Whitehall Hotel, but I'm sure it's more expensive. I'd start by looking on hotels.com to get a general idea of what to expect price-wise.
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in the Magnificent Mile in 2008, but looking at some random dates I plucked out for June, that's $225 a night. I know it was a lot cheaper when we stayed there, but that was October. It was a nice enough place, although the rooms weren't exactly what I'd call big.
On our most recent visit, we stayed at Club Quarters Central Loop, which came in really cheap and that was a great place to stay. Searching again on the same random dates in June, I'm coming up with $220. I know that we paid around $150 for our stay there in mid September.
Other PassPorters who are more local to Chicago may be able to help - I know I struggled to find anything for around $150/night in September, other than those at the airport or in the suburbs.
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Thanks for reposting this chezp. I did see your post this morning in the other thread.
Looks like I might have to sit down and figure out a real budget. Sounds like I need to think more in terms of Boston-like prices. I just always hope that other cities are cheaper.
Thanks for reposting this chezp. I did see your post this morning in the other thread.
Looks like I might have to sit down and figure out a real budget. Sounds like I need to think more in terms of Boston-like prices. I just always hope that other cities are cheaper.
I think that's probably fair - I found prices to be similar to Boston. To be honest, a lot of cities these days are pretty pricey.
We spent a night in Chicago last summer. We spent a week in St. Louis but got a great airfare deal into Chicago, so we flew in and took Amtrak back and forth to St. Louis. We stayed in Chicago at a Holiday Inn Express that is on the same street as the Amtrak station, just a couple of blocks down. We were able to walk with our luggage with no problem. But I agree, if you want to focus your time on the Magnificent Mile or stuff in that area, you will want to look at a different area of town.
Use Hotwire. Pick something in the Streeterville, Mag Mile area 3.5 - 4 stars. (Locations A, G and H) You will have a nice hotel. We always use them if we want a weekend in Chicago. We have gotten the Hotel Intercontinental (4+star)for $125, Swissotel for $100 and Hilton Garden for $100. Keep in mind, if renting a car, hotel parking is around $40 to $50 valet a night. You may want to look into transportation from O'hare/Midway to the hotel and rent from there. Looking now there is a 4 star for $150-170 depending on date.
Groupon has had several Swissotel coupons recently. (don't know if you can change your location). I purchased a night for $99 last spring. We used it over the summer for a nice weekend at the jazz club and navy pier.
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I stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott on Ontario this fall and it was pretty nice--the restaurant was good for breakfast as well and there is a Starbucks in the lobby!
Here are a couple of other suggestions, The Swissotel and The James Hotel. The James is an affordable, small hotel just a block or so off Michigan. There's a Trader Joe's across the street which found helpful. We walked up to the Hancock Tower, Water Place etc. without any problems. And being close to Michigan made it easy for us to catch the bus. The Swisshotel usually has some packages. It's close to Michigan as well.
We were very happy with the Courtyard by Marriott on Ohio, just off the Magnificent Mile. We stayed on points, so don''t know about the prices. They even have a pool! There's a Dunkin Donuts across the street and Corner Bakery is down a couple of blocks. Close to Geno's Pizza, too.
There's a Red Roof Inn across the street that we were going to try when we went back as "paying customers" since we know the neighborhood is okay.
Thank you all! I am checking everything. Let me just say that there is definitely a huge jump in price from now to June. But I don't think I'd want to go to Chicago now. Too cold for me...not that Boston is much better, but I live here so if I'm going to travel, I don't want to go to the same cold weather.
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