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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 thinking of spending 2 nights at a Universal hotel before moving onto Disney property for a week. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips? We are a family of 4 - DD age 6 and DS age 9, traveling in early November.
I plan to buy our tickets online this weekend - can't beat buying 2 adult 2 day passes, getting 3 days for free, and 2 free kids tickets as well! That way, we can go back for part of a day later in the trip if we want to.
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That's what we have planned. We don't know much about the 3 hotels, Hard Rock, Portofino Bay or Royal Pacific. I am looking for any advice that anyone can give me!
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I stayed at Royal Pacific in 2004 and we loved it. We still had a view of the parks. You won't be disappointed. All of the resorts are beautiful and you can't go wrong with any of them. The Universal Express can't be beat.
I've stayed at both RPR and HRH and enjoyed both. Royal Pacific is themed like an exotic Asian/Pacific island theme and is usually cheaper than HRH although I have on occasion seen it the other way around. Hard Rock Hotel is themed like you are a guest of a multi-millionaire rockstar at his mansion. Our family's favourite is HRH, although my kids were older than yours are. I think your kids would enjoy the pool at the Royal Pacific a little more, although it doesn't have a water slide, it has some great spray features and a kind of a shipwrecked theme. If they want a water slide, you will have pool hopping priviledges as a guest of any Universal Resort and you could easily head over to HRH for that. I think it is Friday nights that the pools have the dive-in movie or whatever they call it. You hang out at the pool and they show a movie there. RPR also has a putting green.
You can easily walk to the parks from both resorts. HRH is closer to Universal Studios. RPR is closer to Islands of Adventure. They also provide a bus shuttle and a water taxi shuttle. We never used the bus, but the water taxi's seemed like they were very efficient and my kids (teens) seemed to view them as though they were an attraction -- like the Monorail at WDW.
Sign up for the Loews First card. I am almost positive it is free, and you can do it online. As a member of Loews First, you will get a free room upgrade if available, and a free snack (with your choice of quite a few options) brought to your room on your first night. Don't bother with the breakfast buffet. In my opinion it was way overpriced and the service I had both times that I tried it (once at each resort) was sub-par. You can pick up a cinnamon bun and juice or something inside the parks.
If you aren't a AAA member, become one. That's pretty much the only way to get a discounted room at a Universal Resort now. Plus the parks accept the AAA card for a discount on meals and I think souvenirs. Or, if you have any way of getting a Universal Fan Club membership, try to do that also because it offered discounts at certain places, and I'm not certain if there's a benefit for room rates with that card. That's something that is usually offered through your work or may be available through your TA. It never hurts to ask.
And most importantly.... use the Express Lane with your room keys when you are in the USF parks to bypass any long lines! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img] That is the absolutely best feature of staying onsite at USF. It's like FastPass on steroids. Some rides have a restriction that you may only use your room key once per ride before 3 p.m. (you'll know if they swipe the magnetic stripe), but after 3 pm you can use your key for the Express Lane as many times as you like. There are still rides that you will have to wait to ride, like the Mummy, but it doesn't have that restriction of time-frame windows like WDW uses.
Editted to add: Don't use the Express Pass lane for Poseidon's Fury. We found that it actually gave us the worst position possible for viewing the show and we didn't enjoy it at all. And don't just walk past the Mystic Fountain in IoA (I think that's what it's called). Talk to it and see if anything happens, you never know. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
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Re: Universal Studios Hotels
I've stayed at the Hard Rock. Loved the rooms and the quick walk to the parks. The pool is beautiful too with a fun slide. Next time we'll stay at the Royal Pacific....a bit cheaper and the rooms are a bit smaller, but my family liked the theming better. I don't think you can really go wrong if you stay at any of the resorts. Have a wonderful trip!
I stayed at the HRH at the beginning of March and really, liked it. It is just a short walk from CityWalk and Universal Studios. The pool was real nice, and the Hotel seemed very kid friendly.
What great reviews of all the Universal hotels. Very useful as well, as we're planning on spending two nights at one of them (haven't decided which one yet [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] on our October trip - thanks for all the input. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]
In June of 04 my family stayed at Portofino Bay. We loved it. Very family friendly. My to boys loved the moped and cars placed through out the Piazza near the boat dock. The coffee is awesome! We had a lovey room (upgraded with our Loews First card) over looking the main pool. We truly loved the nightly turned down service and the large, very large bathroom (we were upgraded to a deluxe room)
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