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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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My first post on here, and could really do with some help.
My girlfriend and I are planning a trip over to Florida and would like to visit Universal Studios, Sea World and Disney World.
As we are from Manchester (England) its a long way to go without some good planning, so I was hoping you can help?
It will only be the pair of us (no kids...) so we are after hotels we can enjoy some piece and quiet in.... but we are also stuck for how long to visit each resort?
We are thinking 7 day trip. 2 at Universal, 1 at Sea World and final 4 at Disney. Does this sound sensible? we dont want to miss out on the fun, and not spend enough time at each.
final question, I promise, would you recommend we stayed at three different hotels? or is it possible to commute from 1 (we dont fancy hiring a car... hoping buses are ok?)
thanks everyone!!! really appreciate your thoughts
A lot of people combine those parks into one trip. Universal and Sea World are pretty close, but Disney property is at least 20 minutes away (and keep in mind that Disney is a pretty huge place - 47 square miles!). You could stay at one hotel, or do a split stay, staying at a Disney resort for the Disney parks, then transfer to a hotel near Universal/Sea World. If you choose to stay at Disney the entire time, there are transportation options to Universal. There is a sticky thread at the top of this forum that discusses those transportation options, so be sure and check it out.
I'd suggest you invest in a few good planning guides. Passporter is, of course, our favorite at our house, but we also like The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World - it has sections on Universal and Sea World. You've got a lot of decisions to make as far as lodging, touring, dining, etc. and they would be very helpful. Feel free to ask more questions here or in the Disney forums too!
I think your timeline sounds right - not much time for peace and quiet, but should be enough time to enjoy most attractions at each park.
I think your plans sound great, but is there any way you can spend any longer in Florida? With the time change, you need to be aware that you will suffer from jet lag for the first couple of days, which means you'll probably be up stupidly early - usually we're up around 5am or earlier for the first day - and that can impact on what you can do.
If you can plan longer, that would make your trip much more fun, as you could easily spend six or seven days at Disney, along with a day at SeaWorld and up to three days at Universal. It's a long way to go - and let's be honest, the flights aren't cheap - so if it's possible, I'd aim for ten days or even a fortnight.
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We are thinking of spending 2 weeks in total. 1 week in Miami and then get an internal flight up to Orlando for the second week.
As you say flights aren't cheap
Looking the flights its seems to be cheaper to do a return flight from Manchester to Orlando and drive down to Miami. I think we will try and do three single fights if we can get the cost down... but car hire is a lot cheaper in the States than over here!
Since posting we have already changed our minds. We are not going to Sea World any more. We are going to go Wet and Wild for the day (looks amazing).
Hotels at Universal are expensive, but you do get the queue jump. Does anyone recommend a local hotel to Universal?
We are thinking of spending 2 weeks in total. 1 week in Miami and then get an internal flight up to Orlando for the second week.
As you say flights aren't cheap
Looking the flights its seems to be cheaper to do a return flight from Manchester to Orlando and drive down to Miami. I think we will try and do three single fights if we can get the cost down... but car hire is a lot cheaper in the States than over here!
Since posting we have already changed our minds. We are not going to Sea World any more. We are going to go Wet and Wild for the day (looks amazing).
Hotels at Universal are expensive, but you do get the queue jump. Does anyone recommend a local hotel to Universal?
Thanks, Paul
Glad to hear you are looking at two weeks in total - I definitely think that's the right move.
I'd recommend staying onsite at Universal if your budget allows. We like the Royal Pacific and the Hard Rock. I'd give the Hard Rock the edge as it's a big closer to the parks. At Universal you can walk from their onsite resorts to the theme parks.
Offsite, I really like the Doubletree near Universal. Very nice hotel with several restaurants and very close to Universal. They have a shuttle to the parks, but it does stop at other hotels as well, which means you could be on that shuttle for a while before you get to the parks.
Paul. I love International Drive. It is in the middle of the action for the theme parks in Orlando. A lot of nice motels/resorts and places to eat. And transportation to the major theme parks and attractions. Also a lot of good places to eat. And don't forget minature golf courses. Orlando is flooded with them. I hope you plan on at least 10-14 days in Orlando. one day per Disney Park hardly sounds like enough to me. But, hey, its not my vacation. You have fun. Oh yea by the way I do prefer staying on Disney property if you don't want to stay on International Drive. If you need any more info let me know.
My only beef about International Drive is the traffic - it literally crawls any time of the day. After sitting in traffic a few times, we learned to avoid it.
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Hard Rock Hotel at Universal is looking like the winner at the moment (due to distance and reasonable cost). It is cheaper to purchase the Park tickets separate to the hotel btw.
With regards to Disney. Looking at hotels near Lake Buena. Transport seems very good and prices fall dramatically.
Paul - Universal offers a great deal on a 7 day ticket for $99 on their website. You're right, it is usually much cheaper to buy your tickets separately.
And check out the discounts for WDW resorts. Sometimes you can stay on Disney property as cheap as some hotels off property, and the perks are worth it. Especially if your time is limited, you will save travel time to the parks each day by staying on property.
Hi and welcome! My opinion is WDW is 4 parks, Universal is 2, plus SeaWorld or Wet & Wild. You could do all in 7 days, but WDW is huge. Our first time I thought 4 days, 4 parks in WDW would be enough, not!! Was I wrong. My suggestion is to do 6 days at WDW,
1 day AK
1 day DHS
2 days Epcot
2 days MK
For your 7th day you could go to Wet & Wild, or one of the WDW water parks, or Sea World.
We generally do a trip only WDW because of its size, and stay on property. We don't hire a car while at WDW, because WDW transportation is very good.
When we go to Universal, we combine that trip with Sea World, and sometimes Busch Gardens too. Universal 3 days, one day for each park and one day to revisit our favs. Then 2 days Sea World, and 2 days Busch Gardens. If you buy a SeaWorld/Busch Garden combo ticket, they provide free bus transp. from SeaWorld to Busch Gardens.
When we went to Universal & SeaWorld we stayed at The Hard Rock, and The Doubletree Universal, did a split stay. Both were great. The Doubletree had great shuttle service to Universal and SeaWorld. By the way, SeaWorld also has a water park, Aquatica.
Have a great trip whatever you decide.
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Your plan sounds good. One day each US/IoA is fine, and you should be able to get in the bulk that each Disney park has to offer doing one each day.
If you plan on staying at the Lake Buena Vista resorts during your WDW portion just know that only the Hilton participates in extra magic hours. EMH's are offered to guests staying on property and select off site hotels. EMH's get guests into the park 1 hr before the parks open or stay for 3 hrs after the parks close. These do not happen for every park every day, if you go to Disney’s site and check park hrs they are listed. EMH are nice since they allow you to be able to be in the parks with fewer crowds.
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