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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I usually go with the cheapest because I am a points miser. We've stayed at all of the resorts so we don't have a must do. I prefer Beach Club because of the ease of access to epcot and we enjoy the animals at AKV but really I go with the cheapest right now because I blew more than a year's points for Aulani.
We most of the time stay at a value resort due to the price. We spend little time in the room so the value resorts make the most sense. We pretty much just sleep there and store or belongings.
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We tend to veer towards our favourite resorts, the Beach Club Villas and the Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas. However, if we know that we want to spend a couple of days at the Magic Kingdom, we may go for Bay Lake Tower. I also have a personal mission to ensure we stay at all the DVC resorts, so if there are any we haven't stayed at (until the Grand Floridian comes online there aren't ) then we make a beeline for those...
Well, it's all price for me. We have stayed at the ASMo and loved it as we didn't spend too much time in the room. However our next trip we're staying at POFQ as I'm hoping Disney will offer free dining again during the time we are there and we want to have at least one TS meal so we need to stay at a moderate. POFQ is the smallest of the moderates and we've stayed before and really liked it. Your travel date looks close to mine, so you might want to consider this when booking a value resort vs. a moderate due to the possibility of free dining, if you're even considering a value.
For me it's the price normally, I don't spend much time in the room other than sleeping..I have stayed at Pop Century 2x (2010 & 2011) liked it well enough...This time I got a PIN so for 2012 I booked PO ~ Riverside ( the moderate ) because I got a decent discount and a free upgrade with the PIN code. So I am totally looking forward to trying the moderate. There are so many Resort's, I completely get your dilemma. Good Luck!
Our goal is to stay at every DVC resort on Disney property, so that factors into our decision. Also, availablity. If we are booking at 11 months, we go for one of our home resorts (VWL and SSR) but if its at 7 months, we have a plan b, c and d!!
Since this is the dvc forum I would say we choose by 1 what is available 2 most convenient we like the ability to walk to epcot and hs so our home bwv is ideal This trip though we would like to start as many above to stay at as many dvc resorts as possible. Point cost is def a cosideration as well
We go by how many points are needed. We are only in our 3rd year of owning. When we went through the tour, they offered buy points get points @ AKV Kidani. So we couldn't pass that up. We have only stayed at 3 DVC's, AKV, SS, and BWV. We are going to BC this September.
My goal is to stay at OKW one day.
I plan on trying each and every DVC resort. Since AKV is our home resort, our first stay will be there, then I will just go through the list depending on what time of year we are going. (Food and Wine stay at Epcot resort, MVMCP stay at BLT or VWL, Spring stay at SS or OKW, Summer or any other time stay at AK) It all depends on what we are planning for that particular trip and how many points I have/want to spend.
I try to match the vibe and location of a resort to the type of trip we are planning and who is going. At Christmas, with myself, DH, DD27 and DGD15mos, we knew we would not be in the parks all day and would like 2 beds (not 1 bed and a sofa), space to spread out and the laid back beach town vibe at OKW.
When it's just myself and DH, then a studio with 1 bed and a sofa is fine and we pick the resort based on what parks we plan to spend time in and what special activities we plan to take in; SSR for trips with focus on DTD evenings, BLT or VWL when we want the lakeside feel and the convenience of both boats and monorail transportation, AKL when we feel like hanging in safari land, etc. Add DSil into the mix and we need another bedroom and a resort he'll enjoy hanging out at (he's not much of a park person), so points may also factor into resort choice.
I try to match the resort with our needs for each trip. If we're doing F&WF I want to try and stay at an Epcot resort. If it's about spa visits then SSR is the way to go. If it's just to relax and get away from it all I look at OKW, AKL, and WL!
I have my favorite resorts however my family does consider the points and the accomodations we need for that trip 2BDR,studio ect. However the availability can be a deal breaker IMO. If you are in your 7month window or later then that, you have to really take whats available at that time & there are just some resorts we can NEVER seem to get into (WLV/BWV). We have tried the waitlist thing before and havent had luck but we also like to vacation in WDW for a week and dont usually do shorter trips. Gotta take what you can get sometimes and may not have a choice sometimes its either OKW or SSR they always have availablility.
I love my home resort BWV so I book it at the 11 month window so i have something . If i feel i want to try something else at the 7 month window i will call if they do not have something i like i keep my BWV adr if not i will change it .
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For me it's the price normally, I don't spend much time in the room other than sleeping..I have stayed at Pop Century 2x (2010 & 2011) liked it well enough...This time I got a PIN so for 2012 I booked PO ~ Riverside ( the moderate ) because I got a decent discount and a free upgrade with the PIN code. So I am totally looking forward to trying the moderate. There are so many Resort's, I completely get your dilemma. Good Luck!
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