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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Well..... we just decided to turn our 8 night stay at POP in July into a split stay with 6 nights at POP and 2 nights at AKL! With the summer/Disney Visa discount, we were able to get the AKL room for only about $170 more than it would have been for the same 2 nights at POP. I've never been to AKL and have always wanted to go! But, I know basically nothing about the resort other than where it is and there are lots of animals there!
Any suggestions of what to request for room location for a standard room? We can't afford the savannah view, but I'm hoping we'll be somewhere with a decent view with maybe a glance of savannah.
We have ADRs for CRT one morning we'll be there at 8:20. What time should we be at the bus at AKL to make sure we get to MK by about 8:00? On the map, it looks really far from MK!
Any other helpful advice about AKL would be great!!
Thanks
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We were in a situation similar to yours for our November trip. We were booked at POFQ when free dining became available and we tried to change resorts to get that benefit but no other preferred location moderates were available.
At the suggestion of a great cast member, we were able to upgrade to AKL for very little more and get that free dining, but no way could we afford the savannah view. My sister and I had linked reservations, so we discussed what we should request in the way of rooms. In the end we decided to not request anything. No trail, no near to pools, no near elevators, or anything. We figured that if we did not limit our possibilities, our fondest dream of getting a pool or savannah view might be a little more possible.
We ended up with a view of the Uzima Savannah. We were thrilled. Our rooms overlooked a small fenced off area just below our 2nd floor rooms, but just beyond that was the beautiful savannah and ANIMALS! It was a long walk to our rooms but it was worth it to us. Plenty of viewing areas, (windows and balconies) were spaced along the corridors. Even without a savannah view, you can see a great variety of animals.
I suspect that the time of year may have had something to do with our luck, but that was our reasoning and experience.
We had an early morning tour on one of our days, and the concierge was able to recommend what time to catch our bus. He was very knowledgeable about timing and how busy the early busses would be for that specific day and that specific park.
Have a great trip, AKL is beautiful!
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10/96 - All Star Sports, 11/03 - CBR
9/05 - Wonder Cruise, 7/06 - Disneyland
11/08-All Star Sports - 7/09 Ft. Wilderness
11/14- AKL Jambo House
In the end we decided to not request anything. No trail, no near to pools, no near elevators, or anything. We figured that if we did not limit our possibilities, our fondest dream of getting a pool or savannah view might be a little more possible.
That might be a good idea! The day we move from Pop to AKL, I was planning to go there early to check-in. Maybe if I tell them we'll wait however long is necessary to get the "best" standard view room available, then we might get lucky and end up with something like you did!
I have no idea how the room requests/assignments work, so I don't know if it's better to request ahead of time or ask really, really nicely for a good room when we check in!
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I have stayed in standard view rooms at AKL (usually for about $140.00/night). I actually enjoyed them quite a bit because they tend to be pretty close to everything. There are windows in the hall which look out into the savannah. I have also stayed in pool view rooms which I do not recommend. Very, very loud day and night.
I have heard upgrades from standard are not uncommon but I liked mt standard view for it's location.
We have never had an issue getting to the Parks early. Last year we did the early Keys tour and had no issues. If you are staying at Jambo I would say sometimes the bus can be full before it arrives as it picks up at Kidani first (but that is usually around "peak time" for getting to the Parks
We just changed our trip from BCV to Kidani Villas because we saved a ton of money. It looks pretty amazing and hoping the drive to MK doesn't sour the trip. I really like the option if it rains they have community hall to help entertain the kids. Our trip in September we stayed at the Contemporary and it rained a lot! The kids were very restless��! Have a great trip!
I felt that the bus service from AKL was awesome. I usually stay at S/D and the bus service from there to the parks is pretty awful. We also rented a studio from a DVC member with Savannah view. While the view was great, it was a LONG walk from the lobby and buses. Try to get near the lobby.
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I have stayed in standard view rooms at AKL (usually for about $140.00/night). I actually enjoyed them quite a bit because they tend to be pretty close to everything. There are windows in the hall which look out into the savannah. I have also stayed in pool view rooms which I do not recommend. Very, very loud day and night.
I have heard upgrades from standard are not uncommon but I liked mt standard view for it's location.
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Originally Posted by MMMD
We also rented a studio from a DVC member with Savannah view. While the view was great, it was a LONG walk from the lobby and buses. Try to get near the lobby.
I'm thinking for our short stay this time that being close to the lobby/pool (but not too close to the pool!) might be a good idea!
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Everyones experience differs, there are lots of areas with pool view. We had no noise from the pool.
For a standard view, I'd just say best view possible and maybe you'll get lucky. As mentioned, leave time to enjoy the resort.
I absolutely loved AKL, it was amazing, make sure to try those zebra domes! , I agree I would have no room request & leave it up to chance.
In terms of making your 8:20 castle ressie time, I would be at the bus stop no later than 7:15- 7:20, when we stayed there, we never waited more than 10-15 minutes for a bus. The ride is about 18 minutes or less from what I remember. So even if you get at the bus stop at 7:20, and you wait 20 minutes for a bus (which i'm sure it will be less), you will arrive at the Magic Kingdom by 8, and check in by 815
Transportation wizard gives a 21 minute bus time, so add 20 minutes of waiting time for bus, again this is a long estimate) and 15 minutes to get into the park & walk to the castle.
so if you are at the stop at 7:15 you should be there by 8:10 even with a wait of 20 minutes for your bus (plus you have a 15 minute window to be late past your ressie time)
Hope this helps
For room request, I would make a request, just saying you'd like the best view possible. So doesn't limit you, but does let room assignor know view is important.
They have some truly awful standard rooms I've noticed on the way to the bus stops. They prob were close to lobby, but solid wall balconies right by busses and all the foot traffic.
From what I understand assignors 3-5 days out, fill rooms by requests first, then no requests.
Our last stay was during a value season, mid August. Usually not a busy time, but resort was at almost 100% capacity. We were there 2 weeks & did a split between pool view & CL. The room assignors did a great job filing our requests with both rooms. I requested zebra trail 4th floor pool view which has nice, no noise, then because CL rooms are also on 4 th floor, it was an easy move down the hall.
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