We'll be comparing WDW to another park again - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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We are going to my DH's company picnic at Six Flags this weekend, and I know we'll be comparing that park to WDW just like we do every other park we go to. We've gone to many amusement parks since we started going to WDW in 2000, and nothing quite compares to our favorite place on earth. Everytime we leave a park we always comment on how they could take a lesson from Disney. Does that happen to you too?
Yes, we have Holiday World here which supposedly has been voted cleaniest park. Well when you are on the rides which look really old and have no que (I love the building before the ride) there is gum on the ground and trash. They also have a water park and it was the first time I had been there and they had very few changing rooms. So I stand in line and there is one open so I go in there only to find to my dismay-------warning something gross-----------------a turd was on the ground yes someone used it as a bathroom. They need a big lesson.
We were at Holiday World just a few weeks ago for the first time. I found most of the park was very clean when we were there. We rented a locker to put our swim gear in and they were literally about the size of a shoe box. Their rides for the most part are either roller coasters, spin, or kids size rides. The only rides we found to our liking (or our speed, I should say) were the carousel I went on with my GD and the old fashion cars.
I agree - nothing can compare. We went back to Knotts a few years ago and I only went on one ride (most were either too big or too small for me) and most of the CS food places were closed up - very disappointing!
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Some Day My Prince Will Come!
Katie - WDW - August 2011
I grew up going to Santa Claus Land(Holiday World now) and it does not compare to Disney nor does it now compare to what it was like when it was Santa Claus Land. I have been to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom from the time it was just Kentucky Kingdom and to me it is no WDW either. Boy I just realized that I am old.
My favorite non disney park now will have to be Kings Island in Ohio, it was great when I was a kid and still is, no WDW mind you but I like it.
I've been to Holiday World a few times (the first time, I was a child and all that was there were a few carnival rides and Santa Claus). We love it as a family - it's a nice one or two day trip.
Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom from the time it was just Kentucky Kingdom is nice - but no WDW!! Never will be - but it's also the State Fair Midway!! That's the best Midway I've ever seen!!
Did it all day yesterday at Kennywood. We were so disappointed....just wasn't the same.
The only thing they DID allow that I liked over Disney was we packed coolers with lunchmeat, bread, fruit, chips, etc. and had a picnic in a covered pavilion. Just wish Disney let us do that too. My only purchase was a cotton candy & soft pretzel for the kids.....we had our own drinks.
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Silver Dollar City in Branson is one of our favorites (next to disney)--the cave, the rides, the entertainment. Probably the only railroad line I've been on where the train conductor carries a rifle (old west feel-the train get's held up).
Did it all day yesterday at Kennywood. We were so disappointed....just wasn't the same.
The only thing they DID allow that I liked over Disney was we packed coolers with lunchmeat, bread, fruit, chips, etc. and had a picnic in a covered pavilion. Just wish Disney let us do that too. .
You can do that in Disney. I always bring a packed cooler, the bottom we keep the cold stuff and the top we keep the non perishables (separate compartments). We do it alot since buying DVC and having the kitchen.--- I even saw lots of people with rolling coolers this trip, and even some hard sided coolers (which I always thought were the one thing you couldn't have). We saw people having a picnic lunch in the covered tables outside Electric Umbrella. I only wish there were sandwhiches my kids eat so we could do that. Usually we just buy counter service for the kids-- Joe and I always have food packed for ourselves, and usually we just eat Dinner (table service). I've never bought a drink at Disney unless it's alcoholic, came with a kids meal, or we are eating table service.
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Dina
Last edited by Happymommy; 07-15-2008 at 07:23 PM..
Yes. It's hard not to compare. Our local park, Valley Fair, has some good rides but there are no fast passes, no themed queues (with little or no protection from the sun), not many good options for food....you get the picture.