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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Hi, we have stayed at Pop for our last 2 trips. I have to say we love it. We are considering upgrading to a moderate for our fall 2010.
My question is it worth the extra cost? The grounds and theme of the moderates look beautiful. Their resorts look huge and rooms look so far away from food court and gift shop.
The ages of the children we will bring are between 4yrs and 12yrs (they are 5 of them ). Pop was very kid friendly. Are the moderates?
I am looking foward to this next trip and want it to be the best ever.
The moderates are nice The rooms are a bit larger, the pools have slides, and they also have a TS restaurant in them. Now, that being said, my kids would still choose All Star Movies or POP as their favorite resorts in a heartbeat (they are 6 and 7 years old)!
It is DEFINITELY worth it - in my opinion! We are going on our first trip and we compared the two - and the Moderates have more theming - the pools are more deluxe, there are more dining options. For the amount of extra money you have to pay - I would highly suggest it
Like lukeandbrookesmom said though - they tend to be a little quieter - and might be more enjoyable for older kids....
Have you looked into doing a split stay? A few nights at POP and a few nights at a moderate...
On the topic of everything looking so far away - call the reservations dept. and request the area you want to be in (that's what we did). They can't guarantee a room in that area - but it's put in the notes section! HTH !
We seriously considered a moderate for this trip for the fridge in the room, the water slides at CBR, and the more dining options, but personally, I think my girls will enjoy the POP more anyway, so we decided to not spend the extra money this time.
we always did Value resorts, until last year, we chose to upgrade...we did a split stay at CBR & AKL. I have to say, it is soooo worth it to stay at a Moderate resort! It is well worth the extra $....the theming, the pool at CBR is just beautiful - the kids LOVE the pirate ship with the dumping bucket, and the fort slides. There are two hot tubs as well. Old Port Royale is so nice, wide open, well managed. The food court never feels over crowded, and the food was great. We had dinner at Shutters one night and it was one of the best meals of our trip. We LOVED our pirate room with the ship beds and all the cool theming. The beautiful walks along the lake, the sand beaches, the hammocks and lounge chairs. It's a large resort, but it's so peaceful, and much more relaxing than at a value where it's so noisy and crowded. We were in Trinidad South, about a 5-7 minute walk to OPR. What you get compared to a value resort: better theming, nicer pool with water slides & hot tubs, larger room with fridge & double sinks & more storage, a table service restaurant as well as a food court, and CBR is very centrally located- 5-7 minutes from Epcot & DHS, 10-12 minutes from MK & AK. The buses were very efficient and well run while we were there too. It's a very kid friendly place to stay. So much so, that we are going back again in March and we just can't wait!
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We usually stay at Value resorts in 2 rooms- we are guaranteed connecting rooms due to the fact that the kids outnumber the adults in our family. For our upcoming trip that we are planning, we are going to stay at POR Riverside in a 5 person room with a trundle bed for our DS9. I have stayed there before and really liked it. The pool was nicer and much quieter than the values. My favorite value is a tie - ASSports and ASMusic were both great. We had a great time at POP in 9/09 but it was much more crowded than the ASSports.
I agree with everything that has already been posted. I think that ultimately, it depends on your vacation objectives. If we were going to be spending all day in the park, I'd stay at a value in a heart beat. The moderates have more of a "resort" feel...it felt like vacation vs. a place to stay that just happened to have really big icons and statues. We also work a lot of time into our schedule for afternoon breaks and entire days off to relax and enjoy the resort. The kids would be happy at either, but my kids still talk about the pirate ship pool at CBR.
I agree with everything that has already been posted. I think that ultimately, it depends on your vacation objectives. If we were going to be spending all day in the park, I'd stay at a value in a heart beat. The moderates have more of a "resort" feel...it felt like vacation vs. a place to stay that just happened to have really big icons and statues. We also work a lot of time into our schedule for afternoon breaks and entire days off to relax and enjoy the resort. The kids would be happy at either, but my kids still talk about the pirate ship pool at CBR.
Yes, I agree. I really don't feel like there is a lot of difference between value and mod myself (although I'll admit that we've only stayed at Pop and CBR in either category - we loved Pop and liked CBR). But I think since you have stayed at Pop before, it might be worth it to try something different this time.
I think that all depend on how your family is....
For my point of view it worth the extra money....specially because I´m the type who love to rest at the pool...return for a "pool time" and relax in the afternoon...I do love the parks but : I can not stay all day there!!! Being an early bird family we arrive early...plan a late lunch around 2pm and after that return to the resort to relax for the evening....So I do use the resort pool, amenities offered there...and we book many TS meals so having a restaurant there is something we want to....
But it all depends on how you are...my brother who travel to Orlando at least twice a year would answer :...definitelly :...because he loves the parks and for him and his girlfriend the hotel is "a bed for night sleep", they spend all day in the parks from breakfast to dinner, and return for a bath and get to bed....actually he is totally for off sites hotels, as he says cheaper and offer the same type of bed......
So two examples in the same family, for me onsite and include amenities please and for him is more about the money and a bed for sleep at night.....
I´d think about what you plan to do this trip...CBR rooms - pirate decorated - seems to be very kid friendly, and if you plan to go to the pool a slider and some amenities would be interesting...otherwise, if you are aiming to stay out the entire day...then definitelly stay in the value, they have a great cost/offer ratio!!!
I think there is a big dif, and would say yes, it's worth the upgrade. As others have said, the theming, landscapping, pools and rooms are nicer in the moderates. The values are pretty basic, and feel crowded. We stayed at Pop one night because of late arrival, and was o.k. for 1 night, but wouldn't want to spend my entire trip there.
We like to take mid day breaks back at our resort to relax, swim, etc. I think the moderates are more relaxing and quieter. And the landscapping is beautiful
They are very kid friendly, they are WDW resorts
Have fun planning.
I stay at POP when I travel alone or with one of my Dgang. I think it is such a fun resort and I love the food offerings.
But when it was all of us (5), we usually stayed at POR-Riverside with the trundle bed. It is our favorite moderate!
The moderates do offer an upgraded main pool with slides (fun for my Dgang) and the quiet pools near the room are heaven! I swimming! The rooms are a tad bit larger. Depending on the moderate - there are upgraded beds (CSR) and upgraded decorations (CBR rooms). The moderates do offer a sit-down restaurant which is nice at times when you just don't want to fight the crowds at the parks or at Downtown Disney.
Have fun deciding! You really can't go wrong either way - you'll be at Disney!
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The rooms are a bit larger, the pools have slides, and they also have a TS restaurant in them. Now, that being said, my kids would still choose All Star Movies or POP as their favorite resorts in a heartbeat (they are 6 and 7 years old)!
<--- Disney Fantasy 2016!
: I can not stay all day there!!! Being an early bird family we arrive early...plan a late lunch around 2pm and after that return to the resort to relax for the evening....So I do use the resort pool, amenities offered there...and we book many TS meals so having a restaurant there is something we want to....
Susan
swimming! The rooms are a tad bit larger. Depending on the moderate - there are upgraded beds (CSR) and upgraded decorations (CBR rooms). The moderates do offer a sit-down restaurant which is nice at times when you just don't want to fight the crowds at the parks or at Downtown Disney.
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