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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 was gifted a trip to WDW this year for my birthday by my DBF. Needless to say its been my dream since I was a little girl. Now we've figured we might as well do ALL the themeparks we can. This is a big deal given the fact that were travelling from Australia.
So the plan so far is 7 days at WDW staying 4 nights at the pop century resort and 3 at the Polynesia resort (must have breakfast with Stitch!!)
Then, so far, the rest of the plans are a day each at US, IOA, Seaworld, Aquatica,Wet n Wild and Busch Gardens.
Ive been studying accomodation online and would really like to benefit from the stay at a US resort for the express pass. But then have though about accomodation for the rest of the time. As is that's 3 hotel changes in under 10 days!!
So I am trying to judge whether the express pass of staying at US is worth the extra hotel move prior to settling for at a place to stay for the remainder of our time and some suggestions on where else is good to stay off site after this point in time?
PLease help! Were travelling in May and havent booked as yet. And for me a planning queen Im struggling to not panic!
Hi Aluesha - welcome to the boards! When we went in May, express passes weren't absolutely necessary although we went while the kids were still in school. After America's Memorial Day Weekend it gets a bit busier. There were a LOT of field trip kids in the parks though so we tried to make sure that where ever the group of kids were (14 and 15 year olds), that was where we weren't!
All that said, I have done the 3 hotels in less than 2 weeks thing, and it's not too bad. It just made sure we kept our stuff tidied up to make packing easier instead of spread out all over the place like it would've been if we'd been in 1 hotel for 2 weeks. And I loved staying at the Universal hotels. With the Express Pass we were able to walk right onto rides instead of having a 15 or 20 minute wait.
I've never stayed offsite, so can't help you with that. Have fun planning!!
Sea World and Wet & Wild are very close to Universal, so you could stay in the same hotel for all of those. I love staying onsite for the convenience of being able to walk to the parks from your resort, and of course for the Express Pass. For an offsite hotel I would recommend the Doubletree. It's across the street from one of the Universal entrances and has shuttles to the parks. It's a beautiful hotel with large rooms and great amenities.
I think there is a pass you can purchase for all the parks you mentioned, so that would be something you can look into.
We went in November, the weekend after Thanksgiving. We stayed in a Universal partner hotel, so we didn't get Express passes, but did get early entry into IOA which was huge for Harry Potter.
I'd check out the express pass options very carefully. They come in different levels -- some are only with Universal hotels, others are available for purchase. We decided that if we wanted to buy the express passes, it was way cheaper than the $200+ per night difference in the hotel room rate.
I did some research regarding the costs of purchasing Express passes vs. staying in a Universal onsite hotel, and staying onsite was a better option for a family of 4. Here's a link to the article that shows the different costs of buying Express passes and staying onsite:
Welcome to the boards. And what a great birthday present. If you stay at one of the Universal on site hotels you can get a pass to all of the places you want to go and they provide the transportation. We have done that before and that was great. And you still have the comfort of the nice hotel and don't have to switch hotels. When you go to the Universal Orlando website and book you package deal you can add on the pass that covers US, IOA, Seaworld, Aquatica,Wet n Wild and Busch Gardens.
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Brenda-Looking forward to our next Disney Trip
Last edited by bwheat2004; 02-13-2011 at 09:13 AM..
Thanks for all of your responses! It helped me out a bit. I have bitten the bullet and gone for Pop Centurey for 4 nights, Polynesian for 3 and then the rest of our time in Orlando at the Hard Rock Hotel.
Hi! What a wonderful birthday gift!! If you haven't purchased park tickets yet, you might want to check out www.undercovertourist.com
They offer discounts on most tickets, and are very reputable.
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Michelle - with my step sisters!
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