Grand FLoridian Spa Closing for Resort Expansion - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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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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The OS reported that the Spa at the Grand Floridian will be closing in September for 18 months for a resort expansion! Does anyone remember the timeline on BLT? Could this be a DVC expansion coming to the GF? Rumors, rumors, rumors!
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If you do a web search for "Grand Floridian DVC plans" you'll find several links to the proposal. It looks like it'll be a T-shaped building going up between the Wedding Pavilion and the GF's pool, along with additional parking for both the new building and weddings, significant shoreline modification, and a covered walkway to the GF's main building. There are other proposed structures on the plans, including a pond near the luau building. There are dashed lines indicating the limits of construction, and while they encompass the tennis courts, health club, and a slice of the Wedding Pavilion, they seem to exclude the GF's themed pool, so hopefully it will remain open. The plans don't seem to indicate the fate of the tennis courts or the health club, although the current structures are listed there.
I can't wait to see what's been done (if anything) when I'm there in early and late October. If this really is a DVC resort, I may bite the bullet and join!
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Walt Disney World has become a touchstone for me, a constant in a world where everything changes. Again and again I have come back to this place, grounding myself, communing with all the people I've been.
I can't wait to see what's been done (if anything) when I'm there in early and late October. If this really is a DVC resort, I may bite the bullet and join!
Just an FYI - DVC recently raised the price of BLT to $150/pt. This will surely be the starting point for any GF DVC resorts.
I actually have some reservations at the spa for DD and myself for October 2nd, and haven't gotten any official word from the spa that it will be closed. I'll keep you posted!
I actually have some reservations at the spa for DD and myself for October 2nd, and haven't gotten any official word from the spa that it will be closed. I'll keep you posted!
It will be closed, but they're not going to cancel your reservation. The official word is that Disney will be bussing guests over to the Saratoga Springs resort, doing the spa treatments there, and then bussing them back. A number of people have expressed frustration with that plan, but it does allow Disney to keep services available to guests.
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It will be closed, but they're not going to cancel your reservation. The official word is that Disney will be bussing guests over to the Saratoga Springs resort, doing the spa treatments there, and then bussing them back. A number of people have expressed frustration with that plan, but it does allow Disney to keep services available to guests.
Thanks so much for the info. Good to know what the plan will be.
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