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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
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Moving on with the current of the years.
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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.

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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!

Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!

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Old 02-24-2013, 09:26 PM   #1
disneygal
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Where to stay??

Looking to go to Universal for three days before we get to Disney. Which hotel out of the three do you all recommend? I haven't a clue about anything Universal since we have never been before. I feel the boys are finally all old enough to enjoy it, so we are going to try it. Any help would be great!! Thanks in advance!
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Old 02-24-2013, 10:48 PM   #2
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I've only stayed at Hard Rock. But I looked around Royal Pacific and in one of the rooms and thought it looked great.
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Old 02-25-2013, 09:29 AM   #3
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I loved my stay at Portofino Bay. The rooms are HUGE! It is an easy walk around the lake to the parks. Hard Rock did not appeal to me on our tour but I did like the look of Royal Pacific. (Especially the adorable frog statues that line the entrance bridge! )
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Old 02-28-2013, 02:28 PM   #4
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We've stayed multiple times at the Royal Pacific. It's a gorgeous hotel and we really like it there. I highly recommend it. Also the most affordable of the 3 on-site US hotels.

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Old 02-28-2013, 03:06 PM   #5
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Royal Pacific is a lovely hotel. You can take the boat or walk the trail along the water to get to the parks and CityWalk. We did both methods. RP is closest to IoA. If you want to take a day to go to SeaWorld, you can sign up for the free shuttle. Do it a day in advance. I really enjoyed Universal since CityWalk is right next to your hotel. In the evenings, we went to movie theater, ate at both sit-downs and quick service, shopped, listened to a live band, etc.
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Old 02-28-2013, 07:51 PM   #6
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Great info, thanks everyone!
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Old 03-01-2013, 10:55 AM   #7
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We're staying at the Royal Pacific this time to see what an onsite hotel stay is like. But last spring we stayed at a hotel on International. There are loads to select from and they're a 5 minute drive at most to Universal parks. It was way less $$$, so I'm hoping I don't regret our choice this time around. If money is a factor, then you may want to check some of those. We were at the International Palms, not fancy, more like a Best Western, but our room was clean and a huge, and we had a view of the parks. There was a Sheraton right beside us, and too many others to count. Also, there was an IHOP right near where we turned to go to the parks so we were able to grab a good, reasonably priced breakfast to start our day.
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Old 03-07-2013, 03:02 PM   #8
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We stayed at Royal Paicific and it was great. Why pay more when your not in your room. I also walked around all of them, yes Portofinio is beautiful, but I found it far away and a bit to spread out for us. We loved to be able to walk to/from instead of using the boats.
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Old 03-07-2013, 04:12 PM   #9
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The hard rock and the portofino bay deluxe rooms are a better size for a family of 5 than the royal pacific as they have the 2 queens as well as the sofa bed. We are doing the hard rock as my teenagers wouldn't forgive me if we didn'tdidn't
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Old 03-15-2013, 09:11 PM   #10
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I've stayed at the Portifono Bay and Royal Pacific. Both are beautiful hotels with exemplary customer service and I thought even the Royal Pacific, which is least expensive was nicer than the deluxes I have stayed in at WDW.

I found the resorts uch quieter than Disney Resorts and there were fewer small children running wild, one of my complaints about my stays at Disney resorts. I cringe when kids run and climb where they shouldn't and scream in the halls. I have seen too much of it at Disney but preferred the more relaxed settings at Universal.

I have not stayed at the Hard Rock because of my aversion to lots of noise.
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Old 05-25-2013, 07:36 AM   #11
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We are fortunate enough to be able to stay at Shades of Green on Disney property. We have done that once, are doing it again this September and we have also stayed at Royal Pacific but thought it was was overpriced for what you got vs what you get at Disney.
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Old 05-25-2013, 10:39 AM   #12
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I've stayed at Portofino & Royal Pacific and have seen the rooms at Hard Rock. I know my kids would love Hard Rock for the "coolness factor" but I would choose Royal Pacific again without hesitation. Portofino was very nice and would be nice if it were just me & DH but I don't think my kids would appreciate it for the additional cost. My DD loved the pool at Royal Pacific and I agree that it feels close to a Disney deluxe resort.
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