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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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've stayed at Pop twice, and the 1st time we had a similar experience. I think that the walls are just a lot thinner in the value resorts. We heard everything in the room next door and they were being very loud, very late. I had to call security and they responded and the people quieted down. Don't forget that you are a guest too, and you have the right to call the front desk for assistance!
Sorry about the stay, we leave tomorrow and our staying there, it will be our second stay there. We had no problems with noise at all, my lil one even was able to take his naps when needed. The room was always clean, I even commented on it to my mother and we had a stroller and 4 pieces of luggage and 2 adults and 2 kids and we had plenty of room, granted we werent in there that often, we only use it to sleep and change and that kind of thing. Id rather stay in a cheaper motel then I can spend the extra cash that we would have spent on a more expensive resort on something else.
__________________
Jenn
Past Trips:
Disney Cruise: Sept. 2002
Pop Century: Easter 2006; 60s bldg, Aug. 24-29,07;50sbldg
about your stay. It's so disappointing. I have found that if you are unlucky enough to get stuck with a tour group or a teen group, it makes all the difference from a pleasant stay to an unpleasnat one. Those groups also add to the "unclean" of your room because there are so many mop-ups and other things for Mousekeeping to do they end up with less time on each room. Disney has to start thinking about adding staff, or assigning Mousekeeping staff to the tour groups or cheerleading groups or theatrical teen groups, and leaving the rest of the staff for the regular people.
However, if everyone keeps buying into the DVC after a bad stay at POP they may start planting noisy neighbors all over the value resorts
I'm sorry you had a unpleasant stay! We loved our stay there in June. We had 4 rooms total, and all of them were clean. The only noise we heard was the sound of doors opening/closing. I couldn't hear anything in the rooms next to us besides that. My only complaint was the long walk from the parking lot to the building with the luggage & the long waits leaving the parks at night from the bus station. We would definitely stay there again.
We just returned home from our stay at POP on Tuesday. We didn't experience any of the problems you had. Our room was always clean. We got extra towels everyday and didn't have to ask. No outside noise what so ever at night. The busses were good. We never had to wait more than 10 minutes or so. The only downfall was the crowded food court and the fact that the frozen coke machines were out of service the entire trip. Other than that, we had a great stay.
I am sorry to hear that you had problems. I do hope that you give a try another time.
We stay at Pop regularly, and have not had any of the problems you mentioned. If fact, on our last stay we were on the first floor of the 60's building towards the lake and had no problems. I try to avoid the first floor as they are the most likely to have a problem with noise.
We don't really spend much time in our rooms, thus using the value resorts. We tend to store our stuff, sleep at night, and change/shower, the rest of our time is spent enjoying the parks and other resorts...
The few times we've spent time at the resort during the day, it wasn't a bad experience....
It has been our experience that when you have a high noise level like that, it most likely is related to a tour group of some type.....
As to the general decline of the overall area, that appears to be the case throughout WDW over the past few years. The attention to detail just don't seem to be as good as it used to be....
Sorry you had such a bad experience. The decline in service is not limited to the value resorts, unfortunately. Our last stay at BC was less than magical. Our complaints were totally ignored too. I think cutbacks in Mousekeeping staff has made their job extremely tough
So sorry your stay was not magical! We stayed there two years ago and really enjoyed it. We had a room in the 50's on the back facing the parking lot so it was very quiet back there. We prefer at least a moderate because I just can't hardly take the small rooms at the values but I wouldn't hesitate to stay at POP again if I needed to.
I am sorry about your stay, I'd definitely have said something. I have an 11 night trip coming up there, I have no worries about it - I enjoy the resort very much. I've had problem stays occasionally over the years - not there yet, but at places like the Wilderness Lodge (that was the very worst one ever). But I still like the WL.
Sorry you had such a bad experience. After reading many threads on similar subjects I feel like it all boils down to two things. Number one: Mousekeeping is only as good as the person servicing your room. In other words, on any given stay, things can be drastically different in the same exact room. Number two: Your personal experiences and situation. As in, if you have kids that are sometimes rowdy and wild your outlook will be different than if you have no kids. If you are used to quiet, elegant hotels when you travel other places, then the atmosphere will not be the same at a value at WDW. If you expect a high level of service, then a value will not provide it the same as the Poly would. I think everyone knows that the values will have more kids, teens, groups on a budget, party people, etc. just by virtue of the group sales that Disney does. Things have changed for US over the years. We used to stay at Days Inn and Motel 6 when the boys were very young so that we could afford to travel with 5 people on a budget. Now, I think a cheap hotel is the Hyatt Regency. It's all relative. Too bad the managerial staff did not do anything about your situation. You should not have even had to ask,as they should have been monitoring halls, etc. but did you complain? Sometimes the old adage "the squeeky wheel gets the grease" is true. I hate to bother people myself but sometimes you just have to speak up. You paid your money too ya know. Better luck next time. Bigred
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about your stay. It's so disappointing. I have found that if you are unlucky enough to get stuck with a tour group or a teen group, it makes all the difference from a pleasant stay to an unpleasnat one. Those groups also add to the "unclean" of your room because there are so many mop-ups and other things for Mousekeeping to do they end up with less time on each room. Disney has to start thinking about adding staff, or assigning Mousekeeping staff to the tour groups or cheerleading groups or theatrical teen groups, and leaving the rest of the staff for the regular people.
ANGIE
Marianne IS bigred!
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