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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We got there just before they Opened so i started to take a few pictures Just like a kid waiting for the candy store to open . i have a picture of dumbo before and after they put him up. Then they open the doors the Cm's gathered for a picture except one had to take the picture so i volunteared to take it for them . after that a few people came right in . When you first walk in to the right there are doors and windows the widows have videos behind them showing charecters .
and at the bottom they have a doorway like alice in wounderland that looks thru to the most amazing kids area. and in between the windows and door it has a magical sign that says Welcome Home. as you walk in just to the left middle mickey is sitting on luggage where you can sit and take pictures . on the wall behind this there is a couch and the table is shaped like mickey as well as the lighting was another mickey design . then they took us into the movie thearter and showed a dvc movie it was about 4-8 min long . Then they checked us in , as well as philip got to go in the club house . He was the first kid to use it yay!! and this clubhouse was amazing not a really extreme big one but disney charecters all over to play with and anything disney they have a wall that is amazing that the kids can actually write on . (wish that was my kids room) . after getting him settled then we saw the BLT model. it was shocking i felt like i was in disney , then he took us into the confrence room to took bad things adding on , each confrence room has it's own theming like this parks, world passport, adventure, sands, it has to do with the pictures on the walls and how they decorated the rooms . we sat down with a really nice rep. and he was going over all options of a 100 or more which i told him i cannot do at this time . then i mentioned about 50 points , he then gave me the run down and i do not know why i'm not the proud owners of 50 more points , but i have 2 weeks at this rate he told me cause they are holding the same pricing over from event they till the grand opening which is October 17 2009. After this he gave me all the information i needed and we went to pick philip up , but he did not want to leave the play area but he did , and we left with" the dreams i can open another door one day for my kids "
PS i will add pictures later sorry for that got too tired writing this lol
I went to the open house at the Garden City Hotel and bought 160 points in BLT. Now I want to go to Roosevelt Field to see the actual Doorway to Dreams store. It is quite a ride from central Jersey but I want that Disney feeling and who knows maybe I can be talked into adding more points.
I went to the open house at the Garden City Hotel and bought 160 points in BLT. Now I want to go to Roosevelt Field to see the actual Doorway to Dreams store. It is quite a ride from central Jersey but I want that Disney feeling and who knows maybe I can be talked into adding more points.
Suggestion if you want to do this Oct 17 is going to be the Gand Opening
and from what rep said but not said mickey should be there . did you see my pictures the link is on the 2nd post ?
Suggestion if you want to do this Oct 17 is going to be the Gand Opening
and from what rep said but not said mickey should be there . did you see my pictures the link is on the 2nd post ?
Thanks for the info. Your pictures is what makes me want to go!
I want to go to Roosevelt Field to see the actual Doorway to Dreams store. It is quite a ride from central Jersey but I want that Disney feeling and who knows maybe I can be talked into adding more points.
I feel the same way, neighbor
Jeff, thanks for the info and pics - sounds like you had a wonderful time!
Jeff, thanks for the info and pics - sounds like you had a wonderful time!
to me anything that deals with disney is magical But they took a piece of disney and put it in my back yard . everyone just has to see it .
and i hope to see you guys there .
I live in Illinois and there is a "Doorway to Dreams located in Schaumburg (suburb of Chicago). I was speaking to my DVC guide (if I join) about me taking a tour at this location this weekend.
He told me to ask about the special promotion at Animal Kindgom DVC -
"Kidnai village" ------ he said they are offering:
1. $1,600.00 off the price
2. you get 160 pts right away
3. another 160 pts in December
4. There is 49 years left @ Kidnai Village (Bay Lake Tower has 50 yrs)
5. Promotion expires September 30th
I was originally going to look into the purchase at the Bay Lake Tower for my home resort.
*** I like the idea that the resort is apart of the monorail (sort of)
*** easily access to all the monorail resorts.
*** you can see the fireworks because you are so close to the Magic Kingdom.
*** The other hotels are so close by its gives you easy access for the dining too.
Whereas the Animal Kingdom seems so secluded.
I know it doesn't matter where your home resort is because you can vacation at them all, but can anyone weigh the pros and cons for me.
It sounds like a good promotion, especially the savings of $1600
Oh --- We have only vacationed at the moderate resorts, but I like the idea that my son (he was 14 then) was able to get up early and go get breakfast at the food court while the rest of us get ready for the early entry of the park.
We have a family of 4 ( my 2 sons are 18 and 22 now) then we would meet him at the bus stop to head to the parks once he was done with breakfast.
any thoughts would be greatly appreciated on Bay Lake Tower vs Kidnai Village
__________________
DVC Members since 2009 - Bay Lake Tower (home resort)
I was originally going to look into the purchase at the Bay Lake Tower for my home resort.
*** I like the idea that the resort is apart of the monorail (sort of)
*** easily access to all the monorail resorts.
*** you can see the fireworks because you are so close to the Magic Kingdom.
*** The other hotels are so close by its gives you easy access for the dining too.
Whereas the Animal Kingdom seems so secluded.
I know it doesn't matter where your home resort is because you can vacation at them all,
It is VERY important your Home resort, the Home resort will give you an 11 Months window rather than 7 months window. The reasons that you list above tells me that you will go with Bay Lake better. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION that is DVC 101. Also, Bay lake is cheaper long term and maintenance wise than Animal Kingdom.
Two more things: In animal Kingdom you are paying for the animals which are not guaranteed. (read the contract closely) Animal Kingdom is my home resort but my sister in Bay Lake. The great promotion for AK is because since it is more in long term price they are trying to sell first.
Please read the Post by DVCMike, he had done those comparisons already and he is very good at it. In my case I do like the seclusion of Animal Kingdom and since my sister has Bay lake we can still do 11 month window there too.
For More information please check this Website that is the Vacation Club Gurus:
Now, what factors should one consider in choosing their home resort? People consider a wide range of things when deciding to choose their home resort. This includes (in no particular order):
Purchase price of points – There is quite a difference in the initial purchase price of points across all the resorts
Annual maintenance fees – While some resorts are less expensive in terms of their initial purchase cost, it is very important to consider the annual maintenance fees (dues) that you will be paying year-after-year, as any savings in the initial purchase cost may quickly be eaten up by the difference in dues (for example, Vero Beach resort). The resorts with the lowest maintenance fees at the present time include BLT, VGC, and SSR.
Points Chart – The number of points required to book a certain accommodation at any resort will vary, from OKW at the low end to VGC at the high end.
Years remaining on contract – OKW (original), BWV, VWL, and BCV contracts expire in 2042; SSR expires in 2054; AKV expires in 2057; BLT and VGC expire in 2060.
Theme/Décor of the Resort – Some people love the theme and décor of resorts like VWL and AKV; others don’t. This is a very personal factor that will vary depending upon your own taste.
Room size/layout – OKW has the largest rooms; Newer resorts have an extra bathroom
Room décor and amenities – Some people love the décor of AKV while others think it is too “dark”. Others love the décor at SSR. Some people want the décor to feel like home, while others prefer something more exotic.
Age of Resort – OKW is the oldest resort and sometimes shows its age. DVC does not perform the same type of refurbs they do on their cash resorts as they do at their DVC resorts.
Proximity to a particular theme park or entertainment area – Being right next to a theme park (BLT, BCV, BWV, VGC) may be an important factor to some.
On Property or off property – This factor is related to the off-property resorts such as VB or HHI. People shouldn’t buy offsite with the expectation of always using the points onsite.
Pools, community hall and full range of recreation opportunities – For some, Stormalong Bay at YC/BC is reason alone to buy into BCV.
Range of dining options (onsite and nearby) and/or room service – The number and type of dining options in close proximity to your resort may be a big factor.
Transportation options – A few resorts offer the option of walking into a theme park or DTD; others offer boat or monorail access; some only offer bus transportation
Types of accommodations –
Views – To some, a great view from your balcony (perhaps BLT and BWV) is a big factor.
Hotel or Condo/townhouse resort style –
In the middle of the action or a quiet secluded spot – Some prefer a resort they can retreat to at the end of the day, while others prefer to be in the middle of the action
Size of the resort – SSR and OKW are large, spread-out resorts, and sometimes there can be quite a distance from some rooms to dining and services.
Popularity of Resort - Certain accommodations may be hard to book if you don’t own there, such as AKV Concierge or OKW GV.
Resale Value – This factor is difficult to predict; however, some resorts may hold their resale value longer than others
In addition to these individual factors, there are a few popular philosophies that you’ll hear from DVC members. The most popular philosophy is “Buy Where You Want to Stay”. If you really love a particular resort, then buy into it. There are some people who have a particular fondness for a resort and really want to stay at that particular resort, and they would be unhappy if they were not able to book there. These folks should buy where they want to stay, provided that they can reliably plan and book to take advantage of the 11-month home resort booking advantage. If a specific resort (theme/style, location, villa type and/or view) is really important to you and you can take advantage of the 11-month home resort booking advantage, then buy into that resort.
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