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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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Hello Everyone!
This is my first post on the PassPorter Community boards and I'm happy to be part of the family!
This is going to be a long first post, so bear with me!
My mother and I are planning a mother daughter trip for August, we were going to Disney World for four days, and we’ve been many times before so four days was good for a quick trip. But I started looking into the new Car's land in Disneyland so I thought why not price it out, just for fun. It ended up being cheaper than our Disney World quote, I of course freaked out since I've never been to Disneyland and thought this was a perfect chance to experience it, and four days in Disneyland should be more than enough, right? I brought it up to my mother and at first she wasn't crazy about the idea, until I showed her the maps of the two parks and she jumped right on the Disneyland wagon with me! So here comes the real point of my post, we are so lost with planning for this trip.
I had priced us out staying at the Ramada Maingate and with the four day park hopper. Is this a good place to stay and is it in walking distance to enter Disneyland? What about the time span is it too much time for Disneyland, should we price out other things to do? Do we need the dining plan? Any World of Color tips? What about the crowd levels? We would be staying August 9-12th. Any tips on Disneyland at all would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much for your time, and sorry it was so long!
Hello Everyone!
This is my first post on the PassPorter Community boards and I'm happy to be part of the family!
This is going to be a long first post, so bear with me!
My mother and I are planning a mother daughter trip for August, we were going to Disney World for four days, and we’ve been many times before so four days was good for a quick trip. But I started looking into the new Car's land in Disneyland so I thought why not price it out, just for fun. It ended up being cheaper than our Disney World quote, I of course freaked out since I've never been to Disneyland and thought this was a perfect chance to experience it, and four days in Disneyland should be more than enough, right? I brought it up to my mother and at first she wasn't crazy about the idea, until I showed her the maps of the two parks and she jumped right on the Disneyland wagon with me! So here comes the real point of my post, we are so lost with planning for this trip.
I had priced us out staying at the Ramada Maingate and with the four day park hopper. Is this a good place to stay and is it in walking distance to enter Disneyland? What about the time span is it too much time for Disneyland, should we price out other things to do? Do we need the dining plan? Any World of Color tips? What about the crowd levels? We would be staying August 9-12th. Any tips on Disneyland at all would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much for your time, and sorry it was so long!
Actually there are TWO Ranada Maingates. There is Maingate North and Maingate at the Park. I hope you got the BEST one and their address would be
1650 S. Horbor Blvd. and that one is a short 5 minute walk to the enterence plaza between both parks. The other one at 921 S. Harbor Blvd is a trashy motel.
I haven't been to Disneyland in many years, but I'm in the early planning stages of a trip in about 23 months, and I'm an uber planner, so I've looked at a lot of stuff already.
I hear nothing but good things about the Ramada Maingate. Don't expect it to be like WDW resorts, but for off-property, This place seems to be highly regarded. I'll probably book it for my trip.
Also, from what I've researched, I think a 4 day hopper will be just fine, but I'm not sure I'd plan much else. If you have any extra time, I think you could just wander around Downtown Disney. But if this is your first DL visit, I think you will spend most of your time in the parks.
World of Color...check the fastpass and dining options for preferred viewing. I'll be interested to see what insiders recommend on this. This is the only "must-do" attraction on our list that worries me. I hear terrible things about the crowds...pushing, shoving, rude, etc. I wish I could help you with this one, but I have no idea b/c I've never seen it, but I'm sure experienced DLers will have good advice.
Good luck with your planning and your trip. Let us know how it goes.
Hi there!
Enjoy planning your trip! I can't help with the hotel, but can answer some of your other questions.
Four days should be perfect. It will be crowded with summertime guests and the new DCA. That should give you time to see everything.
I'd skip the dining plan as its just a voucher system, and you can actually lose money on the deal.
For World of Color, I'd recommend the dining/reserved seating at either Carthay Circle or Wine Country Trattoria. If you're planning on table service anyway. You don't have to line up quite as early, and the reserved viewing area doesn't have you packed in like sardines the way that the fast pass areas do.
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Hi welcome to Passporter. I'm not familiar with the Dining Plan at Disneyland, but they do have some awesome restaurants like #1 Steakhouse 55 @ the Disneyland Hotel (There is an old amazing history of days gone by here just ask your server), #2 Blue Bayou (Beautiful Setting must see, #3 Napa Rose @ The Grand Californian , #4 Storyteller's Cafe (The Buffet is Amazing the Garlic Mashed Potato's and Corn Chowder are awesome.), #5 Ariel's Grotto in DCA. You will definitely want to make reservations in advance because these restaurants I just mentioned are pretty popular.
Are you or anyone in your family military or retired military? If so they have a special going on till Sep a 3 day Park Hopper for $99.00 per person.
The must see/do things in Disneyland is The Pirates of the Caribbean; they show the whole storyline, Indiana Jones ride (They don't have this at WDW.), Fantasmic (This is WAY BETTER than the one at WDW hands down worth waiting an hour to get a good seat.), The Fireworks Spectacular is really spectacular; Tinker Bell flies around the Castle several times (This is better than WD).
The things you must see in California Adventure is The Aladdin Show and the World of Color.
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Last edited by bradbeckyk; 06-27-2012 at 01:38 AM..
Four days sounds about right to me. That's how long we had there on our first visit and it was perfect.
With World of Color, we did the dining package last year at the Wine Country Trattoria and I'd definitely do this again. We got a great viewing area and a lovely lunch, so it was well worth it for us.
Four days sounds about right to me. That's how long we had there on our first visit and it was perfect.
With World of Color, we did the dining package last year at the Wine Country Trattoria and I'd definitely do this again. We got a great viewing area and a lovely lunch, so it was well worth it for us.
I was looking at the dining package, but didn't know if it was worth it. I'll look into it!
Hi welcome to Passporter. I'm not familiar with the Dining Plan at Disneyland, but they do have some awesome restaurants like #1 Steakhouse 55 @ the Disneyland Hotel (There is an old amazing history of days gone by here just ask your server), #2 Blue Bayou (Beautiful Setting must see, #3 Napa Rose @ The Grand Californian , #4 Storyteller's Cafe (The Buffet is Amazing the Garlic Mashed Potato's and Corn Chowder are awesome.), #5 Ariel's Grotto in DCA. You will definitely want to make reservations in advance because these restaurants I just mentioned are pretty popular.
Are you or anyone in your family military or retired military? If so they have a special going on till Sep a 3 day Park Hopper for $99.00 per person.
The must see/do things in Disneyland is The Pirates of the Caribbean; they show the whole storyline, Indiana Jones ride (They don't have this at WDW.), Fantasmic (This is WAY BETTER than the one at WDW hands down worth waiting an hour to get a good seat.), The Fireworks Spectacular is really spectacular; Tinker Bell flies around the Castle several times (This is better than WD).
The things you must see in California Adventure is The Aladdin Show and the World of Color.
We were looking at maybe even just doing a two day dining plan; all the restaurants sound amazing, especially Blue Bayou since we are from south Louisiana! Thank you for the ride advice! I'm excited about seeing how the rides differ from WDW!
Hi there!
Enjoy planning your trip! I can't help with the hotel, but can answer some of your other questions.
Four days should be perfect. It will be crowded with summertime guests and the new DCA. That should give you time to see everything.
I'd skip the dining plan as its just a voucher system, and you can actually lose money on the deal.
For World of Color, I'd recommend the dining/reserved seating at either Carthay Circle or Wine Country Trattoria. If you're planning on table service anyway. You don't have to line up quite as early, and the reserved viewing area doesn't have you packed in like sardines the way that the fast pass areas do.
Thank you for the advice! Is there anything else other than the Car's land new at DCA that you know of?
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I haven't been to Disneyland in many years, but I'm in the early planning stages of a trip in about 23 months, and I'm an uber planner, so I've looked at a lot of stuff already.
I hear nothing but good things about the Ramada Maingate. Don't expect it to be like WDW resorts, but for off-property, This place seems to be highly regarded. I'll probably book it for my trip.
Also, from what I've researched, I think a 4 day hopper will be just fine, but I'm not sure I'd plan much else. If you have any extra time, I think you could just wander around Downtown Disney. But if this is your first DL visit, I think you will spend most of your time in the parks.
World of Color...check the fastpass and dining options for preferred viewing. I'll be interested to see what insiders recommend on this. This is the only "must-do" attraction on our list that worries me. I hear terrible things about the crowds...pushing, shoving, rude, etc. I wish I could help you with this one, but I have no idea b/c I've never seen it, but I'm sure experienced DLers will have good advice.
Good luck with your planning and your trip. Let us know how it goes.
Thank you for the advice! We looked at other attractions around Disneyland and nothing really jumped out at us anyway so we would rather spend all our time at Disneyland! I think we will do the dining option for World of Color, it would be a great restaurant and we wouldn't have to deal with the people.
Thank you very much and good luck with your planning as well!
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Caution!!! Do not get the dining plan at Disneyland. It is not the same as the plan at WDW. The DL plan gives you vouchers for your meals. If you go over the amount of the voucher, you pay out of pocket to make up the difference, If the amount of the meal is less than the voucher, you don't get any change back, It is really a horrible dining plan, You can do much better paying OOP (out of pocket). If you like having the funds put aside. Get some Disney gift cards to pay for your meals. That way it will be paid in advance,
Caution!!! Do not get the dining plan at Disneyland. It is not the same as the plan at WDW. The DL plan gives you vouchers for your meals. If you go over the amount of the voucher, you pay out of pocket to make up the difference, If the amount of the meal is less than the voucher, you don't get any change back, It is really a horrible dining plan, You can do much better paying OOP (out of pocket). If you like having the funds put aside. Get some Disney gift cards to pay for your meals. That way it will be paid in advance,
Oh this sounds just like the original Dining plan WDW way back when before the current dining plan.
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