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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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It looks as if we've left it a bit late to sort out our hotel for Toronto and prices have gone through the roof.
I can either go for a hotel in downtown for around £400 ($520) for two nights or I can go for one on the outskirts for about half that cost. The only reason I'm hesitating is that would mean we'd need to drive into the city, as the hotel is nowhere near any public transport. We'd probably be coming in to see Casa Loma on our first afternoon, then on the second day, our main venues are the CN Tower and the Royal Ontario Museum. I figured we'd get in early, as it would be a Saturday and park up somewhere, then use public transport. We'd then have to drive out to Cirque du Soleil, as there doesn't seem to be any public transport near that.
What I just want to check is whether this is a good idea or not - driving into Toronto on a Friday afternoon and early on a Saturday morning or should we just suck it up and pay the extra money and put the car away for the couple of days we're there? How bad is driving in Toronto is really what I want to know. We've managed fine in most cities - Boston was Ok, although Los Angeles was a bit of a nightmare, just to give you an idea.
I am biased because I do not like driving in city-proper traffic, especially downtown or near-downtown areas.
I grew up in Toronto but now live in Ottawa. I will only drive into downtown Toronto if it is an emergency. Actually, anything south of about Eglinton is too far into the city for me :-)
When we do visit TO, we stay at a hotel in what used to be the city of North York (the Novotel North York is located very close to the TTC Yonge subway line and restaurants, often has reasonable rates, is easy to get to, and has paid underground parking -- we stay there, park the car and then use the TTC for almost everything we need) or outside of the city of Toronto proper (e.g. in Markham or Vaughan).
Later this summer we will stay in Vaughan near the Vaughan Mills shopping mall. For the day we need to be in downtown TO (Blue Jays game + aquarium) we will drive to Downsview or Finch TTC subway stations and use their free-on-the-weekend park and ride parking to park the car, then take the subway down to Union Station and make the walk to Rogers Centre.
Although we are choosing not to stay there for our trip, it was an option: there are some hotels out near/in the Toronto Pearson Airport that are quite reasonably priced -- and there is now the UP Express train that goes from the airport to Union Station and back; reasonably priced and an easy way to get into the city from that area. https://www.upexpress.com/
The downside of course of not staying downtown is the time you will spend getting there and back each day by train and/or buses.
For Cirque, are you going to see Luzia ? It looks like it is at the Toronto Port Lands; according to Google maps there are two TTC routes that will get you there from Union station - the 72 and the 121 (depending on day, time of day etc; there may be other routes, too). The TTC website at http://www.ttc.ca/ has extensive planning information and info on how to contact them to find out how to get from point A to B.
If you can swing it I would stay downtown, it is so much easier to get around. Driving is crazy, it's very busy and the subway and transit system can get you almost anywhere.
Staying out by the airport works, just factor in time to get into the city.
You will love Casa Loma, if you have time try to hit up St Lawerence market.
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For Cirque, are you going to see Luzia ? It looks like it is at the Toronto Port Lands; according to Google maps there are two TTC routes that will get you there from Union station - the 72 and the 121 (depending on day, time of day etc; there may be other routes, too). The TTC website at http://www.ttc.ca/ has extensive planning information and info on how to contact them to find out how to get from point A to B.
Great information - thanks for that, that's really helpful. I had no idea there was any public transport over to the Port Lands (yes, we are seeing Luzia), we'll have to look into that.
If you can swing it I would stay downtown, it is so much easier to get around. Driving is crazy, it's very busy and the subway and transit system can get you almost anywhere.
Staying out by the airport works, just factor in time to get into the city.
You will love Casa Loma, if you have time try to hit up St Lawerence market.
I did price up hotels at the airport and am still seriously considering that, as the transport system from there did look good.
Great information - thanks for that, that's really helpful. I had no idea there was any public transport over to the Port Lands (yes, we are seeing Luzia), we'll have to look into that.
Also, if you were to get yourself to Union Station area, which is easy by public transit, a taxi from there to the Port Lands should not be too expensive as it is not that far a trip. Someone who lives in TO might be able to give you a better idea of the cost for that.
I did price up hotels at the airport and am still seriously considering that, as the transport system from there did look good.
Just remember to factor in the cost of getting to/from the hotel and the airport (the hotel might have a free shuttle, for example) and/or parking at the airport.
Also, if you were to get yourself to Union Station area, which is easy by public transit, a taxi from there to the Port Lands should not be too expensive as it is not that far a trip. Someone who lives in TO might be able to give you a better idea of the cost for that.
SW
All great information!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Starwind
Just remember to factor in the cost of getting to/from the hotel and the airport (the hotel might have a free shuttle, for example) and/or parking at the airport.
SW
I did look at the parking prices - it seems to me just about every hotel anywhere in Toronto charges for parking! Usually in most cities, outside of the main areas, you can find some places with free parking, but not here it seems.
I did look at the parking prices - it seems to me just about every hotel anywhere in Toronto charges for parking! Usually in most cities, outside of the main areas, you can find some places with free parking, but not here it seems.
In the actual city of Toronto I would not be surprised if nearly every hotel charges for parking. Ditto around the airport. Keep in mind that what is now the City of Toronto used to be a the area called Metropolitan Toronto, which was a much smaller City of Toronto surrounded by IIRC 4 cities and a borough, each of which had its own "downtown", city hall, etc. Many hotels in Toronto are situated in relation to that older configuration and its corresponding densities - and the dense urban areas generally = paid parking.
A good example: Novotel North York is part of the same larger complex in which you find the old North York City Hall; the hotel overlooks Mel Lastman Square, a nice outdoor square that is part of the old city hall complex. That stretch of Yonge has densified even more from when I used to live there -- I barely recognize it now there are so many high rises and condos and such. The hotel is part of the shopping mall and office complex and the parking is underground parking (that is all there is space for in that area) and is therefore paid parking.
When you get out of the actual city, paid parking will change.
For example, the hotels (Sheraton, Best Western, Holiday Inn, and Hilton families) we have stayed in in the Markham and Vaughan areas (so, to the north of TO, and north of highway 7/407) do not charge for outdoor parking -- there is enough land for the hotel and a sizable on ground parking lot, hence free parking.
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Thanks for all the help with this. I sucked it up and paid for a hotel downtown - the Hilton Garden Inn. I got it slightly cheaper directly through Hilton, but it was still stupid money, but I feel I've done the right thing thanks to all of you.
Thanks for all the help with this. I sucked it up and paid for a hotel downtown - the Hilton Garden Inn. I got it slightly cheaper directly through Hilton, but it was still stupid money, but I feel I've done the right thing thanks to all of you.
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Are you doing the Niagara area also? I think you would quite enjoy Niagara on the Lake, lots of quaint shops.
We are. We were going to spend the night there, but the only flight I could get the next day to Orlando was early in the morning, so now we're going to be staying the night at Buffalo Airport. I've always wanted to visit Toronto and Niagara Falls. I first started making plans to fly out there back in the late 1990s, but it didn't work out. Finally, this year we get to do it!
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I had no idea there was any public transport over to the Port Lands (yes, we are seeing Luzia), we'll have to look into that.
We were going to spend the night there, but the only flight I could get the next day to Orlando was early in the morning, so now we're going to be staying the night at Buffalo Airport. I've always wanted to visit Toronto and Niagara Falls. I first started making plans to fly out there back in the late 1990s, but it didn't work out. Finally, this year we get to do it! 
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