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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Yep, AoA is where we stayed on the last WDW trip I made. In the Little Mermaid rooms, which were strongly themed even inside the rooms ... but not overwhelmingly so, IMO (and I'm not especially a Little Mermaid fan).
Although modern designs can be a great renovation for any hotel, Disney might be the 1 exception to that. I do like the no-carpet, but i'm not so crazy about all of the wooden fixtures. Maybe because its Pop Century, they should have added more color and theme to the interior design. It looks kind of blah now. . .
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Lauren°o°
. . .channeling my sweet inner Disney Princess
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Although modern designs can be a great renovation for any hotel, Disney might be the 1 exception to that. I do like the no-carpet, but i'm not so crazy about all of the wooden fixtures. Maybe because its Pop Century, they should have added more color and theme to the interior design. It looks kind of blah now. . .
I think they may have not over themed the rooms with the rdo as they may be going away from the pop century them and eventually turn into a more classic version of art of animation. Pop Century was good concept however with Art of Animation just across from it it doesn't really fit well anymore.
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You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it takes people to make the dream a reality.
- Walt Disney
.......for those that tend to complain about "noises from above" (heavy footed guests in the room on the floor upstairs)......I foresee an increase in those complaints due to the hard-surface flooring
......and .....I'd predict an increase in the number of "slip-n-fall" lawsuits that Disney will be answering from rooms like these.....
.....makes you wonder about who's steering the boat these days
.......for those that tend to complain about "noises from above" (heavy footed guests in the room on the floor upstairs)......I foresee an increase in those complaints due to the hard-surface flooring
......and .....I'd predict an increase in the number of "slip-n-fall" lawsuits that Disney will be answering from rooms like these.....
.....makes you wonder about who's steering the boat these days
That was my biggest concern with the hard surface flooring. When my kids were younger, I have no doubt there would have been numerous slip & fall incidents while staying at Pop. Most of my kids have never enjoyed walking around barefoot when they were younger so they wore socks most of the time. I can easily see them slipping and falling in these rooms when they were younger. And I can also see a huge issues when returning from the pools dripping wet...water all over the floor from the door back to the bathroom/changing area. And now there are wooden bed frames/platforms to hit on your way down to the floor.
Reports I've read have been mixed about the noise issue. Some people staying at YC, CRS, & Pop have said it's louder and some have said they haven't noticed a difference. I think it's all going to depend on the people occupying the rooms.
I think we'll probably stick to a suite at AoA for the next few trips, but I will be keeping an eye on things at Pop to see if there are issues with people slipping and falling on those floors and noise. And I know they're putting these floors in every resort room that's getting a refurbishment, so it will be unavoidable eventually.
That was my biggest concern with the hard surface flooring. When my kids were younger, I have no doubt there would have been numerous slip & fall incidents while staying at Pop. Most of my kids have never enjoyed walking around barefoot when they were younger so they wore socks most of the time. I can easily see them slipping and falling in these rooms when they were younger. And I can also see a huge issues when returning from the pools dripping wet...water all over the floor from the door back to the bathroom/changing area. And now there are wooden bed frames/platforms to hit on your way down to the floor.
Reports I've read have been mixed about the noise issue. Some people staying at YC, CRS, & Pop have said it's louder and some have said they haven't noticed a difference. I think it's all going to depend on the people occupying the rooms.
I think we'll probably stick to a suite at AoA for the next few trips, but I will be keeping an eye on things at Pop to see if there are issues with people slipping and falling on those floors and noise. And I know they're putting these floors in every resort room that's getting a refurbishment, so it will be unavoidable eventually.
I don't think it's hard wood or laminate flooring. I believe it's vinyl plank ( hard to tell it's not wood!) that has rubber underlay. The surface is mat, not slippery. Even with socks. We put this product in our basement Rec room after we had a flood and the laminate lifted.
Any noise you would hear if parents allow their kids to run & jump in the room would be heard with carpet too. It all depends on the level of curtesy of the neighbours.
As for entering a room dripping wet without using pool towel to dry off I think it would be even worse with carpet, with water left sitting in the carpet and that's when you get the wet mouldy smell. At least with hard floor you can just use a towel to mop up water. Of course the simple solution is not to allow the kids to come in room dripping wet.
I don't think it's hard wood or laminate flooring. I believe it's vinyl plank ( hard to tell it's not wood!) that has rubber underlay. The surface is mat, not slippery. Even with socks. We put this product in our basement Rec room after we had a flood and the laminate lifted.
Any noise you would hear if parents allow their kids to run & jump in the room would be heard with carpet too. It all depends on the level of curtesy of the neighbours.
As for entering a room dripping wet without using pool towel to dry off I think it would be even worse with carpet, with water left sitting in the carpet and that's when you get the wet mouldy smell. At least with hard floor you can just use a towel to mop up water. Of course the simple solution is not to allow the kids to come in room dripping wet.
Yep, I agree. Like I said, the noise is going to be dependent on your neighbors for the most part. I never thought it was actual hardwood (though maybe others did). I don't think having it on a basement floor compares to having it on a floor that also doubles as your ceiling (like in a hotel room). I'm mostly curious about the difference in noise from a room above (with courteous neighbors) with the new floors v. carpeting.
Yes, drying off before entering the room is the *simple* solution. I should clarify that my kids were never allowed to come walking in the room dripping wet even with carpeting, but I know we've followed many a family to various rooms at various resorts who dripped a stream of water behind them while walking from the pool to their room. I'm sure it's only a matter of time until some family complains loudly about their child slipping and falling on the floor at one of the refurbished resorts.
For the record, I'm mostly in favor of the new floors -- I think they will be much easier to keep clean and they "class up" the room, but I can see where there are potential issues. I'm not really too concerned about these floors as far as our family goes since our kids are all grown up. But having been to Disney (and other places) with young children on numerous trips, I can see where there are some potential issues. Not everyone has a full load of common sense.
Yep, I agree. Like I said, the noise is going to be dependent on your neighbors for the most part. I never thought it was actual hardwood (though maybe others did). I don't think having it on a basement floor compares to having it on a floor that also doubles as your ceiling (like in a hotel room). I'm mostly curious about the difference in noise from a room above (with courteous neighbors) with the new floors v. carpeting.
Yes, drying off before entering the room is the *simple* solution. I should clarify that my kids were never allowed to come walking in the room dripping wet even with carpeting, but I know we've followed many a family to various rooms at various resorts who dripped a stream of water behind them while walking from the pool to their room. I'm sure it's only a matter of time until some family complains loudly about their child slipping and falling on the floor at one of the refurbished resorts.
For the record, I'm mostly in favor of the new floors -- I think they will be much easier to keep clean and they "class up" the room, but I can see where there are potential issues. I'm not really too concerned about these floors as far as our family goes since our kids are all grown up. But having been to Disney (and other places) with young children on numerous trips, I can see where there are some potential issues. Not everyone has a full load of common sense.
The planks have a layer of rubberized material on the bottom, thickness depending on quality. Being that WDW would no doubt be putting in industrial quality I think the planks would be thick. Even though ours is in the basement, and no, it's not like being on a floor above you, but I've noticed a distinct difference in the acoustics with this flooring. It does have sound deadening qualities. Walking across it very quiet, and room in general sounds less echo-y. The flooring we have is a mat finish, and not at all slippery, even when wet. I think they'll be ok.
I was worried about overhead noise at first too. But I don't think I'll hear any more noise then I would in a carpeted room. Noisy neighbours will be heard carpet or not.
As my cousin always said: Common sense isn't so common
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