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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 are cruising next October and plan on flying in night before. I have heard about people staying at the Hyatt at the airport and taking a bus to the ship. Has anyone done this?
I have a few years ago and plan to do it again this June. Last time they has all of us go to one of their banquet rooms and a Disney rep helped us from there. When I called this time to ask them she said that we just go down to the Disney counter in the airport and check in there. They should be open about 8:30-9:00am. We will be at WDW before but will travel back to the airport to stay at the Hyatt because they take you to the ship so much sooner. Last March we stayed at Pop and did not get to the ship untill almost 2:30pm
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The Hyatt at MCO can't be beat in terms of convenience. We are booked there again before our next cruise. Our TA got us the pre-pay price including free breakfast for two but without pre-paying!
For those hotels that do it, each certificate is a certain dollar amount, applicable to a stay. There are reverse auction web sites that auction these off. Essentially, folks pay to participate in the auction (a certain amount per bid entered). The auction site purchases the certificates at face value (or something close to it - maybe they get a discount to reflect the promotional value), and makes a profit because overall, people spend more to participate in the auction than the item is worth.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
You can get a Stay Certificate, but before you buy it, call the hotel and make sure your date is accepting them. They only take a certain number of them and some nights may be blacked out.
I have seen them on the Hyatt website to purchase. They are a set fee for the room for the night.
We stayed the night before our cruise in October 2011; it was a great start and gets you off to the ship about as quick as you could want. The only complaint I have is that the pool liner was coming up and made walking in the pool uncomfortable.
We used lastminutetravel.com for a better than rack rate deal. Search for a 4 Star in the airport area, you can tell it is the Hyatt by the pictures of the pool.
We've stayed there a couple of times. For us it's the best way to go! We land about midday and just walk up to our room. We kill time wandering through all the shops and swimming until dinner time. We have a young son and he's always pretty tired after the day traveling and swimming so at that point we've always gotten room service and enjoyed the food out on the balcony overlooking the fountain! Then DH heads out for a beer at the sports bar in the airport and my son and I go to bed so we can get up bright and early and pack our day bag. You leave your bags inside your room and the hotel gets them to DCL for you, so no schlepping bags around! You check in before you get on the DCL transportation so before we even left the airport we had our key to the world cards and boarding #2. I'm sure there are cheaper options and I'm sure we're crazy for not watching our budget better but we see it as part of the vacation... it's so easy and so convenient and that means more relaxing, less worrying, less waiting in lines, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Onkel Hans
We stayed the night before our cruise in October 2011; it was a great start and gets you off to the ship about as quick as you could want. The only complaint I have is that the pool liner was coming up and made walking in the pool uncomfortable.
We were there in August '11 and there were huge bubbles in the pool liner. So I guess they don't exactly jump on the problem ASAP, lol.
We did this too for our Western cruise a few years ago, it was great. If we aren't adding a WDW vacation before hand , I would do this!
The hotel is nice. The night before you put out your luggage and DCL picks it up and in the morning you head down to the DCL desk, check in and get on the bus. Very convenient.
We stayed there last Sept. before of cruise on the Dream. I just loved the convenience of spending the night there. plus, they deliverd our luggage to the ship and printed our DCL boarding passes in the airport.
We've stayed there a couple of times. For us it's the best way to go!
I definitely agree! We will definitely stay there again for any cruises from PC. The excellent service and facilities were good preparations for being on the ship--the bell services guy was out of this world, walking us through what we needed to do the next morning and suggesting things to do the night before.
We were there in August '11 and there were huge bubbles in the pool liner. So I guess they don't exactly jump on the problem ASAP, lol.[/QUOTE]
I would say the pool liner was about 80% up when we went. It was still a fabulous pool area, with unforgettable views of the runways.
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