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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I need advice from Disneyland experts. My budget is shrinking due to the fact that we have not sold our house yet and I had expected to be close to it being gone. I can't get over the cost of tickets at DL, so I have been contemplating which route to take. I was planning three days and getting park hoppers, but for 3 of us I am looking at 750 bucks. (My girls and I can do 8 days with park hoppers at WDW for 1100) Do I bump it down to two days and no park hopper and just hope we get everything we want to see in? My cousin is a teacher in California, so she was looking to see what kind of prices she can find on tickets, but I don't think she is having any luck.
I have my list of must do's that aren't at WDW and things that WDW has but are different in DL. We have never been to CA and I believe the only two things there that are at WDW are ToT and Soarin and my youngest DD is not going to miss ToT.
I don't want to scrap the trip, but I just don't know which way to go. We will still go to California to visit family, but I hate to be that close and not take my girls.
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I don't know what your budget is, but a 2 day pass for 3 is 510 and a 3 day - non hopper is 660. I have only purchased a hopper once for one day only. Usually I don't because I think I'm just paying the extra money for extra time running between parks. Keep in mind that Disneyland is smaller than MK and CA is about the size of HS so you can cover more ground.
If you end up with 2 days and spend 1 day at each park, make your must do list and any hopefuls and go for it, at least you'll get to go. I would try to go rather than cancelling, even if for one day (hopper for 3 of you) 375 just to hit your absolute favorites and try ones that are not at WDW. Good luck in selling your house.
If money is tight I would go with the 2 one day passes and just plan your days well. When you go to California Adventure head to the Radiator Racers fast pass line asap - its in front of The Bug's Life area and they tend to run out of passes early. That line alone can eat up 2 hours of your time. Toy Story Mania is another one with very long lines so definitely take advantage of fast passes there as well. Be sure to stay to see World of Color at the end of the night.
Disneyland has lots of things to do and will easily take a day as well. Again take advantage of the fast passes.
The other great thing about Disneyland is the proximity to the Downtown Disney area, where there are great shops and restaurants. We love Tortilla Joe's and Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen is a great place for breakfast (yummy beignets). You can leave and return with a one park pass so long as you return to the same park.
We've done it without hoppers, and there is plenty to do in each park without hopping. If you'll only have two days, you'll need to be focused on must dos and I'd skip sit down meals. They take too much time. Costco(local locations)often has discount park hoppers as well as local grocery stores. Worst case scenario, you could do one day and choose one park or a one day park hopper and just hit highlights. Park hours will be long, probably 8 AM-Midnight or 1 AM. Have fun!
California Adventure actually has several attractions that are basically the same as those at Walt Disney World. In addition to the two you mentioned, you could skip It's Tough to be a Bug and Muppet Vision if you've done them a lot at WDW. Toy Story Mania is also the same, and as Pepperjackgirl said it has a long line most of the time, but I wouldn't want to skip it because it is my favorite ride in either park. Voyage of the Little Mermaid is the same ride with a much better queue at WDW, but it tends to have a fast-moving line so it is worth a try if you haven't seen it yet.
You should be able to do the rest of CA in one day, especially if you can get your kids to skip the "Midway" rides that are very short with very long lines and very light theming.
Doing Disneyland Park in a day would be more of a challenge, but you could do it if you prioritize what you really want to do.
I forgot about Toy Story, Its Tough to be a Bug and Muppet Vision. We can skip the latter two, but we love Toy Story. We haven't been back to WDW since the new Fantasyland opened so I know we will want to do Little Mermaid.
We will probably go for the two days no park hopper we are staying two nights, so late nights will be okay. I am still keeping my fingers crossed that my cousin will come across a good deal on tickets. I am going to make this work.
I would personally do a 2 day non-hopper before I would forgo going altogether. Depending on the crowds you may be able to do most everything in 2 days. hey, it's better than nothing.
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Planning a trip to WDW is like planning a wedding... If you expect things to be flawless, you will be sadly disappointed. If you know that there will be less than perfect times & decide to just laugh them off, then you will be excited when you find the magic all around you.
I'm having a similar dilemma but only because my Uncle doesn't want to spend more than two days there and they aren't full days either. I plan on making my top five list for each park and hoping for the best.
Park hopper is only good if you actually intend to go from park to park. Generally in the past this has only happened with my family during one day of a 5 day trip basically 2 1/2 days per park. This time though we are using the ride max planner and will be attempting to hop parks more frequently and optimize our trip to fit the most we can in as this is our last trip to California. My advice is learn which rides you can obtain fastpasses for, i know certain ones are not "connected" to the fast pass system so you can kinda cheet the fastpass system and get more then one. Also if your not wanting to do the parades and shows focus on the More popular rides then and it never hurts to have a smart phone with a wait times program. What ever you choose good luck...
I do more park hopping at Disneyland than the world. Just because of the convenience of walking back and forth from the two parks. I've come to love not getting park hoppers at Disney world...more relaxing for my family. Every family is different!
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