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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 second everyone else's opinion. When we go in July we'regoing all out since this is our first family trip to Disney in 13 years (only our 2nd family trip ever) and our 2nd family vacation in 6 years. However, there are many ways to save money. Like everyone else said, don't book a package. Buy everything seperately - airfare, tickets, room, etc. This will save you a lot of money. You're in NC - would you consider driving down? It's not too far away and you'll save a lot of money on airfare. When it comes to food, I would do all counter service and then maybe 1 or 2 nice sit-down meals for the entire trip. This will save you a lot@
On the drive from NC to Orlando, it really isnt that bad. We drvie it at least twice a year and it takes about nine and a half hours.
Dont forget to check air out of RDU and Greensboro as sometimes you can grab a very good deal from Southwest! Might make the drive to Raleigh worth while.
I think one thing to consider on this particular trip - how much time are you really going to have in the parks. If your child is part of a competive team you will have limited time to go into the parks. I have found this with the several trips we have taken on Cheerleading Compeption trips...they really have so much going on that you have little time to enjoy the parks.
We don't fly (I am way to scared, but that's a different story). We always drive down. And we're getting ready to move to Charlotte next week so we won't be too far from you and we'll still be driving.
Last year my hubby did the gold plan but that was for our honeymoon. He just paid for it throughout the year. Now our most recent trip I paid for...and with a teacher's salary that isn't too easy. It was just DH & I. So like I said we drive down, (takes us 7-8 hours). We didn't do a plan this time so I planned PS's at 3 restaurants (one was for Fantasmic)...the rest we ate either counter service or just snacked. We stayed at POR and I paid for that before we went (I used a discount code and got the room for $85/night). With admission we bought MVMCP tickets (which I paid in advance) so that was our day at MK, and we bought tickets for MGM & Epcot on the same day so we saved like 10 bucks or something. So our entire trip while there: food & admission set us back less than $600.
Now for our Animal Kingdom trip I hope to take next Dec. we are taking some advice I read on here and creating a Disney bank...and every piece of change we aquire is going into the Disney bank. We'll see how much we build up by November....
THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH FOR ALL YOUR HELP, TIME IS GETTING CLOSE BETTER GET LOOKING AND PLANING, I GET HOPE WITH THE LITTLE TIME I HAVE I CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We joined the Vacation Club in 2001, so that's how we afford the stay. Buuuut, you can get good deals on All-Star Resorts and Pop Century (about $105 a night) booking thru Travelocity, as well as directly through Disney. Purchase passes in advance - buy one or two at a time - at the Disney Stores or AAA. Eat 2 meals per day, not 3. If you eat one sit down meal, you won't need the 3rd meal. Just bring snacks to fill in between meals. Buy the mugs from the resort - saves because you can refill for the length of your stay. I have never found packages to be a good value, mostly because of the length of stay pass. We don't hit the parks every day - and those passes expire when you leave. Bringing your own Park Hopper passes allows you to bring them home and have them for the next trip.
We don't book packages. We try to go at least once a year, so we buy APs for the first trip, and make sure we take the second trip within 365 days of the first (i.e., last summer we took our vacation in September, this summer we will take it in May-- plus we were able to squeeze in a parents only weekend) Believe it or not, buying APs for our first trip, cost like $100 more total than the package, but then we got the AP rate for our hotel and we ended up spending alot less than we would have on the package, and for our 2005 trip, all we have to pay for is the room and airfare. We have been lucky enough to get AP rates for first two trips, and right now, have AAA rates for the third. We only do one sit down meal a day, and UPS snacks and cereal (along with diapers and wipes) to the hotel from home. We do counter service for lunch. Our towncar service gives us a free grocery stop where we buy juice boxes and water.
I have just finished planning a trip for four to WDW in May with a budget of less than $3000, including air fare from Dallas, 5-day Park Hopper passes, rental car, pre-flight hotel night, gas, food, parking and spending money. We have a time share exchange, so our lodging expense is minimal, but there are plenty of chain motel properties very close to WDW that you can get for less than $100/night. The Unofficial Guide has a chart with all of the accommodations by area. You'll have a great time whether you stay on-site or not. We always have :-)
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