Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
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09-04-2003, 10:22 PM
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#1
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Community Rank: Adventurer 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 617
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What Will Become of Old Vacation Villas....
I was wondering what Disney will do with the old vacation villas they built in the 70's along and near the golf courses and Lake Buena Vista...these were the ones originally called, Fairway Villas, Treehouse Villas, Vacation Villas and Club Villas (they went through a few more name changes over the years and then lastly were called the Villas at the Disney Institute). I know they are no longer taking bookings for them and didn't know if they would be incorporated into Saratoga Springs, rehabbed completely for something else, torn down or what? Does anyone know? Also, does anyone know what will become of Carousel of Progress? Is it closed for good. I heard it was being moved to California. It was one of my favorites!
Lynne
[img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]
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09-04-2003, 10:27 PM
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#2
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Community Rank: Navigator 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Chester County, PA
Posts: 6,404
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Re: What Will Become of Old Vacation Villas....
Most of that will become the latest Disney Vacation Club Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa (opening Spring 2004). They're using some of the buildings for storage now.
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09-05-2003, 02:32 AM
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#3
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PassPorter Message Board Manager
 PassPorter Guide Author
Community Rank: Legend VIP 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Maidstone, Kent, UK
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 190,285
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Re: What Will Become of Old Vacation Villas....
I'm not aware Carousel of Progress has closed for good - it was open over the Summer and I had assumed it would open again for Thanksgiving and then Christmas / New Year, unless anyone else has heard differently?
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Sponsored links
Check out the many e-books by PassPorter. The e-books are free to download if you have a PassPorter's Club pass.
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09-05-2003, 04:54 PM
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#4
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Community Rank: Trekker 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Columbus Ohio USA
Posts: 1,902
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Re: What Will Become of Old Vacation Villas....
Sometimes I wish the Imagineers would use their "imagination" and come up with creative ways to recycle old rides into new tech ones instead of just trashing them. How hard could it be to come up with a new carousel of progress setting even if it wasn't strickly speaking a "carousel" and didn't rotate. Maybe they could have cars like the TTA move around various scenes. The scenes themselves could be updated with better anamatronics and stuff. Some purists would probably be upset by this, but it seems a good idea to me.
And while I am on the subject, why does Disney let areas like the 20,000 Leagues under the sea Lagoon lie empty for years? Such valuable real estate you would think could be used for something, a Mermaid ride, a Nemo ride or whatever. And even Figment's ride lost of all of that upstairs area when they used to have the playground.
Grumble, grumble.
Suzie
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09-06-2003, 12:19 AM
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#5
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Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Ann Arbor, MI USA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 14,427
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Re: What Will Become of Old Vacation Villas....
The old Townhouses and Bungalows at the Disney Institute have all been demolished to make room for Saratoga Springs (a much larger project now than when it was first announced). While the Fairway Villas, Grand Villas and Treehouse Villas are still standing, they've all been adopted for various "internal" uses by WDW (overflow housing for International and College Program cast members is one report I've heard). Most of these villas were rehabbed by Disney over the past two years, but there don't seem to be any plans to make them available to the public in the forseeable future.
I hadn't heard of CoP being moved to California. That would be odd, considering that DL's own CoP was removed to create their version of Innoventions. As far as I know, Disney will keep CoP rotating in Orlando on a "seasonal" basis until its mechanical systems fail. The most plausible explanation I've heard from an insider is that the motors, bearings and systems that turn the carousel are on their last legs, and that Disney has decided the cost of custom-built replacements (the originals are no longer manufactured) is too high.
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09-06-2003, 02:15 PM
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#6
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Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 617
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Re: What Will Become of Old Vacation Villas....
I totally agree with you Suzie and like your ideas! What a waste to have 20,000 Leagues vacant. Surely there must be something they can come up with in that "water area"...even if only something on top of the water if it couldn't be under the water. While I realize Disney needs to "keep up with it's competitors", some of the old favorites shouldn't be forgotten and should be updated somehow. I've been a Disney World fan since my first visit in 72, and am always sad to learn when attractions close for good. It always seems like my favorites are trashed. (I really miss "Horizons" even though Mission: Space sounds great too). I'm not sure if I like the so-called rumors about what may happen inside Spaceship Earth. That will be interesting to see what happens.
Lynne
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09-06-2003, 02:16 PM
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#7
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Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 617
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Re: What Will Become of Old Vacation Villas....
I totally agree with you Suzie and like your ideas! What a waste to have 20,000 Leagues vacant. Surely there must be something they can come up with in that "water area"...even if only something on top of the water if it couldn't be under the water. While I realize Disney needs to "keep up with it's competitors", some of the old favorites shouldn't be forgotten and should be updated somehow. I've been a Disney World fan since my first visit in 72, and am always sad to learn when attractions close for good. It always seems like my favorites are trashed. (I really miss "Horizons" even though Mission: Space sounds great too). I'm not sure if I like the so-called rumors about what may happen inside Spaceship Earth. That will be interesting to see what happens.
Lynne
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