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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 will be arriving at the Beach Club for a 3 night stay the week following Labor Day. I have a lot of misc. questions to ask about the resort and I hope some experienced Beach Club goers can help.
Stormalong Bay: When we arrive, we want to go swimming until our room is ready. Will guest services hold our valuables?
I read on a post that you have to exit the pool area to go to the pool slide and I thought that you had to have your room key with you in order to enter the pool area, so how do they handle that?
When we stayed at the Boardwalk Villas, I remember reading that Beach & Yacht Club guests were able to swim at the Lunar Park Pool. Was that only because during that time Stormalong Bay's slide was under repair? Or is that a standing invitation for some reason.
Are there sand toys?
Restaurants:Beaches and Cream's theme is a definite appeal to me and my DD, however, when we were at Boardwalk a few years back, everytime we walked over to the Beach Club, there was a horrendous line out the door for Beaches. That's a turn off to me. Do they take reservations? Is there a less busy hour - I'm flexible!
Hurricane Hanna's - Are you able to bring your food/drinks into the pool area?
Rooms: We have 3 adults and 1 child in our party. We are going to request a room with a daybed as well as the 2 queens. Has anyone had good/bad experiences with this. We won't be too disappointed if it doesn't happen. In the past, I have a requested room close to transportation for my ailing father at POR - granted - as well as - room close to smoking exit at BWV for my DH - granted also - both very excellently, I might add!
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BC is a great choice. I can't answer all of your questions, but here is a start.
When you want to use the pool area, you walk past a "guard." This person checks your KTTW card for resort and date. If you are indeed a hotel guest they issue a wristband. With the band, you are good to go for the day. Every day is a different color, so this needs to be repeated everyday.
The band is held on by that tape that you cannot reseal, so there is not supposed to be a way to "share" bands or pass it to another person.
Beaches and Cream is very busy, and it does not accept reservations. It is worth it though. The burgers are awesome (and so is the ice cream).
The daybed is really just a couch (in my opinion). The bottom cushon is one piece, and the cover comes off to reveal sheets and a blanket. It was fine for our son (at 10 years old), but I don't think it is really big enough for an adult.
I hope that is a start. . . By the way, you are going to love BC.
We will be arriving at the Beach Club for a 3 night stay the week following Labor Day. I have a lot of misc. questions to ask about the resort and I hope some experienced Beach Club goers can help.
Stormalong Bay: When we arrive, we want to go swimming until our room is ready. Will guest services hold our valuables? Yes, bell service will
I read on a post that you have to exit the pool area to go to the pool slide and I thought that you had to have your room key with you in order to enter the pool area, so how do they handle that? You get a wrist band
When we stayed at the Boardwalk Villas, I remember reading that Beach & Yacht Club guests were able to swim at the Lunar Park Pool. Was that only because during that time Stormalong Bay's slide was under repair? Or is that a standing invitation for some reason. no, it was just because SAB slide was down
Are there sand toys? I think you can get the kids meal in a pail
Restaurants:Beaches and Cream's theme is a definite appeal to me and my DD, however, when we were at Boardwalk a few years back, everytime we walked over to the Beach Club, there was a horrendous line out the door for Beaches. That's a turn off to me. Do they take reservations? Is there a less busy hour - I'm flexible! no reservations, you can try during off times
Hurricane Hanna's - Are you able to bring your food/drinks into the pool area? not sure, but they have a seating area. I know that no food or drink are allowed next to any pool, but you could prob eat at your chairs away from pool.
Rooms: We have 3 adults and 1 child in our party. We are going to request a room with a daybed as well as the 2 queens. Has anyone had good/bad experiences with this. We won't be too disappointed if it doesn't happen. In the past, I have a requested room close to transportation for my ailing father at POR - granted - as well as - room close to smoking exit at BWV for my DH - granted also - both very excellently, I might add!
You can request, but as with any WDW resort, nothing is guaranteed
I think most of your questions have been answered. With Beaches and Cream, I'd try mid-afternoon or just after opening, which I seem to remember is 11am, although check the opening times in your PassPorter just to be sure.
There are no sand toys provided at Stormalong Bay, you may find some that other guests have left behind but if you really want some I would probably pack a few things from the dollar store that you don't mind leaving behind. (Less expensive than buying them there and then you don't have to worry about sand in your suitcase on the way home!)
I know there was a letter in our room once that guests could use the pool at BW due to some maintenance issues but unless you're a DVC member, I don't think BC guests are normally allowed to "pool-hop" to BW, although there was no one at BW checking resort ids.
I agree with mid-afternoon for Beaches & Cream, we've been there between the lunch and dinner hours (probably about 2-3 pm) and there's been less of a wait. There are tables around Hurricane Hanna's if you want to eat there but we've also brought the food back to our lounge chairs. Sometimes we were able to sit on the edge of the pool with a drink, other times lifeguards have told us it's not allowed so that seems to vary by lifeguard.
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We went to the BCV in April and I believe the use of the Boardwalk pool was only because of the repairs being done at the BC. We could have gone during our first day, (wish we had), but after that the pool area was fixed so we got to enjoy the BC pool anyway!
We also lucked out that our room was ready. I think we checked in around 11:30.
You are going to love the Beach Club!
I guess we lucked out, we went to Beaches and Cream around 12:00 on Sunday, April 15th and there was no line, got right in, and had a booth. There was also another family from our plane that got a table as well. The food was amazing. I especially liked the grilled chicken sandwich.
We were there the week following Labor Day last year and that to me is the best time, the pool was never crowded since it is technically the slow season.
We went to Beaches and Cream twice and we didn't have a wait either time, we did go at off times however I think during peak season you would have a hard time at anytime but since your not I think if you plan for a 20/30 minute wait I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
Yes Hurricane Hannah's serves children's meals in a sand bucket with a shovel, by mid day there are a lot of them floating in the children's area that I'm sure your DD won't have a problem using one.
Beach/Yacht Club is our favorite and Stormalong Bay is wonderful, have a great trip.
You are going at a great time - it will be MUCH less crowded and plenty hot to enjoy the pool area.
Yes, bell services will hold your luggage until your room is ready.
You will need to show your key to a person at the gate/entrance to Stormalong Bay. They will then put wristbands (paperish type) on each member of your party. The color changes daily; this is how they know you are staying at the resort and can use the pool.
Use of BW pool is only when Stormalong Bay is being refurb'd.
The kids meals at Hurricane Hannas are served in a sand pail with shovel. There are usually a few left scattered around in the sand. You need to bring any other sand toys you want. Yes, you can take the food to the pool - just not poolside (meaning you can't sit on the side of the pool with your feet in the water with your drinks or food - in lounge chairs by the pool is fine)
Beaches and Cream is great. No, they don't take reservations, but if you are willing to sit at the counter the wait is usually less. Me and my two DD did this at spring break for dinner 3 or 4 nights and had no problem. they loved it. I also asked the hostess what times are usually less busy. At that time of year, she said between 4-6 for dinner, so that is what we did. A few times people were waiting for tables, but we were able to go straight in and sit at the counter. The girls actually told me they liked the counter better. On the nights we had to wait, they had hula hoops out for the girls - which was fun.
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