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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Hey!! We were able to get a Grand Villa at Kidani for our extended family trip in October!! I'm so excited; I think we checked all week at the availability at several resorts, especially Boardwalk:frownalas, all GV taken.. They also had availability at Jambo, but we really like the bedroom/sleeper sofa setup at Kidani, plus the quieter atmosphere around the resort. We are waitlisted for Bay Lake Tower, so that might come through for a split stay, possibly. We can't wait!! This will be our first stay at a Grand Villa.
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Disney Trips: BLT & Poly Bungalow 2016, VGF 2015, Fantasy 2015, Saratoga Springs Resort 2014, Grand Villa at VGF 2013, Fantasy 2013, BWV and Kidani Village 2011, BWV and Kidani Village 2010, BWV and Saratoga Springs Resort 2008,Beach Club Villas 2008,Villas at Wilderness Lodge 2006, BWV 2006, BCV 2005, HHI 2004,Polynesian 2003,Grand Floridian 2000/concierge, Honeymoon at Polynesian 1994,Polynesian 1980,Polynesian 1978
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Sue
Congrats We have always found BW impossible to get into for a whole week ....crazy haven't stayed in a GV at Kidani but did stay in a SV 2 BDR before and really enjoyed it, have fun !!!
Hey!! We were able to get a Grand Villa at Kidani for our extended family trip in October!! I'm so excited; I think we checked all week at the availability at several resorts, especially Boardwalk:frownalas, all GV taken.. They also had availability at Jambo, but we really like the bedroom/sleeper sofa setup at Kidani, plus the quieter atmosphere around the resort. We are waitlisted for Bay Lake Tower, so that might come through for a split stay, possibly. We can't wait!! This will be our first stay at a Grand Villa.
I think it is only fair to warn you -- Grand Villas are addicting! During early December 2011, we did a split stay at OKW and BLT-MK view (4 days each)... After that trip, it was pretty hard to imagine staying anywhere else.
Now we have another GV booked for 4 nights at VGC for our upcoming trip in May. We're having both of our families join us.
Gotta love DVC! Congratulations on your booking -- I know you will just love it.
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"Esprits et fantômes sur vos fièrs destriers, Escortez dans la nuit la belle fiancée." -- Madame Leota in Phantom Manor, DL Paris
Thanks everyone I knew I could share my excitement with all of you. Brad, what did you think of Bay Lake Tower? Their GV looks pretty darn awesome. Was it worth splitting your stay for it? We've been very lucky with hassle free split-stays; it's been nice starting at a busier resort and then finishing up somewhere quieter. I'm hoping my sister's family will be okay with moving half-way through the trip.
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Disney Trips: BLT & Poly Bungalow 2016, VGF 2015, Fantasy 2015, Saratoga Springs Resort 2014, Grand Villa at VGF 2013, Fantasy 2013, BWV and Kidani Village 2011, BWV and Kidani Village 2010, BWV and Saratoga Springs Resort 2008,Beach Club Villas 2008,Villas at Wilderness Lodge 2006, BWV 2006, BCV 2005, HHI 2004,Polynesian 2003,Grand Floridian 2000/concierge, Honeymoon at Polynesian 1994,Polynesian 1980,Polynesian 1978
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Sue
Last edited by Cinderbrella; 03-28-2013 at 05:10 PM..
Brad, what did you think of Bay Lake Tower? Their GV looks pretty darn awesome. Was it worth splitting your stay for it? We've been very lucky with hassle free split-stays; it's been nice starting at a busier resort and then finishing up somewhere quieter. I'm hoping my sister's family will be okay with moving half-way through the trip.
The BLT GV was pretty amazing, I have to say. We watched the fireworks from our living room 2 of the 4 nights (and one night we were in the park for MVMCP). And we also really enjoyed our stay in the GV at OKW. First of all, it was absolutely huge. [Strange as it is to say... after staying first in the GV at OKW, the GV at BLT was noticably smaller; it was still more than plenty of space for our group, but the difference was noticable.] And second, we loved the peacefulness of the OKW resort much more than we anticipated. We were skeptical, but are now firm believers in the fact OKW is Disney's best kept secret.
To be 100% honest, it was a bit of a hassle to deal with switching. I am glad we did it, as we saved a bucket load of points by staying those 4 days at OKW, but splitting our stay will not be the first choice going forward. I don't want to make it sound like it was a huge deal, because it wasn't... But we really enjoy settling into one place and really make it our "home base" during our Disney trips.
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"Esprits et fantômes sur vos fièrs destriers, Escortez dans la nuit la belle fiancée." -- Madame Leota in Phantom Manor, DL Paris
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Thanks, Brad. I appreciate your input. OKW was booked several days that we needed, so we weren't able to try it this time around. We love the two bedrooms at Kidani because of their size and theming. Looking forward to the Grand Villa there. I know what you mean about sticker shock:Eekn the points for BLT. You're definitely paying for location, location, location. If we get in there we'll have access to so many choices. I'm going to talk the split stay over with my sister this weekend to see if they're up to it. It is nice to just settle in and not have to go anywhere else.
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Disney Trips: BLT & Poly Bungalow 2016, VGF 2015, Fantasy 2015, Saratoga Springs Resort 2014, Grand Villa at VGF 2013, Fantasy 2013, BWV and Kidani Village 2011, BWV and Kidani Village 2010, BWV and Saratoga Springs Resort 2008,Beach Club Villas 2008,Villas at Wilderness Lodge 2006, BWV 2006, BCV 2005, HHI 2004,Polynesian 2003,Grand Floridian 2000/concierge, Honeymoon at Polynesian 1994,Polynesian 1980,Polynesian 1978
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Sue
Congrats on getting the GV at Kidanai. We would love to stay at a GV someday, but would definitely need to add on first BLT and Kidani are our two fave DVC resorts so far (we've yet to stay at all of them)
As to split stays, we have done them frequently, and quite enjoy them
IMO, it would be great to do a split stay at Kidani and BLT, and we have done this and were very happy. Is it a bit of a hassle? Well, more than staying at just one resort of course! However, we don't find it too troublesome, and the experience of staying at 2 awesome resorts far outweighs any minor inconvenience we have experienced.
Either way, you can't go wrong though! Have fun with the rest of your planning
Sure you will love the GV at Kidani. We did our first DVC stay in one and it was beautiful. We were pleasantly surprised by the sleeper sofa upstairs between the two bedrooms as it was nice to use that area and keep the living room free.
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We're so Looking forward to October!!
Hey!! We were able to get a Grand Villa at Kidani for our extended family trip in October!! 
alas, all GV taken.
. They also had availability at Jambo, but we really like the bedroom/sleeper sofa setup at Kidani, plus the quieter atmosphere around the resort. We are waitlisted for Bay Lake Tower, so that might come through for a split stay, possibly. We can't wait!! This will be our first stay at a Grand Villa.
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During early December 2011, we did a split stay at OKW and BLT-MK view (4 days each)... After that trip, it was pretty hard to imagine staying anywhere else. 
I knew I could share my excitement with all of you. Brad, what did you think of Bay Lake Tower? Their GV looks pretty darn awesome. Was it worth splitting your stay for it? We've been very lucky with hassle free split-stays; it's been nice starting at a busier resort and then finishing up somewhere quieter. I'm hoping my sister's family will be okay with moving half-way through the trip.
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