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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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As much as I love Disney sometimes I have to let my DH have a relaxing break, he works very hard and sometimes just needs to rest. We wanted to go somewhere warm for our January break little did we know when we booked it how cold this winter would be for Winnipeg.
We finally decided on the Iberostar Paraiso Maya hotel in Riviera Maya Mexico for 10 nights. It is an all inclusive hotel with a total of 5 hotels on the complex as well as a shopping mall and convention centre. The guests at the Maya were allowed to visit or eat at any of the other hotels on the complex with the exception of the Grand which was couples only. It was extremely large but that was ok for us as we wanted to do lots of walking around and not go off site very much.
Cast of characters:
Me, 49 lover of Disney and huge Tigger fan.
DH 48 puts up with my Disney obsession, just wanted to get away.
Left January 27 returned to the freezing cold Feb 6th.
For this trip report I am going to do it by theme rather than by day as there is only so much you can say about a beach vacation.
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We left Winnipeg at 6:00 am where the weather was -28 with a windchill of -40 and arrived in Mexico at 11:00 am to sunny skies and a nice temperature of 28 C.
We got past all the time share people and found our bus for the resort, we waited about 20 mins and then we were off to the resort, we were the first stop and it only took us about 25 mins so not to bad.
We checked in and received our bracelets, our room was not ready so we left our suitcases and went to find lunch and explore the resort. Also they provided us with a welcome drink not sure what it was but it was good.
We came back to the lobby at 3 and got the keys to our room, grabbed our suitcases and then the bell boys drove us via golf cart to our room, the bell boy took our luggage up for us. We gave him a nice tip and unpacked as we had to be back to the lobby at 4 for our welcome orientation.
A word about tipping at all inclusive resorts, you do not have to tip but we still prefer to, the staff work 6 days a week, 13 to 14 hour days and boy they work hard. We figure if we can afford to travel we can afford to tip, we did see lots of people not tipping while we were there and they were treated just as nice as we were.
Now for pictures of the room:
The fridge was stocked daily with drinks. The water in the restaurants was safe to drink as it was treated, the tap water in the room was good for brushing your teeth but not drinking. I still used the bottled water for brushing my teeth.
We had a corner room so our balcony continued around the corner. The room was quite large and we had free wifi. They came in daily to clean and part way thru the trip we also started receiving turn down service. We always left a 50 peso tip around $4 cad per day.
Sounds perfect for this cold winter!!!! The room looks nice! And I LOVE that hammock on the balcony!!! I can see myself sitting in that with my Ipad reading PP, with a margarita!!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
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Sounds perfect for this cold winter!!!! The room looks nice! And I LOVE that hammock on the balcony!!! I can see myself sitting in that with my Ipad reading PP, with a margarita!!
It was nice sitting in the hammock, wish I had room for one at home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
That temperature change was quite drastic! Wow! Your room looks lovely, too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a lovely room and what an amazing change in temperature. I bet it was lovely to arrive to that.
The temperature was wonderful, not so good now that we are back.
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This was definitely the winter to go south! Your room looks wonderful. Love the tile touches and spacious feel. What was your view from the balcony? I have just the same attitude towards tipping that you do. People who work in those resorts are usually working long, hard hours for little pay. If I can afford to vacation there I can afford to leave them a tip.
This was definitely the winter to go south! Your room looks wonderful. Love the tile touches and spacious feel. What was your view from the balcony? I have just the same attitude towards tipping that you do. People who work in those resorts are usually working long, hard hours for little pay. If I can afford to vacation there I can afford to leave them a tip.
It sure was coldest winter I can remember, and so much snow, I think we will have snow until late April. The room was huge which was nice in the late afternoon to relax before getting ready for dinner. Our balcony view was of the adults only resort next store.
The resort was huge we spent a lot of time wandering our own section which was 5 buildings, 3 stories tall and 432 rooms. We shared the pools with the Lindo section and could dine at their restaurants, but because our resort was considered higher end they could not eat at our restaurants. We also spent time walking to Del Mar and Beach sections again they shared pool areas and had separate restaurants. In total the 4 resorts had 1690 rooms. We never really felt to crowded and especially when walking around you didn't really see too many people.
Now for some pictures around the resort.
View of the front of hotel.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
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Your room looks lovely, too!
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