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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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So, it is a little (OK, maybe a lot) out of the ordinary for me to be posting here in the DLP forums but, I have a (hopefully) good reason!
DD's school marching band has been invited, and has accepted the invitation, to perform in the London New Year's Day Parade 2016 (and her Wind Ensemble will likely be performing in a concert during that week as well)! She will be in the middle of her first year in high school at the time of travel and we are now in major fundraising mode with the school for her portion of the trip.
So, knowing that she is headed over the pond . . . I am trying to get together an idea of costs and logistics of getting myself, DH and DS over there as well! While it is definitely not written in stone (and likely won't be for some time), I am SO hoping we can make it work! I have exactly 1 year and 9 months until travel time so keep your fingers crossed for us! (Chez, I will likely be picking your brain on the London portion of the trip as time goes on. I also plan on getting the DLP book soon to read through that.)
DD will likely have to stay with the band group for the most part while there and would not be able to join us but I have been looking into the rest of the family heading over to DLP for a couple of days. I am very good at planning vacations stateside, but this one is completely beyond my comfort zone, planning wise!
1. We can go from London via Eurostar, correct? If so, does it let off in Paris and we'd take another train out to Marne-la-Vallee or does it go directly there?
2. While I would absolutely LOVE to stay at the Disneyland Hotel, we would be going on somewhat of a budget but still not wanting to go completely cheap. Which of the mid-range Disneyland Paris resort hotels would you recommend? Are there any "Partner" hotels that you can recommend?
3. We would want to spend one full day in each park. Knowing this is New Year's week, will they more than likely be super, super crowded like the US parks get at that time? (is that a dumb question? )
4. I noticed that Disneyland offers an add-on to the packages where they provide Paris tours. Has anyone done one of those or know much about them? Would we be better off taking a train into Paris and touring on our own?
I am sure I will come up with more questions as time goes on (in fact, I KNOW I will have more) but these are the ones on the top of my head right now. Thanks in advance for the answers!
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.
We may be around New Year's Day for 2016 (obviously still a way off ) so we may have to go up and see her - and you guys of course!
Ok, to answer your questions...
1. We can go from London via Eurostar, correct? If so, does it let off in Paris and we'd take another train out to Marne-la-Vallee or does it go directly there?
You can take a direct Eurostar train from London St. Pancras to Marne-la-Vallee. It may be more expensive (especially at Christmas time) that going to Paris, so if that's out of your budget, you can go to Gare du Nord in Paris and catch the train over to Marne-la-Vallee, but if the budget will stretch, a direct train is definitely the way to go!
2. While I would absolutely LOVE to stay at the Disneyland Hotel, we would be going on somewhat of a budget but still not wanting to go completely cheap. Which of the mid-range Disneyland Paris resort hotels would you recommend? Are there any "Partner" hotels that you can recommend?
I can't help with mid-range DLP hotels, as outside of the Disneyland Hotel, the only one we've stayed at is the Newport Bay Club and we were not impressed with it for the money we paid for it. We stayed at the Dream Castle and that was a wonderful experience - we loved our stay there. If money's an issue, think about hotels near some of the RER stations further up the line. Ok, so you can't nip back easily during the day (and it will cost you train fare to do that), but we've stayed in the Hotel e'Elysee at Val d'Europe (one stop away) and the Golden Tulip at Bussy-St-Georges (two stops away) and found both fine for the money we paid - they were pretty cheap and the rooms were clean and the locations great.
3. We would want to spend one full day in each park. Knowing this is New Year's week, will they more than likely be super, super crowded like the US parks get at that time? (is that a dumb question? )
It will be super crowded then - I've never been, but I know it's a peak period for the British to visit. A lot of schools will go back just after New Year, so I don't know whether you could visit after 1 January? I guess not, but that might be a bit quieter and a bit cheaper...
4. I noticed that Disneyland offers an add-on to the packages where they provide Paris tours. Has anyone done one of those or know much about them? Would we be better off taking a train into Paris and touring on our own?
I can't help you with that, but to be honest, I'd take the RER (line A) into Paris. One of the stops is Chatelet les Halles (a short walk to the Notre Dame cathedral), a massive station where you can connect to other RER lines (that's the express train) and Metro lines. It's a long walk to some bits of it, but it's all well signposted. Another stop is Charles de Gaulle-Etoile (we were just there Saturday night! ) and that's right by the Arc de Triomphe.
Chez has already answered your questions so I'll just add my two cents here and there
2. While I would absolutely LOVE to stay at the Disneyland Hotel, we would be going on somewhat of a budget but still not wanting to go completely cheap. Which of the mid-range Disneyland Paris resort hotels would you recommend? Are there any "Partner" hotels that you can recommend?
I've stayed at Disney's Hotel New York and loved it. It is a deluxe resort, though, and might still be too pricey. Other than that, I like Sequoia Lodge, although it's not up to par with moderate resorts at WDW. Honestly, though, I've also stayed at Disney's cheapest hotel (Hotel Santa Fe) and was totally fine with it.
Personally, I'd try to go with a Disney hotel on-site, especially if this is your first-time visit. It's just so much easier to be within walking distance of everything!
3. We would want to spend one full day in each park. Knowing this is New Year's week, will they more than likely be super, super crowded like the US parks get at that time?
Yep, yeah, yes - it will be super SUPER crowded. Sorry
4. I noticed that Disneyland offers an add-on to the packages where they provide Paris tours. Has anyone done one of those or know much about them? Would we be better off taking a train into Paris and touring on our own?
When I was at DLP with my best friend last spring, my friend went on one of Disney's tours by herself. She liked it - it was the one that basically only provides transport directly from DLP to the center of Paris and back. You can also book a "real" sightseeing tour which I did waaaaaay back in 1996. It was great and I loved it! The tour hasn't changed much since and is still the best way to see all the major sights in a short period of time.
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.
We have not stayed at the DL hotel...but we did stay at the Magic Circus which was a partner hotel. It was very nice and well-themed.
It is, of course, themed for children. But it is well done and we all enjoyed it. Included breakfast which was quite nice. There is a shuttle to the park throughout the day.
Enjoy!!!
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While it is definitely not written in stone (and likely won't be for some time), I am SO hoping we can make it work! I have exactly 1 year and 9 months until travel time so keep your fingers crossed for us! 
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