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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 are going on our first trip to DisneyWorld! So very excited. 26 day countdown. We stay 6/22 through 6/29. My DH is not a Disney, crowd, or Florida heat fan so I am traveling with my Sister-in-Law, and my 2 children DS age 7 and DD age 12 (she will turn 13 while we are there). I am 44 and have spent one-day at age 14 in Magic Kindgom so really this is a first trip for us all. Originally I booked a room-0nly at POR-Royal Room. When summer discounts came out I switched to WL-Courtyard view for about $200 more. Tickets were purchased through Undercover Tourist and I've already got FP+ booked and ADRs for dining. So I am debating on room switch. For 7 nights I am thinking we will be cramped at WL. My SIL will have her own bed and me and DD will share, and I was going to take an air mattress for my DS. I am looking at BC Resort b/c of the wonderful pool and daybed for about $700 more for the week. Or for about $400 more we could stay at AoA family suite and have much more space. We have PH passes so I almost hate to lose the boat to MK at WL if I switch. I know anywhere will be great and we will be so excited, but just want to make the best choice to be the most comfortable. I've heard AoA has bad Wifi and cell service but the pool looks great. BC has best pool probably and slide too. Any thoughts or ideas?
Oh I should add that we have 5 day tickets and will do MK twice, EP, HS, and AK one day each. We might add a 6th day if it looks like we'd want to do that. We plan to go one day to Harry Potter World at US (on 6/27).
Rooms at WL are smaller than those in some of the Moderates. It's a lovely resort, but with with an air mattress being used, I'd seriously consider the switch to BC which has the daybed.
Stormalong Bay pool is wild, a mini water park. Your kids are at perfect ages to go nuts over it.
Btw, most people find there isn't a lot to do in HS, not enough to justify a full day there. Another reason why I'd consider if I were you switching to BC to spend a half day at HS and the rest for pool time.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
Thanks so much @Her Dotness! I appreciate very much your opinion. I just watched a video of the Stormalong Bay on Youtube and I am thinking the same thing about the pool and waterslide! It looks so fun!! My daughter would love it. My son is a bit more timid about those things so far but there are plenty of places for him to play in the shallow ends. The BC rooms are bigger than WL as far as square feet? Do you know if all of the rooms at BC standard rooms have the extra daybed or twin sleeper?
Do you know if all of the rooms at BC standard rooms have the extra daybed or twin sleeper?
We stayed in a standard BC room three years ago and didn't have the extra bed. However, I don't know if some standard rooms do have the extra bed. If that's the case, I would put it as a request (it won't be guaranteed) when you book the room.
If you want to stick w/ a moderate, I believe Caribbean Beach and Port Orleans (not sure if it's POR or POFQ) have the rooms w/ 2 queen beds and the fold-down murphy bed. You and the DD have one queen, the SIL has the other queen, and the DS has the fold-down.
However, at this late date, you may have to take what you can get!
BTW, if you do change your room reservation, you might lose your FP+'s. There's another thread around here about that happening to someone. You have to call Disney IT to get it fixed if it happens. The thread might be in the Using Disney Tech section.
I believe POR in the AB section has the 2 queen and 1 pull down murphy bed. That would probably work nicely for you. And you have the added enjoyment of taking the boat to downtown disney.
I don't know your finances, $700 is a big jump in price to switch to WL. You could fit an air mattress in WL, but it would take up a lot of real estate.
No, not all rooms at BC have daybed. You would have to request it.
AoA, one adult would get the king bed, perhaps you & daughter since you're sharing a bed. Then SIL & son would have pull outs in living room. I don't know how SIL will feel about a pull out?
Both Port Orleans Riverside & Caribbean Beach (moderates) as mentioned have some rooms with Murphy Beds, again you'd have to request it because with 4 people they wouldn't be guaranteed, and treated as a request. Pref. is given to families of 5. And with last minute changes, there may not be any availability.
I'm going to disagree with Dot!! With kids your age there are a lot of shows at DHS they would enjoy, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, Indiana Jones, Frozen singalong if they're still running it, Fantasmic, etc Plus the regular attractions. And Animation Academy. All this takes a lot of time to get in. So you could spend most of the day there depending on how much you wanted to see.
Some also feel ANimal Kingdom is a half day park. I could spend 2 days there. It's really an individual thing.
I would highly recommend picking up a guide book. 2 I think are very helpful are Passporter, and WDW, The Unofficial Guide. The Unofficial Guide also has a web site called Touringplans.com. It has a lot of good tips on how to tour the parks and minimize waits. The order that you go to attractions makes all the difference. And getting to the parks 30-45min before park opening also makes a difference. All of this is outlined in The Unofficial Guide.
Passporter has lots of info on what the attractions are like and what age they are suitable for, lots of dining info, great park maps, and resort info.
Sometimes you can find these books in the library. But I'd purchase them to bring with you.
I would say moving from WL sounds like a good idea considering the space. I'd agreed POR could be a lot of fun, though I can't comment on the murphy bed as I've never stayed in a room with one. The pool there is a good pool for kids though.
You may already know your kids' opinions on what attractions they would like to do, but you might look at getting the Walt Disney World 2015 Birnbaum for Kids. I used the read these when my parents started letting me help with planning. The books are written towards kids which may appeal to them better than a full Birnbaum. Now I haven't read one in close to 10 years, but when I looked on amazon they were running about $19 and seemed very similar to what they used to put out.
For me, which resort I stay at reflects which I think is a good room for the money Disney is asking. Personally, I would rather stay in a moderate than WL. I actually think the moderate rooms seem bigger. I think the layout in WL and AKL is not the best use of space and both seemed crowded to me. I would check out the floor plans on allears net. Also if I were going for space, I would go to the contemporary or a vacation club resort. Just finished a split stay at SSR and OKW. We had a studio for DD and I at SSR and then switched to a one bedroom when DS and DDin law and their eleven month old joined us. I chose OKW because the villas are big. I think it was fine for 4 adults and I loved having a full size washer and dryer. Also I felt the bathroom set up made it easier for all of us to share one bath. One person could shower, the baby could be in the bath and someone could also use the sink in the tub part of the bath.
Also, why do you have PH is you do not plan to PH. It is a relatively expensive option and if this is your one and only trip, you may be better off with more days and no hopping. Hopping takes a bit of time. Also Disney is a lot of walking. If you kids aren't used to it, they may be worm out mid day. I learned the hard way, when the kids get tired, call it a day.
I used to think MK was the best park but this last trip I have decided I much prefer AK and Epcot. DHS remains a half day park to me.
There are bunk bed rooms available at WL, would you and SiL be comfortable sharing, giving each kid a bunk? Just a thought. I love WL and think $200 to upgrade is a good deal. Not sure if $700 to upgrade to BC would be worth it, although I love BC.
My two cents would be for AoA. The theming of the resort is so perfect for kids, plus you get the benefit of two bathrooms (that is HUGE). The bedroom does not have a king, I believe it is a queen. I would give that to your SIL, put DS on the pull out sofa, and you and your DD can share the full sized murphy bed. We stayed in the Nemo building and it was great. Close to the food court and a great pool. Also, you don't have to share buses
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