Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
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04-23-2005, 07:00 PM
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#1
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Community Rank: Jetsetter
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 2,576
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Desperately needing rooming advice and/or sanity! long
Ok here is the situation...we'd hoped to spend a week at Disney for our annversary, but then were hit by unexpected taxes as self-employeds who underestimated.
So our current solution to keep our trip special is to go down later, book into Disney the day before our anniversary in the nicest room we can afford, do Epcot (our fav) on our anniversary w/ a fireworks cruise, enjoy resort specialness all day the next day (though we'll be checking out)and then move into a 2 bedroom condo. Found a great condo, highly rated, for $275 for the week, so we'll stay there using Magic Plus options and probably 2 more Disney days.
Rather than 7 days we now get 10, more relaxation but less Disney resort...seemed like a good enough trade off to me. Were all set to book into POFQ until I got a good look at the room pics on AllEars and didn't like them at all (loved outside, but not the rooms), so then we were going for POR in the mansions but not much privacy, Bayou too rustic....was working on talking DH into CBR, but at moderate level there are no really cool rooms.
Found a special for Concierge level at Swan and Dolphin, which hadn't much been on our radar, but by that time I was madly in love with the Turretted honeymoon suite at GF. I've tried EVERYTHING to talk myself out of it...by saving on the fireworks cruise, I think I can get the room diff to $600 total for the 2 nights. I think the romance and awe factor might be worth that, but my practical side says a concierge level with view of Epcot is nothing to sneeze at. In order to take advantage of the Honeymoon Suite, I'd have to make up the room diff with some of an inheritance I received from my grandma (had earmarked it for travel anyway but probably for our 5 year anniversary next year).
I'm losing objectivity, hubby says if it means that much just book it, and best friend is out of town. I am turning to you all for help....please be the voice of reason.
I'll have a wonderful time either way...we have a GREAT time together no matter what we are doing, but one of these is a "dream room" and the other is really great in a less interesting hotel to me. I've never stayed in either, can anyone help me out here??
If you read this whole post thanks so much, and pls help!
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04-23-2005, 07:16 PM
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#2
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Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ohio Football Hall Of Fame
Posts: 42,304
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Re: Desperately needing rooming advice and/or sanity! long
I think that if you really want to stay at the Grand Floridian in a turretted suite,than you should!!!! We always stay there and it really is beautiful! Just make sure that you don't mind not taking the fireworks cruise. I say go for it,you may not get the opportunity again!! I would hate for you to not stay there and the regret it your entire trip!!!
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04-23-2005, 09:28 PM
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#3
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Community Rank: Jetsetter
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 2,576
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Re: Desperately needing rooming advice and/or sanity! long
OH MY GOODNESS I BOOKED IT!! I called the Swan and Dolphin to reserve the discount rate and no Concierge rooms were available. I was terrified we wouldn't be able to get any nice room with the MNSHP and the Food and Wine Festival all going on so I called and I booked the TURRET!!!
I am so nervous I am shaking, but I am glad I did it.
Thanks for the post Lori!!
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04-23-2005, 09:40 PM
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#4
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Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ohio Football Hall Of Fame
Posts: 42,304
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Re: Desperately needing rooming advice and/or sanity! long
It was meant to be Courtney!!! You really won't regret it!!
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04-23-2005, 10:18 PM
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#5
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Community Rank: Sightseer
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: New England
Posts: 83
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Re: Desperately needing rooming advice and/or sanity! long
Good for you! For the record, I still regret not staying on-site at WDW on my honeymoon! (Almost 15 years later...)
Best wishes!
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04-24-2005, 08:42 AM
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#6
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Community Rank: Scout
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 4,488
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Re: Desperately needing rooming advice and/or sanity! long
I think you would have ended up kicking yourself if you hadn't booked the GF!
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04-24-2005, 09:27 AM
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#7
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Community Rank: Traveler
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: North Dakota
Posts: 358
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Re: Desperately needing rooming advice and/or sanity! long
[ QUOTE ]
I think you would have ended up kicking yourself if you hadn't booked the GF!
[/ QUOTE ]
DEFINITELY! Good choice!
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04-24-2005, 09:31 AM
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#8
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: NC
Posts: 12,270
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Re: Desperately needing rooming advice and/or sanity! long
Glad you made the choice that made you the happiest (I think it was a wise choice myself )
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04-24-2005, 10:11 AM
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#9
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Community Rank: Legend
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Michigan's Upper Peninsula
Posts: 27,691
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Re: Desperately needing rooming advice and/or sanity! long
That's great! You will definitely love it!
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04-24-2005, 10:29 AM
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#10
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Community Rank: Legend
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Edmonton, KY
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 17,823
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Re: Desperately needing rooming advice and/or sanity! long
I think it was meant to be that you're to stay in the Turret, since there was no concierge at the Swan/Dolphin. Congrats!
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04-24-2005, 05:42 PM
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#11
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Community Rank: Jetsetter
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Rock Creek, Ohio USA
Posts: 2,530
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Re: Desperately needing rooming advice and/or sanity! long
Definitely meant to be! How romantic!
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04-25-2005, 08:54 AM
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#12
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Community Rank: Sightseer
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 56
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Re: Desperately needing rooming advice and/or sanity! long
Excellent!! Don't second guess yourself and enjoy the great accomodations!!
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04-25-2005, 02:10 PM
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#13
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Community Rank: Scout
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Northern Ohio
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 4,426
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Re: Desperately needing rooming advice and/or sanity! long
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04-25-2005, 08:19 PM
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#14
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Community Rank: Jetsetter
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
Posts: 2,858
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Re: Desperately needing rooming advice and/or sanity! long
Courtney,
you made the right choice. You will spend more time in your room then you would have spent on the cruise. If your husband agreed, you're in the clear. He may not be as willing by your 10th! (just kidding!!)
Did you pay in full or just put down a deposit? Use the 6 months you have left to try to get the room rate down. Do you have an AP? (It looks like you've been recently.) Continue checking back to see if the rate changes. Check out mousesavers for discount codes.
Have Fun!!!
Amy H
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