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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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[quote=Disney Franatic;1191062]Since we are not staying at a Disney Resort this time, but are staying in a DTD hotel, I've checked this site out already myself.
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I've never stayed "off-site" and was thinking of giving this resort a try.
I have always stayed at the disney resorts so I don't have any advice on staying off property. All I know is that everytime I try to save money on vacation, I always wished that I would have paid the little bit more and stayed where I really wanted to stay.
Good Luck!
I too have learned the hard way. Save, wait a few extra months
if you have too, but stay where you really want to stay. Nothing
is worse than being on vacation & thinking "I wish I booked the ______."
We are booked for our first trip to a Moderate Disney resort CB for the end of the month. At the last moment, when looking at off site properties, I almost cancelled our reservations for one of the downtown disney hotels. It got decent reviews and the cost was less than half. There was still access to the busses at DTD and walking distance to more food choices. The big give ups seemed to be the ME transportation, but I think I could have found out if the hotel offered transportation from the airport, and the extended Magic Hours. On the Majic Hours, I felt that we wouldnt lose much, because MK is closed early for the NSSHP and there are no late nights for Epcot during our stay. I brought it up with my DF (Disney Fiancee'? lol we are celebrating our engagement) and he said NO. I was surprised because he has never even been to Disney and it took a little arm twisting to get him to agree to go. He reasoned its not a huge amount of money at the end of the day, and what if it turns out to be a motel bates...lol I still think I want to try an OS hotel again. The first time I went though it was with a friend who had a family member with a time share, and the time share was first class.
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I have stayed at the Regal Sun Resort (formerly the Grosveno) and the DoubleTree Suites at DTD previously. The DoubleTree is a bit of a hike to DTD as it's on the far end; however, the rooms are quite nice...and they're suites. We did pretty well & had a high tower room facing DTD at the Regal Sun, so that was nice; the property is OK & the location it as close to DTD as you can get. We usually skipped the hotel bus and took the bus from DTD wherever we were headed.
As for pricing, it really depends upon the time of year you're going & what deals everyone has running. For instance, I checked the DTD as well as Disney hotels for our upcoming trip & found that we could stay at POFQ for as much or less than the DTD hotels. I say check them all & then make your decision based upon price, amenities & location, as well as how immersed in the Disney experience you really want to be.
My in-laws stayed at the Doubletree last year and loved it. We will be staying there one night in June. I have always had great luck with Doubletree Hotels.
We just finished a stay at the Lake Buena Vista Resort (Best Western). It was not our favorite. We had problems at check-in with the room we booked. It wasn't available because they said they gave it to someone who wanted it and was staying 8 or 9 nights; our stay was shorter so they just moved us and gave it to them the room because it had two beds and ours would only have one. Problem was, our room was supposed to be a handicapped room with a roll-in shower. My mother couldn't get in the bath tub in the other room. Not a nice surprise. And a major problem for us. There were other little things such as the coffee pot was missing when we got to the room and they brought us a broken coffee pot! Someone kept calling our room in the middle of the night, speaking another language and we couldn't seem to prevent that from happening. 5 to 7 pizza flyers were shoved under our door each day. We were also missing $40 and, since we write down every cent we send, we believe someone at the hotel took it - we found too late the safe was broken and didn't really lock. All in all, the great money saving venture didn't save money and we missed the extras Disney offers. To us, it's not worth it to stay offsite anymore!
We are looking to stay at this hotel for two nights because we didn't see disney resort hotels having two night packages.
Biggest concern, transportation is the issue to/fr this hotel to Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.
Also my sister and I will be on a disney package in december and are thinking of upgrading our pass to an annual pass since we are looking at going back for the Holiday Inn trip.
hello..i am going for a trip to disney and i want to stay for 5 days...please can anyone provide me complete information about downtown disney resorts.
When looking for a place to stay for a WDW vacation, consider the benefits of staying on site at a Disney-owned resort: extra magic hours in the parks, free parking at the parks and transportation around WDW, free Magical Express from/to the Orlando airport, ability to charge to your room and to purchase a dining plan (or take advantage of free dining if offered).
The Disney Springs hotels are not Disney-owned, so you don't get most of these benefits, but many people enjoy staying there, especially if they are going to visit other attractions in the area or are looking for a lower priced but still nice room near all the action.
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