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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I prefer the location of WL much much more. AKL is great too though, but I dont think I would spend the money to stay there unless I was staying in a savannah view room. =) Good Luck!
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We've been debating this as well, and hope to stay at both (on different trips) we went with WL first because of the construction at AKL, and will stay there on our next deluxe trip.
We had this same dilemma and ended up booking WL. The theming of both looks to be excellent, but no one in my family is really all that into animals. Plus, the location of WL is excellent. I'm a huge fan of the "American Northwest" style, so I'm really looking forward to WL.
I think I would like to try AKL one day as it does look to be REALLY nice, but when taking the other 7 people in my group into consideration, WL won out easily. I'd be happy either way, though.
Just got back from WL last night. The lodge is gorgeous. It was so easy and fast to get to MK on the ferry. My 6-year old loved the pool and activities. We watched the fireworks from MK every night from our balcony. We were able to go back and forth to MK in no time at all!
I'd love to see giraffes from the balcony- but the fireworks were amazing.
I don't think you can go wrong with either. For convenience, the WL would be my vote! Hope this helps.
Melanie
We spent the money on AKL, but only for the animals. We are those that feel that we don't spend much time in our room, so as long as it's clean and comfy, other things (price, location, etc) factor into it. Next time, we'll probably chose something more central, so that none of the parks is too far away. I didn't like the time it took to get to some of them from AKL, but WL is the same way, just in the other far corner.
If I had to choose between those two, I'd go with AKL, for the giraffes and zebras and all.
Like some said, though. If you plan to spend more time in MK, that may give the edge to WL (though I really like AK - and when we take our next cruise, we'll have one day for a park visit and it may end up being AK)
This is a tough one for me, and one I'm toying with , too. For proximity and convenience I'd choose WL. But man, for theming... AKL is awesome.
It was a decision we had to make as well. DH really wanted to stay at AKL and have a savanna view. I thought that would be neat as well but I wasn't so keen on being so far from the other parks. Since we are going with our two kids (both under 4) I wanted something that could be easy access to MK since that is where we will probably spend most of our time. And be easy access to monorail (since WL is just a boat ride from the Contemporary where we can catch a monorail to TTC and then to EPCOT) as well.
We ended up picking WL and I don't think we will be sorry we chose it. I know that the kids would have loved seeing the animals but we plan to go to AKL on day to see the animals anyway (and to also check out the resort).
AKL all the way. I understand the argument for proximity with WL (and again I live in an area that looks like WL), but we've stayed at AKL several times and the transportation, to me, is no more inconvenient than having to change transportation at the TTC. The kids we've travelled with were all about the animals.
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My 2 favorite resorts. I don't think you can go wrong with either! My kids love to harass each other b/c I stayed with only one of them at each resort. Like 'Haha, you've never stayed at WL' and then the other counters 'Well, I've stayed at AKL and you haven't. Haha!'
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*~*Tina
Picking up our Brasilian exchange student at the a/p
We love WL The theming is very impressive, plus travel to the parks, the other MK area resorts, and Ft. Wilderness is very convenient! DH, DS, and DD keep asking to go back
We had breakfast at Boma at AKL - That resort is too far away from the action for our tastes, but I know others love it . . .
Well, as much as I really like WL, my choice would have to be AKL! The views, the animals, the wonderful zero entry pool, the wonderful restaurants, and the atmosphere of the whole place is hard to beat. It is like another vacation in addition to WDW. Honestly, I haven't stayed anywhere at WDW that I didn't like for one reason or another but AKL is one of our very favorites!!
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The theming is very impressive, plus travel to the parks, the other MK area resorts, and Ft. Wilderness is very convenient! DH, DS, and DD keep asking to go back 
ANGIE
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