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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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WooHoo for getting AKL-Kidani Village! That is my absolute favorite resort! Getting great ideas is one of my reasons for joining this sight. We constantly learn from each other.
I am very excited to be staying there. I know my kids will love it. I know it's kind of far away from the parks but I kind of like that.
I love Passporter! If it wasn't for these boards I would've never have thought of renting points. There are a couple of other ideas I've gotten here that I'm planning to use for my trip. Passporter Boards and Pinterest are my best weapons.
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Originally Posted by mojjo
Congrats on getting AKL. Can't wait to hear the rest of the plans.
Thanks!
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Originally Posted by TuffyCO
I had to sign in and follow your PTR, because your title is similar to the one I had last year for our April trip at AKV's!
Great start, glad you were able to book the DVC using rental points. You will love AKV-Kidani! AKV's is our home resort and we love to stay there. It is such an amazing resort.
Funny about the title. I looked for some titles for this trip on the internet as I wanted it to go with the theme of the resort. I was actually going to use another title, "Bungle in the Jungle", but when I looked up the definition of bungle I didn't like it that much. Besides, there's a song titled this way and the lyrics are not to good either.
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Originally Posted by KMB733
Sorry you had to cancel the first time around, but glad it all worked out and you'll be able to go to Disney in June!!
Cancelling our October trip was a bummer. But in the end it worked out for the better.
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Originally Posted by JKnott17
I love how a canceled trip turned into staying deluxe at the AKV!
Yeah right? You should try it some time.
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Originally Posted by melduckie
Congrats on getting into AKL and selling it to the hubby!!!
Thanks! I think I should get a job as a sales person. Who am I kidding, my hubby is easy to convince. I didn't even have to torture him.
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Originally Posted by lauriep
Great solution to the resort dilemma! Kidani is a beautiful resort and having the kitchen is great, even if you just use it for breakfasts.
I'm planning on using the kitchen quite a bit, especially for breakfast. What sold it to my husband was having our own room.
Let me start with the transportation part of our trip. I started looking at flights since September, I think. First for DL and then for WDW. My preferred carriers were Jetblue and Southwest. Well these airlines apparently didn't want me to travel inexpensively and both were giving me prices in the high $1,700's. I know it's not thaaat bad but still the price was a little steep for my liking.
I was avoiding Spirit like the plague because I've travelled with them before and didn't like them. And besides, they charge you for everything . Well out of curiosity I priced our trip and it was $1,031.90 round trip for the 5 of us. $206.38 rt per person, that's a pretty good deal if you ask me. Even after factoring in the cost of luggage and seat assignments (more on that later), we still came out winning. I told my husband and he was all for it, so I booked. I decided to pay for the seat assignments because I have nightmares of my family being split up on the plane. I know my 2 youngest would have a nervous breakdown if that happened. Who am I kidding, my husband would have one too. It was $150 extra for that so no biggie. If I had flown SW I would've paid for EBCI anyways.
Here is our flight itinerary:
Monday June 2: Aguadilla, PR (BQN) - Fort Lauderdale (FLL) 3:10 am - 5:37 am / FLL - MCO 7:45 am - 8:44 am
Friday June 13: MCO - FLL 9:02 pm - 10:01 pm / FLL - BQN 11:50 pm - 2:16 am
We do have stops but I've done that before, when the kids were younger and they did great. Now that they're older I suppose there won't be any problems. What I like about the flights is that they get us to Orlando very early, giving us an entire day of fun and it leaves pretty late, which also leaves us with almost a full day of fun. And the other thing is that we fly out of our local airport which is only 25 minutes from my house and since it's a small airport, it isn't busy at all.
I'll be using Disney transportation again. Arben doesn't want to be driving and last time the buses worked great for us. I know AKL is kind of far away from the rest of the world but I'm hoping everything will be fine.
Now on to the tickets. Well, we have none. But don't worry, we aren't going to spend 12 days at the resort with nothing to do. I am planning to purcahse our tickets probably through Undercover Tourist, as I like their prices better.
My kids are insisting on visiting the waterparks. I don't like waterparks and if you read my 2011 TR you know that when we visited Aquatica, I spent almost the whole day at the kiddie section. Yes, I'm a whimp. But since they've never been to BB or TL, I feel bad about saying no to them. Besides, on our last trip I did promise them that next trip we'd visit the waterparks. So I guess Daddy will be going down lots of slides while Mommy will be working on her tan. Oh, the things you do for your kids!
So my plans are to purchase 8 day PH with the WP & more option. This gives us a couple of free days, which the hubs insists on having. If it were up to me I'd go to a park everyday. But he needs his rest and who am I to argue with that.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Great price on the flights!!!! I haven't been able to get them that low in quite a while! The days of rest sound good and you are at the perfect resort for that! we stayed at Jambo house last summer and really loved it - it was so peaceful! Not sure how the pool at Kidani is but I loved the pool at jambo because no matter where I sat I could see Emily while she was in the pool. The Mara food court at jambo is really yummy too! the flatbread was delicious!!!!!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
Your tickets sound perfect. You will get 8 days at the water parks or DQ with the WP&M option, so you will definitely have plenty to do. My DH and the kids really liked the wave pool at TL. It is crazy good fun. DH and DS also checked out DQ and found it to be pretty fun as well. Lots of options for non park days. Can't wait to hear about the rest of your plans!
Great deal on the flights! I think the bus transportation from AKL is actually pretty good because you don't stop at other resorts. There are the two AKL stops and then off to the parks, so I think that makes up for being a bit far from MK and Epcot.
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Good deal on your flights! I think you will be fine using the buses from AKL as we've had pretty good luck with each of our stays there (and we've never had a car).
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Getting great ideas is one of my reasons for joining this sight. We constantly learn from each other. 
and both were giving me prices in the high $1,700's. 
. Well out of curiosity I priced our trip and it was $1,031.90 round trip for the 5 of us. $206.38 rt per person, that's a pretty good deal if you ask me. 
I don't like waterparks 
Yes, I'm a whimp. But since they've never been to BB or TL, I feel bad about saying no to them. Besides, on our last trip I did promise them that next trip we'd visit the waterparks. 
So I guess Daddy will be going down lots of slides while Mommy will be working on her tan. 
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