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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 have reservations at Pop (I have never stayed there). My mom is going with us (party of 3, all the girls) and I thought that she may enjoy POR better. However, we stayed at POFQ once before and the buses stopped at many different stops before actually going to the parks. So I am wondering if we should just stay where we are. We didn't want to spend much on this trip because it was unexpected (my DD is dancing at DS) and we have already had a Disney trip in this year at YC $$$( back in Oct.). This current trip is scheduled near Easter and I was floored at resort prices during this time, even with 25% off deal. For example we are at POP in a Preferred room for $171/ per night! All Star Sports was $179 per night before discount and after discount the cheapest room there is, I think $152! I am still shocked, lol.
I think you'll be fine at Pop. We've stayed at Pop or AoA a total of 6 times (always during June...busy time) and found the bus service to be very good at both resorts. Like others have said, during busy times (park opening and closing), the lines can get really long but they send multiple buses. You can also take the bus back to AoA if that line is shorter or that bus arrives sooner. It's a really pretty walk across the bridge between the resorts, especially at night.
I also agree with the others who have found the bus service at most Deluxe resorts to be very time consuming. We've had our longest waits by far at Deluxe resorts. Some highlights: GF - waited 35 minutes for a bus to DTD/DS; waited 30 minutes for a bus to DHs. Yacht Club - waited 40 minutes for a bus to DTD/DS; waited 35 minutes for a bus to AK. Animal Kingdom Lodge - waited 30 minutes for a bus to AK; 35 minutes for a bus to MK; and our "favorite" <eye roll> waited 50 minutes for a bus to DHS (while 2 or 3 buses arrived for each of the other parks during that time). Our longest wait at Pop or AoA was 20 minutes for a bus to MK. The vast majority of our waits at those resorts were under 10 minutes. There were a few long waits (20-25 minutes) at the end of a night at park closing, but nothing that I wouldn't expect when thousands of people are leaving at the same time. We tend to plan our departure from a park either 30 minutes before park closing or if we stay until closing, we take our time leaving -- browsing through gift shops, sitting on a bench enjoying a drink and people watching, -- so that by the time we get to the bus stop, the lines are short. I will say that one downside to the Pop & AoA buses is that the bus stops are almost always the furthest away from the park entrance when departing.
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I have come to like the resorts that have the Monorail System as an option like Poly and Contemporary. It just is a fun and great option to Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. I suppose other resorts that are smaller with less stops along the way would also be good, but wouldn't that involve more crowding on the buses?
So far, the best bus services I've encountered are at the Values. Have occasionally had a wait for a bus, but overall the best. Now they have a transportation person working out at the stops. DD and I had waited 40minutes for a bus to EPCOT for our early morning dining ressie, the transportation person came over and asked us how long we had been waiting. When I told her that we got in line at 6:45 am-it was now 7:30- and we had 8:15 dining reservations, she immediately radioed for a bus. We were a few minutes late even with that but some of that could be attributed to the fact that my annual pass and fingerprint wouldn't work going through the gate. Slowest bus service went to the Vacation Villas (now Saratoga Springs), but it did service the treehouse villas and the fairway villas, and the bungalows at the time.
Return transportation from Disney Springs (or whatever the incarnation was at that time) has always seemed to be more problematic, I did notice some improvement with the new bus stop area. The old area was small and sometimes had 2 or 3 resorts sharing the same area. However, I always seem to choose the resort with the bus stop farthest away for the return trip from anywhere (didn't matter what category of hotel).
Going to say POP because well I have only stayed at POP, but honestly it is awesome. Not extremely crowded and pretty quick buses. I have never had difficulty at POP.
I prefer the EPCOT resorts. Easy walks to 2 of the parks. Park hopper passes allow you to walk into EPCOT, walk through it, catch the monorail to TTC, and then get to MK. For us, it's often been faster than the buses (we have a now-adult child in a w/c, so waiting for an accessible bus that is not full is sometimes time consuming, especially in busy times).
My second choice would be a monorail resort. Monorail to the MK, Monorail to EPOCT (and then walk or boat to DHS).
We're not AK fans, so that's usually just a 1/2 to 1 day thing.
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Lindsay/Linds, age 16, luver of Disney 
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