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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 want to hear all about The Contemporary Resort. We are booked for November 2008 - the 25th - Dec. 1 - so we will be there for Thanksgiving and hopefully MVMCP!!
This will be our first stay in a Deluxe. We are booked in a Garden Wing, Garden View room. I am very excited!
I want to know everything you guys can tell me about the resort! What are the rooms like, what's your favorite thing about this resort - etc etc...
And when I put in a room request- what should I request?? We would like the shortest walk possible to the Monorail as we'll be traveling with a 5 year old, 4 year old, and a 1 year old.
What about holiday decor?? What's it like??
We've been there plenty of times - CHef Mickey's for breakfast - but we've never explored the resort!!
Heather
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Heather "You want your picture taken with me don't you? Of course you do!"
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I had never read that article and I must say that I'm impressed! I never really had a desire to stay at the Contemporary (at least compared to the other deluxes) but she makes it sound amazing! Maybe we'll have to give it a try sometime.
That article makes me want a Tower Room - lol! I've seen pictures of the view and I'm in love - lol! But just getting into the Garden Wing was a major stretch for us - lol - so upgrading is out!! Wouldn't it be nice if we got there and they said oh, we are upgrading you guys to a Tower MK View Room!! - LOL! One can dream right??
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Heather "You want your picture taken with me don't you? Of course you do!"
The Contemporary is actually in a state of change right now - not only with the construction of the (likely DVC) building next to the main one, but the Concourse Steakhouse won't any longer be there. Fantasia is no longer there, Disney just started building a free-standing shop in the center of the lovely large Grand Canyon Concourse! I have photos of the construction that just started here (at the bottom of the page): MouseSteps - 8/16 Spaceship Earth and Contemporary Construction (lots to see in and out of the resort!)
A lot of what is going on should be done by the time you get there (I know that the CR is running behind on some projects, but most or all inside should be done by then). The gift shop and lobby should be complete this year. Not sure on the Chef Mickeys expansion/The Wave restaurant add-on, that will take a lot longer. The food and fun center (though the fun is long gone anyway, the fun has moved to the 4th floor - and definitely NOT as fun as before! ) should be closing in a couple of weeks - it was supposed to be already closed.
I miss the Food and Fun Center the way it was - I first went to Disney when I was about 11, definitely for the 5th birthday of the Magic Kingdom. The F/F Center was one of my favorite places to hang out on our yearly trips.
I can tell you it is expensive and my sister loved it for a honeymoon hotel. We pass through all the time but have never stayed at the resort. Have fun!
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Melanie
June 1985-off site/March 2004- Pop & OKW
Aug. 2004- Hurricane Charlie POR & FWCG/July 2005- Grand Villa OKW
Feb. 2006-Pop/Feb. 2007- AS Music, WL, AS Movies
Sept. 2011- Disney Med Cruise
I can tell you it is expensive and my sister loved it for a honeymoon hotel. We pass through all the time but have never stayed at the resort. Have fun!
It is actually the least expensive monorail resort (the starting rates are still very reasonable). I don't know that that will be long-term, since they are re-doing the hotel to be more upscale (and possibly partly DVC).
Hmmm - very interesting about the changes - hopefully it will be all finished when we get there!!
What about a room request?? My biggest concern is walking from the monorail to the room with two very sleepy kids. The baby will be no big deal, she'll be in the stroller. But you know - we are only two adults and in the past, we have carried two sleeping boys from the parking lot to our room (at other resorts) but we are giving up our rental car to stay here so we will be using the monorail a lot - and I'm concerned that two adults can not pack three kids very far if they are dead weight asleep! LOL!
Who knows how they will be this time through - they are older - so it's hard to predict. They are 5 and 4 now - and the baby will be 14 months. I just want to request a room that is the shortest walk!!
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The problem with your closeness to the monorail room scenario is that theoretically, you'll only be using the monorail to get to Epcot and Magic Kingdom. You'll still have to take WDW transportation (read: busses) to the Animal Kingdom and MGM. So either way, walking is going to be the rule, rather than the exception.
Since the North Wing was demolished, the shortest walk to the monorail and the buses is from the Tower. But there are some South Wing rooms that are closer to the Tower, so check the PassPorter map of the resort for the buildings closest and request those.
I've found over the years that the sooner I place your requests on my file, the more likely I am to get them fulfilled (this was especially important to me before they had a separate category for Magic Kingdom view).
And when you call Disney Travel, chat up the CM about your trip and that you'd love a Tower room but really can't afford it and sometimes they can work a little Disney Magic. If that doesn't work, it never hurts to do the same with the CM when you check-in, I've been upgraded before by doing that.
As you can tell from my article, I just love the Contemporary. The new decor is soothing and restful and the beds are heavenly. However, there are several furniture surfaces now that are about child-head high and some have sharp corners - just something to be aware of.
The Christmas decorations at the resorts aren't as lavish as they used to be, but it's still magically Disney.
You'll have a wonderful trip and I hope you enjoy the Contemporary. Good luck, too, with getting an upgrade to the Tower.
Yeah, I'm concerned about the walking. It's not bad during the day, but nights are what is hard when the kids are tired. We usually end our evenings in either MK or Epcot - so most nights we'll be coming from the monorail to the room. So, I do need to figure out which rooms are closest to the Tower so I can request that.
I totally am not going to count on an upgrade - I'm thinking since we are there Thanksgiving Week and not checking in until Tuesday - then I imagine the Tower Rooms will be booked up!!
Christmas Decor - I can't remember it at The Contemporary - but the decor at The Polynesian is GORGEOUS. My first year back to work teaching, we are doing The Polynesian - Concierge the week before Christmas!! It's going to be my going back to work after having three kids celebration!!!
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Heather "You want your picture taken with me don't you? Of course you do!"
I totally am not going to count on an upgrade - I'm thinking since we are there Thanksgiving Week and not checking in until Tuesday - then I imagine the Tower Rooms will be booked up!!
Christmas Decor - I can't remember it at The Contemporary - but the decor at The Polynesian is GORGEOUS. My first year back to work teaching, we are doing The Polynesian - Concierge the week before Christmas!! It's going to be my going back to work after having three kids celebration!!!
It is definitely good not to expect an upgrade. Having worked at the Disney Reservation Center in the past - the CM's there have absolutely no power on what room you are going to get. However, if you have an anniversary or birthday, that is a good thing to have on the reservation (the room assigner has the power, and that sometimes helps). Of course, if there are no rooms, there aren't rooms. That week isn't always the busiest - the CR is a convention hotel, and T'giving week isn't a big convention week! So, you never know. But I never expect anything, there are a lot of guests now who hear about free upgrades, and expect them.
What I personally would do, is to ask the reservation agent to note that you want to be as close to the main building as possible. It doesn't hurt to fax a request at 5 days prior to arrival, and to mention it at check-in as well. If it's important to you, it's something to follow up on.
A lot of the resorts aren't as decorative as they have been in the past, the Wilderness Lodge definitely has lessened their decorations. Fort Wilderness is my favorite, because a lot of the RV'ers and campers there go all out with the decorations. I don't know what will happen with the CR this year - new lobby, maybe new decorations?
That is a great tip - thank you so much. I just went and looked at the price to move us to the Tower and it's not do-able for us. I don't mind walking, I'd just like to minimize it as much as possible at night with sleepy children. I don't have any requests on my reservation now, so I'll go and add that in about being as close to the main building as possible. Thanks for the suggestion!!
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Heather "You want your picture taken with me don't you? Of course you do!"
That is a great tip - thank you so much. I just went and looked at the price to move us to the Tower and it's not do-able for us. I don't mind walking, I'd just like to minimize it as much as possible at night with sleepy children. I don't have any requests on my reservation now, so I'll go and add that in about being as close to the main building as possible. Thanks for the suggestion!!
You are welcome! It is better to have a non-specific request - like if you say "I want room 2012", then that is harder to get than to say "close to the main building". There are quite a few rooms that are fairly close, so it allows you a better shot at a closer room.
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