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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 have been to WDW several times. I am nuts about it!!! I have never been to DL and have heard very mixed reviews. I want to try it out for myself. Here is the problem, the WDW website is so easy to navigate and understand but everytime I get on the DL website it seems unorganized and all weird... I can never tell what I am doing. And it doesn't seem like they have any decent deals. Is it me? Am I missing something?
WDW and DL are literally worlds apart. That said, I love DL for being "the original" and having some of my favorite oldies (Like Mr Toad's Wild Ride). They have many things that while the same are very different and it is hard not to compare. Both parks have Haunted Mansion, Toy Story, It's A Small World and Fantasmic! just to name a few. Each has their own little spin on it. I would highly suggest going at least once and considering one of their backstage tours.
That said, the websites and resorts are very different. Picture what you know as WDW in the middle of NYC. DL is literally in the middle of a city. There are 3 onsites (all basically deluxe) but unlike WDW, some of the off site hotels are actually closer. You can be offsite and less than a 5 minute walk to park entrance. While there are 2 parks, I consider it similar to Epcot (but bigger), picture the bridge that connects Future World to World Showcase, that is similar to the distance between the two parks. I actually hopped multiple times a day to fit in many shows and take advantage of each parks FastPass system.
WDW and DL are literally worlds apart. That said, I love DL for being "the original" and having some of my favorite oldies (Like Mr Toad's Wild Ride). They have many things that while the same are very different and it is hard not to compare. Both parks have Haunted Mansion, Toy Story, It's A Small World and Fantasmic! just to name a few. Each has their own little spin on it. I would highly suggest going at least once and considering one of their backstage tours.
That said, the websites and resorts are very different. Picture what you know as WDW in the middle of NYC. DL is literally in the middle of a city. There are 3 onsites (all basically deluxe) but unlike WDW, some of the off site hotels are actually closer. You can be offsite and less than a 5 minute walk to park entrance. While there are 2 parks, I consider it similar to Epcot (but bigger), picture the bridge that connects Future World to World Showcase, that is similar to the distance between the two parks. I actually hopped multiple times a day to fit in many shows and take advantage of each parks FastPass system.
Enjoy
This is great info!! I want to go so much, I would love to see the "original". I am definitely going to stay off site, since it is such a size difference. And it sounds like I need to go with a park hopper!! Thanks again. Also, do you know if the rides are as friendly to Pooh sized people? I am afraid that since they are older rides they might not hold bigger folks!
As much as we love WDW, we had a blast when we went to DL last year! One of the best things for us was how close everything was. Never had to rent a car or wait for buses. We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel which was literally across the street from Downtown Disney, so every morning we just walked to the parks. There are similar attractions but with enough differences to keep it interesting. I definitely agree--if you have the opportunity-- GO!
. I am definitely going to stay off site, since it is such a size difference.
DH and I just got back from our trip (my 2nd, his first) to DL last week (we are die-hard WDW junkies!). We stayed at Park Vue Inn, which was literally (I mean LITERALLY) across the street from the entrance to the parks. From the door to our hotel room, at a leisurely pace, to the turnstiles at DL or CA, it was 5 min exactly.
I do not love DL nearly as much as WDW, but I think everyone who loves Disney should see it at least once. Have a great trip!!
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MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
Also, do you know if the rides are as friendly to Pooh sized people? I am afraid that since they are older rides they might not hold bigger folks!
I wouldn't worry about it. Many of the rides are identical ride vehicles to WDW. I think most times it is more my self consciousnesses than the rides themselves. I do wish there was a more graceful looking way to get in and out of some of the boats but again, I think (or hope) people have better things to do than look at me
We took our first trip to DL 3 months ago and loved it. We had a great time. You just can't go into it expecting WDW. First off WDW has 4 parks not including the 2 water parks so there's obviously going to be more to do at WDW compared to DL. We spent 3 days there and had enough time to do what we wanted to get done. There were some things I like about WDW more, some I liked more at DL. DL seemed to have a lot of the 'classic' rides not at WDW like Mr Toad's Wild Ride, Storybook Canal Boats, not to mention the canoes which DS (11) loved! I liked Main St in DL more. It reminded me how Main St was at WDW when I first visited in 1994, complete with a penny arcade where we had a blast playing with all the old machines. There's a definite sense of being in the place where Walt was if that's not too cheesy for you. World of Color is an absolutely amazing show, a definite must see.
Just keep an eye on the DL site and you may find deals like you will at WDW. There were 2 different ones we could apply so we just went with the one that saved us the most money.
I could be wrong, but I think any of the tickets are park hoppers, not like WDW where you have to pay extra for it. Then again we stayed on-site so I'm not sure if that made a difference. If you don't make it out to CA very often, you may want to consider waiting a bit. DCA is very much under construction with walls everywhere.
DLR is my home park. I go every 2 or 3 weeks. I stay off property because I can stay 2-3 nights for the price of 1 night at a Disney hotel. Yes, the quality isn't the same, but it's good enough for me if I can do several more weekend trips a year!
All the parks have their own special things, and I'm lucky enough to go often to the parks on both coasts. DLR I get to spread throughout the year, and WDW I do in big clumps. Any time I need some Disney magic, I can hop in my car. Life is good.
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
I just want to echo what everyone else is saying about the difference in size and that it really is a place that everyone should visit at least once! You really can see and feel Walt Disney's influence in Disneyland park the minute you walk through the gates. Disney California Adventure is a park all its own but while it is somewhat of a mess right now with the construction going on, it should be awesome once the new entrance area is finished and Cars Land opens up next summer!
I have been writing a series of articles on the parks for the PassPorter newsletter over the past few weeks. Here are the first five links and the 6th (and final) article should be in next week's newsletter :
Also, there are deals that pop up from time to time for DL. The deals are usually for the three onsite resorts but you can most times find a better deal with a package at one of the Good Neighbor Hotels.
We adore Walt Disney World and it will always be my favourite of the time, just because of its size, but we also love Disneyland and find ourselves going back time and time again, as it's just so different. We love the way that you can find the touch of Walt all over the place. It's definitely well worth a visit.
We stayed offsite at HoJo's. Loved the hotel but not the walk. With so many places closer, it would have been better for us to stay at one of the places right across the street especially once we had to move out of our park view room and into a standard one when our air conditioner broke. The hotel was very nice about it and all but it would have been nice to be closer. Especially at midnight when DD11 hit whiny mode.
I'm pooh sized and had no problems with the rides I chose to do. I didn't do the big roller coasters though. World of Color was amazing. The Fantasmic dessert experience was wonderful and I would definitely do that again.
Loved the new little mermaid ride. Aladdin was a great show. The whole family loved it.
Definitely get park hoppers. I loved being able to just walk across a plaza to go to DCA.
Because DL is smaller, the crowds were bigger and we felt like sardines sometimes. I think alot of that was due to Star Tours opening and me not researching short cuts because my husband said he knew the area well so I didn't need to. Learned my lesson there - research anyway because he didn't know much of the parks at all! And he didn't go to the parks with us for 2 days. I never did get to do the inside walk thru of Sleeping Beauty's castle which was one of my must do's.
I want to go solo someday if I can stand the long plane flight again. From east coast to west coast is long.
Oh and I learned if you are going to Hollywood and Universal Studios Hollywood, get a hotel by them instead of commuting from Anaheim to Hollywood several times. The traffic was awful.
I only used to DL website to get times for shows and stuff. I looked at message boards to figure other things out like when to book the Fantasmic Dessert show and get World of Color info.
I hope you get there. It was an interesting and different experience from WDW.
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Is it just me...???
I have never been to DL and have heard very mixed reviews. I want to try it out for myself. Here is the problem, the WDW website is so easy to navigate and understand but everytime I get on the DL website it seems unorganized and all weird... I can never tell what I am doing. And it doesn't seem like they have any decent deals. Is it me? Am I missing something? 
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TOT hiding in Morocco
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