From "No Vacation"to "POR" to "WE ARE STAYING AT THE POLY!" - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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From "No Vacation"to "POR" to "WE ARE STAYING AT THE POLY!"
My DH and I decided in March that we would not take a big vacation this year. There are 5 of us DD 12, DD 11 and DS 8. We could afford the vacation but not airline tickets and gas. So I had resigned myself to small trips around New England.
I am a teacher so I can't talk to my husband during the day. I do however check my texts during my breaks. The second week of June I got a text from my husband that Direct Air was offering buy one get one free tickets. I didn't really know what he was thinking. He has mixed feelings about Disney. We went when our children were really young twice with my parents. It was hot the children cried and did not want to stand in line etc... He did not take big vacations as a child and he ws shocked by the cost. My father is a Disney comando and I think he waws a little too scheduled for my DH. On one trip our plane was late and we ended up running like crazy people from the monorail to dinner at the castle with 3 kids in 2 stollers. He thought that was the most insane way to begin a vacation. He didn't get how hard it was for my dad to get that ADR. He thought the GF was unnecessary. He wasn't unpleasant but he wasn't himself.
However we went without my parents in 2009 and stayed at POR. We had a great time. We did the QSDP. No ADR's. The children were older and I think he had settled into the cost. So I took a leap and texted back "Disney?"
He texted me back "Why don't you see what is available." I was so excited I couldn't think straight! I spent my whole lunch break and planning period working out the filghts. My three children are at my school and I couldn't wait till the day was over to tell them.When they came to my room at the end of the day I told them "We are going to Disney!!!!!" They screamed so loud everyone in the building came to see what had happened!
I worked out the flight details and we decided to the 14th-20th of August. We start school on the 31st so that would still give me a week to get everyone ready to go back to school.
The next hurtle would be to get a room for that week. We don't have a lot of options at Disney when it comes to resorts. There are 5 of us and the least expensive room for five people is at POR. We stayed there in 2009 and it was fine. I grew up staying at the CR and then later at the GF so it took some getting used to. Its not the resort, its just small for five people. My kids have to take turns sleeping on a trundle on the floor that is only about 4 and 1/2 feet long.
I went online and I was able to get POR for the dates we were looking for. I only booked the room and the MYW base tickets because I knew getting it paid off in three weeks was going to be tough. I knew if we came up with the money for PH and WP&M later we could always add it. I was so excited I couldn't believe we were going to Disney!!!!
A little background.... My father and I are Disney crazy. My father always worked a lot but every year he and I would plan our trip to Disney. We did it together and these are my favorite memories of my childhood. My first trip was in 1973 when I was 8 months old. He always tells the story of me spitting up milk down his back in the heat in line for the Jungle Cruise. He and my mom had been waiting so long he waited until after the ride to clean himself up! I think my father was more excited when I was accepted into the WDW College program than when I graduated from college! I drove a double decker bus around WS in EPCOT.
Back to this trip. After we were set with our reservations my children and I headed off to KY to visit my parents. I spent the entire 3 weeks making ADR's and touring plans. I bought my Passporter and carried it with me to the pool every day. My mother is not much of a Disney fan and could not understand why someone who has spent so much time at Disney would need to buy a book about it. I did not try to explain to her that it is part of the excitement and that things change constantly and I needed current, updated information!! I can never get enough information.
I was fairly successful with our ADR's considering we were only about 45 days from our trip. On Sunday- Whispering Canyon, Monday - Lunch at T-Rex ( my son is Dino crazy) and dinner at Coral Reef, Tuesday- Dinner at GF Cafe, Wednesday - Tokyo Dining, Thursday- Kona Cafe, Friday- Lunch Mama Melrose/Fantasmic package. I would love to get in to the Garden Grill or Teppan Edo. At two days out I am still trying. The rest will be QS.
In my time online I would often look wistfully at the pictures of the Polynesian. I knew we couldn't afford it. But I wanted to stay there so bad!!! I knew I should be happy with the trip I had. We went from no trip to a trip to DISNEY. But a girl can dream. . . and sometimes those dreams can come true....
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need more!! How the heck did you end up in the Poly?!?! I looked at those prices for the first time two weeks ago - OUCH!! I want to stay there too, some day...
As I was going over and over our plans I joined this community. That lead me to mousesavers.com. I would read the posts on here and check mousesavers every day. One afternoon I saw that Disney was offering reduced rates for the end of the summer. The rates were due to start on the first day of our trip. The rooms at Poly were on sale for roughly two hundred a night. That is more than a room at POR BUT would we ever see a room at the Poly that cheap again? The rack rate was over $400.00
When I saw the post my heart was beating so fast. I really wanted the room but I was nervous about bringing it up to my DH. I didn't want to seem like what we had planned wasn't good enough. I decided that instead of calling him at work and maybe catching him at a bad time I waited until he came home. I casually mentioned that I saw the code online. He was cautious but told me to call and see how much more it would be. The CM I talked to was very helpful and said that there were rooms available at that rate. I wasn't ready to commit yet so I told them I would call back.
I got off the phone and asked my DH what he thought. He said what are the pros and cons. I explained that in the heat of August it would be nice to get on an air conditioned monorail instead of waiting for a bus. I also explained to him that the rooms are much bigger and no one would have to sleep on a floor trundle. The only con was the price. He thought about it and said ok go ahead and call them back. I WAS SO EXCITED!!!! It is not that I have to ask my husband for permission like a child but I have been on trips before where he felt I had pushed him into things he really didn't want to do and it was not fun. I did not want to spend six days in a room with someone who did not want to be there.
So I called Disney back, paid the difference for the room and now I am off to the Poly for the first time in two days! Thanks to this community and mousesavers! I never would have thought to look every day after my trip was booked. The children are thrilled and even my DH is excited. They cant wait to go down the volcano slide!
I have to get serious about packing. My DD 11 is coming home tomorrow night from 4H camp and I have to face that mountian of laundry before we can leave Sunday morning. However I will say that doing laundry for Disney is the best laundry to do! I will let you all know how the trip goes!
Wow!!! What a wonderful deal!!! I'm so jealous!!!!
And I hear you about checking in with the husband on that kind of stuff. I have a girls only trip planned and pre-discussed and pre-budgeted but when it came time to do the "click" I did make one more check with him that he was ok with the money I was going to spend. It's just good marriage to check with each other on things like that I believe
How exciting that you all are going to the Poly! It's the first place we ever stayed at WDW and we had 5 of us back then, 2 DD's and 1 DS, all teenagers and the room worked out great. The monorail access really can't be beat. Can't wait to hear all about your trip when you get back. Have a great trip.
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He has mixed feelings about Disney. We went when our children were really young twice with my parents. It was hot the children cried and did not want to stand in line etc... He did not take big vacations as a child and he ws shocked by the cost. My father is a Disney comando and I think he waws a little too scheduled for my DH. On one trip our plane was late and we ended up running like crazy people from the monorail to dinner at the castle with 3 kids in 2 stollers. He thought that was the most insane way to begin a vacation. He didn't get how hard it was for my dad to get that ADR. He thought the GF was unnecessary. He wasn't unpleasant but he wasn't himself.
When they came to my room at the end of the day I told them "We are going to Disney!!!!!" They screamed so loud everyone in the building came to see what had happened! 
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Pixie Dust
How the heck did you end up in the Poly?!?! I looked at those prices for the first time two weeks ago - OUCH!! I want to stay there too, some day...
NEW: 
(Miss Molly)
That lead me to mousesavers.com. I would read the posts on here and check mousesavers every day. One afternoon I saw that Disney was offering reduced rates for the end of the summer. The rates were due to start on the first day of our trip. The rooms at Poly were on sale for roughly two hundred a night. That is more than a room at POR BUT would we ever see a room at the Poly that cheap again? The rack rate was over $400.00
the Poly! 
PassPorter Guide Author
that you were in the wdw college program!!
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