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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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What is it like to stay off site? I'd never consider it, but I have the urge for a quick trip and this would be the only way I could swing it and go this year.
We stayed offsite our first three trips. The first time was in a nice condo we got for a week thru AFVClub($299 for a week in October), the second was a very scary "resort" I booked online for three nights (about $90 a night at Spring Break...shoulda known!), and the last time was a nice townhouse type condo we rented online for 5 nights at Spring Break (@$87 a night and a bargain. Booked that one early. I saw it later for hundreds of $$ a night). Staying offsite can be great,as long as you are not counting on the dining plan or EMH and you are prepared to drive everywhere and (gasp!) pay for parking! LOL. We had a kitchen in the condos and made good use of them for breakfast and a couple of dinners. Not very convenient to leave the park to eat and go back, but if you plan your days accordingly, totally doable. Hope this helps!
The few times I have stayed off property I have missed the EMH and the Disney buses to and from everywhere. But, if staying off property means you get to spend a few days at the parks, I say GREAT, go for it! There are some great hotels right near DTD and they sometimes offer great rates. Have fun!
First let me say - go for it! An opportunity to indulge in Disney is not to be missed.
I have probably spent more time at Disney off property than on. While I much prefer the on property experience, staying off is merely a mind set. I travel for work and often to Florida. When trying to treat withdrawal, I have been known to fly into MCO and drive roundtrip to Boca Raton or Ft Lauderdale just to get to spend the weekends at Disney and SeaWorld.
While I have the advantage of using points for hotel stays and prefer Hilton and Marriott brands (Residence Inn or Homewood Suites would be my favs), I have also stayed at lower cost hotels and rented homes and been quite satisfied, felt safe and thoroughly enjoyed my stay.
As I mentioned - it's mindset. No EMH, so you need to plan around that and I have found TouringPlans to be a great reference for this. Parking will cost you $14 a day unless you have an AP.
ADR's may not be easy to come by with a short window, but if you are willing to eat at off hours, I have had good luck walking up and getting in with a 15 (Via Napoli) - 90 (Sci Fi) minute wait with 1-4 people in our party. It's easy to fill 90 minutes nearby (Star Tours or TSMWM anyone?) and I've found the meal to be more relaxed when we didn't plan the day aound it.
With a rental car I have also popped into Publix, Target or Walmart and picked up sandwich makings and portable foods for in the park and breakfast foods for the hotel which lets us maximize park time. Keep in mind tht some hotels offer a free breakfast. My 2 favs above offer a free hot breakfast and full kitchen in the room.
Depending on how far you are from the parks, you can still take that mid-day break for swimming or a nap or food and go back at night. This works great when MK is open until 12. It also means you get to experience some non-Disney places and food.
You'll miss the experience of the resort busses, but sometimes driving really is faster and driving on property, if you've never done it before, is easy with lots of signs to pint the way. And you said it's a quick trip - the best length when trying something new.
So, I'll repeat - go for it and I hope you have a magical time!
Karin
Are you sure you cant do a value resort on Disney? Maybe the difference is not that great. The transportation alone is worth it. Wont drive down there, and the other hotel bus systems would not meet our needs. Just a thought.
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Love the Magic of Disney Thanks Dad for our first 5 trips.
Will you have a car? If you want to use EMH, you can usually get the Hilton DTD on lastminutetravel.com for less than $100 per night. However, you have to pay for parking at the parks if you don;t take their bus, plus you have to pay for parking at the hotel ($10 a night I think). but it's a nicer hotel for an onsite value price.
If you don't care about EMH, there are plenty of nice hotels for good prices. Just figure in the $14/day parking into the room rate to comapre to onsite prices.
If you won't have a car, I say either do onsite or the Hilton DTD or Hilton Bonnet Creek (can also find that one on LMT website; I stayed there in May, and it is NICE!). Those Hiltons have good bus service. But you would have to pay to get to/from the airport.
I have just recently started staying on property. We have never had a problem staying off site. You don't get the sense of the Disney bubble as you do if you stay on property. If staying off property gets you to disney I SAY GO FOR IT!!!!!
I think most people would prefer to stay onsite but it can be cost prohibitive. We stayed offsite for 6 years before going moderate and deluxe at Disney. The prices offsite can't be beat. However the convenience is a factor.
If it was a choice between going and not going I would stay offsite in a condo or rental house. There are some really nice ones that aren't too expensive (for a large family) very close to Disney. For 4 or less you can usually get a good price at one of the Downtown Disney Area hotels.
Are you sure you cant do a value resort on Disney? Maybe the difference is not that great. The transportation alone is worth it.
This is pretty much how we feel. We used to go and stay one or two night off site and that was it. Now with four major parks and many other things to do, we don't feel like we want to stay off site if we can help it. Not being rich, and wanting to go every year, we stay at AS Music, a value resort. There are often decent deals on room-only stays; I saw one recently for $69/night. My husband is definitely not a Disney fan, but even he prefers the convenience of staying on site; the clean, safe resorts, and the free parking we get (it's now $14/day to park) make it worth it to him.
Subscribers to Mousesavers.com often get wonderful discounts for off-site rooms or for hotels in the DTD area. Not quite the same as staying on or off site, they can be a good family choice. We got a Mousesavers discount twice for rooms at the Radisson-Celebration, less than two miles from WDW. Our rate one year was only $64/night; the other year, it was $94/night (plus resort fee) but it included $30 food credit with a two night stay. That paid for a pizza one night and breakfast items both days.
We did it once, and DH said never again.
We stayed at a Best Western by DTD. The sheets were so awful I said I'd have to bring my own if I ever stayed there again.
And DH really missed the Disney bus service. He said part of what makes Disney a real vacation for him is that he doesn't have to drive anywhere once we reach the hotel. If we do DME it's even better.
We've stayed off property and while it isn't as magical it's still a fun trip as long as you do your homework on the property you are staying at. We've compared a few times and when we add the price of parking to the room total per day it's usually comparable to staying at a value resort. If you won't be taking your own car then you want to compare the cost of the shuttle and check the schedules for those shuttles.
We stayed at the Fairfield Inn at Marriot Village which is just down the street from Downtown Disney and were very pleased there. We were able to get an unreal AAA rate at the time and it was busy at Disney so it was a difference of $40/night so it was a no brainer for us. If the difference in savings is under $25 we always opt to stay onsite in a value. This factors in $14/day for parking and the other $11 is convenience and magic in our minds, LOL
that was probably my biggest complaint when we went last time was the bussing. I wasnt a big fan, and most likely will either rent a car here and drive it down, or rent it there after a train ride maybe. its still in the air I imagine
I noticed you're from Latrobe! We are right down the road from you in Monroeville. I see you mentioned possibly traveling by train. I wanted to mention that I have always wanted to do that, I think it would be fun for my kids, so I priced it out last year. Oh MY God! It was far cheaper to fly from Pittsburgh than to travel down by train, and airfare wasn't cheap!
We are actually driving for the first time when we go in January.
I agree with everyone else....if it's the only way you can go, then do what cha gotta do. We have never stayed off site other than when we flew in late and stayed at the Hyatt at the airport, nice but too far to suit your needs. If the value resorts won't work for you I would look into AAA rates for the surrounding hotels but I do agree with others who have posted that the value has some benefits that might make it worthwhile. Parking alone is worth it. At least you know what you're getting at Disney too.
I have stayed off property a few times and at a few different locations im not going to say i dislike it but i think it ran down to the magic factor no one does the magic like disney does .
we stayed at
Lake buana vista suites - rally nice
Knights inn - budget trip
Country inn and suites - really nice
Clyipso Cay resort - really nice no security did not feel safe
good luck on your trip
We stayed offsite once, renting a 5 bedroom, 5 bath condo. It was nice for our large group to be all together but had plenty of space. The full kitchen and washer and dryer were really nice. Travel time and driving didnt bother me at all and we dont usually use EMH. You do need to consider the cost of a rental car and parking. www.mickeyscondo.com is all Disney themed which was fun. I would definitely stay offsite if it meant going or not! Good luck deciding!
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