Possible Mini Vacation - Please Help with cost - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Long story short DBF and I are planning a 2015 to WDW with his (2) kiddos. We want to go somewhere next year just us. He doesn't want to do WDW without his kids (BEFORE they have a chance to go) -- hopefully that makes sense.
We tossed around tropical sites -- but we both are not "sit on a beach and relax" type people. We need stuff to do. He is also intrigued by the runs WDW has...
(I'm long winded, I know....sorry)...
So that's when I thought we could do DHS one day for the Tower of Terror race\party, and then do wo US\IOA for a couple days. I am well versed on pricing WDW...but haven't been to US since they made the second park.
Ideally I'd like to stay "on property" - I had a HORRID experience at an offsite motel when I went to Disneyland. Plus I'd like to know I'm a quick walk from the park to the bed after a day of tooling around the park.
US website is a big ol' mess to me....I am pretty internet savvy, but their information seems all over the place. So I thought I'd ask this wonderful group for their suggestions on hotels\length of stay\passes\etc. So I can see what the pricetag would be.
Otherwise the other option would be to my work's Paradise Island, Bahamas condos.
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~ Jenn **Disney is REAL LIFE Magic, so much more than optical illusions **
When DH and I went to US/IoA, we didn't stay on property -- we were staying at Disney. So we visited each day and left each day.
However, I've looked at possibly staying onsite for a couple of nights -- one of these trips! -- simply for the early access to the parks and for the convenience of being close by when it was time to return to the room, like you mentioned. I just haven't done it yet! But one of the first places I started looking was over at Mousesavers. I don't know if you've been over there yet, but there's some great info about ticket and hotel prices, as well as any current deals going on.
I'd start there in the meantime, until someone else can jump in with more specific info about the resorts on (or around) property.
i joined the Loew's hotel membership for free online then called and booked Royal Pacific for alot cheaper than what they was offering online. The hotel was great and only $20 more a night than offsite and includes the unlimited express pass, all you do is show your room key.
i joined the Loew's hotel membership for free online then called and booked Royal Pacific for alot cheaper than what they was offering online. The hotel was great and only $20 more a night than offsite and includes the unlimited express pass, all you do is show your room key.
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Loews Pacific was really handy to the parks. I thought it was a bit pricey. 3 days there cost what I pay for POFQ for a week, BUT it is beautiful....a handy walk to the parks or you can take their ferry....and you get those express passes. Since we head to Orlando during spring break or Thanksgiving, those come in handy because we go at peak times. The first time we went, we stayed offsite. The cost of the hotel was way less, and we easily walked to some great dining on International Drive in the evenings and hit IHOP for breakfast on the way to the parks. However, the traffic on International the night we arrived was horrific, the parking garage for the parks cost us $20 per day for priority parking and was still a good long walk just to get to City Walk. And we had to pay for the express pass to avoid waiting in lines the second day, and those passes weren't good on Rip Rocket or FJ. I'd call Universal or Loews and ask them about any current packages they may have. It might cost a bit more, but your stay will be more pleasurable.
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-- simply for the early access to the parks and for the convenience of being close by when it was time to return to the room, like you mentioned. I just haven't done it yet! 
But one of the first places I started looking was over at 
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