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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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A little background....In a previous post I said that our 3 year ban on disney (from my wonderful husband) is almost up! He obviously does not share my obsession of Disney World. He likes it, but with a few years in between trips. I would go every month if I could. We have 4 children ages 10, 9, 7 and 5. That being said, we have always stayed at Contemporary on Club Level when we took 2 kids at a time when they were little and only had to get 1 room. Then for my 40th we stayed at Wilderness Lodge Villas in a 2 bedroom. I love the convenience of the monorail or the boat to get to MK. Plus having a kitchen or club level with 4 kids and the villas having washer/dryer. I have heard the club level suites have laundry service for a fee. We have to get 2 rooms or stay in a deluxe club level suite or 2 bedroom villa with 6 of us and the prices right now are out of this world! Starting to look at February because they seem to be more reasonable and hopefully discounts will come out soon.
So......I have narrowed it down (if we get good discounts) to:
1. GF deluxe club level suite. Has anyone ever stayed in these suites with 4 children?
2 Saratoga Springs 2 bedroom villa. There are great prices on these right now, but I am hesitant with how far away they are, and I've read reports that they are showing their age.
I know there is a big difference between GF and Saratoga Springs. the price however is making it difficult. I know we wouldn't be disappointed with GF, but not sure what experiences people have had at SS. Any advice would help greatly!
To know what park we are visiting...We will probably spend 1st evening and 2 days at MK, 1 day split at Epcot and HS, 1 day at AK, and 1 day at Universal Studios
The villas definitely offer space and the comforts of home which can be great to stock some snacks and such or leftovers in the fridge. Saratoga Springs isn't my first choice but I've never had a bad stay there! If the price is right I would definitely go for it! It's what we would do if I took my boyfriends 4 kids! I haven't stayed club level at the grand so I can't help you there.
Actually Saratoga Springs is in a decent location. It is only about 15 minutes from MK and you can walk to Disney Springs. With that many people, I would stay in there in a 2 bedroom.
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If you are interested in the MK location, I'm curious as to how you narrowed your options to GF club level or SSR 2 BR. BLT and VGF also have 2 BR villas ( as does VWL, but you know that.)
If you chose SSR because of the cost difference, have you considered renting DVC points? This would be less expensive than booking through Disney directly.
I was going to add a ? about renting pts in the post, but it seemed too much to ask . I have always been scared about renting points because I have heard a few bad experiences....of course those are the ones that always stick out.
Any advice would be appreciated.
So how I got to these 2 resorts....We have always wanted to stay at GF and now it seems less expensive for club than Contemporary or Polynesian because they have a 1 bedroom suite that will fit 6 people. Villas still seem way out of reach (maybe unless we rent pts ;0). So that's where GF comes from. BC pool seems a little crazy (very cool though) for my crew. AK seems too far from everything except AK. I really like the Deluxe resorts if we can swing it. SSR never appealed to me until I saw that I can get a 2 bedroom villa with a discount at $471 per night. I am still hesitant because all of our amazing experiences have been on monorail or WLV resorts. I like the deluxe because yes even on vacation, I work out almost every day and they usually have great fitness centers. Plus the pool slides. My kiddos love the slides and we spend every evening at the pool.
We also love monorail resorts because you can see fireworks from resort and that is just the most magical experience of all. I don't know this time how it will be with kids getting older, because my memory is of little bitty kids in their jimmies watching fireworks....so sweet.
I'd lean towards a 2 br villa with 4 kids - laundry, kitchen and space being at he top of the why list. BC pool is a bit tricky with little kids. Have you thought about the Boardwalk? My son LOVES pool slides and his fave is BWI. According to him "it goes fast" lol. We've done villas and club level at BW and loved both for different reasons. Plus you have a boat and/or walk to Epcot and DHS. Can't beat that!!
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I have rented points a couple of times from Dave's and have had no issues. I would not rent just from an individual but would stick to reputable companies. That way maybe you could stay in a villa at the GF and get exactly what you wanted. Good luck.
I have looked at Dave's and would probably be the only place I would rent from if we decide to go that route.
Thank you for the recommendation of BWV! I have never really looked there because they NEVER seem to have a 2 bedroom available, but they do for February next year!!!! The slide does freak me out though :0
Wow! I just looked at Dave's rentals and it is MUCH cheaper than going through DW.....like HALF! BLT's is much cheaper than I would have thought. I really do love watching fireworks from our resort at night. Just one of the many parts of our trips that I love. February seems like a much cheaper month as well. Thank you so much for the advice!
Now I need to figure out if you still book fast passes as if it's your own reservation or if you have to go through the owner. Plus do you get to make dining reservations 6 months out and fast passes 60 days out ...I start getting way too excited getting this started!!!
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Wow! I just looked at Dave's rentals and it is MUCH cheaper than going through DW.....like HALF! BLT's is much cheaper than I would have thought. I really do love watching fireworks from our resort at night. Just one of the many parts of our trips that I love. February seems like a much cheaper month as well. Thank you so much for the advice!
Now I need to figure out if you still book fast passes as if it's your own reservation or if you have to go through the owner. Plus do you get to make dining reservations 6 months out and fast passes 60 days out ...I start getting way too excited getting this started!!!
Glad that you are finding some good options that work for you!
When you rent, you should be given your reservation number. With this, you can book ADRs and FP+ within the window given to on-site guests. Remember, anyone can book ADRs at 6 months, staying on-site adds the benefit of being able to book 6 months +10 days, so essentially you can book for each day of your vacation 6 months out from your first day. To book FP+ at 60 days, you'll need both your resort stay and tickets linked to your party in MDX. There are some reputable Disney ticket sellers that offer a slight discount on tickets. I've used Undercover Tourist many times. When comparing prices, know that the prices quoted on their site include tax. The Disney site adds tax at checkout. Just be sure you allow enough time to have the tickets in hand (so you can link them) more than 60 days before your trip.
We have traveled to WDW with 6 people for 18 years. We purchased DVC in 2008 and that made it a lot easier and cheaper getting a two bedroom. Before that we stayed in Jr. Suites at CSR or POFQ. Jr. Suites are basically two connecting rooms but they worked good for us.
Now I'm leaning towards a BLT 2 bedroom villa, or Boardwalk 2 bedroom villa. If one is available Nov 30 - Dec 6 through Dave's rentals it is cheaper than February and will be decked out for Christmas....plus crowd levels look really low then
Now I'm leaning towards a BLT 2 bedroom villa, or Boardwalk 2 bedroom villa. If one is available Nov 30 - Dec 6 through Dave's rentals it is cheaper than February and will be decked out for Christmas....plus crowd levels look really low then
We stayed at BLT that same time frame a few years ago. It was perfect! Like you say, everything is decorated for Christmas and the crowds are low.
I stayed at SSR 1 bedroom villa and there were 4 of us. Loved it! That actually surprised me too because I love the MK area. It is a nice resort and I'm ok with the theming. A friend that went with us, picked the resort because he loves horses. There was a washer/dryer in the room, and 2 bathrooms (one had a tub and sink, the other had the shower toilet, sink). My nephew and mom loved the pool options and all of us loved being so close to DS. We either walked or took the boat over. To me, it is far out and the bus wait is typical Disney. I usually rent a car when going, so I would just drive over or my mom would drop us off at Poly or TTC for the monorail, while she did her own thing. Now, with all of that said, my nephew (11), preferred the Poly. He enjoyed it there because of the proximity to MK, the nightly water parade and fireworks. We're staying AKL in October, so it will be interesting to hear his opinion this time around.
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. I have always been scared about renting points because I have heard a few bad experiences....of course those are the ones that always stick out.
Our last WDW trip as a family 
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