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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
The whole Disney package (room, tickets, food etc.) just isn't in our budget right now. Lets face it the tickets are quiet pricey. My hubby gets 1 free day at Universal for 4 people through his work. My thoughts were this....What if we stayed at a value resort to get some Disney magic in and we do one day at universal and NO Disney Parks? It would be hard to pass up going to the parks but we'd get to explore the resort and Disney Springs etc better. Does anyone think that's crazy or too hard to do? I wonder if we'd spend close to the same amount of money in shopping, eating or trying to find things to do as would the cost of the tickets would be. I'm really curious if anyone has stayed onsite without doing any Disney parks and if you thought it was worth it...
Thanks in advance. I'm just trying to find cheap ways to get my Disney fix!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
We did have to move flights one trip and ended up arriving the day before our "package" started. That no park day was really fun. We played mini-golf and explored the monorail hotels. We really enjoyed the relaxing day.
We have not been to the parks in the last three WDW trips. We usually stay at OKW and spend time at the pool, walk to DS or visit another resort. We are a family of six so park tickets are not cheap. I don't mind spending the money but we have been in the parks so many times my kids would rather hit their favorites and go back to the pool. The little time we spend in the parks don't justify the cost.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
We've never stayed on property and not gone to the parks but last time we went, I actually scheduled two no park days which I thought would be really hard (I hated no park days when I was a kid). I have to be honest and say even though there were no parks involved, we enjoyed those two days and we're planning on doing it again this year. We played mini golf, explored our resort, swam and played the pool games, and we had dinner at the Beach Club and did pin trading and some exploring there.
If you want a Disney fix but don't want to get the tickets then I say go for staying there and exploring whatever strikes your fancy. It's your vacation and your money so go and enjoy your vacation your way.
Sure, do it! Why not? The afternoon pool activities are lots of fun. We almost always win the Disney trivia questions. Good luck to anyone taking on my son at Disney trivia!
Disney Springs, the arcade, just wandering around taking photos...lots to do.
PassPorter Guide Author PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Navigator
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Ohio & Florida
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 6,129
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 73
Likes (Received): 284
Thanks (Given): 7
Thanks (Received): 146
Pixie Dust (Given): 25
Pixie Dust (Received): 18
Disney Springs now has a Star Wars virtual reality experience (about $30/person for a half-hour) that is totally awesome, especially if someone in the family is a Star Wars fan. We did this several weeks ago and my husband is still talking about it!
Reservations are best, unless it's a very slow time of year.
My (non-spoiler) review ran in a recent PassPorter newsletter. Something fun to consider!
Also, during your resort-hopping, be sure to drop by the Art of Animation resort. I haven't been there, but I've seen lots of awesome photos of the grounds, with Cars characters and others
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Chapel Hill, NC USA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 36,592
Post Thanks / Like
Truthfully, if I were going to do one day at Universal and no Disney, I'd just stay at Cabana Bay on property at Universal and do things around that resort area instead. The price of the resort is comparable to a Value resort at Disney but the resort is way better.
Cabana Bay has a two great pools and a lazy river. It has a bowling alley and a great food court. Smores fires at night, movie at night. I like their pool bars and they have a food area at the bar for ordering.
Citywalk has great restaurants and some shopping. There is a movie theater and two minigolf areas. You could do an evening at Blue Man Group. Tour the other resorts and maybe eat at some of them.
First let me say congrats on a free day at Universal In the immortal words of Bailiff Edwards if it's for free, it's for me!
Not long after our second trip to WDW my DW advised me we needed to get an RV so that not only could we go to DISNEY more often but spend longer there. That was a split trip for us , starting at AKL then to moving on Ft W. After we got there like we did on our 1st trip we spent the day exploring the resort and enjoying the amenities it had to offer This is now how we spend day one. Arrive, get our site , set everything up, do a tour of the campground to see how others have set up and decorated their sites, and end with a nice dinner at Trail's End Basically just make it a laid back sort of day after a couple of days on the road ( I do all the driving and prefer not to pull into a new to us campground in the dark and we bring the 2 kids ie our 2yr old pups who need frequent stops for walks ) The kids also require us to spend more down time for us to take care of them so we do plan our days with them in mind.
As we now tend to stay more than 15 days We now plan for more down days than park. On some of those days we may just hang out at our site or roam the Fort Wilderness for the ambiance. We have been Happy touring the other resorts to enjoy their decorations but I will admit we tend to have a dining reservation at one of our stops
Disney offers a wide range of things to do where you can a free or low cost Disney fix all you really need to look for them. We have more than once picked up a take out meal from P & J's gone down to the beach and enjoyed the MK fireworks ( Only get to see the higher ones but impressive none the less ) and the Electric Water Pageant. Take a ride on the Monorail and get to see the Resorts a entrance to MK and EPCOT
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Truthfully, if I were going to do one day at Universal and no Disney, I'd just stay at Cabana Bay on property at Universal and do things around that resort area instead. The price of the resort is comparable to a Value resort at Disney but the resort is way better.
Cabana Bay has a two great pools and a lazy river. It has a bowling alley and a great food court. Smores fires at night, movie at night. I like their pool bars and they have a food area at the bar for ordering.
Citywalk has great restaurants and some shopping. There is a movie theater and two minigolf areas. You could do an evening at Blue Man Group. Tour the other resorts and maybe eat at some of them.
I second this. If I was going to do one day only in a park at that was Universal, I would stay at Universal so I would have the perks of staying onsite there. You can always drive over to Disney Springs or a resort for a Disney fix.
Our next trip we have 5 park days and 4 non park days. We are just as excited about the non park days as we are about the park days. We always have at least two non park days in our trips. We spend them at the different resorts and Disney Springs.
We stayed at CBR last August for 4 days and only went to MK and AK. We were already booked at a hotel on the Florida panhandle when we got a Pin Code for a room at CBR for $139/night, cheaper than our beach hotel. So we canceled the beach and booked CBR. We spent the first day at the hotel and Disney Springs. We went to AK the next because we hadn't seen Pandora and wanted to ride FoP. Wed we still went to the beach like in our original plans, then MK the day before we were leaving. We did things like stop at AOA on our way back from the beach to eat and explore the resort, play pool games, spend more time at Disney Springs, things we never really find the time to do. It was a very different type of trip than we're used to but still really fun. We could have easily not gone to any parks and still had a great time with plenty to do.
I say "YES", do a non-park trip, but only if you think your kiddos will be satisfied with the free experiences WDW offeres. You definitely could rack up park-ticket level expenses if you are doing paid activities and character or signature meals every day. If your kids are into to hanging at the pool, visiting the stables at Ft Wilderness, joining the resort activities etc, I think you could have an AMAZING no-park trip.
For free stuff to do, google is your friend. I have especially enjoyed the tips and tone found at cheapskateprincess.com.
I have a co-worker who does that at least twice a year. She and her DH have DVC and stay at OKW so they can stay longer more often. They spend time just enjoying what the resorts have to offer and rarely pay money for any entertainment.
They will buy tickets approximately once every 2-3 years and spend time in the parks. They're also tall people, and aren't really into the fast rides, so most rides are out for them (she's 'short' in her family at 5'10, and he's 6'8")
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Ms Lydia
Exploring the resorts and Disney Springs will be a blast. You just gave me an idea to consider it on our next trip.
Linear Mode
