Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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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.
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01-25-2001, 04:04 PM
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#1
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Community Rank: Day-Tripper
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Oneida, WI
Posts: 6
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Westgate Vacation Villas
We are headed to Orlando in March and will possibly staying at the Westgate Villas in Kissimmee. Hoping that this is a nice place to stay with a 5 year old and a 2 year old. Do any of you have any info on this property? Thank you for your help  |
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Sponsored links
Check out the many e-books by PassPorter. The e-books are free to download if you have a PassPorter's Club pass.
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01-25-2001, 07:59 PM
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#2
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Community Rank: Trailblazer 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Pleasant Valley, NY, USA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 5,377
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Re: Westgate Vacation Villas
Hi Smurf....
WELCOME to the boards!!
We have timeshare and have traded for Westgate before. It is a very nice place and fairly easy to get to WDW from there.
We normally got a two bedroom villa. Master bedroom had a king bed and private bath, 2nd bedroom had 2 beds, don't remember is they were twins or doubles. The living room had a pull out sofa.
Lots of room and in good shape (this was 5+ years ago).
There was a small washer & dryer in the villa along with a full kitcken. The property had a nice pool but sometimes got crowded.
Have a great trip & let us know how it goes!
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WildForWD
...you must face the age of not believing
...until at last you start believing there's something wonderful in you!!
WildForWD |
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01-25-2001, 08:44 PM
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#3
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Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Foothills of the Adirondacks
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 4,733
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Re: Westgate Vacation Villas
smurf, WELCOME, glad to have you on the boards! 
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Take care-
Laura
"When you wish..........
laura |
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Sponsored links
 | | PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World
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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. |
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01-25-2001, 11:12 PM
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#4
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Recovering VMK Addict!
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Thornton, CO
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 13,087
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Re: Westgate Vacation Villas
Welcome to the boards Smurf! |
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01-28-2001, 05:37 AM
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#5
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Community Rank: Visitor
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Mililani,Hawaii,USA
Posts: 3
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Re: Westgate Vacation Villas
Hi Smurf! Welcome!
MouseChirpy
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01-28-2001, 03:17 PM
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#6
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Community Rank: Day-Tripper
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Oneida, WI
Posts: 6
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Re: Westgate Vacation Villas
Thank you for the information WildforWD, it is nice to hear good info about the place you plan on making home for the duration of your stay Thanks also to the others who welcomed me to the board, that was nice of you MouseChirpy! I have corresponded with you on another board! Are you headed to Florida? |
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01-29-2001, 02:52 PM
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#7
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Community Rank: Visitor
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Mililani,Hawaii,USA
Posts: 3
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Re: Westgate Vacation Villas
Lorri: I left a post on OrganizeHome telling you about this great board. My family and I are planning a trip to NYC,D.C., Orlando & LasVegas. Originally we were planning to go this September but now have changed it to March/April 2002. Hope you are having a good time reading all the posts. I know so much more now and I believe they are things that I would never have known if I hadn't found this board. Have fun planning. 
MouseChirpy |
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01-30-2001, 11:20 PM
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#8
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Community Rank: Passenger 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Mt. Holly, NJ, USA
Posts: 32
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Re: Westgate Vacation Villas
Hey Smurf,
I'm particularly interested in your opinion of Westgate Vacation Villas as this is where WE are staying when we go in May.
Are you a timeshare owner or are you like us who just rent? If so, how did you go about getting your reservations and if I'm not being too forward, what is your rate?
since we have 6 kids, staying at an equivalent resort IN Disney is pretty cost prohibitive. We did stay at Dixie Landings one year but with 8 people in two rooms, it felt to "tennement-like" even in Disney!
We have stayed at a few different timeshare condos before and the are all GREAT!
Kathy
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02-06-2001, 01:15 PM
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#9
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Community Rank: Day-Tripper
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Oneida, WI
Posts: 6
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Re: Westgate Vacation Villas
Kathy, hi there, sorry it had taken me some time to get back to you! So far the responses that i have received regarding Westgate Vacation Villas in Kissimmee had been very positive It is rated a 3 out of 5 in the AAA book and I have various responses as on this board and another that have been good. It looks very nice to me from the website pictures I have seen. It sounds like it has a lot to do for kids, we have a 5 yr old and a 2yr old. I hope you see this, if you don't I will post a response specifically to you on the board. Since we are going in early March and you are going in May, maybe I can follow-up with you after our trip and let you know my thoughts then? You let me know. Talk to you later. |
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Sponsored links
Check out the many e-books by PassPorter. The e-books are free to download if you have a PassPorter's Club pass.
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02-06-2001, 01:21 PM
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#10
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Community Rank: Day-Tripper
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Oneida, WI
Posts: 6
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Re: Westgate Vacation Villas
Kathy, me again re-read your post and saw that i didn't answer some of your questions! We will be renting, I found the info all online. I called Internet Vacations and got a rate for them and then called them directly and spoke to a women named Sarah, I can get you her last name if you want it, anyway she gave us a SUPER deal, apparently someone had backed out on our room and we got a 2 bedroom villa with the stove (full kitchen) for $479.00, which the regular price was $679.00 i think. So, that seemed like a pretty good deal to me. I did read that May is the down season, so you should get a good rate as well. This lady was really good, could wheel and deal with her So, let me know if you want her name and number and I will get it for you. Later. |
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02-14-2001, 10:48 PM
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#11
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Community Rank: Passenger
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Mt. Holly, NJ, USA
Posts: 32
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Re: Westgate Vacation Villas
Smurf,
Sorry I haven't been keeping up with the posts in here!!
I agree that the photos on the web page look great and it seems that there is much to do at the resort for the kids (mine are 17,14,12,10,7).
Is the $479.00 you're paying a weekly rate? Yes, please send me Sarah's nlast name and number. We're getting a 2 bedroom/loft for 135.00/night and so far, every place we've checked can't beat that rate. I'm not complaining, mind you....just trying to find the best rate. Last year, we stayed at Cypress Pointe (3 bedroom, 3 bath) for 80.00 a night! It was a special promotional rate which I doubt we could replicate plus we like to stay at something new every time.
Again, sorry for not getting back to you sooner and I'm truly looking forward to hearing your input when you get back. Your kids are going to have a blast!
Kathy
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