Going north, south, east, west - Chicago UPDATED 1/7 - Page 11 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We were meeting Lesley after breakfast, but first we needed to pack again and then get down for some food. While we were down there, we found Bonnie and it was good to see her again before she headed home. We were early today to meet Lesley for once and we checked our cases in with the hotel for the day when she arrived.
We set off down into the Loop and, once again, Mark and I were in our element, taking lots of photos as we went. I really enjoyed doing so much walking around Chicago, as there was always something to see around every corner.
Soon we were in the Loop, where we managed to lose Mark briefly. We soon found him, thank goodness – he’d been taking photos of the local TV station, who were doing their news and weather broadcasts live.
Now does he look bored or what?
Lesley showed us the exterior of the Marshall Fields store, which has recently been taken over by Macy’s. Apparently, they’ve said that they will keep it the same and I hope they do, as it’s a beautiful old store. When it opened in 1907, it was the largest in the world.
We decided to take the El, which stands for elevated trains or Chicago’s subway system. It was my suggestion, as someone had said to Mark last night at the PassPorter meet that this was one of the things that we had to do while were in Chicago and I thought why not? We checked my guidebook and, sure enough, we could take a train fairly near to the Museum Campus. The first station we tired was closed (we later found out that it was closed for construction work), but about half a block back up the street was another station, so we went in there.
We quickly fathomed out the way to use the cards in there. I like the way that two people could travel on one card. That was very useful. We didn’t have to wait too long for the train to arrive and then we were off just a couple of stops.
The walk over to Museum Campus didn’t take too long and it gave us a chance to see more of Grant Park and to see some more of the city’s skyline. As you can see from these photos, it was a beautiful day with clear blue skies.
I thought this sign was too cute!
Next: will we finally get into the Shedd Aquarium?
It looks a beautiful fall day and then I see you and Mark bundled up ~ ~ looks pretty chilly. Love the pictures of the boats out on the lake.
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I had to pack up and check my suitcases that morning, too. Guess that's why you beat me to the lobby that morning. I think Chicago is a great city to walk in. It is so easy to find your way around and I the architecture! It had been awhile since I'd taken the El. It is really efficient and well run. I think Chicago has good mass transportation. Taking the Bus, Train or the EL - you can get around very easily without a car (in fact my DD recently sold hers because she rarely used it).
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~ looks pretty chilly. Love the pictures of the boats out on the lake.
ºOº ~*~ 
Claytrgtshooter (Minnie Lor's Hubbie)
the architecture! It had been awhile since I'd taken the El. It is really efficient and well run. I think Chicago has good mass transportation. Taking the Bus, Train or the EL - you can get around very easily without a car (in fact my DD recently sold hers because she rarely used it).
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