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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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Dates: Friday 18 – Monday 21 April Adventurers: Me, Cheryl (41) and DH Mark (48) Destinations: the Norfolk Broads Resorts: Pearl Horizon boat Meets: None Celebration: Mark’s Christmas present!
Every year I wonder to get for Mark, and every year I know how much he enjoyed our boating holiday we took many years ago (I think maybe 2000 or 2001?) along the River Thames. It wasn’t that much of a happy memory for me, as I found the whole business of navigating the boat quite tough, which included dealing with lots of locks (not fun). The trip culminated in a very traumatic bid to moor up, where Mark was on the bank, and I was on the boat, with it drifting hideously. Not something I want to do again.
I’ve often thought though that if I did boating again, it would be on the Norfolk Broads, as at least they don’t have any locks there, so that would be easier. When it came to getting Mark’s Christmas present for 2013, this was an idea that ran through my head… and when I saw that I could get a 10% discount on a boat, I decided to finally go for it, as I knew it would be something he’s enjoy.
The shortest length of time you could rent a boat for was from a Friday afternoon to a Monday morning, which presented me with an issue immediately. That would mean booking two days leave for both of us. For me, that wasn’t a problem, and I was sure it wouldn’t be for him, but telling him would obviously mean letting the cat out of the bag. Well, there was one weekend in the year that wouldn’t need him to take any time off work – the Easter weekend, as both Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays, so that would be perfect!
Ok, so that was the date sorted. Now to try and book the boat. The thing you need to know about the Norfolk Broads, which are in the East of England, is that they are a series of rivers and broads (or lakes), with over 100 miles of navigable waterways. As you can imagine, with such a huge amount of water, they’re an exceptionally popular destination, and that means there are a lot of boatyards to pick from. I have to admit I wasn’t sure where to start, so I decided that, rather than worry about the starting location, I’d narrow it down by searching for the type of boat I wanted.
Now bearing in mind that the UK has a reputation for rain, and sometimes more rain, and even more rain, especially around Bank Holiday weekends like Easter, I figured the most important thing was to have a sliding canopy roof, so that if it was raining, we could still pilot the boat without getting wet. Ok, that narrowed it down a bit. Then I noticed that another option was a four poster bed. Well, that sounds interesting, so I looked at the options, and narrowed it down to a boat called Pearl Horizon, and it looked pretty neat, so I went ahead and booked it.
Now this was back in summer 2013. Between then and Christmas, I paid bits off the holiday, before finally on Christmas Day, I was able to present Mark with his present. I wasn’t quite sure how to do it, but the people I’d booked it with unwittingly helped me out with that in what turned out to be a near miss. A brochure from them turned up for me while we were away on holiday in Disney World and Hawaii. Thankfully, when we got back, there was such a huge pile of post that the brochure was safely hidden away, and Mark never spotted it. Phew – close call! Anyway, I wrapped up that brochure, and he opened that, then his second present was a guidebook to Norfolk and Suffolk, which obviously I’d be using more but at least it told him where it would be.
When we got to Christmas Day, his face was an absolute picture. I really had managed to surprise him, and the thought of doing a boating holiday had honestly never crossed his mind. I love it when I can surprise him like that!
So what are our plans then?
We’ll head out on Good Friday and visit Ickworth, a National Trust property, on the way up there. We’ve got lifetime passes thanks to a very generous friend of mine, and we try and use them as much as we can. The original plan was to then to Norwich and explore the city, but we had a letter from the company we’re hiring the boat from about a week or so ago, saying it would hopefully be available for us earlier than we thought – at 12:30pm, rather than 2:30pm, so we may just head straight to the boatyard, so we can get going.
As for the plans while we’ve got the boat, well there were two routes we could take with the amount of time we’ve got. The first is to Wroxham, Stalham and Hickling, essentially three villages all along different parts of the Broads. The second is to head to Great Yarmouth, a seaside resort, and then further south into the Broads down to Lowestoft.
For a long time, I really couldn’t make my mind up what to do, and Mark was very laid back about the whole thing, saying we’d make a decision once we picked up the boat, turning “either right or left” when we left the boatyard, as he put it.
If we took the Great Yarmouth option, there were a couple of other issues. One problem was that all the attractions in town were about half an hour’s walk from the nearest boat mooring, while the other problem was that to negotiate Breydon Water to get to Lowestoft, you can only navigate it at certain times of the day – and with the tides the way they were, it would be fairly early in the morning. I wasn’t sure I wanted two early starts to navigate it each way.
So it came to be that the first option seemed to be the better one. Ok then, I guess we’d better do some planning…
The plan now is to head to Wroxham, about three hours away from where we’re picking up the boat, then moor there for the night. On the Saturday, we’ll then take the Bure Valley Railway, a steam railway that operates over an 18 mile round trip route to Aylsham. At first, I was going to just take the railway, and be done with it, but then thanks to my trusty Dorling Kindersley book (have I ever mentioned before that I love those things? ) I found out there was another National Trust property a couple of miles away from Aylsham station called Blickling Estate. It looks like there’s lots to do there, so I figured we’d head over there.
I’ve booked a taxi to get us from the station and back again, as it’s two miles each way and that’s far too much to walk, plus it would eat into our time too much as well. As it is, we’ll get just under three hours there, which should hopefully give us plenty of time to explore the place.
Once we’re done, we’ll take the final train of the day back to Wroxham, and spend the night there again. On the Sunday, having not done any boating at all the day before, this will be a day for exploring the Broads out on the water. We’ll head for Hickling Staithe, which is supposed to be a beautiful part of the Broads. The journey will take about four hours, and we’ll need to have a pilot service to get through one of the bridges, but it should be interesting!
Because it’s Easter Sunday, we’ve decided to book our lunch and dinner for that day, as we didn’t want to turn up somewhere and find it’s fully booked. For lunch, we’re going to the Pleasure Boat Inn, while dinner will be back at Acle, where we started our journey from, at the Bridge Inn. The reason we’re going back there is that we have to have the boat back early the next day – 9:30am to be exact!
Then, after we hand the boat back on Easter Monday, the plan is to head to the Royal estate of Sandringham, as that’s somewhere I’ve never visited and I’ve always wanted to go there. From there, it’ll be back home…
Fortunately, it looks as if the weather is going to hold, and we’re going to have a pleasant and sunny Easter to start with, although they do say we’ll get some rain as the weekend goes on – hopefully not too much. It won’t be overly warm, with temperatures in the low 50s (and probably feeling a fair bit cooler out on the water as well!), but at least it will be dry for some of the weekend, and that’s the main thing.
Hopefully we’ll have a fun time messing about boating on the Broads…
What a fun weekend! I'd love to do something like that. The boat looks roomy, and the added touch of the four poster bed is cute.
The estate you're visiting looks worth the trip alone!
Here's hoping for clear skies and smooth waters!!
I've been interested in hearing about this trip ever since I saw it appear in your countdowns! I once looked into booking one of these boats on a long trip to England years ago, but ended up spending the week in Scotland instead. It's great that you were able to surprise and delight Mark with the gift and looks like it'll be a wonderful long weekend. I visited Sandringham on that trip, too, and loved it! Sending weather pixies!
Now this is a different kind of trip! The boat looks very nice. As does the estate you'll be visiting. Can't wait to hear all about it!
Hopefully the weather cooperates.
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I've been interested in hearing about this trip ever since I saw it appear in your countdowns! I once looked into booking one of these boats on a long trip to England years ago, but ended up spending the week in Scotland instead.
What a shame you didn't get to do it, but I'm sure Scotland was amazing too...
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It's great that you were able to surprise and delight Mark with the gift and looks like it'll be a wonderful long weekend. I visited Sandringham on that trip, too, and loved it!
That's good to know. Hopefully we'll enjoy it as much as well.
Sounds like another wonderful weekend! Unfortunately for me following the report will have to wait till next week as I will be away for the weekend as well. Hope you have a wonderful time!
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Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. Jenn
Sounds like another wonderful weekend! Unfortunately for me following the report will have to wait till next week as I will be away for the weekend as well. Hope you have a wonderful time!
Well, we're on our boat and have made it to Wroxham, our stop for tonight and tomorrow night. It's been absolutely beautiful so far and I've taken lots of photos for your viewing pleasure.
Ickworth, the National Trust property, was just stunning - one of the best we've ever been to, and we've been told the one we're going to tomorrow is even better.
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Well, there was one weekend in the year that wouldn’t need him to take any time off work – the Easter weekend, as both Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays, so that would be perfect! 
Well, that sounds interesting, so I looked at the options, and narrowed it down to a boat called 
Anyway, I wrapped up that brochure, and he opened that, then his second present was a guidebook to Norfolk and Suffolk, which obviously I’d be using more 
but at least it told him where it would be. 
As it is, we’ll get just under three hours there, which should hopefully give us plenty of time to explore the place. 
It won’t be overly warm, with temperatures in the low 50s (and probably feeling a fair bit cooler out on the water as well!), but at least it will be dry for some of the weekend, and that’s the main thing. 
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Pixie Dust
Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. 
Jenn
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