Celebrating the holidays and hogmanay COMPLETED 2/25 - Page 18 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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.
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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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I've noticed that difference in the amount of daylight, too. In summer the skies are bright so much later in Scotland than London, especially of course in northern Scotland. Beautiful skies that morning.
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I've noticed that difference in the amount of daylight, too. In summer the skies are bright so much later in Scotland than London, especially of course in northern Scotland. Beautiful skies that morning.
Hmmm.... I hadn't really thought about the difference in the summer. Good point - I do want to try and make it back to Scotland one summer, but we always seem to have so much planned. Maybe 2016...
I couldn't believe the problem you had with the GPS, when the motorway you were on didn't exist any more. Like something out of The Twilight Zone! Love the Highland Cows and believe how close you were able to get to them! Your hotel looked lovely in Glasgow and glad they were able to hook you up with some pastries, tea and hot chocolate!
The floral spread at the mini memorial for the accident looked quite stunning and a very nice tribute! I love Mark's Highland Cow hat and it is so him and suits him perfectly! That was quite a breakfast spread at the hotel and glad you enjoyed it, even if your omelette was a bit dry and most likely overcooked!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
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Breakfast looked good. What was it that held Mark up so long with the car?
Good you weren't wanting to leave earlier, or it would've been completely dark still!
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I couldn't believe the problem you had with the GPS, when the motorway you were on didn't exist any more. Like something out of The Twilight Zone!
It was a bit like that...
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Love the Highland Cows and believe how close you were able to get to them! Your hotel looked lovely in Glasgow and glad they were able to hook you up with some pastries, tea and hot chocolate!
The floral spread at the mini memorial for the accident looked quite stunning and a very nice tribute! I love Mark's Highland Cow hat and it is so him and suits him perfectly!
I can't get over how late the sun was rising in Scotland.
That really shocked me - I was looking at the difference in sunrises and sunsets for Disney World and the Bahamas for our cruise next month and even between the two, the sun sets in the Bahamas 10 minutes earlier and the sun rises 20 minutes earlier.
Breakfast looked good. What was it that held Mark up so long with the car
He went to pay the parking with the credit card at the automated machine and it wouldn't accept it, so he had to phone through to someone on the helpline to get them to do it, which took quite a bit of time.
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Good you weren't wanting to leave earlier, or it would've been completely dark still!
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Tuesday 30 December – part two: oh look, costumes and musical instruments!
We made our way over to the castle, and the exterior of it reminded us of the castillos we’d seen in Puerto Rico when we’d stopped there on our cruise.
I was glad we’d already got our tickets, because we could go straight in…
The defences to this place were quite impressive…
… but even more impressive were the views over the countryside below:
I was also taken by the statues on the castle:
We made our way into the inner courtyard:
…. and headed into the castle itself, starting with the underground area. This was a fun area, with things for kids to do – like play musical instruments…
… or try on costumes like this:
This area was very well laid out…
… and we particularly liked this, which showed where various members of staff would be located, depending where the Queen was.
If I had to pick one castle in Scotland to visit with kids it would be Stirling. Even back when I visited there were many more interactive exhibits than most castle tours. There are more beautiful castles, with more beautiful gardens, but Stirling, I think, is so well set-up for visitors it stands out. Beautiful views of the countryside.
Another comment on the amount of daylight-- I always notice a big difference in sunrise/sunset times between Boston and Orlando. To me, it's a fun way to really feel you're traveling on a moving planet!
That looks like a well-done tour, and interesting for different ages.
Funny to think how well they could keep out bands of marauders, but could be at risk from a tiny bedside candle!
If I had to pick one castle in Scotland to visit with kids it would be Stirling. Even back when I visited there were many more interactive exhibits than most castle tours. There are more beautiful castles, with more beautiful gardens, but Stirling, I think, is so well set-up for visitors it stands out. Beautiful views of the countryside.
It certainly had a lot to see and do and some wonderful views, as you say.
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Another comment on the amount of daylight-- I always notice a big difference in sunrise/sunset times between Boston and Orlando. To me, it's a fun way to really feel you're traveling on a moving planet!
That looks like a well-done tour, and interesting for different ages.
Funny to think how well they could keep out bands of marauders, but could be at risk from a tiny bedside candle!
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Maybe 2016... 
Love the Highland Cows and believe how close you were able to get to them! 
Your hotel looked lovely in Glasgow and glad they were able to hook you up with some pastries, tea and hot chocolate! 
That was quite a breakfast spread at the hotel and glad you enjoyed it, even if your omelette was a bit dry and most likely overcooked! 
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