Springing back to Iceland to see it in the green! COMPLETED 6/29 - Page 37 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Yummy, lunch looks good. I'm also glad to see a mix of folks in robes and clothes. I haven't decided if I want to push our lunch a little later, so we're finished with the water before we eat? I have a 12 pm in-water massage, and I think our current lunch reservation is 2 pm.
I can't believe the weather conditions at the Blue Lagoon! Glad you had some nice relaxing time inside with all of your observations of the others here with their intelligence being quite challenged! Nice meal at Lava as all of your selections look quite good. Nice going with the free dessert!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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.
When we came out of the Lava Restaurant, we wrapped up, and braved the elements for another few photos. Look at how wet the camera lens was getting!
This is the swim-up bar we’d enjoyed earlier…
We headed out through the shop…
…. and it was here the drama occurred, although Mark managed to miss it. A woman in swimming stuff was brought through on a stretcher by paramedics with police following. We both thought we’d heard sirens during lunch, but both dismissed it. Obviously we were right. I hope she was Ok.
We headed out, and walked back to the car, fortunately with the wind behind us now. Phew! We made our way out…
… and headed into Grindavik to have a look around…
They have a thriving harbour here, and we saw quite a few fishing boats there, either just back or ready to go out. We even saw crates where the catch goes, and at one point, a fork lift truck taking some of it along the road with ice piled on top. You don’t get much fresher than that!
Our tour also found a football stadium and swimming pool (yes I know – seriously! ) and then we headed back to the hotel. We checked in, and our room was very nice…
As they had complimentary tea and coffee in the lobby 24 hours a day, we decided to take advantage of that, and took a couple of our teabags over to the lobby to enjoy a cup of tea. I also checked in online for our flight, and asked if I could print our boarding passes out. A quick email to the hotel, and that was done. We sat there for a while, enjoying the music they were playing. It was a very nice place, light and airy.
We headed back to the room for some down time, and just before 7:00pm, Mark asked if I was hungry, and I said “not really”. However, we knew we needed something, otherwise we’d be hungry in the middle of the night. I really fancied trying a local restaurant, as their soup sounded good, but after the soup we’d had for lunch, I couldn’t face anymore tonight.
We headed over to the next door supermarket, but wouldn’t you know it, it had closed at 7:00pm.
We headed over the road, expecting it to be a small supermarket, but it was a fast food place. However, it did have what we were after – a packet of Lay’s and a couple of chocolate bars. We headed back to the room for our super-healthy dinner, and to listen to the wind continually howling around outside. On the way back, I swear I heard noise from the football stadium, and they were either practising or playing… in this weather? Oh my goodness, that’s true dedication!
The weather today was rainy and windy, with temperatures in the high 40s, but a real feel temperature in the low 30s. The best thing today was our lunch at Lava Restaurant. The worst thing today was the weather. The funniest thing today was our people watching session at the Blue Lagoon! Today we tried going back to the Blue Lagoon And the result was it wasn’t as good as last time, thanks to the weather. The most magical moment today was sitting people watching at the Blue Lagoon in the warmth of the dry!
The Blue Lagoon looks so cool!! It sounds like you had an enjoyable albeit windy stay there!! Your hotel room is adorable as well and sometimes chips and chocolate is just the thing!!
Iceland's football team did quite well last year in the Euros, and because of a chant/cheer their fans do got a lot of attention. I'm sure they practice a lot just given how the performed. And with Icelandic weather, they can't afford to wait for a nice day.
Iceland's football team did quite well last year in the Euros, and because of a chant/cheer their fans do got a lot of attention. I'm sure they practice a lot just given how the performed.
Oh my goodness, that chant really was something!
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And with Icelandic weather, they can't afford to wait for a nice day.
That was quite a foggy day and especially with the wind! Looks like you had another great time at the Blue Lagoon and a great meal at Lava!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
I didn’t sleep too badly, given the weather conditions. I woke up at around 4:40am, and asked Mark what time it was, as I could hear the wind howling, but then I went back to sleep until about 6:00am. Mark said he hadn’t slept much, as all he’d heard all night was the wind. Thank goodness that wasn’t the case with me.
We got up, and went to explore the breakfast buffet. It looked good, but it wasn’t the greatest taste wise…
The worst thing was the hot water for our tea wasn’t actually hot, so I could barely drink my tea. When we were done, we finished packing up our stuff, and took our cases out to the car. Thank goodness the wind seemed to have dropped a bit, so opening up the trunk to get them in wasn’t such a problem as it had been over the last few days.
We set out, and not long after we did, the rain came in again. What is it with us this trip? As such, I only got one shot of the geothermal plant near the Blue Lagoon.
The Icelandic flag outside our hotel
We headed on to the main road towards the airport, and here I did manage to get a couple of shots as we drove along…
Google Maps found its way back to our car rental place, as we knew Garmin couldn’t locate it. We parked up, and headed inside. My immediate reaction was “oh my goodness, how many people?” as I assumed they were all heading for the airport, like we were. Well, no apparently not. They were all picking up cars, and the American group were classic. The conversation went something like this… “Do you know your way to the Hilton?” “I picked up a map” (shows off map very proudly…) “Yes, but have you worked out your way to the Hilton?” “Well, I’ve got a map”… you get the idea!
It turned out we were the only ones heading back to the airport, so we had a private ride with the guy who’d bought us out here originally, so we happily chatted to him. On the way, we ended up following one of the cars for the American group (there were about six of them, so they had more than one car…) and they went around the roundabout. We figured they were heading the same way we were, back towards the airport, but they went around a second time. I guess he really didn’t know the way to the Hilton then…
When we got to the airport, the guy dropped us off as close to the terminal building as he could, and we headed inside, with Mark grabbing a luggage cart, as with me on one crutch, there was only so much I could do. We asked some airport employees where to go for British Airways, and were pointed in the right direction.
The closer we got, the more I realised with utter horror that the long lines we could see were to drop bags off!
Oh my goodness, there was no way I could stand in that on a good day with my chronic fatigue, but with the ankle? Not happening! I went to get in line for the first class, as I figured they should be able to help me, given they had a special assistance desk at Heathrow, while Mark stayed in line, just in case they couldn’t do something.
When I got to the front of that line, and trust me, that took around five minutes, and it was about a tenth of the other line I explained the situation, and asked whether they could help, and they could! I told her I needed to get my husband, and I looked for Mark, but couldn’t see him. She asked me to describe him, and I blanked – I could do the basics, i.e. hair colour, height and what he was wearing, but there were a lot of people, and I wasn’t sure that would single him out from all the other people of a similar description. Of course, what I and the girl serving me both forgot is that she had his passport, complete with his photo in it! We had a good laugh when we realised that. I ended up hobbling off to get him.
We were quickly checked in, and they found a wheelchair for me. They did ask if we needed help, and I said that would be a good idea, given Mark had two pieces of hand luggage to deal with already, so we were asked to wait at the meeting point. We headed over there, and I took the opportunity to use the restroom. Now usually when I do at airports, something happens, like they open up the flight if we’re at a gate, but this time no sign of the guy who’d be pushing me. However, when Mark went to the restroom, the guy turned up!
We made our way up through security, and this was Ok, although you should’ve seen the guy’s face when I handed him my crutch. He had no idea what to do with it! The machine beeped when I went through it, so they asked me to take my watch off (no problem) and my boots. Now that was an issue, as they fit quite snugly, and obviously trying to remove the right one over my bad ankle wasn’t fun.
Once we were through there, our “handler” needed to stop off and meet someone, so he left me in the terminal.
Mark went off to check out a bookshop, and I’m sure you can guess what’s coming next here… Yup, the guy re-appeared while Mark was gone. He did ask us if we wanted to stay there for a while before going to the gate, but we were both happy to go straight to the gate.
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Glad you had some nice relaxing time inside with all of your observations of the others here with their intelligence being quite challenged! 
Nice meal at Lava as all of your selections look quite good. 
Nice going with the free dessert! 
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We both thought we’d heard sirens during lunch, but both dismissed it. Obviously we were right. I hope she was Ok. 
) and then we headed back to the hotel. We checked in, and our room was very nice… 
We sat there for a while, enjoying the music they were playing. It was a very nice place, light and airy. 
I told her I needed to get my husband, and I looked for Mark, but couldn’t see him. She asked me to describe him, and I blanked – I could do the basics, i.e. hair colour, height and what he was wearing, but there were a lot of people, and I wasn’t sure that would single him out from all the other people of a similar description. Of course, what I and the girl serving me both forgot is that she had his passport, complete with his photo in it! 
We had a good laugh when we realised that. I ended up hobbling off to get him. 
He had no idea what to do with it! The machine beeped when I went through it, so they asked me to take my watch off (no problem) and my boots. Now that was an issue, as they fit quite snugly, and obviously trying to remove the right one over my bad ankle wasn’t fun. 
Yup, the guy re-appeared while Mark was gone. He did ask us if we wanted to stay there for a while before going to the gate, but we were both happy to go straight to the gate. 
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