Water, wildlife and wonders... a road trip around Scotland COMPLETED 11/6 - Page 54 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
Love the mirror reflections of the trees on the lake! Breakfast looked very good but not only did they leave out the hollandaise sauce but they didn't include any smoked salmon either as that's a must!
__________________
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!
Monday 19 June – part two: finding Royal warrants…
We stopped in the town of Ballater, which is famous for its shops having lots of Royal warrants. These are given to suppliers to the Royal family, and as we’d find out later at Balmoral Castle, there are three – one from the Queen, one from the Duke of Edinburgh, and one from the Prince of Wales. We only found the first and the last on our travels. Of course, a lot of places here have the warrants because it’s the closest town to Balmoral Castle.
We spotted some…
… then walked over to the bridge over the River Dee…
We then headed back through the town, plaque spotting, and getting some other general shots on the way…
Once we were done with photos, we made our way over to Balmoral…
When we got there, the GPS was still telling us we had a mile and a half to get there, but I guess it was trying to take us to the castle itself, rather than the car park, as we were right by it, so we parked up. You head over this bridge…
… and then the ticket office is just over the bridge.
Beautiful river photos. And the town is so cute! Very picturesque. I love how the signs list the things that they sell. More than just one specialty!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Ballater looks like a lovely town, plaques and all. The Balmoral Castle photos are looking familiar because of all the shows I've watched recently commemorating Princess Diana.
Great photos and Balmoral Castle already looks amazing even from the introduction! Looking forward to full coverage of the castle during your tour! I expect nothing less from you!
__________________
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!
Ballater looks like a lovely town, plaques and all. The Balmoral Castle photos are looking familiar because of all the shows I've watched recently commemorating Princess Diana.
Same here. Every time we've watched one of those programmes, we've been saying to each other "I remember that"!
Great photos and Balmoral Castle already looks amazing even from the introduction! Looking forward to full coverage of the castle during your tour! I expect nothing less from you!
You'll get as much coverage as I can give you, but as you'll find as we go through this, we didn't get to see as much as we were hoping to.
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.
Monday 19 June – part three: the highlight of my day!
We bought our tickets for Balmoral, but we’d just missed the land train that runs up there. However, Mari called me over for what was definitely the highlight of my day – a red squirrel sighting! He’d just been fed, and they have a webcam set up where you can see him. I really wanted to see one this trip, and this was just amazing.
The time passed quickly until the land train arrived, and we got on. While we were waiting to leave, I got some photos of the birds at their feeders…
With hindsight later on, I think this is what caused me problems, as we were sitting side on, and I think I got motion sickness, but more of that to come…
We arrived here, and got our audio guides for this. In truth, I wasn’t that impressed with it. I only listened to the first couple of instalments, and it just wasn’t telling me much.
We headed into an exhibition first, and the first thing we saw was this, which was ironic, given we’d just been seeing them first hand!
This was an introduction to Balmoral, and contained an eclectic collection of items, and photos, as you can see…
I was particularly taken with this bit…
I was a bit staggered by all the wildlife here, as shown in this display…
It does stick in my throat a bit that some of this gets shot on the estate though. I guess it’s life, but I just find it a bit hard to deal with – and yes I know that with some animals, such as grouse, it does help to control the population, but even so…
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.
About This Page: 
Breakfast looked very good but not only did they leave out the hollandaise sauce but they didn't include any smoked salmon either as that's a must! 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
That view would definitely spoil one to hang around longer. 
PassPorter Guide Author
I checked last night and it's not a million miles from Aberdeen, so maybe we can get back there for a quick weekend at some point... 
Linear Mode
