A tale of two cities… and a few other places… COMPLETED - Page 27 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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More great photos from London and the Bloody Tower. Lunch looked very good! Interesting history and especially with the Traitor's Gate.
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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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Catching back up! I love all the photos around the Tower, and so neat that you managed to get Jan photos with a guardsman and a Beefeater. I knew immediately what you meant with "Bloody Tower." I have read several historical fiction works where these poor princes lives are included.
Tuesday 19 September – part six: “1 minute”…. yeah right!
We headed up on to the battlements after lunch, where Mark found a silly photo opportunity…
We were very naughty, and went through the no entry sign, so we could get a bit further up the battlements, and get some views of Tower Bridge…
We also got some neat views of the ravens from up here…
We then headed out to the river embankment for some more neat views of the city…
Then we made our way over to the bus stop. Typically we waited ages for a bus, even though the website kept saying “1 minute”. Yeah right! We hopped on, and had perhaps the slowest journey ever through London. As we said to Jan, this is why we ride the Tube, rather than a bus, as it just takes so long, but at least she got some neat views of the city…
One of the reasons we took this route was that it took us past St. Paul’s Cathedral, so she got to see that…
We carried on, seeing more beautiful buildings on the way…
Our stunning Royal Courts of Justice A London bus A touch of Disney in London! St Martin-in-the-Field church
The good thing about a slow bus is crisp photos rather than blurs!
But yes, the Tube is so much better for zipping thru London. Like most cities, I expect.
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That’s always the quandary. Take the tube/metro/subway to save time? Or take the bus so you’re up above and can actually see the city! I think you made the right choice - especially with the good weather! You got some great photos!
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Tanya
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Nice views of the city from the bus. That probably helps with the slow traffic as you get to see more and take it all in. Nice photo op by Mark!
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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!
What a lot of great pictures. It sounds like the slow bus was really a perfect way to sightsee when you were on such a short time span to "see the city."
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Tuesday 19 September – part seven: memorials and statues…
The bus terminated just by Trafalgar Square, so we made our way over there. This was constructed in the 1830s, and the 165 feet column commemorates Lord Nelson, our most famous naval commander, who died at the Battle of Trafalgar against Napoleon in 1805. The lions at the base of the statue were added 25 years after Trafalgar took up residence.
To the north side of the square is the National Portrait Gallery, while Canada House is on the west side, and South Africa House is on the east.
The very bizarre statue on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square… this has been going on for some time where they keep putting statues up that are surreal, to say the least. Don’t ask – I seriously have no idea! Detail on the base of Nelson’s column Nelson himself…
We got a glimpse of the sadly silent Big Ben in the distance…
Then we headed through Admiralty Arch, which was designed in 1911 as part of a grand processional route up to Buckingham Palace to honour Queen Victoria who died just a few years earlier.
… and up the mall, with Mark pointing out that the road was pink (actually I think it’s supposed to be red, but let’s not pick hairs )…
We then went to see the National Police Memorial, which was unveiled in 2005. It came from the Police Memorial Trust, which was originally started by film director Michael Winner in 1984, following the shooting of Yvonne Fletcher during outside the Libyan embassy that year. At first, they put up smaller memorials at sites where police officers had died on duty. I remember as a journalist going to a ceremony for one, after a police officer was mown down by a driver while doing speed checks where I used to work.
Anyway, eventually they came up with the idea of one memorial to commemorate all police officers. Winner put in Ł500,000 of his own money, and the rest of the money was funded from a public collection. A roll of honour is contained behind a glass panel, which contains the names of around 1,600 police officers killed whilst on duty. However, bear in mind that the earliest entry is that of an unnamed constable from 1680.
Jan kept it together, and I think was amazed at how few names there are on it. It is thankfully a very rare event here that we lose a police officer in the line of duty…
Yes, just two entries for 2017 and that’s it – and one of those was a police officer who died four years after sustaining his fatal injuries
It is astonishing to me how few names are on that memorial - not a one in 2016! This isn’t the place to get political, I know, but...
Wow.....
I’m just leaving it at that.
The ‘thumbs up’ sculpture is new since our visit last year. It’s...different.
It is astonishing to me how few names are on that memorial - not a one in 2016! This isn’t the place to get political, I know, but...
Wow.....
I’m just leaving it at that.
I guess it brings home to you guys how much of a shock it is to us when any police officer dies in the line of duty here. I think I can say that almost all the names on there were familiar to me, or at least when I read the circumstances of their death, I remembered hearing about them on the national news.
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The ‘thumbs up’ sculpture is new since our visit last year. It’s...different.
I think they're putting on different ones for different years maybe. We had a sculpture of a skeleton of a horse for some time...
The red/pink road reminds me of the pavement at Disney World. I think it starts red and then fades to pink, probably!
The Police memorial is simple and poignant. Very well done. And maybe for Jan it was kind of like when you find out someone you love has cancer - you know they're not alone. A lot of other families have gone through it too.
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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
The red/pink road reminds me of the pavement at Disney World. I think it starts red and then fades to pink, probably!
I know what you mean, although how terrible is this - I'd need to go back and look at photos, as I can't remember now.
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The Police memorial is simple and poignant. Very well done. And maybe for Jan it was kind of like when you find out someone you love has cancer - you know they're not alone. A lot of other families have gone through it too.
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Interesting history and especially with the Traitor's Gate.
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Pixie Dust
I knew immediately what you meant with "Bloody Tower." I have read several historical fiction works where these poor princes lives are included.
PassPorter Guide Author
Nice photo op by Mark! 
)… 
We had a sculpture of a skeleton of a horse for some time... 
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