A tale of two cities… and a few other places… COMPLETED - Page 31 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I didn't realize any cruise ships could go on the Thames with all the bridges. I mean I know some open, but most don't.... wow, very cool! Nice views from the river!
Where that ship docked is the furthest they can go, because as you say, most of the others don't, but can you imagine having Tower Bridge open up for you? I bet that's quite something.
Great views and sights along the Thames on the cruise. I did this in London many years ago and enjoyed it a lot! I've also done the Seine cruises a number of times from all three locations for the Baton Mouche.
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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!
Great views and sights along the Thames on the cruise. I did this in London many years ago and enjoyed it a lot! I've also done the Seine cruises a number of times from all three locations for the Baton Mouche.
Tuesday 19 September – part twelve: seeing the city from above
We cleared security at the Shard, which thankfully was a bit stricter than at the Tower earlier on in the day, and had our obligatory photo done. It wasn’t good, so we didn’t purchase it…
We then headed into the elevator, and made our way up, first to floor 33, then boarded another one all the way up to floor 68. They have a really interesting video display on the way up:
When we got up there, we were greeted by some superb views…
HMS Belfast with the cruise ship behind and the Tower of London at the back of the shot
The Tower of London
Looking over to the Walkie Talkie and the City of London
Tower Bridge with the shadow of the Shard to the right of the shot
The Olympic Stadium – where we started our day – ah, such fond memories!
London Bridge station below the Shard
Looking down the River Thames – the building with the triangle on top is Canary Wharf
City Hall
A sightseeing boat going under Tower Bridge
A close-up of Canary Wharf
St. Paul’s Cathedral – you can see how big it is from up here!
A train comes in over Blackfriars Bridge
The BT Tower – once you used to be able to visit it (when I was a child), but no more
Looking down on Cannon Street station
The Monument
Yes, it goes higher, but you can’t go any higher – and yes, it’s also open to the elements!
We decided to get some champagne (Jan and I), while Mark got a shandy, and we both got cookies, as we hadn’t eaten since lunch, and that was a long time ago, and we’d done a lot since then…
I am so pleased they do a bit more food up here, as the last time we visited, they didn’t, and we almost felt pushed out, as we were hungry. We said at the time that they had a captive audience, so they could easily capitalise….
I also loved the theming of it…
Apparently, they will change it to winter flowers at some point, which makes sense….
The Calgary Tower also has their elevator lined with pictures/views, and it's a little video so you can "see" it change as it's going up. Even though there aren't windows in the elevator. It's kinda neat!
You guys really had excellent weather all day long. And being up here with such views just tops off the day. Awesome. Wonderful pictures!
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Tanya
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The Calgary Tower also has their elevator lined with pictures/views, and it's a little video so you can "see" it change as it's going up. Even though there aren't windows in the elevator. It's kinda neat!
The Calgary Tower... now there's something I hadn't heard of before. One day, I would like to see a bit more of Canada, so I guess add it to the (very long!) list of places to visit...
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You guys really had excellent weather all day long. And being up here with such views just tops off the day. Awesome. Wonderful pictures!
Oh we did luck out with the weather - actually for much of our time with Jan. I kept hoping it would hold, as it makes such a difference....
Great views from the Shard and I remember this from one of your weekend trip TRs to London a couple of years ago! Glad they have more than drinks here and hope you can other things besides cookies. Are there any hot appetizers or standard ones? You saw so much from up here. The City Hall building looks like a slinky or a bowl of Jello about to fall over! Truly an odd looking building and design.
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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!
Great views from the Shard and I remember this from one of your weekend trip TRs to London a couple of years ago! Glad they have more than drinks here and hope you can other things besides cookies. Are there any hot appetizers or standard ones?
Not really. There's nowhere to sit and enjoy them, so they are a bit limited on what they can serve.
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You saw so much from up here. The City Hall building looks like a slinky or a bowl of Jello about to fall over! Truly an odd looking building and design.
It is very odd and interestingly, there are quite a lot of buildings in London like that. I noticed a couple yesterday as I walked through London (I was up there for work). Often, I guess developers only have a certain amount of land, so they build up and then outwards....
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I've also done the Seine cruises a number of times from all three locations for the Baton Mouche.
I guess I should too, but I don't, probably because I knew Canary Wharf before it was featured in Doctor Who. 
Truly an odd looking building and design.
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