Eagles and Whales and Bears, oh my!!! COMPLETED 3/4/2012 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We were up fairly early this morning. The shuttle back to Seattle was to pick us up at the Pan Pacific at 8:45 am. We took a few morning shots out the window of our room before heading down to get something to eat. The ride on the shuttle would be about 4 hours but the nice thing is that we’d be dropped at our hotel which was right across from the airport.
We got the elevator and went one more time to the Food Court and the ever popular MacDonald’s. I have to admit that the cost of fast food in Canada is well above the cost in the US. This morning our breakfast (everything you see here) was $11.
Tummies as full as we wanted them to be we retrieved our luggage in the room, a few more pictures from the window and we were ready to check out of the Pan Pacific. I really did love our stay here and would go back in a heartbeat! But, please note it is on the expensive side.
We were to be picked up right outside our hotel but we still had a few minutes to wander around the front of the Convention Center for some last (I keep saying that!) pictures.
The shuttle arrived at the prescribed time and were on our way. There were a few other pick-ups along the way. At one stop an older lady was put on the bus by a younger woman (mother/daughter?) and it was clear the older woman did not speak much English. The bus driver was very understanding and I don’t believe there were any problems and she got off at the correct stop in Seattle.
Some shots from the shuttle as we picked up people and then headed out of town.
We were getting closer to the Canadian/US border and we made, what I thought was, a strange stop. We stopped at a place called the Campbell River Store in Surrey BC. This is just north of the border crossing and one person actually got out. That was the only reason we stopped. Seems like a lot of money to go from Vancouver to Surrey, but who knows??
Soon we had arrived at the border crossing. Here is what the line looked like for cars to cross. They moved pretty quickly.
Again we needed to get all of our belongings from the bus as if we left anything it would be not be there when we returned. The driver got our luggage and we then went through US customs. There were many buses there when we arrived so we had to wait our bus until it was our turn. When we finally got in the building it looked like it would not take us too long and we would be on our way. But unfortunately one person on the bus was giving the customs people a hard time about something and we all had to wait until it was straightened out. What a pain!
Back on the road after FINALLY getting everyone through customs we enjoyed the scenery as we headed south.
Soon enough we started to see signs of the Seattle skyline and notable sights including the Space Needle, Safeco Field, CenturyLink Field, Seattle traffic, the top of the Starbucks building, etc.
The last stop before us was at SeaTac Airport then on to the Clarion Hotel where we would spend our last night before heading home. But wait, we still had time to see a small part of Seattle, one icon, and have dinner with friends!
We got checked in, dropped our luggage off and after confirming with the front desk of the hotel that it would be a safe way to travel, even after dark, we were off we went to catch the “Light Rail” which would take us to the place where we could get the Seattle Center Monorail.
It was a short walk to the station and we purchased our tickets from a vending machine. The funny thing was that the change came back in all US dollar coins!
We were going end to end on the Light Rail. Along the way we again saw the baseball and football stadiums. We also experienced the reason why this was a safe way to travel, even after dark. The hotel clerk had informed us not to be anxious when some guards got on the train and traveled on it for a few stops and then got off. It does go through some tough looking neighborhoods but it appears that these guards keep any thoughts of inappropriate behavior just that, thoughts!
The “elevated” train we were on was also associated with the metro bus transportation in Seattle. It was a most unique system.
We got off at the Westlake Center Mall stop and proceeded to the monorail stop. This we would take to Seattle Center. This monorail is only about 1 mile long and was put in place to transport persons to the Century 21 Exposition in 1962, which was held on the current Seattle Center site.
We had to walk by this food court which was under renovation.
We finally arrived at the end of the line and it was just a short walk to the Seattle Space Needle. Off we went. We decided to purchase a day/night pass. We went in to see what we could see. We started by going up the elevator. As soon as we got off we were asked if we wanted a picture taken. Of course!
Then we walked around and saw the 360 degrees of sights!
We were getting a bit hungry as it was now about 4:15 pm. We were to meet Mark and Cheryl and hopefully have dinner but we had time for a snack!
Then it was back to get some more shots of the scenery. We briefly had a conversation with some newlyweds who were looking for things to do in Vancouver. Boy did we have some good recommendations for them!
One more turn around the walkway. I had just noticed that there were directional markers in the floor so here is what you can see in these directions from atop the Space Needle.
I found Bob walking outside and got a picture of him and a few more things.
Cheryl and I had been texting all afternoon. My goodness did they pack a lot of things in one short day! We agreed to meet at the Space Needle and try a restaurant I had found online that seemed to be only a few blocks away.
So down Bob and I went and met them as they got off the monorail.
We checked the directions to the restaurant and off we went. The early evening weather was wonderful. As we walked along we passed the International Fountain that was built at the same time as the Space Needle. Unfortunately it was being repaired or cleaned so we didn't see it running. I did manage to grab a photo of what it should look like when it is operational.
It was a bit of a walk but we found T.S. McHugh’s and since it was a weekday and still early it was not at all crowded.
We enjoyed our food and conversation and then headed back to the Space Needle in hopes of getting some good sunset shots.
The bonus was that it was a nearly full moon and we got some good shots of the Space Needle and the moon as we walked back.
We also walked by the Pacific Science Center (which I am sorry we missed) and saw a totem pole before arriving back at our destination.
We soon found out that there was a convention being held nearby and the participants had tickets to go up in the Space Needle! So, we got into line and waited a bit.
Once off the elevator we had a group picture taken. I also found out where the main gift shop was and made note to get there before it closed!
Because of the wait we missed the better part of the sunset. However, the shots we got were not too bad! Again, the moon was a bonus.
We spent some quality time on the inside and outside walkways getting some great pictures.
Then it was time to head back down the elevator, hit the gift shop and then return to our respective hotels.
We traveled on the monorail together then Mark and Cheryl headed off and we went to get back on the Light Rail. As you can see the buses also travel in the same area. And, if you look hard enough you’ll find something that reminds you of Disney!
We returned to the Clarion and found the business center so we could print out our boarding passes. Their computers were a bit slow but we managed to get them and then went back to our room to set about confirming that all our suitcases were under weight and ready to go. Our flight was 11:50 tomorrow morning so we didn’t need to be up pre-dawn!
I didn’t take any pictures and my notes at this point are sparse but we probably showered and hit the sack after watching a bit of TV. The trip was almost at an end!
Next up: Back to Milwaukee and celebrating our daughter’s 40th birthday!
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