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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.

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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
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Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
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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.

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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!

Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!

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Old 05-31-2014, 01:56 AM   #11
chezp
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Monday 5 May – part three: I bet their friends wanted to visit all the time!

Next it’s into the Spanish Room, which was created between 1838 and 1855. It was built to display some of William Bankes’ finest possessions. What’s unique about this room is that the wall hangings are leather. They apparently came from Venice, which at that time were used in many of their great palaces (I wonder if we’ll see any when we go there ) as apparently they handle the humid conditions much better than tapestries, which makes sense.



From there, you head into the saloon, essentially designed as a ballroom…



I found the next room, the state bedroom, a bit freaky. Look at the bed, and perhaps you can see why…



We then headed up more stairs…



… where I found this quite disturbing.



It was worth it though, because right at the top of the house were the tent rooms. Two have been restored by the National Trust to how they would’ve looked in the mid 19th century. Exactly as the name suggests, they’re rooms made to look like tents, and they are so clever. Can you imagine being the kid who had this room? I bet all their friends wanted to come and visit all the time!



Next we headed into the white bedroom suite, furnished and decorated after Henrietta Fraser married Walter Ralph Bankes in 1897. They contain some of her personal belongings, including family photos, and I must admit this did feel a lot more friendly than much of the rest of the house, perhaps with the exception of the tent rooms. The bed in this was six and a half feet tall!



On the way out, we went through William John Bankes’ Egyptian collection. He travelled around the country between 1815 and 1819, collecting various objects from the Nile Valley.



With that, our tour was done. We headed into the shop, where we bought a couple of books and some presents, and then we made our way back to the car. Oh wow, if we thought the car park was busy when we got here, we hadn’t seen anything yet!



We headed out through beautiful countryside…




… and made our way over to Salisbury.



We quickly found a car park, and walked out through the St. George’s Mall…


The guys in this photo look so happy, don’t they?


… and then down the main high street. As you can see, it was certainly a very bustling and vibrant place.



Next: what an amazing tour!
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Relaxing on board the Magic. The trip report for our back-to-back cruises on the Disney Magic has started!
My Countdown Counting down to: 2019
Happy New Year!
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My Previous Trips21 trips to WDW, 6 to Disneyland in California, 9 to Disneyland Paris, 1 to Hong Kong Disneyland, 1 to Tokyo Disney, 1 to Aulani, 1 to Hilton Head, 2 to Vero Beach and 13 Disney cruises on the Magic, Wonder, Dream and Fantasy
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