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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Today began too jolly early with a quick breakfast and off to our tour of Segesta & Erice.
Three bus loads were on this program, and among the guests were several kids who apparently had never learned to shut up. They talked through the entire tour, including while they were inside a church. We also had some teen girls who seem not to have understood the phrase "moderately strenuous walking tour". Sucks to be stupid, I guess.
Segesta is a town built by the indigenous peoples who were on the island before the Greeks. When the latter arrived, things did not go well, and the final result was one Greek town and Segesta being basically flattened. The only vertical things left at Segesta is a temple pediment, an amphitheater, and a church/mosque/fort/church. (When you have centuries to work with, recycling is almost inevitable.)
The temple is in the Greek style, Ionian order, but there's no evidence that the pediment ever surrounded a Greek temple. It appears the people there used a simple open altar. Pretty good shape, with all of the columns standing. From the looks of the details (and lack thereof), it appears the temple was yet unfinished. Pity, it's in really good shape for it's age. (Sorta like me!)
The amphitheater is in good enough shape to use, thanks to a bit of minor restoration work. Big, too, holding 2000 for performances occasionally held there. It also had a feature I've never seen before in Greek theaters -- one row had backrests! Still no evidence of cushions though.
The church/mosque/fort/church is a horrible mish-mosh of construction methods, walls, and materials, and is overlaid (and partly obscured) by modern wood decking. A pity, as it's an interesting site that could tell us a lot with just a bit of interpretation. A large area is under recent excavation, so there's hope that the interpretation will improve when complete.
To reach the 12th century Norman city of Erice, we began nearly at sea level and rode a skyway (eerily similar to the Disney Skyways of yore) with 8-passenger enclosed cabins. Eleven minutes later we got out at 2100 ft. elevation. Then we climbed up to the city. *Then* we climbed the city streets to the central square.
Likely because of it's inaccessible location and formidable walls, Erice has been occupied continuously for the past 9 centuries. It's been carefully maintained for that time as well. Carefully laid cobbles paved the narrow streets, steps were all square enough to be safe, and the buildings looked to be in good repair.
The town's specialty appears to be selling tchochkes and marzipan confections. We made a long stop where we watched it made, tasted samples, and many indulged in colossal canoli. A quick tour of their church and quite functional bell tower (we were serenaded at noon to quite a demonstration) finished our brief stay.
This suited us quite well, as the wind was blowing strongly and bringing fog and mist to the point those unprepared were getting quite a chill (see above remarks about foolish teens). Several of us were concerned about having to take the skyway back down, but the next event was lunch, so we set aside our concerns and hiked down to 1500 ft. where a hotel laid us a very nice lunch, complete with wine and espresso.
By the end of our meal the buses had arrived at the hotel, and we gratefully boarded for the 90 minute trip back to the ship. The first problem was getting down off the mountain, and it was solved by traveling a "panoramic highway". This is code for "narrow and steep with many hairpin curves almost too sharp for the bus". Thank goodness we didn't meet any cars coming up, as it would have required some inventive geometry to get past us.
The return to the ship was punctuated by a shout from our tour guide when we came up to the stern of the Disney Magic. Apparently she hadn't noticed in the morning that there's a big Goofy back there, and when she had looked a moment, declared that she didn't see that sort of thing very often. Yes indeed, Disney needs more ships!
Dinner at Animator's Palette. Our Head Server has moved us from our corner position to a good table with a clear view of the big monitors. Much nicer. Gonna have to boost his gratuity.
After dinner we went for a stroll on deck (despite the near gale winds). Tonight's buffet is Mexican! Ugh, like I could eat another bite. Well, maybe a cookie or two....