On the road (3) A (hopefully) sunny September road trip to Spain COMPLETED - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Sunday 5 September part six: from electronics to wine...
We were there about 20 minutes early, but we werent the only ones, as a huge crowd built up. We got talking to a couple of women from Canada and it was really interesting. As the woman from Quebec City explained, their standard of English teaching isnt great and, when compared to her friend from Montreal, the difference was very stark. Her friend now also lives in Quebec City and speaks fluent French and it was very impressive the way they changed between the two languages. Although I can understand probably about 90% of French, I just lack the confidence when it comes to speaking it.
Finally, we were told that the bus was ready, although when we got there, some people were already on it. By the time we got on board, there were only about three more sets of seats left available, so we ended up right at the back, which wasnt ideal. It was certainly a packed bus, with only a couple of seats left free by the time everyone was on board.
We set off, with our wonderful guide Christine giving us a great commentary all the way in both French and English. Once we got out of the pedestrian area, it was a drive along the waterfront.
Another Cow Parade friend! Statues on top of the Grand Theatre Letting us out of the pedestrian area
Our journey then took us across the river Gironde, which runs through the city, and then the Dordogne river, which gives its name to the whole region.
As we got out that far, pretty much all you started to see were vineyards. Its such a wonderful sight and something I dont think Id ever get sick of seeing, especially as most of them come with beautiful chateaux.
We passed through the village of Saint Emilion, but we would be stopping on the way back for a more thorough exploration. By now, we really were hurtling along, as apparently we had an appointment at the Chateau de Pressace outside Saint Emilion at 2.30pm. We had been due to leave at 1.30pm, but because wed been waiting to see if the final person booked on our tour showed up, we didnt get going until 1.40pm, which put our driver Jacques under quite a bit of pressure. Despite the speed, he was in the main very smooth and we did make it on time. As we pulled up towards the chateau, you could see their vineyards spread out in the valley below.
We were greeted upon our arrival by Annie-Suzette, who took us on a guided tour of the chateau, with Christine doing the English translations for her. It turns out that the chateau has passed through many different owners and, when the most recent owner bought it in 1997, it was in quite a state of disrepair and he had to do a lot of work to it. He sounded like an interesting character, as apparently he previously worked for an electronics company in Paris, so no background in wine production at all, which really surprised me.
All of the wine produced here is red, which is a shame, as its not exactly our tipple of choice, shall we say. Still, it was interesting to learn about the history of the place, with some wonderful views over the vineyards beneath. Its also worth knowing that this is such a historic wine producing area that the entire Saint Emillion vineyard area was declared a World Heritage Site.
Next: is this really wine or is it impersonating paint stripper?
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