Four go wild north of the border UPDATED 6/23 - Page 11 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 am one who misses LaurieP so much. I'd converse with her a lot on her TRs and posts and PM her at times regarding her trips and love for animals! I remember her last trip to WDW and when she arrived bright and early at the AK at RPW, where she could watch the vets and some of the animals who were sick or awaiting some sort of surgery and such! I know she loves this kind of first hand interaction with the animals and vets and learning and sharing as much about her experiences with this as she can! Such a special and unique person with an incredible heart so willing to give rather than to take!
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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!
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Thank you for including something from lauriep! I do miss her being here regularly. I always learned so much from her, especially about animals.
Oh my goodness, she is such a mine of information about everything, isn't she? Honestly, I think everywhere I mention that we're travelling to, she's either been to or she knows something about it.
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Please let her know that I miss her and always wish her the best.
Will do.
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Your double begonias are gorgeous. You've actually got me wondering where I might be able to plant a few of those.
The irony is the ones in the planters are doing amazingly, but I've planted the whole kitchen bed out with them and they're not doing well at all by comparison. Not a sign of a single flower yet.
I am one who misses LaurieP so much. I'd converse with her a lot on her TRs and posts and PM her at times regarding her trips and love for animals! I remember her last trip to WDW and when she arrived bright and early at the AK at RPW, where she could watch the vets and some of the animals who were sick or awaiting some sort of surgery and such! I know she loves this kind of first hand interaction with the animals and vets and learning and sharing as much about her experiences with this as she can! Such a special and unique person with an incredible heart so willing to give rather than to take!
Oh my goodness, you have summed her up completely. I remember many of her trip reports out at Rafiki's Planet Watch and I am ashamed to say that, for many years, we didn't go out there, as we were like "why bother?" as every time we visited, nothing was happening there. Reading her trip reports inspired us to go back there.
Pre-trip report – part sixteen: “I don’t think Dunfermline is on our itinerary”
Thursday 1 June
I went out for some more “last minute” shopping at lunchtime. Is it just me or do you guys ever say “that’s it, I now have everything I need”, then realise five minutes later, you forgot something. Well, that feels like me at the moment! I discovered I was running low on cleanser, so I went out to get that, and I realised we could do with a smaller bottle of mouthwash, rather than the massive one we have at home.
I also figured I’d get some suntan lotion. Yes, Mari is bringing us some factor 100, or should I say she’s bringing me some factor 100, as I’m the one who always tends to burn in our house. I got out the factor 30 and factor 50 we have, took one look at them, and thought “I think we had those bottles the last time we saw Mari and Raleigh in the summer of 2014”. Not good… suntan lotion does go off, after all…
With that all purchased, we’re done, surely? Well, we’ll see…
As I was driving home, I heard a travel report about Drumnadrochit, and I was thinking “I now know where that is!” A few months ago, honestly that word wouldn’t have meant anything whatsoever to me, and now it does…
When I got home, Mari had sent me an email, asking about whether there’d be a laundrette anywhere along the way on our travels. I already had the answer to that, as either she’d already mentioned it before, or I’d just been very good at anticipating her needs (I’m going for the latter… ) and I was able to email her straight back to say that there was indeed one, just down the road from where we’re staying on the Saturday night. It’s just as well, as I don’t think there are any at any of our other stops. They’re pretty few and far between these days, as I guess most people have washing machines.
I also asked her yesterday what she thought about our Inchcolm Island trip, in terms of should we just take the boat trip, or should we land on the island as well? She wasn’t much help, telling me they were fine with either option. Ok, so that doesn’t help much then. As I said to her, if it’s a nice day, we’ll want to land. If it’s not, then we won’t. Hmmm…. Decisions, decisions!
Friday 2 June
We woke up to BBC Breakfast, which is their national news programme in the mornings, broadcasting live from Dunfermline in Scotland. Why? Well, we have the little matter of a General Election taking place on Thursday (I know, just a day before we head out) and they’re going around the country to get different views on politics. They were in Northern Ireland earlier in the week, and they’ve been to Wales, all of which have different political options to those of us in England.
Of course, one of the big political debates in Scotland is still about independence. There was the referendum a couple of years ago, and the Scots opted to remain as part of the United Kingdom, but the EU referendum and the resulting Brexit threw everything back in the air again, as the Scots voted by quite a large majority to remain in the EU. Anyway I digress…
Mark said to me quite early on in the broadcast “I don’t think Dunfermline is on our itinerary”, and he was right. Well, maybe we should put that right. The Palace and Abbey look as if they are well worth visiting, so I’ve tentatively added that into the itinerary. We may or may not make it on the day, but we’ll see.
Oh and here’s an update on the presents I got for my parents’ golden wedding anniversary. The rose is starting to bud nicely….
However, I’m a bit more concerned about the freesia. I wanted it to be in bloom for our visit, but look at how much it’s already out now. I don’t know if there’ll be anything left in a week’s time…
And yes, as I write this, we are now less than a week away!
Saturday 3 June
Well, packing has sort of commenced…I say sort of, as the pile to be packed has got a lot bigger, but nothing’s actually made it into a suitcase yet. That’s tomorrow’s job…
I was getting a bit worried that I hadn’t seen the first aid kit we take with us on vacation for some time. I’ve been keeping a look out for it in obvious places over the last few days, and no sightings anywhere. So today I tried some more unlikely places. Still nothing. Hmmm… this is getting a bit worrying.
I went upstairs, and I checked in all the suitcases, as maybe we didn’t unpack it from when we returned from Iceland? As Mark said, it’s quite a big thing to leave behind, but I honestly had no recollection of seeing it at all since we’d been back in the country. Wouldn’t you know it, eventually I opened up the case I’d brought downstairs to pack, and there it was. Phew! I checked the contents and concluded there was nothing more we needed to buy, so that was good.
Later on, I went into town, and I went into my favourite clothes store, but it was not to be there. I saw about six or seven things I liked, and without fail, each time they weren’t available in my size. I went to another store, as I was hoping to get another pair of crops. No luck there, but I did manage to find a pair of purple long shorts, so I got those.
My final stop before meeting my friend for dinner was to pick up my prescription. I had plenty of the various prescription meds I have (I’m falling apart, and I’m not even mid 40s yet… ), except for one. The chemist didn’t have anything in, and they sent it through to my doctor’s surgery for processing on 18 May! The pharmacist sent it back with a note on it in big letters, but now it means another trip into town to pick it up during the week, which I wasn’t anticipating. What a pain….
When I got home, I decided I needed to finally suck it up and purchase our Inchcolm Island cruise tickets. I decided to go for just the one and a half hour sightseeing tour. Yes, it would’ve been nice to have stopped off on the island, but I’m conscious that Mari and Raleigh want to spend some time on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, quite rightly, as it’s one of the city’s major tourist attractions, and we’ve got a lot of driving ahead of us for the rest of the day. I went online, and purchased the tickets, so we are now officially done with purchases ahead of time.
I went through the paperwork for the trip again, and just checked I’d got everything and I can confirm we are good to go on that front! We have the hotel confirmations for every night, and the confirmations for the various lake cruises and the ferry cruising over to the Isle of Skye, so at least now I know and I don’t need to check that again…
Sunday 4 June
I was woken at 11:30pm last night with the words “and now we’re going live on BBC-1 and BBC World”. I’d left the TV in the bedroom on the BBC News Channel, so I knew this was something bad, and it was… another terrorist attack. This time it was in London, on London Bridge and in Borough Market, places I know very well. Eventually, I went back to sleep, but I woke up again just before 5:00am, and despite the early hour, I felt I had to get up, and watch the coverage. It’s just how I am. I am a news junkie, which is part of it, but equally when something like this happens, I also can’t tear my eyes away from it and, somehow it seems disrespectful to do so, if that makes sense?
Anyway, eventually I was able to put those thoughts to one side, and concentrate on packing. As I usually do, I started off with putting clothes to one side, working out how many days we’d be away and how much I needed to pack. I had a look at the temperatures and weather in Scotland, but honestly it didn’t help that much. It was what I expected – high 50s to high 60s with some rain and sun, so I’ll go with layers, which was my plan all along.
When the Tesco grocery order arrived, I think Mark was a bit shocked at everything I’d ordered…. In fact I think I may have over ordered on the water. What do you think?
Oh well, it’s hardly going to go off, is it? And heck, if we can’t fit it all in the car, then we’ll just keep it to drink at home. It’s not a problem either way…
That doesn't seem like much water at all for 4 people and 2 weeks? I try to drink the recommended 64 oz/day, and really only drink water during the day. Aside for one morning coffee. Then at dinner I switch to wine!
Love the yellow freesia - not sure I've ever seen it in that color.
I agree that the water is an appropriate amount if not too little for 4 people. I am a huge proponent of drinking lots of water and we always go through it.
The golden rose is going to be stunning when it is in full bloom. I think your n parents will love it.
And I totally understand the never ending shopping list. Isn't it normal to come home from shopping and then start a new list immediately because you forgot something? I think it's normal. Happens to me all the time. In fact, I'm headed out right now to get a new travel toothbrush even though I just got a bunch of stuff yesterday....
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Tanya
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That doesn't seem like much water at all for 4 people and 2 weeks? I try to drink the recommended 64 oz/day, and really only drink water during the day. Aside for one morning coffee. Then at dinner I switch to wine!
The freesia looks beautiful and hopefully, it will still be blooming when you arrive at your parent's home. That is a whole lot of water. But you are right it will keep.
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I'd converse with her a lot on her TRs and posts and PM her at times regarding her trips and love for animals! 
I remember her last trip to WDW and when she arrived bright and early at the AK at RPW, where she could watch the vets and some of the animals who were sick or awaiting some sort of surgery and such! 
I know she loves this kind of first hand interaction with the animals and vets and learning and sharing as much about her experiences with this as she can! 
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
I discovered I was running low on cleanser, so I went out to get that, and I realised we could do with a smaller bottle of mouthwash, rather than the massive one we have at home. 
Not good… suntan lotion does go off, after all… 
) and I was able to email her straight back to say that there was indeed one, just down the road from where we’re staying on the Saturday night. It’s just as well, as I don’t think there are any at any of our other stops. They’re pretty few and far between these days, as I guess most people have washing machines.
The Palace and Abbey look as if they are well worth visiting, so I’ve tentatively added that into the itinerary. We may or may not make it on the day, but we’ll see. 
I went to another store, as I was hoping to get another pair of crops. No luck there, but I did manage to find a pair of purple long shorts, so I got those. 
The pharmacist sent it back with a note on it in big letters, but now it means another trip into town to pick it up during the week, which I wasn’t anticipating. What a pain…. 
This time it was in London, on London Bridge and in Borough Market, places I know very well. Eventually, I went back to sleep, but I woke up again just before 5:00am, and despite the early hour, I felt I had to get up, and watch the coverage. It’s just how I am. I am a news junkie, which is part of it, but equally when something like this happens, I also can’t tear my eyes away from it and, somehow it seems disrespectful to do so, if that makes sense? 
But you are right it will keep. 
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