Merrie Olde England TR - Read but Don't Reply! - Page 18 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Beautiful shots of the ravens... such smart birds! On my first trip to London I couldn't get enough of the Tower. I returned 3 days in a row. Impossible to see everything and hear every story!
The Yeomen Warders Tour, also known as the Beefeater Tour, is not to be missed.
The individuals who conduct the tours are ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. In principle they're responsible for looking after any prisoners at the Tower and safeguarding the crown jewels. In actuality, they act as tour guides. Currently there are 35 Yeo9man Warders, including one woman. They and their families live inside the Tower (about 120 people total). Pretty .
It's believed that their nickname arises from their means of payment in years gone by, when they would receive beef, mutton, and veal from the king's table as payment for their services. Or, as our Beefeater guide told us, "I have no idea."
He was a complete delight. Funny, dramatic, and eloquent.
He showed us the Traitor's Gate, a boat entrance by which most prisoners arrived at the fortress. In fact, Henry VIII's daughter Elizabeth was brought here as a prisoner a couple of years after her mother (Anne Boleyn) was beheaded at the Tower. Elizabeth was one of the few prisoners who ended up leaving out the front gates on her own and in time became Queen Elizabeth I.
Our Beefeater doesn't think much of the contemporary sculpture below, which represents the chopping block at which Anne Boleyn and many others lost their heads. I must admit, it does look a bit too contemporary for the setting, but it's nice that there's a spot urging visitors to pause and think about the lives that were lost there. (I guess "nice" isn't quite the right word, though. )
Kelly, we always had a parakeet while I was growing up, so I adore birds. (And yes, I've been invited up on stage at AK for the Flights of Wonder show and loved every minute of it. ) In this case, a couple tourists tried to get the raven to eat out of their hands, but the bird didn't trust anybody enough for that. Smart animal.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
How cool - we've never done a tour with a Beefeater, but I found out recently that someone at work used to be a Beefeater! He's told us some really neat stories about his time there.
Kelly and I met at a collectibles shop in Old St. Charles this morning! And I got to meet Lukas, who is sweet and adorable and the BEST baby! He seemed to enjoy all my purchases -- and I made several, although no Armani.
You'll have to wait a few days to see the photos -- and of course I got a picture with Kelly and Lukas.
Well, the shop only had 5 Armani pieces and luckily for ME, they were pieces I could live without. Because even at 70% off, let's face it, the Armani stuff is really expensive.
When I got home, I informed Rick as much and HE said with an evil "So did you purchase anything else?"
Me: "Sure!"
Rick: "Were they things on SALE?"
Me: "Well, they were SELLING them, so sure they were on SALE."
Rick: "No, that means they were FOR SALE, not that they were ON SALE."
Me: "Oh, I always get those two mixed up."
But first and foremost, I got to meet KELLY and LUKAS! Here we are posing with most of my purchases.
Lukas seems intrigued with my newest Goofy, who you may recognize from "Mickey and the Beanstalk." Lukas has good taste in Disney characters!
My little Lumiere and Babette got partially cut off in this picture, so I've placed them where they don't belong just so you can see them better:
Aren't they adorable?
And then I made one more purchase that is ENTIRELY Kelly's fault. See, she found a collectible that would make a perfect gift to some friends who are about to move from St. Louis to Orlando (can you believe it), and so while she was getting her purchase rung up, I of course wandered back to the Disney stuff where I spied THIS:
It's the Ugly Duckling from Silly Symphonies (which I rewatched this morning before work), so you see why I had to have it. It's now sitting on my desk at work, and I just pray nobody starts messing with the reeds because they WILL snap off. But Kelly, rest assured that I took great care in getting it out of the box here this morning! It looks fabulous on my desk, AND I'll use it an an HR tool: It's only when you try to be someone you're not that you're ugly. Be yourself the best you can, and you'll be beautiful.
Gee, I wonder if my company would reimburse me for that purchase.
And the Jim Shore piece wasn't expensive, of course, and it just makes me want to shriek, "Anita, DAHLING!!!" so of course I had to purchase this:
As we headed out to our cars, Kelly surprised me with a giftie from her visit to Walt's boyhood home in Marceline MO: some really nice-smelling soaps shaped like -- well, hmm, what shape would YOU call these?
for the soaps, Kelly, and for meeting me!
Now, calling all Disney fans who will be in the St. Louis area July 6-14. "The Little Mermaid" will be playing at the Muny, our huge outdoor theater for a live stage production. Kelly and I are planning to meet there one night.
KELLY, do you want to go on Saturday night? That would be July 9. I'm up for whenever you want to go.
Kelly and I met at a collectibles shop in Old St. Charles this morning! And I got to meet Lukas, who is sweet and adorable and the BEST baby! He seemed to enjoy all my purchases -- and I made several, although no Armani.
You'll have to wait a few days to see the photos -- and of course I got a picture with Kelly and Lukas.
Well, the shop only had 5 Armani pieces and luckily for ME, they were pieces I could live without. Because even at 70% off, let's face it, the Armani stuff is really expensive.
When I got home, I informed Rick as much and HE said with an evil "So did you purchase anything else?"
Me: "Sure!"
Rick: "Were they things on SALE?"
Me: "Well, they were SELLING them, so sure they were on SALE."
Rick: "No, that means they were FOR SALE, not that they were ON SALE."
Me: "Oh, I always get those two mixed up."
But first and foremost, I got to meet KELLY and LUKAS! Here we are posing with most of my purchases.
Lukas seems intrigued with my newest Goofy, who you may recognize from "Mickey and the Beanstalk." Lukas has good taste in Disney characters!
My little Lumiere and Babette got partially cut off in this picture, so I've placed them where they don't belong just so you can see them better:
Aren't they adorable?
And then I made one more purchase that is ENTIRELY Kelly's fault. See, she found a collectible that would make a perfect gift to some friends who are about to move from St. Louis to Orlando (can you believe it), and so while she was getting her purchase rung up, I of course wandered back to the Disney stuff where I spied THIS:
It's the Ugly Duckling from Silly Symphonies (which I rewatched this morning before work), so you see why I had to have it. It's now sitting on my desk at work, and I just pray nobody starts messing with the reeds because they WILL snap off. But Kelly, rest assured that I took great care in getting it out of the box here this morning! It looks fabulous on my desk, AND I'll use it an an HR tool: It's only when you try to be someone you're not that you're ugly. Be yourself the best you can, and you'll be beautiful.
Gee, I wonder if my company would reimburse me for that purchase.
And the Jim Shore piece wasn't expensive, of course, and it just makes me want to shriek, "Anita, DAHLING!!!" so of course I had to purchase this:
As we headed out to our cars, Kelly surprised me with a giftie from her visit to Walt's boyhood home in Marceline MO: some really nice-smelling soaps shaped like -- well, hmm, what shape would YOU call these?
for the soaps, Kelly, and for meeting me!
Now, calling all Disney fans who will be in the St. Louis area July 6-14. "The Little Mermaid" will be playing at the Muny, our huge outdoor theater for a live stage production. Kelly and I are planning to meet there one night.
KELLY, do you want to go on Saturday night? That would be July 9. I'm up for whenever you want to go.
:t hewave:
It was so great to meet you Cindy! We must do it more often! Great photo of us - even if Lukas wouldn't cooperate in looking at the camera. Would you all believe we spent over an hour in that store!? But time flew by and I had a lot of fun with Cindy.
Sorry about the extra purchase, but it is really cute. I'm glad they survived the move out of the box.
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the Tower of London, reminds me of the Tudors! And Phillipa Gregory books...I love reading them.
My normal everyday computer routine!
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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for the soaps, Kelly, and 
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