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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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All caught up, even though I should be in bed.
What a fabulous trip you had! I loved all the pictures - some brought back memories while others have been added to the 'to do' list. Thanks so much for sharing your incredible journey with us!
I can't wait to read your rap up! Glad you made it home safe!!
I need to do that now, huh? I'm such a slacker!
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhToodles!
OK, I've got a lot of catching up to do, but got to the Neuschwanstein update and just had to post. It brought back SO many memories! Bummer the scaffolding was up though. I'm SO glad you enjoyed it. We bought that same book too! What else did you get in the gift shops? We got a picture - that is hanging at the top of the stairs surrounded by pictures from other parts of our trip and then we got a paper model (3D) of the castle, which still isn't put together - it's only been 6 years.
I got a bunch of postcards and we got a puzzle (not 3D) that we are going to start this weekend!
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhToodles!
All caught up, even though I should be in bed.
What a fabulous trip you had! I loved all the pictures - some brought back memories while others have been added to the 'to do' list. Thanks so much for sharing your incredible journey with us!
I'm glad you could finish up (though sorry about keeping you up, lol). I really was surprised to love it as much as I did!
Sorry it took me so long to wrap this thing up! It's been exhausting and crazy the last couple of weeks!
Transportation
Obviously, flying standby can be hit or miss in the stress department. This go-round was a little more stressful because it was an international flight, and because the flights were very tight. And because with only two flights a day, we didn't have a whole lot of leeway the way we often do domestically.
The flights themselves were mostly fine. Good service. Decent food. Good movie choices. Uneventful. I was really pleasantly surprised at how well Meri did on both long-haul flights, and was reminded what a seasoned pro she really is.
Food
When I think of Germany, food isn't the first thing that comes to mind. It isn't really even the 10th. The one German food I truly enjoyed was the goulash. The rest of the time, if we were at a German restaurant, I got chicken, and it was great, lol. Their food is often, unsurprisingly, far more sour than I'm used to (sauerkraut, sauerbraaten, etc). In most restaurants, we were expected to seat ourselves. I'm definitely not used to that, but after a while I got the hang of it.
The service was always good. Sometimes quite slow, of course, but that's pretty much the European way. Not many people seem to be in a rush over there - unless they're driving.
Driving
Speaking of driving... do it. If you can, don't take the train. Yes, if you take the train, someone else is driving and you're free to enjoy yourself. But there's nothing like driving yourself and being able to say, "Wait, pull over, let's look at that" or being able to meander through a town unexpectedly, just because it's beautiful. You also have a "home base", in a sense, where you can keep your things. I can't recommend it enough.
We loved driving in Germany. Very fast, very efficient, and everyone follows the rules. It makes for such a pleasant driving experience. No one is jockeying for position, no one is going to bust your chops by not letting you in front of them. No one deliberately drives slow in the left lane because they have control issues (lol).
Hotels
The hotels surprised me. In every case, each room was far larger than expected. The wifi is always a charge, of course, and always (in my opinion) ridiculously expensive and unnecessary. And yes, I did it every time. Shhh. That's irrelevant. LOL! Of course they do it because they know people will pay it.
The service was always lovely. The hotels we chose were in great locations and they were what I consider to be reasonable prices given that we paid for the location and amenities in most cases.
Best Western - Strasbourg - I loved the people here - and I loved the free breakfast. The eating area was lovely and there were plenty of options. Paying for parking was definitely worth every penny.
Holiday Inn - Munich - Great hotel, great location. Don't pay for breakfast - there's an underground area with bakeries and things galore. Large room. Underground parking for a fee - well worth it.
Holiday Inn - Frankfurt - Large room. Quiet, given it was an airport hotel. We didn't have any other options for food, so we were stuck with their restaurant. It was overpriced on all counts, but the food was good as was the service.
Places / Sights Strasbourg - It's beautiful here. Absolutely lovely. The river is very brown, which surprised me for some reason, but everything else is beautiful. I'm glad we added this side trip. It was worth it.
Neuschwanstein - Beautiful town, beautiful area. As I stated - get your tickets beforehand, so you have an earlier designated time for touring the castle. And tour both if you can. I wish we had done both, but we just didn't feel we had the time because of poor planning. Be prepared to do a lot of walking.
Baden Baden - Make it a point to spend more than 2 hours here. It's absolutely beautiful and the baths are so soothing and relaxing. Bring cash for tipping your masseuse if you get one, but everything else is covered by your little bracelet. Knowing what I know now, I'd definitely spend at least 4 hours there, and I'd really just soak in the atmosphere.
Ulm - I wish we'd had a little more time in this town, but it was a stop on a whim, so we were already setting ourselves a little behind schedule just stopping to see the cathedral. The cathedral is expectedly beautiful. Bring cash if you want to buy something. It's pretty easy to make your way around places, even if you're directionally-challenged like I seem to be.
Munich - I wish we had another full day here. There's so much more I wanted to see, including the Englischer Gardens and the palaces to the north, and... and... and... Given that our visit to the Glockenspiel was completely a mess (though in retrospect, very funny), this city is begging for a repeat visit from us!! Loved the Marienplatz. Definitely my favorite church was here.
Lindau - Yes, I'll say it again (and you'll hear it twice more) - I wish we had more time here. I would have loved to shop here, and walk along the lake, and see everything and meander the streets. The boat cruise was a lovely way to spend the time in the area, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone.
Triberg - Definitely the quaintest, most beautiful town we saw. The falls weren't really that exciting. They were pretty, but if your time is limited, feel free to skip them (in my opinion). You guessed it... I wish we had more time here. I would have loved to spend at least a full day here, just meandering the town and seeing what some of the signs led to (especially that swimming one). Buy a clock and ship it home. I love ours so much. It makes me smile every hour and half-hour.
Heidelberg - Lovely city. Yes. I wish we had more time here. It was very picturesque. I would have loved to take a river cruise, but alas, time constraints. I also wish we had done the interior castle tour. Alas, hindsight... but what we did was fine and enjoyable, so I'm fine with it.
Misc Commentary
Everything is so green and clean in Germany. No dirty windows. No litter. No mess. I saw numerous people cleaning their windows, sweeping their porches, etc. throughout our visit.
I loved seeing the windmills. I loved passing through these tiny towns and seeing all of the amazing scenery. A month here wouldn't do it justice, though I'd be glad to give it a whirl!
I cannot say enough about how lovely Germany is, and how highly I'd recommend it to anyone looking to visit Europe.
I'm sure I've left so many thoughts out of this wrap-up. But the bottom line is that I loved it and I'm so glad we went, even if it WAS in place of Hawaii. I'll definitely get to Hawaii sometime in the foreseeable future, and then all will be right with the world!
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Thanks for coming back to wrap things up! I was wondering where you've been! Isn't it funny that you start to get used to seeing certain people post regularly, and then suddenly you notice that they're not around! Lol! I always notice little things like that, but if it's something important I have to remember, forget it!
Your trip just sounded so wonderful! Even though you packed in so many beautiful sights, it does seem like you could've spent twice the amount of time and still not have seen what you wanted.
Thanks for all the reviews! When I finally make it to Europe, I'll definitely keep those in mind. Hopefully it won't be too far off in the future!
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Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
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I absolutely loved every little detail of your trip. Thank you so much for sharing it with us! Between this TR and Chez's other reports I've read, I'm sooo planning a little journey to Europe in a few years. It was a wonderful experience for you and Meri and your mom. Awesome!
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Tanya
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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It was a wonderful experience for you and Meri and your mom. Awesome! 
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