Don't Stop - the Pocono mountains section COMPLETED - Page 2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Saturday 26 December – part two: that is one strong drink!
We went back to get the luggage, borrowing a luggage cart on the way, that then became a more permanent fixture in our bedroom. Sue and Steve did a great job of knocking on our door later, pretending to be housekeeping, demanding it back. Very funny.
”We travelled light... “... but we didn’t!”
We had connecting rooms, which was very comical at times. As we went through our luggage, we found various presents for them, including the two Wedgewood ornaments that we had carried with us in our hand luggage for the last couple of weeks, which they loved and a fridge magnet and apron, that we got in France in Epcot yesterday, along with the Union Flag coasters for Charley and Joe’s. I can’t wait to see that place tomorrow... For those who don’t know, Sue and Steve have their own bar at their house called Charley and Joe’s.
It wasn’t long before we were all hungry and I was starting to feel very weak, so we set off looking for food and found Bahama Breeze that Sue and Steve had eaten in before.
When we pulled into the parking lot there, next to where we parked was a huge pile of snow and Mark couldn’t resist jumping on it, which I managed to catch on camera, along with the aftermath, as he discovered that it wasn’t as soft as he thought it would be. Fortunately, no lasting damage was done in this incident....
It was a very nice place, although it was very bizarre to walk in there and be transported to the Caribbean when there’s snow on the ground outside.
We were seated in a booth and I did notice that there was no-one next to us, which was probably a good thing, as we really were having a blast, taking photos of each other. Steve was very funny, as he critiqued his Pina Colada. I took one mouthful of mine and my head nearly blew off. My goodness, it was like neat alcohol in it. Sue and Steve were looking at me, like I was mad, so I got them to try it and they agreed that it was exceedingly strong and they could see what I was saying. I swapped drinks with Steve, as you could barely taste the alcohol in his, which worked fine for me.
Steve decided to go for the Jamaican chicken wings and boy these things were pretty big and the guys struggled to get through them.
Getting ready to dig in!
For entree, I went for the coconut shrimp with seafood chowder. This was excellent, but it was more filling than I had ever thought and, before I knew it, I couldn’t eat any more of either. I was amazed at how quickly I got stuffed from my meal.
Mark had the kebabs and was provided with a huge fork, perfect for Piglet of course, which he loved having.
I really enjoyed out meal here and, of course, it was great company with lots and lots of laughs with Sue and Steve. We didn’t stop talking and barely stopped laughing during the time we were there.
Bahama Breeze:
Appetiser N/A 9
Entree 8½ 9
Service 9½ 9½
Atmosphere 9 9½
Value for money 9½ 9
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Great start to this leg of your trip! Mark's romp in the snow is hilarious! Glad he wasn't hurt! Dinner at Bahama Breeze looks very and those are the largest wings I've ever seen.
Love Bahama Breeze! Wish we had one locally. All of your meals look huge. More please!
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Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
Saturday 26 December – part three: “are there any rides here?”
Eventually, we headed out of there.
Can you believe the parking round here? Programming Garmin.... ... and playing on the BlackBerry!
It was back to the hotel for some nap time for Steve, before heading out to Longwood Gardens. I took the opportunity to get caught up on the Internet.
Eventually 4.00 rolled round, which is the time we had said that we would leave. No knock on the door. Then it was 4.10. I kept saying to Mark that I didn’t know what to do, as I knew that Steve would be sleeping and he suggested that I text Sue, which I did. We then got a quiet knock on the door and, sure enough, Steve was still asleep on the bed!
Bless him, it took him quite a while to come back to life, but when he eventually did, we headed out and straight into traffic. Today, it didn’t seem to matter where we were going or when, the result was always the same – lots of being stuck in what felt like endless lines of cars. Finally we got away from the King of Prussia Mall and the traffic eased, but as we hit the freeways, the weather worsened. Sadly it looked like the rain really set in for the night.
We got close to Longwood Gardens and had to take a detour, as the road that we needed was flooded out. I must admit, as we drove along, I fully expected to come across another flood, but fortunately, we didn’t and we made it to Longwood Gardens safely. Again, not a good drive for poor old Sue... :
When we got there, we could see that it was going to be a lot quieter than when we had last been here, but that had been in the run-up to Christmas. There weren’t many cars in the car park and we were able to park pretty close to the entrance.
We went in and Steve, bless him, kept asking if there were rides here. No, but what we got was much better. As we walked through all my memories of this place came flooding back to me. The trees with their amazing lights were all as I remembered them, only more impressive, if that was possible.
Do you think someone wants a snowball fight?
The rain was coming down pretty heavily by now, although fortunately I really wasn’t feeling it too much, thanks to my huge winter coat that I bought earlier in the year. Boy, was I glad of that thing now! : yes: It was probably only when we got to the original house and went inside that I realised how wet everything thing was.
We toured the exhibition here that charts how this place was created and it’s fascinating. We had seen this five years ago, but I had forgotten a lot of things. Pierre du Pont who set this place up got his idea of how to create it from many visits to Europe, including one where they visited 50 French chateaux. I bet that was one heck of a journey! What they created was wonderful and I think I can honestly say that we were all enchanted by the video of the dancing fountains, although sadly we never got to see them, as they just weren’t dancing when we were around. Still, at least we had seen them before and they are excellent and not to be missed, if you can help it. Hopefully Sue and Steve will be able to get back there and see them one day.
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