Springing back to Iceland to see it in the green! COMPLETED 6/29 - Page 30 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Even if the boats could've gone out, there's no way I'd want to be out in that. Too bad, though - since that was in part the reason for the return trip!
Sorry about missing whale watching. We did a whale watching tour in Valdez, Alaska and it was wonderful especially the baby!. Dinner looked good and what gorgeous views from the restaurant. Your lovely mountain photos make me homesick for Alaska.
Don't you hate it when the weather changes your plans?! That's why we always research alternative things to do, right?!
Oh definitely. The only problem we had this day was we'd already done a lot of the indoor attractions on our last visit, which limited our options, although trust me, I was leafing through a guidebook, looking for other ideas.
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Or worst case scenario, that's when we take an honest to goodness day off and nap, read, and watch tv.
That was what we thought of for a while, but at the end of the day, you're in another country, you may as well explore it and make the best of it and we tried our best to do that.
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Yeah, I don't think any boat operator was going out in those winds. No thank you!
Oh my goodness, it would be like our hydrofoil ride from Naples to Sorrento on our first Med cruise with Disney. I think about 60-70% of those on board were ill. It was not fun!
Even if the boats could've gone out, there's no way I'd want to be out in that. Too bad, though - since that was in part the reason for the return trip!
It was, but heck, every time you can't do something, it's just another reason to go back, right?
Monday 1 May – part two: seeing the city without snow…
We decided to make our way over to the Hallgrimskirkja church, so that we could see what the views looked like without the snow everywhere. This is a relatively new church, although it wasn’t quick to build. It took a total of 41 years to complete, from 1887 to 1950 (obviously there were some years there was nothing done). It’s made out of white concrete and is named after the Icelandic man who wrote the country’s most popular hymn books.
Eventually, we found the car park, after Google Maps steered us a little wrong, and we parked up. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that it seemed to be free parking.
Last time we were here, we never went in via these doors, so I was fascinated by them…
We went inside, and bought our tickets. Above the elevator was this picture. Somehow I doubt it’s going to look like this today…
We made our way up in an elevator to ourselves. What a pleasant change from last time when we were all sandwiched in! As Mark said, they are very trusting here, as no-one checks you to see if you have a ticket, but I reckon because they’re a church a) they work on trust and b) they’re expecting something really bad to happen to you if you don’t buy a ticket. After all, that would be theft, and I don’t think that’s thought well of in any religion….
We arrived in the clock face area, and it looked miserable from up here, but not too terrible. Oh my, how wrong you can be!
We still had to make our way up this, and I wasn’t sure how my ankle would cope, but it did admirably well. It has been making really steady improvements day by day, which is good, but I am still glad I have special assistance booked on the flight home, as I think that might finish it off.
The views from the top were very cool. You could see it was wet, but it was a very different view to when there had been snow on the ground, and I’m glad we’d done this to see the difference. Looking this way, it didn’t feel too bad. Yes, it was cold, but you weren’t getting the rain blown in your face.
However, looking this way, it was almost impossible to stand up, as the wind was blowing directly at you, and of course that meant the rain right in your face, which was pretty piercing. How I got these photos, I’m not 100% sure…
At least this way, towards the lake we’d just come from, and the domestic airport, wasn’t too bad in terms of the rain in your face.
I could see the whale watching ships were still in port unsurprisingly, but this ship was on its way out. I wouldn’t like to have been on it.
Definitely worth the view, even in the rain. A grass roof top, cool!
I like your reasoning for buying the lift ticket, or rather, if you didn't buy the lift ticket - they're expecting something really bad to happen to you if you don't! hahaha!!
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Tanya
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How many flights of stairs? I assume someone could wait at the elevator exit while someone else did the stairs to the top? Looks worth the trip to see the view!
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. Great pictures from around town!
Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
PassPorter Guide Author
Only joking, it sounds like a wonderful experience, but seriously jealous here! 
As Mark said, they are very trusting here, as no-one checks you to see if you have a ticket, but I reckon because they’re a church a) they work on trust and b) they’re expecting something really bad to happen to you if you don’t buy a ticket. After all, that would be theft, and I don’t think that’s thought well of in any religion…. 
hahaha!!
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