A tale of two cities… and a few other places… COMPLETED - Page 35 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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The mosaic floors are beautiful - you weren’t kidding when you said they were well preserved!
But to think we get excited about artifacts from the early 1600’s around here. That would all be modern day compared to what you saw.
Ok, I will confess here that whenever we have friends from across the pond visiting we do take great delight in taking them to visit the oldest things we can find! The looks on people's faces are absolutely classic.
The Roman Villas are absolutely amazing and love things like this as I experienced things like this in Rome, Umbria and Tuscany in my travels to Italy with two trips! The excavations are what are truly astonishing with the history behind them and the skeletons as well. Great place to take Jan. Just so much history behind it.
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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!
I've been looking at your ticker.....what concert are you going to on Saturday?
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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!
I've been looking at your ticker.....what concert are you going to on Saturday?
Nothing that exciting and nothing you'd have heard of, I'm sure. It's the former members of Bucks Fizz, who I was a real fan of when I was a kid. They won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981. As I say, I doubt you've heard of them...
Wednesday 20 September – part four: chilling with the lavender
We headed out through the villages…
… and our next stop was at the Hop Shop, which is probably best known for Kentish lavender. The fields in the summer months are just an unbelievable sight of beautiful purples. We first found this place last summer completely by accident. We picked up a leaflet at a nearby place we were visiting, and thought it would be fun to visit. We were bowled away by what we found, and the fascinating tour we took, all about what they do with all the lavender they harvest. This year, we came back for massages in the lavender fields, which was a neat experience. I thought it would be just the sort of place Jan would enjoy.
There’s a lot more to it than just lavender though. They also harvest apples, hops, dried flowers, and they sell a variety of items at their farm shop, including unusual gifts.
We’ve been here twice over the last two years, both during the lavender season, and the place is heaving. This is the first time we’ve come when it’s been quiet enough to get any photos of it.
I got some more of the lavender sleep products I use and a couple of other things, including this gingerbread iced cow!
Whether I’ll ever pluck up courage to eat him though is another matter…
While we were here, we heard a Spitfire fly over, and I managed to snag him on camera.
They were flown before, during and after World War II, but during the world is what they’re most famous for, and particularly their contribution to the Battle of Britain in 1940. It was the only British fighter plane to be in continuous production throughout the war, and just over 50 remain airworthy today.
We headed out on the next stage of Jan’s mystery tour, which had worked out quite well so far… We passed Heathrow…
… and stopped off here, parking up in the shopping centre car park. We then headed through the shopping centre…
Now when you say Hop Shop, the first thing that comes to mind is beer. I was expecting a pub of sorts with specialty brews. But the lavender is better, I think! Looks like a very cute shop.
Nice capture of the airplane!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Apologies for the lateness of this update - the boards were not well this morning!
Wednesday 20 September – part five: Jan’s next surprise location
You re-join us in our next surprise location for Jan, and she had no clue where we were, so imagine her surprise when she saw this:
Of course it’s Windsor Castle. We didn’t have time to go around it, but at least she could get some photos of it…
Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world. It’s been the family home of British kings and queens for almost 1,000 years and the Queen still stays here today. If she’s in residence, the Royal standard flies above the Round Tower. She spends private weekends here, and takes up official residence over Easter for a month, and for one week in June, when she attends Royal Ascot nearby (horse racing) and the service of the Order of the Garter. The castle is often used for state banquets, and St. George’s Hall can seat up to 160 people.
We walked along a little bit…
… and decided to get a snack. Oh my goodness, they know how to charge here! I got a tomato, mozzarella and pesto panini and that was £6 ($7.50), while Jan and Mark both got fish and chips, and that totalled £20 ($27). To compare, at home, if we bought fish and chips, it would probably be more like £13-14 ($16.25-.17.50)
We headed back to the car through the shopping centre, which is certainly unique…
Our final stop of the day on the way to our afternoon tea was Lacock, which is what I’d describe as a quintessential British village. It was mentioned in the Doomsday Book, a survey of the country back in 1086, and back then it only had between 160 and 190 people living there, along with two mills and a vineyard. Most of the houses here date from the 18th century or earlier, and the whole village was given to the National Trust in 1944, who now ensure its preservation. The village has been used as a filming location for a variety of things, including Downton Abbey, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We thought Jan would love this place, and she did. It’s like stepping back in time, and I love it.
I said to Jan you would only find a sign like this in a place like this. It’s very trusting, and something that sadly is dying out these days.
That’s one heck of a surprise! Well done!
And the village is absolutely perfect. Makes sense to use it for movies. So cute!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Wednesday 20 September – part six: a traditional British afternoon tea…
We made our way towards Bath…
… and arrived at Bailbrook House, where we’d be having afternoon tea…
We were greeted by Warwick, who was charming, and promised to show us some of their best rooms, although sadly he wasn’t there when we left, so we weren’t able to do that.
We were seated in the conservatory…
… and this was our view outside…
Warwick promised us that we’d see baby deer, but sadly it wasn’t to be. I kept an eye out constantly, but they weren’t audio animatronic, and didn’t appear when we wanted them to.
The tea turned up first, and this was interesting for Jan, as she usually has iced tea, but she was very game, and had hot tea (albeit without milk) and quite enjoyed it…
This was the food that turned up…
Just in case you’re not sure, here’s what we got. The sandwiches were roast beef and wholegrain mustard (I didn’t have that), peppered egg mayonnaise, Westcombe cheddar and spiced tomato chutney, and smoked salmon and cream cheese. The deserts were fruit and plain scones, served with strawberry jam, lemon curd (tad odd, I was fine without it) and Devonshire clotted cream, along with lemon and poppy seed cake, carrot cake, vanilla panna cotta (oh my goodness, seriously the worst I’ve ever tasted! ), chocolate tart and caramelised hazelnut, and my favourite, assorted macaron.
I have to say the last time we had afternoon tea here was better. The sandwiches were lovely, although Jan wasn’t keen on a couple of them, and the scones were fine, but the panna cotta was disgusting. I managed a mouthful, and I couldn’t go back for any more. It was just the wrong consistency. The other cakes were Ok, but nothing spectacular. In all honesty, I was disappointed with this place, which is a shame, but at least we were able to give Jan another traditional British experience…
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The excavations are what are truly astonishing with the history behind them and the skeletons as well. 
Great place to take Jan. Just so much history behind it.
We passed Heathrow… 
I got a tomato, mozzarella and pesto panini and that was £6 ($7.50), while Jan and Mark both got fish and chips, and that totalled £20 ($27). To compare, at home, if we bought fish and chips, it would probably be more like £13-14 ($16.25-.17.50) 
), chocolate tart and caramelised hazelnut, and my favourite, assorted macaron. 
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