Springing back to Iceland to see it in the green! COMPLETED 6/29 - Page 36 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Ahh yes, people watching. Highly entertaining as always!
Winds that whip off the water are always worse than anywhere else. Having experienced that off Lake Michigan, yeah, it's not fun. At all.
Oh my goodness, I can (sort of) imagine. I've felt that wind whip in Chicago and that was not fun!
I really appreciated the pictures of Blue Lagoon, it helped me to better understand what your first post was about and really showed what the weather was like. Even with the weather, it seemed like quite a few people were there.
I really appreciated the pictures of Blue Lagoon, it helped me to better understand what your first post was about and really showed what the weather was like. Even with the weather, it seemed like quite a few people were there.
There were a lot, but then again, they do encourage you to book in advance and, if you're going to do that, then you have to take a gamble on the weather....
The weather looks horrible. It doesn't looks like being out there would be much fun. I'm glad you posted those pictures because it shows us how windy it was. It makes the wind on East 9th street here in Cleveland look calm. It's always windy on the street.
Liz
Ahh yes, people watching. Highly entertaining as always!
Winds that whip off the water are always worse than anywhere else. Having experienced that off Lake Michigan, yeah, it's not fun. At all.
I was thinking back about 8 years ago when the wind was so bad off the coast of Lake Erie for several weeks straight that it altered beaches, water depths to the point where some coves were dried up and you could walk out onto the wet sand for 1/2 mile without reaching water. The locals said that it happens every 10 years or so to that extreme. The wind whipped about nearly knocking pooh sized me over many times. It was quite scary but so awe-inspiring to witness first hand.
The weather looks horrible. It doesn't looks like being out there would be much fun. I'm glad you posted those pictures because it shows us how windy it was. It makes the wind on East 9th street here in Cleveland look calm. It's always windy on the street.
Liz
I was thinking back about 8 years ago when the wind was so bad off the coast of Lake Erie for several weeks straight that it altered beaches, water depths to the point where some coves were dried up and you could walk out onto the wet sand for 1/2 mile without reaching water. The locals said that it happens every 10 years or so to that extreme. The wind whipped about nearly knocking pooh sized me over many times. It was quite scary but so awe-inspiring to witness first hand.
Tuesday 2 May – part four: another wonderful Lava lunch
We headed into Lava, and lucked out and got a table right by the window, which was cool.
However, every so often, we would hear the wind whipping around outside, and we’d admire the people outside, where we’d just been, trying to get photos or selfies… Yup, been there, done that today!
Our server was Alejandro, and if you think that name doesn’t sound very Icelandic, as I did, you’d be right. He’s from Argentina, but he’s been here 17 years. He told us that it took him four years to learn Icelandic at night school, and even now, he’s not fluent, but he knows enough to get by.
Our package came with a free glass of sparkling wine each, but as Mark was driving, he offered his to me, so I had two very nice glasses of sweet sparkling wine!
Here, you can either order a la carte or off the set menu. You can substitute items between the set menus, but not off the a la carte menu, which is fair enough. It was a shame though, as I was interested in the fresh catch from Grindavik Harbour, given we were staying there, but I couldn’t have it, as that was an a la carte option.
Before we got to that, the bread came out. I think every restaurant here must do this, which is nice, as a lot places at home have stopped doing this.
I went for the seafood menu, and started off with langoustine soup, with garlic, marinated langoustine, and seaweed, and my goodness, it was excellent, albeit very rich. I couldn’t have eaten any more than they served, due to the richness. Look what was in it!
Mark decided to sub out his appetiser from his set menu and have this, hence no second photo of appetisers. I then had cod, with cauliflower, barley, fennel (although I asked for that to be left out) and a demi-glace sauce. It was very good…
Mark was going off the gourmet tasting menu, and for entrée, he got the lamb fillet and shoulder of lamb with artichokes, carrots, dates and thyme.
When it came to dessert, that was a bit of a disaster. Mark’s “astarpunger” and caramel, made up of caramel chocolate mousse, vanilla ice cream, and salted caramel turned up, and the guy who bought it out positioned it for us to share…
But where was my crème brulee with vanilla and orange? I’d said I was having three courses, not two, especially with crème brulee on the menu! It turned out something had gone horribly wrong in the kitchen, and they had me down as two courses. They quickly rectified it, and said they wouldn’t charge me for the third course, which was decent of them, and good customer service.
The only thing that spoilt our meal was the mother and son at the table behind us, and particularly the son. He was on his phone, the darned thing was even ringing (about three times! ) and as soon as anyone left a window table, they were right there, taking photos. What really made me laugh is she had the nerve to complain about how she’d ordered something, and had been waiting 20 minutes for it. Sorry, you were able to count those 20 minutes, while pitching in on your son’s conversations on the phone – really? I do wish phone calls at restaurants could be banned. I appreciate there are emergencies, but this wasn’t. Although I was struggling with the language, I could work out the idea of it – “we’re here, it’s wonderful” etc. It was what we’d heard a lot of people doing today. Why on earth you can’t do it with a quiet post on Facebook or a text is beyond me…
Lava Restaurant
Appetiser 9 8
Entrée 8½ 9½
Dessert 9 9
Service 8 8
Atmosphere 9 9
Value for money 8 8½
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Mmmm, creme brulee. Glad they fixed that situation! Looked like a lovely lunch! Well, except for the rude people. Yes, I don't understand that either. What could possibly be so important that one must talk on the phone at the table?! Take it to the lobby.
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) and as soon as anyone left a window table, they were right there, taking photos. What really made me laugh is she had the nerve to complain about how she’d ordered something, and had been waiting 20 minutes for it. Sorry, you were able to count those 20 minutes, while pitching in on your son’s conversations on the phone – really? 
I do wish phone calls at restaurants could be banned. I appreciate there are emergencies, but this wasn’t. Although I was struggling with the language, I could work out the idea of it – “we’re here, it’s wonderful” etc. It was what we’d heard a lot of people doing today. Why on earth you can’t do it with a quiet post on Facebook or a text is beyond me… 
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