Adults only – sampling southern England COMPLETED - Page 39 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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What a great final dinner you had! The presentation was amazing and it sounds like a great meal (for a bargain)! Great pictures from Bath! What beautiful architecture!
A bittersweet farewell to Littlecote, the only bitter coming from the lack of service in the restaurants! Even on check out day, wow.
Bath is bigger than I imagined it being, judging by the traffic discussion!
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I'm finding from your pictures that southern England is very beautiful both in its villages and countryside. The architecture in Bath is very beautiful, too, and I especially like the Abbey.
Great scenery from Bath on your last day! Hope you do a more in depth visit there in the future as it's just an amazing city, even though I've never visited there!
That was crazy but pretty standard in what you have experienced in your stay, regarding the lack of service at your meals! It really is beyond belief, that you should have to get up from your table and ask for your meal! You'll get 100 times better service than your standard McD's than this place! I just don't understand it with a place like this that has so much history, with great food, lodging etc. It just doesn't make sense to me.....and more so to you and Mark as you experienced 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'd love to tour Bath one day. I seem to recall a TR from Cindybelle that visited Bath.....
That's interesting as I may search that one out. I know she travels a lot with a number of TRs here. We met a few years ago for the Decade of Dreams meets in WDW.
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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'm finding from your pictures that southern England is very beautiful both in its villages and countryside. The architecture in Bath is very beautiful, too, and I especially like the Abbey.
It is a beautiful part of the country and hopefully one day you'll be able to come over here to see it for yourself.
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Great scenery from Bath on your last day! Hope you do a more in depth visit there in the future as it's just an amazing city, even though I've never visited there!
but probably not. We went there and did all the major attractions with Sue and Steve in 2008 and I spent some time there in the early 1990s and again saw most things, so to be honest, it's a bit of a case of "been there, done that" a few times with Bath.
Friday 9 May – part two: “that would be what would happen if you fell in…”
We walked down towards the River Avon…
… and took some photos from above of Parade Gardens. I couldn’t believe they’re now charging you to go in there. I’m sure they weren’t doing that the last time we were here! Admittedly it’s only £1.20 (c. $2), but it’s a bit like paying to use restrooms – it’s the principle of the thing!
We walked over to look at the Pulteney Weir and Pulteney Bridge. This is one of my favourite views in Bath – there’s just something very calming about this scene.
As Mark said, watching the water can be a bit hypnotic, and we were also watching a football bob around in the weir. It never got very far, and Mark cheerily said “that would be what would happen if you fell in…” Ok… Even more worrying, there was a sign saying “no diving”. Surely to goodness that’s common sense?
We wandered back through Bath…
… and managed to find our way to the Thermae Bath Spa in the end, although we had to follow the Google Maps app on my phone, as we were a bit disorientated. Once we worked it out, on the way back, it was quite obvious where it was.
I bet this was controversial when it was built…
We walked round three sides of the building before we found the entrance, then in we headed.
Our package details were quickly called up, and we were handed our wristbands. Every spa now seems to use these, and I can’t help but wonder if this is where Disney got the idea from, seeing people use them for charges, i.e. food etc.
We were then handed our robe, towel and slippers each, which was included with the cost of our package, and in we went.
Now that’s where the photos stop until after we leave, as they were very strict on no photography, and I do get why. I did consider getting out my phone to grab a couple of shots, but they had quite a lot of staff around, and I assume one of their functions was to ensure people didn’t do that. I did see a group of women taking photos of each other later up on the rooftop pool, but that was it, and in fairness, they were only taking shots of each other, which you can’t really object to. So you’ll have to make do with my descriptions as we go through the next few hours.
So how did the Thermae Bath Spa come about? Well, as you’ve probably realised from the earlier photos of the Roman baths, the hot springs here have been known about for many years. The legend is that it was Prince Bladud, who had leprosy, was cured after bathing in the hot muddy waters here. He was cured and in gratitude, he founded the city in 863BC.
The Romans then developed Bath as a sanctuary of rest and relaxation, building the baths you can still visit today. It’s thought it was perhaps the largest complex of baths outside Rome, attracting visitors from all over Europe. Actually, now there’s a parallel with today.
Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter, which made Bath a city in 1590 and stated that the “thermal waters should be accessible to the public in perpetuity.” Good for her!
The existing baths that make up the Thermae Bath Spa were rebuilt in the 18th century, with the Hot Bath (where the treatments here now take place) closing to the public in 1976.
The idea of first reopening a spa on the site dates back to the 1980s, but none of the investors, which included one Peter de Savary (remember him from Littlecote House? ) could raise the finances needed to take the project forward and the local council refused to put public money into it.
Eventually, in 1995, the council, which owned the buildings and the spa waters, applied for funding from the National Lottery and they were given a grant of nearly £8 (c. $13) million. The conditions included that the listed buildings that form the heart of the spa should be resorted, providing jobs and help boost the tourism economy. I think you can safely say it’s achieved that. It finally opened its doors to the public in August 2006.
The areas around the river are just beautiful. I can't believe they charge now for the gardens. I always thought of that as a city park. The spa building does look a bit out of place, but I think they did a pretty good job. I like that the old buildings are reflected in the new. You have to build something new sometime and I'd rather have new and interesting than a fake Restoration-syle building just trying to fit in.
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The presentation was amazing and it sounds like a great meal (for a bargain)! 
Great pictures from Bath! What beautiful architecture! 
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Pixie Dust
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It really is beyond belief, that you should have to get up from your table and ask for your meal! 
You'll get 100 times better service than your standard McD's than this place! 
but probably not. We went there and did all the major attractions with Sue and Steve in 2008 and I spent some time there in the early 1990s and again saw most things, so to be honest, it's a bit of a case of "been there, done that" a few times with Bath.
I’m sure they weren’t doing that the last time we were here! 
Admittedly it’s only £1.20 (c. $2), but it’s a bit like paying to use restrooms – it’s the principle of the thing! 
) could raise the finances needed to take the project forward and the local council refused to put public money into it. 
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