Ships, castles and spas passing through southern England and Wales COMPLETED - Page 4 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Now that Photobucket is finally playing ball I can get this trip report started....
Wednesday 10 June part one: Im not sure this is any quicker
We were both at work today, and on the way home, I was listening to the travel news. There were issues around the country, but not on our route. That set my mind thinking
When I got home, Mark was already there, so I suggested we get moving as soon as we could. We were planning to wait until 6:00pm, when the rush hour wouldve died down a bit, but I figured we might as well chance it. Before we did, we made sure the garden was well watered, as wed be away for four days. That done, we loaded up the car, and off we went.
At first, everything was very nice and quiet on the roads
You dont usually see the M25 around London this quiet, trust me! Annoyingly, all the herds alongside the M25 werent near the road, so this was the best I managed to snag
There was one section of the M25 that was bad, so our GPS took us off, although I have to say the route was pretty torturous, with lots of roadworks, slow moving traffic as a result, and queues for traffic lights and roundabouts.
We eventually got back on to the motorway, this time the M4, which runs from outer London down to South Wales.
Sadly, although we speeded up for a time, we then slowed down again. It was so frustrating, as it added a lot of extra time to our journey. Sure, there were roadworks, but what the actual problem was, goodness only knows. Suddenly, without warning, we were moving again. I hate it when that happens
At least while we were stationary at one point, I was able to snag these photos, which I thought were pretty cool.
Finally, we were moving again, and saw some very nice countryside:
I will say that we got to one particular point of the motorway, and then we met the real speed junkies. Some of these guys mustve been doing about 100 miles an hour! Just in case youre wondering, our national speed limit is 70 miles an hour.
It was about this time that we were trying to figure out where to eat. Every service station we went past, it was either KFC or Burger King, neither of which are great for a non-meat eater. I was looking to see if there was a McDonalds anywhere on my phone, and as I did, wouldnt you know it, we passed a series of fields with my friends in there. I eventually managed to snag one half decent shot
Soon we were heading rapidly towards Wales, and the Severn Bridge. This is a toll bridge, but only going into Wales, not leaving. A bit odd, I know
It is a beautiful, and very long, bridge. It takes drivers over the River Severn that divides England and Wales at this point. Further along the border, its land.
Then finally we were into Wales
We stopped off at the next services, as they had a McDonalds. I dread to think how you pronounce the Welsh for services
We parked up, and headed inside, and this was the sight that greeted us all the typical stereotypes of Wales, sheep, leeks (their national symbol) and daffodils (the national flower).
We got our meals at McDonalds, after some hunting around on their part to check if the mango and pineapple smoothie was made with apple juice. It wasnt, but one of the ingredients was pear, which Im also allergic to, so I passed and tried their strawberry lemonade, which was Ok, but a bit odd, as it had the sweetness of the strawberry, but the bitterness of the lemonade.
Its been a lot of years since I was last in this part of Wales. We went to North Wales a couple of weeks earlier with my parents to visit a National Trust property, but its probably about 15 years since we last headed for Cardiff. As you can see, it was a beautiful evening as we drove along:
We were soon making our way into Cardiff itself:
We found our hotel easily enough:
but our GPS took us on a wild goose chase, and we went round the houses, getting nowhere fast, although we did get to see the Millennium Centre, which I know very well from Doctor Who!
Finally we retraced our route, and found our way to the hotel through the neighbouring leisure park
We both figured it may have been something else originally, as the corridors were wider than Ive ever seen in any hotel before:
The room was massive, and very nicely furnished:
We settled down to watch a new drama on the BBC, before heading to bed. We were here, and could enjoy exploring Cardiff all day tomorrow.
The weather today was sunny, but chilly, with temperatures in the mid 50s. The best thing today was travelling over the Severn Bridge in such beautiful evening sunshine. The worst thing today was all the roadworks, and traffic delays on the way. The funniest thing today was all the stereotypical Welsh things in the service station! Today we tried staying at the Future Inn And the result was its a nice place, just a bit hard to get ot. The most magical moment today was seeing the Millennium Centre.
Next: why is the Queen on the front page of that newspaper?
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Glad you arrived in Cardiff with few problems with the exception of the traffic! Loved the photos of the sun coming through the Severn Bridge! I guess Wales would be quite known for getting a good potato leek soup! One of my favorite soups for sure!
__________________
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!
Glad you arrived in Cardiff with few problems with the exception of the traffic! Loved the photos of the sun coming through the Severn Bridge! I guess Wales would be quite known for getting a good potato leek soup! One of my favorite soups for sure!
I'm sure they probably are, although with where we ate, we never came across that option, as you'll see...
Thursday 11 June part one: why is the Queen on the front page of that newspaper?
I couldnt believe it when I surfaced and discovered it was 7:30am. I never ususally sleep in that late. Before I got up, and looked at the clock, I was convinced that it was closer to 6:00am, as thats the usual time we get up at home. Result!
We got moving pretty quickly, as we were going out for breakfast, and soon we were on the road
It was a bit painful getting into the centre of Cardiff, mainly due to a a set of traffic lights that were badly synchronised. We found our way easily enough to the St. Davids Centre car park, and went up and up, and round and round, and up and up, and round and round. You get the idea! Finally, we got to the first level of parking, and given the early hour, we had plenty of spaces on offer there.
We headed down into the centre, which is quite something:
I was reading last night in the book in our hotel room about this development. It was something like £625 million. My goodness, its made a huge difference to the whole area though. I had read somewhere that if you hadnt been to Cardiff in the last five years, you wouldnt recognise the place, and Id agree with that, as the whole city felt brand new to us. Its amazing the difference in it.
We made our way over to Bills.
This is a chain I didnt even know existed a week or so ago, but I went for lunch with friends there on Saturday, and I was so impressed by it, I looked them up online, and discovered that there was one in the centre of Cardiff, so I figured wed go there for breakfast, and then Mark could sample it. Its a lot bigger than the one we have in our home town
We first got our tea
. then our Bills bread basket, made up of toasted bloomer, mini croissant, and pain au chocolat with Bills jams and marmalades turned up:
I was so glad we got this, as everything tasted so good. I was especially impressed by the pain au chocolat, as it had so much chocolate inside it. Over here, the amount of times we buy those from the local supermarket, and then theres barely any chocolate inside it.
Mark went for the Bills breakfast, made up of Cumberland sausage, fried free range eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, smoked streaky bacon and toast with baked beans and look at the beautiful presentation of it!
I got the eggs royale, poached eggs served over smoked salmon, hollandaise, pumpkin seeds and toasted English muffin. I really enjoyed it, apart from the pumpkin seeds, which to me overwhelmed the rest of the dish a bit.
We had a lovely leisurely breakfast there, and I was just as impressed with Bills the second time round as I had been on my first time at the weekend.
As we were in there, I noticed more and more people walking past or coming in who appeared to be glammed up i.e. not dressed for work, but dressed more for a special occasion. As I came back down from the restrooms upstairs, I noticed that there was a local newspaper, and there was a photo of the Queen, with something about Wales ready to give her a royal welcome. Ok, what the heck?
A quick Google search revealed that she was coming to the Millennium Stadium thats usually home to sports events and pop concerts, as she would be handing out the colours to various soldiers from the local regiment. It was the next bit that worried me. The soldiers would first be meeting at Cardiff Castle. Ok, so does that mean its going to be closed to the public then? There was no warning on their website, so the only way to find out was to head up that way
As we walked, we again commented that we just couldnt recognise the Cardiff from our last visit all those years ago. It has changed so much and definitely for the better.
Mark does like his traditional breakfast, doesn't he?! I think that's so cute!
Glad to hear Cardiff changed for the better. It's always nice to see cities improve.
I'm so excited to hear about the run-in (or no run-in?) with the queen!! She should have consulted with you first though. The nerve.
__________________
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
What lovely photos of the scenery! Makes driving much more interesting.
I love strawberry lemonade! It's kind of an odd combination, but I like that it's sweet and tart at the same time.
Breakfast looked delicious!
What lovely photos of the scenery! Makes driving much more interesting.
I love strawberry lemonade! It's kind of an odd combination, but I like that it's sweet and tart at the same time.
Having tried it, I now know what you mean when you say that.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World Its hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
About This Page: 
PassPorter Guide Author
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
I can get this trip report started.... 
Annoyingly, all the herds alongside the M25 werent near the road, so this was the best I managed to snag
Just in case youre wondering, our national speed limit is 70 miles an hour. 
I dread to think how you pronounce the Welsh for services
Loved the photos of the sun coming through the Severn Bridge! 
Ok, so does that mean its going to be closed to the public then? There was no warning on their website, so the only way to find out was to head up that way
Holly: 
Linear Mode
