A tale of two cities… and a few other places… COMPLETED - Page 41 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Thursday 21 September – part seven: a good meal, but a tough time
We didn’t have long in the room, as we’d said we were going to go down for dinner when the restaurant opened at 6:30pm. Well, this was the scene that greeted us when we got there…
Ok, where was everyone? A woman came to explain that really they only started serving at 7:00pm, but if we wanted to have a look at the menu in the lounge, then they’d get things on as soon as we ordered. Fair enough! The lounge was lovely, and very comfy…
We loved the mats they had for the glasses here…
Once we’d made our choices, and they were ready for us, we were taken through. Jan and I started with the sweetcorn and red pepper soup, as we both thought that it sounded really intriguing, and it was wonderful. I was expecting a rich red colour, so imagine my surprise when this appeared:
Mark had the pan fried king prawns in a garlic and herb butter on a tomato, pesto and pine nut salad.
For entrée, I had the whole grilled Brixham plaice with a lemon and parsley butter, which was very good, but because it was on the bone, I didn’t get as much out of it as I was hoping.
Mark had the braised shoulder of lamb with a redcurrant and rosemary jus topped with aubergine (eggplant) crisps. Apologies for the quality of the photo….
For dessert, I went for the tropical fresh fruits in a homemade brandy snap basket with passionfruit sorbet, and it was delicious. I was so pleased to find a fruit dish that I could have, given all my allergies.
Mark had the sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream. He had to, as he’d raved so much about it, so Jan could try a bit.
I also had a glass of the Paul Cluven-Wieser Riesling Noble Late Harvest, a South African Riesling, something I’ve not come across before, and I was very impressed with it.
Tumbling Weir Restaurant
Appetiser 9½ 9½
Entrée 7½ 9
Dessert 9 8½
Service 7½ 8½
Atmosphere 8 8
Value for money 8 8
Average score: 8.42
I have to say this was a tough dinner, given it was the night before the anniversary of Bill’s death, and it’s fair to say that Jan was feeling that tonight. We did what we could to help her through, trying to make her laugh whenever we could, and talking about everything to take her mind off things. I hope it helped. Obviously neither of us could imagine what she’s going through, and I will be honest, sometimes when she spoke from the heart, it broke my heart.
I just hope today won’t be any tougher for her, and I hope she’s able to get a reasonably good night’s sleep tonight.
The weather today was wet in the morning, but dry with some sun in the afternoon with temperatures in the low 60s. The best thing today was how much Jan loved the Thermae Bath Spa. The worst thing today was how down Jan was by dinner time. Today I tried climbing Glastonbury Tor And the result was it was hard work, but worth it for the views from there. The most magical moment today was seeing Gareth again.
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Glad dinner turned out to be pretty darn good! I have to ask - the eggplant crisps, are they breaded? It doesn't look like it and I wonder if they deep fry or bake them get them to be "crisp" because I'm a fan of it! And I love that they're called aubergine. Maybe I should start doing that too in the US.
It's so sweet that you guys could do this for Jan. She could be in Austrailia or Daytona Beach and the date would still be the date. It just sucks, simply put.
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Dinner looked good.
Has Mark ever tried to tally his annual consumption of sticky pudding?
I’m sure Jan was struggling by dinner. The anticipation of those kinds of anniversaries, especially when it’s the first one, is just overwhelming.....
Glad dinner turned out to be pretty darn good! I have to ask - the eggplant crisps, are they breaded?
Mark says it wasn't.
Quote:
It doesn't look like it and I wonder if they deep fry or bake them get them to be "crisp" because I'm a fan of it! And I love that they're called aubergine. Maybe I should start doing that too in the US.
Well, heck, that would confuse the living daylights out of everyone!
Quote:
It's so sweet that you guys could do this for Jan. She could be in Austrailia or Daytona Beach and the date would still be the date. It just sucks, simply put.
Mark reminded me that I forgot to include details of the Outnumbered wedding scene that he got up on his phone to show Jan. Outnumbered is a British comedy and much of the stuff from the kids was (certainly in the early days) ad libbed. The wedding was a classic episode - if you enjoy the clip, check out the whole episode. It really is hysterical. Jan loved it and we got her to laugh, which was quite the achievement, we thought, given the circumstances...
And as far as the "replacement" to Gareth goes, I heard back from the Donkey Sanctuary today. They sent out a letter about Gareth's passing and my new adoption donkey, but we never got it. I feel so much better with the email I got back from them. It was lovely, just the right tone and just what I needed to hear. I'm now looking forward to deciding on a new adoption donkey in a couple of weeks' time (obviously will never replace Gareth...) and they are thinking about another miniature from his herd, which would be lovely if they did that.
Looks like a nice dinner and love the look and feel of the restaurant as so comfy! Glad you were able to help Jan through a tough night, but only so much you can do!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
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Friday 22 September – part one: a beautiful day in a beautiful place
We only woke up at 7:00am, which wasn’t bad going, but a bit scary, given we were due to be meeting Jan an hour later for breakfast. As a result, we hustled and got going as quickly as we could, and were there a few minutes before. We didn’t see Jan at first, but she soon caught up with us.
It was a weird set-up, as they had about seven tables laid out, but there was only one other couple and a single guy, and that was it. We noticed they then cleared everything up after we’d finished eating, so that was it. Why was this weird? Well, there were at least 12 rooms we knew about, and there was a sign saying no vacancies. Given we saw barely anyone at dinner last night either, they obviously weren’t full. Very odd.
Anyway, they had a good selection…
Mark went for the full cooked breakfast, featuring bacon, pork sausage, grilled tomato, and field mushroom…
I went for the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs…
We got our stuff together, and then headed out. Our first stop of the day would be Sidmouth, and on the way into the town, we had some beautiful views over it…
As you can see, it was a lovely day, perfect for photos. We headed through the town…
… and parked up, and headed along the seafront. I absolutely love this place. To me, it’s not like a typical British seaside resort, but then again, we haven’t been there in peak season, when it presumably would be packed with tourists, like all other similar towns. Anyway, outside of season, it’s not too busy, and it’s beautiful, with stunning scenery. I particularly love the vibrant red colour of the cliffs everywhere…
The sun was casting some beautiful patterns on the water below…
Please note the idiots you can see in these photos. They were where they shouldn’t really have been, let’s just put it that way. They’d already made their way across the beach where the waves were crashing, watched by everyone in amazement. Mark told me they did make it back safely, but I do not know what they were thinking.
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I think we live in a beautiful part of the country and I'm always very proud to show it off to visitors. 
I was so pleased to find a fruit dish that I could have, given all my allergies. 
We did what we could to help her through, trying to make her laugh whenever we could, and talking about everything to take her mind off things. I hope it helped. Obviously neither of us could imagine what she’s going through, and I will be honest, sometimes when she spoke from the heart, it broke my heart. 
As a result, we hustled and got going as quickly as we could, and were there a few minutes before. We didn’t see Jan at first, but she soon caught up with us. 
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