Water, wildlife and wonders... a road trip around Scotland COMPLETED 11/6 - Page 46 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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A bit of excitement for Mari and Raleigh in getting back into their room for the night. Breakfast here looked wonderful, but your photos of the forests and mountain are the most stunning part of this update.
Mari and Raleigh sure had an interesting night - and morning! Breakfast looked tasty too. I'm loving this scenery more and more!
__________________
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
Finally we were at the base station for the funicular railway station…
We hurried to get our tickets, as there was a tour group fast approaching, and we were first through the turnstiles…
… and then on the train…
I can say I was the first on board of the day! We had the tour group with us. When Mark heard them speaking French, he was worried he might see the woman he’d kneed in the face at Urquhart Castle yesterday, but thankfully it was a different group. I gathered from what the driver said on the way up that they were Swiss, and of course with me being part-Swiss, I know how well behaved they are!
It’s an eight minute trip to the top, and honestly that just flew past. The views were just beautiful, and we were all captivated by them…
I was so shocked when we entered the tunnel that marked the entrance to the complex at the top.
Now Mari and I had both read that you couldn’t get out at the top in separate guidebooks, but I guess something has changed, as now you can. They have a shop, restaurant, and panoramic viewing area, and you can even walk up too. (no thank you! )
When we got out, we went through the exhibition about the Cairn Gorm, and wow, what a winter they had in 2010!
Then we went into the shop, and Mari and Raleigh ended up buying a couple of gifts, while I found some beautiful hand cream (rose scented), which I loved, so I got a couple of those. You can never have enough good hand cream, as I am quite picky about these things.
Then we went into the viewing area. Oh my goodness. It was just breath taking. We just couldn’t believe what we were seeing.
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What a perfect day for being on top of a mountain! Gorgeous.
Snow until June is like the Rocky Mountains here, wow!
__________________
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
I found that to be just, well insane. Thank goodness it didn't happen when we were there!
Now you see why we in Montana don't suggest visiting us until July 4th. At least by then the snow is gone and usually we are still wet enough that the fire season isn't too bad yet. This year was the exception. You would have wanted to visit in June and be gone by July 4th as we were already getting the smoke from the fires further west.
Glad you had good weather to see the beautiful scenery.
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Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. Jenn
What a beautiful day to be on the Funicular! I'm so glad that the weather is finally clearing a bit, especially for this adventure. The views are breathtaking.
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I could hire him out! 
We had the tour group with us. When Mark heard them speaking French, he was worried he might see the woman he’d kneed in the face at Urquhart Castle yesterday, but thankfully it was a different group. I gathered from what the driver said on the way up that they were Swiss, and of course with me being part-Swiss, I know how well behaved they are! 
The views were just beautiful, and we were all captivated by them… 
Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. 
Jenn
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