A Baltic boating adventure TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 11/19 - Page 5 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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How great that you were able to catch the 8:00am ferry! I've always thought ferries were the coolest thing. We took one to Martha's Vineyard when I was muuuch younger (I think I'm remembering correctly) and I was like THE CAR DRIVES ON THE BOAT?! And I haven't been on one since lol.
Sounds like you'll have to put that right at some point...
If you're ever over here and have some time (I know, yeah right! ) we'll have to take you over to France on the Eurotunnel - that is a seriously cool experience, driving on to a train to take you under the Channel.
Early bird gets the worm! Very cool you get an extra 30 minutes to your time on the Isle. Great shots of the town as you were leaving too!
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Tanya
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I got home from Alaska just in time to hop on board early in this report! I'm really interested as I think DH and I may do this in 2018. OMG!!! Not the passports!! As others have said, at least there was time to rectify the problem, but still!
You all sure lucked out getting on the earlier ferry. Love all the photos as your ferry ride began. Lovely area around Portsmouth.
It is - it's packed with museums and things to do there. I think we'll go back and spend some more time there at some point in the future, especially as we want to see the Mary Rose once that reopens. It's closed as they're finishing off their work to improve how you see her, but it's supposed to re-open this summer sometime.
I got home from Alaska just in time to hop on board early in this report! I'm really interested as I think DH and I may do this in 2018. OMG!!! Not the passports!! As others have said, at least there was time to rectify the problem, but still!
You'd absolutely love it and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Before I knew it, I checked on Google Maps, and there was the Isle of Wight!
Not long after that, we got the reminder to head back to the car deck. I was really surprised, as we had something like another 20 minutes before we were supposed to be officially docking, but I figured they just wanted us back early, and perhaps they were going to land a few minutes early too.
I took the opportunity to get some more photos from the car deck, and eventually I was the last one out there, so I figured I’d better get back in the car, and be ready to go…
Then we were off…
We made our way over to Ryde, as there was a Doctor Who shop I wanted to visit there, although now we were so early, it wouldn’t open for another 40 minutes.
We found it easily enough, and parked up.
I got a couple of photos of the Doctor Who shop window display, as it was pretty neat.
Then, as we had time to kill, we made our way down to the seafront. I have to say on the way down, I knew we were going down a hill, but I didn’t think much of it. My goodness, we’d feel it on the way back.
When we got there, we saw one of the former London Underground tube trains that runs here. We’d taken it the last time we were here. I’d found it fascinating to see something out here that you associate with the capital, and it was still just as fascinating today.
We headed over to the railway station to get some photos…
We then walked along some of the pier. My goodness, this thing is long! We don’t have that many piers left in the UK, as some have been destroyed by the weather, while others were destroyed by fire.
As we stood there, we saw one of the hovercraft getting ready to leave…
Once it set off, it made a tremendous noise, but didn’t seem to be moving very fast, even though, you knew it was. I guess it was an optical illusion.
Ryde looks like a cute place.
I guess they want everyone in their cars so they can quickly unload the moment the gangway is down. Seems like a very efficient operation!
Another cute and picturesque town! They're all over England. I really need to see these places in person.... but love that you can share it all in the meantime!
I'm sure the hovercraft is safe and all, but I don't know if I could ever get on that thing. Seems so scary to me!
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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
Ryde looks like a cute place.
I guess they want everyone in their cars so they can quickly unload the moment the gangway is down. Seems like a very efficient operation!
Another cute and picturesque town! They're all over England. I really need to see these places in person.... but love that you can share it all in the meantime!
Well, you know you'd have a guide over here if you head over here...
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I'm sure the hovercraft is safe and all, but I don't know if I could ever get on that thing. Seems so scary to me!
We did one, but it was nearly 20 years ago. I found it really neat, although I didn't think too much about the technology. I think, if I did, I might have a different view...
I hear you about those gentle hills. When we were in Vancouver, we walked from our hotel to Gas Town and around down there. I didn't even notice we were going downhill, when going. On the return, however, it definitely was an uphill walk. My calves yelled at me for the next 5 days, at least! Needless to say, my legs are out of shape.
I hear you about those gentle hills. When we were in Vancouver, we walked from our hotel to Gas Town and around down there. I didn't even notice we were going downhill, when going. On the return, however, it definitely was an uphill walk. My calves yelled at me for the next 5 days, at least! Needless to say, my legs are out of shape.