A tale of two cities… and a few other places… COMPLETED - Page 51 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Everything in that post is beautiful! The buildings, the restaurant, the waffle , the vines.... great way to start the day indeed!
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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
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The main house is beautiful. If you and Mark ever make it to Portugal Mark will be fine for breakfast as they also serve all the items for a full English breakfast.
Good to know! Portugal is on my list, simply because I've never been there.
Such a lovely hotel and like that outside courtyard. Although, they could add a lot to the courtyard with some themeing. Very nice breakfast spread and what a great room to have it in.
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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!
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.
Saturday 23 September – part two: I bet there are some sore heads out there…
We headed back to the room to pick up our stuff, and then checked out, and took everything to the car. When we were at check-out, we heard someone say that they’d seen a famous celebrity at breakfast just now (sadly I couldn’t hear who), and the woman on reception told them that was because last night they’d had a celebrity/pro-amateur golf disco, and then they were all going out on the course today… some with very sore heads no doubt!
We made our way over to the spa, worried that it would be packed out, but fortunately it wasn’t.
Now there are no photos allowed in the spa, which is fair enough, but I did “borrow” some for my Bagman Days trip report, which is the last time we visited this resort. Here’s an extract with details:
It’s got a hot tub to the side by the changing room with massage jets. Outside, there’s a spa garden and apparently this was a happy accident, as they couldn’t fit the sauna inside when the initial architect’s plans came through. Now they have a natural swimming pool, which is an organic plunge pool, the first of its kind at a British hotel.
So there you go, now you have an idea of what it all looks like. We changed and headed into the indoor pool, and there were literally about five people in there. Result!
We made our way out into the spa garden, and the hot tub. It was a little chilly, but still a nice temperature. It was lovely to sit out there for a while, and perhaps we were out there too long, as I reckon we were in the hot tub about half an hour, but why not?
While we were there, we saw a guy ignore all the signs saying that you couldn’t use the natural plunge pool. Unbelievable! I don’t know what was wrong with it, but would you ignore all those signs?
We headed back inside after a while, and I did a few lengths in the pool, while Mark sat in the indoor hot tub. I also tried out the sauna and steam room, before deciding I’d done enough heating up for the day! I would’ve stayed longer, but the water was terrible here. We knew the pressure was bad, as there were signs saying that, but to find it was just a trickle in the swimming pool area where you desperately needed a drink was not good.
We changed and headed out of the spa, having enjoyed a very relaxing morning here. It’s a lovely place, and I’m sure we’ll be back again, especially if we can get that massive room again!
I love that resort too, and I’ve never been!! We follow a lot of golf and I do recall an event there and wondering if it was the same place you were! I guess it was.
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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
Great time at the spa and I'm sure the two of you enjoyed this relaxing time there! Too bad you didn't find out the name of the celebrity there as this would be interesting.
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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!
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, the vines.... great way to start the day indeed!
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Pixie Dust
When I grow up I wanna live in that house. Sounds like a practically perfect morning 
PassPorter Guide Author
Portugal is on my list, simply because I've never been there.
I don’t know what was wrong with it, but would you ignore all those signs? 
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