Living the dream and remembering the Bagman COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM - Page 67 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Well said with your analogy of Chef Jimmy! Gotta love experiences like this as they seem so personal and make your vacation experience that much better!
Saturday 17 September – part three: staring at each other for the rest of time!
We made our way back to the Rideau Canal, and the canoeists were still making their way down. Wow, it must take some time!
Out on the river, it looked like a rowing boat race was about to begin…
We headed back to the Parliament buildings to ensure we were at the waiting area five minutes before our tour, as instructed. On the way, we saw some slightly bizarre sights…
We first went through a bag check, and I took the passports out of my zipped trouser pocket, assuming there would be a metal detector. The security guard told me I could put them away, so I assumed that was the end of the checks. Nope, we rounded the corner only to be faced with a metal detector, and we had to empty our pockets. Mark had the selfie stick taken off him for the duration of the tour, which was fair enough, as it would be returned to him as soon as we were done.
Once inside, there was a fascinating exhibition on the workings of the Parliament, and a lot of it appears to be very similar to the UK Parliament, hardly surprising, given the country’s two links. I asked a tour guide if I could take some photos of it, having been told by our guide that we could only take photos on the second floor, and she told me it was fine, so off I went. I think I was the only member of our group that got photos of this section.
You see the plaques in the last photo? Well, they have them for every session of Parliament from the first to the most recent. I thought it was a lovely tribute to everyone who had served in here over the years.
Sadly, at this point, we had to hand our tickets back, so I was relieved I’d got photos of them.
The first area we came to was outside the House of Commons – sounds very familiar. The first thing I was attracted to (I must’ve been a magpie in a former life… ) was the mace, which was actually from the Senate side and was saved from the fire of 1917. This devastated the building, and the only bit left standing was the library – and you’ll see the difference when we get there.
The ceiling was beautifully done…
… and some of the statues around were of former political adversaries, who couldn’t stand each other in real life, who were then put into stone to stare at each other for the rest of time – nice!
Travelling through locks takes quite some time! I don't know, but if I were canoeing, I'd just get out of the water and walk around.... haha! I'm so impatient.
Great tour so far. I love how they have the enemies staring at each other for eternity! My kind of humor. Oooooh, can't wait to see that library!!
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Tanya
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Travelling through locks takes quite some time! I don't know, but if I were canoeing, I'd just get out of the water and walk around.... haha! I'm so impatient.
Me too!
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Great tour so far. I love how they have the enemies staring at each other for eternity! My kind of humor. Oooooh, can't wait to see that library!!
Just catching up again. It looks like Ottawa certainly needs to be on my list of places to visit!
Oh it really should be. I absolutely loved it there and preferred it to Toronto and Montreal. It's almost up there with Quebec City, that's how much I thought of it. If you get a chance to go, definitely do it!
Love the canoe photos and too bad your tour interrupted it for you!
A nice start to your tour and the inside of the parliament building is quite striking and a lot of good history and artifacts so far!
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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!
Saturday 17 September – part four: oh wow, this is breath taking!
We then went into see the House of Commons in the Canadian Parliament, which was very similar to ours with its green theming. I was struck by the fact they have stained glass windows in here, which seemed very grand for a commoner’s place, if that makes sense?
Apparently the speaker’s chair is hydraulic, as the first woman to occupy the position was so small, she needed to be able to be lowered down, so her feet could touch the floor!
We then headed out through these wonderfully ornate corridors…
… towards the library. Now remember what I said about this room surviving the fire of 1917 and it being very different from the rest of the complex? You’ll see what I mean in a second. Apparently, the fire started quite close outside in a reading room, and seven people died in the fire. The librarian heard the screams of “fire” and managed to shut the iron doors, protecting this place. I’m so glad he did, as it would’ve been a tragedy to have lost this. Our guide explained this was done in the Victorian style, but the rest of the building was in a neo-Gothic style. Don’t get me wrong, the rest of it was nice, but I much preferred this.
Isn’t it just breath taking? We were told that yes it is still used by researchers, although now they have access to the Internet as well. I don’t know if we’d have been able to see this had it been a weekday and it was being used, so I was relieved we’d come on a weekend, as I wouldn’t have wanted to miss this.
We headed back outside…
At this point, our guide made me laugh, yelling at us that we needed to stay left (fair enough) and we needed to be quiet, in case anyone was working. Well, if they were, you’d just have disturbed them!
I tried to get some shots of the portraits they have of speakers of the House of Senates, as I didn’t get a chance to do the same with the portraits on the way to the House of Commons, and I regret that, as they were all very different. Our guide explained it was down to the person being painted how they wanted to look, hence why they weren’t all uniform.
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Gotta love experiences like this as they seem so personal and make your vacation experience that much better! 
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Mark had the selfie stick taken off him for the duration of the tour, which was fair enough, as it would be returned to him as soon as we were done. 
The first thing I was attracted to (I must’ve been a magpie in a former life… 
) was the mace, which was actually from the Senate side and was saved from the fire of 1917. This devastated the building, and the only bit left standing was the library – and you’ll see the difference when we get there. 
My kind of humor. Oooooh, can't wait to see that library!! 
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