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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Love the story about Ausfahrt and all I'll say is I did try to warn you about how easy it is to go across the border and you probably wouldn't even notice it...
LOL yes you really did warn me, but my gosh, I mean... I thought there'd at least be a big sign. That was a little teeny weeny sign... my gosh! LOL!
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Great start! Happy to be getting all the details after the short version on FB!
Hope you are all recovering from the jet lag!
Meri is still not quite on our time... she did go to sleep at around 830pm last night, but was up at 530am looking for breakfast... hoping tomorrow she waits until at least 7am...
Quote:
Originally Posted by disney_duke
Oh this is starting off as a great trip. Aside from the lack of sleep and headache, of course. The towns are so cute, I so hope to see them some day! So very picturesque. What kind of car was "Beast?" I also have a lead foot and can imagine how relaxing it must be to drive among some speedy friends... Looking forward to more!
Beast was a VW mini van. I have a few pictures of the outside that will go in later updates. The Germans are fabulous drivers. Crazy. But fabulous.
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Glad to see you started your TR!!! Loving the stories as you try to navigate around Germany. As someone who is also a lead foot, these are my kind of people!! Love the pictures!!
We grudgingly got up, and went downstairs for our free breakfast. The breakfast room was lovely, but unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of it! I did get a picture of our little booth that we chose. It was just adorable, and so comfortable!
The breakfast offerings included six different kinds of cheeses, scrambled eggs, brown eggs that you could either poach or hard boil, various pastries / breads / croissants / whatevers, an assortment of yogurts, fruits, and cereals. Then they had four different juices, and coffee.
Meri ate pears, yogurt and croissants. She loved those croissants! I had croissants and some bread, and then OJ and coffee. Mom had probably a little of everything, lol.
After breakfast, we went back upstairs, packed up the rest of our stuff, and checked out. We stored our luggage with the front desk, and we headed out for the cathedral. We didn’t need to use the map… it was easy enough to find. All we had to do was to look for the spires, and then make our way in that direction! LOL!
It was a lovely walk there, full of plenty to see, including a lovely little square.
(Meri wants photo credit for this one)
I saw this and thought immediately of Cheryl. It's not the best photo but it was difficult to get it from any angle, so I did what I could. It's a cake of some sort!
And finally we were at the cathedral.
Meri was very interested in the candles you could light, so we each paid 2 euro to light a candle and say a prayer.
As you can see, it’s just lovely, both inside and out! I was glad to see that Meri understood fully the kind of behavior expected in there. She’s a good kid, but she’s just energetic and loud, so I admit I didn’t know if she’d “get” that she had to be REALLY quiet and respectful in the cathedral. She definitely got it, though, and didn’t make a sound while in there.
They played organ music while there, and it was just a lovely atmosphere all around. We spent probably half hour in there, just gawking at everything, before heading back out. And I’ll tell you, after being inside that beautiful, quiet place, it was jarring to step into the square, where it was “tourist central”. If you want tourist shops, this is the place to go – right in front of the cathedral.
After that, we decided to head back to the hotel to get the car and head to Stuttgart. We passed a carousel, and of course I couldn’t tell Meri no. It’s her vacation too, after all, and she needed to do something fun. I think it was 2 euros.
After that, we meandered past a McDonald’s, and yes, I stopped to get her a happy meal. I know, I know. We’re in France and she’s eating Subway and McDonald’s… but she also ate croissants and quiche, so gimme a break!
Love him... lol...
We made it back to the hotel around 1130am, got settled in the car, and hit the road. On the way out, we were barely out of Strasbourg, and the GPS told us “BORDER!” and poof we were in Germany. No sign, no fanfare, just crossing a bridge and poof. Germany. Weirdest thing, lol, but so cool, too!
We drove uneventfully to Holzgerlingen, which is a tiny dot south of Stuttgart. We thought we were something else because we were doing 140kph... but it turns out that's only 87mph, so it's not really as fast as we thought.
(The driver didn't take this pic, the passenger did, just in case you wondered)
Still faster than we go in the states, of course, but expectedly, we were blown off the road regularly! It became riotous to be going along, thinking we were superstars flying along, and then get rocked as a porsche (or station wagon) flew past doing twice what we were doing.
It was funny because we were driving and driving on this highway, and it told us that my friend’s house was 1.8km away, which is quite close, but we couldn’t see a town or anything! All of a sudden, the GPS told us to make a right, and poof, there was an entire village! Too funny. So, we found it, and were greeted royally with hugs and excitement all around.
The girls were friends right off, and ran off playing in the front and back yards. Mike spent a lot of time playing with them, likely so he could subtly let us ladies catch up.
I didn't take any pictures of the inside, because Andrea is busy packing up, and I felt that she wouldn't have appreciated photos of her half-packed-half-not-packed house posted all over the internet.
The beast!
Mike and Andrea then made us tacos for dinner – and I don’t know if it was just that I was starving, or what, but they were the best tacos I’ve ever had in my life! LOL! I scarfed down three, and then was stuffed. We all (except mom, who decided to veg) took a walk to the gelato store, because my friend said it was "really close, just across the neighborhood!" Well. It wasn't "quite" that close. Honestly it wasn't far, but it was farther than she initially made it sound, lol, so the lot of us (her husband, both girls and I) took turns whining about the distance, to tease Andrea a bit.
The town is big on owls and ravens. Here's a brief explanation I found about them:
Another project in the anniversary year: A local artist created 2 sculptures forming an Owl and a Raven. They represent the nicknames for residents of the 2 quarters in the historic village. These sculptures were reproduced several dozen times and bought by companies, organizations, clubs and individuals. All sculptures were painted in individual designs (some owners let kindergarten or school classes paint their sculptures). Then they exhibited the sculptures along the roads all-over the town center. When you stroll along the center nowadays you will still see plenty of these ravens and owls.
I got bubble gum gelato and Meri got vanilla. It was pretty good, I have to say! After we enjoyed our gelato, I picked up some chocolate gelato for mom, and brought it back to her, and she was so excited!
We finally got the girls to sleep somewhere around 1030pm, and then we ladies sat up until 1230am talking and catching up. It was a really great day, and I was so happy to see Andrea again!
Up next: A relaxing day, and a very German meal... mostly...
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Lovely morning in France and then a FAST drive to Stuttgart! Looks like a nice little rural area that your friends live in. So great that Meri had a friend to play with.
Wow, The Beast really was a beast! That must've been a sight, seeing the beast going "so fast" on the highway, and then getting bested by the locals, lol!
I'm loving all the pics. The pastry case looks soooooooooo good! I'm not a huge sweets person, but man those pastries looked good!!! The cathedral is so beautiful.
I love chezp's cake...I wonder what it would've tasted like!
Did you get a haircut? It looks so cute...very summer ready!
I love that Meri had a chance to ride that carousel. It looks so nice!
I can't wait to see what's next!
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Lovely morning in France and then a FAST drive to Stuttgart! Looks like a nice little rural area that your friends live in. So great that Meri had a friend to play with.
It was really nice that the girls got along so well. Like any only-children, they occasionally had a spat, but by and large, they got along fabulously.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dlandmom2
Wow, The Beast really was a beast! That must've been a sight, seeing the beast going "so fast" on the highway, and then getting bested by the locals, lol!
I'm loving all the pics. The pastry case looks soooooooooo good! I'm not a huge sweets person, but man those pastries looked good!!! The cathedral is so beautiful.
I love chezp's cake...I wonder what it would've tasted like!
Did you get a haircut? It looks so cute...very summer ready!
I love that Meri had a chance to ride that carousel. It looks so nice!
I can't wait to see what's next!
I did get a cut. It is actually much shorter than I wanted it, and not as angled, but I'll get it fixed in a month or two. I did get my bangs trimmed so they look much better now - I should have done it BEFORE the trip (and the pictures, lol), but oh well.
It was well worth the few bucks spent to watch Meri have such fun on the carousel, and I was thrilled to find such a whimsical thing right there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Beautiful pictures of the cathedral! Glad you made it to Andrea's!
Boy was I glad to get there, too! It's a charming area.
Great pictures especially of the cathedral! That was pretty neat about the ravens and owls. We have something very similar here in Lafayette Louisiana except it's pelicans ( our state bird). They did the same thing with letting different organizations decorate them. We have one at my elementary school and it is really cute. Just thought that was neat that it is also done halfway across the world too.
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Check out my Pre-Trip Report for our 9/18-9/23/12 trip here:
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
Thank you - there are so many lovely things to photograph over there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Great pictures! Love that cathedral!
I do find it funny that YOU got bubble gum gelato, and MERI got vanilla!
I know, isn't that backwards?? She didn't like the bubblegum, though. Crazy girl, it was good!
Quote:
Originally Posted by emvenable77
Great pictures especially of the cathedral! That was pretty neat about the ravens and owls. We have something very similar here in Lafayette Louisiana except it's pelicans ( our state bird). They did the same thing with letting different organizations decorate them. We have one at my elementary school and it is really cute. Just thought that was neat that it is also done halfway across the world too.
We have horses that are done in a similar fashion around our town. I love hearing that other places do this, too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
How exciting to finally be in Germany! Your friend's village looks charming.
It really was cute. There was a bakery and a grocery store and a gelato shop. What more do you need in life?
Today we had every intention of going to Heidelberg Castle, however, our exhaustion had caught up with us, and we just couldn’t motivate ourselves to get going. Andrea and Jelena got home from dropping off Mike at the airport, and I made French toast for breakfast. Then we sat around and chatted and read books while the girls played outside. Eventually, somewhere around lunchtime, we decided we were hungry, so we went to a restaurant not far away, and had a lovely, leisurely lunch.
We sat outside on the patio underneath an umbrella, and we could see the playground at the back of the lower patio (which was empty at this time).
The girls loved playing, and only came back for a quick sip or to eat their lunch.
Meri and her Apfelsaft (she was a pro at asking for it)
Mom and her beer
Cheers, ladies!
I struggled with what to order, because my stomach was still slightly “off” for some reason, but the grilled chicken with salsa and basmati rice sounded really basic and good, and so I gave that a whirl. I know, I know, not German food, but whatever. It was delicious! Mom got something that the server recommended, and seemed pleased with it – something to do with pork and a potato dumpling. Andrea got the German equivalent of mac and cheese. I got Meri the schnitzel with fries, and amazingly, she ATE EVERY BITE without complaint! I couldn’t believe my eyes! I was thrilled, though.
Potato pancakes and applesauce
The German version of mac and cheese, with a salad
My chicken and salsa with basmati. It was really good, and now I'm considering heating up some chicken and salsa, and making some rice for lunch. MMMM!
Schnitzle and fries (the fries were fabulous)
Mom's pork, with a potato dumpling
The inside of the restaurant
Lunch lasted about 2 hours or so, and then we headed back to the house, and relaxed some more.
We just couldn’t get motivated to do much of anything!! Andrea made spaghetti for dinner, and then I read until the girls went to bed. After that, I took a nice hot soak, and went to bed somewhere around midnight, I guess. The next day was going to be a long day, so we had to get SOME sleep!!!
It's nice that you were able to relax. Don't you find that sometimes on vacation you're just go go go and then end up exhausted at the end of the vacation?
I love the food...it all looked yummy, especially your mom's pork dish. That's my kinda grub!!!
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and all I'll say is I did try to warn you about how easy it is to go across the border and you probably wouldn't even notice it... 
What kind of car was "Beast?" I also have a lead foot and can imagine how relaxing it must be to drive among some speedy friends... 
Looking forward to more!
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Glad you made it to Andrea's! 
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