Wine, friendship, crème brulee and dinner on the Seine! COMPLETED - Page 12 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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the pictures of the Eiffel Tower! I had commented when Hazel posted one picture that it was beautiful. She responded that she couldn't take credit for it, and I immediately figured I'd be seeing it in your TR.
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the pictures of the Eiffel Tower! I had commented when Hazel posted one picture that it was beautiful. She responded that she couldn't take credit for it, and I immediately figured I'd be seeing it in your TR.
Oh I can't take credit for that one, because I think I know the one you're talking about that she posted - and actually it's Graeme who should be credited for it.
Oh I can't take credit for that one, because I think I know the one you're talking about that she posted - and actually it's Graeme who should be credited for it.
Yes Graeme took the one I posted but I will claim credit for the one of ?Cheryl
We arrived and checked in, and immediately found that there was no seating anywhere. Obviously that’s the reason people get there for 7:00pm. We hadn’t done badly, and made it by about 7:35pm, which was pretty much what we’d planned on. We were handed our menus, which also included details of the route we were going to take along the river, so we all pondered those for a while.
The map showing the route we would take…
We soon realised why we were waiting. Our boat had people on it from the earlier evening dinner cruise. I later found out that this one was a lot cheaper – a flat fee of €65 ($90) for everyone. I guess, given how long ours would last, that one probably left around 5:30pm. We watched as people gradually disembarked, and the serving team got ready for us to board. Wow, these guys certainly work hard for a living, and they have the whole thing down to a fine art.
At 8:00pm, the light show on the Eiffel Tower started. I say “light show” a bit loosely, as I don’t really know how else to describe it. Essentially, there are bright white lights illuminating the tower and sparkling on it. It’s a neat effect, although sadly we couldn’t quite get the full effect of it from where we were.
Finally, just after 8:15pm, they were ready for us to board, and we were the first ones on, which made for some wonderful photos. I loved the atmosphere on here. It was very high scale, and I can see why they ask you to dress accordingly for dinner here.
Our seat gave us a stunning view of the Eiffel Tower above us.
And now, many thanks to Hazel, I have a photo to add in here of the two of us, which gives you an idea of the dress I was wearing:
We sat there for some time, before we started out…
Another boat making its way down the river…
….so long that we were served up with our glass of champagne and cheese puffs. And yes, you did read that right – cheese puffs with champagne. Slightly surreal, but in fairness, it didn’t taste that weird, so I guess they know what they’re doing.
For appetiser, Mark and I both went for the veloute of shellfish, crayfish and an infusion of porcini and morel mushrooms. Although it really didn’t look like much when it arrived…
… the sauce was then poured on to it…
… and boy, was this rich. It really was the perfect portion size, as I don’t think I could’ve eaten much more than what was served up.
I had to take a photo of what Graeme had for his appetiser, as it looked so unusual – the “fresh cup” of broccoli and scallops. Very inventive!
Finally, we were underway, and we headed down the Seine at a very reasonable speed. You honestly didn’t feel as if you were moving at all, unless you were watching the scenery, which of course I was. I didn’t want to miss anything! Mark kept telling me my food would get cold, but whenever I dragged myself away from taking photos, I was able to polish off my food very quickly…
Pont Alexandre III, built between 1896 and 1900 and named after Tsar Alexander III, whose son laid the foundation stone
Behind it is the Grand Palais, built at the same time as the bridge – not the greatest shot, but it was tough to get good shots with the light of the boat from behind the glass
Another boat passing by – we saw a lot of other boats, some sightseeing ones, with people wrapped up who were outside
A very bad shot of 3,200 year old obelisk in Place de la Concorde
It was wonderful to just watch the world go by, seeing the beautiful or “bonny” (as Hazel kept calling them) buildings along the sides of the Seine.
Next: seeing some stunning buildings and enjoying fine dining
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This sounds like the start of a one of a kind experience! Very fancy indeed. I can imagine the scenery was beautiful, it's just hard to capture it with the camera. Can't wait to hear the rest!
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This sounds like the start of a one of a kind experience! Very fancy indeed.
It certainly was and I'm very glad we got to do it.
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I can imagine the scenery was beautiful, it's just hard to capture it with the camera. Can't wait to hear the rest!
Oh tell me about it - the glare in the window was just a nightmare. I did the best I could, but there were times it really wasn't possible to get a good shot.
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the pictures of the Eiffel Tower! I had commented when Hazel posted one picture that it was beautiful. She responded that she couldn't take credit for it, and I immediately figured I'd be seeing it in your TR. 
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I can't take credit for that one, because I think I know the one you're talking about that she posted - and actually it's Graeme who should be credited for it. 
Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
Obviously that’s the reason people get there for 7:00pm. We hadn’t done badly, and made it by about 7:35pm, which was pretty much what we’d planned on. We were handed our menus, which also included details of the route we were going to take along the river, so we all pondered those for a while. 
And yes, you did read that right – cheese puffs with champagne. 
Slightly surreal, but in fairness, it didn’t taste that weird, so I guess they know what they’re doing. 
Mark kept telling me my food would get cold, but whenever I dragged myself away from taking photos, I was able to polish off my food very quickly… 
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