Making lemonade out of lemons…. In a titanic way! COMPLETED 5/13 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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GC is quite an amazing place with just so much to see between the rock formations and the ocean crashing against it! Every time you turn a corner there is another thing more amazing. You captured it well and glad you were brave enough to adventure on forward like Mark to see more amazing things and some great views!
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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!
Sunday 16 April – part four: visiting an unusual movie set….
We were heading here – the Dark Hedges, which has been used in Game of Thrones, and frankly, as I don’t watch it, that’s about all I can tell you. Even Mark, who watches it, was a bit confused when I asked him whether he remembered it. He told me that he suspected they’d used a huge amount of CGI, so it was really hard to work out when it had featured. Anyone else? Anyway, it was chaos along here. I almost feel they ought to just shut this road to traffic, there were so many people wandering around in the middle of the road. I tell you, if my daily commute took me along here, I wouldn’t be impressed trying to deal with this every day.
Once we were done, we headed off through the countryside again, with the GPS taking us goodness knows where – and I seriously mean that. Every time we found a main road, it would literally be to join it for a few metres, then we’d turn off again. On the way, we did see some beautiful scenery again…
At one point, Mark stopped, and reversed, so I could say hello to these guys. However, we both quickly realised from what we know about donkeys that perhaps they weren’t in the greatest condition. We couldn’t see any shelter for them, which donkeys must have, or any concrete for them to stand on, and without them, they can end up with real issues with their hooves. If I’d had any idea where we were, and had the Donkey Sanctuary phone number to hand (I didn’t have Internet access to hand), I’d have called them, as I think those donkeys needed their help.
A little further on, we stopped for a much happier sight!
We were soon passing through a Republican town, which you can tell by the sight of the Irish flag everywhere.
The last time we’d visited, we’d seen a lot of either Unionist towns displaying the Union flag or Republican towns, and we’d only commented yesterday that there seemed to be a lot less of it on this trip, but I guess it just depends where in the country you are. The feelings are still there, but thankfully the peace seems to be holding, despite recent setbacks. It’s nothing to do with the troubles stirring back up again, it’s more to do with more basic things than that…
There was a snap election at the beginning of March after the previous administration collapsed. It had been a coalition between the unionists and the republicans – so far, so good you might think. The republican leader resigned over the unionist’s leader refusal to step aside, pending an enquiry into a renewal heating scheme, which could cost taxpayers in Northern Ireland £490 million. It offered businesses incentives for installing renewable heating. A whistle blower came forward to expose how the scheme was being exploited, with one example being a farmer who would have collected about £1 million for heating an empty shed over 20 years.
So, there you go, a bit of current politics in with a trip report… anyway, now please let me return you to your regularly scheduled trip report.
We were soon passing through a Unionist town, and you can see the difference very clearly here with the flags…
Before long, we made it to our second destination of the day – another National Trust property. This one is Springhill. This is a 17th century “plantation” home that is described as one of the country’s prettiest, although I have to confess I wasn’t 100% sure about that. It was originally built by the Lenox-Conyngham family, but more of that in a moment….
First, it was time for lunch – and heck, it was Easter Sunday! I will say in our defence that we didn’t eat all of our egg, but we made a good dent into each of ours…
Once we were starting to feel sick, we gave up eating, and headed into the house. We were told at the entrance that you could only see the house via guided tours, but fortunately there was one leaving in about 10 minutes’ time, so we signed up for that one, and made our way over to the main house…
Living on the edge - look at you! Mark went even further! I'd be worried too, mostly just because of the weather. Seems less dangerous if it were a clear and sunny day!
The poor donkeys. I hope they just ventured away from their normal grounds for a bit and that's not how they normally live.
Curious to see if this place holds up to their prettiest reputation!
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Tanya
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That countryside sure is beautiful!! Those trees look like they could have been used in either White Walker scenes or scenes when Bran was in the woods. In any case, that's cool!! I hope those donkeys were just lost.
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I know - I was proud of myself for venturing that far out!
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Mark went even further! I'd be worried too, mostly just because of the weather. Seems less dangerous if it were a clear and sunny day!
Oh completely.
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The poor donkeys. I hope they just ventured away from their normal grounds for a bit and that's not how they normally live.
I have a horrible feeling it probably is. I know from our visits to the Donkey Sanctuary that a lot of the donkeys they have come from Ireland. There seem to be real issues there with mistreatment of them.
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Curious to see if this place holds up to their prettiest reputation!
Honestly? I didn't think so, but I'll leave others to make their own minds up....
That countryside sure is beautiful!! Those trees look like they could have been used in either White Walker scenes or scenes when Bran was in the woods. In any case, that's cool!!
I'm sure Mark will be able to tell you, as it's all another language to me, never having watched an episode of it.
Some great scenery and very interesting on the various political scandals from both sides in this region! Glad you got to see some of your boys but very sad the condition the donkeys were 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!
The Dark Hedges were used as part of the Kings' Road way back in season 1 or 2 of Game of Thrones. I heard that they were damaged in a storm, so there used to be more than what you saw, I think.
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You captured it well and glad you were brave enough to adventure on forward like Mark to see more amazing things and some great views! 
Even Mark, who watches it, was a bit confused when I asked him whether he remembered it. He told me that he suspected they’d used a huge amount of CGI, so it was really hard to work out when it had featured. Anyone else? 
Anyway, it was chaos along here. I almost feel they ought to just shut this road to traffic, there were so many people wandering around in the middle of the road. I tell you, if my daily commute took me along here, I wouldn’t be impressed trying to deal with this every day. 
Every time we found a main road, it would literally be to join it for a few metres, then we’d turn off again. 
It offered businesses incentives for installing renewable heating. A whistle blower came forward to expose how the scheme was being exploited, with one example being a farmer who would have collected about £1 million for heating an empty shed over 20 years. 
Those trees look like they could have been used in either White Walker scenes or scenes when Bran was in the woods. In any case, that's cool!! I hope those donkeys were just lost. 
Glad you got to see some of your boys but very sad the condition the donkeys were in! 
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