A Scottish right Royal time! TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 1/10 - Page 17 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 church is stunning. So elaborate & ornate. I loved the ceiling shots. I truly agree that a simple donation or paying for the right to take a photo is not much to ask especially when the church was free to visit.
Exactly. It's a bit different if you'd already paid, then I would feel a bit sore at having to pay more, but it's a free tourist attraction, so if they ask for a donation, I figure it's the least people can do....
What a gorgeous cathedral. It's appalling how people are always looking for something for nothing these days. The upkeep on that church must be enormous and then add to that the cost of keeping it clean after all the tourists traipse through. A simple donation is not a religious offering but rather a bit to help them keep it open to the public.
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What a gorgeous cathedral. It's appalling how people are always looking for something for nothing these days. The upkeep on that church must be enormous and then add to that the cost of keeping it clean after all the tourists traipse through. A simple donation is not a religious offering but rather a bit to help them keep it open to the public.
Very well said. I must admit I hadn't thought about the costs of cleaning up after the tourists, but I'm sure there is that as well....
Great photos inside the church and love all the details as so beautiful and striking! Kind of annoying that so many aren't following the rules to just ignore them, don't want to pay for the photo permit or just want to see what they can get away with!
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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!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Sunday 27 August – part seven: the next tour is at….
We finished going around the rest of St. Giles Cathedral…
.. then we headed outside, back into the Fringe madness!
Now, as planned, we headed next for the Real Mary Kings Close, which I was really looking forward to, after learning so much about these closes from our visit to Gladstone’s Land yesterday. One of the staff in there noticed that we were both wearing Disney Cruise Line T-shirts, and really made us laugh when she said “have you been on a Disney cruise?” I’m not sure what she expected the answer to be, but given I’m pretty sure you can only get these tops on board one of the Disney ships, the answer is
We were a bit shocked when we went to buy our tickets, as it was about 3:00pm, and we were told the next tour that had availability was 7:15pm. Oh well, it wasn’t meant to be. I guess it’s a lot more popular than I thought it would be, but then again, it is an August Bank Holiday weekend. Something for the next time then…
A bit disappointed, we headed outside, and I suggested to Mark that maybe we could go and visit Dynamic Earth instead, which is at the bottom of the Royal Mile, so we headed off that way.
We stopped at various shops, browsing, but not buying anything. We always say they’re missing a trick by not having more Highland coo merchandise. We also found that they had more souvenirs from the rest of Scotland than we found during our road trip. We kept seeing things for Loch Ness for example. You honestly don’t have to travel anywhere else in Scotland to buy souvenirs for the whole country – just go to Edinburgh.
We also browsed some Christmas shops, but found nothing specific to Edinburgh or Scotland, which was a shame. Again, I think they’re missing out on an opportunity here…
We headed inside the Museum of Edinburgh, because we were walking past it, and it was free of charge. However, it didn’t do much for us, and it was so hot and humid in there. We went up to the first floor, and browsed a little bit, seeing the impressive silver collection they have, and a few other things…
… but when I saw the rest of the museum was on the upper floors, I’d had enough. I couldn’t do those.
That's too bad that you couldn't tour the close. Nice that the Museum of Edinburgh was free, but I wouldn't last too long in there either if it was too hot.
That's too bad that you couldn't tour the close. Nice that the Museum of Edinburgh was free, but I wouldn't last too long in there either if it was too hot.
It was a great plan to have a whole day on the Sunday, but in hindsight, I should've booked an earlier flight, as the place was just too packed to enjoy anything - something I hadn't really thought of beforehand.
Too bad with no luck getting the tour! Great photos inside and in town.
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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!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
We headed back outside, and continued to walk down the Royal Mile. We made it down to the Scottish parliament…
… with Arthur’s Seat behind…
… and Holyroodhouse Palace nearby…
We weren’t that far from Dynamic Earth, but by now, we were both completely beat. I suggested we head back to the hotel, and just chill for a while before heading to the airport, as neither of us felt we could face continuing to walk any further. We had just had it, and we both had throbbing ankles.
There was a taxi rank, so we grabbed one, and the guy was really good, and did everything he could to avoid traffic, and consequently we were back at the hotel before long. He got a good tip for that.
We picked up our hand luggage, and headed up to the observatory bar. There were two members already in there, and honestly this is not the sort of place you bring children. They were both sitting there very quietly, one reading a book, another reading a paper, and it’s a very refined atmosphere, shall we say?
We didn’t bring the atmosphere down at all, and just sat there taking in the beautiful views across to Edinburgh Castle. I honestly don’t think I’d ever get tired of this view. It is just a magnificent sight to see.
I got a glass of wine, and Mark got a Diet Coke, and we sat there chilling for the next hour or so, with me catching up on the trip report, and Mark watching the football on his laptop, although thankfully without the sound (can you imagine how that would’ve gone down with the members? ). Apparently Liverpool did score during that time, and he just had to sit there, all refined, instead of shouting and whooping like he usually does…
We headed out about 5:30pm, a little earlier than we’d planned, after another member came in, and said that he’d got stuck on the trams, as there’d been a problem with them. It turned out one had broken down earlier, and there had been delays, but thankfully we didn’t have any problems.
As we waited for the tram, I couldn’t resist getting some photos of the beautiful sky. It looked more like an autumn sky to me, but then again, it is rapidly heading towards autumn I guess…
We had a few minutes to wait for a tram…
… and then we were on our way out of Edinburgh…
… and through the New Town, which this time, we didn’t have a chance to explore. One day in the future, we will…
Then we were out of the city itself, passing through the sights we’d seen on our way in, just a day earlier. My goodness, it seemed like a lot longer.
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I must admit I hadn't thought about the costs of cleaning up after the tourists, but I'm sure there is that as well....
Kind of annoying that so many aren't following the rules to just ignore them, don't want to pay for the photo permit or just want to see what they can get away with! 
We also found that they had more souvenirs from the rest of Scotland than we found during our road trip. We kept seeing things for Loch Ness for example. You honestly don’t have to travel anywhere else in Scotland to buy souvenirs for the whole country – just go to Edinburgh. 
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