On the road (2) – beaches, castles and chateaux COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM - Page 19 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
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.
I live near the town where our National D-Day Memorial is, in Bedford, Virginia. Bedford had the largest motality rate, per capita, in the D-Day invasion, of any town in the United States, or something like that. They always send someone to the Anniversary Ceremonies every year. I think the last of the "Bedford Boys" as they are called died this year.
I would love to visit Normandy one day for this reason.
This is from the National D-Day Memorial Website:
By day's end, nineteen of the company's Bedford soldiers were dead. Two more Bedford soldiers died later in the Normandy campaign, as did yet another two assigned to other 116th Infantry companies. Bedford's population in 1944 was about 3,200. Proportionally this community suffered the nation's severest D-Day losses. Recognizing Bedford as emblematic of all communities, large and small, whose citizen-soldiers served on D-Day, Congress warranted the establishment of the National D-Day Memorial here.
__________________
Donning my Wellies to cut Peat in Scotland
Melissa
Another fab update. It is amazing the difference in the renovated part of the cathedral. But how come they all look the same? Those 14th century architects weren't very creative were they?
I live near the town where our National D-Day Memorial is, in Bedford, Virginia. Bedford had the largest motality rate, per capita, in the D-Day invasion, of any town in the United States, or something like that. They always send someone to the Anniversary Ceremonies every year. I think the last of the "Bedford Boys" as they are called died this year.
I would love to visit Normandy one day for this reason.
This is from the National D-Day Memorial Website:
By day's end, nineteen of the company's Bedford soldiers were dead. Two more Bedford soldiers died later in the Normandy campaign, as did yet another two assigned to other 116th Infantry companies. Bedford's population in 1944 was about 3,200. Proportionally this community suffered the nation's severest D-Day losses. Recognizing Bedford as emblematic of all communities, large and small, whose citizen-soldiers served on D-Day, Congress warranted the establishment of the National D-Day Memorial here.
Another fab update. It is amazing the difference in the renovated part of the cathedral. But how come they all look the same? Those 14th century architects weren't very creative were they?
Love the pictures of Chartres. Even with the restoration being done the Cathedral is amazing...it looks so huge compared to the rest of the town. As Kenny said...it does remind me of a sotrybook village.
Tuesday 8 June – part six: stranded at the car park exit
We entered and immediately your attention goes to the stained glass. This is what Chartres Cathedral is famous for. It was first built in 1020, but almost burnt to the ground in 1194. Such was the passion to get it rebuilt, that the cathedral stood again just 25 years later.
The stained glass itself was donated by guilds between 1210 and 1240 and the 150 plus stained glass windows illustrate biblical stories and daily life in the 13th century. We were fascinated by all the windows and you’ll have to forgive all the windows photos that we took.
The guided tours in there were unbelievable. As Mark said, there’s no sign of the recession that’s meant to be in full force in Japan, judging by all the tour parties from there that we’ve seen this trip.
We wandered around the exterior, getting a few final shots and the obligatory fridge magnet and some postcards, before heading back to the car.
Boy, we had fun getting out of the car park. Sadly it was an elderly American couple who gave us the entertainment, when they arrived at the exit and had no exit ticket. As we realised what was happening, I clocked that we hadn’t got one either, so legged it into the ticket booth next to the exit and was quickly sorted, whereas they just couldn’t get their payment to go through. Eventually, a very irate French woman, who was in the car behind us got out to help and gave the car park owners merry hell over the exit intercom, telling them how many cars were now waiting and that they needed to just let them out. They got out in the end, but it took about three French people to do it!
We ended up stuck behind the American couple and we were very glad when we could finally get past them on the toll road.
At least it wasn't you... and they reminded you that it could have been you, if not for them! (I'm confused, did that make sense?) Anyway, I'm glad you got out of the car park without paying the ransom!! hehe
The cathedral is just fascinating! Thanks for all the pics, including the stained glass.
I think this has been said in another of your reports or two, but I need to say this again, Cheryl: Your use of the B&W camera setting is very nice. It was very moving, interspersed with the color in the D-Day Memorial and beach pictures. It gives a "real life" feeling to the story that cannot be achieved in just color pictures.
At least it wasn't you... and they reminded you that it could have been you, if not for them! (I'm confused, did that make sense?) Anyway, I'm glad you got out of the car park without paying the ransom!! hehe
The cathedral is just fascinating! Thanks for all the pics, including the stained glass.
I think this has been said in another of your reports or two, but I need to say this again, Cheryl: Your use of the B&W camera setting is very nice. It was very moving, interspersed with the color in the D-Day Memorial and beach pictures. It gives a "real life" feeling to the story that cannot be achieved in just color pictures.
Glad you like the black and white shots, but I can't take credit for them. : All of the black and white shots you see are Mark's.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Holly: 
PassPorter Guide Author
: 
Linear Mode
