A Magical voyage across the pond TRIP REPORT UPDATED 12/31 - Page 22 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Interesting info and history about Patricia Harriman and how well respected she was by the U.S. government. Great tour so far and hope you don't fall too far behind the gardener.
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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!
What wonderful photos! I was remarking I'd love to visit the gardens...I adore wandering around in a well laid out garden. The house itself is lovely as well, as your photos show. So interesting to learn a little more about something you've learned in school, but to get that 'personal' side, makes it more real!
Oh dear, the mountain goat! Sounds like our trek in Costa Rica, it said walking, it didn't say climbing up and down on little more than dirt paths. A little more forewarning would have been nice!
Interesting info and history about Patricia Harriman and how well respected she was by the U.S. government. Great tour so far and hope you don't fall too far behind the gardener.
What wonderful photos! I was remarking I'd love to visit the gardens...I adore wandering around in a well laid out garden.
So do I. You'd love some of the National Trust gardens we have over here...
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The house itself is lovely as well, as your photos show. So interesting to learn a little more about something you've learned in school, but to get that 'personal' side, makes it more real!
Oh dear, the mountain goat! Sounds like our trek in Costa Rica, it said walking, it didn't say climbing up and down on little more than dirt paths. A little more forewarning would have been nice!
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.
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I know of Ambassador Harriman, but her first name was Pamela. Did you know her only child, a boy, was Winston Churchill? Yep, named for his grandfather.
Sorry, just seen this - somehow I missed it yesterday. Yes I read that. Fascinating.
Monday 10 September – part seven: “statue of a mountain goat”
Now this is a Himalayan Garden, as it includes plants from the Himalayan area. Amazingly, we have quite a few of these in the UK and one quite close to us. As we all arrived at this spot, we found what one woman called “a statue”. I prefer to say it’s a “statue of a mountain goat”. Yes, this was our head gardener in all his finery!
He really knew his stuff and explained about the various trees here. I’m a keen gardener, but as I said to him later, only with plants in my garden. What he was talking about went way over my head! I do remember that there’s something like either 700 or 900 species of rhododendrons in the world and they have something like 200. He did say it’s a spring garden and has cherry trees, so maybe we’ll make a return visit sometime in the spring when we come to see our donkeys, who aren’t a million miles away from here…
We then ran off again… at least Mr. Mountain Goat did. The rest of just ambled our way on as best we could without breaking our legs on the uneven ground.
We did have another brief stop here, where again there was lots of explanations about trees and lots of Latin names given, but I couldn’t keep track with all of it, so I just took the opportunity to photograph it instead.
There was quite a lot of comment from within our group about these palm trees and I know Raleigh said to me he was really surprised to see them here, but honestly I wasn’t. I’ve got used to seeing palm trees turning up in the most unusual of places, both here in the UK and in other places. I seem to recall there’s somewhere in Norway that grows them. It’s all to do with the microclimate of a place, as to whether they succeed somewhere or not.
We carried on down to another picturesque spot…
… and here, there were just slight glimmers of autumn (fall) just starting to appear…
One point of conversation was how green everything was and I was surprised as well, given our summer. I guess they had more rain here, but at home, we went something like two months between any rainfall, which is unheard of. As the head gardener said, it meant a lot of work and hand watering – yes, I know that feeling!
We then visited the Himalayan hut that had only recently opened and they’d only just planted out this area…
Very interesting story about Patricia Harriman! The Mountain Goat certainly was on a schedule for this outdoor tour and the terrain did seem like it might be tough on the elderly if they weren't in great shape to keep up. Such cute sheep in your last picture posted!
Very interesting story about Patricia Harriman! The Mountain Goat certainly was on a schedule for this outdoor tour and the terrain did seem like it might be tough on the elderly if they weren't in great shape to keep up.
I was really concerned about that, although thankfully I think the older members of our tour group opted out of this part of the excursion. They would never have dealt with it.
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Such cute sheep in your last picture posted!
I was thinking that as I posted it - fluffy furballs (as I call them!) are very cute... not as cute as cows and donkeys mind, but still cute!
The gardener really does look like a statue in you first photo!! The gardens and the whole trail is just beautiful Cheryl!! Glad you guys ate your Wheaties this morning!!
The gardener really does look like a statue in you first photo!! The gardens and the whole trail is just beautiful Cheryl!! Glad you guys ate your Wheaties this morning!!
Gosh you're right! We definitely needed sustenance before setting out with our mountain goat...
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I love the refillable mugs from Aulani. I'm making a note to get these when we visit. 
Can't believe how quickly that trip is coming around! 
I do remember that there’s something like either 700 or 900 species of rhododendrons in the world and they have something like 200. 
He did say it’s a spring garden and has cherry trees, so maybe we’ll make a return visit sometime in the spring when we come to see our donkeys, who aren’t a million miles away from here… 
Such cute sheep in your last picture posted!
Glad you guys ate your Wheaties this morning!! 
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