A tale of two cities… and a few other places… COMPLETED - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Always nice to do new things at familiar places. Fun little boat ride! Glad Mark could bail you out or you'd be getting your laps in a pond instead of a pool!
The flowers still looked amazing at your house! It's a shame about the neighborhood cats though.... (I just don't understand cats!)
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Always nice to do new things at familiar places. Fun little boat ride! Glad Mark could bail you out or you'd be getting your laps in a pond instead of a pool!
Oh my goodness, definitely not something I'd like to!
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The flowers still looked amazing at your house! It's a shame about the neighborhood cats though.... (I just don't understand cats!)
We still have our geraniums going now at the front of the house, and although not as good out the back, they're still going. Some of the alyssum and double begonias are still in, but everything else has sadly finished now.
Love the yellow drawing room at Leeds as well as more of the grounds and gardens! Glad Mark was able to be you out with the nice boat tide across the lake! Love your gardens at home as more beautiful than some of those on your trips!
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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!
Love the yellow drawing room at Leeds as well as more of the grounds and gardens! Glad Mark was able to be you out with the nice boat tide across the lake! Love your gardens at home as more beautiful than some of those on your trips!
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Monday 18 September – part eight: seriously it really is called spotted dick!
Just after 6:30pm, we headed out to the George Inn, which is a beautiful old pub, and what I’d call a quintessentially British pub, which is why I wanted to take Jan there.
Once again, it’s in a traditional Kentish village…
Inside, it’s just as lovely…
We settled down, and because it was a Monday night in September, it really wasn’t that busy, which was really nice. We had some great service, and had a really good laugh with the guy as well, which always helps.
For appetiser, I went for the prawn cocktail served with granary bread and butter, which was nice, but the sauce was a little spicy for my tastes.
Mark had the sticky BBQ chicken wings…
Sorry about the quality of the photo – I didn’t realise it was blurred until we got home…
For entrée, I went for an appetiser, the breaded Brie wedges, served with cranberry sauce and a warm baguette,as I always love this dish. Both Mark and Jan commented that it looked like a snack, but it worked for me.
Mark went for the 8oz sirloin steak, served with chips, onion rings, mushrooms, tomatoes, peas and a salad garnish, and told me he couldn’t fault it, so it must’ve been good.
Now when it came to dessert, there was a lot of debate about this. Firstly, the George were serving up a dessert called spotted dick, and I am not joking here. Here’s proof….
It’s made with suet and dried fruit, usually currants and/or raisins and usually served with custard. And before you ask, no-one is 100% sure why it’s called spotted dick. It could be because in Yorkshire “dick” meant plain pudding in the 19th century. Who knows?
Understandably, Jan was a little shocked by the name of the dessert, and thought we were winding her up. Us? Never! The server had to explain it to her, and told her it was very nice, which of course led to more hilarity. Now, she couldn’t face it, but I told Mark he’d have to get it, so Jan could see what it was like… and he did, so here you go…
As for me, I went for the giant chocolate brownie crunch sundae, made up of vanilla ice cream, caramel and honeycomb ice cream, brownie pieces, Malteasers, and chocolate chunks, drizzled with toffee and chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and wafers. It’s designed to share, and it was lovely, just what I wanted in terms of the ingredients. I just wish they did a smaller version, as of course I couldn’t do it justice.
Now Jan tried one of our British cheesecakes that we always rave about, and say are so much better than the ones in the States. Can you imagine how much pressure you’re then under when someone goes on your recommendation? Oh my goodness, I was literally sweating it, in case she didn’t like it… and the verdict? She absolutely loved it, and I don’t think she’ll ever eat American cheesecake again!
All in all, it was an excellent meal, with great service, at a good price, and you can’t ask for more than that.
The George Inn
Appetiser 8 9
Entrée 9 9˝
Dessert 9 9
Service 9 9
Atmosphere 9 8˝
Value for money 9˝ 9
Average score: 8.96
By the time we finished eating, it was after 9:00pm, and considering we’d sat down before 7:00pm, that was definitely a leisurely meal. We made our way home, and then it was straight off to bed, as we had an early start in the morning.
The weather today was cloudy, with some sun and some light rain, and some downpours. The best thing today was visiting Leeds Castle The worst thing today was the downpours we had as Mark was driving along. The funniest thing today was “would it be Ok if my husband paid and he met us on the other side of the lake?” Today we tried visiting the Calais Eurotunnel terminal for the first time in some years… And the result was it hasn’t changed that much. The most magical moment today was getting home, at least for a couple of nights.
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Lovely dinner! It can really top off your day with a nice meal like that when food, service, and company are all the best.
I’ve heard of that dessert before but never seen exactly what it is. Interesting... Yours was huge!! And again with the British cheesecake..... I may scour google today for a recipe and see what I can come up with. Perfect for a rainy day!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Lovely dinner! It can really top off your day with a nice meal like that when food, service, and company are all the best.
I’ve heard of that dessert before but never seen exactly what it is. Interesting... Yours was huge!! And again with the British cheesecake..... I may scour google today for a recipe and see what I can come up with. Perfect for a rainy day!
Let me know if you make it - and what you think of it!
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Glad Mark was able to be you out with the nice boat tide across the lake! Love your gardens at home as more beautiful than some of those on your trips! 
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