A Magical voyage across the pond TRIP REPORT UPDATED 12/31 - Page 23 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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Well the mountain goat sure knows his stuff. Sounds like he really enjoys his job!
Was there any indication in the description of this excursion about the hiking? I’m just thinking if there wasn’t, it sure would be a huge surprise to someone with copd or other asthma/breathing issues. Not to mention physical issues! It’s a fantastic tour so far, of course! But I’m just hoping Disney explained what it entails.
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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
Well the mountain goat sure knows his stuff. Sounds like he really enjoys his job!
Oh gosh, he did and I couldn't fault him for his knowledge and enthusiasm.
Quote:
Was there any indication in the description of this excursion about the hiking? I’m just thinking if there wasn’t, it sure would be a huge surprise to someone with copd or other asthma/breathing issues. Not to mention physical issues! It’s a fantastic tour so far, of course! But I’m just hoping Disney explained what it entails.
Not at all! I kept a copy of the details on the website of every excursion we went on and later on I double checked what it said:
Inside an Aristocratic Estate
An exclusive tour awaits you at the ancestral home of England's prominent Digby and Churchill families.
On this adventure you will…
• Begin with a 50-minute motorcoach drive through beautiful rural Dorset. Arrive at Minterne House and Gardens, home to the Digby and Churchill families for over 350 years.
• Meet the lord of the manor for a specially arranged private peek behind the scenes of the mansion that is not open to the general public. Enjoy a 90-minute tour of this spectacular house, conducted by Lord Digby in person.
• Explore the magnificent Himalayan-style gardens, which lie in a valley that was landscaped in the 18th century. Stroll through more than a mile of stunning plants, including an exceptional collection of flowers, shrubs and even a water garden with cascades and streams.
• Following the mansion and garden tours, relax with a Dorset cream tea in the family dining room.
• Reboard the motorcoach and return to the pier.
As you can see from the bit in bold, although they made it clear it would be more than a mile of walking, they made it sound like it would be something very gentle...
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That's funny about the statue! Quite beautiful along the trails as there is so much to see! But tough to observe it all as so much and trying to keep up with the gardener. He did provide some good info.
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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!
That's funny about the statue! Quite beautiful along the trails as there is so much to see! But tough to observe it all as so much and trying to keep up with the gardener. He did provide some good info.
He provided some great info, but as you say, tough to see it all as we pounded along...
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Monday 10 September – part eight: “where are you?”
From here, mountain goat was off again, sprinting ahead of us, although in fairness, this was a beautiful part of the gardens, complete with lakes and waterfalls. I really liked this and I was glad we’d got to see it, especially as Terry had said we probably wouldn’t have time. Well, let’s put it this way, on our pace, no we wouldn’t have had!
It was nice to finally see some colour in the garden as well. Call me traditional, but that’s what I love.
Then we made our way along this stretch of water towards this beautiful bridge and I could immediately see the ideas of Capability Brown here from some of the National Trust properties we’ve visited. This would be exactly the sort of thing he’d have done.
It was about this point that mountain goat got a phone call, I assume from Lord Digby, basically asking where we were. I think the tour had somewhat overrun and in fact that’s a gross exaggeration. The timings of when I took my photos show that we started out at 10:10am and got back at 11:00am. If I tell you that the second group’s tour lasted about 15 minutes and I am really not joking here, you get to see how much we overran…
I think we were all delighted to be on the home straight and heading back to the house – and cream tea!
Lord Digby was there to greet us and was talking about sending the search parties out, which is how I knew we’d overrun. Apparently the next group only had about 15 minutes in the garden, as opposed to the 50 minutes we had. I bet mountain goat had to stay put.
With the pace you were on, and the fact that you were out there for 50 minutes, you wonder what the other group even managed to see in only 15 minutes? There’s where you said first bus made a difference!
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That is definitely a man who loves his job. He wanted to show you guys everything in that garden! It was a lot of walking, but totally worth it to see that much of the garden, especially since the others got a much shorter tour. Love that last bit there with the bridge, so beautiful!
__________________
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
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I kept a copy of the details on the website of every excursion we went on and later on I double checked what it said: 
But tough to observe it all as so much and trying to keep up with the gardener. He did provide some good info.
Great start to the tour, learning new stuff already. 
Yes it must be - I hadn't thought of it as being someone's yard!
If I tell you that the second group’s tour lasted about 15 minutes and I am really not joking here, you get to see how much we overran… 
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