Stepping into a new continent a week in Hong Kong COMPLETED - Page 26 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Got all caught up again... awesome!! I'm amazed at all the parks and aviaries and fountains and flowers and sculptures y'all kept finding in the middle of the city. Just beautiful! The suit looks terrific.
I'm sorry to see your report end, it's been great fun.
Cheryl and Mark, I have always loved all your photos but in this TR the floral photos are some of the best I have ever seen. We have a local photographer (Larry Kanfer) who does good work but I have to tell you that you guys are WORLD CLASS!!!
Because the weather seemed to be getting better, we decided to take the Star Ferry back across the water and walked slowly along getting more photos on the way
Theres no denying that this has to be one of the most fun ferry rides in the world and I hope that never changes/ Maybe one day well be able to come back and ride this again. I cant help but wonder how long the ride will be in the future thought. They are re-claiming land at such a fast rate and have ambitious plans to move the waterfront of Hong Kong Island forward again. Who know where it will end? I would love to come back in a few years time and see the work they are doing now when its complete.
We caught the subway back to the hotel and had abut an hour to wait before we were due to be picked up and taken to the airport. The time passed fast with me writing trip report and Mark reading, but by the time we were told the bus was waiting for us, I was so pleased. Over the previous hour and a half, we had been subjected to what I can only describe as bad karaoke coming from the bar downstairs. It really was truly awful and if it was designed to encourage anyone down there, it wasnt working.
We only made one other stop on the way to the airport, which really surprised me, considering how many people were on our bus when we arrived. It turned out the other couple were getting a flight to Australia, another example of people for whom Hong Kong has just been a stopover. Interestingly, they didnt like the city at all, which really surprised me. I cant imagine anyone not liking it.
Some views from the bus on the way to the airport
When we came into the terminal, the place was dead. There was no-one waiting at all at the Virgin Atlantic desk, so we were checked in immediately and both cases came in underweight, well one was slightly over, but they either didnt notice of didnt care. We even had our hand luggage weighed and that was fine.
All checked in, we had three hours to kill. We walked round the shops for a bit and then went upstairs to get some food.
We found a lovely Italian called Grappos and got some appetisers to share, a mixed salad, some prawns in garlic and some bruschetta, followed by a strawberry and custard tart for Mark and a pineapple sorbet for me. Just what we needed. It was a great meal and a lovely setting. We couldnt get over how quiet the place was though, it was really pleasant.
Then it was through security, where I think we had about four people in front of us. On the other side of security, we found more shops that couldnt be seen from the other side, as they were one level down. The biggest surprise was finding a Hong Kong Disneyland store. It even had some items in there that we hadnt seen in the park, so we got a couple more bits and pieces.
Then we made our way to our gate, which was a train ride away and sat and waited to be called to board. We didnt have long to wait and then we were amongst the first to board. Again, we had ended up with the same seats as we had had on the way out by the toilets, which was really annoying, as we didnt enjoy them last time. Still, what could we do? Premium Economy was full, so we were stuck with them.
I had every intention of staying up for a while and perhaps watching a movie, but just after take-off, I suddenly came over really tired, so off to sleep I went and thats pretty much how I stayed for the next nine hours. Its so nice to be able to get that much sleep, as usually you just dont have enough times on flights to and from the States. This was a 13 hour flight, so when I work up, there were still a good three hours to go. I passed the time by watching the xxxx which Mark had seen on the way out here and had recommended to me. Very good it was too.
Fortunately not long after that finished, they started to serve breakfast and before we knew it, we were on descent back into London. A very quick flight, considering how long it was. Sleeping that long does make the time fly!
We couldnt have been quicker through immigration and baggage claim if we had tried. One case was already on the conveyor belt when we got to baggage claim and then the other one arrived a couple of lines later. In fact, we were so quick that we were out before our taxi arrived. We hadnt exactly said where we would meet, so we decided to spilt up, with me staying put and Mark checking the taxi rank. Mark had literally been gone about a minute when our driver and her other half arrived.
The drive back was quick, although it was foggy (apparently it had been like that the whole week wed been gone) and there was an accident on the way. Then it home and time to check up on what had been happening while we were away.
Today we walked 7.19 miles. The weather today was mainly dry with some showers and temperatures in the 60s. The best thing today was Hong Kong Park. The worst thing today was the showers. Today we tried getting a Chinese meal And the result was it was excellent. The most magical moment today was walking into Hong Kong Park.
What a great last few hours Cheryl! And how lucky to find a HKDL store I'm glad you got so much sleep on the plane Looking forward to your final thoughts
What a great trip!!!! Thank you so much for sharing with us!! You take such wonderful photos and go into great detail that I always feel like I'm right there with you guys!! Can't wait for your final thoughts!!
I'm amazed at how empty the airport was... for being one of the biggest cities in the world, I imagined that the airport would be busy 24/7.
Thanks so much for sharing your trip with us.
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I have so enjoyed exploring Hong Kong with you! It has certainly made me realise how much there is to see there. You seemed to fit so much in to a short time - I'm not surprised you slept on the way home!
I do have one question - if you were going again where would you stay? I get the impression that you felt you could have been better located.
Thanks very much for such an interesting and entertaining report!
I will miss looking forward to the TR The entire trip has been wonderful, making me wish I was there! The park in the middle of the city looks like a real gem
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Sharon - Kitty and me
2013 Scrapbook pages count: 631 / 350
2014 Scrapbook pages count: 60 / 250
Well Cheryl, I'm glad I wandered down here, as I had no idea that you had started this trip report. (I thought you'd finish the Florida TR first - of course, I seriously underestimated your multi-tasking ability!).
All I can say is WOW!
Hong Kong looks amazing - and is definitely on my must-do trip now. We went to Singapore a few years ago, and I was taken with the Far East then. Must go back. Must go back.
I must also stop shopping at Sainsbury's
By the way, Kat has one of those interactive Pluto toys. We bought it from the Trafford Centre Disney Store for her birthday. It cost £30.
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It even had some items in there that we hadnt seen in the park, so we got a couple more bits and pieces. 
I'm glad you got so much sleep on the plane 
Looking forward to your final thoughts 
)
I will miss looking forward to the TR 
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