A Magical voyage across the pond TRIP REPORT UPDATED 12/31 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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The house really was just beautiful and the scones looked delicious! I hope the other bus didn't have to wait too long before they found the missing people! It sounds like a tour I would definitely be interested in doing if I get there one day!
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The grounds are so beautiful. One scone and one cup of tea seems a little skimpy to me. I hope the missing couple showed up.
The brie and crackers looked good. It was so nice of you to help Mari with her problem.
Are you still enjoying the new Doctor? I think she's getting better each week but I did not the spiders this week, In fact, no one I talked to liked that part as we all do not like spiders at all.
Liz
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.
Family pictures in the bathrooom! So cute. That living room (or whatever it's name is) chandelier is amazing. I'm glad you took a photo of it alone as I didn't really even see it in the other photos!
Indeed a lovely tour, made even better by the Lord himself.
The Magic looks pretty good docked there.
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The house does have that lived in look which is nice. Glad you weren’t on the bus with the missing people, but it would be interesting to know where they went.
We never found out. I just hope it wasn't too long before they were on their way back...
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How great that Mari and Raleigh where the magical family, it sounds like a fun experience.
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.
The grounds are so beautiful. One scone and one cup of tea seems a little skimpy to me.
It was enough for us, but I was surprised that it seemed to be a deal to get anything more if you wanted it...
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I hope the missing couple showed up.
The brie and crackers looked good. It was so nice of you to help Mari with her problem.
I felt it was my duty to aid a friend in need...
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Are you still enjoying the new Doctor? I think she's getting better each week but I did not the spiders this week, In fact, no one I talked to liked that part as we all do not like spiders at all.
Liz
I think she's amazing. I was reading an article in the latest Doctor Who Magazine this month and it kept talking about the Doctor as "he" and I was like... "but he's not", so I think that tells you something!
I must admit the spiders one had a lot of scary moments. I don't like spiders, but they don't terrify me. Having said that, those spiders were huge, so there were a few points where I jumped!
Family pictures in the bathrooom! So cute. That living room (or whatever it's name is) chandelier is amazing. I'm glad you took a photo of it alone as I didn't really even see it in the other photos!
It wasn't overpowering, which was nice.
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Indeed a lovely tour, made even better by the Lord himself.
He was a star. I think if the Lord wasn't so friendly and down to earth, this tour might not have worked so well.
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The Magic looks pretty good docked there.
That's the thing about the Disney ships isn't it, they always look so beautiful.
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.
Oooh! I like the idea of a room service "magical family." Congrats to Mari and Raleigh. I don't know that we'll ever do a cruise that has Portland as a port, but I love this tour and would definitely choose it.
Very nice photos of the house interior and quite special as not usually open to the public! Too bad they were a bit light on the tea and food offerings! I can imagine how the missing party felt when they were located and held up their group from returning! Glad you had such a wonderful tour and afternoon!
Very interesting with the room service honor Mari and Raleigh received. Just wondering about her allergy to Brie as it must be the rind of the Brie as it's not all cheese she has a problem with!
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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!
Very nice photos of the house interior and quite special as not usually open to the public! Too bad they were a bit light on the tea and food offerings! I can imagine how the missing party felt when they were located and held up their group from returning!
Yes, I bet they were popular... not!
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Glad you had such a wonderful tour and afternoon!
Very interesting with the room service honor Mari and Raleigh received. Just wondering about her allergy to Brie as it must be the rind of the Brie as it's not all cheese she has a problem with!
I've honestly no idea, but as I know only too well, allergies are funny things and everyone is different...
Monday 10 September – part eleven: that gun is pointing right at us!
A little while later, I was just thinking that there was supposed to be a band on the quayside an hour before departure, when I heard a bit of noise and looked out. Sure enough, we did have a choir (not a band) outside. They proceeded to sing for about 50 minutes, if not longer, as we weren’t away at time on 3:00pm. They did a load of songs we knew, although whether the Americans knew them, I’m not sure. Those who were waiting to re-board the ship didn’t seem to get too much into it…
It turned out this is a national organisation with local groups, as one of my friends is in the one near us. I’m so glad I posted some video of them performing on Facebook, as otherwise I’d never have known that.
As for those re-boarding, oh my goodness, you should have seen it when the Stonehenge coaches arrived back. Honestly, they were queuing coaches up outside the terminal gates and there would be four or five dropping off. The lines to re-board were just crazy. I was so glad we were watching from the comfort of our veranda, not being stuck downstairs in that.
Elsewhere, it had turned into a beautiful day and there were sailing boats out. Now you could see why Weymouth was chosen to host the sailing events in the 2012 Olympics.
How did we not see this earlier on?
We also knew there was supposed to be a gun salute and we saw them assembling for it. Honestly, the practising they went through. My goodness, they didn’t exactly look like a well drilled team, let’s just put it that way…
And yes, for a long time, that gun was pointing right at our ship! Thankfully they did move it around in the end, which was a huge relief to us…
Then everyone was finally back on board from Stonehenge and they were moving the gangway off. We were very late leaving – they didn’t even get to this point until 3:15pm, fifteen minutes later than they planned on us leaving…
We had a few police officers come to see us off as well…
We had our gun salute and, despite the fact I was waiting for it and I knew it would be loud and I was propped up against the side wall of the veranda, I still nearly dropped the phone when it first happened! Both of us filmed the whole thing and put it on Facebook.
It was a wonderful send-off, but given what Terry had told us earlier on, I wasn’t surprised. He said that the first time the Magic stopped here, you couldn’t get along the causeway for all the sightseers and yes that included the shore excursions trying to return to the ship!
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It sounds like a tour I would definitely be interested in doing if I get there one day!
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Pixie Dust
So good of you to help her out with her Brie allergy!! 
PassPorter Guide Author
I can imagine how the missing party felt when they were located and held up their group from returning! 
Glad you had such a wonderful tour and afternoon! 
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