On the road (2) – beaches, castles and chateaux COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM - Page 3 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Wow, that is really neat - being able to talk to a vet, particularly right at the anniversary of D-Day, in France. Sends shivers down my spine thinking about it.
Looking forward to more details once you're home.
Great start. Cant wait to hear all about your trip and see the amazing pictures you take. Thanks for sharing your trips with us!! I have to live through your eyes!
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Well, we're back home now, having had a truly wonderful week, experiencing France and Disneyland Paris.
I'm hoping to start the trip report tomorrow, as I had time to get the thing written and photos uploaded while we were gone - something to do with having a cold and not being able to sleep properly.
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It was an early start to the day for us, although in truth, no earlier than we usually get up during the week. However, this was the weekend, so the alarm going off at 5.30 was a novelty for us. It took us a while to get going, but once we did, we grabbed a cup of tea to wake ourselves up and got the rest of the bits and pieces packed in the car.
Not long after 6.15, we were off and running, stopping just to post a card for my parents’ anniversary, which I had realised with some horror about half an hour before would be while we were away...
We had a smooth run down to Folkestone and the Channel Tunnel and the weather was so much better than when we had headed down there to start our Switzerland road trip in March, as you can see:
This is how good England can look when it’s not misty and dull.
We checked in and were assigned the train we had booked, which was due to leave at 7.50. However, getting to check in proved to be a real headache. Let’s just say that we met the first of the convertibles we met, all with people of a certain age.... the sort of age where they’re old enough to think that the world owes them everything, shall we say? We got to the terminal and went to park up and nearly had another one in their party hit us as we were reversing.
We headed into the terminal and changed up a bit of money and browsed the shops, with me getting a 4GB compact flash card for my camera. That was a big step up for me, as the biggest to date that I’ve ever had was a 2GB compact flash card, so it would be interesting to see what my dearly beloved camera made of this upgrade...
My first donkey sighting of this trip!
Just as we finished browsing the shops, the announcement came over that they were boarding our train and off we went, encountering yet another of the convertible brigade. We couldn’t help but laugh when we saw the pair who’d slowed us up checking in being stopped by customs...
And we’re off...
We only had a few minutes to wait and then we were boarding the train, with one of the convertibles cutting the line and getting in the middle of his friends, who were in the next door lane.
As we drove down to the train, instead of boarding at the back as we usually do, we were sent further down. We kept driving and driving – realising just how long these trains actually are. You just don’t realise when you drive through them inside. We sat there and waited for some time and, as we did, it became apparent that we’d be going into the area that’s usually reserved for coaches, which was fascinating. We’d never done this before and I must admit it was a novel experience. We even had blocks put behind our tyres to stop us rolling backwards, we had so much space at the back of our carriage.
A few other cars waiting behind us – photographed through my wing mirror A coach negotiates his way on board.... And we’re off! The view outside.... Mark putting on our headlight deflectors, which we have to have by law in Europe, as we’re driving on the “wrong” side of the road for what our car was designed for...
We set off and 35 minutes later we were pulling into France. I thought that it might take us some time to get off the train, as we’d seen a coach pull on in front of us, but not at all. We were off and running really quickly and, in fact, when we merged with the rest of the traffic from the train, it was apparent that we were ahead of everyone, including those pesky convertibles!
Off to a great start Cheryl! Sorry about those convertibles - some people can be so inconsiderate. Looking forward to your next update, sounds like you saw some cows!
__________________
Stacey
Why do these kids look so pathetic?
Find out in: A New Grade, A New House, and A Surprise!Final Thoughts 01/30
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