Merrie Olde England TR - Read but Don't Reply! - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Yes, Rick likes to act mean about Disney, but in 2000 when we were in NYC he scooted away from me & located some really cool door pulls -- one is Mickey and one is my beloved Goofy. He snuck those under the Christmas tree that year and those are now on my laundry closet doors, which I walk past every single day. Makes doing laundry fun!
He will either take photos of us at the Disney store or he'll wander off by himself -- but he knows I have to go in there! It will be so much fun to be in there with YOU.
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.
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Cindy - just found your TR and got all caught up. DH knows that since half my mother's family was from England (before they moved to St. Louis....) we have to go to the UK - and since the other half was from Ireland (again before St. Louis) we might as well make it two weeks and do both! So I hope in the next couple of years to be planning two weeks in the UK and Ireland researching family trees, seeing London, Dublin and other places (guess I better get the Rick Steve's book soon) - so I will be very excited to read your TR!!! Of course - one of the "must do's" of any trip to the UK is a visit with ChezP and her Piglet loving hubby - Mark!
Thanks for the comments, everybody! If work weren't totally insane for both Rick and me, I'd be jumping up and down right now. But don't worry -- by noon this Saturday, I'll be plenty excited.
Updated itinerary (because you've all got to know):
Saturday: 1:00pm-ish flight to Chicago followed by the all-night flight to London. Here's hoping I manage to get a little during the flight. I'm going to take one of my "knockout pills" this time in hopes it sends me to Sleepyland -- if not, it will just make me even more zooey the next day: something like this where I'm forcing my eyes open.
Sunday: Arrive Heathrow 8:30am-ish. Take a bus to Bath. Hopefully make it to our B&B before 1:00pm because they generally don't have anyone at the desk from 1:00-4:00, and we sure want to be able to ditch our bags. Then we'll start exploring Bath & try to stay upright until the sun goes down. Then all bets are off.
Monday: Explore Bath in the morning, then take Mad Max's Stonehenge/Lacock tour that afternoon. More exploration of Bath in the evening.
Tuesday: Mad Max again, this time an all-day trip into the Cotswolds. As we speak, rain is in the forecast for Tuesday -- can I count on a lot of pixie dust from all of you that Tuesday in the Cotswolds is sunny? I mean, we'll still enjoy seeing all the cool cottages of each town no matter the weather -- but don't you all want pretty photos to look at when I return? Of COURSE you do, so get that pixie dust going, will you?
Wednesday: Finish our exploration of Bath in the morning, have one final lunch in town, and then take the train to London. Check into our B&B there, then start exploring. Maybe go up in the London Eye -- we'll play it by ear.
Thursday: Perhaps start the morning with a doubledecker bus tour. Definitely want to be at Buckingham Palace for the 11:30 Changing of the Guard. Spend the afternoon in Rick's beloved Imperial War Museum. After about the 12th tank or bomber, I'll be looking for a quiet corner in which to crash -- but Rick will be in his element. He loves military history, especially WWII. He went through this museum about 30 years ago and is really looking forward to going back.
Friday: Tower of London in the morning -- Crown Jewels, Beefeater Tour, White Tower Tour, Tower Bridge Experience (maybe). Late lunch, perhaps on a Thames cruise while heading to Westminster Abbey. Might do the London Eye that afternoon. Then we'll head to the Victoria & Albert Museum (which is open until 10:00 p.m. on Fridays).
Saturday: British Museum and possibly Sir John Soane's Museum (which is quite close). After dinner we'll head to the New London Theatre to see "War Horses."
Sunday: 10:00 a.m. Changing of the Horse Guard at Whitehall, then we'll meet Cheryl & Mark at the Disney Store in Covent Garden & have lunch with them (Cheryl has it all arranged). Then the four of us will spend the afternoon in the Churchill Museum & War Rooms. I am so PUMPED to get to see Cheryl again (that was May 2009 at Passporter's Decade of Dreams celebration at WDW where we met). And to finally meet Mark -- I am THRILLED.
Monday: Train to Windsor to tour Windsor Castle. Late afternoon & evening are open to do whatever we want.
Tuesday: Noon flight to Washington DC and then
OK, now where's that pixie dust for fabulous weather and the best time ever???
Sending weather and bon-voyage pixies: There's no way they really know what the weather will be next Tuesday, but pixies always help! If it does rain, though, it'll really look like England! You might end up going to bed before the sun goes down on your first day-- the sun sets really late this time of year. I always forget that the UK is so far north.
Honestly, don't let the weather bother you. : Over here, there is seriously no telling what weather we'll get until you get to the day itself. Case in point - on Friday, they were saying that we should have temperatures in the 80s and it would be record breaking. It wasn't. It was still nice, but nowhere near that hot. It arrived a day later....
I'll keep my fingers crossed, but May is a good time to be visiting - anytime the schools are in is usually good weather wise... it's a certain law!
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.
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It will be so much fun to be in there with YOU. 
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during the flight. I'm going to take one of my "knockout pills" this time in hopes it sends me to Sleepyland -- if not, it will just make me even more zooey the next day: something like this 
where I'm forcing my eyes open. 
I mean, we'll still enjoy seeing all the cool cottages of each town no matter the weather -- but don't you all want pretty photos to look at when I return? Of COURSE you do, so get that pixie dust going, will you? 
PassPorter Guide Author
: Over here, there is seriously no telling what weather we'll get until you get to the day itself. Case in point - on Friday, they were saying that we should have temperatures in the 80s and it would be record breaking. It wasn't. 
It was still nice, but nowhere near that hot. It arrived a day later.... 
, it's all
with me! 
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