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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Thursday 27 January – part one: time to enjoy the resort
When I woke up this morning, my throat was still a little sore and dry, but thankfully nowhere near as bad as yesterday. It was the first day that I’d slept through the morning prayer call, another reason why we’d moved, as we had three mosques on the other side of the hotel, and you could clearly hear the calls there. I think I heard something, but whether that was the 5am or the 7am call, I couldn’t tell you, as I didn’t wake up until after 7am. It was probably a well deserved lie-in, after a lot of walking yesterday and the trauma of last night with the smoker. I will admit that my feet hurt this morning, the first time I could say that this trip, so I guess we must’ve done a lot walking yesterday...
We headed down to breakfast, and what a change this morning! No American students, no Japanese and, in total, there were only about a dozen of us in the restaurant. It made for a very relaxed and quiet atmosphere, which was a good start to the day. However, I think some people were taking the relaxed atmosphere a bit too far, as I saw at least three people leaving their bags on their seats, while they went up to the buffet to get their breakfast. That’s something I would never do, not even at Disney. : Perhaps we’re too safety conscious, but I would just never forgive myself if something happened to my bag under those circumstances....
Once we’d finished breakfast, we headed up to the room, doing a bit of washing, as Mark wanted a couple more tops and I decided to wash a vest top from earlier in the trip, as I didn’t seem to have one for Saturday. In truth, it had been warmer than I’d expected, so I had one too many T-shirts with me and one too few vest tops. It’s just as well Mark did my stuff first, as when he put his purple T-shirt into the water, it turned it purple!
We stayed in the room for a while, as it was taking some time for the weather to warm up outside. At one point, I wandered out and it’s fair to say that it was chilly in the shadows, but I wandered down to the other end of the first floor balcony, where the sun was already hitting and it was a lot warmer. I figured I’d give it a little longer before heading down to the pool.
While we were waiting, we had a power outage, just for a second, but of course, it was long enough to knock everything off. Mark wasn’t best pleased, as he’d been waiting to read how his football team had got on and the power outage happened, just as that information appeared on the TV screen and he missed it!
Finally, once it warmed up and Mark had got the details of Liverpool’s win we got changed and headed down to the pool. Just like breakfast, it was pretty quiet down there, with not many people around. We selected two loungers facing the sun, with no-one really around us.
The first thing I did was head into the pool to do 20 lengths. It’s a little shorter than the one I use at home, but I still think 20 lengths was good going, especially as I haven’t swum in almost three months now, for one reason and another – either not feeling 100% or having a mad time at work.
that is me in action!
I then returned to join Mark on the lounger and we found entertainment in people watching everyone else around the pool. It turned into a bit of a fashion parade, as apparently I was the only woman to go swimming and then stay in the same costume and dry out. What did everyone else do? They went to the changing rooms before they got into the pool, changed into their swimming costume, then they’d get out and go back to the changing room and change into their sunbathing costume. Very odd...
As we sat there, we were asked if we wanted a drink. Well, you must’ve read our minds! We knew already what we were going to have – two Amy’s Tattoos, the cocktail Mark had tried on day one here and I hadn’t found anything near as sweet, after two attempts, so now I was drinking this as well, and two Sprites.
They took some time to make it to us, and during that time, I really started to feel like I was burning up. I tried applying more factor 50 suntan lotion, but even that wasn’t doing the trick. Earlier, I’d had the sunshade moved to shield my face and arms, but now it was my legs and feet that were the problem and, bit by bit, I was having to cover all of me up.
As soon as I’d finished my drink, I said I’d head back to the room, although Mark wanted to stay put for a while longer. The German woman a little away from us put an end to that when she lit up a cigarette, and we decided now was the time to head back to the room.
Once we got back, I washed my hair over the bath for a very good reason. I didn’t want to have a shower, as Mark had told me this morning that the bath we had was actually a Jacuzzi bath and I wanted to try it. It was well worth it, as it was such a lovely feeling and very relaxing. Just what I needed after such a tough morning...
We headed down to get lunch, even though we weren’t overly hungry, knowing that our afternoon tour would start at 2pm. We decided to share fried calamari and it was very nice:
I had to have some mango ice cream, as I’d enjoyed it so much yesterday.
We went back to the room to get ready, with me re-applying my factor 50 suntan lotion, as I knew we’d be out in the sun for much of the rest of the day. We went down to reception to wait for Miriam and bumped into Skyler again from last night and wished her safe travels, especially as they were returning to Cairo on an overnight train later.
We found Miriam and I asked her about tomorrow’s tour to Dendara and Abydos. I was a) starting to get concerned about reports of widespread demonstrations tomorrow, as it’s their main holiday of the week and I knew that it’s a volatile region at the best of times and b) we were thinking of doing a felucca ride and those leave around 5pm and we’d be pushing it to get back for those. Miriam didn’t say a word to encourage me to stick with the tour – she just told me that we could change to a second West Bank tour, taking in three out of four sights. She called her manager to check that we could change and that there wouldn’t be any extra charge and we opted for the Valley of the Queens, Valley of the Workers and the Medinat Habu Temple. I had heard from a friend at work, before we left, that the Valley of the Workers was amazing and well worth seeing and I’d wanted to see the Valley of the Queens, but there was no tour offered that took them in, so I hadn’t thought this would be an option. I felt much happier having changed our plans for tomorrow.
It wasn’t a long drive to Karnak Temple, and it certainly felt shorter than last night.
Trying to get shots of the Avenue of the Sphinxes, which used to link Karnak and Luxor temples
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The pool looked awesome! It was so picturesque overlooking the Nile.
Did you have to worry about drinks being made with ice? I know the water was an issue so I wondered if you had to be careful about anything that had ice in it.
It sounds like you had a really relaxing morning which it always nice during a vacation.
Great morning! I'd love a chance to sit in the warm sun by the pool, with an umbrella drink, right now! It is POURING here and we are expecting lots of flooding. There was already a pond in our front yard when I left for the office - with the worst rain still to come. So, I may just go back to that pool picture for a moment and try to pretend that's my view now!
Can't wait to hear about the sailing trip!!
Love love love the view. It's funny because I never really gave the Nile much thought, I admit, and I know it's a long river so it looks different in different spots, of course... but when I DO think of the Nile, I imagine crocs and things, not palm trees and sail boats. LOL!
The pool looked awesome! It was so picturesque overlooking the Nile.
Did you have to worry about drinks being made with ice? I know the water was an issue so I wondered if you had to be careful about anything that had ice in it.
It sounds like you had a really relaxing morning which it always nice during a vacation.
there will certainly be mention of that to come in forthcoming installments, as we did end up requesting our cocktails with no ice, as we realised that could be an issue....
Great morning! I'd love a chance to sit in the warm sun by the pool, with an umbrella drink, right now! It is POURING here and we are expecting lots of flooding. There was already a pond in our front yard when I left for the office - with the worst rain still to come. So, I may just go back to that pool picture for a moment and try to pretend that's my view now!
Can't wait to hear about the sailing trip!!
Thursday 27 January – part two: learning about Karnak Temple
When we arrived, this time we entered through the visitor centre, which is quite a recent addition, literally in the last couple of years, so at least the money they get from tourists is going somewhere.
There was a fascinating map of the Karnak Temple, which gave you an idea of how big the whole thing is, although we already knew that from last night.
Also in here were a set of photos, showing what the site looked like when it was uncovered in the mid 19th century.
When we came out of the visitor centre, there was a huge expanse outside. Miriam explained to us that, a few years ago, there were houses here, but they’ve been demolished to improve the area. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, as it does make the area look superb. Having said that, from everything I’ve heard from a few different people now about the poor levels of compensation being offered to the homeowners, it’s a pretty terrible situation. Miriam told us that it’s not even enough to get a flat, never mind a house.
We headed into the temple and stood at the front, which would have been the harbour for the Nile now. Now it’s about half a mile away, which shows how it’s receded over the years.
Miriam explained that the two walls at the entrance to the temple were both unfinished, as Alexander the Great invaded. You can see that, when you look at the two walls and realise they don’t match up.
On the other side of them, you can see the pile of mudbricks used to build the walls, as even those were left, they departed in such a hurry.
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: Perhaps we’re too safety conscious, but I would just never forgive myself if something happened to my bag under those circumstances.... 
we got changed and headed down to the pool. Just like breakfast, it was pretty quiet down there, with not many people around. We selected two loungers facing the sun, with no-one really around us. 
that is me in action! 
Very odd... 
We knew already what we were going to have – two Amy’s Tattoos, the cocktail Mark had tried on day one here and I hadn’t found anything near as sweet, after two attempts, so now I was drinking this as well, and two Sprites. 
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and we are expecting lots of flooding. There was already a pond in our front yard when I left for the office - with the worst rain still to come. 
So, I may just go back to that pool picture for a moment and try to pretend that's my view now! 
Melanie
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