Cruising the Norwegian fjords without Disney! COMPLETED - Page 40 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Glad you got to enjoy some good weather at the glacier before it started to rain. It really is so scary and sad when you realize how far the glacier has melted, when I saw the picture you posted, I still cannot get over the difference in 12 years.
What a great dinner you both had, glad that you were able to talked into stopping at the table anyway to see everyone.
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We were going to get off the ship at 10:00 am, but then we heard a reminder about the emergency drill they’d be doing then. Firstly, I didn’t want to have the emergency sirens inflicted on me again, as that went right through me on the first day, and secondly with limited passenger services, I didn’t know if we’d be able to get off or not, so I called Cheryl and Adrian and we agreed to meet a little before 10:00 am.
When we came to get off the ship, there was a nice, long line for the shuttle buses. In fairness, it probably only took about five minutes, but it was a sight to make your heart sink...
The journey into Bergen was interesting. I think it took us as long to get out of the port as it did to do the rest of the journey. This certainly isn’t what I envisaged seeing when we arrived here – these aren’t the familiar sights for the city.
Soon enough we were pulling up by the city’s art museum, which is where the shuttles were departing to and from the ship. When we got off, Cheryl and Adrian said that they’d just do some shopping, as Cheryl’s foot was hurting – well, after all that walking at the glacier yesterday, I’m not surprised.
We set off at a pretty fast pace for the Floibanan, the funicular railway that runs up to the top of the Floyfjellet mountain, as it looked as if the cloud was coming in fast, and I wanted to be sure of a view from there. As you’ll see from these photos I grabbed as we walked along, it was pretty miserable and dull...
I had to get a shot of this – as Boots the chemist is a huge High Street name at home and I had no idea that they had branches in Norway as well...
When we got to the Floibanen, we got our tickets, and had probably a 15 minute wait for the railway. To be honest, it wasn’t that bad, as they had photos of the railway from days gone by, which were neat to see...
And it was very cool to see the train come down and pick one load of people up.
We were then right at the front of the next lot, so we were able to get the seats that looked down the mountainside, right at the front of the car. It was an amazing view as we went up, more so because the sun was coming up – it looked like luck was with us today.
Wow, after such a visual greeting, I wouldn't have expected the beauty that Bergen turned out to be. It looks like a lovely little town, when you aren't looking at containers...
The Floibanen is pretty cool, isn't it? We went up as well when we were in Bergen but couldn't see too much because of cloudy weather (no surprise there ).
Wow! What a difference once you get out of the industrial port! It's too bad they don't have a nicer area for cruise ships to dock. The Floibanen looks very cool!
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Wow, after such a visual greeting, I wouldn't have expected the beauty that Bergen turned out to be. It looks like a lovely little town, when you aren't looking at containers...
It is a beautiful city and I knew it would be from the photos I'd seen of it - that's why I was so shocked with what greeted us at the port....
The Floibanen is pretty cool, isn't it? We went up as well when we were in Bergen but couldn't see too much because of cloudy weather (no surprise there ).
You might be a bit gutted by tomorrow's installment then...
Your dinner looked AMAZING! Glad to hear you finally had a good meal with good service. I love the train ride up the mountain, and way to score great seats.
Wow, that port really is a surprise! Poor Cheryl (the other one) and her tired feet...that trek the day before sure looked brutal! I'm glad you were rewarded with a beautiful town to see and visit! I love the railway, and especially your seat since you were able to get such great pictures!
It reminds me of when I first went to college in Philadelphia. The drive from the airport to the university winds through some refinery/oil tank areas, and since I hadn't been to Philadelphia before, I was shocked to see such a big industrial area! Luckily, once we got past that, I saw beautiful mature trees, the pretty Philadelphia skyline, and finally the beautiful ivy covered buildings of my home for the next four years!
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