On the road (1) – Six countries, nine days COMPLETED - Page 42 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Thursday 25 March – part three: perhaps the best flowerbeds on the island?
Perhaps the best flowerbeds on the whole island greeted us next, as a sea of crocuses were in full bloom in front of the castle and it looked just stunning. We got lots of photos both of that and the topiary Easter eggs in front of the castle, which were all planted out with primroses.
We briefly went into the castle, first to use the toilets and the ceiling you see here leading down to them was replicated in the toilets themselves. I saw a woman taking photos in the ladies of the ceiling and I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who does that...
We briefly wandered round the Easter sale that they had going on in there. We got some nice photos, but weren’t really looking for anything.
From there, we wandered slowly back to the car, first getting more photos around the castle....
Then of the lovely entwined swans fountain and surrounding area with glorious views over Lake Bodensee....
And then spring avenue. It was starting to live up to its name, with crocuses out and some tulips and daffodils starting to come through. Give this a couple of weeks and I bet it’ll be a breathtaking sight.
We walked past the tower by the vineyard and then headed back down the steps towards the children’s play area.
As we approached the restaurant, I suggested we see what was on offer there. Unfortunately, everything in here was in German, so I used my well rehearsed phrase that I’m a vegetarian to find something that I could eat – it ended up being macaroni cheese, but it was exactly what I needed after all that walking. Mark picked something that he wasn’t sure what it was, but it turned out to be goulash and he was happy with his choice.
We went and ate on the terrace. It was another beautiful spring day with much higher temperatures still than you’d expect at this time of the year, probably in the high 60s.
Once we were done with eating, we headed back across the bridge, taking a few last photos.
We did have a look in the souvenir shop, but couldn’t find anything we liked. Their choice of fridge magnets was very poor, they seemed to focus more on the castle than the gardens and, to me, the real attraction here were the gardens.
Next: do you really think we’d cross the border to buy chocolate?
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Hahaha, funny that you got maccaroni and cheese at a German restaurant because to me, it's an American dish and I've never had it in Germany before! Love the beautiful flowers.
Those egg topiaries are beautiful! Still love the views of Lake Bodensee. Gorgeous!!
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Tanya
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Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Such a beautiful place! DH and I are off on our Alaskan cruise in a couple weeks and one of our excursions is Butchart Gardens in Victoria, B.C. I have been to their website and am sooooo excited about seeing all the flowers. I plan on taking alot of close up photos and them framing them in groups. I can't wait!
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