Going north, south, east, west - Chicago UPDATED 1/7 - Page 5 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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According to wikipedia the Navy Pier received its name in the following manner:
"The use of the pier for serious marine purposes reached a temporary peak during World War II, when the city leased the pier to the U.S. Navy. The Navy's air group training arm made the pier a quay for a pair of converted flattops, the U.S.S. Wolverine and the USS Sable (IX-81), which were used as freshwater trainee carriers. At this time, 60,000 sailors as well as 15,000 pilots including future President George H. W. Bush, used this area for training. In honor of this service, Chicago Municipal Pier's name was changed to Navy Pier."
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I remember laughing so hard at Beth with her Crab. She and Mark seemed to get along just fine - and share a similar sense of humor. Beth had a great time that evening. The food at Shaw's is wonderful. It had been awhile since I ate there, but I was not disappointed.
I do have a couple of pictures that I'll add. Here's one from the river cruise of Cheryl with the city in the background:
And one of Cheryl and Mark laughing at dinner. As you can tell - Cheryl looked lovely that evening in her finer clothes.
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What amazing views....the pictures were great, love the ones with the black and white and sepia settings of the Navy pier. Your dinner looks very delicious and what great company....
Saturday 25 October – part one: what happened to the spitting fountain?
It was a fairly leisurely start today, as we didn’t have to be up too early. The breakfast downstairs in the lobby was fine, but not as extensive a selection as we had at the Express by Holiday Inn in New York, which was a shame.
We met Lesley at 8.30 and, once again, she managed to text us to say that she was in the lobby and it was perfect timing, as we were on our way down anyway.
After a quick discussion, we decided to walk down towards the Loop, so we could see more the city’s architecture. Considering that the weather forecast had said that it was going to be dry and in the 50’s today, we had a shock when we got outside. It wasn’t raining, but it felt as if it was, it was so misty out there. We couldn’t see the tops of a lot of the buildings and I was very glad that we had gone up the John Hancock Center yesterday.
We walked down North Michigan Avenue this time, passing over the Chicago River and into the centre of Chicago, that’s known as the Loop, taking photos as we went. The great thing when you’re just strolling along, chatting and taking in the scenery is that you can cover a lot of ground without even realising that and that’s exactly what happened to us.
Before we knew it, we were at Millennium Park, the latest addition to the city’s greenery. Lesley explained to us that this had once been railroad sidings, but got converted to a park a few years ago. It was fairly obvious that much of the money to do this came from the big city sponsors, as their presence was everywhere from names of the squares, such as Wrigley Square and the Chase Square.
Soon we found the Bean, or to give it its proper name Cloud Gate, one of the pieces of public art there. As Lesley said, when they came up with the idea, it didn’t sound that great, but in real life, it looks stunning. You get to see the city skyline through it and it adds a really unique perspective to it. We were fascinated with it and it’s a great addition to Chicago. It was certainly popular with a Japanese or Chinese tour group there. We would see them again later, further on in the day.
From there, we walked through more of the Millennium Park and found the Crown Fountain to give it its correct name, but really it’s the spitting fountain. Essentially, it’s images of two people that changes at either end of a plaza with water that spits from their mouths, but today there was no spitting, as it was too cold – at least that’s the conclusion we came to.
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Beleive it or not - this was the first time I'd been up close in Millenium Park. I'd walked by on Michigan Avenue, but never inside the park itself. Even though the weather wasn't the best, I really enjoyed walking through the park.
Chicago is a great city to walk around. It's laid out on a grid with the lake to the east so it's pretty easy to find your way around. And as Cheryl's picture's attest - the architecture is amazing.
You have visited my absolute favorite town. My DH and I try to get to Chicago at least 3-4 times a year. WE LOVE IT!!! My DH's favorite condo building is the Marina Towers (we call them the Corn Cobs). He thinks that it is great that you can have a room, a garage and a boat all at the same place in downtown Chicago. Were any of the boats still docked there?
My dad did his Naval training at Navy Pier. That is his favorite part of Chicago. My DH went to school for his Doctorate at University of Illinois-Chicago and his graduation ceremony was in the Navy Pier Ballroom. It is a magnificient place. So much history surrounds that area. Did you get a chance to see any of the stained glass windows in Navy Pier?
You have visited my absolute favorite town. My DH and I try to get to Chicago at least 3-4 times a year. WE LOVE IT!!! My DH's favorite condo building is the Marina Towers (we call them the Corn Cobs). He thinks that it is great that you can have a room, a garage and a boat all at the same place in downtown Chicago. Were any of the boats still docked there?
My dad did his Naval training at Navy Pier. That is his favorite part of Chicago. My DH went to school for his Doctorate at University of Illinois-Chicago and his graduation ceremony was in the Navy Pier Ballroom. It is a magnificient place. So much history surrounds that area. Did you get a chance to see any of the stained glass windows in Navy Pier?
I know there were boats docked in that area when we went past it.
Unfortunately, we didn't see the stained glass windows at Navy Pier - something for our return trip there!
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She and Mark seemed to get along just fine - and share a similar sense of humor. 
Beth had a great time that evening. The food at Shaw's is wonderful. It had been awhile since I ate there, but I was not disappointed.
PassPorter Guide Author
And thanks for sharing those photos Lesley. 
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