A very personal Decade of Dreams tour! UPDATED 6/5 - Page 54 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
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.
Cheryl, I love the view you have and the picture of Mark laying on the bed cracked me up Sake can be quite dangerous! I saw some bottles yesterday in the Grocery Store when I was in the Wine and Champagne Section. Can't wait to hear about that adventure and the Gardens!
Monday 6 April – part five: sampling sake can be dangerous...
Once there, we were bowled over by the place. It really was beautiful and the sad thing is that it doesn’t really warrant much of a mention in any of the guidebooks. It’s a real hidden gem of Hiroshima. It was originally founded in 1652, but it was levelled in the bombing of 1945 and then completely rebuilt. It was a place where a lot of the survivors came afterwards and many of them died here and were buried here. I’m glad we only found that out as we left there, as that put a whole different feeling on the place for me. From being a very beautiful place, it suddenly became a very sombre one. I guess there will be lots of moments like that while we’re here….
Still, despite that, it’s a beautiful place and well worth seeing. We photographed for England during the couple of hours we ere there, as the sun was setting and creating some beautiful colours and lighting.
Finally, we headed out, just as they were getting ready to close and we walked back to the hotel. After a quick spell online on the boards and uploading more photos, my stomach was telling me that it needed food, so it was down to the ground floor for dinner at the restaurant there.
I went for the deep fried seafood special and Mark had the duck special, after asking if he could go for the 4000¥ menu. I didn’t mind the price, but then he explained that he would be cooking beef at the table in front of me. I drew the line there. No way could I stomach that again, after my experience at the hotel in Barcelona last year : so he went for the duck instead, which was good of him. It was all excellent and just what we needed.
Now, as well as the food, we decided to have some drinks to go with our meal. Mark had a Kirin beer and I had a glass of white wine, but we also decided to order a sake to share. Wendy had already asked me via e-mail if we’d had one yet and I figured that we should have one before we left the country. We ordered the cheapest, which was hot sake and it’s just as well we did get the smallest one, as when it turned up, it was a bottle!
We ended up having about two glasses each and boy, do you know about those! I didn’t get the kick that Mark did when he took his first sip, but I felt it in a different way. Let’s just say that by the end of the meal just about anything was making us laugh and we were taking the Mickey out of everything, including the French tour party that had arrived for dinner at the table near us. Don’t worry, we did it quietly and just between us.
It’s probably just as well we had had a fair bit to drink, as we got talking to a group of Americans at the table next to us and the couple nearest to us hated Disney and I mean they hated it. They were very vocal about that. As I say, it’s just as well we had a bit to drink and didn’t rise to it. We were too mellow by that point…
We got dessert too, apple pie for Mark and chocolate cake for me and again, that was excellent. All in all, it was a really good meal and very enjoyable.
We headed back to the room and got a call from my parents, so I was able to catch up with them before we headed off to bed.
Today we walked 3.94 miles The weather today was sunny and warm with temperatures in the high 60s. The best thing today was Nanzen-ji temple. The worst thing today was not having longer to explore Kyoto today. The funniest thing today was dinner after we had had two glasses each of sake. Everything we funny by then! Today we tried going to Shukkeien Gardens And the result was it’s a beautiful park and well worth a visit. The most magical moment today was the view from the Sanmon gate at the Nanzen-ji Temple.
Next: don’t rush if you don’t know where you’re going!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Those pictures are beautiful. How rude of those American's not liking Disney, oh wait that sounds like my family. Sounds like a nice evening including the sake.
Those pictures are beautiful. How rude of those American's not liking Disney, oh wait that sounds like my family. Sounds like a nice evening including the sake.
The Gardens looked heavenly and wow about your dinner. It looked Yum-O! Glad to hear you were lucky only getting the buzz off one bottle of Sake! I'd be gone after one sip probably. I'm with you on the can't watch raw meat being cooked in front of you, I'm the same way and can't even touch raw meat or fish of any kind (DH has to cook it for me). How rude about the American Family who hated Disney next to you. Looking foward to your next installment!
Oh. My. Goodness. Those pictures of the gardens were unbelievably gorgeous. I've spent 20 minutes looking at them and I'm exhausted from it! How did you ever take it all in one go? Just beautiful.
Funny story about the sake--amusing how it can sneak up on you, isn't it?
The next installment sounds like it might be a bit sketchy...can't wait!
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Sake can be quite dangerous! I saw some bottles yesterday in the Grocery Store when I was in the Wine and Champagne Section. Can't wait to hear about that adventure and the Gardens!
PassPorter Guide Author
: so he went for the duck instead, which was good of him. 
It was all excellent and just what we needed. 
Linear Mode
