A return to Switzerland – land of mountains, museums and moos! COMPLETED 12/4 - Page 60 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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More great photos! Donkeys and Piglets and Cows...OH MY! Repeat as much as you wish!
Hope Mark had a great birthday! Any correlation between Mark's birthday and the various animals? I hope, the donkeys didn't come into play for that reason! It's crazy that once these animals eat, they just go to sleep and don't move a bit! They need to get up and around more often and be more active with some exercise! You'd think they'd get bored by sleeping and eating all day, but I guess not!
And taking it a step further, you'd also think they'd be obese, as we all would be if we followed that lifestyle!
Wednesday 4 September – part five: back on the road again…
We started to make our way back to the car, seeing more lovely views along the way.
We found some goats, some of which looked more like walking carpets than anything else!
Then we visited the collection of Alpine huts.
From here, there were some wonderful views down to the valley below.
You see, I told you there was an airstrip!
We made our way back to the car, checking out the shop. It was filled with Swiss traditional dress, which while very nice, wasn’t our thing, so no purchases there.
We headed back on to the road, passing through the village of Brienzwiler, which looked lovely.
Soon we were out on to the main road, the one that we remembered from last time, as it climbs up the mountains, and of course, as we’re a left hand drive car, Mark was closest to the edge. Well, thankfully in the last three and a half years, they’ve put better railings in, which was a relief.
As we drove along, we started to get views of a stunning view over this charming village and Lake Lungerner beyond.
Once again, there was a coach party made up of Far Eastern visitors, although these were a lot more polite, with one exception. This guy just started to shout at this girl, I assume to tell her she had to have her photo taken. She really didn’t want it done, and this was an adult I hasten to add, but he kept yelling until she did. All very odd.
After this, we were pretty much in tunnels. It was nice to see one of them completed, as they were working on it the last time we were here.
Those villages are so charming and beautiful! I know people everywhere have the same problems and issues, but it's hard to picture life there as being anything but idyllic.
Seeing the airstrip in the mountains like that makes me think it must be difficult for those pilots. Then again, those are special aircraft, but it still looks tricky!
What a stunning view of the lake!
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Those villages are so charming and beautiful! I know people everywhere have the same problems and issues, but it's hard to picture life there as being anything but idyllic.
Maybe in the middle of a harsh winter, it might not be so great...
Seeing the airstrip in the mountains like that makes me think it must be difficult for those pilots. Then again, those are special aircraft, but it still looks tricky!
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Caught back up.
OK, I LOVE the piglets! So cute! (And sorry to say, I think I like them a little better than cows)
Wonder why the flies seem attracted only to the cows' snouts/noses? There don't seem to be any on the rest of the body....
Sounded like a perfect birthday for you....er, for Mark! Yes, knowing how Mark loves cows and donkeys, just perfect!
And I just noticed your countdown is at 7 days!! I am freaking out for you - only a week until the giant trip!? Can't wait for that TR. I assume it will take us from mid-December to June or so?
Caught back up.
OK, I LOVE the piglets! So cute! (And sorry to say, I think I like them a little better than cows)
It's Ok, piglets are pretty cute (and so are lambs). They're up there, after cows and donkeys for me...
Quote:
Wonder why the flies seem attracted only to the cows' snouts/noses? There don't seem to be any on the rest of the body....
I think that's the only place you can see them, as they do seem to swarm all over them.
Quote:
Sounded like a perfect birthday for you....er, for Mark! Yes, knowing how Mark loves cows and donkeys, just perfect!
And I just noticed your countdown is at 7 days!! I am freaking out for you - only a week until the giant trip!? Can't wait for that TR. I assume it will take us from mid-December to June or so?
Something like that! Yes, this time next week, we'll be at the Grand Floridian Villas and a few hours from hopefully taking a hot air balloon ride!
The trip report will probably take a while. After all, this was just over a week and already it's taken best part of two months....
Wednesday 4 September – part six: going under trains and moving cars!
We had more great views as we drove along…
.. then we were arriving in Lucerne.
Soon we were arriving at our second destination of the day, the Swiss Transport Museum. My goodness, what a massive place! As soon as we saw the size of the building, we could understand why there’s a 30 CHF (c. $32) per person.
You first enter the train section, which is in a massive hanger, and is packed with fascinating stuff.
I think my favourite though had to be this one, where you could go underneath a train to see what makes it work.
Next it was into the Road Transport Hall. I loved the outside of it.
Inside, it was just as cool. They had this display of cars…
… but what we didn’t realise at first is that you can actually decide which car to bring down and the crane system will take it out for you, then put it away when you’re done with it. We would’ve done it ourselves, but all the explanations about each car were in German only.