Living the dream and remembering the Bagman COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM - Page 69 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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The House of Commons is quite amazing and so beautiful but pales in comparison to the library which is just a big WOW moment as you probably wouldn't believe how a room could be this beautiful and be awe struck by the view and all the intricate details of it! That room alone was certainly worth the price you paid for the tour!
Completely and you are so right about the wow moment. That's why I was glad I didn't know what was coming when we entered the library - it was such a lovely surprise.
Saturday 17 September – part five: what wonderful views!
We were then in this hall in the Canadian Parliament, which paid tribute to the monarchy, starting with Queen Victoria, and up to Queen Elizabeth II. Our guide explained that all the monarchs had portraits of their other halves above them, but not Victoria. She then went on to refer to him as “Frances”. I don’t think so. The name we all know him as is Albert. I believe another English guy in our group went up to her to correct her at the end of the tour, so we just left it, otherwise we would’ve said something.
Then we went into the House of the Senate. This is on the way in…
The portraits are all from World War I and have been on loan from the Canadian War Museum since 1917, so maybe not on loan any longer, shall we say?
Up above in the ceiling, the emblems represented the countries that created Canada, including England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France, and finally a maple leaf for Canada itself.
On the way out, we saw the emblems of the various provinces of Canada on the door. The emblems of the territories aren’t on there. Who knew? I had no clue Canada still had territories. You learn something every day.
With that, our guided tour was complete, but we still had the opportunity to visit the Memorial Chapel and the Peace Tower. We were told at 11:00am daily, they turn the pages of the books in the Memorial Chapel to ensure that everyone listed in there gets to see the light of day at least once a year, which was a lovely idea, but you weren’t allowed in there while they did it, and we were too far back to see it.
This is the best very blurry photo I could get of it
Instead, we headed up the Peace Tower. Following World War I, Canadians decided to create a monument in the memory of all those who died there. The Peace Tower was dedicated on 1 July 1927, although it’s the second tout to stand here. The first tower was also destroyed by fire, but was a lot smaller, and was known as the Victoria Tower.The views from here were wonderful…
We headed back down, although not before a bit of a scare, as we had to wait ages for the lift. It seemed to be stuck downstairs, and when the police guard stationed up here started to get a bit twitchy, so did I. Eventually though, thankfully it was on its way to us. We stopped off for a look in the Memorial Chapel, but it was so hot in here, so I didn’t spend much time there.
Even I know his name was/went by Albert, and I'm not British!
That's a really great thought to turn the pages frequently so everyone gets daylight. But they have to turn them faster in winter...
Amazing views! I had read that the views there were worth it. Thank you so very much for sharing all the photos from this tour since we couldn't have taken it! Awesome.
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
I was a might bit confused when your guide called Victoria's husband Frances, so I was glad when you corrected that. We even learn that he was Albert here in US schools. The views from the top of the Peace Tower are stunning!
Even I know his name was/went by Albert, and I'm not British!
That's a really great thought to turn the pages frequently so everyone gets daylight. But they have to turn them faster in winter...
I hadn't thought of that. Good point!
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Amazing views! I had read that the views there were worth it. Thank you so very much for sharing all the photos from this tour since we couldn't have taken it! Awesome.
It was such a neat thing to do and I'm so glad we were able to do it.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
I was a might bit confused when your guide called Victoria's husband Frances, so I was glad when you corrected that. We even learn that he was Albert here in US schools.
You should've seen the faces of everyone in our tour group. We were all looking at each other, going "what????"
Saturday 17 September – part six: photo bombed – by a moose sign!
We made our way back out of the Canadian Parliament, and I got a fridge magnet and Christmas ornament in the shop, while Mark went to reclaim his selfie stick. We headed outside and were greeted by this:
I remembered a sign yesterday in Montreal (good grief, was it only yesterday? ) saying about black squirrels, but I’d never seen one before. Well, now I have!
We made our way back to the hotel. By now, it was 11:20am, and we’d been out way longer than we’d expected. Check-out was fortunately at midday, otherwise we’d be in real problems. It was also sickeningly humid out, so we couldn’t exactly power walk without totally exhausting ourselves.
We headed back to our room, and finished the last of the packing, and called for bell services. Given that check in had been so painful yesterday, I left Mark to wait for bell, and headed down to check out, and of course, it wasn’t that bad. At least it gave me some time to sit in the lobby and take in my surroundings…
Eventually, Mark emerged with bell, but there was still no sign of the car. However, as we came outside, our car pulled up, Great timing! What wasn’t so great was all the other cars around. One had been there since I’d arrived in the lobby about 10 minutes later, and we think valet lost it eventually, as a guy came out from the hotel and moved it. Oh well, I guess you lost your chance… At least we had plenty of time to programme the GPS, as we sat there and waited to move for about five minutes.
Finally, we were on our way and heading out of Ottawa…
We got to see all of this outside of the City Hall…
We were kind of glad we were leaving today, as the races were all tomorrow, and I doubt we’d have been leaving the hotel at all, as the roads all around it were due to be closed.
As you can see, we quickly met the rain…
… and the traffic jams. Here they had it down one lane either side, while they worked on the bridge support, and while our tailbacks were about three kilometres, it was way worse going the other way.
Soon we were passing over the Rideau River…
… and then we saw cows!
We were soon seeing signs for the USA… and I was fascinated to see at one point that they were signing the way to an American Interstate.
Here’s where we were and the blue line marks the country divide between Canada and the US
We saw splashes of colour in the trees, but again nothing much.
However, my photos of trees did get photo bombed at one point – by a moose sign!
Trees, rocks, swamps...and moose signs! Sounds about right for a drive through Canada! I liked the map of the border area. We were in Wellesley Island State Park years ago for my brother's wedding. Beautiful area right on the Saint Lawrence River in the middle of the Thousand Islands!
There's not a lot of room out front of that hotel for cars to sit and wait. When we walked by the hotel, I grabbed my little guy's hand because I could see frustration from a driver pulling out! So they must have issues with that a lot.
The Army run - cool! I'm sure traffic would be a huge issue tomorrow!
The rocks, they look so neat when you're driving. We have that in Wisconsin too, mostly western WI, it's so cool! Yes, that's the crossing we used when we drove home, and that really has like 1000 islands. It's crazy!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
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That room alone was certainly worth the price you paid for the tour! 
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I don’t think so. 
The name we all know him as is Albert. I believe another English guy in our group went up to her to correct her at the end of the tour, so we just left it, otherwise we would’ve said something. 
Here they had it down one lane either side, while they worked on the bridge support, and while our tailbacks were about three kilometres, it was way worse going the other way. 
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