Going north, south, east, west - Chicago UPDATED 1/7 - Page 7 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Looks like it was getting pretty foggy...even moreso than the early morning pictures. Glad you got to take a reprieve inside the museum. Looks like you guys were having a great time there...very interactive looks like it was loads of fun and a place where there were many great photo opportunities...
Mark looks very excited to be choosen as the next astronaut to go to the moon...
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Saturday 25 October – part three: sleeping through the show....
Soon it was time to go in for our show. It was 35 minutes long and it was interesting to find out how the people of Africa have used the stars in their everyday lives over the years. It’s not something that I would ever want to do though. Even when they pointed out the various stars, I would lose the things again as soon as the indication stopped showing it. I’d be no good at navigating using the stars! :
During this, I really had to fight hard not to fall asleep and a couple of times, my eyes did close, although I never really fell asleep, unlike some others. Let’s just say, at one point, I looked to my left and Lesley was out for the count and then I looked to my right and so was Mark!
When we came out of there, we figured food was in order, as perhaps that would help to keep us awake! We went to the food court there, Galileo’s Café, which does sandwiches, paninis and salads. I had the roasted vegetable panini and Mark had the spaghetti Bolognese, although his ended up coming with cheese, which wasn’t part of the plan. Still, he was OK with it, which is just as well. My panini was OK, but it was a little more spicy than I had anticipated, so I couldn’t finish it. Apologies for the half eaten food shots – we were so hungry, we forgot to take photos before we dug in!
When we finished eating, we explored the rest of the planetarium and went out on to one of the terraces to take some photos of the Chicago skyline. As you can see from these shots, the weather had improved a lot while were in there.
Our final stop on the way out was the Atwood Sphere that has been used since 1913 for people to look at the stars. It’s North America’s only walk in planetarium and light enters through the 692 holes in the surface of the huge metal ball, which represents the stars of the Chicago skyline. It’s a seven minute show and we were lucky enough to be the first in line for the next show, so we waited for it. I’m glad we did, as it was a unique experience and perhaps a bit more of what we expected from the planetarium show. I can imagine that this would’ve been seen with wonder and amazement by those who saw it all those years ago.
From there, we headed out and got some photos in front of the skyline, which was looking much brighter now. It had turned out to be quite a nice day, after a poor start.
Our next stop was due to be the Shedd Aquarium, but when we got there, the line to get in was just stupid, especially as their main attraction was down for rehab. There was no way we were going to stand in that, so we decided to go to the Field Museum, which is just next door.
As we got to the door, we could see why everyone was waiting to get into the Shedd Aquarium, as the Field Museum was due to close at 3.00 and the last admission would be at 2.00. A quick look at our watches showed we had just made it, as it was 1.55, so in we went.
We got a few photos in the main lobby, which was pretty impressive. In pride of place was Sue the T-Rex. She looked great and I loved the name. I couldn’t help but think of a fellow PassPorter by the same name.
I love the pictures of the skyline with the sun trying to burn thru.
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Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
I'm just catching up on your trip report. The closest I got to visiting Chicago was changing planes in O'Hare. I would love to really visit there some day. I am enjoying all of your pictures. WOW -Lake Michigan in amazing! Can't wait for more.
It's a shame you had to miss Shedd - it was great when DH and I took my brother there. Of course, that was back in '95, so a lot may have changed since then! But you've managed to see so much, that I'm astounded. We didn't do a lot of that stuff when we lived there....we missed out, I'm thinking!
Wonderful updates! So glad you're having such a great time and that you stick to your plans as much as possible, never mind the weather. Love your photos. I think I would enjoy seeing all these sites in person.
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looks like it was loads of fun and a place where there were many great photo opportunities...
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