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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We headed for the station, getting on the wrong side of the tracks, or so we thought, at first. We headed back and crossed over to the other side, realising eventually that we were on the right side to start with.
Maybe the Reisling was messing with your head! By the way, that Lindt Chocolate section has my name written all over it! I just ate one of their candy bars this past weekend and it was yummy!!!
Maybe the Reisling was messing with your head! By the way, that Lindt Chocolate section has my name written all over it! I just ate one of their candy bars this past weekend and it was yummy!!!
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Sorry to hear that the cathedral was undergoing refurbishment, but I hope it is beautiful when it is completed - and maybe they will install better lighting inside too....
I'm all caught up! Many of your photos bring back such wonderful memories from my trip to Austria . . . almost 15 years ago! I seem to remember climbing the spires of that cathedral--it was rather scary and in poor condition. I imagine that is why they are doing so much restoration work. I'm going to have to see if I can find the photos to refresh my memory.
Saturday 19 March – part eight: Vienna all lit up!
Before we knew it, we had made our way to Michaelerplatz, right in front of the Hofburg Palace, and wow what a beautiful place this was. In the square, they have recently found Roman remains and it was fascinating to see these cut away beneath our feet.
And this is what was opposite the palace!
Just as fascinating was the palace in front of us, with two gorgeous sets of statues in either corner that reminded me a bit of the Trevi fountain in Rome.
Atop the building is the Michaelertrakt, an imposing dome...
The palace isn’t the only attraction here. Opposite is the Michaelerkirche, which was once the parish church of the court.
As we wandered around, we were serenaded by a cellist, and it was so lovely to hear him play. That was a wonderful aspect to Vienna. The music you hear from buskers is so high quality and not like that which you find in other cities.
We wandered through the entrance to the Hofburg Palace, not sure how far we would be able to get, but we were so enchanted with everything we were seeing. We figured that there was no way that photos would do what we were seeing justice, but we equally couldn’t stop taking photos of this beautiful complex.
Once we got through the first entrance, we emerged into a courtyard with what’s called the Amalienburg, which was built for the Emperor in 1575 for his son.
We then headed into some of the gardens of the Hofburg complex, which obviously weren’t lit up, but something was, which caught our eye. I knew instantly from my guidebook that what we could see in the distance was the Neues Rathaus or town hall and I knew I wanted to get closer.
In the meantime, we still had the Neue Burg, which was one of the last bits to be added to the complex. It was here that Adolf Hilter declared the union of Austria and Germany and today it’s used as a reading room by the National Library.
We wandered towards the Burgtor, or outer gate, which reminded us both of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
Once through that, we could see the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History) on one side....
... and the Naturhistorisches Museum (Natural History) on the other side. I could see why this is commonly referred to as the Museums Quartier.
We carried on walking, soon seeing the Parliament building, with the town hall behind. Sadly, it was at around this time that my camera decided that enough was enough and the battery started to run out, so I started to take more care about how many more photos I took. It was a very cold night and I think my camera was definitely feeling that!
As we walked along, we saw a string of fiakers, with the horses clip clopping along the street. I was amazed at how calm they appeared to be, as cars went past them, right next to them.
Finally, we were approaching the town hall after having been walking for what seemed like ages. When we got there, it was worth every step, as this building is absolutely stunning. Built between 1872 and 1883, its central tower is 100 metres high. It’s got some similarities to the town halls you find elsewhere in Europe, particularly in Germany and France, but its scale is something different. I don’t think we’ve come across one of this size before. It really took your breath away and, despite my dying camera, neither of us could stop taking photos of it. It had truly been worth the walk to get here.
We also saw the Burg-Theater, dating from 1888. It’s had a chequered history, as just a few years after it opened, it had to close again, after it emerged that there were seats with no view of the stage! It was devastated by bombing in the Second World War, but has been fully restored since then.
As we wandered around the town hall, we were taken by how many young people, dressed in their finery, were out and about tonight. We had no idea what was going on tonight, but it looked like a ball of some kind. Let’s just say that it was starting to get a bit rowdy and I’m glad we weren’t there any later.
It took what felt like ages to find the U-bahn station to get back to the hotel and, when we did, wouldn’t you know it, it was the wrong platform. In an amazing feat of stupidity, you had to go back to the surface, cross a main road and then go back down to get to the other platform. I’ve never come across a subway station like that in all my visits. :
We were absolutely shattered as we made our way back, and were very glad for the chance to sit down during the ride back. I think it was one of those cases where we’d walked so far that we really felt every step. We are so going to have to do some more walking to get ourselves fit for Disney.
We got back to the hotel, and boy does it look different at night!
Desperate for some warmth, we decided to see if the cafe in the lobby did hot chocolate. It did, but at a price and we ended up paying €9 (about $12.70) for two hot chocolates. Sometimes though, you’re so desperate that cost just doesn’t matter....
We headed back to the room with those and drank them, but not before I managed to spill some of mine. What is it with me and spilling things today? We also enjoyed our cakes, which were very indulgent and lovely.
We didn’t last much longer after that, as we were both shattered from our busy day. There was still more to see of Vienna tomorrow, so a good night’s sleep was essential.
The weather today was dry and cloudy, but cold with temperatures in the low 40s, but a wind chill off that temperature. The best thing today was our walk around Vienna at night. The worst thing today was spilling orange juice over myself on the flight out. Today we tried going to the Schonbrunn Palace And the result was it’s a beautiful place and very different to all the other palaces we’ve visited. The most magical moment today was seeing the town hall all lit up at night.
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Beautiful shots of the buildings at night! We have several subway stops like that in Boston. Inbound and outbound entrances on opposite sides of the street--- and no elevators or escalators either!
Guess the royals don't want to have to go far for a cup of Joe!
What great night time pictures - especially of the Town Hall! And how cool to look down at the Roman ruins they've discovered!
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Pixie Dust
Love the pictures of Vienna at night! 
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Holly: 
In the square, they have recently found Roman remains and it was fascinating to see these cut away beneath our feet. 
this is what was opposite the palace! 
: 
Melanie
Guess the royals don't want to have to go far for a cup of Joe! 
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