Four go wild north of the border UPDATED 6/23 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Awesome to find a puffin spot! On the FB group for our TA trip yesterday there was a lot of sadness realizing we're in Newfoundland just after the end of puffin season.
Hope your ankle is doing better by the time you leave for Scotland!
Sorry about your ankle, I sure hope its better before Scotland. The puffin tour sounds wonderful, but it would be a hard choice between the castle and the tour.
I would've thought so too, but it wasn't my decision luckily!
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I wonder how they know it's 21 billion midges instead of, I don't know, say, just 20 billion? It's kind of an exact estimate. But yes, indeed bring the bug spray!
I hadn't thought of that! Good point!
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Glad Laurie made that suggestion as it sounds like a winner. Great choice!
Old injuries never really go away, do they?! I wonder just how long I'll be able to keep running as I have some recurring issues too. But I'll just keep prodding along as long as I can - same as you! Good luck!
Good for you! I figure that's how you have to be... do everything you can for as long as you can.
Awesome to find a puffin spot! On the FB group for our TA trip yesterday there was a lot of sadness realizing we're in Newfoundland just after the end of puffin season.
Oh that's a shame.
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Hope your ankle is doing better by the time you leave for Scotland!
Yeah! You've squeezed puffins in to this trip. I love puffins. In fact, when I opened my laptop this morning, the screen pic that popped up was of two puffins kissing. Sending you loads of for your ankle.
Yeah! You've squeezed puffins in to this trip. I love puffins. In fact, when I opened my laptop this morning, the screen pic that popped up was of two puffins kissing.
Pre-trip report – part eleven: exploring inside Warwick Castle
So you pick up this pre-trip report about four weeks before our trip, and you join our motley crew of myself, Mark and my parents at Warwick Castle. The reason this is included, in case you’d forgotten, is this is how we were going to get the annual plants my parents supply us with, after figuring out we couldn’t pick them up from my parents on our way home from this trip…
As you can see, it was a beautiful day when we arrived, albeit it was hard to know what the weather would do. We’d had quite a lot of cold days, with lots of sunshine, but with the wind chill taking the temperature down somewhat. However, today the temperatures did finally start getting into the nice range – i.e. high 60s – so I felt a bit stupid later in my jeans (my knees were burning through them) and my winter boots. Oh well!
We headed into the castle courtyard…
… and then inside the castle. The first room you come to is the Great Hall.
My dad was fascinated by how much the armour weighed the horses down, and I know he had a long conversation with one of the members of staff about it (after he got told off for trying to touch the display… you cannot take him anywhere! )…
I was more fascinated by the detail in this wood. Isn’t it amazing? I loved seeing the bear and the ragged staff, the symbol of the county of Warwickshire.. and don’t ask me why. I’ve honestly never thought about it. Having lived here three years, I just took it for granted…
As you can see, there’s a lot of armour here. This was collected by George Greville, the fourth Earl of Warwick in the 19th century, and much of the collection dates from the 16th century.
The next room was the Red Drawing Room, which was home to this slightly creepy collection. I know it was King Henry VIII, and I assume his famous six wives, but I don’t know for sure, as there was nothing to tell us, which was a bit of a shame.
We then went into the state dining room, which I know my parents didn’t like, as they thought the gold was a bit too much in here. I personally had no objection to it. I think, after a while, you become a bit blasé about things like this, when you’ve seen as many palaces and castles as we have over the years. This room was built in 1763 by Francis Greville, the 1st Earl of Warwick, to provide a more intimate dining space than the Great Hall. The 18th century chandelier you can see in here was originally lit with 42 candles, and was only converted to electricity in 2016.
Notice how the table was decorated? When we arrived, there was a sign to say the rooms in the castle would be closed from 3:00pm due to a wedding. Oh my goodness the pound (dollar) signs that flashed in front of my eyes – good grief, how much does that cost? We were later told by a member of staff that it’s a wedding for only 10 people and apparently the cost to hire the venue (not the per person cost for food etc.) is the same, no matter how many people there at the wedding. He told us he’d never seen such a small wedding party there before. I guess these people have some serious money….
Our next stop was this room, with its amazing ceiling…
Perhaps even more amazing though was the mirror you could use to get a better view of the ceiling. How neat is that?
Next up was the state bedroom, which was very dimly lit because of the tapestries in here, which dated from the 16th century.
Then we headed into the blue boudoir, which was originally used as a dressing room adjoining the state bedroom. The decoration in this room, which had been carefully restored, is blue silk from Lyon, and the clock that took my eye belonged to Marie Antoinette, wife of King Louis XVI of France. Her possessions from the Palace of Versailles were sold after her execution during the French Revolution. Why is it here? Well, Daisy, who you’ll hear more about later on , one of the Countesses of Warwick, used to like to dress as Marie Antoinette and went to several fancy dress balls as her.
Wow, this is quite the place! Yes, very much like a lot of the palaces and other various castles and such you've photographed and shared over the years! Indeed that room with Henry is a little creepy. Daisy sounded creepy too, dressing as Marie.
I hear you with the weather. That's very much like all of our April, May, and June here. The sun may be stronger, but the temperatures are not very high especially with the wind coming off Lake Michigan. Very hard to dress for!
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Looks like more of your plans are coming together well! Sorry to hear about your ankle and hope it's improving! Nice start to Warwick Castle, which is so beautiful. I remeber it well from your photos as I was there back in 1996. I enjoyed the various rooms as well as walking along the ramparts up on the castle walls.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Beautiful castle! The gold actually didn't seem that over the top, compared to some other places I've seen.
I can't even imagine the cost of a wedding there. I'd be tempted to invite everyone I know if I was already paying for that venue. But I guess then you'd have the catering cost, which are per person.
Wow, this is quite the place! Yes, very much like a lot of the palaces and other various castles and such you've photographed and shared over the years!
There have been one or two, haven't there?
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Indeed that room with Henry is a little creepy. Daisy sounded creepy too, dressing as Marie.
Looks like more of your plans are coming together well! Sorry to hear about your ankle and hope it's improving!
It is getting there.
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Nice start to Warwick Castle, which is so beautiful. I remeber it well from your photos as I was there back in 1996. I enjoyed the various rooms as well as walking along the ramparts up on the castle walls.
How funny, given my last visit there was probably not far off from that - I'm guessing maybe 1993?
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It's kind of an exact estimate. But yes, indeed bring the bug spray!
Good point! 
Great choice!
)… 
, one of the Countesses of Warwick, used to like to dress as Marie Antoinette and went to several fancy dress balls as her. 
Sorry to hear about your ankle and hope it's improving! 
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