A tale of two cities… and a few other places… COMPLETED - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Glad that you got onto the earlier train after all! It looks like the vehicles have to make a pretty sharp turn through the doors onto the train. Although it may just look that way since the picture is from a distance.
It is a bit sharp. I must admit I don't like driving into the train and tend to take it very slowly for that reason.
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A bit crazy for the train from idiots dodging in front of moving cars and insane lines. Not surprising with the latter being a Saturday. Glad you got on the earlier train and that is a sharp turn to get your car on the train.
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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!
A bit crazy for the train from idiots dodging in front of moving cars and insane lines. Not surprising with the latter being a Saturday. Glad you got on the earlier train and that is a sharp turn to get your car on the train.
Even though it was a Saturday, we were still surprised at how busy it was, given it was mid-September, and two weeks into the school term over here. I guess a lot of adults fancied getting away...
Saturday 16 September – part two: someone may have been going a little too quick, shall we say?
We set off on the Eurotunnel, and Mark decided to have a nap, while I enjoyed one of the books I got for Christmas from my parents – yes, it’s taken me that long to get round to reading them. In fairness, they did buy a lot of books this year for me…
When we got to the other end, let’s just say that there was a fair bit of braking… I think someone may have been going a little too quick, shall we say?
We emerged from the tunnel…
… and at first, it seemed to be very dreary…
… but as we drove along, it brightened up a bit…
We soon made our way out of Calais, and it wasn’t long before we were on the toll road, seeing barely any other cars around… I have no idea where they all were?
Soon we were heading off on to more country roads…
… and it wasn’t long before we picked this guy up!
There was no way we were going to be able to overtake him. We were very relieved when he turned off, albeit along a road that had a three and a half ton weight limit, and we were both convinced that he weighed more than that…
We made our way over to Le Blockhaus d’Eperlecques, and this is what it looked like when we got there…
At this point, we weren’t very sure, but as Mark pointed out, it had some very good reviews, so we headed inside, and after a restroom stop, which was a bit basic shall we say we purchased our tickets and headed in.
It’s a Second World War bunker built by the Nazis between 1943 and 1944. It was intended to be a launching pad for the V2 ballistic missile, and was designed to accommodate over 100 missiles at any one time, with the capacity to launch up to 36 each day. Thankfully, it was never completed as a result of continued bombing by both the British and American air forces. The site was eventually captured by Canadian forces in 1944, a few days after the Germans evacuated from it. They removed the pumps that kept the basement from flooding, meaning the site did flood, and a substantial chunk of it was then inaccessible to the Allies.
Consideration was given to re-using the bunker for military purposes in the 1950s, but the land reverted to private ownership, and at that point, was left abandoned for many years. In 1973, it was opened to the public for the first time. It was declared an historic monument in 1986.
However, before you get there, you have plenty else to see on the way:
This section was all about the prisoners and deportees who were brought here, as they needed people to work on site, and their soldiers were otherwise engaged on the battlefield. Prisoners were forced to work until they were completely and utterly exhausted.
One of the signs explained what life was like, and it was pretty appalling reading, which I’m sure won’t surprise you. They would begin work at 6:00am, and finish 12 hours later, after spending that time transporting material and scrap iron through mud. The only meal of the day would be soup in the evening, made from washing up water, and if they were lucky, they might get a bit of sausage or a rotten or half a boiled cabbage and grey bread. Sick prisoners remained at the camp, but if they weren’t capable of working after two days, then they weren’t seen again.
This was a deportation train, used to carry around 80 men or women:
Quite an interesting place. Glad the drive there from Calais went well for the most part with the exception of that slow and wide vehicle in front of you. Glad he turned off fast as the two of you wouldn't be that happy. Looks like some sort of carnival ride!
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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!
Quite an interesting place. Glad the drive there from Calais went well for the most part with the exception of that slow and wide vehicle in front of you. Glad he turned off fast as the two of you wouldn't be that happy. Looks like some sort of carnival ride!
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Saturday 16 September – part three: stepping back in time…
After this, we passed through what Mark described as an “eclectic mix” of items, and he was right. See what you think…
It was all a way of keeping you from seeing the sight you’d come here to see… and what a sight it is!
The Germans developed the V2s between 1939 and 1944, and Hilter believed this weapon would turn the tide of the war back in favour of the Nazis. The V2s only had a range of about 200 miles, so to reach London, bases for them had to be in the north of France, Belgium or the western Netherlands.
The main building was over 90 feet high, with walls that were over 20 feet thick. On the north side of the building was a fortified railway station, linked to the main railway line via a spur line, meaning missiles, warheads, and other components could be shipped to the station, and then transported to the main part of the bunker.
The site was targeted in a test in February 1945, when the Allies tested out the new Disney bomb, a 4,500 lb concrete-piercing rocket-assisted bomb designed to double the normal impact velocity. It was only in 2009 that the body of the Disney bomb was extracted from the roof of the building, where it had embedded itself.
Somehow, the fact it was a bit dreary and miserable added to the atmosphere. I don’t think it would’ve been right had it been brilliant sunshine, if that makes sense?
It really is a bit like stepping back in time, as it’s just like how I would imagine it was the day after it was bombed. It’s weird, and surreal, and the fact that there was rain in the air made it feel even more imposing. I was so glad we’d come to see this, as it’s a sight that will stay with me forever. Wow.
On the way round, there was an audio show that you could listen to, but someone got there before us, and it was in French, and while I could make the odd word or two out, unfortunately my French course didn’t really cover what happens in war, so I was a little lost.
It was about here that it did start to rain, so we hustled along, as we didn’t want to get soaked. I was very relieved when we got to the interior section, as the rain was getting heavier by now. I wasn’t sure that we would actually get inside the thing when I first saw the damage to it. I think the fact we could, much as I hate to admit it, was probably to do with German engineering, although of course this was all built with slave labour, as we’d find out later in the day…
It was truly impressive when we got inside, and it gave you much more of an idea of the scale of the place. They even had a mock up of the rocket, and I couldn’t even get the darned thing into one shot, it was that big. Wow.
We settled down to watch the video they had in here about the base, and how they developed the rockets. It was fascinating, albeit unsettling viewing, if that makes sense…
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Not surprising with the latter being a Saturday. Glad you got on the earlier train and that is a sharp turn to get your car on the train.
We were very relieved when he turned off, albeit along a road that had a three and a half ton weight limit, and we were both convinced that he weighed more than that… 
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