A Magical voyage across the pond TRIP REPORT UPDATED 12/31 - Page 71 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Nice breakfast in Lumiere's with Andrae taking such good care of the two of you as usual! The mango hike and the salmon appetizer look so good! You have great influence with Andrae and make sure you have him on your next cruise if he's on that one.
Thankfully he was!
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Sydney looks like a beautiful seaside town and love those homes.
Sunday 16 September – part four: what an amazing welcome!
We continued to walk through the historic district…
On the way, we got some great views of the Magic…
Our next destination was Jost Heritage House. Oh my goodness, what an amazing welcome we got from the two women working in here. One had apparently returned today after eight or nine years away, but you would never have known. Both were so knowledgeable. We really were not expecting a guided tour for $2 CAD each, but that’s what we got.
It’s one of the oldest remaining wooden buildings in Colonial Sydney and was first owned by a merchant and ship owner, Samuel Sparrow, in the late 18th century and the basement has been restored to how it would have been originally, complete with a cooking fireplace.
Right next door is where the servant would have lived to keep an eye on the cooker down here. We’d been told that to check whether the bread was cooked or not, you put a feather in and if it burnt, you needed to get the bread out.
I loved the Canadian humour down here – lots of signs on the ceiling saying “duck”…
then this…
Our guide explained this would have been state of the art in its time – a washing machine, well their sort of version of one anyway.
We then went upstairs and let’s just say we got the “adult” version of how things worked in here. The woman talking to us was just brilliant, so funny. She had so many wonderful tales about everything under the sun and she was genuinely such a pleasure to meet. I cannot begin to tell you how warm and welcoming she was. I could easily have sat and talked to her all day.
This shows how much the house has subsidised during its history. As the woman talking to us said “it settles a little more every winter”. Just look at the doorframe, compared to the ceiling.
This room is home to all the native bird life in the area and look at the variety of it!
She talked us through the puffins and how they look amazing until they mate, then they lose their colour. She likened it to what happens to humans, saying it’s like when men unexpectedly start to wear cologne or suddenly buy you flowers.
Love those homes in Sydney with even more of them are so beautiful. What a nice tour of the Jost Heritage House and you got to see so much and looks like a great tour! Even better for an amazing price with a great guide! How can you beat this!
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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!
Love those homes in Sydney with even more of them are so beautiful. What a nice tour of the Jost Heritage House and you got to see so much and looks like a great tour! Even better for an amazing price with a great guide! How can you beat this!
Sunday 16 September – part five: “have you seen the needles?”
This was the posh parlour area of the Jost Heritage House, complete with portraits of Queen Victoria and her oldest son, who went on to become King Edward VII, directly opposite.
Then we were told to have a look upstairs, as this was self guided. My goodness, talk about a treasure trove of all sorts of things. The selection of things they had up here was many and varied and it made for a fascinating visit.
The Disney Magic even makes an appearance here!
This was the apothecary and I loved everything in here, although when Mark said “have you seen the needles?” I decided not to look at those and beat a very hasty retreat…
Honestly, I really cannot recommend this place highly enough. They could have charged so much more for this place and I would happily have paid it, there was so much to see and enjoy in here.
When we came out of there, we continued to wander through the historic district of the town…
We then made our way back to the waterfront…
We wandered down to the boardwalk where we got some superb views, both of the Magic…
… and the waterfront area…
We also visited the merchant mariner monument. It was only unveiled in 2016 and it depicts four mariners and a life raft, with one of the men being rescued. Around 12,000 people served in Canada’s Merchant Navy during the Second World War and the casualty rate was one in seven. Sobering.
Then we made our way back along the boardwalk to the cruise terminal…
I was shocked to see no one had replied to your installment from today, but then I realized your day is now beginning, while my previous one is ending, and those in the 48 States are certainly all sleeping! ( it’s 11:20 pm in Hawaii)
Loved the Duck, Duck Goose sign! Sydney looks so charming.
Both tours sounded amazing Cheryl! I absolutely love going into old churches and historical homes. The Jost home had such an interesting collection of things to look at and when you have a curator that is so welcoming, it makes it even more enjoyable. The flowers around Sydney are so pretty but those winter temperatures sounded brutal.
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More great things in the Jost House. So well done with the little historical notations and the unique artifacts! Interesting with the photo of The Magic! You can certainly see the British influence in this house and as well the town of Sydney itself.
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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!
I was shocked to see no one had replied to your installment from today, but then I realized your day is now beginning, while my previous one is ending, and those in the 48 States are certainly all sleeping! ( it’s 11:20 pm in Hawaii)
Yes that's true!
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Loved the Duck, Duck Goose sign! Sydney looks so charming.
Both tours sounded amazing Cheryl! I absolutely love going into old churches and historical homes.
Oh you'd love touring with me - those are two of my favourite things to visit.
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The Jost home had such an interesting collection of things to look at and when you have a curator that is so welcoming, it makes it even more enjoyable.
Completely - they brought it to life.
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The flowers around Sydney are so pretty but those winter temperatures sounded brutal.
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The mango hike and the salmon appetizer look so good! 
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Both were so knowledgeable. We really were not expecting a guided tour for $2 CAD each, but that’s what we got. 
The woman talking to us was just brilliant, so funny. She had so many wonderful tales about everything under the sun and she was genuinely such a pleasure to meet. I cannot begin to tell you how warm and welcoming she was. 
I could easily have sat and talked to her all day. 
How can you beat this! 
You can certainly see the British influence in this house and as well the town of Sydney itself.
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