A Scottish right Royal time! TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 1/10 - Page 8 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Quite an interesting tour but parts of it you could do without and especially the stench!
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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!
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Saturday 26 August – part six: a mirror is like a posh car?
We then moved into the painted chamber of Gladstone’s Land and this was where I struggled to hear our guide, firstly because I was walking around taking photos, but also because the windows were open, and all the noise from the Royal Mile made it very hard to hear him. I do know that this was essentially considered a library…
Yes seriously! Apparently if you had more than one book back in those days, this was something very special.
There was more to this room though…
The painted ceiling was also something very special, and apparently people would come back here to admire it after church. I’m not surprised. I managed to find a bit more information on the printed guides they had in each room, so I can share that with you. The ceiling evokes the Renaissance period, and is made up of displays of exotic fruits and flowers. It’s thought the timbers came from Scandinavia.
This reminded me of Wray Castle that we’d visited in the Lake District – and if you’re not familiar with that, then shame on you… where have you been for my Scotland road trip report?
We were told that mirrors were like posh cars are now back then – a status symbol, which was interesting, and something I’d never thought of.
I personally loved the views over the Royal Mile, although I know our guide got very irritated with the noise that came up from car horns blasting etc. I can understand that, but getting to see the Royal Mile from above was very neat.
And I also found out from the information that they had in the room that this was something that’s been done for many of hundreds of years, and people here at the right time would’ve seen some very special things. For example, King James VI of Scotland and King James I of England processed along here in 1617 in his only visit to Edinburgh.
The final stop was this Georgian room, which the guy explained had ended up in another family, as the great-niece and great-granddaughter (I think) had decided to sell up. They had decided to add two wings to the house, which were essentially around the courtyard we’d visited earlier on.
It was here that we learnt about the family of crooks who ended up getting their hands on the place that went on to become the Bank of Scotland. We were learning about the creation of the New Town of Edinburgh, which we’ve seen before, but I didn’t really know the history of it. In the 17th century, they held a competition to design it, and an unknown designer came up with a very simple idea of a grid layout that was later used in many American cities. Apparently, the better known names tried to get too complicated, which is why their designs were turned down.
It was at this point that we were definitely both fading, and I think others were as well, as one woman crouched down on the floor, so our guide brought it to a conclusion. Don’t get me wrong, it was very interesting, but I think the people who told him off are right, as there is only so much information that people can take, so matter how interesting it is, or how well it’s delivered. That would be my only criticism, but I’m still glad we did it.
When we came out of there, the sky was very threatening, and it looked as if rain was on the way, so we quickly hurried our way back to the hotel, making our way through one of those courts that would have been so unpleasant all those years ago…
Mirrors. Something so commonplace, so ordinary today. Who knew?! Thank goodness you take notes for your TR so soon after you hear these details, and so many on this tour. I imagine that you'd forget everything if you waited until you got home!
Beautiful view on your way back - so hilly! Nearly reminds me of San Francisco!
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Tanya
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Two miles away and the stench was still smellable?! Yuck, no thanks! Glad that's been cleaned up!
The tour did sound fascinating, but I think guides need to learn to condense the information into more manageable nuggets sometimes....
Interesting tour, although I can understand that it can get to be information overload, especially when you just want to sit down. Amazing view in the last picture!
Mirrors. Something so commonplace, so ordinary today. Who knew?! Thank goodness you take notes for your TR so soon after you hear these details, and so many on this tour. I imagine that you'd forget everything if you waited until you got home!
Oh completely. There is only so much your head can hold and only for so long, that's why I like to write as soon after the event as possible.
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Beautiful view on your way back - so hilly! Nearly reminds me of San Francisco!
Oh my goodness, you are so right! There is an element of that...
A lot of nice artifacts and paintings in the museum. These tours can be a bit much as you feel the information can get a bit redundant. I remember a tour of the Etruscan museum in Tuscany and felt this way, plus our guide was quite boring and she kept going on and on. Most in our group couldn't wait till the end.
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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!
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I managed to find a bit more information on the printed guides they had in each room, so I can share that with you. The ceiling evokes the Renaissance period, and is made up of displays of exotic fruits and flowers. It’s thought the timbers came from Scandinavia. 
There is an element of that...
I remember a tour of the Etruscan museum in Tuscany and felt this way, plus our guide was quite boring and she kept going on and on. 
Most in our group couldn't wait till the end.
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