National parks, natural beauty and a bit of Disney wonder! COMPLETED - Page 80 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I am so glad you had a fantastic weather day in Chicago! Makes it a wonderful visit. Did they still have the Coal Mine exhibit, where you could go down into a shaft? It did cost extra.
I smiled in memory of the plane. It was the same one I've been thru a couple of times! Did you by chance pick up your wings on the way out?
Did they still have the model of the Heart that you could walk through? It was always so neat to hear it beating. It was over near the Babies.
My main question my dear, having done both the Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry, which one did you like better??? I myself give a slight edge to the Field Museum, but I honestly think it's because I don't care too much for Science or Industry.
I am so glad you had a fantastic weather day in Chicago! Makes it a wonderful visit. Did they still have the Coal Mine exhibit, where you could go down into a shaft? It did cost extra.
I smiled in memory of the plane. It was the same one I've been thru a couple of times! Did you by chance pick up your wings on the way out?
Did they still have the model of the Heart that you could walk through? It was always so neat to hear it beating. It was over near the Babies.
My main question my dear, having done both the Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry, which one did you like better??? I myself give a slight edge to the Field Museum, but I honestly think it's because I don't care too much for Science or Industry.
Sorry to hijack, but I just want to say I'm so glad to see your post this morning, Wendy. Are you near the area where the tornadoes hit?
Sorry to hijack, but I just want to say I'm so glad to see your post this morning, Wendy. Are you near the area where the tornadoes hit?
Thanks for thinking of me Laurie! I'm actually not close to it. It's about 2.5 hours south of me on I-65 near Louisville, KY. I know the area well though and was so sad. As soon as I saw everything yesterday I sent a quick text to DawnDenise as she is much closer to it than I was. :grouphuhg: Everyone is a-ok.
Thanks for thinking of me Laurie! I'm actually not close to it. It's about 2.5 hours south of me on I-65 near Louisville, KY. I know the area well though and was so sad. As soon as I saw everything yesterday I sent a quick text to DawnDenise as she is much closer to it than I was. :grouphuhg: Everyone is a-ok.
When I told the kids we were looking at a submarine, one of them asked me, "why isn't it a yellow submarine?"
After you guys left, we stayed till about 2pm or so as there was still so much to see! There was a very active area for kids, which was great fun. Then we moved on to a farming area. Oh, Cheryl. If only you'd gone this way! They had a tractor for the kids to climb up on.
And then an area with information on cows!!! Milking them, feeding them, taking care of them. Even a spot explaining about their... uh.. poo.
I was explaining to my mom how much you enjoyed cows and wished you could have seen this section! Then we moved on to other various places, so many to see, we still didn't have time to see it all. We found a climbing wall for the kids.
And on the wall in the area near the Fairy Castle (which is like a gigantic doll house), I found this:
Cute, no?!
We had a great time at the museum, and the kids always ask when we can go back. There's lots to keep everyone entertained, of all ages! Plus the best part was of course getting to meet Cheryl and Mark, and Heather! Thanks for a great afternoon guys!
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I am so glad you had a fantastic weather day in Chicago! Makes it a wonderful visit. Did they still have the Coal Mine exhibit, where you could go down into a shaft? It did cost extra.
I smiled in memory of the plane. It was the same one I've been thru a couple of times! Did you by chance pick up your wings on the way out?
Did they still have the model of the Heart that you could walk through? It was always so neat to hear it beating. It was over near the Babies.
My main question my dear, having done both the Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry, which one did you like better??? I myself give a slight edge to the Field Museum, but I honestly think it's because I don't care too much for Science or Industry.
they did still have that coal mine exhibit, but as you say, it cost extra, so because of that and a lack of time, we didn't bother.
I don't remember the model of the heart, although I do remember reading about it in my guidebook... darn, something else we missed. We really are going to have to go back to Chicago and spend another couple of days there to finish everything off.
I have to say that I think I prefer the Museum of Science and Industry over the Field Museum, just because of the variety the Museum of Science and Industry has in it.
Thanks for thinking of me Laurie! I'm actually not close to it. It's about 2.5 hours south of me on I-65 near Louisville, KY. I know the area well though and was so sad. As soon as I saw everything yesterday I sent a quick text to DawnDenise as she is much closer to it than I was. :grouphuhg: Everyone is a-ok.
I have to be honest, as soon as I heard what had happened overnight, I looked at Google maps and how close that was to you - I was so relieved to see a couple of hours between you and it.
When I told the kids we were looking at a submarine, one of them asked me, "why isn't it a yellow submarine?"
After you guys left, we stayed till about 2pm or so as there was still so much to see! There was a very active area for kids, which was great fun. Then we moved on to a farming area. Oh, Cheryl. If only you'd gone this way! They had a tractor for the kids to climb up on.
And then an area with information on cows!!! Milking them, feeding them, taking care of them. Even a spot explaining about their... uh.. poo.
I was explaining to my mom how much you enjoyed cows and wished you could have seen this section! Then we moved on to other various places, so many to see, we still didn't have time to see it all. We found a climbing wall for the kids.
And on the wall in the area near the Fairy Castle (which is like a gigantic doll house), I found this:
Cute, no?!
We had a great time at the museum, and the kids always ask when we can go back. There's lots to keep everyone entertained, of all ages! Plus the best part was of course getting to meet Cheryl and Mark, and Heather! Thanks for a great afternoon guys!
No way! I don't believe it!
That settles it - Chicago is back on the list for a return visit one day....
Saturday 17 September – part five: if you didn’t know where this was, you could easily miss it!
We made it to the restaurant, the South Water Kitchen, about 10 minutes late for lunch....
.... and found the others waiting for us. The others were Lesley and Tom, who had found this place for lunch, and two of Heather’s friends she was spending the weekend with, Katie and Whitney. A third friend, Catherine arrived a couple of minutes after us.
We all settled down to explore the menu, which was a brunch one, offering both lunch and breakfast options. I ended up going for the asparagus and mushroom frittata, served with breakfast potatoes and bagel, which wasn’t bad...
I also got the melon soda, which I drank and was pleasant enough, but it was nothing spectacular and a little odd tasting as well.
Mark had the half pound grilled Wisconsin cheeseburger on a brioche bun, served with hand cut fries.
South Water Kitchen:
Food 8 8
Service 8 8
Atmosphere 8½ 9
Value for money 9 8
Average score: 8.32
We spent a very pleasant hour and a half catching up together, then it was time to start heading our separate ways.
Heather and her friends headed off in one direction and we headed off towards the hotel with Lesley and Tom, although we had a stop to make on the way first. Heather had texted me yesterday to say that she was in the Disney Store and that they had some Chicago items, which piqued my interest. I went online last night and discovered that there were a couple of Disney Stores in the city, one of which was just a five-minute walk from the restaurant, so that’s where we were going.
On the way, I got lots more photos of this beautiful city...
It’s just as well that Lesley and I were looking out for it and had a rough idea of where it was, because my goodness, it was easy to miss it. We were amazed at how little advertising this store had...
However, when we got inside, we were pleasantly surprised to find that it’s one of the newly themed stores and, although it wasn’t that big, it had exactly what we needed.
We ended up getting a Grumpy T-shirt for Mark, a Chicago Disney T-shirt for me and some Cars Lego for our nephew for Christmas – you see, getting ahead with Christmas shopping already!
Lesley and Tom then walked back to our hotel with us...
It seemed to all be kicking off outside, with the fire department and then the paramedics arriving on scene, apparently for a guest at the hotel.
While we waited for our luggage, I got some photos of the lobby...
... and the areas for guests...
... before we had to say our goodbyes to Lesley and Tom. It had been great to see them – it had been too long since our last visit with them and I hope we see them in December 2012... just saying guys!
I love it when Disney stores have city- (or country-) specific items! I got the cutest Mickey notepad in Florence. Its cover is in Italy's flag's coulors and it says "Firenze" on the front. Love it!
Do you have a picture of the Chicago-themed Disney items you bought, by any chance?
More great photos of Chicago. I'm jealous that Chicago has FOUR Disney stores. Boston no longer has even one Great that you got to spend a bit of time with Lesley and Tom!
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I love it when Disney stores have city- (or country-) specific items! I got the cutest Mickey notepad in Florence. Its cover is in Italy's flag's coulors and it says "Firenze" on the front. Love it!
Do you have a picture of the Chicago-themed Disney items you bought, by any chance?
I don't I'm afraid and I don't know where they are right now to root them out and take photos - sorry, given the time of year, I can only lay my hands on winter gear!
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they did still have that coal mine exhibit, but as you say, it cost extra, so because of that and a lack of time, we didn't bother. 
We really are going to have to go back to Chicago and spend another couple of days there to finish everything off. 
to Lesley and Tom. It had been great to see them – it had been too long since our last visit with them and I hope we see them in December 2012... just saying guys! 
Great pics of the restaurant and Chicago! 
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