A Baltic boating adventure TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 11/19 - Page 84 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
The metro is pretty amazing with some very nice unique touches to it without being overdone, which makes it somewhat special I suppose! Strange with the statues and the need for everyone to tough them as it may be some sort of ritual or superstition to avoid bad luck!
__________________
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!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
We headed up to another platform in the Moscow subway, and here we found these porcelain characters in the ceiling, with our guide explaining that they represented the various countries of the former Soviet Union. It was strange to listen to her listing them off, as they're all names we're familiar with today, but I just never thought of them as existing as separate entities under the Soviet Union. I really was learning a lot about life under Communist rule.
We then boarded another train...
... and headed over to another station, which our guide told us was her favourite. As we got off the train, she whispered to me to "look up", so I did, and then she told me to walk along the platform to see some more. Hopefully you can see the differences in them...
With that, we made our way to the previous station, and headed back into the open air. I was dreading what we might find when we got there, but my goodness, what a change literally half an hour or so can make.
We saw lots more festival booths - I tell you if this is a holiday that the Russians aren't that bothered about, I'd like to see what they do with a holiday they actually care about.
We also saw the Four Seasons Hotel, talk about being centrally located!
We were back by Red Square and St. Basil's Cathedral again, and could now see both from a different angle.
I don't think either of it realised it, but we were going to be walking through the Alexander Gardens, named after Tsar Alexander I, who helped restore the city after the Napoleonic Wars. Although this strictly isn't in the Kremlin (it's everything behind the walls), it still gave us a great view of some of the buildings that make up this complex.
Wow! I can't get over how beautiful the subway stations are!! I am so glad the sky is blue again and your pictures of the Kremlin and surrounding area are stunning!!
The subway stations are so cool! I see why she told you to look up. It's kinda cute actually! So very well done, it's beautiful. The guy giving Mark a look on the train though was worth a chuckle.
Very cool photos out in the sunshine now!! Really makes those colors pop on St. Basil's. Such a cool building. Looks like you might even be a little closer from this side? Still loving this whole day!!!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
The subway stations are so cool! I see why she told you to look up. It's kinda cute actually! So very well done, it's beautiful. The guy giving Mark a look on the train though was worth a chuckle.
Oh my goodness, I hadn't noticed that. Classic!
Quote:
Very cool photos out in the sunshine now!! Really makes those colors pop on St. Basil's. Such a cool building. Looks like you might even be a little closer from this side? Still loving this whole day!!!
It was probably my favourite day of the whole cruise!
Love the subway stations and especially the overall layout and design of them! I can't get over how beautiful the light fixtures are. Great photos of the Kremlin and Red Square.
__________________
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!
Sunday 12 June – part thirteen: this is a huge bonus!
Our guide pointed out the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and I'm sure immediately regretted doing that, as Jay asked if he could go and take some photos there. Let's just say I don't think our guide got much of a say in the matter, as we all headed off that way.
The guards you can see are the Presidential Guard, and we were told they're now the only ones who actually live in the Kremlin.
Now look at the photos here - see the colour of the sky? Yep, that is a perfect blue colour and now the sun was out. Bizarre weather I tell you!
We carried on walking, and these blocks had various names on them, all prominent Communist party members, our guide had earlier told us.
We made our way down towards the Armoury, which we would be visiting, with us all snapping happily away as we did. This really had exceeded our expectations completely. Ok, so Red Square and the Kremlin may have been closed to the public, but you know what? It actually didn't matter. Sure, it would've been really nice to get the whole experience and be able to explore both close up, but we couldn't. Instead, we were seeing unique national celebrations, and as a bonus, we were still getting some amazing photo opportunities of both places. We all agreed that was a huge bonus.
Mark decided he was going to take a risk and touch the wall of the Kremlin, but luckily he wasn’t arrested!
About This Page: 
Strange with the statues and the need for everyone to tough them as it may be some sort of ritual or superstition to avoid bad luck! 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
I am so glad the sky is blue again and your pictures of the Kremlin and surrounding area are stunning!!
]
Classic! 
Linear Mode
