Living the dream and remembering the Bagman COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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Your pictures of the Falls are just beautiful! The last time I visited there was probably around 1969 but I just remember how gorgeous the Canadian side looked all lit up at night! We never got to take the boat out so I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures of it.
I thought I recalled a story of them freezing over the last two winters (2014 & 2015). But then I found this interesting news article:
It's a stunning site: Niagara Falls, the world's most famous waterfall, apparently frozen in place.
The icy spectacle, brought on by weeks of severe cold, has drawn a steady flow of intrepid tourists. But are the Falls really frozen? Not exactly. Here's a brief explanation of what really happens when the mighty Niagara River appears to form a crystalline cascade:
A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT
For the second straight winter, the frigid weather in western New York state and lower Ontario has frozen vast sections of the U.S. side of Niagara Falls, known as the American Falls, and the Canadian side, known as the Horseshoe Falls because of its shape.
But the water never actually stops flowing underneath. That is no accident: the Niagara River is an important source of hydropower, so a long ice boom made of steel catches any icebergs, while ice cutters work around the clock to prevent the Falls from jamming up.
THE FORBIDDEN BRIDGE OF ICE
If it's cold enough for long enough, an ice bridge forms along the river, connecting the U.S. and Canada. Day-trippers once enjoyed sledding and drinking on the ice bridge until 1912, when it broke up and three people died -- a Canadian couple who became stranded on a piece of ice and an American teenager who tried to save them.
Their story is the subject of an online graphic novel, "Hecock," named for the Cleveland teen who died. Walking anywhere on the ice has been strictly banned ever since.
An exception was made last month for a pair of Canadian ice climbers, Will Gadd, 47, and Sarah Hueniken, 34, who became the first to scale the Falls, climbing a 30-foot (9-meter) section of the Horseshoe Falls.
I don't see the appeal of ice climbing!! Not sure I could've even watched someone climb the falls!
Great photos of Niagra Falls! I agree that the Canadian Falls are the best but they are all cool!!. I am so glad you guys took the Hornblower!! Great way to get up close and personal!!
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How choppy was the water when you were sailing? As a very sensitive soul where sailing is concerned, (I had to spend our entire 'whale watching cruise' in Boston on deck, with the wind in my face, despite the sea being really quite calm that day!), I would worry that the motion of the waterfalls would make the water there quite choppy - was it okay?
I really don't remember it being choppy at all and I've just asked Mark that question and he agreed. I think, if I'm honest, I don't remember anything other than how amazing an experience it was. It was seriously one of the most magical moments of my life, that's how much I loved it.
Your pictures of the Falls are just beautiful! The last time I visited there was probably around 1969 but I just remember how gorgeous the Canadian side looked all lit up at night! We never got to take the boat out so I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures of it.
Oh wow, you must go back! After all, you're so much closer than we are...
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Great pictures of the Falls. I've never seen the Falls completely frozen, but I have seen when the mist freezes in the winter. It really is quite beautiful. I can't wait to see your pictures from the tour.
Monday 19 September – part three: “hey, that’s not too wet – what’s with the ponchos?”
Then we were off on our Hornblower cruise… getting first views of the American Falls, and at this point, we were thinking “hey, that’s not too wet – what’s with the ponchos?” We knew nothing at that stage!
Oh my goodness! At one point, we got what felt like a huge wave over all of us, then we were heading into the Horseshoe Falls. It felt as if we were there for a lifetime, but when we later watched the boats, they only seemed to spend a few minutes there. I tried to snap some photos, but you can see what happened!
Although we were getting soaked, I can tell you this was one of the best experiences of my life – just standing there, admiring the awesome spectacle in front of us, hearing the roar of the falls, and gazing up in wonder at the completely emerald water coming over the top and cascading rapidly towards us. It was a truly inspirational moment, and one of those when you realise just how magnificent nature is, and frankly how small as humans we are. Can you tell I loved it?
As we made our way out, I did manage to get a couple of photos that hopefully capture the power of the spray we were all caught up in!
On the way back, finally we got to see a rainbow in the water, which was very neat!
Then it was time to watch the next boat heading out, with me honestly wishing I could do it all over again. I have seriously not come off something with as much as a high since the first time I did a helicopter ride on our honeymoon in 1999. I was absolutely buzzing and totally working on adrenalin, not a great thing for someone with chronic fatigue, as it can mean you get easily worn out, but hopefully I’d be Ok…
I love your retelling of the experience! It's quite an awesome feeling to be in the middle of the falls! We've done the Maid of the Mist tour once and have also done the Cave of the Winds, which you captured in your photos. It's the folks in the yellow ponchos on the wooden platforms. That is another outstanding experience, with the thunderous water cascading right next to you.
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. I am so glad you guys took the Hornblower!! Great way to get up close and personal!!
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