Making lemonade out of lemons…. In a titanic way! COMPLETED 5/13 - Page 9 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Great scenery and can't believe that one cottage on that small island. I would not want to live there being so close to the cliff, isolated and would worry about the weather and sea elements!
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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!
Gotta be Cadbury caramel eggs for me. I dislike the creme ones. So, you're all welcome to the zillions of those my sweet tooth would demand if I liked them.
I only eat the caramel ones in private because I like to lick at the caramel as one might an ice cream cone. No one needs to witness that!
I have a fondness for the caramel ones too. Couldn't find them at all this Easyer after the first few weeks the candy was out. I like to scoop out the caramel too.sometimws playing with our food is perfectly legit.
I have a fondness for the caramel ones too. Couldn't find them at all this Easyer after the first few weeks the candy was out. I like to scoop out the caramel too.sometimws playing with our food is perfectly legit.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
Don't get me on caramel as I love it so much...although, my dentist would not be in with you on this one!
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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!
Great scenery and can't believe that one cottage on that small island. I would not want to live there being so close to the cliff, isolated and would worry about the weather and sea elements!
Neither would I! Mind you, we've seen some similar places on this trip to Iceland that are pretty desolate that I wouldn't want to live in either....
I have a fondness for the caramel ones too. Couldn't find them at all this Easyer after the first few weeks the candy was out. I like to scoop out the caramel too.sometimws playing with our food is perfectly legit.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Saturday 15 April – part eight: a ridiculously warm welcome
We made our way over to our bed and breakfast place. It was the same place we’d stayed in back in August 2013 called Crowfield Country House.
It’s a lovely place, with a superb rating, and is run by wonderful people, which is why we wanted to return. We were asked which room we wanted to go with, either the ground floor or upstairs, but we opted for upstairs, and ended up with the same room we’d had four years ago… and look at the view!
Ok, so the room was pretty cool too…
Once again, we had a ridiculously warm welcome – not that I’m complaining mind – with this served up to us when we arrived. It’s one of the reasons we came back, as we thought this was such a lovely touch.
We sat there, enjoying our afternoon tea, reading some of the guidebooks they had there (remember we didn’t have ours, as Mark’s mum had it…) although it later transpired they were sadly hideously out of date. I saw reference to the Belfast Wheel, and I thought it sounded great, but later when I did a Google search, it turned out that it closed in 2010…
By the time we were done, it was after 5:00pm, and I was wondering if we’d ever be hungry in time for our dinner, which was booked in less than an hour. We headed out just before 6:00pm…
… and got there spot on time. I tell you, I’m really glad I booked, as the restaurant area downstairs was full. We were taken upstairs, and when we got there, there was only one other table taken, but by the time we left, the whole place was completely full.
The view outside from our table
For appetiser, I went for the melon platter with fresh pineapple and sorbet. I have to confess this wasn’t exactly what I’d expected when it turned up, but despite that, it was still very pleasant…
Mark went for the garlic mushroom with fresh salad and garlic bread, and although it looked amazing, he said it was quite greasy, which was a shame…
For entrée, I had the fresh smoked salmon plate, layers of Irish smoked salmon served on a bed of fresh tossed salad. You can get this in either an appetiser or an entrée portion, and our server told us that the appetiser portion wasn’t that much smaller than the entrée one, so I went for that, as I wanted to save a little bit of space for dessert.
Having seen so many cute lambs today, I just knew what Mark was going to order. He had the Ballymoney braised lamb shank with champ and Rosemary and red wine jus.
It turned out we both had space for dessert. As soon as I saw the menu, I knew what I wanted – the Eton mess, three scoops of Morelli’s vanilla ice cream with fresh meringue pieces and fresh strawberries, whipped cream with a raspberry sauce all “messed” up together, and it was excellent.
Mark went for the banoffie pie, a crunchy biscuit base with bananas and a sticky toffee topping.
All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our meal here – again… it was just as good as four years earlier.
The Brown Trout
Appetiser 8½ 8
Entrée 8½ 9½
Dessert 9 8½
Atmosphere 9 9
Service 8 9
Value for money 8½ 9½
Average score: 8.75
I was very relieved when our meal was done in an hour, as I had a very important appointment to get back for – it was called Doctor Who at 7:20pm! Mark tried the joke about how it had been cancelled, and when we got back there, Sam and Pat, who own the bed and breakfast, also tried to tell me it had been postponed, as they knew I wanted to watch it, but it wasn’t going to wash with me. Trust me, I’ve had jokes like that from my parents just about all my life.
So was it worth it? Well, I thought it did what it was supposed to do. It acted as a good jumping in point for those who hadn’t seen the show before, and I enjoyed it. In truth, I enjoyed it more the second time around when I watched it again when we got home.
The weather today was a real mix – sometimes dry, sometimes showers, sometimes cloudy and sometimes sunny with temperatures in the mid 50s. The best thing today was the amazing views from the coastal road. The worst thing today was that darned cycle race! Today we tried going to the Donkey Sanctuary Belfast And the result was it’s very different to the one we’ve visited, and gave us a good idea of the other work the charity does. The most magical moment today was spending time with Benjy stroking him.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
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I would not want to live there being so close to the cliff, isolated and would worry about the weather and sea elements! 
– with this served up to us when we arrived. It’s one of the reasons we came back, as we thought this was such a lovely touch. 
He had the Ballymoney braised lamb shank with champ and Rosemary and red wine jus. 
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