Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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09-06-2006, 04:37 PM
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#1
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PassPorter Guide
Community Rank: Globetrotter
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,041
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A San Francisco Treat
by Cheryl Pendry, PassPorter Message Board Guide and Guest Contributor
Travel to most cities in the world and the first thing that usually strikes you is how bustling they are. New York, London, Los Angeles – all busy places with lots going on. So when you first get to San Francisco, it’s a bit of a culture shock.
continued in next post...
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09-06-2006, 04:37 PM
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#2
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PassPorter Guide
Community Rank: Globetrotter
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,041
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Re: A San Francisco Treat
San Francisco was the city that thousands of people flocked to during the original “Summer of Love” in 1969 to “turn on, tune in and drop out” and perhaps that’s why it maintains a laid back feel today. No-one seems to be in a hurry, except for the tourists, trying to cram in everything that there is to see here.
Apart from the laid-back way of life, the other thing you notice soon after arriving here is the geography of the area. Hills are everywhere here and although it’s a compact city to walk around, the hills can be exhausting. What may only appear a couple of blocks away on the map can become a hike that leaves you gasping for breath if you end up having to head up one of the city’s infamous hills.
For exactly that reason, it’s a good idea to make Lombard Street one of your first stops. Head to the top of Lombard Street and then walk down the world’s most crooked street. With a 27° incline, if you do decide to try and struggle your way up this road, then spare a thought for vehicles. The eight twists and turns had to be added in the 1920s to lessen the gradient, so that cars could use this street. These days, it’s somewhere that any visitor with a car should make a beeline for. Nearly every car you see going down Lombard Street has passengers on board with cameras or video cameras in hand. Pedestrians can make their way down – or up if you’re feeling very active – on the steps at the side of the street.
If you don’t have a car to experience Lombard Street – and with the sky high parking charges in San Francisco, that’s no bad thing – you can even turn your journey there into a tourist attraction, by using San Francisco’s unique cable car system. First launched in 1873, the cable cars were developed to help deal with the amazingly steep hills in the city. Working on a system of moving cables that run under the ground, the real star on each car is the gripman. He's the one who starts and stops the cars, requiring a lot of strength and good reflexes. It’s perhaps not surprising that only a third of candidates pass the training course.
These days there are three lines, two of which start off from the turntable at Powell and Market Streets, to the south of downtown, by Union Square. Both take you up towards the Fisherman’s Wharf area. The other line runs east to west through the Financial District and Chinatown. Both routes offer plenty of sights along the way, as well as helping to get visitors around the city and, for the bravest, there’s added excitement from jumping on board, standing on the boards and clinging on to the poles on the outside of the car. It’s something that everyone should experience on their trip to the city.
Tickets are $3.00 each way for everyone over the age of five. Seniors and the disabled can get a discounted rate of $1.00 between 9pm and 7am, but the more cost-effective way to get around is to buy a passport, which also allows you to ride on the bus and streetcar systems. They cost $9.00 for one day, $15.00 for three days and $20.00 for seven days.
Perhaps the most popular cable car destination is Fishermen’s Wharf. Although some people feel that this area has become too commercial, it still has a lot of charm. You’ll never go hungry or be without a souvenir for long in this part of the city! The less commercial attractions include the sea lions that bask on the famous Pier 39, and San Francisco Maritime, a historic park run by the National Park Service, which includes a range of historic maritime vessels, a museum, and a fascinating visitor’s center.
Walk a little further along and you’ll come to Ghirardelli Square, a definite “must-do” for every chocolate lover. Although you won’t find candy bars made here now, they’re still for sale, are certainly worth sampling, and may prove to be an excellent source of souvenirs for everyone back home!
This area offers some superb views out to what may well be San Francisco’s best known landmark – the Golden Gate Bridge, although count yourself lucky if you can see it without the famous fog that often enshrouds it. The fog is formed where cold ocean water meets the heat of the Californian mainland. When the Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937, it was the world’s longest and tallest suspension structure and today around 40 million vehicles use its six lane highway each year. You don’t need a car to cross the bridge, though. Pedestrians and cyclists can use the sidewalks during daylight hours, but bear in mind the bridge is 1.7 miles long, so be sure to wear comfortable shoes!
For many years, the Bay Bridge, which connects San Francisco to Oakland, has been the poor relation to the Golden Gate Bridge, but now that’s all changing. At a cost of $6.3 billion, a new bridge is being built and is due to be completed in 2012. In the meantime, traffic continues to use the old Bay Bridge, damaged in the 1989 earthquake, and it’s a fascinating drive, allowing you to see how construction is progressing.
Having now mentioned the dreaded “E” word, it’s worth saying something about the prospect of earthquakes that constantly haunts this city. It’s no doubt on the minds of many visitors to San Francisco, but there are plenty of words of advice as soon as you arrive. We found our TV in our hotel had an entire channel dedicated to earthquake preparation and much of it is common sense. If you’re inside and in bed, then stay there. If not, keep away from windows, hanging objects or tall furniture and try and find cover under a strong table or desk or drop to the floor and cover your head and neck with your arms. If you’re outside, then move to a clear area and try to not to stop under power lines, near trees or buildings. It’s also worth keeping a set of clothes by your bed to be fully prepared – and it helps to get you moving in the morning!
San Francisco really is unlike any other city in the world - easy going, but full of hills that really are hard work, a unique transport system that is one of the city’s biggest tourist attractions, and it’s definitely a place not to be missed on any tour of California.
(Next week, Cheryl will devote an entire article to Alcatraz. Will she and her husband Mark escape "The Rock"?)
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