Not Quite London., but was once ruled by England… - UPDATED 7/26 - Page 2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Our plans for the day were to take the Metro into the city, visit the Air and Space Museum, eat lunch somewhere, visit the Capitol at 2, and then go to the Natural History Museum until it closed.
The only plan that didn’t change was the Capitol tour at 2.
We ate our free breakfast of eggs, sausage, fruit, French toast, cereal, juice, breakfast burrito, or anything else we wanted except donuts. Now who has ever heard of a hotel that serves free breakfasts not having donuts? Oh, we didn’t eat all that food; I just wanted to let you know what our choices were.
While eating, we decided to change our course of action for the day. Our plans were tossed out the window and new ones were drawn up. Instead of the Air and Space Museum, we were just going to take the Metro and get off somewhere and start walking. Now does that sound like a great plan or what?
We left the hotel at about 7:30 and followed the masses to the Metro. Last night we were really the only people at the station, but my how things change during rush hour! We quickly learned to stay on the right side of the escalator so we would not hinder those brave (or crazy) enough to run down the steps. I can’t even walk in heals, how do these ladies run down steep, moving stairs in them?
When we reached the Orange Line platform, the sign said the Metro was arriving in four minutes. You know what that means don’t you? All the people who ran down the stairs were waiting for the same train we were.
Other than people watching, the great thing about the Metro is there is a map of all of the stops and transfers by each door. The bad thing about the Metro is, when you are only 5’ 2¼”, you can’t reach the loops to hold on if you are not lucky enough to get a seat or near a pole. Instead, I just played the, “don’t hold onto anything while the train is moving” game to see how long I would last.
I made it to the second curve before grabbing some stranger.
Looking at the map by the door, it appeared the Farragut West station was as good as any to get off. So, we were herded out the doors and out of the station by the bustling crowd. As we reached daylight, we realized there were no mountains that told us which way was west. So, we just continued to move down the street with the herd.
As we reached the first corner, we noticed there were great signs pointing the different attractions in the area. However, we didn’t see one for the White House. A man overheard us and told us which way to go down 19th St. to Pennsylvania Ave. and then follow those signs. Seems we had already gone the wrong direction, as we went West when exiting the Metro Station instead of East.
When we got to Pennsylvania Ave, somehow we got on H St. and took that to 17th St. which we then took to Pennsylvania Ave. Thank goodness for the people watching us try to read a map in our guide book or who knows where we would have ended up! Seriously, DC needs a few mountains so we could figure out which way West was!
The first photo op of the day was the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, on the corner of 17th St and Pennsylvania Ave.
While we couldn’t visit the VP today, the Eisenhower Building is a gorgeous architectural landmark.
Just down the street we came to the White House, with only small crowds, several Homeland Security agents, and one protester:
The police puppy had just watered the bush right before I took the picture. For some reason I found this hilarious.
And our protester from across the street with the White House in the background:
While checking out the protester, we found a lovely park, Lafayette Square. Here, we found Andrew Jackson’s statue:
Part of the Jackson Statue with the White House and the Washington Monument peeking over it:
Security on the roof of the White House:
Finally, the statue of Lafayette:
As we ended our mini tour of Pennsylvania Ave, we passed a gated area between the Treasury Department and the White House:
The Treasury Department was the last building before we took a right down what I believe was 15th St.
Great pictures Robin!! I too don't like that I can't reach any of the handrails on the Metro either!! Discrimination, I tell ya You're off to a great start!! More please
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About This Page: 
The stories of the women in the airport are hysterical. I guess someone didn't pay attention in math class. 
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Pixie Dust
Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
Oh, we didn’t eat all that food; I just wanted to let you know what our choices were. 
PassPorter Guide Author
You're off to a great start!! More please 
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