Back to Bath and my donkeys… COMPLETED 7/25 - Page 13 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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What a nice time with your donkeys with so many great photos! They certainly enjoy the attention and adoration! I can't believe that one donkey gave you an attitude when you arrived!
Your breakfast looked very good as amazing combo with the eggs, tomatoes and smoked salmon. Would be even better with some capers and red onion.
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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!
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.
Sunday 17 June – part two: watching donkey grooming
You re-join us at the Donkey Sanctuary and, if you notice, there was one donkey without a collar…
This is Feargal, the handbag loving donkey, who managed to grab hold of the strap of one of my Disney handbags when we visited last year. The thing broke a couple of days later. I made sure to keep my handbag well away from him!
Anyway, he was no doubt without a collar because they’d been playing. The collars are designed to come off easily, so the donkeys don’t get hurt. Mark spotted it lying somewhere on the ground.
We got to witness this lovely practice, which I call donkey grooming. It’s when two donkeys, often ones that are pair bonded for life, groom each other and honestly the noise that goes with it is quite something. They really go for it!
Meanwhile Benji was scratching himself – one of his favourite past times!
Now there is a story to this… literally a few days after we visited, I noticed from the webcam that I keep an eye on that Benji was in what came to be known as the “bag of shame”. You’ve heard of the “cone of shame” with dogs to stop them scratching. Well, we think this is something similar. Basically, Benji ends up with a black cover to his face that is actually see through when you see it close up (thank goodness for him!) but from a distance, looks as if it’s blacked his entire face out. It could also be to keep the flies away or to stop him getting sunburnt, as I know some of the other lighter coloured donkeys have issues with that
Another further footnote - a while after I wrote this, I saw on the Donkey Sanctuary's Facebook page that Hannah, one of their adopted donkeys, who's also white, was wearing one and they explained it's to keep the flies away, so not really a "bag of shame" but the name has stuck in our house!
I was hoping that Ricky would do something fun with this wellington boot, but sadly it was not to be.
Eventually we tore ourselves away from the minis and marvelled at the next field, where they were out, chomping grass that had been newly released, as the electric fence had been moved back.
Awww!! They're so stinkin cute!
Our dog has white fur and I didn't know until we got him and the vet explained that yes, they can get sunburn more easily than the darker fur animals. So I have to limit his time outside. He's not always a fan of coming back in the house!
Mmmmm, yum... fresh grass!!
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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
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
A lot of great activity with the donkeys. Very interesting about the grooming and glad you captured it so well in action!
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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!
Our dog has white fur and I didn't know until we got him and the vet explained that yes, they can get sunburn more easily than the darker fur animals. So I have to limit his time outside. He's not always a fan of coming back in the house!
Mmmmm, yum... fresh grass!!
I bet they haven't got much now though.... I don't know how much rain they'd had since we were down there, but yesterday was our first day of rain since May. The grass here is all yellow. It looks like fall.
They're all so cute. The grooming reminds me of my cats. They're what you'd call a bonded pair. They've been together their whole lives and can't be separated. They groom each other but much more quietly.
Liz
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.
They're all so cute. The grooming reminds me of my cats. They're what you'd call a bonded pair. They've been together their whole lives and can't be separated. They groom each other but much more quietly.
Liz
Sunday 17 June – part three: the perfect adopted donkey
We made our way into the main barn at the Donkey Sanctuary…
… where I found one of my adopted girls, Bonnie, right in front of me:
I was so impressed with her. I just stood there and petted her and she didn’t flinch at all. She really is the perfect adopted donkey – one who obviously loves human attention.
We headed up to the visitor centre and honestly I’ve never seen the place this deserted.
We both had some different facial expressions when it came to this photo opportunity!
I always love seeing this:
We started to walk through the various fields of donkeys…
… and soon came across the tale of Will. Oh my goodness, he was adorable!
A little further up, we found some other wildlife…
… and Dartanyan, or as Mark christened him “Chewie” after Chewbacca from Star Wars. I think you can probably see why…
This is home to Millie the mule, who had kept us entertained during the snow in late February and early March. Every time we looked at her webcam, she was happily out in that. Goodness knows why – she had shelter, but she wanted to stand out in the snow. She was a lot of fun then and it was nice to see her in the flesh now.
What a sweet story about Will, its so great all the individual care they take with each donkey. Do they have a high success rate with the adoptions and is one donkey able to be adopted by more than one person?
Oh my goodness!! I am not sure how I missed this but I am all caught up now!! You are so making me want to go to the donkey Sanctuary and adopt a little guy!! Your pictures always tell a wonderful story and are new and fresh with each trip!! I can see why you continue to go here!!
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They certainly enjoy the attention and adoration! I can't believe that one donkey gave you an attitude when you arrived! 
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