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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Is this worth it? Anyone signing up for this? When I signed up for Dopey 2 weeks ago I decided to wait on the Race Retreat. I mean I practically needed smelling salts to revive me when I saw the cost for DH and I to run these races. Now that I have recovered, I am trying to see if this might be something worthwhile esp. with getting up so early and running 4 days in a row. Thoughts? Would you do it for the half and the full, just the full, or neither? Thanks!
I think it is a waste personally, especially for the cost they ask. My situation is a little different, but pre race I don't think I would have used it, and post race I was meeting with my family immediately afterward, so again would serve no use.
One reason you might consider it is if it is just you and your husband, you guys could hang out together post race, enjoy the perks etc before heading out. I still think it is priced pretty high for what it is....but hey you do get free socks.....
Tim
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I have always done the Race Retreat, and I LOVED it. Yes, the cost is high, but having a place to wait before the race, with plenty of food and drink and comfy chairs was wonderful. The years I have run on Marathon Weekend the weather has been fantastic, but you never know. So it was nice to know there was place for me to wait that was safe from the elements. It was also nice to have a place to meet up with family after the race, again sit in comfy chairs and have food after the race. If you have family going and you purchase the Race Retreat for them, they get reserved seating at the finish line and access to the tent and all the amenities. I think they advertise characters, but I never really saw any of them. Oh, and "private" bathrooms! They are still Port-A-Potties, but you have far less people using them and there is never a wait.
Glad you enjoyed it Tricia! I think a lot of people do. But I'm not one of them.
Perhaps they've changed it a bit since 2008, but I didn't find it useful. It was my first Half, so my friend and I splurged. We arrived early, not the last bus to the pre-race, so maybe like 4:15 we walked into the tent? It was packed. Jam-freakin-packed. All the chairs were taken, and they were plastic chairs. We ended up just sitting on some carpet/turf on the ground.
Yes, they had food, but with my GI issues, I can't eat before or after running. So that was totally a waste for me. (stupid me!! )
We utilized the bag-check and the port a potties. But honestly, the lines for the "private" ones were just as long as the ones outside when we started the walk to the corrals. So we didn't understand that benefit at all. The biggest benefit was bag check. Which I don't do anymore anyway!
Since I'm a slower runner, by the time I got back to the tent post-race, the food was pretty much depleted. And they didn't replenish either. In fact, about 10 minutes after my friend got her plate (she finished in 3:25), they started tearing down the food buffet. Mind you, there were still other finishers just entering the tent too.
We did have a private character meet with Donald. That was cool. But overall, I was not impressed. And this was 2008, and the cost was like $80 or $90 ish for the Half.
I guess I don't see the benefit to it personally, especially since I can't partake in the food offerings. And it's a gamble on the weather angle since it's such a crapshoot in January! Good luck deciding,
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Tanya
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Thanks everyone for your input! I have always wanted to try this, but it has not been offered for the Disney races I have run thus far. Thinking we might give it a try for the full only. By the 4th early morning, it might be nice to have a comfy place to go before and after the race. DH is leaning towards it for the $10 massage. I guess he thinks his legs might be a bit sore after running 48.6 miles. I think the fact that you get free socks totally makes it worth it.
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So how much is regular massage, post race? I mean not in the race retreat?
Funny you should mention massage. I was reading an article (runners world, I think) that said those massages offered immediately post race are not a good idea. Apparently, it could further damage your already sore and torn muscles. They said to wait a few hours to allow some repair time before massage. Makes me wonder then - why do so many races have these massage tents at the finish line? I don't know. If you believe it though, I'd book a massage at the spa at Saratoga Springs for Sunday before dinner maybe. But that'll be more than $10.
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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
Tanya - I'm off to find that article, thanks! That makes sense too. For me - the last thing I am going to want to do is climb up on that table post marathon and have a massage. But that's me.... I would just like a nice place to sit, eat, and drink something. If anything might be left that is.
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Yeah I just read that article in RW..I think its Aprils issue?? Then again Im a few issues behind so it might be in Decembers issue for all I know lol.
After our first half (W&D) we decided to splurge on a couples massage at Dolphin....nice but very expensive....I didnt really enjoy it for I was in screaming pain from my IT band and also was having tummy issues and had to warn my massage therapist that I may end up jumping off the table to the nearest bathroom..sooo embarassing! But I survived, no accidents, and my IT was still screaming.
Ive debated about splurging on the retreat too.....when we just did Nike Womens yesterday it was chilly out and I was literally shivering and cramping up by the time the race started! I was contemplating on running into Starbucks to warm up but I was afraid Id not be able to get back into my starting corral. How long until before start can you stay in the tent before you need to get into the corral?
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Kim
"I am a runner because I run. Not because I run fast. Not because I run far. I am a runner because I say I am. And no one can tell me I'm not."-- John Bingham
Hey Kim, they have live feeds from the starting line in the tent, so you can see when it is time for you to line up. Remember it can be quite a walk to the starting line, and the longer you wait the heavier the crowds. At least in my experience.
Hey Kim, they have live feeds from the starting line in the tent, so you can see when it is time for you to line up. Remember it can be quite a walk to the starting line, and the longer you wait the heavier the crowds. At least in my experience.
Hey thats pretty cool! Not the long walk to the corrals but the live feeds!
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Kim
"I am a runner because I run. Not because I run fast. Not because I run far. I am a runner because I say I am. And no one can tell me I'm not."-- John Bingham
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Hey thats pretty cool! Not the long walk to the corrals but the live feeds!
It's also nice because they have the live feed show all the people crossing the finish line. So if you had family/friends waiting in the tent but for some reason they didn't want to watch you cross in person, they can do it from the tent.
If they could let you take the shorter walk to the corrals - like the old way we all used to walk there - that'd be a great benefit to the race retreat. But yeah, you've still gotta walk the looooong walk with the rest of the cattle into our corrals.
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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
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Now that I have recovered, I am trying to see if this might be something worthwhile esp. with getting up so early and running 4 days in a row. Thoughts? Would you do it for the half and the full, just the full, or neither? Thanks! 
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Tricia
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DH is leaning towards it for the $10 massage. I guess he thinks his legs might be a bit sore after running 48.6 miles. 
But I survived, no accidents, and my IT was still screaming. 
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