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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
When: Weds 9th July, 12.15pm Where: Our local park (I know! A new location!!) How far: 2.23 miles How long: 29 mins Average Pace: 13.04 m/m
OOOOOMG, it's been a week and a half since I did anything more strenuous than walking the dog. Either some sort of miracle will have occurred during that rest time and I'll be able to skip along at a great pace ...or I'm going to have lost everything I built up, feel like I've never run before and it'll be rubbish. However the only way to find out was to get out there, so we did the morning dog walk, came home, got changed, and went back out to the park. Why the park? Well mostly because when we drove past the road where we usually go (alongside the beach) the wind was insane - the flags on the cafes/kiddie arcades were on the verge of being ripped off. No way I'm tackling that after such a gap! I don't know why we never ran round the park before as it's pretty much ideal - virtually a square, almost exactly a one mile circuit, nice flat concrete path. I think maybe we were happier being out of the way at the beach while we were starting out, but the holidaymakers are increasing and the park is actually probably quieter now if you time it right.
So we get there, park at the edge and start our five minute warm up walk around a large pond (turns out it was pretty much exactly five minutes round, which is handy!). Andy has essentially abandoned C25K - he doesn't really need it, given that he knows he can run 5k in 38 minutes (I'm still jealous), so he is working on being able to cover a set distance (currently he's sticking to 2 miles) more quickly and feeling better doing it. My intention was to carry on with the next app up from C25K (called, appropriately, 10K Trainer), which meant run 10m/walk 1m x 4 times, so 40m running in all. I actually did the first session of this the day before our race, but I'd had to sneak an extra little walk in because it felt too much. I had no idea how I would feel about it today, but in the absence of any other plan it was somewhere to start.
As usual, Usain Bolt...I mean, Andy...pulled away into the distance. My first ten minutes were okay - it was nice to have different scenery to look at! I got about three quarters of the way round the circuit in that run, which is about the same pace as I was doing during C25K. During the second 10m though, I felt really weird sort of around my core - not a stitch, not a cramp, just sort of heavy and tense on both sides. I wondered if it was my running belt (I use it to carry tissues - I live in fear of having a sneezing fit but having no tissue so I HAVE to take it with me but have no pockets), so I shoved it lower, over my hips instead, but it didn't help. Tried breathing longer and slower/deeper, but that didn't really help either. By the time I'd done my second full circuit (so, about 2 miles, was into the third 10m run) I could see Andy had finished and was lingering up ahead waiting for me. As I got to him I checked MapMyRun and I'd only been going for 28 minutes. I just couldn't face another 10m after this one, so I'll admit it: I bailed out right there. We walked the rest of the circuit together back to the car.
I was kinda disappointed with myself, but I really didn't feel like I could have done any more. What if Andy hadn't been there, sort of offering me a way out? Mmm, maybe I could have finished the 10m that I was halfway through...but I don't think the final 10m would have happened, or if it had I'd have felt absolutely awful by the end. I think it was a combination of the time gap since last going out, the odd tenseness around my abdomen and the fact it was fairly warm. Having struggled so much with both my attempts at the 10K Trainer app so far, I think it would be pointless to keep flogging myself at that and would be wiser to do as Tim suggested. So as I know the park is a mile around, next time I'm going to leave the app off and just try to run one circuit. And if I can, after a little walk break, I'll run another one so I've run 2 miles altogether. And then in the sessions after that, I'll try to do the same thing but faster, and build it up so I can run round three times without stopping (i.e. about 3miles/5k).
I'd love to be able to run 10k, and I'm sure that one day I will, but right now I'm still too shaky at being a 5k runner and I need to get that sorted first I think. We are still considering the rural 5k race that I think I mentioned a while back - it's in August but is described as 'undulating' so I think we need to be a lot better before we register..!
__________________
Tinkerboo (or in the real world, Toyah) Reading Challenge 2015: 0/84
Follow my journey from sweaty panting mess to running goddess (I hope!) Out walking with The Boy...