PassPorter Podcast: Sara's runDisney Adventure (Episode 208 - 1/8/2014) - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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PassPorter Moms Podcast: Disney & Beyond Getting Ready for a runDisney Race (Episode 208 - 1/8/2014) - (01-08-2014 09:00 AM)
Podcast Description: Sara is getting ready to run her first 5k this week at Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend! Jennifer and Sara discuss how to get ready for your first race - what to pack, paperwork, and more. Plus an update from AllEars.Net, a photo contest hint, and listener emails!
Jennifer and Sara!
First off, I just want to say congrats to Sara on running her first RunDisney 5K. You looked great as Ursula and it's really inspiring for those of us who can't even run to catch a bus see so many people running all the races in WDW this weekend.
The reason I'm commenting though is in regards to Chandra's email asking how to navigate WDW with 4 kids alone, one of which is legally blind. I'm legally blind myself and wanted to offer a little advice. Allears.net is definitely a great resource, but I'd recommend a few other things, too. One tip is that rides with conveyor belts at the loading area can be difficult for those with limited vision and depth perception. Rides like HM, SSE, TTA, Peter Pan, etc. You can ask when you get to the CM if they can slow down or even stop the belt to help get on the ride. Another resource I'd check out is a fairly new podcast done by my friend Kathleen Kelly called Special Mouse, all abut traveling to WDW with someone with a disability. Shameless plug, I was on the episode she did for people with visual impairments. You can find it on iTunes or at this link: http://http://specialmouse.com/podcast-2/. Another thing that may help is Lou Mongello's Audio Guides to the Magic Kingdom, which are also available on iTunes. He's got a different guide for each land in MK, and eventually he'll have them for every park. They're very descriptive and may help him picture what things look like before he goes. to her!
Love the podcast. Keep up the good work and I can't wait for next week's episode to hear all about Sara's 5K adventures!
__________________
-Lisa
The World is a book. Those who do not travel read only a page." - Augustine
Thank you so much, Lisa! I really enjoyed your podcast on SpecialMouse. It was incredibly helpful.
My son suffers from a degenerative disease of his retinas and his vision lost has been a rapidly changing process. We are still learning of the best ways to accommodate him and ways to help him enjoy the places we visit as a family. Knowing this is a long term battle for him we strive to make it as easy of an adjustment as possible. Your tips about slowing the ride, making sure we bring an extra pair of glasses and being as specific as possible to CM when we encounter a need were just the sort of tips I needed to hear. A lot of what you said resonated with me as my son also has problems in dimly lit areas and in bright light. His vision perception is also gone, making stairs all the much more difficult. I have added lots of hats with visors and a flashlight to my packing list for him per your suggestions. I appreciate you reaching out to us! Thank you again.
Sara and Jennifer, thank you for all the tips you gave to me as well. I do appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions during your podcast and I am going to enlist the help of my older two on this trip. I am also thinking that your suggestions of staying close to the hotel and trying to spend most of the time at Epcot or HS would probably be the best bet. That way, if it does get overwhelming we can just head back to the BC and swim.
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RE: Tips for Visually Impaired at WDW
Jennifer and Sara!
to her!
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