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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I'm thinking of starting the Princess Half training program in a few weeks (never done more than a 5K) and I'll be at WDW with my family during marathon weekend in January. Might be fun to run the 5K just to get some sense of a Disney race. I have lots of questions though if anyone has done this...
1) The 5K is at 6:30 a.m. and it looks like transportation starts at 4:30 a.m. Would I need to be outside waiting on the first bus at 4:30 a.m. (staying at Old Key West) to make the event, or can you arrive closer to the time for the 5K?
2) About what time does the whole thing finish and are there buses back to the hotels immediately following, or do you have to wait until park buses start running at 9:00?
3) What is a good strategy for picture taking? Do they have photopass photographers near the characters? Do you have to wait in long lines? If no photopass, do you take a camera with you? Then who do you get to take the photo?
4) Will they allow you to go back on the course for photo ops after you finish the race? I'm wondering if it is better to just run without stopping and then walk back through at least part of the course to collect some photos. (I currently run 5K in 30 minutes - not fast by any stretch, but enough under the 16 minute/mile pace that I could have 15 minutes back on the course if allowed)
5) Or, it is better just to skip any photos for the 5K due to the short distance?
6) I'm trying to decide whether it is worth doing this race. I know I'd enjoy it... but we will be at Disney for a family vacation and I'm not sure its a good idea to take time away from that. It might just be adding one too many things to the day....
We check-out of Old Key West that day and move to a Treehouse Villa, my in-laws are leaving that day and will be taking Magical Express around noon, my brother and his family arrive and we'll want to connect with them in the parks after lunch. I regularly run 3 miles, so I know the distance won't exhaust me.... but if I'm gone from 4:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. it will make the rest of the day difficult - esp. that 11:00 a.m. check-out. If I'm back in the room by 8:30 a.m., it would be more doable... plenty of time after that to pack up for the move, say goodbye to in-laws, etc.
I appreciate any advice and information you can offer!
While I have yet to run a 5K race, I've done Half's and the Full so I'll try to answer as best I can!
1) For the big races, you can take the last possible bus from the resorts and still make the beginning of the race. In fact, I'd recommend that! For my first Half, I took one of the first buses for fear of being late and ended up sitting on the pavement waiting for 1 1/2 hours. Not comfy, and not fun!
2) I don't know when it should finish (maybe 1+ hr after it starts?), but they will have buses ready and waiting to take you back to your resorts right there near the finish line. You won't need to wait for the regular buses. (although, I've taken the regular buses due to the LOOOONG lines for the race-specific buses, particularly for All Star resorts!)
3) I bring my own camera in a slim AmphiPod running/fanny pack. They have photographers out on the course with the characters, but they are NOT with photopass. They are through a separate photo company called ASI which is the official photographer of Disney races (I would assume they will still be in January as well). Upon return from your trip, you log in to ASI and can see and purchase all your photos. ($$$) OR, bring your own camera and they will happily snap a photo with your camera!! Some characters do have longer lines than others, so I guess it depends on your timing during the race (keeping under that 16 min/mile pace) as to whether or not you have time to waste 5 minutes waiting in line or not. Personally, I only stop for characters with little to no line, regardless of who they are.
4) I don't believe you are allowed back on the course, but I don't know for sure. For 4 races, I've only ever seen "coaches" for teams walking back to continue cheering on their team members, and even that is only within the last 1/4 to 1/2 mile. So I would guess, no, you are not allowed back on the course.
5) I can't really say if photos are worth it or not as I've never done this race!! But I would bring a camera just in case. You never know!!
6) I think you could squeeze this race in - as long as you hussle back as soon as it's over. With a 6:30 AM start, figure the last person to cross the start line crosses at 7AM (hoping it's not you, I'm just thinking while typing here.... ), 16 min/mile pace, that person should finish about 7:50 ish, let's just bump it up to 8 AM. Get some water, grab a snack, wait for the bus..... you should be back to the hotel no later then 9AM. Let's even allow 9:30 for a long line for the bus. Yep, I think it's do-able as long as you're not super tired from the early start!!!
I hope that helps a bit. Disney races are fun - and addicting. I'm headed out this Friday for the Wine and Dine Half marathon. I'm now on a mission to get every runDisney medal. deciding!!
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While I have yet to run a 5K race, I've done Half's and the Full so I'll try to answer as best I can!
1) For the big races, you can take the last possible bus from the resorts and still make the beginning of the race. In fact, I'd recommend that! For my first Half, I took one of the first buses for fear of being late and ended up sitting on the pavement waiting for 1 1/2 hours. Not comfy, and not fun!
2) I don't know when it should finish (maybe 1+ hr after it starts?), but they will have buses ready and waiting to take you back to your resorts right there near the finish line. You won't need to wait for the regular buses. (although, I've taken the regular buses due to the LOOOONG lines for the race-specific buses, particularly for All Star resorts!)
3) I bring my own camera in a slim AmphiPod running/fanny pack. They have photographers out on the course with the characters, but they are NOT with photopass. They are through a separate photo company called ASI which is the official photographer of Disney races (I would assume they will still be in January as well). Upon return from your trip, you log in to ASI and can see and purchase all your photos. ($$$) OR, bring your own camera and they will happily snap a photo with your camera!! Some characters do have longer lines than others, so I guess it depends on your timing during the race (keeping under that 16 min/mile pace) as to whether or not you have time to waste 5 minutes waiting in line or not. Personally, I only stop for characters with little to no line, regardless of who they are.
4) I don't believe you are allowed back on the course, but I don't know for sure. For 4 races, I've only ever seen "coaches" for teams walking back to continue cheering on their team members, and even that is only within the last 1/4 to 1/2 mile. So I would guess, no, you are not allowed back on the course.
5) I can't really say if photos are worth it or not as I've never done this race!! But I would bring a camera just in case. You never know!!
6) I think you could squeeze this race in - as long as you hussle back as soon as it's over. With a 6:30 AM start, figure the last person to cross the start line crosses at 7AM (hoping it's not you, I'm just thinking while typing here.... ), 16 min/mile pace, that person should finish about 7:50 ish, let's just bump it up to 8 AM. Get some water, grab a snack, wait for the bus..... you should be back to the hotel no later then 9AM. Let's even allow 9:30 for a long line for the bus. Yep, I think it's do-able as long as you're not super tired from the early start!!!
I hope that helps a bit. Disney races are fun - and addicting. I'm headed out this Friday for the Wine and Dine Half marathon. I'm now on a mission to get every runDisney medal. deciding!!
Thanks so much! This is VERY helpful! Good luck at the Wine and Dine... and have fun.
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I, too, have only done the longer distances at Disney like Disney Duke. Here are my additional thoughts to those already posted:
1) I, too, got there early and sat on the cold asphalt for a couple of hours. Take a later bus.
2) To meet the 16 minute pace, everyone must be done by at least the 50 minute mark. There are buses back to all the hotels from this particular race since it is marathon weekend. Like Duke said, the All-Stars are very popular for these events and lines will be longer.
3) I carried my camera with me. There are character handlers at each character location that are willing & able to snap pics. I also only stop for characters with no line. During the Princess half, I ran past every princess b/c there was a line.
4) No, there's really no going back. Also know that once you pass thru the tents for bag claims, you cannot go back, either (to water/recovery area).
5) I doubt that there will be a ton of characters for the 5K to be quite honest. They were spread out along the half marathon course. It would be hard to pack many in the 3 mile course.
6) I say go for it. I run on vacation, anyway, and this won't take much of your day at all. You'll be back shortly after the parks open. If you have the opportunity, you should do it!
I, too, have only done the longer distances at Disney like Disney Duke. Here are my additional thoughts to those already posted:
1) I, too, got there early and sat on the cold asphalt for a couple of hours. Take a later bus.
2) To meet the 16 minute pace, everyone must be done by at least the 50 minute mark. There are buses back to all the hotels from this particular race since it is marathon weekend. Like Duke said, the All-Stars are very popular for these events and lines will be longer.
3) I carried my camera with me. There are character handlers at each character location that are willing & able to snap pics. I also only stop for characters with no line. During the Princess half, I ran past every princess b/c there was a line.
4) No, there's really no going back. Also know that once you pass thru the tents for bag claims, you cannot go back, either (to water/recovery area).
5) I doubt that there will be a ton of characters for the 5K to be quite honest. They were spread out along the half marathon course. It would be hard to pack many in the 3 mile course.
6) I say go for it. I run on vacation, anyway, and this won't take much of your day at all. You'll be back shortly after the parks open. If you have the opportunity, you should do it!
Enjoy yourself!
Thanks! I appreciate the encouragement and the information. I've only run in very small (under 200 people) 5Ks - so this might give me a tiny glimpse of what running in a crowd would be like before trying the Princess 1/2.
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