Our first "Welcome Home" and 26.2 miles - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
Ok, I'm getting that pie for dinner next time. That looked delicious!
I'm impressed that you use ice for your ice bath. Yowsers, that's gotta be cold! I'm freezing just using the cold tap water!
__________________
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
Congratulations on your great finish!! I have learned many new things about the RunDisney races from your TR that I did not know about, despite running in 2 of them, thank you!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Glad you had such a good dinner - you thoroughly deserved it!
Thanks, Cheryl!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Glad you finally made it back to the resort. Frustrating to be so close and not allowed in the gate! Sounds like a lovely, relaxing meal. I love that veggie pie!
Oh, me, too! It was delicious!
Quote:
Originally Posted by disney_duke
Ok, I'm getting that pie for dinner next time. That looked delicious!
I'm impressed that you use ice for your ice bath. Yowsers, that's gotta be cold! I'm freezing just using the cold tap water!
I knew I'd crossed over into new territory one day after a long run when I opened the freezer and said, "Oh, goody, lots of ice!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by BelmontBelle
Yay, I made it in your TR!! Danell and I had a great time visiting with you, Rick and your friends, thank you for inviting us!
I'm so glad you could join us, Lisa!
Quote:
Originally Posted by deerislemom
Great trip report! Thank you for sharing. Congratulations on the marathon!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amy L
Congratulations on your great finish!! I have learned many new things about the RunDisney races from your TR that I did not know about, despite running in 2 of them, thank you!
I learn new things every time I run a Disney race!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Glad you finally made it back! Sometimes bus travel at WDW is a bit iffy. Dinner looks very delicious, too.
I checked the time on my photos, and it didn't take that long to get back to the room, but it sure FELT like it did!
Yay, you finished!! And you finished faster! That's awesome.
I loved the RR, too. I think the best part was just being able to quickly refuel (not having to wait in lines for the buses to get to a restaurant), and sit down for a minute. If I go back, I'll definitely do this again. And how funny that you met your husband's running mate. It is a small world, after all...
What a great dinner with friends after the race. I'm sure you were completely exhausted! So glad you got to relax with friends and have a delicious and entertaining dinner.
Glad you finally made it back to the resort! Dinner looked delicious!!
It was! Can't wait to go back to Rose & Crown!
Quote:
Originally Posted by shazza
Yes, you deserved a nice dinner and meet-up with friends!
It was a lovely way to celebrate our accomplishment!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lsugirlinutah
Catching up!!
Yay, you finished!! And you finished faster! That's awesome.
I loved the RR, too. I think the best part was just being able to quickly refuel (not having to wait in lines for the buses to get to a restaurant), and sit down for a minute. If I go back, I'll definitely do this again. And how funny that you met your husband's running mate. It is a small world, after all...
What a great dinner with friends after the race. I'm sure you were completely exhausted! So glad you got to relax with friends and have a delicious and entertaining dinner.
I wasn't terribly tired, but my legs were hurting, that's for sure!
So, after dinner, we were able to catch up with our team right outside of the Rose & Crown pub. We shared stories and heard how everybody's races had gone. I am very glad to be a part of this team!
Afterwards, Elisa wanted to go across the street to see who we could find hanging out in the character spot. There was only one family ahead of us when we got over there, but then Pooh and Tigger had to take little break, so we had time to do a little shopping.
During last year's marathon weekend, my daughter and I spent some time chatting with the Cast Member about how it wasn't a real representation of the UK if they didn't have any Doctor Who merchandise. Well, guess what we found this year???
So excited! Of course, we didn't buy anything, because this is nothing that we can't find at a local store or from thinkgeek.com...BUT we were very happy to see this change.
After our meet and greet, we could hear the British band out in the courtyard, so we headed out for a little music. I got a text from Tanya that she was just finishing dessert, so we made plans to meet up for a FAB. DH and the rest of the gang declined to go with me, so I made my way to France.
We only had a little bit of time to visit; Tanya was feeling the effects of three early mornings and two big races, so they left not long after. We said good-bye, not knowing when we'd be seeing each other again, but as it turned out, we had lunch today! Her middle daughter had a gymnastics meet about a half hour away from me, so we got to visit for a couple of hours!
I hadn't heard from DH or my friends, so I started back towards the UK. Turns out, the band finished their set after I left, so they were on their way to France! We met back up and continued on to find a spot in Germany to get ready for Illuminations.
Back at home, while looking at the pictures from Photopass, I noticed a photo of Elisa, Dave, Katrina and my DH on the bridge between the UK and France. I thought, "Wait, where was I???" and then I remembered and laughed that they'd taken a photo without me. Katrina's husband had gone back to the resort, because their son wasn't feeling well, so DH stood in for him. Or did Katrina stand in for me?
Even though we'd had a big dinner, I was hungry for something but I couldn't quite decide what it was. What I really wanted was a margarita, but I didn't want to walk all the way to Mexico to get one. When we got to Italy, we passed by the gelato stand. Suddenly, I decided that I had to have gelato! I decided on a gelato cookie sandwich. It was not as good as I thought it would be.
We met up with my BFF in Germany, but we still had some time to kill, so she and her family went to ride Maelstrom. We found a spot on a bench to wait, but there weren't enough spots for everybody, so we had to split up. Katrina, Elisa and Dave sat down on one bench, and DH and I sat down at another bench across the way. Since DH and Elisa's husband, Dave, got along really well, he and I swapped places so the boys could talk and the girls could, too.
There was a man on the other end of our bench who tapped me on the shoulder when I sat down and told me that his wife would be back any minute and I couldn't stay. I told him that I wasn't planning on staying and I would give up the seat when she returned. Elisa told me later that the woman never came back.
When my BFF returned, Dave and I swapped seats again so the families could stay together. We all enjoyed Illuminations - my favorite fireworks show! - and said goodbye until the next day. We bypassed the boat dock and walked back to the Boardwalk. We packed most of our things up, because we'd be checking out the next morning. I set the alarm for about 6:30; we had an early breakfast ADR at Kona Cafe and a few hours at MK before heading home!
Up next: our last day
__________________
Last edited by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince; 02-09-2013 at 10:33 PM..
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Danell and I had a great time visiting with you, Rick and your friends, thank you for inviting us!
.
Deer Isle Mom
I have learned many new things about the RunDisney races from your TR that I did not know about, despite running in 2 of them, thank you!
Tricia
DH and the rest of the gang declined to go with me, so I made my way to France.
Linear Mode
