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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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That's nice of you to help out. What's your charity, if you don't mind me asking?
Did you see the medals for these races yet? Someone, (Tanya, maybe?), posted a link earlier in this thread.
And the cool thing, imo, about running? We all started at the same level. (And of course there's that great t-shirt that says "My sport is your sports punishment")
Homes for Our Troops, amazing organization! I try to run at least one per year with them. My husband is active duty and I've grown up in a military town so it fits.
I love the medals and not gonna lie that the 5k green bling swayed me quite a bit to sign up
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Homes for Our Troops, amazing organization! I try to run at least one per year with them. My husband is active duty and I've grown up in a military town so it fits.
I love the medals and not gonna lie that the 5k green bling swayed me quite a bit to sign up
That's a very worthy charity--not that they all aren't. Good for you!
Yah, the bling is really nice this year. Can't wait to add to my collection!
I thought I posted here months ago but apparently I didn't Sorry I'm late to the party!
I'm doing the 5K, DH is doing the 10K, and we're both running the half-marathon!
It'll be my first ever half-marathon and I am soooooo nervous!!!
Quick question: Are the food courts at the All Star Resorts open at 3am or so when we need to get breakfast before the races?
My DH is in corral A and will probably finish the half in about 1 h 40 min. I, however, am in the second to last corral and will most likely need the entire 3 h 30 min. So, with me probably starting at least half an hour after him, he'll easily have 2 hours to kill. How long will it take him to get from Epcot to the All Stars by Disney bus? He'd like to head back to the resort to shower, then return to watch me cross the finish line.
Awesome Sabine!! Even though he's in corral A, just a reminder to him (and you). The weather. It will likely be hotter than you're used to. So please remind him to take it easier than normal. Don't go for a personal best, it's not a good time of year for that in Florida! Just have fun with it. I'm guessing you guys don't have the heat and humidity just yet in Germany! It's amazing the difference that humidity can make when running - even before the sun comes up.
To answer the rest:
Food courts are open, yes. They likely won't have the full grill/griddle stuff going, but grab and go for sure. Coffee, bagels, yogurts, etc... that can all be purchased before you get on the bus.
Bus transport time. This one is tricky. My initial answer is yes, he will have time, but he may have to make it a fast shower. And hope he doesn't need too much recovery time. Sometimes the buses wait until they are more full of people before they leave the finish area too. So he may have to sit on the bus for a while before they get going.
Due to this new course, there's no past history of traffic and road closures. It's all new! But looking at the map, I'm guessing all traffic and buses will have to take Buena Vista all the way as the only open road. I know that during marathon weekend in January, that causes huge back ups. BUT the difference is the marathon goes until 12noon and these Half's should be done before most people even get going to the parks, about 10am. That's why it's so hard to say!
And keep in mind that when he takes the All Star bus back to Epcot, it drops him off waaaaay over on the right side of the parking lot and the finish area is alllllll the way over on the left side of the parking lot. So he'll have a long haul to get to the finish line. On potentially sore legs.
I hope that helps a little bit! And so happy you guys are able to do this race!
BTW, I'll be doing DLParis in September this year! Just an FYI.
__________________
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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Nothing to add to Tanya's answers to your questions, but I did want to be sure that you have a "throwaway" sweatshirt packed. Having been in plenty of the back corrals, it can get a little chilly--not necessarily due to the temps, but a combo of nerves and lack of sleep can bring on a chill!
Best of luck to you both!
The weather. It will likely be hotter than you're used to. So please remind him to take it easier than normal. Don't go for a personal best, it's not a good time of year for that in Florida! Just have fun with it. I'm guessing you guys don't have the heat and humidity just yet in Germany! It's amazing the difference that humidity can make when running - even before the sun comes up.
We do have yucky humidity here in the summer but not this time of year. While this really won't be an issue for DH (he's annoyingly fit and resistant ), I am afraid it might do a trick on me...
I am just barely able to meet Disney's minimum pace requirement (my last 16K-run was a 16-minute/mile-pace, spot-on). If the humidity slows me down, Disney may not let me finish and I'd be devastated... Oh God, now I'm even more nervous!!!
As for the bus situation: We do have a rental car so DH could always take that to get back to Epcot after his shower. Do you think that would work better?
Quote:
Originally Posted by disney_duke
And so happy you guys are able to do this race!
BTW, I'll be doing DLParis in September this year! Just an FYI.
Yay, then we'll get to meet up!!! Dh and I are both doing the half-marathon at Disneyland Paris this year
Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Baloo
I did want to be sure that you have a "throwaway" sweatshirt packed. Having been in plenty of the back corrals, it can get a little chilly--not necessarily due to the temps, but a combo of nerves and lack of sleep can bring on a chill!
Already packed! I tend to get cold easily.
Any other tips or suggestions? Since this is my first ever half-marathon (and therefore also my first Disney half ), I'm so insecure
We do have yucky humidity here in the summer but not this time of year. While this really won't be an issue for DH (he's annoyingly fit and resistant ), I am afraid it might do a trick on me...
I am just barely able to meet Disney's minimum pace requirement (my last 16K-run was a 16-minute/mile-pace, spot-on). If the humidity slows me down, Disney may not let me finish and I'd be devastated... Oh God, now I'm even more nervous!!!
As for the bus situation: We do have a rental car so DH could always take that to get back to Epcot after his shower. Do you think that would work better?
Yay, then we'll get to meet up!!! Dh and I are both doing the half-marathon at Disneyland Paris this year
Already packed! I tend to get cold easily.
Any other tips or suggestions? Since this is my first ever half-marathon (and therefore also my first Disney half ), I'm so insecure
It's absolutely normal to be nervous! And if you did a 16 minute mile for 16k, you can do this, without a doubt. (Plus you're ahead of the balloon ladies by 2 corrals so there's that!) I never thought I could do a 10k, never mind a half and now I do them on a regular basis. So if I can do it, you can too! You've trained for this and a Disney race is SO much fun, it'll be over before you know it!
Your DH could take the car back to the hotel and then come back for you. There's usually a lot going on at the finish line as far as photo ops, rehydration, music and general people watching to keep you occupied if he gets stuck in traffic or something.
You are going to be great at this!
Oh really don't be nervous! I know lots of runners who start in the last corral and finish just fine. No worries! You will be absolutely fine. Just remember to have FUN!!
As for the humidity and heat, drink up in the 48 hrs prior. Gatorade and water even in the days prior will help greatly.
Yeah I would say take the car. Then he's in control of his time instead of the bus.
__________________
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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