Our first "Welcome Home" and 26.2 miles - Page 7 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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We left the Speedway and now we were headed toward Animal Kingdom. The sun was up and it was hot, but we had no choice but to keep plugging away.
"Bad to the Bone" was playing...
I'd broken the race up into sections in my mind, and now we'd reached the first of the milestones: double digits!
These tourists are always good for a chuckle. As I passed by, the woman was singing "One Day More" from Les Miz. Not sure how it was relevant, but that's my favorite musical, so I may have given her a !
I find this next picture to be a bit comical. Christmas was almost three weeks ago - marathon weekend is the farthest away from Christmas that's it has been since I've been coming down for it - and this year, we get a reindeer, a solider and gingerbread man!
Somewhere along the route to Animal Kingdom, we pass by the water treatment plant. They have cute little signs along the road with tidbits of information about how much water is used and recycled, etc. but nothing can take your mind off the smell of this stretch of road.
Captain Hook and Smee were out, but I've had my picture taken with them before, so I passed them by. I've seen pictures of other runners with Peter Pan and Wendy, as well.
The pictures between mile markers are getting fewer and fewer because it was so hot. The longer I ran, the more I wanted to just get it over with and I paid less attention to my surroundings. I've talked with friends who saw me out on the course, and I never saw them even though they called out to me!
I ran near this guy, dressed as some sort of ant character, throughout much of the race. I've never had my picture taken with Jiminy Cricket, but it was enough for me to get one of the two insects instead!
We ran into Animal Kingdom before the park opened this year. Usually, we don't get to AK until mile 16 or so, but we still had to get to the Wide World of Sports, so AK was sooner this year. I really like when the parks are open when we run through them -- I could use all the crowd support that I can get -- so I didn't enjoy AK as much as I have in the past.
Another milestone reached: almost the halfway point!
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The air looks hot even in these pictures! It is funny seeing the Christmas display. I guess the soldier, gingerbread man and reindeer were bored now that the Christmas parades are over! I guess no riding Everest this race!
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I was running along, listening to my music, because many of my songs have the perfect beat to match my pace, and sometimes it's all that keeps me moving forward. Suddenly, though, I could hear something else over the music in my ears: the song from one of my favorite attractions, the Haunted Mansion. That could only mean one thing: gravediggers!
I know some people say that this is in poor taste, because there have been marathons where people have died (3 in one year here in Detroit), but I think it's all in good fun. There were people lining up to LAY DOWN in the 'graves' they'd made in the dirt, but all I could think of was how dirty you'd be when you got up from the ground. ALL that dirt would be sticking to your sweaty body! Blech!
After I took that picture, I started to keep running, but then I caught sight of another grave digger standing off to the side. I stopped short next to him, and started looking down at my camera, fiddling with the buttons, because I'd already turned it off. When I turned the camera back on, I asked him, "Are you ready?" and as I turned my head to look at him, he was staring right down into my face and he said, in a scary voice, "Always..." Then I took what has turned out to be one of my favorite pictures from the race:
Before I ran off, I told him, "You are scary, and I love it!" This perked me up for quite a while.
They had some kites along the next stretch, which were very pretty. The license plate of the car in the blurry picture says "KITEMAN."
It's at this point in the race where we would normally go to the Studios, but instead, we were headed to another new part of the course: Wide World of Sports. Now, we'd all been there to pick up our packets just a couple of days before the race, so I figured it wouldn't be terribly exciting, but just like the Speedway, it was new and different.
We could see the Studios in the distance:
As we headed into WWoS, Tanya caught up with me, I think for the second time. We chatted for a bit, and she continued to encourage me. As she ran on, I took a photo of the back of her shirt so I could remember that it said. When I told her later that I'd taken it, she was happy, because she hadn't taken one, herself.
As unimpressed as I was with the scenery at WWoS, I was happy about one thing: real bathrooms with running water and flush toilets! I lost a few minutes here, but it was really worth it, if only so I could splash water on my face. We ran along a track for a bit, which was a nice break from the concrete and blacktop, and ran into the baseball stadium where there were lots of people cheering in the stands. I felt badly for those people sitting out there in the sun!
I saw this man, dressed as Richard Simmons, at the half the day before, and for much of this race, as well.
Up next: the Mile 20 spectacular...or was it?
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Last edited by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince; 01-24-2013 at 11:07 PM..
Great pictures! And now the sun is out! I'm still marveling at what time you get up to run.
It is earlier at Disney than any other race I've ever done!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lfredsbo
Great update! I am still in awe of all the characters long the route! I would ne'er finish!
It does take a while to stop for characters, but it's what makes a Disney race different from any other race.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
The air looks hot even in these pictures! It is funny seeing the Christmas display. I guess the soldier, gingerbread man and reindeer were bored now that the Christmas parades are over! I guess no riding Everest this race!
I had friends who rode EE, but they must have gotten to the park after I did, because it wasn't running when we went through! I actually wouldn't have even considered it this year, even if the park had been open!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coop
I'm amazed at all the pics. Doesn't stopping to take photos mess with your time?
Yes, your pace is definitely affected by all the stopping and starting. But I've never been too worried about pace at a Disney race.
Beth just got to catch up on your TR - first off Welcome Home!!! I was so excited when you said you had become DVC members as I know that was something you had wanted to do for awhile.
I am so sorry you were a bit down at the beginning of the race but it was totally understandable, you were nervous about your knee, I am sure your bus mate did not start your day off on a good note...you did not find your friends as planned plus....it was 3 AM, yes I would have been quite emotional as well. I was so happy to see that smile on your face when you got to the MK.
Love seeing all the characters out to support you...but I think with it being as hot as they said it was going to be I would have just wanted to get through the race as well. Can't wait to read more.
I saw the Richard Simmons guy at the half, too! Glad you were able to catch up with Tanya. Also love the grave diggers. Mi think they are hilarious. You are doing so well!!
Richard Simmons was a Dopey - he was in the 5k too! The best part, aside from the shorty shorts and wig, was his voice! He kept shouting out in that screechy, whiny Richard Simmons voice all kinds of encouragement!! It was hilarious!
Glad you got a shot with the HM loner guy. I considered it but he was too scary! Thanks for getting a photo of my shirt! Our reports will be similar by the time I get around to the marathon....
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Tanya
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Originally Posted by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince
So, I had gotten through the first five or so miles of the marathon and finally had a smile on my face.
Are you kidding me, a smile - I would have death on my face.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince
I thought this was Sally...
Nope Finn McMissle
Congrats on running the marathon. I hate running - never liked it. I could never get that runners high. I'm in amazement of anyone even wanting to run a marathon, let alone completing one.
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