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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 am now exactly 30 days from leaving for my very first half-marathon. And where else would I run my first half-marathon than Disney?
About Me:
I am 38 years old, and this will be my first “solo” trip, meaning I am going without my husband or my four kids. We usually go to Disney every other year (we have a land/sea trip scheduled for October 2013)
About the Trip:
This time last year, I was really feeling uncomfortable in my own skin. I would not say I was fat, but I had definitely put on some pounds and was not feeling good about myself. I had a high school reunion coming up in June, and that was a really good motivator to lose those extra pounds. I worked really hard and lost 20 pounds right before my reunion. I felt great! But then the reality of summer kicked in (kids home all day, not a lot of free time for exercise), and I gained almost all of it back. I guess you can’t sit around by the pool all day eating pool food and expect to maintain your weight!
In August I re-evaluated my habits and lifestyle, and realized that the key for me was cardio. I do Pilates regularly, but quite honestly it doesn’t burn enough calories for me to maintain my weight. Problem is, I hate cardio. So, so much. So I decided to focus on a goal in order for me to stick with my cardio. I decided to run a half-marathon.
I know myself; I tend to be very gung-ho about things initially, but once that early fervor wears off, I get very lazy and don’t feel like doing it anymore. At first I began researching local half-marathons, but they did not give me much time to train. Utah doesn’t have any half-marathons in the December-February time frame (for obvious reasons), which is when I felt like I would have enough time to train and get ready. I also realized that doing a local one that far out might cause me to lose my passion for my goal, so I began researching half-marathons other places. Lo and behold, what popped up? The DisneyWorld half-marathon! If I signed up for that, and paid for a hotel room and airfare, then I would be “stuck” and would have to run the half, which means I would have to keep up with my training.
Now, about my title: I am terrified to run this race. I am absolutely frightened that I will not finish. You have to run the half-marathon with a 16 minute pace. I ran 9 1/2 miles last weekend, and was at an 11 minute 40 second pace. Very slow, but I do have some wiggle room.
Three years ago, I was where you are now. I may have mentioned this before, but I did my first half marathon in October of 2009, and I was terrified, as well. You did the right thing by getting yourself financially committed to running this race. I'm sure it has helped with the motivation to train!
Let me tell you that an 11:40 pace is amazing, and you will be far ahead of the sweepers! Marathon weekend is about more than just the race, and I suspect that once you do this race, you will be hooked! I speak from experience, as I have done 13 half marathons since that first one, and two marathons, including this year's Goofy Challenge.
I'm training right along with you, and looking forward to marathon weekend. My DH, dad and uncle are doing the half this year, and I'll be cheering. It would be great to meet up beforehand so I can look for you on race day! We've got an extra spot on our ADRs for both Via Napoli on Saturday afternoon and Rose & Crown on Sunday if you'd like to join us.
__________________
Last edited by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince; 12-11-2012 at 10:53 PM..
Originally Posted by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince
Three years ago, I was where you are now. I may have mentioned this before, but I did my first half marathon in October of 2009, and I was terrified, as well. You did the right thing by getting yourself financially committed to running this race. I'm sure it has helped with the motivation to train!
Let me tell you that an 11:40 pace is amazing, and you will be far ahead of the sweepers! Marathon weekend is about more than just the race, and I suspect that once you do this race, you will be hooked! I speak from experience, as I have done 13 half marathons since that first one, and two marathons, including this year's Goofy Challenge.
I'm training right along with you, and looking forward to marathon weekend. My DH, dad and uncle are doing the half this year, and I'll be cheering. It would be great to meet up beforehand so I can look for you on race day! We've got an extra spot on our ADRs for both Via Napoli on Saturday afternoon and Rose & Crown on Sunday if you'd like to join us.
Honestly, Beth, I have appreciated all the support I have gotten from the Running section on these boards. I read through all your marathon TR and they really got me excited to go and do this (not to mention scared of the bicycle guys...cue Wizard of Oz music...
I would love, love to meet up! I probably can't join you for dinner, because as you will see I will have my dad and two brothers with me. But thank you so much for the invite. I look forward to seeing you there and meeting in person!
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Training Update: Today I did 11 miles. I had a pretty good run except for the fact that there was about 3-5 inches of snow on the trail. It was basically like running on sand. My pace was MUCH slower than usual, but I seriously doubt there will be 3-5 inches of snow on the ground at Disney! I only have one more long run before the race; that's in two weeks and it will be 12.5 miles.
On to the PTR:
Before I signed up for the half, I called my mother-in-law. She lives about 20 minutes from us, and I asked her if she would be willing to help out with the kids (remember, this is August. The half is in January.). She and I do not have the best relationship; she doesn’t often see my children which frustrates me to no end, especially as she lives 20 minutes away. But I needed her help if I was going to sign up, since my husband can’t get away from work. She said she would help, even though she didn’t know what she was doing in January, she might be busy or have other family in town (yes, that’s what she said!). I told her I couldn’t sign up unless I knew she could help, so she told me to write it in her calendar.
Once I had her on board, I signed up. But I didn’t really want to go by myself. My brother and sister both run marathons, so I thought I’d ask them to join me. My brother John is 36 and a confirmed bachelor. He doesn’t have kids and hasn’t been to Disney since he was a teenager. I thought he was a long shot, because he doesn’t like to plan ANYTHING in advance; usually he decides about two weeks before he goes anywhere. My sister I thought I had a better chance with. She and I had a massive fight this year, and we are in the healing stages. I thought she would jump onboard just because she wants to heal our rift as much as I do.
Imagine my surprise (again, remember this is the end of August) when I got a text from John that said, “I’m in. Where do I sign up?” and he signed up! Usually he would say he’s coming and then do nothing until it’s too late. As I said earlier, John regularly runs half marathons and marathons. His average pace is about 7 1/2 minutes. Remember in the last post when I said my average pace is about 11 1/2 minutes??? My sister, strangely, kept saying she was coming but then never signed up. These Disney races fill up very quickly, and I kept telling her to sign up, but she kept putting it off. When she finally did try to sign up, it was already full.
John told me he wanted to do this trip as cheaply as possible, but not stay in any of the Value resorts. I am not good about checking for discounts, so I called Michele (PixieMichele) to help us with our reservations. She was great! We booked connecting rooms at CBR, and then were able to get a good discount on our rooms. We are not on the dining plan, and John expressly forbade me from making any dining reservations (he said he didn’t want to be a slave to reservations. He wants to eat when hungry). We arrive at Disney on Thursday, January 10 and leave on Sunday, January 13. I booked the late nonstop from Salt Lake City into Orlando that arrives about 11:15 pm, and John is on this flight with me. Friday morning we have to go to Wide World of Sports to pick up our registration packets but we have the rest of the day free. Saturday we have to be at EPCOT for the race start at 5:30 am. Sunday John leaves early, taking the first nonstop back to Salt Lake at 7:00 am, but my flight doesn’t leave until 6:15 pm. Up Next: A Few Nice Changes!
I'll have my DH, dad and uncle with me, so it's a real family affair like yours! Families can be challenging, can't they? My sister and I had a big rift last year, and it was difficult to mend those fences. Glad you two are fixing things.
Good job on the 11 miles! Did you get the email telling you to download and print your race waiver?
We will be at EPCOT on both Saturday and Sunday, so maybe we can meet up then!
__________________
Last edited by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince; 12-15-2012 at 11:09 PM..
I'm glad you've got family coming along and running with you. Even though there are a lot of people around the resorts for marathon weekend, it's a great time to be there and I don't think dining without reservations should be much of a problem as long as you're flexible with times. You've got me nervous about your MiL coming through for help with the children now. If she couldn't commit without reservations in AUGUST!
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About This Page: 
I felt great! But then the reality of summer kicked in (kids home all day, not a lot of free time for exercise), and I gained almost all of it back. 
I guess you can’t sit around by the pool all day eating pool food and expect to maintain your weight!
I do Pilates regularly, but quite honestly it doesn’t burn enough calories for me to maintain my weight. Problem is, I hate cardio. So, so much. So I decided to focus on a goal in order for me to stick with my cardio. I decided to run a half-marathon. 
Tricia
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Pixie Dust
We've got an extra spot on our ADRs for both Via Napoli on Saturday afternoon and Rose & Crown on Sunday if you'd like to join us.
PassPorter Guide Author
I only have one more long run before the race; that's in two weeks and it will be 12.5 miles.
(yes, that’s what she said!). I told her I couldn’t sign up unless I knew she could help, so she told me to write it in her calendar.
My sister I thought I had a better chance with. She and I had a massive fight this year, and we are in the healing stages. I thought she would jump onboard just because she wants to heal our rift as much as I do. 
These Disney races fill up very quickly, and I kept telling her to sign up, but she kept putting it off. When she finally did try to sign up, it was already full.
Families can be challenging, can't they? My sister and I had a big rift last year, and it was difficult to mend those fences. Glad you two are fixing things.
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