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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Who:
Me, Chris -49 11/12ths, avid trip planner
DH Eric-north of 50, enthusiastic participant
DD Katie – 22, currently Professional Disney Intern Animal Nutrition at Animal Kingdom
DD Kendall– 20, college student, always ready for fun and adventure
DS Cam– 16 – Disney enthusiast, avid runner, always up for a trip to Disney When: January 5-12th Flying/driving combo Where: BCV Why: Participating in the Marathon Weekend and looking forward to spending a whole week together as a family – not easy with kids in college!
A little background:
We have taken many trips to Disney and quite a few around the New Year but never during the marathon weekend. We set our sites on this year’s race because it is a milestone year for me in that I turn 50 at the end of January. Being a runner, a Disney Race has been on my bucket list for a long time. When I announced that I would like to run, the rest of my family decided they wanted to run too! Wintertime is not my favorite time to train since we live in the upper Midwest, so I thought a half marathon distance would be a good distance to shoot for. Its a good race distance and it won't take up too much of our Disney touring time. My DS is a cross country runner and wanted to see how fast he could run a 10K, our DD’s are athletes and young, so running a 10K is like a walk in the park for them My DH had a hip replacement in 2014 and was ready to try and train for a race.
Even though the races fill up very quickly, I had wagered that we would be able to register and booked our BCV resv at the 11 month mark in early February 15 for the week surrounding the races.
I signed up for the emails letting me know the day/time that the registration for the races would open and read about strategies and how to register so that I would be ready. The morning the registration opened up, I was able to get all 5 of us registered and we were good to go!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Beginning Planning:
During our early planning phase, our oldest daughter interviewed and was lucky enough to be accepted as a professional intern at Animal Kingdom in the nutrition dept. She left in June for a 7 month internship that ended yesterday. She has had a really wonderful time and a great experience. She wishes she could stay forever, but grad school is calling her back.
Being the Disney enthusiasts that we are, we saw the great opportunity to take a few trips to visit Katie.
Because of those trips, DH, DS, and I have Annual Passes (always dangerous ) and we got our daughters 7 day hopper passes. We have a Disney Visa card and have been saving up points for a long time. We were able to buy 2 of the passes and have some points left over for some meals and fun stuff
At the end of our trip my DH will drive back with Katie in our small CRV that she has been driving. How much stuff can you accumulate at Disney during 7 months with a tempting cast member discount on most everything? A LOT!! I hope there is room for both of them in the car.
Great start! I will be there running too. DH and I are signed up to run Goofy. Are you all running the half? So far, the weather looks much better than last year...
Great start! I will be there running too. DH and I are signed up to run Goofy. Are you all running the half? So far, the weather looks much better than last year...
I am the only one running the half, the rest are running the 10K. I am in awe of anyone that can run as much as you are running
Anything warmer than 40 degrees will be very welcome at this time of year
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
About This Page: 
Wintertime is not my favorite time to train since we live in the upper Midwest, so I thought a half marathon distance would be a good distance to shoot for. Its a good race distance and it won't take up too much of our Disney touring time. My DS is a cross country runner and wanted to see how fast he could run a 10K, our DD’s are athletes and young, so running a 10K is like a walk in the park for them 
My DH had a hip replacement in 2014 and was ready to try and train for a race.
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Pixie Dust
for all you in your races!
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