Dreaming of a Disney spring break - part three COMPLETED - Page 10 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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!
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So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Monday 18 April – part two: I didn’t realise we’d get to see this!
We took a restroom stop before getting back on the bus and heading towards the Magic Kingdom and the backstage area. We were taken to the decoration warehouse, which is next door to the holiday warehouse, if anyone has taken the Yuletide Fantasy tour. We had to wear safety goggles in there, although honestly, it was just a huge warehouse, storing everything under the sun.
Seriously, I saw signs, pirate ships and we even saw a huge Dory, which we were told is designed for the Fantasy. Very cool! I was surprised by how many Christmas decorations we saw in here. Obviously, the holiday warehouse isn’t big enough to store everything, because there were trees and wreathes in here, as well as rows of snow people. Seriously.
We also saw a replica of the house from Up, which pleased one of our group, as he was a huge fan of that movie. A lot of the stuff stored in there is created for group bookings and then Disney gets to keep them afterwards. This can cost anywhere from $200,000 to $1 million.
We also saw Tiki lights, which they used to rent out at $50 a go. As Walt said, “we made our money back quickly on those!”
After a few minutes in there, we were off on the bus again for our final stop on the tour, at the Magic Kingdom. We pulled up backstage and emerged on to Town Square, where Walt immediately met one of his former managers, Suzette. He talked about her with such respect. We stood there for a while, hearing stories, but during that time, we had three marching bands to contend with, so it became a bit hard to hear what Walt was saying at times, even with the headsets.
He told us about the time that he had noticed some lights out along Main Street USA and reported it to Lee Cockerill, then Vice President on property. He was amazed that he emailed him back and went to look at the problem and it was solved by that evening. It was impressive alright, but to be honest, I wouldn’t expect anything less from Disney.
He then told us about the window for Frank Wells, the financial guy who worked with Michael Eisner. He wanted to climb the seven tallest mountains in the world, but sadly he did before he could do the last one, so the window put him at the summit in Main Street and talks about having climbed that 7th summit.
We walked up to the hub and here we saw Walt in action, picking up trash. He later told us that it’s every Cast Member’s job to clear up trash anywhere they see it, regardless of who they are in the company, something I never knew.
After telling us about the most commonly asked questions (“where are the restrooms?” is number one, “where can we find Mickey?” is number two, followed by the old chestnut at number three, “when is the 3pm parade?” ) and how to answer the latter without making anyone feel silly and then it was time to go backstage again.
This time, we were heading down into the Utilidors, which was a really nice surprise, as I had no idea that we would be doing this.
Before we did, Walt explained that the U-cross signs that we were seeing everywhere were because it’s busy season and managers were coming into work on the frontline to help Cast Members out, which is really good to hear.
We wandered through the Utilidors for probably about 15 or 20 minutes, seeing some of the Cast Members notice boards, of which there are lots and seeing the Disney area where you can get more pins for your lanyards if you trade all yours out. As always, it was fascinating to be down there and see the maps of how huge the Utilidors were.
I noticed that we never left Main Street USA and yet we walked a fair way. It’s certainly nice and air conditioned down there. I would never want to come up into the heat if I worked there.
I noticed that there were signs for Cast Members in three languages, English, Spanish and I couldn’t figure the other one out. Walt said that the most commonly used other languages spoken by Cast Members were Creole and Vietnamese, which did surprise me.
All too soon, our time in the Utilidors was over and we headed back outside again. I immediately noticed that there were ordinary people wandering around a backstage area. Surely that can’t be right? It was. They had added a 12pm parade, as well as the 3pm one. That had changed since the last time I checked the park hours before leaving home, so I guess their crowd predictions have gone up again. Because of that, they were diverting everyone entering the park through this backstage area. Walt explained that they had moveable barriers of trees set up, so that people don’t see too much and sure enough, they were already in place to shield guests from any secrets.
We headed back on to the bus and headed back towards Epcot. I asked about maintenance and how they cope during the busy season, when the Magic Kingdom is open from 7am until midnight and sometimes beyond, if it’s got Extra Magic Hours. He explained that they contract in more people to deal with it.
We also learnt that where 80% of Disneyland traffic is local people, in Florida, it’s only 20%, with the rest out of state visitors. I was staggered to discover that Disneyland has one million Annual Pass holders, while Walt Disney World has between 100,000 and 200,000. I thought it would be much more like the other way round.
Finally, we were back at Epcot and got our special pin. It had been a really enjoyable tour, but sadly from what Walt told us, not for much longer. : Apparently it’s being discontinued, which is a real shame. I did say to him that the fact that Disney don’t get many people on it is probably something to do with the fact that they don’t exactly market it well. A bit like the Nature Inspired Design Segway tour we took a few days ago.
As a footnote to this, when I got the credit card bill through, I discovered that we’d been charged for the Backstage Magic tour. I was obviously none too pleased with this, as that cost a lot more than Disney. I put everything in writing, including the confirmation that we were booked on the Inspiration Through Walt’s Eyes tour for that day. Disney, as usual, were superb in their customer service, and instead of refunding the difference, they refunded the WHOLE charge to my credit card, meaning we essentially did the tour for free. However, the e-mail I got confirming that did say that we had been booked on the Backstage Magic tour, as the Inspiration tour had already been cancelled by the time we took it! Well, obviously it hadn’t been, but I’ve seen checked on the website and sadly it is gone. I hope one day they bring it back, as it was excellent.
What a shame you had such an awful server. It seemes to be getting more common lately. I hope they take care of this problem.
And what a shame that the tour is no longer there. I have to agree though. A lot of these tours are just not advertised at all. I mostly hear of them by reading others TR's. I do want to take one in the future.
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Just a thought - but maybe some of you who liked the idea of the tour should e-mail Disney and enquire about it? It might encourage them to re-introduce it...
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Very cool! I was surprised by how many Christmas decorations we saw in here. Obviously, the holiday warehouse isn’t big enough to store everything, because there were trees and wreathes in here, as well as rows of snow people. Seriously. 
It was impressive alright, but to be honest, I wouldn’t expect anything less from Disney. 
It was. They had added a 12pm parade, as well as the 3pm one. That had changed since the last time I checked the park hours before leaving home, so I guess their crowd predictions have gone up again. Because of that, they were diverting everyone entering the park through this backstage area. Walt explained that they had moveable barriers of trees set up, so that people don’t see too much and sure enough, they were already in place to shield guests from any secrets. 
: Apparently it’s being discontinued, which is a real shame. 
I did say to him that the fact that Disney don’t get many people on it is probably something to do with the fact that they don’t exactly market it well. 
A bit like the Nature Inspired Design Segway tour we took a few days ago. 
Well, obviously it hadn’t been, but I’ve seen checked on the website and sadly it is gone. 
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