Living the dream and remembering the Bagman LIVE UPDATE 10/2 - Page 44 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 2
Likes (Received): 7
Thanks (Given): 0
Thanks (Received): 1
Pixie Dust (Given): 0
Pixie Dust (Received): 0
My emotions reading this =
PrincessSharon will be at Bagman Days -
Thinking about Bill and needing to remember to pack tissues
Facebook has an "On This Day" app - where it pulls posts from previous years on today's date - and I often see Bill's comments to my posts, or just that he liked my post, and my heart goes into my throat... and my eyes get damp. It is still so hard to accept that he is gone.
Marie,
That is so unbelievable and just so tragic of a freak accident. Lost at just four years old! I can't even imagine what her family must be going through!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Ok Cheryl, you need to stop making me cry with your pre-trip report. If I can't handle this, how am I going to make it through Bagman Days?
Hey, some of the most wonderful and emotional comments I've read are actually yours, so you can't hold me responsible for that.
Quote:
I'm feeling a bit emotional today - on top of the memories that are piling on with Bill, we had another tragedy very close to home this weekend.
My next door neighbor's granddaughter was killed in a tragic horse show accident Friday night. Labor Day weekend is always the Lancaster Fair weekend, and their daughter's 4 year old was showing in the horse show ring with her aunt. The horse lost its balance when it was backing up, and rolled over, she fell off, and the horse landed on her. I'm just devastated.
Oh my goodness, how terrible.
Quote:
I'm going to try to make my random acts of kindness in Bill's memory something to bring joy to young children. When I think of Bill, I don't think of Bill the policeman, although that was an important part of his life, I think of Bill the Disney fan - bringing smiles and laughter to all, especially his beloved Abby. I think that bringing joy to children will help to ease the sadness over both of these tragic losses.
Oh that is such a wonderful idea.
Quote:
I'm so excited to hear that Sharon will be there over the weekend. I haven't seen her in years.
Thanks for the suggestion as it would make an awesome Christmas gift, but unfortunately, it is not available on Amazon here in the US yet. e
Oh that is such a shame. Now if we were seeing you, I could get hold of some of them and bring them over for you. Sorry it didn't work out and we're heading to NYC instead of coming back to Disney on 30 September/1 October now...
Thinking about Bill and needing to remember to pack tissues
That's pretty much how my emotions are going right now as well.
Quote:
Facebook has an "On This Day" app - where it pulls posts from previous years on today's date - and I often see Bill's comments to my posts, or just that he liked my post, and my heart goes into my throat... and my eyes get damp. It is still so hard to accept that he is gone.
Pre-trip report – part forty: I can get a “birthday pig”
Saturday 27 August
Two weeks today! In fact, as I write this, at around this time in a fortnight, we’ll probably be having breakfast, packing the last bits and pieces, and getting ready to head out. Oh my goodness, suddenly time is hurtling past towards this vacation!
I did post in the Facebook group just to check whether there’s a specific meet when everyone will be wearing their T-shirts, as my pre-trip report is all about those and it made me wonder whether we had arranged anything. I thought we had for the sunset meet on the Thursday night, and sure enough, that appears to be the plan. Marie for confirming that one!
Hmm… now this is interesting. Joan (good grief, I cannot remember her board name now ) and Karen (zacksmom1993) are now staying off site with Crystal (crystallobear I think? ). I always knew Crystal was coming, but I asked Mark and he said he didn’t remember Joan and Karen coming before, so I think they may be very welcome late additions to our group. I cannot wait to see them both again.
Sunday 28 August
I went through our itinerary today, as I’ve made various tweaks over the last couple of weeks, since I first printed it out. Stupidly, I didn’t make a note of which days I’d changed, so I had to go through the whole thing and cross check. That’ll teach me and that’ll be the last time I do that. Normally I highlight a day anytime I make changes and now I know why – so much simpler!
As I went through the itinerary, I tried to change some of our dining reservations, as we’re now down to just the two of us for the Skipper Canteen, as Sheri and Danielle won’t be joining us, and I still want to change the Garden Grill from four to two, as Maci and her mum were originally booked with us. No joy on either front, so I’ll just stick with what I’ve already got, and explain when we get there.
I had a think about our Tiffin’s reservation, which was originally for 4:55pm in the hope of getting a dining package to watch Rivers of Light. Well, I think I can now safely say (or at least as safely as you can with Disney ) that won’t be happening, so I’ve changed the time of our reservation. It’s now at 7:45pm, which is better, given our lunch is 12:30pm. I figure we might as well enjoy the evening at Animal Kingdom before dinner.
By going through our itinerary, I also realised that I hadn’t actually printed out the signature forms for our Disney cruise. I remember saying when I completed filling them in that it was a bit stupid on Disney’s part that they want you to print the signature form out, but they mark it as complete without you having to print it. Of course, I meant to do it, but it obviously slipped my mind. This is why it’s worth having a printed itinerary to go through…
I have done a few small bits of packing. My eye drops (I now have to use them six times a day as part of my ongoing problem with my eyes) are in the case, along with three dresses. One is a sundress that I suspect may be useful for Florida. There are two more for dinners at Palo and Remy. I also plan on taking a nice pair of trousers with a couple of different tops, so that I can wear them for things like dinner at the CN Tower. One of those tops is in the case now, but as I wear the trousers for work, I’ll wait a while before I pack those, and I still need to pick another couple of tops to take.
Monday 29 August
I had my first Disney vacation dream last night, except it wasn’t about Disney. All I know is it was based around a link that Larry (LLaffinPlace) posted on Facebook yesterday: http://blog.touringplans.com/2016/08/27/s6_toothsome/ and therefore we were at Universal CityWalk, exploring some of the new places they have there. I don’t remember much more about it, except we were shopping, and we bought some stuff, and were trying to work out how to get it shipped back to Disney. Yep, a bit weird I know, but that’s dreams for you…
I threw a few more bits in the case today, but they haven’t actually come downstairs yet… Mark seems quite opposed to doing that. I did show him how much is in there, but it had no impact. I am however starting a pile of things to take downstairs next to my carry-on luggage. I did suggest Mark might want to look through his collection of hats, but even that didn’t get much enthusiasm. He is definitely a much later packer than I am though… I will happily everything packed a week before (and that’s my aim for this vacation too ) and he’ll still be packing the night before…
Tuesday 30 August
Someone posted in the Facebook group today that they received their MagicBand covers for Bill in the mail and they had a good cry at that and knowing that the first anniversary of his death is right around the corner. I think I’m now glad I said we’d pick them up at Disney, otherwise if they’d have arrived in the post, I think I’d be a mushy, crying wreck too…
I completely forgot to mention this, but someone posted on my pre-trip report a couple of days ago to say that Disney, along with Universal and SeaWorld, are now giving out free insect repellent in response to the arrival of the Zika virus in Florida, which I think is a really good move. I mention it as someone posted about it on the boards today, and I was reading it thinking “I’m glad I’m not the only one to only just find out about this…”
In my pre-trip report, Cam posted that Luke (her husband just in case you don’t know, but of course you do… ) had read somewhere that Animal Kingdom may get a night-time show at the end of September. While I kind of hope it’s true for everyone visiting around then, it would be very frustrating if that happened, as that would mean only those of us going in September miss out.
I went to load some final money on to the travel money card at lunchtime, and now I’ve got some nice round figures on the card in terms of both American and Canadian dollars, which will make it a lot easier for me to remember the totals we’re starting with, as we deplete them gradually with our spending along the way. The woman in the travel agents asked when we were going, and I told her next Saturday and she looked at me in amazement and said she couldn’t believe it was finally here, as I’d been coming in for so long to top it up!
When I got home, I did a little bit more packing. I’ve got a couple of pairs of crops in there now. I’ll be taking three in total, along with a pair of shorts, and a pair of leggings. I think that should be fine. I also packed some socks, and tried some sock re-unification, which ended badly. Out of seven single socks, only one was re-united with a partner. The others went back into the drawer to hopefully wait for their prince to arrive one day… Ah well, maybe that’s just too much of a fairytale…
Mark announced later on that he’d be able to get a “birthday pig” – at least that’s what I thought he said… what the heck? I asked him to repeat it, and eventually got it, he meant a birthday pin at Disney. Ah yes, good point, you can get one of those. I think it’s a big deal for him, given we don’t usually go away for his birthday and certainly not to Florida, as obviously it’s way too hot for us at that time of year.
Anyway, by that time, I had pig in my head, so I told him it was just as well it wasn’t a birthday pig, as he wouldn’t enjoy that. He protested, telling me he liked pigs and I pointed out his slight issues with Piglet which did lead to a rant about how much of a problem he has with poor Piglet. That then set off the song in my mind “With A Few Good Friends” by Carly Simon, which is from one of the Pooh movies, possibly even the Piglet movie, at which point Mark got really irritated with me! I told him it was that or “It’s A Small World” and promptly burst into that song, which irritated him even more!
When I went to bed, I swapped TV channels, as we were recording something, and I didn’t want to watch bits of it. I ended up on BBC2, and found a documentary all about New York City. I knew it was on, but I wasn’t going to watch it, as our time there is pretty much all sorted, and I didn’t want to find myself thinking “I wish we could add x in”, as that’s what usually happens with these things. It turned out to be more about life in the Big Apple, rather than anything else, and it was very good.
The bit I saw started off at Grand Central Terminal, and talked about how they refurbished the building. They showed what it looked like before the work got underway, and explained how the ceiling was black from pollution, and cigarette smoke. It turns out there’s even a small patch they left that colour, so you can see the difference. Wow!
They then went on to talk about taxi cabs, and I didn’t realise this, but most drivers rent their cars, often from big companies. Apparently the taxi cab medallion itself that gives you the right to drive can cost $1 million. Yes, I can see why most people rent! It was really interesting, and they were saying that trips in yellow cabs are declining with the uprising of things like Uber. That was so sad, and they were saying that they have cut prices to compete, but to a certain extent, they’re also reliant on tourists. Well, we’ll certainly be taking one to and from the airport, so at least we’ll do our little bit to help support them.
You've gotten quite a bit ready to go! It's so close now! I'm so excited for you and know this TR is going to be amazing to read!!
I'm a packer like you and Dave like Mark...drives me crazy because he also doesn't understand my packing method and invariably causes me to have to pull everything out and re-sort! You would think after 38 years, he'd know!
It's definitely guys. Mike packed the day before our trip. And don't get me started on DS's packing methods!!
I think Mark is clearly crying out for a Piglet shirt for his birthday gift. He's just too shy to come right out and ask.
It's getting so close now!
That written itinerary is so important. I did the same thing with our Canada one - made some changes but failed to follow through on some things! Good thing I kept going over it.
I used to always pack luggage ahead of time too, but I don't know. Lately, I've been a last minute packer which is odd. And I don't like it! I put things in a pile so I don't forget them, but I just don't put it in luggage. Maybe that's close enough!
__________________
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
We just returned from my son's wedding in the San Francisco area where we fell in love with Uber. Price and convenience couldn't be beat to get around SF.
I can't wait to see this trip via your photos. I love New England and Canada, especially in September.
You've gotten quite a bit ready to go! It's so close now! I'm so excited for you and know this TR is going to be amazing to read!!
I certainly hope so - I will do my best!
Quote:
I'm a packer like you and Dave like Mark...drives me crazy because he also doesn't understand my packing method and invariably causes me to have to pull everything out and re-sort! You would think after 38 years, he'd know!
Oh my, so similar! For us though, it's only been 16 years of marriage (17 in November) and in January 2017, we'll have been together 20 years, so you have a lot of time on us...
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
I can't even imagine what her family must be going through!
]
PassPorter Guide Author
Marie for confirming that one! 
) and Karen (zacksmom1993) are now staying off site with Crystal (crystallobear I think? ). I always knew Crystal was coming, but I asked Mark and he said he didn’t remember Joan and Karen coming before, so I think they may be very welcome late additions to our group. 
Of course, I meant to do it, but it obviously slipped my mind. This is why it’s worth having a printed itinerary to go through… 
He is definitely a much later packer than I am though… I will happily everything packed a week before (and that’s my aim for this vacation too 
It was really interesting, and they were saying that trips in yellow cabs are declining with the uprising of things like Uber. That was so sad, and they were saying that they have cut prices to compete, but to a certain extent, they’re also reliant on tourists. Well, we’ll certainly be taking one to and from the airport, so at least we’ll do our little bit to help support them. 
I don't understand how Miffin can wait until the night before a trip to pack. 
Linear Mode
