Living the dream and remembering the Bagman LIVE UPDATE 10/2 - Page 4 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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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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Such fun plans! so sorry for all the closures you are encountering!
These things happen...
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But you certainly will be a busy pair!
I'm looking forward to the DVC after-hours event at AK as well!
I can't wait to see what it's like. The reports from the Magic Kingdom one made it sound pretty good.
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As to the use of miles (points) on flights, United will only allow so many seats per flight to use miles so if you wanted a flight that already had that number of people flying on miles, you can't book it. Unfortunately, you don't know how many seats they are allowing to be booked on miles for any given flight. It's the luck of the draw.
Ah, now that sounds exactly like Virgin Atlantic and British Airways then - that makes me feel better.
Those are some jam- packed plans! So only one day at Acadia/Bar Harbor? We spent 5 days there in 1998, and it was just about enough, but I would love to go back. Cadillac Mountain is best for sunrise, and if you're still jet lagged, that may be very doable for you.
Good to know!
I think that's about the right amount of time for us, as we tend to go to national parks more for photos, rather than hiking - bit had for me to do with the chronic fatigue.
You are sure to see some pretty foliage the further north you get. Bar Harbor is so pretty (from what I remember anyway) The Nubble is very pretty in the fall, and if you have time be sure to stop at The Goldenrod for some freshly made saltwater taffy (the maple is my favorite, very sweet, but so soft and gooey. Yum!)
Looking forward to more!
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Disney Magic Western Feb. 21st, 2009
Last edited by Big Baloo; 07-30-2016 at 09:49 PM..
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My goodness, you had your work cut out for you in making all the flight arrangements, but you handled like the pro you are. It is always so obvious that you love all the details of planning!
You are sure to see some pretty foliage the further north you get.
Oh that's good to hear and of course makes sense, as fall starts earlier the further north you go in New England...
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Bar Harbor is so pretty (from what I remember anyway) The Nubble is very pretty in the fall, and if you have time be sure to stop at The Goldenrod for some freshly made saltwater taffy (the maple is my favorite, very sweet, but so soft and gooey. Yum!)
I'm not sure we will, as we have a lot of ground to cover that day, but I'll keep that in mind.
My goodness, you had your work cut out for you in making all the flight arrangements, but you handled like the pro you are. It is always so obvious that you love all the details of planning!
Oh I do - I think I'd be lost with a simple trip where you just booked flights there and back. I love all the complications and challenges, it keeps me mentally busy thinking through all the options!
Pre-trip report – part four: it’s like buses… they all come along at once
Friday 8 January
I was reading a trip report tonight about the Star Wars fireworks at the Hollywood Studios, and I’d heard mention of this on Lou Mongello’s WDW Radio podcast earlier in the week. Hmmm…. This deserves further investigation, me thinks. I found out all the information about it on the Walt Disney World website, and have recorded those details in my itinerary. The dessert party sounds interesting… expensive but interesting too. We’ll see whether we go for that or not. To be honest, with my allergies (all tree fruit) and DH’s lactose intolerance, desserts can be a bit hit or miss for us.
I think it’s also here that I need to confess something… and it’s a big something. I mis-calculated our Disney Vacation Club (DVC) points. For those who aren’t Members, you basically buy a certain amount of points that you can use annually. We started out with 165, and now we’re on 600. Yes, I know that’s a lot, but it just sort of happened… over the course of a few years. Anyway, if you can’t use your points one year, you can bank them to the next year. This means that there is an end date by which they have to be used up.
Well, it just so happens that our 2015 allocation is 701 points (we carried some points over from 2014). The additional 101 points have to be used by July 2016, and that’s fine, we have plans for those. The remaining 600 points have to be used by July 2017, if we bank them. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but this particular year, it is a bit of a problem… as our plans for 2017 are for a Christmas 2017 trip. Ok, so we won’t be able to use any of those 600 points for that trip then…
We’re obviously using some points on this trip, and some are going on a Disneyland Paris trip in May 2016, but even with that, it leaves us with a bit of an excess, shall we say? Now usually it’s not a problem to use up DVC points, however this time around, even with some cunning arithmetic, we may have a spare 200 or so points to use up… yep, that’s a lot! Let’s put it this way, a one-bedroom villa at that time of the year at Walt Disney World is about 30 points, as it’s a cheap time of year for Members to visit (all of January and September and the first part of December are the cheapest seasons).
Things may yet change, as there are a few unknowns about our Disneyland Paris trip, but at the moment, we are seriously considering trying to change to the waterfront bungalows at the Polynesian, rather than a studio, and yes, you did just read that right. That would use up 195 points of the ones we have left, as each night in a bungalow is between 115 – 133 points, depending on the night of the week. I know it’s a lot, but heck, instead of them going to waste, I’d much rather use them, and the idea of a private plunge pool is quite appealing, let’s just put it that way…
Anyway, I figured the idea was just insane, and not just because of the crazy amount of points required, but also because the DVC sales pitches were that the bungalows would all sell out at the earliest possible time (the point at which only those who own points at the Polynesian can make bookings). Thankfully, the DVC Member website now has a very handy resort availability tool, so I took the opportunity to have a look at it – and I was staggered with what I found:
Admittedly all of January was showing no availability, but I went further through the year and found availability every day of the month for July, August, September (which is what I went online to check originally ), October, November and December. Only three dates in March and May and two in June were showing no availability, but a fair chunk of April had gone and a few days in February were unavailable. Wow! Not what I was expecting at all. So I guess at least it should be relatively easy to get into the bungalows, if that’s what we opt to do. As I say, there are other things that the points may be used for, so we’ll have to see, but it’s another option. I love the freedom of our wonderful DVC points!
Saturday 9 January
What is it with Disney and new dining opportunities? There are already bucket loads of new places I want to try on this trip, and they just seem to keep adding more and more and more…
Here’s the list so far of new places we might try:
Be Our Guest – breakfast
Boathouse
Garden Grill – breakfast
Hollywood and Vine – dinner
Jock Lindsay’s Hangar Bar
Morimoto Asia
Skipper Canteen
Spice Road Table
STK Orlando
Tiffin’s
Trader Sam’s
And this evening, I discovered that, as well as Narcoosee’s having already a Sunday brunch, the California Grill is also adding one from early February. Ooh…. Tempting, tempting. Disney, will you stop messing with me like this? Oh and let’s not forget that we also need to reserve some dining time for Food and Wine Festival booth treats as well… oh decisions, decisions, and we’re going to have to make them in the next couple of months before ADR making time…
Of these, the only ones that are absolutely certs in my mind right now are Trader Sam’s, as hopefully we’ll be staying at the Polynesian during this vacation, and Tiffin’s, the new signature restaurant at Animal Kingdom. We love signature restaurants, and I’m very excited that one of the parks is getting another signature offering, as I think that’s a real step forward. The Skipper Canteen probably will make the list, but at this stage, only because of its theming, and not because of its menu, which really doesn’t wow me sadly, but I’ve been so excited for such a long time about this place opening that I feel I have to give it a go. Spice Road Table will probably make the cut, as we love Epcot, and I love dining there.
If I’m being honest, I think I’m going off Be Our Guest for breakfast, as I think I’d rather do the Garden Grill, based on the dinner we had on our last trip, and some wonderful memories of how good breakfast was many years ago when they used to do it.
I really like the idea of Hollywood and Vine for dinner, given it will have Minnie and her friends, dressed in their Halloween finery. Now what an opportunity that would be…
We’re only going to be able to slot a couple of meals in at Disney Springs, and while I had heard some pretty poor reviews of Morimoto Asia, equally Lou Mongello from WDW Radio absolutely raves about it, so it can’t be that bad, surely? I’ve heard mixed reviews of the Boathouse, but again a WDW Radio podcast made me desperately want to try Jock Lindsay’s Hangar Bar, and I think that could be fun with a big group of us, and heck there will be enough of us there to have fun! I don’t think STK Orlando will make the cut, as it’s a steakhouse, but also it’s the only rooftop dining venue in Disney Springs, which is tempting…
Monday 11 January
As we had a bit left over in this month’s credit card bill, which is due in about a week’s time, I decided to go ahead and pay for our valet parking at the airport for this trip, especially as I’ve found an amazingly good deal. Now bearing in mind we fly out on a Saturday, and return back just over three weeks later, on a Sunday, and when we go for a weekend, we’re paying £30, I was stunned to find valet parking for the three weeks offered for £80. Wow, that sounds like a deal to me, so I figured I’d snag it while I could.
We did also have to decide whether to drive up on the day of our flight, which we don’t usually do, or spend the night at an airport hotel before we fly. Given our flight is 1:05pm on a Saturday, we don’t have to spend the night before, and to be honest, none of the hotels up there really do much for us. We decided there’s no point in spending the money for a hotel that doesn’t wow us. If it was Gatwick, it would be a different matter, as we like the hotels there, and they also do twilight check-in at Gatwick for Virgin Atlantic flights, meaning we can drop the cases the night before we fly. That’s not offered at Heathrow, so another reason not to go up the night before.
Tuesday 12 January
Isn’t it typical? You make plans, and they just don’t work out with other people. I couldn’t believe it today – I got a message from Sabine (disneybine) about a trip they’re planning to the UK and wondered if we’d like to meet up. Sure!.... except, oh darn it, it clashes with this trip. That figures.
Thursday 14 January
And it’s like buses… they all come along at once. Today I got a message from Tricia (hugmonster) asking when we’d be in WDW in September, as she’d love to meet us, but sadly again our dates don’t tie up. What is it?
She did ask us about our eastern Canada plans and it’s sort of a weekend, which she said might be do-able, so we’ll have to see.
Monday 18 January
And that makes it three in a week! Maci (xwewhisper) got in touch about what dates we’d be in WDW, as she’d like to come down and see us. Hopefully this one might stand a chance of working out… well, that’s something at least!
Next: is there any way to fit this into our trip? Hmmm….
I'm hoping that you go for the Poly Bungalows so we can get your take on what you think of them! My DH and I did the DVC tour last December and we loved the design and layout so I'm sure you would really enjoy your stay if you choose it! Your possible new meal choices sound great. I'm looking forward to trying the Boathouse next May on our trip. Sounds like a good plan not doing a stay at the airport hotel as you'll be sure to get a good night's sleep the night before in your own bed and have a fresh start to the day when you fly out!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
I'm hoping that you go for the Poly Bungalows so we can get your take on what you think of them!
You'll find out in due course...
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My DH and I did the DVC tour last December and we loved the design and layout so I'm sure you would really enjoy your stay if you choose it!
Oh cool - I had heard they were doing tours of it, but we've never had the chance to do it.
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Your possible new meal choices sound great. I'm looking forward to trying the Boathouse next May on our trip. Sounds like a good plan not doing a stay at the airport hotel as you'll be sure to get a good night's sleep the night before in your own bed and have a fresh start to the day when you fly out!
It's funny, as the last couple of days I have been re-thinking that decision, but every time I do, I remember how far away all the hotels at Heathrow are and I stick with the original decision to drive up that morning.
I'm now waiting to hear if those points will be used for the bungalow. Not to put a wrench in, but have you ever considered renting out the extra points? We've never done that, as typically we seem to always be in borrow mode, not bank, but I think if we had 195 I'd be tempted, as the funds earned could then go toward something spectacular on my next trip. But then again, a night in one of those bungalows IS spectacular.
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but interesting too. We’ll see whether we go for that or not. To be honest, with my allergies (all tree fruit) and DH’s lactose intolerance, desserts can be a bit hit or miss for us. 
I mis-calculated our Disney Vacation Club (DVC) points. 
For those who aren’t Members, you basically buy a certain amount of points that you can use annually. We started out with 165, and now we’re on 600. Yes, I know that’s a lot, but it just sort of happened… over the course of a few years. 
Anyway, if you can’t use your points one year, you can bank them to the next year. This means that there is an end date by which they have to be used up. 
I know it’s a lot, but heck, instead of them going to waste, I’d much rather use them, and the idea of a private plunge pool is quite appealing, let’s just put it that way… 
Maci (xwewhisper) got in touch about what dates we’d be in WDW, as she’d like to come down and see us. Hopefully this one might stand a chance of working out… well, that’s something at least! 
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