Living the dream and remembering the Bagman LIVE UPDATE 10/2 About This Page:

[Colexis Mom]

Great dining plans! Glad the new shirts fit! Hope you enjoy the popovers!

[Cam22]

Originally Posted by chezp

And I guess you have nothing during your stay? I noticed they were trying to do events through the year, as they had the private parties a the Magic Kingdom in the spring, then the parties at Typhoon Lagoon (I think I've got that right - I didn't pay much attention as it wasn't during our stay) and something for Christmas. I remember looking at the dates and thinking they'd tried to space it throughout the year, but they hadn't really managed it.

Absolutely nothing during our stay.

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[Cam22]

It seems your Canada plans have come together quite well. My goodness, I do wonder what your neighbors were thinking keeping your package for so long.

[SuperDave]

Plans are looking great for Canada and NYC! The Metrocard is rather easy to understand. You will save on tix but not like a dix billet purchase in Paris!

What days will you be in NYC as I'm just an hour away, if you have interest in meeting up?

[rhinohunter]

Finally got caught up with all of your plans. You are really packing a lot into your trip. You will probably need to take another vacation to get over this vacation when you get back. I am glad that everything keeps falling into place for you. OH, not falling into place!!!!! You have had to put an extreme amount of work into your plans. I had never heard the Piglet story. Very funny.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Cam22

Absolutely nothing during our stay.

Oh that is such a shame.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Cam22

It seems your Canada plans have come together quite well. My goodness, I do wonder what your neighbors were thinking keeping your package for so long.

I suspect they weren't thinking or were waiting for us to come round and collect it - but a bit difficult when the company never put anything through the door to say where they'd left it.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by SuperDave

Plans are looking great for Canada and NYC! The Metrocard is rather easy to understand. You will save on tix but not like a dix billet purchase in Paris!

that's good to know.

What days will you be in NYC as I'm just an hour away, if you have interest in meeting up?

We're there on Saturday 1 October, but we are a bit packed with plans already, as there's a lot we want to see, so you may have to spring for tickets to join us at things. Private message me if you think that date might work for you....

[chezp]

Originally Posted by rhinohunter

Finally got caught up with all of your plans. You are really packing a lot into your trip. You will probably need to take another vacation to get over this vacation when you get back. I am glad that everything keeps falling into place for you. OH, not falling into place!!!!! You have had to put an extreme amount of work into your plans.

I always say if you're not exhausted when you get back from one of my vacations, I haven't tried hard enough! No, seriously, I work on the theory that if we're visiting somewhere, we may never get back there, so I want to try and see and do as much as we can, just in case...

I had never heard the Piglet story. Very funny.

It is a classic!

[chezp]

Pre-trip report – part thirty: I may need to do some more slimming down on these choices…

Monday 11 July

I got home to find an email from the Jordan Pond House restaurant in Acadia National Park, and we are booked in there for lunch on that day.

I found a couple of Facebook links today, the first to the Eat to the Beat concert line-up. While we’re there, it’s only Air Supply we’ll be going to, as the only other acts while we’re there are the BoDeans and Fuel, neither of which we’ve heard of. I was gutted with some of the other acts they’ve got. I’d like to have seen Starship (before our trip), Sugar Ray (the night we leave), Los Lobos, and Wilson Phillips (after our trip). However, the ones I’m most sad at missing are Tiffany, Christopher Cross and Chaka Khan, all of which I’d have absolutely loved to have seen. They’re all in mid to late October. Can I extend our stay by a few weeks?

Ann (luvsun) on the boards also posted that details of the Food and Wine Festival booths and the items they’ll be selling are now available. so much for that! At first, I was a bit disappointed by the amount of things I fancied or could have, given I don’t eat meat and I have allergies to tree fruit (apples, peaches, pears, nectarines, cherries, apricots and plums). However, really we only have one “meal” planned there, so perhaps it’s just as well. Here’s my short (ish!) list:

Australia:
· Lamington: Yellow Cake Dipped in Chocolate and Shredded Coconut
· Grilled Sweet and Spicy Bush Berry Shrimp with Pineapple, Pepper, Onion and Snap Peas
Belgium
· Belgian Waffle with Berry Compote and Whipped Cream
· Belgian Waffle with Warm Chocolate Ganache and Whipped Cream
The CHEW collective:
· Ricotta and Zucchini Ravioli with Rustic Tomato Sauce
China
· Black Pepper Shrimp with Garlic Noodles
Chocolate Studio:
· Liquid Nitro Chocolate Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey Caramel
· Red Wine Chocolate Truffle
· Ghirardelli® Chocolate Raspberry Torte
(by the way, this is everything they offer! )
France
· Soupe à l’oignon au Gruyère et Cognac: Gruyère and Cognac Onion Soup
· Crème Brûlée Caramel Chocolat: Caramel and Chocolate Crème Brûlée topped with Caramelized Sugar
Hawai’i
· Florida Orange Groves Sparkling Pineapple Wine
(it’s alcohol, so it doesn’t really count for lunch, right? )
Ireland
· Irish Cheese Selection Plate: Irish Cheddar, Dubliner and Irish Porter
· Warm Chocolate Pudding with Irish Cream Liqueur Custard
Islands of the Caribbean:
· Pescado con Coco: Seared Grouper, Pigeon Peas and Rice with Coconut Sauce
Japan:
· Garlic Shrimp: Marinated Shrimp sautéed with Garlic and Butter and served over Rice
· Pineapple Breeze Sake Cocktail
Morocco
· Mimosa Royale: Sparkling Wine and Orange Juice topped with Orange Liqueur
Wine and Dine Studio:
· Trio of Artisan Cheese
o La Bonne Vie Goat Cheese served with toasted Craisin Bread
o Karst Cave-aged Cheddar Cheese served with Fig Compote
o Statesboro Blue Cheese served with Spiced Candied Walnuts
· Artist Palette of Wine and Cheese
o Trio of Artisan Cheese (see above) paired with Conundrum White Blend 25th Anniversary, Kurt Russell’s GoGi “Goldie” Chardonnay and Robert Mondavi Maestro Red Blend

Ok, maybe I won’t manage to fit this all into one lunch time. There are 16 food items, never mind the alcoholic items. I think I may need to do some more slimming down on these choices…

Tuesday 12 July

I saw on the boards today that Disney are now expanding their Early Morning Magic to the Studios. You get to go on Star Tours – the Adventures Continue, and Toy Story Mania! plus you can enjoy character greetings with Woody and Buzz, Mickey and Minnie, and Olaf, along with an all-you-can-eat breakfast. It’s $69/adults, and $59/children. We still won’t be doing it, but it’ll be interesting to see if there are any further expansions in this, as I genuinely didn’t think it would spread beyond the Magic Kingdom, but maybe it’s been more successful than we figured it would be.

Wednesday 13 July

I saw the full list of events for the Food and Wine Festival on All Ears, although there was nothing on there I didn’t already know about, so that was fine.

A few more people also confirmed from their experiences that you don’t have to be online straightaway to secure Frozen Ever After Fastpasses, which is good news. On the subject of Fastpasses, we did discuss those. I figured we’d be pretty much on the same page, and we were. The conclusions we came to were that we’d get Soarin’ Around the World, Test Track and Frozen Ever After on each of the three days we’re in Epcot. I’ll just fill our other choices with whatever I feel like, as after that, I don’t think we’re that bothered. Spaceship Earth will be in there somewhere, and no doubt the Seas and possibly Turtle Talk, but there’s nothing else that really gets that much of a line there.

For Magic Kingdom, we’re going to go for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train, followed by Peter Pan’s Flight, as those two get the longest lines. After that, our third choice will either be Buzz, the Haunted Mansion, Pirates or Winnie the Pooh. I’ll see what’s available on the day.

With Animal Kingdom, it’s a similar story. We’ll get a Fastpass for Kilimanjaro Safaris, even though we’re due to do it as a big group at 9:00am. It allows us to do it again. After that, we’ll pick from Festival of the Lion King or Finding Nemo (possibly the latter, as we didn’t see it on our last visit) and then either It’s Tough to be a Bug or meeting the Disney pals at the Adventurers’ Outpost.

Finally, with the Studios, Toy Story Midway Mania is the obvious choice, followed by the Star Wars character meets, then we’ll pick something from Beauty and the Beast, the Great Movie Ride, Muppet Vision 3D or the Voyage of the Little Mermaid.

Ok, that wasn’t exactly hard, was it?

Thursday 14 July

Today, Angie (poohsgirl) posted that it was just two months, and one day for most people, but as that’s actually counting down to Bagman Days itself in Disney, of course it’s a bit less time for us. It’s now less than two months, given we fly out on 10 September!

Friday 15 July

This morning, as he walked past it, Mark commented on how much he likes Bill’s T-shirt, the photo, the black background, everything, and he’s right. I have to say I much prefer his to my yellow colour, although I think the only saving grace will be that I won’t be wearing black in the heat, which is something…

Next: things got in the way…

[cubfancolleen]

Good fast pass choices. I'm so anxious to see the new Soarin' film, but right now, we have no upcoming trip planned.
And now you're at only about 2 weeks!

[Tara O'Hara]

Your fastpass picks sound great!! I would have a hard time deciding what to choose from that list of F & WF goodies!! It looks scrumptious!!

[disney_duke]

The BoDeans are from the city I grew up in, Waukesha, WI! In fact, they just played a free concert here in the the town I live in now! It's kinda cool (for us) that they're playing at Epcot.

I'm having a heck of a time narrowing down my list for F&WF, and it's a lot larger than yours! Good luck doing that!

[Pris]

I have a former co-worker whose husband plays in a band part time. They are friends with someone in Starship. They go down to WDW every fall for a long weekend when Starship plays to hang out with them. I'm not a music person, so don't know anything about any of the bands, but it is fun to see them sometimes.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

Good fast pass choices. I'm so anxious to see the new Soarin' film, but right now, we have no upcoming trip planned.
And now you're at only about 2 weeks!

Yep, we fly two weeks tomorrow!