Living the dream and remembering the Bagman LIVE UPDATE 10/2 - Page 39 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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once you do that online checkin, it all starts feeling rather real! It won't be long now, in just a few hours, it will be three weeks before I fly down, so you are really close to going!
But i'm not sure I like the sound of that title for the next installment!
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once you do that online checkin, it all starts feeling rather real! It won't be long now, in just a few hours, it will be three weeks before I fly down, so you are really close to going!
It's a week Saturday and we're in single digits now!
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But i'm not sure I like the sound of that title for the next installment!
Pre-trip report – part thirty six: “what’s wrong?”
Tuesday 9 August
I was so happy to see a post by someone asking about hotels in Montreal and Quebec City and whether you’d need to speak French to visit both on the boards this morning, as I knew in just over a month’s time, I’d be able to help out with an answer.
I must confess I hadn’t even thought about needing to speak French, but then again, it’s not something that would worry me, as I have an A-Level in French. Over here, you take GCSE exams at the age of 16, and they’re designed as your basic certificate of education. In fact, it stands for General Certificate of Secondary Education. You can then continue to study and you specialize in three or four subjects at A-Level, and one of mine was French, and wow, that was tough, and very detailed about the language. I haven’t used my languages that much since then, despite all our travelling, but of the languages I have qualifications in (I got GCSEs in German, Spanish and Italian as well), French is the one I feel most comfortable with, as I did the most advanced study for it. It’ll be interesting to see how much I do end up using my French while we’re in the Quebec province…
Oh and according to an answer later in the day on the boards, everyone speaks English in Quebec province, so I shouldn’t need that French qualification. Oh well, if I get the opportunity to put any to good use, I will try, as I don’t get that many chances to use other languages when we fly to the other side of the pond.
Elsewhere on the boards, there’s been some speculation about whether the Main Street Electrical Parade might be coming to an end rapidly. I must admit that’s not something that’s really been on my radar, given the only full day we’ll have in the Magic Kingdom is a Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party night. However, having continually heard rumours that the Paint the Night parade is supposed to be heading to the east coast from Disneyland, this all would make sense, especially as the finish date for Paint the Night in Disneyland has been announced – 5 September. Hmmm….
Now if this is true and Paint the Night was suddenly to show up on the schedule for our trip, that really would present us with a heck of a dilemma, as I’d love to see that again, but I have no idea where, if at all, we could fit it in. I suspect it will be academic, as my guess is if Disney are going to introduce it, they may do it closer to Thanksgiving when they’ll have bigger crowds, or even Christmas, as they may want to get the Halloween and Christmas parties out of the way first. I’m just guessing, I hasten to add. I know nothing!
I haven’t mentioned this before, because until today it really didn’t have any relevance to this pre-trip report, but now it does. I love my swimming. I try to swim half a mile three times a week when I’m at full fitness. Given my recent hospital visit, I haven’t been in a state to do that, but I’m getting back to fitness gradually. Anyway, I digress. To do this, I’ve had two swimming memberships for the last 18 months, one where we live, and one where I work.
I went to the pool where I work after quite a long absence, given our vacation and my subsequent health problems, only to discover the door code didn’t work. I assumed they’d changed it, as they do from time to time, but I got the shock of my life when reception told me it had closed. I understand from a friend at work, who is also a member, that it may have been down to kids in the pool who apparently started peeling bits away. Sadly, it’s due to be demolished, so as we pay upfront for our swimming membership, that meant a refund.
I went to collect it on to one of my debit cards yesterday, and it totaled £95, so I immediately put that to good use, and put the equivalent and a little bit more on to our travel money card in Canadian dollars. I now have a fair amount of Canadian dollars on there. Just to add some more American dollars before we go, and then I think we’re set on that front.
When I got home, I was on Facebook, and I saw a lovely photo of Bill from three years ago and a lovely tribute to him. There are still times, like this, that I look at a photo of him, and I can’t believe he’s gone. I half expect him to show up at Bagman Days, but sadly my rational side of my brain tells me that’s not going to happen.
Wednesday 10 August
Officially, I can say now – we fly out a month today! Good grief, I can’t believe how quickly this is now coming around!
Mark told me this morning that our SIM card had shown up at his work yesterday, with no signature required, so we could’ve ordered it to our home. Oh well, we weren’t to know. I can’t believe how quickly that got here – it was only Saturday I ordered it. In all honesty, I’ll probably look at it at the weekend, as I’ve had login details turn up for our Mobal account, and in the evenings, I’m often quite tired when I get in from work, and I want to be awake and alert when I deal with this.
Thursday 11 August
I logged on to a message from Barb (Grammy Grumpy), asking for details of the times of our lunches at Spice Road Table and the Crystal Palace, saying she’d forgotten to write them down, and blaming “senioritis”! She also asked me to remind her of our cell phone number, so I let her know the timings, but had to say we don’t yet have the new American cell phone number, but I’d let her have the details, as soon as I had them.
There’s also confirmation about what’s happening with the Main Street Electrical Parade, and it’s ending at Disney World on 9 October, and moving to Disneyland. I’m relieved to hear that we don’t have any tough decisions to make about seeing Paint the Night and, honestly, while I enjoy the Electrical Parade, it’s not a must-do for us. We’ll continue, I hope, to visit Disneyland on a semi-regular basis, so we’ll probably get to see it again, so this isn’t a huge deal for us, and at least I don’t have to frantically try and re-arrange our plans, which is a huge relief…
I heard from Linny, and, sadly we won’t be able to meet up with her after all. As she’s posted it elsewhere on the boards, I don’t mind sharing it with you. Her husband tore his quad tendon and quad muscle and the doctor suggested all the walking that Disney brings with it would not be a good idea. It’s such a shame, but I completely understand. One day…
Friday 12 August
Sara (our travel agent, who may be slightly naughty at present, as she’s recovering from an operation, and I’m not sure if she’s supposed to be working ) forwarded an email to us from Disney Cruise Line, containing “important information”. I always get worried about emails that have headings like that, but this was nothing to worry about…
Guests will want to make room for their costume, because we'll be celebrating Halloween on the High Seas during their sailing. Halloween on the High Seas is a fleet-wide celebration that includes themed events and activities along with a costume contest for adult Guests and Mickey's Mouse-Querade Party for children.
Though not required, we encourage Guests of all ages to bring along their costumes and join in our Halloween celebration. From spellbinding stories, fun-filed family entertainment and yummy treats, we've tried to think of everything to make these voyages special. While there will be themed activities throughout the cruise, on one evening, children will receive trick-or-treat bags in their staterooms that they can bring along to a special party to collect candy treats. On this same evening, prizes will be awarded to our adult costume contest participants based on the following categories:
Most Disney
Most Spooky
Best Group
Most Original
More information on themed events, times and locations will be available onboard in the Personal Navigator that will be delivered to Guest staterooms.
Please remember that while all Guests are invited to wear costumes, masks that completely cover a person's face may only be worn while standing still at character photo locations and must be carried when moving around the ship. We also ask that Guests choose costumes that are not obstructive or offensive. To avoid any disappointment or delay in the boarding process, Guest should refrain from bringing toys or props that resemble guns, knives or other related implements, as these items will not be allowed onboard.
Ok, well we won’t be taking costumes with us. For starters, Halloween isn’t a massive holiday over here, not the way it is in the States. They do have more costumes now, but the majority are for kids, and they won’t have any out in early September before we fly out. I must admit, reading this, I do feel as if we’re going to be the odd ones out. I certainly hope not, as usually it’s about a 50/50 split in terms of those wearing costumes and those not…
Well, we both got a surprise when we got a call from the Disney Vacation Club! I must admit my instant reaction was “what’s wrong?” and I was right to have that reaction. Mark quickly passed the woman over to me, and she started to talk about our booking at the Polynesian. Well, apparently, there’s a problem with the waterfront bungalows… it turns out the temperature control in them isn’t working properly, so the woman told me. They’ve put an air conditioning unit into the master bedroom, which is the main thing – so long as I can sleep at night, and it’s going to be cool, that’s all I care about.
She went on to tell me that they’ll be giving us daily housekeeping (Disney Vacation Club members using their points for a stay don’t usually get this for those who don’t know) for no extra fee, which is fair enough. Ok, so it’s not a great deal, but then again, this isn’t that big of a deal to us, so I can live with that.
Later on, I did have a quick look at Accuweather for their extended forecasts. For Canada, it looks like temperatures will be in the high 60s or low 70s, which I’m happy with. I was a bit concerned about Boston, as Laurie’s been telling me for a long time that it could be higher temperatures than Florida but fortunately it doesn’t look like that will be the case. So what’s it looking like at Disney? At the moment, high 80s. Ok, that doesn’t sound too bad, but equally, it will depend on the levels of humidity. Fingers crossed they aren’t too bad…
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Sorry to hear about your pool. Our pool just closed for a week for rehab.
Glad you got your card and you are moving along! I also get that in the pit of the stomach feeling when people call...they don't usually call with good news, do they?
Glad they put air cons in the bedroom for you!
Today is 3 weeks until Bagman Days. I'm torn between excitement to see everyone and sadness at the reason.
Glad you got you SIM card!! That stinks about your pool!! Maybe another one will turn up. That was a little scary about the Poly bungalows. I hope you guys stay cool enough!! You are getting really close now!!
I was feeling the opposite about dressing up on the cruise--I'm thinking that it will be mostly kids dressing up and we will feel odd as adults dressed up. Hope we won't be the only ones. I did tell my son that once we get a few photos he can change.
Yes, English spoken everywhere in Quebec - but they always greet you in French first. (very much like France too!) We always used the courtesies though, and it was appreciated by them. Road signs all in French though, very little English on road signs. So your French will come in quite handy for navigating!
Do you guys have a Disney Halloween T-shirt, purchased from years past? That would be sufficient enough to wear on the cruise too without wearing a costume. I don't think you'll be the only ones without one though. I'm sure others don't want to take up luggage space with a costume!
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For the number of points it takes to get a bungalow, I personally feel they should return some points in addition to the housekeeping. Daily housekeeping - particularly when you're only staying 2 nights - just doesn't seem enough to me. You wouldn't go through all the towels that are there in 2 nights anyways.
Hope the weather isn't too hut & humid to prevent you from enjoying the full bungalow. If you only get to use the master bedroom, you would've been better off in a studio.
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Sorry to hear about the pool. Things are coming along quite nicely and you're in single digits now for your trip!!
You are right, that everyone speaks English in Quebec. Most of the time if you are in a shop, the employees will listen first to see what language you are speaking. I thought of you the other night as I was watching a show about local eateries in Montreal and then it made me hungry for poutine!
Sorry to hear about your pool. Our pool just closed for a week for rehab.
I am really going to miss it.
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Glad you got your card and you are moving along! I also get that in the pit of the stomach feeling when people call...they don't usually call with good news, do they?
Sadly not!
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Glad they put air cons in the bedroom for you!
Today is 3 weeks until Bagman Days. I'm torn between excitement to see everyone and sadness at the reason.
I saw your post and it's the same here. I feel a real mixture of emotions about it as well.
Glad you got you SIM card!! That stinks about your pool!! Maybe another one will turn up.
I have looked at other pools in the area, but I'd have to drive them, as they're about a mile or so away, and the traffic is just horrendous in Canterbury even in the middle of the day, so I'm not keen on that.
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That was a little scary about the Poly bungalows. I hope you guys stay cool enough!! You are getting really close now!!
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I hope that isn't true about the GMR as that would be strange and not so good! 
I got the shock of my life when reception told me it had closed. 
She also asked me to remind her of our cell phone number, so I let her know the timings, but had to say we don’t yet have the new American cell phone number, but I’d let her have the details, as soon as I had them. 
) forwarded an email to us from Disney Cruise Line, containing “important information”. I always get worried about emails that have headings like that, but this was nothing to worry about… 
They’ve put an air conditioning unit into the master bedroom, which is the main thing – so long as I can sleep at night, and it’s going to be cool, that’s all I care about. 
but fortunately it doesn’t look like that will be the case. So what’s it looking like at Disney? At the moment, high 80s. Ok, that doesn’t sound too bad, but equally, it will depend on the levels of humidity. Fingers crossed they aren’t too bad… 
Glad to hear that you've been in touch with Laurie and she is doing well! 
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