Living the dream and remembering the Bagman LIVE UPDATE 10/2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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Pre-trip report – part nineteen: learning about Halloween on the High Seas
Thursday 14 April
The question was asked yesterday how many people are going to Bagman Days. It’s a good question, as I seem to remember doing a tot up a couple of months ago and thought it was around 50 people. Mind you, since then some people have sadly had to drop out, while others can now make it. Sensibly Denise (wdwlovers) has started a role call to see how many people we’ve actually good, so it’ll be interesting to see what the count is. As of this evening, we are at 30, so that’s a pretty good number.
As someone was watching football (and I’m talking the proper football, not the version you guys have over there ), I decided to go through our plans for this trip and see how much hotels were now costing, as they do have a tendency to go up in price, the closer you get to a vacation, but thankfully they don’t seem to have increased too much, which is something.
They’ve now unveiled their line-up of events to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Montreal Olympics, but to be honest, it didn’t really grab me as much as I was hoping it would. There wasn’t much that took my interest. I’m sure the exhibits they’ve got will be fascinating, but that’s about it. Even worse, there’s an “open door to farming” (translated from the French) a mere four days before we get to Montreal. Not fair especially as they have photos of cows. Oh to have been there for that…
Oh and as for those adorable giant panda cubs… well, they’re now six months old, and my goodness, in the latest photos Toronto Zoo have posted of them, they still look as adorable as ever. Maybe we will go and see them after all…
I also had a look at the Disney Cruise Line website, which now has a page all about Halloween on the High Seas, as I’m intrigued to find out more about it, now I know we’re going to be able to enjoy it on our cruise! It didn’t tell me much, but it gave me an idea anyway. The pumpkin carving sounds like fun, and Mickey’s Mouse-querade Party could be neat as well. However, I dread to think to think how mobbed the Nightmare Before Christmas Sing and Scream will be, given the lines we’ve seen for Jack and Sally at Halloween parties in years gone by, as this event apparently ends with a meet and greet with both of them. There’s even an adult only Halloween party, which could be fun, although I doubt we’ll be entering the costume competition.
I found the review of the 2013 Halloween festivities on All Ears Net much more useful. Oh wow, the pumpkin tree in the lobby is really something! I hope they’re still doing that, as I definitely want to see that. The comments about Mickey’s Mouse-querade Party being on the same night as the Pirates IN the Caribbean party was interesting, as that did seem to be too much for one night. It’ll be interesting to see if that’s still the same, or if Disney have now learnt from that.
Friday 15 April
In the Facebook group, all the details of the meets have been updated, and I think there are now more details for the sunset meet on the Thursday night than there were before. Maybe it was all there, and I just never noticed, but now we have details of where we’re meeting, outside the BoardWalk. I also noticed they’re going to be gathering from 6:30pm, so I may need to change our departure time from the Poly, as I was going to leave around 6:15pm to get there for 7:00pm, but I’d like to be there to see everyone, so maybe we need to head out a bit earlier…
Someone posted tonight in the Facebook group that dates for free dining were published on a travel agent website through a computer glitch, and apparently Bagman Days were included. I’m afraid my reaction was ugh! While I’m sure it’s wonderful news for some people attending, we’ve been once before during free dining, and it wasn’t pleasant.
We found the crowds to be made up of frankly obnoxious people, and I know we’re not the only ones who’ve said that. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are lots of wonderful people who take advantage of free dining, and indeed some will be members of this board, but equally there are people who are there to get something for nothing, and we found it to be a very undesirable element.
We saw people arguing with Cast Members, saying they had a right to get into a specific restaurant to use their free dining, as they didn’t realise they had to book in advance. You see, that’s the problem with free dining. People think they’re getting something wonderful from Disney – a freebie, but they don’t understand what we all know, the fact they need to put some work into getting that freebie. I just hope things have improved if free dining is on for the dates we’re visiting, as it’s not something I want to experience again.
Saturday 16 April
I found Jan, Bill’s widow, and Barb, one of our friends, had shared this link on Facebook. I think it may only work for those of you on Facebook, so here’s a link to the news story. What an inspiring story it is. I feel truly honoured to have known Bill, and that his death has inspired others to do such wonderful things.
Also on Facebook, someone posted a video of the Symphony in the Stars fireworks at the Hollywood Studios, and wow, it looks amazing!
Monday 18 April
It would’ve been Bill’s birthday today, and it was so lovely to see all the wonderful posts that people had put on his timeline. I know Bill would’ve been smiling at seeing so many great sunset shots.
Tuesday 19 April
I had a bit of a crisis this morning, well actually it happened just before I went to bed last night. My glasses fell apart! I was just bending over, and I heard a thud, then realized I couldn’t see properly, but I couldn’t quite equate it to begin with. My left lens had fallen out. Now, I need to explain about my eyesight here for you to understand what a huge problem this was. I can literally see about three or four inches from my face, that’s how short sighted I am. I think my contact lens prescription is something like -10 for my left eye and -9 for my right eye, so if any of you have eyesight problems, think about your prescription, and compare it to mine. The chances are mine will probably be a lot worse than yours…
Anyway, I went straight into the opticians, as I had no spare pair, and fortunately they were able to repair them very quickly, but I decided to get another pair. Ok, so it was pricey, but frankly it’s worth it for peace of mind, as there’s no way I can wear my contact lenses all day. The woman serving me got chatting to me about Disney. It turns out she went to Walt Disney World for the first time in November with her kids and absolutely loved it. It’s always so nice to talk to people about Disney, even more so when it’s totally unexpected. One of her questions was “is it worth going to Be Our Guest for a meal?” and it’s so nice to be able to talk to someone at that level. It really made my day, after an awful start to the day with the problem with my glasses.
Facebook has been packed with news updates from the media event Disney’s been holding today. Apparently another chunk of Disney Springs opens for business on May 15, the Town Center. Whether that’s the last part, I honestly don’t know, as that’s the problem with Facebook, it only gives you little bits of information.
The DVC Member lounge is also due to open at the Imagination pavilion. Now that’s something we’ll need to try out on our trip.
Next: d’oh – how could I be so stupid and forget about that?
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As of this evening, we are at 30, so that’s a pretty good number. 
), I decided to go through our plans for this trip and see how much hotels were now costing, as they do have a tendency to go up in price, the closer you get to a vacation, but thankfully they don’t seem to have increased too much, which is something. 
There wasn’t much that took my interest. I’m sure the exhibits they’ve got will be fascinating, but that’s about it. Even worse, there’s an “open door to farming” (translated from the French) a mere four days before we get to Montreal. Not fair 
especially as they have photos of cows. 
Oh to have been there for that… 
Maybe we will go and see them after all… 
It didn’t tell me much, but it gave me an idea anyway. The pumpkin carving sounds like fun, and Mickey’s Mouse-querade Party could be neat as well. However, I dread to think to think how mobbed the Nightmare Before Christmas Sing and Scream will be, given the lines we’ve seen for Jack and Sally at Halloween parties in years gone by, as this event apparently ends with a meet and greet with both of them. There’s even an adult only Halloween party, which could be fun, although I doubt we’ll be entering the costume competition. 
I hope they’re still doing that, as I definitely want to see that. 
While I’m sure it’s wonderful news for some people attending, we’ve been once before during free dining, and it wasn’t pleasant. 
I was just bending over, and I heard a thud, then realized I couldn’t see properly, but I couldn’t quite equate it to begin with. My left lens had fallen out. Now, I need to explain about my eyesight here for you to understand what a huge problem this was. I can literally see about three or four inches from my face, that’s how short sighted I am. I think my contact lens prescription is something like -10 for my left eye and -9 for my right eye, so if any of you have eyesight problems, think about your prescription, and compare it to mine. The chances are mine will probably be a lot worse than yours… 
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