Living the dream and remembering the Bagman UPDATED 3/21 - Page 73 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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I'm very impressed with the Cali Grill brunch. Love your photos from the CR viewing area. Your photos around Beach Club are making me want to stay there again, but we've got other plans for both of this year's trip.
Ah well, that's why we plan other future trips, isn't it, so you get to try more places...
Sunday 25 September – part four: thank you Beach Club!
When we got to the boat dock, we found this guy, who is apparently called Steven… at least that’s what the guy working on the Friendship told us. I expressed concern about how tame he appeared to be, as he wasn’t bothered by the humans who were just a metre from him, but the guy then told me that he can stroke him. I’m not sure it’s good to have a bird that attached to humans.
We set off and made our way over to the Swan and Dolphin…
On the way there, we were told there was a bald eagle on top of the hotel, and sure enough, when I zeroed in with the zoom, there was!
Soon we were at the Studios…
We made our way inside, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how open the park was, given how much is now closed. It was a big improvement on 18 months ago, a bit like Animal Kingdom.
We found a Photopass photographer, so stopped to get a few shots…
There was one way we were heading…
Now was the time to test whether the promises the guy at the Beach Club had made earlier in the day would work out. After all, we were supposed to have Fastpasses waiting here, and what better way to test them than by trying to get a Fastpass for Toy Story Mania? I cannot begin to tell you how relieved I was when it worked. I had visions of standing there, saying “well, the Beach Club said it would work”. Ok, cool! The expansion of this attraction has definitely worked, as the wait time was only 40 minutes, probably the best we’ve seen in a long time for this time of the day.
While the bald eagle sure was neat to see, I'm not sure about the other bird being so OK with humans. Not all humans are nice. I hope he only encounters friendly ones.
I'm glad the FP worked! Some friends of mine had some major MDE issues and were given 3 extra freebies/day/person (on top of the standard 3 scheduled ones). I'm thinking yours were issued the same way - to just use as you please? That's how I understand it to work anyway. She had me look at her account. They're going over spring break so this should work out amazing for them!
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A bald eagle sighting, how cool! I suspect a lot of the wildlife are pretty "tame" around the people as they so often get food from them. Of course, Disney discourages feeding them, but there is no way it's going to stop. I love that you were just able to walk up and use a FP without planning ahead for it.
Well we got home from our trip a day early yesterday morning to get ahead of the blizzard that is hitting our town today! I'm getting all caught up on the PP boards being home. I really enjoyed seeing your photos of the brunch at the California Grill! So much food and it all looks so delicious. Glad that you got it straightened out with your MB's and that they gave you the extra FP's and the $250 credit! I've never heard of Disney giving credits like that before so I'm glad that they took your grievances seriously! I enjoyed your BC pictures as it's one of my favorite places to stay!
Awesome bald eagle sighting. Which building was it perched upon? As far as Steven is concerned - from your pics he appears to be a young cormorant. From my experience, comorants, in FL especially seem to be pretty calm unless they are being chased/harassed however I have never heard of one allowing people to basically pet it. I wonder how much of that is due to people feeding him. Either way a good wildlife day for you amongst all the Disney gems.
A nice ending to your Cali brunch as you were in macaron heaven! I agree that you are not rushed during your brunch as I was probably there for about two hours as well! Nice photos at Studios and that is quite odd with that bird Steven and his attachment to humans! Glad to hear that the Beach Club had your FP+ set up!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
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While the bald eagle sure was neat to see, I'm not sure about the other bird being so OK with humans. Not all humans are nice. I hope he only encounters friendly ones.
That's what worried me...
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I'm glad the FP worked! Some friends of mine had some major MDE issues and were given 3 extra freebies/day/person (on top of the standard 3 scheduled ones). I'm thinking yours were issued the same way - to just use as you please? That's how I understand it to work anyway. She had me look at her account. They're going over spring break so this should work out amazing for them!
Oh wow, that's great that she got that - that will make a huge difference to her trip.
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A bald eagle sighting, how cool! I suspect a lot of the wildlife are pretty "tame" around the people as they so often get food from them. Of course, Disney discourages feeding them, but there is no way it's going to stop.
Of course not - it doesn't matter how many times you tell people that it harms them and not to do it, people just don't get it.
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I love that you were just able to walk up and use a FP without planning ahead for it.
Well we got home from our trip a day early yesterday morning to get ahead of the blizzard that is hitting our town today!
Hang on, you flew home early? You didn't fancy extending your trip by a couple of days then?
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I'm getting all caught up on the PP boards being home. I really enjoyed seeing your photos of the brunch at the California Grill! So much food and it all looks so delicious. Glad that you got it straightened out with your MB's and that they gave you the extra FP's and the $250 credit! I've never heard of Disney giving credits like that before so I'm glad that they took your grievances seriously!
I've read things like that before, but never thought it would happen to us.
Awesome bald eagle sighting. Which building was it perched upon?
It was on top of the Swan.
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As far as Steven is concerned - from your pics he appears to be a young cormorant. From my experience, comorants, in FL especially seem to be pretty calm unless they are being chased/harassed however I have never heard of one allowing people to basically pet it. I wonder how much of that is due to people feeding him. Either way a good wildlife day for you amongst all the Disney gems.
We actually were going to extend it but there were no rooms available through DVC the rest of the week. We even booked a room outside Disney for one night but we checked the weather for Florida and it looked like rains were coming and the temps were going to drop into the 60's so we decided to head home early. We'll be back April 29th so I felt ok with the decision.
We actually were going to extend it but there were no rooms available through DVC the rest of the week.
Wow! Mind you, I guess we are heading into spring break season. I keep forgetting that, as Easter is so late this year and all our school holidays are centred around that.
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We even booked a room outside Disney for one night but we checked the weather for Florida and it looked like rains were coming and the temps were going to drop into the 60's so we decided to head home early. We'll be back April 29th so I felt ok with the decision.
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Love your photos from the CR viewing area. Your photos around Beach Club are making me want to stay there again, but we've got other plans for both of this year's trip. 
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I’m not sure it’s good to have a bird that attached to humans. 
I hope he only encounters friendly ones.
Great start at DHS with the FP working!!
Glad that you got it straightened out with your MB's and that they gave you the extra FP's and the $250 credit! I've never heard of Disney giving credits like that before so I'm glad that they took your grievances seriously! I enjoyed your BC pictures as it's one of my favorite places to stay!
I agree that you are not rushed during your brunch as I was probably there for about two hours as well! 
Nice photos at Studios and that is quite odd with that bird Steven and his attachment to humans! 
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