Living the Dream and remembering the Bagman COMPLETED 5/16 - Page 15 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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It sounds like you had a relaxing end to the trip between the club and the flight home (despite the turbulence)! Looking forward to your final thoughts!
Too bad their was so much turbulence on your flight home! Some nice photos on your approach to the London area. Things certainly went smoothly when you landed as I can't believe how quickly you were on the road home!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Glad your trip home was mostly uneventful. JFK is so much better than LGA (which I believe I warned you was more like a bus station than an airport ). And they don't call New York "the city that never sleeps" for nothing! There are some times that are a bit less busy, but it's mostly bustling all the time. Seeing your pictures over London are giving me the itch to return.
And if your potential return to New York is what I think it is, it very well may be another case of "great minds think alike."
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
So glad that you had such a relaxing flight home and all went smoothly once you landed! It's the best feeling to walk into your own home after a long trip no matter how much fun you had! I really enjoyed reading about all of your adventures.
Too bad their was so much turbulence on your flight home! Some nice photos on your approach to the London area. Things certainly went smoothly when you landed as I can't believe how quickly you were on the road home!
Glad your trip home was mostly uneventful. JFK is so much better than LGA (which I believe I warned you was more like a bus station than an airport ). And they don't call New York "the city that never sleeps" for nothing! There are some times that are a bit less busy, but it's mostly bustling all the time.
True!
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Seeing your pictures over London are giving me the itch to return.
Well, you know we'd love to see you back over this side of the pond...
Quote:
And if your potential return to New York is what I think it is, it very well may be another case of "great minds think alike." Save
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How lucky that you slept for the whole flight! Upgraded seats totally worth it.
And the luck continues with the speedy trip through the airport and then the drive home!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
I always say that I struggle with final thoughts, as we do such big vacations, but my goodness, I think this one topped all the others!
More than three weeks long, no more than four nights in any one place, and excluding the cruise, only one or two nights anywhere, with driving of more than 1,500 miles, and internal flights covering more than 2,000 miles, this was no mean feat to pull off. Did it work? Well, not completely. We certainly didn’t do everything we planned, and a lot of that was down to the weather, particularly the heat and humidity of Florida, which was brutal, to say the least. I know I have a tendency to over-plan, and I have tried to reign that enthusiasm in over the years, but somehow it didn’t quite seem to work out this time around. I guess I underestimated the impact that Mother Nature can have on your plans. In fairness, we had said we’d never travel to Florida in September, and had it not been for Bill’s untimely death, we wouldn’t have done.
And that’s where this starts. I never want to be planning a vacation again following such a tragedy. However, having said that, I still cannot thank Sandy and Dyan enough for coming up with this idea and taking it forward. I know that Bill would’ve been proud, and probably embarrassed too, by us all getting together to remember him and celebrate his life through Bagman Days.
For most people who attended, that’s all their trip was, and I know for them it must’ve been quite a potent mixture of sadness at the reason we were all there, but also pleasure at being able to meet up with old and new friends, and to ensure Bill’s memory was kept alive in the most wonderful way possible through the many random acts of kindness carried out during those days.
For us, this was part of a much longer vacation, and one that had been planned for November originally. Essentially, all the elements remained the same, with the exception of adding in 24 hours in New York City, after we couldn’t use our points for an Upper Class flight back from Orlando.
Getting Around
Let’s start there, because heck it’s as good a point to start with, how we got around. The Upper Class flights were superb, but then again I wouldn’t expect anything less. After all, people pay a small fortune for these. Thank goodness we had enough points to do this, as there is no way we can generally afford this.
We had no problems with either of our rental cars, and I was very pleased with Budget. I think they were the first car rental place not to try and push any additional extras on us when we picked up our cars, which was a very nice change. I would definitely use them again.
I’d certainly fly Southwest again, with their free luggage, and their cheery flight crew. I just wish we could’ve got a slightly later flight though… I thought JetBlue were good as well, and they certainly came through for us when the flights got messed up through no fault of theirs. I was impressed by the poor customer service guy, especially given the hassle he was getting.
As for taxis, well I think the ones we had were appalling, in Boston, Toronto (twice) and New York City. It really has put me off using them, they were that poor. On the other hand, I cannot say enough good things about our town car driver who got us safely to JFK. What a great guy!
Staying in Style
This was a tough vacation for accommodation, mainly because we weren’t in any location for longer than two nights, until we boarded the Dream. Was that frustrating? Oh my goodness, completely. I ended up referring myself to the ferreting animal, as I felt that’s what I was constantly doing in the suitcases, trying to find stuff. We were more organised when we flew out, trying to put things together – i.e. colours that were similar in terms of clothes, and that helped the first few days, but after that, it didn’t work quite as well, shall we say?
Out of the resorts we stayed out, outside of Disney, we loved the two Fairmonts, even with the problems I had with my fall at Quebec City. It had been my dream to stay at both, and they didn’t disappoint. We also loved our room upgrade in Montreal, a very nice surprise, after the appalling start to our time there with the terrible traffic we experienced.
As far as Disney goes, the hands-down winner was the waterfront bungalow at the Polynesian, but heck, you’d kind of expect that, given how many points it cost. I was a bit cynical about these, and wasn’t sure that we’d like them, but my goodness, I could see the attraction. If only they were cheaper priced, and we could stay here every trip… ah, what it is to dream! Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas and the Beach Club Villas were as wonderful as ever as home resorts, and we always love staying there. We were very impressed with the new look at the Beach Club, much more to the original beach theming we’ve always loved here.
Equally, our stateroom on the Dream did not disappoint, but then again, we’ve stayed in this category before, and enjoyed it, so we knew what to expect.
Touring
Our plans for the Northeast/Canada road trip worked for the main part, although I appreciate it was a lot of driving for Mark, and for that a huge He was a complete trooper about it! I think the timings, in terms of how long we had in each city, worked for the most part, although I would’ve liked a bit more time in Ottawa. However, I knew it was always going to pan out that way, as we only had a certain amount of time. I am so glad we only had a few hours in Niagara, as much as the falls were amazing, there was just nothing we wanted to do there.
Of the things we did, some of my fondest memories of this part of the trip were the Niagara Falls boat trip, just walking around the beautiful Quebec City, which reminded me of Venice, in that you can enjoy the place, without doing anything, if that makes sense, and our Parliament tour in Ottawa. I still cannot believe that was free! Meeting up with Sharon and touring Montreal was another highlight.
Disney was where things went horribly wrong with the plans, and it was all down to the weather. We just cannot cope with heat. We’ve been to Florida at various times of the year between October and May and now we know why we stick to the fall, winter and spring to visit. We did as much as we could, and now I look back, it sounds so pathetic that we didn’t do more, but honestly, the heat was just draining. I cannot begin to tell you how horrible it was. I swear some people adapt better than others, and we just don’t adapt at all to that. Give me air conditioning every time – and in our defence, even the Floridians were saying it was appalling bad!
Thank goodness we had the cruise, where we could spend a lot more time inside, just chilling and relaxing. I was very glad of that.
Equally, things didn’t pan out quite the way we expected in New York City either, but not going to Cirque du Soleil was 100% the right call, as I needed some recovery time after not being well. Spending some quality time with Meg was definitely the right call – and I’m just disappointed that we didn’t have more time with Sharon the next day, or to explore the Natural History Museum. I would say “next time”, and I know I’ve said this before, but honestly, New York is just such a pig to get into from the airport that I don’t know if we’ll return. Mark’s been three times now, and I’ve been five times, and while there’s still more to see, I just don’t know if we’ll go back…
Feasting and Eateries
We truly did have some wonderful meals during this trip. Outside of Disney, the ones that stand out in my mind are the restaurants at the two Fairmonts we stayed at, the CN Tower in Toronto and the Skylon Tower at Niagara.
Within Disney, I was really pleased at the level of service we received, so much better than some of our previous trips. I was very sad we shelved Tiffin’s, but it was the right decision, and perhaps it will feature in a future trip…
Boma and the Crystal Palace proved to be as wonderful as ever, while of the new restaurants, Spice Road Table was the definite winner, along with the California Grill brunch – what a superb experience that was. And I can thoroughly recommend Cowfish for anyone visiting Universal too.
As for our meals on the cruise, Palo and Remy both delivered, and were wonderful, although once again, we found the food quality to be variable in the main dining rooms. I really don’t have a great memory for individual dishes on a menu, which may surprise you, but I note everything down for the trip reports from a menu. Therefore, you know it’s bad when you remember all the dishes, and whether they were good or not. That really did impact on the choices I made, and I wish they’d update their menus… preferably before our next cruise.
More Magic
Outside of the touring we did, we did have some truly magical moments. I certainly never thought I’d go swimming in a rooftop pool in Montreal in September, albeit indoors, but let’s just not mention what happened in the pool in Quebec City! I do love my swimming, and I was disappointed I didn’t get to go more often, but once again, it was too darned hot in Florida from early in the morning even to get in the pool.
At least we were able to get some serious spa time, firstly at the hotel we spent the night at before we flew out, and then primarily on the Dream. Oh how I love that Rainforest! It is a fair amount of money, but to me, it’s completely and utterly worth it! I find I can just chill out completely in there. If only we had one of those in our house… we can but Dream!
However, for me, the real magic of this trip was all the wonderful friends we saw along the way. Bearing in mind this trip started because of the loss of a friend, spending time with people was perhaps our top priority. It started with spending the first night in the States with Dave and Rob, almost a year after their wedding, and then we were lucky enough to be joined by Sharon in Montreal for a fun day of sightseeing, and we were able to meet up with Donna and her husband in Buffalo, albeit only for a short while.
Once we got to Disney, my goodness, there were so many people there – friends both old and new. A few honourable mentions, as we can’t hope to name everyone without offending someone:
Afternoon with Janine at Epcot on her birthday
Dinner at Morimoto Asia with Heather, Barb and Bob – we just laughed so much! Great memories!
An emotional photowalk with oh so many people, hosted by Sue who made a wonderfully fitting speech
A wonderful afternoon at the Outer Rim lounge – so much laughter and a few drinks!
Fun at the Skipper Canteen with Vicky, Michelle and Maggie
The safari meet at Animal Kingdom
Brunch at the California Grill with Deb and Linda – what a great experience!
Afternoon drinks at the Tune In Lounge at the Studios with Barb, Angie and Sue and then a wonderful walk back to the Beach Club Villas with them
But the one thing that will remain in my head for probably the rest of the night is the extremely emotional private viewing of IllumiNations that we were privileged to have with Bill’s widow, Jan and his family. We were both so honoured to be able to join them at what must’ve been an extremely difficult time for them. IllumiNations has always made me cry over the years, and now it does more than ever, as I will always think of Bill whenever I see it. I can’t think of a better tribute to him than that.
Oh actually, hang on – I can… a group of Disney fans all brought together by a love of Disney and respect for one individual, which led to an amazing trip where we definitely remembered our Bagman and lived the Dream.
I think I was joking way back when, when I said we'd still be reading this in June! Close, but it's still May. And always looking forward to the next one!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
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Glad you made it safely. I loved reading of your adventures, as always!!
Some nice photos on your approach to the London area. Things certainly went smoothly when you landed as I can't believe how quickly you were on the road home! 
). And they don't call New York "the city that never sleeps" for nothing! There are some times that are a bit less busy, but it's mostly bustling all the time. Seeing your pictures over London are giving me the itch to return.
PassPorter Guide Author
That is excellent timing getting home only 2 hours after landing. 
However, having said that, I still cannot thank Sandy and Dyan enough for coming up with this idea and taking it forward. I know that Bill would’ve been proud, and probably embarrassed too, by us all getting together to remember him and celebrate his life through Bagman Days. 
I ended up referring myself to the ferreting animal, as I felt that’s what I was constantly doing in the suitcases, trying to find stuff. We were more organised when we flew out, trying to put things together – i.e. colours that were similar in terms of clothes, and that helped the first few days, but after that, it didn’t work quite as well, shall we say? 
He was a complete trooper about it! I think the timings, in terms of how long we had in each city, worked for the most part, although I would’ve liked a bit more time in Ottawa. However, I knew it was always going to pan out that way, as we only had a certain amount of time. I am so glad we only had a few hours in Niagara, as much as the falls were amazing, there was just nothing we wanted to do there. 
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