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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Those of you who've been on a shore excursion to Rome during a cruise, which one did you do and how did you like it? Was it worth the money? How was the bus ride there and back? Did you get to see everything you wanted?
I can't recall the name but we did the 12-hour adults only tour to Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, Vatican Museum, St Paul's Basilica, & Sistine Chapel. It was expensive but the only way we could have seen all that. The ride was comfortable and the guides were outstanding. These guys train a long time and ours - Danielle - was like a walking history book. We were very impressed. We wore headsets and he provided constant info to us. We had a nice lunch in a hotel restaurant. I saved some of the info because if we go back to Rome I'd like to try to book something directly through them if possible.
It was pricey but Rome was our big deal place to visit so we got the Rick Steve's books and did the other ports on our own to maximize our budget for Rome.
We sat on opposite sides of the bus so we could get different pictures.
The only bad thing was there was one bathroom stop on the ride from port into Rome - maybe around 80 minutes? - and it was at like a roadside place kinda like a Combo cafe and convenience store. One bathroom for like 3 buses. The line was insane and most never made it. The next bathroom break was lunch. So limit your water intake.
If I find the name of the company I'll post it.
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The only place I wanted to see but didn't was the Pantheon and basically no excursion goes everywhere. The one that went there didn't go to The Sistine Chapel, so we had to choose.
The Trevi fountain was great but super crowded. We were there just before lunch and I understand it's better to see later in the day. Not a big deal but something to keep in mind.
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Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow, for all you know, tomorrow, the dream that you wish will come true.
Last summer, my family used Rome in Limo for a private excursion in Rome. We visited the Pantheon, Trevi fountain, Spanish Steps, and Capitol Hill, and a few other places. We spent about an hour at the Coliseum, then had lunch at a restaurant that seemed authentic Italian. We spent the afternoon at the Vatican, including the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. We definitely felt the day was well-spent. We saw everything we wanted and then some, and were back on the ship a couple of hours before all-aboard time.
It was, however, expensive -- I think it was 550 euros for the four of us, plus gratuity. I don't regret it, because we saw a lot more than we would have on a Disney tour and the cost was not that much more. I don't remember much about the ride to and from Rome, except that our driver filled the time with information about what we were seeing and what we would see.
When we went on the Med cruise in 2011 we did the Taste of Rome tour. It was not my first choice but we were new cruisers and could only book at 90 days. We really enjoyed the tour. I felt like we really got to see a lot of Rome. We were not able to go into the Vatican because of time limitations but we did get to see it and take pictures of it. One thing I liked about our tour was that we did lunch on our own and then had free time. It was advertised as two hours but when we were dropped off we actually had 3 hours. We were dropped off in front of the Vatican and the gelato shop where you have the voucher (It was one of the best gelato places we went and I think we hit gelato 3 times in Rome alone not to mention the rest of Italy We grabbed a quick lunch from a sidewalk cafe and hit the streets. We walked a few blocks and explored the squares and fountains of Rome including the Pantheon. If you do this tour I would recommend that you have a good map. It was only after studying a map that I realized how close the Pantheon was to the Vatican.
We did the tour with a 3 year old and 18 month old and the only major difficulty with having such young children with strollers was the Forum. We had them in umbrella strollers (which I would recommend) and ended up carrying them in the stroller through much of the forum because the walkways are ancient and very uneven.
One thing I discovered when booking our tours on the cruise is that you can't do or see everything. I think if you read a travel book to Rome and decide what your must sees are then pick a tour that goes to those places or book your own private car tour if no tour does the sights you want to see. One thing that is hard to do is see the inside of the Vatican and the rest of Rome. They are just too huge to see both in one day and even begin to due them justice. I would probably pick one or the other. We decided to concentrate on Rome after I wrung a promise out of my husband that one day we would return and we would go to the Sistine Chapel.
Good luck with your planning and have a wonderful cruise.
We also used Rome in Limo for our party of 8 that day was US$950 and worth every cent!
Our lunch was outstanding - we got in before the Disney cruise people who were lined up outside and the food was divine and quick!
We saw every tourist place we asked for and more plus the chatting in the van was just us. We asked a million questions and got heaps of history and trivia. Our driver could not be our guide so we paid for the guide to direct us to places - she would take us to the entry and then show us where to meet her when we were finished. She gave us a cell phone and told us to call if we needed anything. It was perfect for finding the shop she had told us about or meeting up earlier/later when were finished. It was also nice to have another person to take photos of all of us together. The driver was full of knowledge too and had various books in the van for us to look at prior to each stop plus they had a chilled bin full of water and sodas for us to take as we wanted.
Prior to going on the cruise I was stressed about this stop because it was on my bucket list and we had only one day. I could not have imagined a better day. It was too short but we saw everything we wanted.
My tip is for you to pre-book the Vatican & the Coliseum and decide before you go if you want to do the underground part of the Coliseum or the tour of St Peter's Basilica - I would have liked to do both but there was no time. There is a fantastic coffee place next to the Pantheon and it is hidden but hugely popular and has the CHEAPEST and BEST coffee ever (like $1.20 per cup) and they have clean toilets and they are super friendly.
Have fun!
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We grabbed a quick lunch from a sidewalk cafe and hit the streets. We walked a few blocks and explored the squares and fountains of Rome including the Pantheon. If you do this tour I would recommend that you have a good map. It was only after studying a map that I realized how close the Pantheon was to the Vatican.
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