Returning to Roman times… COMPLETED - Page 32 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Monday 6 May – part seven: what a difference a couple of hours makes!
We made our way back to the Forum, and wow, now this was packed! I couldn’t believe the difference a couple of hours had made, as now it was about 11:30am. This place really is like a Disney theme park – get here at opening to make the best of it or be prepared to fight the crowds for the day…
We wandered past the Building of Eumachia, who was a priestess and had it built in the first century AD.
Next we saw the Aedes Genii Augusti, which was for the worship of Genius of the emperor Vespasian and was either being remodelled or built when the eruption occurred. This was where sacrifices of bulls (boo hiss ) would occur.
The next remains are the Sanctuary of the Public Lares, which they think may have been built after the earthquake of 62AD. Once again, this had a sacrificial altar.
We headed under the Memorial Arch, which would’ve been covered with marble…
… and decided to head to the restaurant here. I bet there was some controversy when they decided to add a restaurant into this place, but I think they’ve done it very well, and heck it needs it, as this could easily be a full day visit, if you want to see absolutely every single thing here.
We headed inside, and were relieved to discover that they took credit cards, which helped hugely, after our unexpected cash expense at the start of the day. I got a slide of the aubergine/eggplant pizza, which was very nice, and I thought better than the one we’d had in Sorrento the day before.
Mark went for the ham and mushroom one…
… followed by a strawberry cake…
… while I had this very nice chocolate cake.
As there weren’t many bathrooms in Pompeii, I decided to go and visit the ones here, and headed up first just in case you had to pay. Well, let’s just say there is no way that they could demand money here. There was a total of six cubicles in here, but only one was actually working. As you can imagine, I had a long wait. Mark told me the situation in the men’s was pretty unpleasant as well.
We headed back outside, and decided to head upwards, so that we could visit some of the houses of Pompeii.
The first one we came to was the House of the Tragic Poet, with this amazing mosaic of a dog.
Next we found another themopolium, which you might remember were the snack bars across Pompeii.
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I agree that they really need the restaurant in a site that large. Terrible that the facilities weren't in better condition. Yuck! The best thing about Pompeii is the "hominess" and the feeling of every-day life that you get. This makes it unlike any other ancient site.
Interesting about the brothel. I also giggled at the "arrow". They do need the restaurant, and it's good they worked it into the area. Bad they obviously need a new plumber! Those are terrible situations! More pretty tile work! I love the walkway on the road.
I can see how a restaurant would cause some controversy. But otherwise your patrons would leave the site and potentially not return! It makes sense in the end. And it sounded, and looked, delicous as well! Hopefully they get those restrooms fixed before any larger summer crowds show up.
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We didn't get to see the brothel when we took out tour in 2007. Too many kiddos...
Really? There were loads of kids on our tour - they just took them elsewhere and I seem to remember told them that their parents were going to see an "adult ice cream parlour", which I thought was classic...
I can see how a restaurant would cause some controversy. But otherwise your patrons would leave the site and potentially not return! It makes sense in the end. And it sounded, and looked, delicous as well! Hopefully they get those restrooms fixed before any larger summer crowds show up.
Ugh - I hope so... I don't even want to think about that.
Very good decision to put restaurant to take a nice break. All of the food looked great, especially the "chocolate cake". You would think with the crowds that they take in a day, the restrooms should be in proper order.
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I can see how a restaurant would be controversial, but I agree that it is something that is needed at the site. They should have reopened one of the snack bars! It seems you and Mark were wise to get there so early and be able to see the site without a large crowd.
I can see how a restaurant would be controversial, but I agree that it is something that is needed at the site. They should have reopened one of the snack bars!
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Monday 6 May – part eight: one of the jewels of Pompeii
Our next stop was the House of the Small Fountain, dating from the early first century BC, which is a typical atrium style house, where almost all of the rooms of the house open up on to the atrium.
We headed out again…
Then we found the House of Faun, which was an absolute jewel. Why on earth the tours don’t bring you in here, I do not know, as homes were the heart of Pompeii and this is a superb example of one. As you walked through it, it just oozed money. This really was how the other half lived in Pompeii. It is the largest house in Pompeii at almost 3,000 square metres and was built over a previous house at the start of the second century BC. In here would’ve been a kitchen, baths, latrine, and atrium.
At the entrance is a bronze statue of the faun…
This mosaic shows the victory of Alexander the Great over Darius, King of Persia.
As you can see, there was a lot to this property…
Who knew Pompeii would have a hidden Mickey?
We were pretty shattered by now, but decided to head to see the Great Theatre, which was what we’d seen on our cruise excursion. We made our way there…
….seeing the House of the Ancient Hunt, which is believed to have been completed just before the eruption of 79 AD.
We saw various other places on our walk down there…
That Faun House is gorgeous. You are right that it just oozes with wealth! More gorgeous artwork too! I wonder what their jobs were? I imagine you had to be dragging at this point. You've covered a lot of ground.
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I couldn’t believe the difference a couple of hours had made, as now it was about 11:30am. This place really is like a Disney theme park – get here at opening to make the best of it or be prepared to fight the crowds for the day… 
) would occur. 
There was a total of six cubicles in here, but only one was actually working. 
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You would think with the crowds that they take in a day, the restrooms should be in proper order
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