Cindybelle's Bella Notte TR COMPLETE!! - UPDATED 10/19 With Prices! - Page 21 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
That's a great one Cindy. Sort of puts your trip in perspective to a point I guess.
__________________
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!
i certainly enjoyed the story of your travels. next year, i think it is spain for me! it is on my bucket list. gee, if i win the lottery, i will do the whole spain-italy-france thing...care to join me????
Great finish Cindy! It's been lovely to come home and read about all your adventures in Venice, it's brought back such great memories. I love the new bridge, although yes, I can imagine that's been just a little bit controversial!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Great finish Cindy! It's been lovely to come home and read about all your adventures in Venice, it's brought back such great memories. I love the new bridge, although yes, I can imagine that's been just a little bit controversial!
Not sure if I like the new bridge. Part of the bridge fits in with the rest of Venice, but it's the glass part that I think people have the problem with. You could say this about other cities like Paris for example. Many years ago when the Eiffel Tower was built, most Parisians were not happy with it and now they ,welcome it. Most recently over the last fifteen years or so and the La Defense area of the city, with the modern office buildings in this area. I like it as it has a great big open plaza to walk around and relax too.
__________________
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!
Thanks so much for sharing your trip with us! All your pictures were beautiful!
Seriously, seeing all of those wonderful places gives me an ache in the pit of my stomach, I want to go there so badly. One of these days for sure!
Was the $3,800 just for one person or for the two of you?
Thanks to SuperDave for pointing out I'd omitted the hotel expenses in my previous version of this response. Now I can swear that my air fare and my half of the hotel bills are listed below.
I spent more like $2,800 total. That includes the following in approx. U.S. dollars, per person. (Note: it's cheaper not to prepay tickets to the museums, although I'm still glad we did this.) These prices are PER PERSON:
$22 lunch at St. Louis Airport
$27 Vatican Museum Rome (prepaid ticket)
$21 Accademia Museum Florence (prepaid ticket)
$21 Uffizi Gallery Florence (prepaid ticket)
$18 Cab from Roma Airport to Hotel Nerva (my 1/4 share)
$15 Lunch in Rome (that crappy meal our first day -- but it was food, and we paid extra to sit at a table)
$18 Colosseum ticket
$4 Gelato Rome (worth every penny)
$25 Dinner Flann O'Brien's Irish Pub, Rome (again, paying to sit down. Good food.)
$4 Taxi from Hotel Nerva to Vatican (remember, we walked back at day's end)
$45 Mario's dinner Thursday night Rome (with alcohol -- although soda is almost as expensive as wine. We also had appetizers and dessert. Worth it -- but yes, one could eat cheaper elsewhere.)
$4 Cab from Pantheon to Spanish Steps
$28 Lunch Friday at Ristorante Alla Rampa near Spanish Steps (with appetizers and dessert -- yummy)
$16 Galleria Borghese admission, Rome - Friday afternoon
$4 Soft drinks at Borghese
$45 dinner at Mario's on Friday
$89 Train (First-class) from Rome to Florence (Second class would have been around $55, I think)
$6 Cab from Hotel Nerva to train station
$4 Cab from Florence train station to B&B Il Bargello. (Once we learned the lay of the land, we easily walked with our luggage back to this train station at the end of our stay in Florence)
$25 Saturday Lunch at Gusto Leo in Florence (absolutely delicious -- we shared three main dishes and a huge salad, three desserts, Rick had a beer and the other three of us had those huge, yummy sangrias - I think you recall how much I enjoyed those)
$17 Light supper at Trattoria Nella's in Florence (with wine)
$22 Lunch at Gusto Leo on Sunday (skipped the sangria)
$10 Beverages and gelati on Sunday, various places
$13 Monday train Florence to Pisa (First Class, so you could save money here)
$2 Taxi from Pisa train station to Leaning Tower
$37 Pisa attractions (worth every penny -- we spent most of the day there and really enjoyed every single museum, churcha-churcha, and the Leaning Tower)
$11 Lunch at Ristorante Lastri in Pisa (yummy - split 3 main courses and a big salad, plus dessert and soft drinks)
$9 Train from Pisa to Firenze (Second class)
$30 dinner in Firenze at Equinarius (split 4 main courses, 2 appetizers, 2 desserts, and a carafe of wine - delicious)
$4 Picnic lunch fixings for Tuesday (drank free juice at our B&B)
$12 Palazzo Vecchio secret tour in Firenze
$34 Gusto Leo dinner (four main courses, two appetizers, wine, dessert for all)
$8 Lunch near Accademia on Wednesday (split a sandwich & had my own soda)
$3 Taxi from Duomo to Piazzale Michelangelo (then we walked back down the hill later)
$84 Train ticket Firenze to Venezia (First Class)
$27 Dinner at Mastrociliegia in Firenze (fabulous, with wine, appetizer, main course, & dessert)
$27 Water bus from Venezia train station to our hotel
$12 Pizza & soda near hotel in Venice
$45 Dinner at Al Profeta in Venice (main course, salad, appetizer, dessert, & wine)
$40 Second night's dinner at Al Profeta
$26 Taxi from main pickup area to Venice airport
$25 Parking at St. Louis Airport for 12 days
$245 Hotel Nerva (Rome - 3 nights, my half)
$375 B&B Il Bargello (Firenze - 5 nights, my half)
$225 Locanda San Barnaba (Venezia - 2 nights, my half)
$1,000 Air fare from St. Louis
Plus a few more snacks (more gelato) and souvenirs -- but still, I spent slightly under $2,800!
Oh man, now I really, really, REALLY have to start socking it away for a future trip!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
i certainly enjoyed the story of your travels. next year, i think it is spain for me! it is on my bucket list. gee, if i win the lottery, i will do the whole spain-italy-france thing...care to join me????
Sheri, I was just looking at Spain yesterday. (Of course, I was also looking at Germany and Sicily and Croatia and . . . ) I had ordered Rick Steves' "Through the Back Door" DVD and it showed up on Saturday. (Rick groaned, but he also watched it. )
I really, really, really want to travel-travel-travel! But I still haven't seen Yosemite here in the U.S. yet, plus I have a conference in San Diego next June that I could tack a vacation onto. So we shall see!
Thanks Cindy for the great TR. Loved every bit of it! Glad you got the Rick Steves dvd. As I've mentioned, I took one of his tours back in 2006. I've done a number of these, but this was the first Rick Steves tour I had done. Definitely, the best of the lot. Basically, a high end tour, but not at a high end price. Any questions, just ask! That was his Village Italy tour for me.
Thanks for your costs, but you left out the ones for hotel stays and your airfare.
Probably won't go to Europe next year, but in 2011 I plan to do one. I want to return to Disney and finally go for the Epcot F & W Festival.
__________________
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!
Last edited by SuperDave; 10-19-2009 at 02:50 PM..
Thanks for your costs, but you left out the ones for hotel stays and your airfare.
Dave, it's a good thing you mentioned that. While I'd added in my air fare already, you're absolutely right that I left out my share of the hotels -- darn it, that's another $845.
Rome's Hotel Nerva was 109 Euros a night for 3 nights, for approx. $490, so my half is $245.
Firenze's B&B Il Bargello was 100 Euros a night for 5 nights, for approx. $750, so my half is $375.
Venezia's Locanda San Barnaba was 150 Euros a night for 2 nights, for approx. $450, so my half is $225.
So I spent $1,900 plus another $845 (lodging) for a grand total of $2,745.
Bummer! It was sure nice to think I spent only $1,900, but it's better than my original estimate of $3,900. Thanks for catching that, Dave. And sorry to everybody for getting your hopes up. Like I said, you can definitely save money on where you stay and where you eat -- but I wouldn't change a thing from this trip.
.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
It's been lovely to come home and read about all your adventures in Venice, it's brought back such great memories. 
I love the new bridge, although yes, I can imagine that's been just a little bit controversial! 
Now I can swear that my air fare and my half of the hotel bills are listed below.
- I think you recall how much I enjoyed those)
) I had ordered Rick Steves' "Through the Back Door" DVD and it showed up on Saturday. (Rick groaned, but he also watched it. 
)
-- darn it, that's another $845.
Linear Mode
