Returning to Roman times… COMPLETED - Page 40 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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It must have been a thoroughly exhausting day, but so amazing to see so much of these two towns. You're right, any hotter and it could have been unbearable in the sun. I hope you get good touring weather on next year's cruise, as the ancient sites in Greece tend to be VERY hot with the sun bouncing off of all that marble!
Fascinating stuff. I wonder if that women's bathroom courtyard was a luxury to have back then. I'm guessing yes.
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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
It must have been a thoroughly exhausting day, but so amazing to see so much of these two towns. You're right, any hotter and it could have been unbearable in the sun. I hope you get good touring weather on next year's cruise, as the ancient sites in Greece tend to be VERY hot with the sun bouncing off of all that marble!
Darn - that's something I really hadn't thought of. I guess I'll be asking for weather before we go that it's not too hot for us...
Fascinating stuff. I wonder if that women's bathroom courtyard was a luxury to have back then. I'm guessing yes.
You're right! Even access to the "public" baths and urinals were paid for by subscription. The very rich had their own in-house facilities. Everyone else collected waste in a large pot, which was emptied periodically into public cesspools. YUCK! For the day, though the standards of hygiene were very advanced although-- this is really disgusting-- in the absence of toilet paper they used a communal sponge. TMI??
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
That looks amazing! I wish I had time to go there when I was in the area! I'm so jealous of Laurie's knowledge of everything!
Thank you! I used to really know lots about all this and have the dates and names readily accessible in my brain. Not so much now! One of my professors used to call me his "handy pocket Greek scholar"!
I promise I'll try to restrain myself from hijacking so much when you get to Greece, Cheryl!
For the day, though the standards of hygiene were very advanced although-- this is really disgusting-- in the absence of toilet paper they used a communal sponge. TMI??
Eeewwwww! That is pretty gross, Laurie! But, I'll have to remember to share that factoid with my kids some time...to gross THEM out for a change!
Glad the bike race changed your plans for the better, Cheryl!
It is so amazing to be able to tour places that were built so many many years ago. Thank you so much for taking us back into a time we never knew, but could only read about. This TP was one of the most educational reports I have read.
You're right! Even access to the "public" baths and urinals were paid for by subscription. The very rich had their own in-house facilities. Everyone else collected waste in a large pot, which was emptied periodically into public cesspools. YUCK! For the day, though the standards of hygiene were very advanced although-- this is really disgusting-- in the absence of toilet paper they used a communal sponge. TMI??
Definitely!
Quote:
Thank you! I used to really know lots about all this and have the dates and names readily accessible in my brain. Not so much now! One of my professors used to call me his "handy pocket Greek scholar"!
I promise I'll try to restrain myself from hijacking so much when you get to Greece, Cheryl!
Hey - don't stop! I'll be quite happy for you to hijack away on that report too....
It is so amazing to be able to tour places that were built so many many years ago. Thank you so much for taking us back into a time we never knew, but could only read about. This TP was one of the most educational reports I have read.
Monday 6 May – part fourteen: what can we do before our flight?
We headed back to the car, paid our €4 ($5.20) (I told you this was much more reasonable! ) and headed out. By now, it was about 3:40pm, and if we headed straight to the airport, we would’ve been there by 4:00pm, about three and a half hours before our flight, so instead we decided to head over to find a Disney Store. There were two, one in Naples itself, which I didn’t think was a good plan, and another at an out of town shopping complex, so that’s the one I opted for.
It was about a 20 minute drive, during which the scenery changed quite considerably…
When we got there, you could immediately tell that Disney was here.
We headed inside, and opted to go upstairs, realising that whichever floor we chose, it would of course be wrong – and surprise, it was! We walked around most of the top floor, keeping a close eye on the stores downstairs, and couldn’t see the Disney Store anywhere. We headed downstairs, and fortunately I spotted a familiar “D” sign, and there it was.
When we went inside though, it was such a let-down. Firstly, it was still one of the older stores, with none of the new magical projections that many have now, but more importantly, it had nothing unique to Naples or even Italy. Honestly, I seriously think that I could walk into our local one, and get exactly the same merchandise as they had in here. It was such a shame.
Still, the trip wasn’t a complete bust. The complex was very nice and airy, and this, to me, is what Italy is all about – the glamour and the fashion side of things, and it gave us a nice glimpse into ordinary Italian lives, which of course you don’t usually get in tourist centres.
We headed back to the car, and back towards Naples…
We think this was a railway tunnel
When we came off for the airport, we saw a sign for a petrol station, and decided to fill up, so that was done. This was the weirdest system. You fill up the car yourself, but instead of going to pay inside the shop, there’s a guy outside with credit card terminals, and you pay there.
Literally, the airport was only about a five minute drive from there, and before we knew it, we were back at Avis, and returning our car. Ok, so it hadn’t been a convertible, but it had been a very nice car, and it was definitely the right decision not to get a big one…
We unloaded everything, then headed over to where a shuttle bus had just arrived, so on we got, and we were at the airport a couple of minutes later.
We headed inside, and over to the check-in area. How pleasant to walk up to a check-in area, and not to have a massive wait! In fact, there was no-one at all in front of us. Very nice!
Our bags checked, and our boarding passes in hand, we headed upstairs, which wasn’t much to write home about…
We breezed through security in literally about two minutes, then we were the other side….
They very cleverly take you through the duty free shop, and this is where I found some Bailey’s at a very nice price, so I grabbed some, along with some Lindt chocolate and a couple of fridge magnets. Result!
I thought these were fun!
Over this side of security, the airport was much nicer…
We soon found a mozzarella bar (and you have just read that right!) to grab some dinner.
I got a tomato and mozzarella baguette, and the mozzarella was superb in it …
… while Mark got a similar version with tuna… along with a little plate of appetisers, which ironically showed up after everything else.
I also got a glass of Proscecco, something else traditionally Italian, which sadly I hadn’t been able to enjoy until now, due to the price of it in every other place I’d been in so far.
When we’d finished eating, we headed down towards the gate. The whole set up was bizarre. We walked past all of gate A, which was gates 1 – 10, then found B, but you had to go through passport control to get to them, which wasn’t manned yet. As soon as someone arrived, we went through, and I’m glad we did, as there weren’t that many seats on the other side. Luckily, we were able to snag a couple, but those who came through later weren’t so lucky…
Just before we were about to start boarding, a lovely kid went over to the doors outside, where the buses come to pick you up, and opened it, pushing down on the emergency bar on it. Of course, you can imagine what happened next? You got it – alarms everywhere, absolutely deafening, although we were staggered by how long it took them to respond to it and turn the alarm off. I’m sure they have CCTV here, so they could probably see what had happened, but even so – this is supposed to be a secure area, and they didn’t seem that concerned by what had just happened.
Then the rugby scrum began for boarding. British Airways only let their business class passengers on to the first bus (well, heck for the amount of money they paid, they needed some sort of perk – it was about £300 (c. $450) for us to upgrade for a two and a half flight each way, and the seats aren’t much bigger on board), then the rest of us had to go on the second and third bus.
Luckily, we were on the second bus, and when it pulled up, we were the first ones off, and quickly on board. Of course, what happens when we board? You still can’t get to your seats because the idiots in business class were still messing around, so what’s the point of putting them on first?
We quickly found our seats, and once again, it seemed to be a full flight. There are no photos, as I made the decision to stash the cameras, and make do with only what I needed for the flight (basically a book, laptop and iPod), so I can’t show you the photos as we took off, although the sunset did look nice enough. That figures, no doubt the sunset tonight would’ve been really something to see from our hotel, but hey, maybe that’s a reason to go back…
We were soon in the air, and very quickly in the clouds, which given how Vesuvius had spent much of the day in the clouds, wasn’t a huge surprise.
I will be honest, the food on this flight was absolutely lousy. They offered a BLT (not Bay Lake Tower in this case ) sandwich first, then when I said I didn’t eat meat, I got the vegetarian substitute, falafel wrap. The second I opened it, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to eat it, as it stank of onion. I tried one bite and confirmed what I had thought – overwhelming onion. thanks!
The weather today was cloudy first thing, with a little rain, then hot and sunny, with temperatures in the 70s. The best thing today was being able to spend as much time as we liked in Pompeii. The worst thing today was the rain in the morning. Today we tried going to Herculaneum And the result was although I didn’t enjoy it as much as Pompeii, I’m glad we got to see it. The most magical moment today was seeing Sorrento surrounded by fog.
A mozzarella restaurant?!?! YUM!!!
Annoying about the alarms at the airport.
Those Vespa containers were cute - I was trying to figure out if they had candy inside?
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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before we go that it's not too hot for us...
too but I bet Laurie will know for sure...
Thank you so much for taking us back into a time we never knew, but could only read about. This TP was one of the most educational reports I have read.
I'll be quite happy for you to hijack away on that report too....
) and headed out. By now, it was about 3:40pm, and if we headed straight to the airport, we would’ve been there by 4:00pm, about three and a half hours before our flight, so instead we decided to head over to find a Disney Store. There were two, one in Naples itself, which I didn’t think was a good plan, and another at an out of town shopping complex, so that’s the one I opted for. 
We walked around most of the top floor, keeping a close eye on the stores downstairs, and couldn’t see the Disney Store anywhere. We headed downstairs, and fortunately I spotted a familiar “D” sign, and there it was. 
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