Returning to Roman times… COMPLETED - Page 11 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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What an absolutely lovely hotel! The room, the private outdoor area, the views, the food-- looks perfect to me. Looks like you have it all to yourselves.
We pretty much did at that point.
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I remember well the food in Italy. REAL tomatoes. Moreflavor in all the veg than you can get here straight from the farm. Italians know how to cook and how to grow things.
They certainly do. I can still taste those tomatoes now - and boy, I wish I could have one now!
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The hotel looks great! And the caprese salad, YUM! I ate so many tomatoes in Italy! Some nights I'd have a plateful as my starter - they were just broiled lightly with a little olive oil and Parmesan. nothing tastes like tomatoes in Italy!!
Wow! I'm blown away by the pics along the drive and at the hotel. Those are some breathtaking sights for sure. The meal looks delicious too!
If you've been blown away by the photos from this day, you wait until we get to the next day when we drive the Amalfi coast - now those will really blow you away.
Saturday 4 May – part seven: how much for half a bottle of wine?
We relaxed for a little while, then we headed out to sit by the pool. I was thinking about having a swim, so I went to dip my feet in the pool just to see how warm it was. Warm? It was freezing! No wonder no-one had been in the thing all afternoon…
We sat out there for the next hour with another couple out there too, who sounded American. It was just a perfect temperature for us – probably low 70s, maybe even high 60s, but with the sun out, it was lovely. Just after 6:00pm, the sun started to dip, and the wind got up a bit more, plus they came out and asked if they could close off the pool. By now, we were the only ones left, so we headed back to the room, but it had been some lovely down time, and it’s very unusual for us to be able to sit outside. Usually, it’s too hot or too cold, but this was just right.
We headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. We’d booked at the hotel restaurant, down the road, for 7:30pm, but a little bit before that, I headed back out to the swimming pool area to see what the sunset was like, although sadly it was pretty much a damp squib.
Just before 7:30pm, we headed to the car park, and drove down to the restaurant. My goodness, talk about a tight entrance to the road that led to the car park. Not having a large car was now a very good idea!
We parked up, and walked down, and wow, what a view awaited us. We got some photos outside…
… then we headed in, and were seated right by a window with a lovely view outside.
We settled down to peruse the menu, and my goodness, there were so many choices, from pasta to fish dishes to meat dishes. We really both struggled to work out what we wanted. While we decided, they brought out an amuse bouchee for us, which was essentially bruschetta, tomato and cheese drizzled in olive oil, and very nice it was too.
I got half a bottle of wine, presented in this carafe…
Now guess how much we paid for this?
Go on… what do you think?
You won’t believe this – remember this is half a bottle!
A whooping €1.50 – that’s about $2! It was actually the same price as a bottle of water. I am seriously not making this up!
Eventually, we both decided, with me going for a pasta dish, the scialatielle with prawns and zucchini. Oh my goodness, this was good, and just the perfect size for me, after a late lunch.
Mark went for the escalope Sorrentino style, which essentially meant that it came with tomato and mozzarella.
For dessert, I was sold the second I heard tiramisu was on the menu! I absolutely love this stuff, and the prospect of sampling it in its homeland was too much – I had to give it a go. Oh wow, this was good, and you could taste the alcohol in it, but it wasn’t overpowering, like it sometimes can be…
Mark opted for the “special cake”, which was essentially chocolate with a gooey middle, and boy it did look good. I notice he didn’t offer me a taste, so it must’ve been good…
When we got the check, I was in for a real shock – I couldn’t believe it. The whole thing for two entrees, two desserts, two bottles of water and half a bottle of wine came to just €30, that’s $40!
Il Panorama
Entrée 9 8
Dessert 9½ 10
Atmosphere 9 8½
Service 8 7½
Value for money 10 10
Average score: 8.95
We headed back to the hotel, and boy, the car park was tight to get out of as well. Again, thank goodness for a medium sized car, not a large one and that Mark was driving!
I grabbed some photos of the hotel at night when we got back…
… then it was back to the room, where we tried twice, without success, to download that night’s Doctor Who. Oh well, we tried… We ended up leaving it downloading while we went to bed. We’ll see whether or not it’s there in the morning…
The weather today was in the low 80s and sunny in Italy, in the 50s and overcast in the UK. The best thing today was sitting outside in the sun, relaxing, something we never usually do. The worst thing today was those idiots on the mopeds! The funniest thing today was that lovely lady on the plane thinking we were that young… sure it’s a compliment, but there’s a funny side to it too! Today we tried driving from Naples to Sorrento And the result was it was pretty hair raising at times! The most magical moment today was flying over the Alps.
Next: I have never had so much of this for breakfast before!
I have always loved how inexpensive Italy is! Wine is cheaper than water and that to me is fantastic! I stayed in one of those hotels that is built into the cliff side. Amazing!
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I can still taste those tomatoes now - and boy, I wish I could have one now! 
Holly: 
Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
It was freezing! 
No wonder no-one had been in the thing all afternoon… 
It was actually the same price as a bottle of water. I am seriously not making this up! 
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