A magical Meditteranean vacation - the Italy road trip COMPLETED - Page 17 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Beautiful tour. I can guess that other F1 teams would be interested in getting more information about what they are doing. Even if they have not been so successful this year.
Beautiful tour. I can guess that other F1 teams would be interested in getting more information about what they are doing. Even if they have not been so successful this year.
Wednesday 16 July – part five: this is a bit tight!
We got in the car, slammed the air conditioning on maximum, as it was a little toasty by now.
This is 100 degrees Fahrenheit!
I programmed the GPS and wasn’t particularly pleased when it told me we had a two hour journey ahead of us. Ok, when I did this on Google maps, it had said an hour and a quarter. That wasn’t good, as we’d barely have any down time before we’d need to be out again for our boat trip along the River Arno in Florence. Now just to hope we didn’t experience any delays on the way…
We passed the factory that we’d just toured and I at least managed to snag a photo from the main road:
This was the Ferrari area around the test track:
As we headed out, we kept seeing Ferraris out on test runs, which was very surreal…
We also spotted a barn, which happened to have some of my boys in, although you can’t see in this shot, but trust me, I zeroed in, and they were there!
We headed out into the countryside, past vineyards…
… and then we were heading up through the mountain, through a myriad of tunnels…
Of course, whatever goes up must come down, and soon we were descending again, and I know Mark wasn’t exactly having fun with the lorries on the inside lane. A lot of them were trucks and two trailers, and you can imagine how much those were moving around as we went downhill and around bends. On more than one occasion, he had to put his foot to the floor to get past a lorry that was swinging out into our lane.
Thankfully he negotiated his way back down the mountain safely, even managing to ensure he didn’t set these off – these are speed cameras, and they were seriously everywhere!
Soon we were coming into the outskirts of Florence. With about 12 miles to go, Mari spotted the dome of the cathedral of Florence in the distance, but sadly neither of us were able to catch it on our cameras.
Eventually, we were off the motorways and on to the streets of Florence itself…
We drove along the southern side of the River Arno and were treated to some beautiful views of the city…
We made it with no issues to our hotel, which was good, given our turnaround time before we needed to head out again. I knew there was parking here, but couldn’t see how to get to it, so I headed inside, while they waited outside. I started to check us in (in Italian, which I was very proud of! ) but had to revert to English when they asked about Mari and Raleigh’s passports, as I had to explain they were still in the car, and needed to park up. A lovely guy came with me, and directed Mark to where we needed to park, although got very worried, as he was going the wrong way down a one way street. Thankfully there was nothing coming towards him at the time…
Let’s just say getting it in was a little tight…
The hotel itself was absolutely beautiful:
Our room wasn’t bad, but it was a bit small, and there was nowhere, apart from the bed, to lay out the suitcases, which wasn’t great, but heck, if that was the only complaint, then we could live with that.
We didn’t have long before we headed out again, so we did our best to cool down, and I lathered up with suntan lotion. I have to say here the air conditioning in the car had been on full belt the whole way here, and at times, it felt like it really wasn’t keeping up. When we got things like the laptop, and the camera charger out, they felt quite hot – not good!
That does look like a tiny room.
I hate when the heat is so bad that the AC has troubles keeping up. Even at our house when we hit extreme temperatures the AC runs non-stop and never gets as cool as I would like it, but then again it is still better than being outside.
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That was a great tour of the Ferrari museum. Too bad photos weren't allowed, but you can understand why as they don't want their secrets revealed! But you gave us a great overview of your tour and the online photos too!
Florence is quite beautiful coming into town with all the tree lined streets! That was quite a tight fit with the car into the garage. Not sure, if I'd want to be the one doing that! The hotel looks quite stunning and especially the outdoor dining area, which I hope you got to experience. I also hope you made it to Piazzale Michelangelo, which has some stunning views of Florence below. The views from here are beyond amazing!
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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!
That was a great tour of the Ferrari museum. Too bad photos weren't allowed, but you can understand why as they don't want their secrets revealed! But you gave us a great overview of your tour and the online photos too!
I wanted to try and give the best description I could, given there were no photos - and of course, I understand why. It's a shame they don't do an "official" set of photos for you to buy, so you can see the complex, without giving away any of the secrets.
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Florence is quite beautiful coming into town with all the tree lined streets! That was quite a tight fit with the car into the garage. Not sure, if I'd want to be the one doing that! The hotel looks quite stunning and especially the outdoor dining area, which I hope you got to experience.
We did - the next two mornings for breakfast.
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I also hope you made it to Piazzale Michelangelo, which has some stunning views of Florence below. The views from here are beyond amazing!
We didn't, but only because we did it in 2007 when we came to Florence on a Disney shore excursion and you're right, the views from there is amazing. Mind you, all I'll say is we didn't do too badly with the views while we were in Florence.
Wow, they're pretty strict on their rules and security for the tour. That's quite impressive actually!
What a beautiful drive. Tunnels are fun - to me anyway! And your hotel certainly does look very nice, even if the room is a bit small. Can't believe how hot it was though! I assumed since you were so far north in Italy, it wouldn't be as hot. Guess not!
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On more than one occasion, he had to put his foot to the floor to get past a lorry that was swinging out into our lane. 
) but had to revert to English when they asked about Mari and Raleigh’s passports, as I had to explain they were still in the car, and needed to park up. A lovely guy came with me, and directed Mark to where we needed to park, although got very worried, as he was going the wrong way down a one way street. Thankfully there was nothing coming towards him at the time… 
But you gave us a great overview of your tour and the online photos too! 
Not sure, if I'd want to be the one doing that! 
The hotel looks quite stunning and especially the outdoor dining area, which I hope you got to experience. 
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