A magical Mediterranean vacation THIS SECTION COMPLETED 8/9 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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Must find my thesaurus. So beautiful, every single one!
Glad you were able to sneak in some photos. Don't they also say no pictures of the Mona Lisa? (or just no flash photo) Yeah, everyone at the Louvre has that photo too....
Honestly? I've never been to the Louvre and I probably never will. I know it's really awful to say it, but I really have no desire to visit it.
Sorry the Disney store was such a disappointment
It does seem silly that they wouldn't have some with gondolas or such - as the NYC store has so much of Mickey and Minnie with the Statue of Liberty or Taxi Cabs!
Have a great weekend at the games!
Exactly! And on that subject, I'll just say I was more impressed with what they had in the Glasgow Disney Store, which we visited on Friday....
Love your photos within the Basilica. Great that you were able to catch a bit of a wedding there! It's funny with these vast basilicas all over Europe that there a number of smaller chapel areas within them!
Some great views from the Rialto and the area.
With this photo of yours, this is the direction I took to my hotel, instead of going off to the right side of the bridge ( which you can do, just as the bridge descends). Quite crowded to say the least and imagine going through all that with your luggage, as I did! Well. at least I learned the wrong and correct path to take!
You sound as if you were in exactly the same situation as us with the luggage and finding the right and wrong way to go!
That's funny you had the same problem with the luggage as I did! I guess you learn the hard way and until you become familiar with a particular area.
I too, have never visited the Louvre in my five times to Paris. No real interest, although I once went inside, when I was nearby to use the bathrooms! I would like to visit some of the other museums eventually and especially, Musee D'Orsay.
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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!
Just getting caught up again! Your pictures of Venice are beautiful! The Rialto Bridge is amazing, as are all the frescoes (murals?) on the walls. The Basillica is stunning! More please!
Just getting caught up again! Your pictures of Venice are beautiful! The Rialto Bridge is amazing, as are all the frescoes (murals?) on the walls. The Basillica is stunning! More please!
Correct term, I think as I don't know always how to say it as well. They are just unbelievable and especially when you look into to the detail of these and how they were able to create works of art like this back then! They're just beyond belief and I don't know how else to describe these masters!
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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!
Correct term, I think as I don't know always how to say it as well. They are just unbelievable and especially when you look into to the detail of these and how they were able to create works of art like this back then! They're just beyond belief and I don't know how else to describe these masters!
That's what I love about visiting places around the world - you always find things from history and you wonder how on earth you'd create them today, never mind hundreds of years ago!
Friday 4 July – part ten: shall we take a gondola?
We passed through the Rialto Market, where a few sellers were still open…
Unsurprisingly, the fish market wasn’t open…
It was here I realised I’d made a mistake, and the vaparetto stop was on the other side of the canal. I quickly consulted my guidebook, and discovered the traghetto stop was at the fish market, so we headed over there. Basically this is a gondola ride for a discount price. They’re set up at spots along the Grand Canal, and they take you from one side to another on a gondola, where you can either sit or stand, for the grand sum of €2/each ($2.70). Bargain!
We watched ours come over…
… then gingerly climbed on board for our trip over…
Boy, these guys are brave, as all the other water traffic is going up and down the Grand Canal, and they’re going straight across…
When we got to the other side, we set about looking for somewhere to eat again. Around a corner we found McDonald’s.
I know, I know, but given we hadn’t had much luck finding anywhere so far and everywhere seemed to be showing the Germany v. France World Cup match (not my idea of a fun meal! ), we went for it. I got something very different, a Caesar salad…
… while Mark got a Big Mac, and as I’m sure you all know what those look like, I didn’t bother to photograph it. We both got McFlurries – a straticella one for me, which was wonderful…
… and a pistachio one for Mark, which he described as chemical waste. It wasn’t the taste, as he said it was very nice, it was the appearance…
All filled up again, we headed out along the main street…
Along the way, I managed to find a shop selling cow and donkey masks, although there was no way I could fit one in the suitcase to take it home…
After a while of not finding any signs for the vaparettos, we realised we weren’t far from where we’d walked to earlier, and decided to walk the rest of the way back, as by now, it was a really pleasant temperature outside.
We eventually made it back to the hotel, and headed to the room to catch up on the trip report before an early night after a very long, but thoroughly enjoyable day.
The weather today was hot and sunny with some clouds and temperatures in the high 80s. The best thing today was being back in Venice. The worst thing today was getting those darned suitcases from Piazzale Roma to the hotel. Today we tried taking a traghetto ride on a gondola And the result was it was fun, but also a bit scary. The most magical moment today was getting on the vaparetto.
I had to laugh when you mentioned McDonald's, as I knew what was coming. Been there, done that. Sometimes you just want the easy solution. Mark's dessert did look rather ... Yummy
Definitely a long day, in fact I kept losing track of whether or not we were still on Day 1! After that rough start getting to the hotel, your rovings in Venice were very picturesque and beautiful. Just what you want from Venice. Too bad you couldn't find room for a cow mask! Wouldn't they ship for you, or was that insanely expensive?
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I love the pictures on the bridge. Bummer about the Disney Store. 
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Pixie Dust
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And on that subject, I'll just say I was more impressed with what they had in the Glasgow Disney Store, which we visited on Friday....
It's funny with these vast basilicas all over Europe that there a number of smaller chapel areas within them! 
Well. at least I learned the wrong and correct path to take! 
More please! 
I quickly consulted my guidebook, and discovered the traghetto stop was at the fish market, so we headed over there. Basically this is a gondola ride for a discount price. They’re set up at spots along the Grand Canal, and they take you from one side to another on a gondola, where you can either sit or stand, for the grand sum of €2/each ($2.70). Bargain! 
), we went for it. I got something very different, a Caesar salad… 
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