Forums Closed
|
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
|
|
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.
|
 |
04-20-2005, 12:43 PM
|
#1
|
Community Rank: Wayfarer 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: West Coast
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 115
|
Italy, Anyone?
My family and I have decided to plan a trip to Italy for sometime in 2006. It is my parents' dream to go there, so we want to do it while they're still young enough to get around and enjoy themselves. Since none of us have ever been, I'd love any advice you can give.
We've purchased a tourbook of Italy, as well as "Italy for Dummies" to start with. We aren't sure whether to tour on our own or take a structured tour. If we do the latter, we have absolutely no idea which ones are legitimate. Another concern is that we'd love to do a tour combined with some time to explore on our own, so we're not with the tour 24/7. Of course, a cruise isn't out of the question, either.
Our primary goal is to visit Venice, Rome, Naples and Florence.
If any of you have toured Italy, can you please tell me how you did it and how you went about planning for it? Are there any websites you can recommend that helped you in your planning? We're open to any and all suggestions! 
Much appreciated! Ciao! |
|
|
|
04-20-2005, 01:12 PM
|
#2
|
Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Near a Tower of Terror at the moment...
Posts: 13,884
|
Re: Italy, Anyone?
I haven't been to Italy for many years, but my parents were just there recently with my brother/SIL, so I will ask them for suggestions for you. My mom is leaving for 5 weeks in the UK tomorrow, though, so I'll have to see how much my Dad knows!  I will say that my family has always had a "no tour" policy and we always did everything on our own (we had a camping trailer  ). Italy was one of my favorite places to travel as a child; the people are extremely friendly and love to practice their English (and love to hear you practice your Italian!) Some of my best travelling memories are from there. We did hire a tour guide in Venice, but he was just for our family, so it was great. We wound up going to his daughter's wedding reception and I had my first taste of calamari! That's what I mean by friendly!
Have fun planning, I would  to go back to Italy some day! I'll post back here when I get info from my folks. |
|
|
|
|
04-20-2005, 01:56 PM
|
#3
|
PassPorter Message Board Manager
 PassPorter Guide Author
Community Rank: Legend VIP 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Maidstone, Kent, UK
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 190,285
|
Re: Italy, Anyone?
We've been to both Venice and Rome, although they were both city breaks. We just booked the flights and the hotels and then made our own arrangements while we were there in terms of what we saw. I can thoroughly recommend both destinations, but especially Venice - it is so beautiful. I also heard a lot of good things from (mainly American) travellers who had visited Florence as well.
As Dawn said, we had no problems with language - every time I tried to speak Italian, I got an answer in English, so in the end I gave up. 
I'm sorry I can't help with any recommendations for websites or guidebooks, but have fun planning.  |
|
|
|
|
04-21-2005, 02:10 PM
|
#4
|
Community Rank: Wayfarer
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Souther Maine
Posts: 101
|
Re: Italy, Anyone?
I have visited Rome on 3 occasions. WONDERFUL city, and what's nice you can hope on the train and take overnight trips to Piza, Florence etc. Never done Venice so I can't help you there. Wasn't thrilled with our Florence hotel, and my concern was shopping there. Piza was quick couple hour trip enroute to Florence. And I loved the hotel we stayed at (all 3 times) in Rome. PM if you would like specifics.
BTW - We did everything on our own. Picked up a Foders tour book and had wonderful times every time! |
|
|
|
|
04-21-2005, 04:41 PM
|
#5
|
Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: the Burbs outside of Philadelphia
Concierge Level: 1
Posts: 12,093
|
Re: Italy, Anyone?
My dd & I love to watch Rick Steves Europe on PBS. He has a website www.ricksteves.com and he has dvd's of his tours and guidebooks. I always said if I won the lottery I would tour Europe on one of his tours, I'd be too chicken to do it on my own. |
|
|
|
|
04-23-2005, 02:16 AM
|
#6
|
Community Rank: Scout 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Central NY State
Posts: 4,202
|
Re: Italy, Anyone?
I went on a tour through American Express back in 1988 that took us to Venice, Florence and Rome among other places. It was nice being on a tour because you didn't have to worry about how you were going to get from one destination to another and your luggage was handled for you. Also some meals were included. The tour I was on spent about three days in each city; usually giving you a general guided tour of the area the first morning and then giving you free time to explore on your own the rest of your stay in each city. There were optional excursions for each city, for instance, the Tivoli Gardens outside Rome, where we had dinner at an Italian Winery.
I enjoyed all three cities, but particularly Venice, which was SO beautiful. I'd like to return some day b/c we were only there for a few days, one of which was a Sunday when everything has limited hours.
Being it was so long ago, I'm not sure how the quality of American Express tour company still is, but I've heard Trafalgar Tours is also very good.
 planning and have a great time!  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
*
|
Sponsored links
 | | PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World
It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book!
Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95. |
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
|
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Linear Mode
