Italy: Viva Italia Meets Thread

[sayhello]

Please post here if you would like to talk with anyone else who has signed up to travel to Italy with ABD in 2012/2013.

You can also share information/ask questions about the Italy: Viva Italia ABD.

Please try and keep this thread on topic to discussion and questions about the Italy ABD. Off topic posts will be deleted or moved.

Thanks!
Sayhello

Roll Call:
May 9 - 17, 2013 - wdwtheplacetobe & Alacrity
- AquamarineSteph & 'Better Half'
May 16 - 24, 2013 - Disneyfam24 (1 mom and ka (12m))
Jun 30 - Jul 8, 2013 - chanibusti CVO Kim, DH Pradeep, DS7 Deven, DD6 Nora
- Kez250 (Kerry), DH Stephen, DS Ben (11), DD Imogen (10 by the trip)
Jul 28 - Aug 5, 2013 - flagfred, dh, dds (16) & (13)
Aug 11 - 19, 2013 - Skaminsk, wife, daughter (will be 7)
- Lydsmom, with 8 yo daughter, husband
Aug 18 - 26, 2013 - cindy2494 (Cindy), DH Don, DD Jess (19) & DD Sabrina (13)

Previous:
Jun 10 - 18, 2012 - Hermi, DH, DS (15) & DD (13)
Jun 28 - Jul 6, 2012 - Jlou, DH, DS(16) & DD(12.99)
Jul 9 17, 2012 - mickeee & family, daughter (11) & son (21)
- mapsd & family, 2 daughters (9 & 11)
- GregThom, wife & 2 daughters (14 & 10)
- Rmmc07 & DD (8)
Oct 7 - 15, 2012 - pandw & husband

[jlou]

Roll Call:

June 28 - July 6: Jlou (Jlou, DH, DS(16), DD(12.99)

[Hermi]

Roll Call: June 10th

Hermi, DH, DS (15), DD (13). Coming from Texas

[jlou]

Originally Posted by Hermi

Roll Call: June 10th

Hermi, DH, DS (15), DD (13). Coming from Texas

Welcome, Hermi! Too bad we're not on the same trip, since your kids are the same ages (more or less) as mine. You'll have to post how your trip went. Do you have any plans for your free time there? There are several posts here about suggestions for free time.

[Hermi]

Thanks to all the wonderful information on this forum, we have been able to make a wish list of several things we want to do during our free time (as long as something better does not come along ) We reserved two Pre-nights in Rome and one Post-Night in Venice. We arrive around 10ish am on our first day and hope to do one or two of the following: Capuchin Crypt (which I understand is close to our hotel), Open top bus tour of Rome, and/or Villa Borghese Park. On our second day, we plan to visit Pompeii. The morning and afternoon of the 10th, we plan to attend the Latin mass at St Peters and climb the stairs at St Peters dome. During our free afternoon in Rome, we hope to see at least one of the other 3 major basilicas (hopefully we will make it to The Scala Santa which is opposite of San Giovanni in Laterano). In Florence, we reserved tickets for the Uffizi Gallery for 2:30 pm. and hope to have time afterwards to climb the Duomo. In Orvieto, we hope to make a trip out to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In Venice, we plan to go to the Murano Glass Factory and just walk around the beautiful city of Venice.

Less than a week to go

[jlou]

Still packing.....

.....
.....


So many last minute things to do, but we're getting so excited!

Hermi, if you're back, how did your free-time plans pan out? I'm planning to do the hop-on hop-off in Rome, and Borghese gardens too. Also planning to visit Murano, and Doges palace in Venice. Domes in St Peters and in Florence would be nice, we'll see how we feel.

One thing is set in stone: lots of gelato! Can't wait.

[sayhello]

jlou, have a wonderful trip!

Sayhello

[Hermi]

Jlou, you are in for a wonderful treat. Here's a quick summary of free time events:
First of two predays: visited the Capuchin Crypts - we all enjoyed our 15 minutes here. We also visited the Time Machine which was recommended on a Tripadvisor walking tour of Rome. Don't waste your time on this place, although walk there was quite nice.
Second of two predays: We took train to Pompeii. We all loved this excursion.
Morning of adventure- Latin mass at St Peters, noon blessing by pope, and climbed dome (you can also climb dome during free afternoon after Vatican).
Free time in Artimino- kiddos explored the Villa and Artimino with their new friends. The kids LOVED this day.
Free time in Florence- Uffizi Museum (kiddos did not enjoy this at all), climbed dome and bell tower. Beautiful views!
Extra day in Venice- water bus to Murano ( go left to get to the glass blowing demos) and then lunch at Burano. Kids were worn out in the afternoon so Hubby and I spent afternoon exploring Venice.

Have fun!!

[jlou]

Originally Posted by Hermi

Jlou, you are in for a wonderful treat. Here's a quick summary of free time events:
First of two predays: visited the Capuchin Crypts - we all enjoyed our 15 minutes here. We also visited the Time Machine which was recommended on a Tripadvisor walking tour of Rome. Don't waste your time on this place, although walk there was quite nice.
Second of two predays: We took train to Pompeii. We all loved this excursion.
Morning of adventure- Latin mass at St Peters, noon blessing by pope, and climbed dome (you can also climb dome during free afternoon after Vatican).
Free time in Artimino- kiddos explored the Villa and Artimino with their new friends. The kids LOVED this day.
Free time in Florence- Uffizi Museum (kiddos did not enjoy this at all), climbed dome and bell tower. Beautiful views!
Extra day in Venice- water bus to Murano ( go left to get to the glass blowing demos) and then lunch at Burano. Kids were worn out in the afternoon so Hubby and I spent afternoon exploring Venice.

Have fun!!

Hermi,

thanks for taking the time to respond. And thanks for the suggestions; we're going to skip Uffizi and maybe walk around Boboli Gardens, and just enjoy the atmosphere. I kind of wish we could have done our pre and posts like you (2 before and 1 after), but we're doing the opposite (so hard to fit everyone's schedule!). So, not enough time to visit Pompeii. I am very much looking forward to exploring Venice without feeling hurried.

Jlou

[Rmmc07]

Originally Posted by Hermi

Jlou, you are in for a wonderful treat. Here's a quick summary of free time events:
First of two predays: visited the Capuchin Crypts - we all enjoyed our 15 minutes here. We also visited the Time Machine which was recommended on a Tripadvisor walking tour of Rome. Don't waste your time on this place, although walk there was quite nice.
Second of two predays: We took train to Pompeii. We all loved this excursion.
Morning of adventure- Latin mass at St Peters, noon blessing by pope, and climbed dome (you can also climb dome during free afternoon after Vatican).
Free time in Artimino- kiddos explored the Villa and Artimino with their new friends. The kids LOVED this day.
Free time in Florence- Uffizi Museum (kiddos did not enjoy this at all), climbed dome and bell tower. Beautiful views!
Extra day in Venice- water bus to Murano ( go left to get to the glass blowing demos) and then lunch at Burano. Kids were worn out in the afternoon so Hubby and I spent afternoon exploring Venice.

Have fun!!

Hi there,
Your trip sounds great, I'm beginning to get excited... I have a pre night and was thinking of Pompeii, how late did you get back? Did you use the high speed train? Or did you just book a hotel in that region and spend the night? I also plan to do murano on my post day in Venice.
Thanks for all your helpful posts
Ren

[Hermi]

Ren,
We took the 9:00 am fast train to Naples main station and caught the 6:30 pm regular train back. Round trip First class tickets were around $90 Euros for each of us. We purchased our round trip tickets the night before at one of the Kiosks at the train station (Roma Termini). We were at Pompeii by 11ish. We were back in our hotel room by 9:00 pm. Please note that once we got to Naples, we had to take the local train Circumvensuviana (located downstairs from the Naples Main station, just follow the signs) to Pompeii. Make sure to get off at the Pompeii Scavi station. Round trip local train tickets were 4.5 Euros each.

One of the other families went to Pompeii the day of the Welcome reception. They hired a private car and were back with plenty of time to shower and get to the reception on time.

Murano was a neat little island. You can spend an hour or all day there. I did not purchase much at Murano but I purchased lots of glass jewelry at the Rialto 79 store.

Have fun!

[sssteele]

Originally Posted by Hermi

Ren,
We took the 9:00 am fast train to Naples main station and caught the 6:30 pm regular train back. Round trip First class tickets were around $90 Euros for each of us. We purchased our round trip tickets the night before at one of the Kiosks at the train station (Roma Termini). We were at Pompeii by 11ish. We were back in our hotel room by 9:00 pm. Please note that once we got to Naples, we had to take the local train Circumvensuviana (located downstairs from the Naples Main station, just follow the signs) to Pompeii. Make sure to get off at the Pompeii Scavi station. Round trip local train tickets were 4.5 Euros each.

One of the other families went to Pompeii the day of the Welcome reception. They hired a private car and were back with plenty of time to shower and get to the reception on time.

Murano was a neat little island. You can spend an hour or all day there. I did not purchase much at Murano but I purchased lots of glass jewelry at the Rialto 79 store.

Have fun!

Sounds like you had a wonderful time. DH and I did Viva Italia last October, and were in heaven the whole time. What a fantastic experience, and done as only Disney can do.

May I ask who your guides were. We had Heidi and Marco, and loved them!!

[Hermi]

We had Tracy and Marcello. They were both great!

[flagfred]

We are thinking and almost certain the ABD for next summer will be italy. we can go early or late....let's be honest it isn't going to fit into anyones schedule perfect so I am just going to plan it and everything else will just have to fall into place, right???!!

We have two DD one 16 years old and a 13 year old. So if anyone is thinking of a trip or has reserved a trip with children around the same age let me know....I think it will be more fun if there are kids the same age...

[pandw]

Hi! My husband and I have booked this trip to celebrate our new retirement. It is our first time to Europe and we are very excited. We did not plan any pre-nites as we will be arriving from a stay in Paris beforehand. I wish we had thought to plan a post-nite in Venice. Need to start thinking about packing. Will the weather be more summerlike or fall? What to do we do in our free time? Is it worth a side trip to Pisa and will Disney set that up for us? We received a letter from Adventures stating the hotel in Venice has been changed from Luna Baglioni to the Hilton Molino Stucky. They did not give a reason for the change. I hope the location is still good as it seems we will now need a boat launch into Venice. We would like to hear from anyone else who has booked this trip or any suggestions from anyone who has already taken it.