Show No Fear! DIS Exclusive Viva Italia+DLP TR Sept 2014*COMPLETE* New TR link added 7/3

[khertz]

Day 8 Continued: Monday September 22nd

We headed out of the hotel and enjoyed the beautiful view right outside of the doors.

08-101 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


08-102 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
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Our first stop was a must...the Disney store! It was the smallest of all of the Disney stores we had visited in each city. Unfortunately, there was nothing Venice-specific there, so it was a short visit. We did make sure to get a photo of the big Dusty window display for DS!

08-104 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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We made our way over to the famous Rialto bridge, and thank goodness we did that when we did because this was the only time we saw it not packed with people and were able to get a decent view off of the side.

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Seriously...so beautiful, especially with the sun going down! By the way, I could totally see myself living in Venice after I retire. What an amazing and gorgeous city. After that, we just kind of wandered around. DH was looking for interesting places to go back to for some sunrise photography. This was one of the places we found.

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Soon after this, some dark clouds began rolling in and the camera had to go back in the bag. This was when we realized we really had no clue where we were in relation to the restaurant we were trying to get to and were having trouble orienting ourselves on the map. We kept making our way back to the same places, as the weather was getting worse and worse. Just when I was on the verge of panic mode and thought we had hit another dead end as the skies were about to open up, I realized we were standing right in front of the restaurant! We were dining at Vino Vino, and they were able to take us right away. The host asked if we wanted to sit on the patio, and I probably looked at him like he was crazy and said no, it was about to rain. He smiled and said it was covered, so we took a chance and said okay.

08-128 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

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Some bread to start


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Not even five minutes later, the downpour started. Very quickly, we realized this wasn't just a rainstorm. There was hail bouncing on the tables from the sides of the overhang! The hail storm we had escaped in Florence had evidently followed us to Venice! We were seated at a table in the back corner, and soon we were starting to get wet despite being covered because of the wind blowing everything in. We kept having to scoot our table forward to get out of the rain. Hail was bouncing onto our table! And it got so loud we could barely hear each other. It was quite the interesting meal!!

I ordered lasagna while DH got a rotini with meat sauce pasta.

08-122 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


08-123 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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Our meals
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DH's rotini was really delicious, but I wasn't crazy about my lasagna. There wasn't much sauce at all, and there were layers of ham that I wasn't expecting. The cheese also had a weird texture that I found really unpleasant. I barely put a dent in it, but luckily DH was nice enough to share some of his pasta with me so I wouldn't be hungry. We also got dessert, so that totally made up for the disappointment of my lasagna!

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Dessert saved the meal! It was soooo delicious. The rain had ended by the time we left, so we started heading back. Luckily, it was easy to get back to the hotel from there and we made it there quickly. Of course, DH decided he just wanted to go "peek in the square" real quick before we went inside. We stood there for less than a minute when the rain and wind kicked up again out of nowhere! We sought shelter for a moment, then decided just to make a run for the hotel, when it started hailing on us again!! It was so insane and I wouldn't let DH forget that we could have just gotten safe and dry into the hotel had he not wanted to go take that "quick peek." lol

This is a pic one of the guides took on their camera later of the streets outside the hotel.

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It was a crazy way to end a crazy day!! We went up to the room to shower and get ready for bed. The next day was our last day of the ABD trip, and our only full day in Venice so we wanted to make the most of every moment!

UP NEXT: The Doges' Palace

 

[hokieinpa]

What an amazing experience in Venice! I'm sorry about the stress of the strike/canceled flights!

I can totally understand your reaction seeing St. Mark's Square for the first time - it looks breathtaking!

And how crazy is that weather? It doesn't seem as if it was overly chilly (judging on what the people in the pictures are wearing) but that hail is wild!

Can't wait to read about your last day in Venice!

 

[Dugette]

I have spent so many years going to WDW and walking into the Italy pavilion at Epcot with stars in my eyes, wishing for the day I would get to see it all in person.

That's so crazy to think about, since I feel kind-of the opposite. We honeymooned in Italy in 2005, but didn't start going to WDW until 2009 (childhood trips didn't really venture into World Showcase). So, for me, Epcot Italy reminds me of real Italy and the time we spent in St. Mark's Square, etc. I'm glad you finally got to set foot in the real thing. I can imagine how emotional it was.

Also, reading your post is really making me wish that I had some sort of trip report or journal for our honeymoon. I know that we had a guide that took us around the places you went in this update, but I sure don't remember much of anything. It's nice to re-visit everything through you!

Seriously...so beautiful, especially with the sun going down!

Those photos from the bridge are gorgeous. They look like paintings. So pretty they can't be real (but they are). I just love Venice and totally agree about retiring there (if it still is above water and all...)

Hail was bouncing onto our table! And it got so loud we could barely hear each other. It was quite the interesting meal!!

Oh, wow, what a crazy meal! Sorry your food wasn't great. That would be a surprise to find ham in your lasagna. Could be good, in theory, I guess, but sounds like they missed the mark. That dessert does look tasty, though!

 

[dtr_angel]

Okay caught up again sorry I keep getting so behind. That's crazy weather!

 

[OKW Lover]

That certainly was a strange weather night in Venice! Val & I were with a large group eating at a little place just around the corner from the hotel. We were just amazed at the hail. We got pretty wet just walking (running) back to the hotel at the end of the night.

 

[missangelalexis]

Such a funny pic of Dusty holding your bags!

What an awesome location for your hotel!

The view from the Rialto bridge, wow so gorgeous!

Yikes, that hail storm! How crazy!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Wow, that is pretty cool to see the Italy Pavilion in person.

I'll be honest, I would be right there with the birds. I used to love going to a nearby park and have the pigeons eat right out of my hand. However, I totally do understand one not particularly enjoying that either. They are a pretty dirty animal.

I so empathize with your travel struggles. It's always easy to say don't worry about it, and granted, there isn't anything you can do, but I would be fretting about it constantly because there was nothing I could do. I hate being powerless like that.

Wow, that is some crazy weather!!!

 

[christannj]

We were at the same restaurant that Grant and Leslie were at. It was an old post office. We were sitting next to a fireplace when the hail began and pretty soon the hail started coming down the chimney and began to ping off of the grate at the base. That is an experience that we will never forget. We fortunately had our abd ponchos with us but we still got pretty wet walking back.

If we ever get the chance to be on another trip together, Kristy, I'm hanging with you and Dustin. He has a great eye for just the right shots.

 

[afwdwfan]

Marco was absolutely AMAZING in working to get our flight situation figured out for us so we didn't have to worry. As soon as we were settled in on the train he came over and got a copy of our itinerary with our flight information and confirmation numbers and started making calls for us. The different time zone really threw us since we could only talk to someone that spoke English from 8-5 New York time, not very convenient in trying to work things out and still enjoy your vacation. He spent almost the whole train ride on the phone working out flight details. After awhile he came over with a ton of information for us and several options that we would not have figured out on our own. The worst part was since we are both planners we just wanted it to be resolved and taken care of so we wouldn't have to worry about this anymore but Air France would not cancel anything until 24 hours ahead of departure time. So there was still a chance our flight could go so we didn't want to book anything else in case our flight was the rare one that actually flew and then be stuck paying for two tickets. Marco had looked into other flights and even taking a train from two different train stations and logistics on getting to the train station and making the connections at different stations to make it all the way to Paris. So many options were given to us but still had to wait until the 24 hour make before we could move forward with any plans. Marco truly was a life saver in being able to talk to the airline for us and get all the information he could from them, while we were able to relax(as best we could) and just enjoy the train ride.

I can totally understand. I'd want to have it resolved one way or another so that I wouldn't have to worry about it. I'm glad they were able to get some options for you, but that really stinks that you couldn't finalize anything yet!

I have spent so many years going to WDW and walking into the Italy pavilion at Epcot with stars in my eyes, wishing for the day I would get to see it all in person. And now I finally was! It was an awesome moment.

I can totally understand that. Well, kind of. I'm always blown away by the pavilion in EPCOT. I can only imagine how amazing it was to see the real thing.

At that point, Rosana told us we would be heading over to tour the Basilica. Dusty was kind enough to wait with all of our bags so that we wouldn't have to carry them into the church with us for our brief tour inside.

That was nice of Dusty. I just hope the streets don't decide to flood!

We saw LOTS of people getting the birds to land on them, but I sure as heck wasn't about to let them land on me! In fact, I specifically warned everyone one that should one land on me, I would scream as loud as I possibly could.

If a bird landed on me, it would likely be a dead bird. Which I'm sure would cause some kind of an international incident and be an all around horrible situation.

In the time DH was on the phone, I went down to the hospitality desk Dusty & Marco had set up to get suggestions for dinner. Also, Dusty had told DH about a helicopter tour of Venice that we could do, and Pete from the DIS had even said he would pay for us to go as long as DH let him use the photos he took for the site! DH was ecstatic about that possibility, but I was still more than a little nervous about the whole idea. Dusty gave me a couple of suggestions for dinner, and marked them on our map. But he had also found out that the helicopter tours were not being offered because an aerialist had been killed doing a stunt in an air show. While I was absolutely sad someone had died, I couldn't help but be a little relieved that we didn't have the choice of taking the tour anymore.

That's too bad. Both the accident and the fact that you couldn't do the helicopter tour. Because even though you might have been relieved to get out of it, I'm sure that the views would have been incredible!

Dessert saved the meal! It was soooo delicious

Dessert looks amazing. And even despite your disappointment with the lasagna, you now have me craving some for lunch. And there's really nowhere to get any.

 

[saintstickets]

Oh WOW!!! Venice is so beautiful and I could stand on the Rialto Bridge for hours with that scenery!

Okay...I've just got to ask...what happened to the two missing statues on top of this building?

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Let me guess...during WWII, Bubba from my home state of Mississippi was "visiting" and with rifle in hand said, "Hey y'all, watch this!"

 

[Sarabi's Cubs]

I will never forget that hailstorm in Venice. Brian and I were sitting in St. Mark's Square having a cappuccino and listening to the music when it hit. Watching that hail and then the lightening flashing around the square was absolutely incredible! The picture isn't great but yes, it's nighttime and that's hail not rain.



Laurie

 

[khertz]

Sorry I haven't gotten to replies yet but we have been busy all week getting ready for our trip to Disneyland! We leave very early tomorrow morning, so we are getting last minute stuff together now and heading to bed. So I won't be around for an update until we are back. But I do plan to post some pics to Instagram if you want to follow along with our trip. My username is @disneymom1024. They will be cross posted to Facebook so if we are friends there you will see them too. See ya real soon!!

 

[Dugette]

Have a fantastic trip!

 

[Cousin Orville]

I finally caught up. Amazing photos. I'm sorry to hear about your flight. We've been the victim of an Italian strike once. So annoying and stressful. We were supposed to fly from (Houston-)London-Milan, and had to fly into Nice instead and arrange a car to get to where we were going. They literally cancelled the flight a few hours before we were flying out of Houston to London. Ugh. I love Italy, Spain, and France, but can we find a way NOT to strike every month?

I love the location of your Venice hotel. My understanding is they moved hotels across the lagoon to get a pool. ABD needs to switch back to your hotel.



Speaking as a parent who often takes his son swimming at ABD hotels, a pool isn't THAT important that you sacrifice location. ABD should ALWAYS pick what they feel is the best hotel whether it has a pool or not. Your more customized itinerary sounds much better. Sorry for standing on my soap box. Their Venice hotel choice has always bugged me.

Your photos of Venice are really awesome. And your DH's rotini looks very tasty. But, I'm not seeing any vino on your table at Vino Vino? After dealing with your flight issues, I'd probably need some of Vino Vino's vino (not sure what happened to my font size)

 

[carpenta]

I agree with Kevin. We traveled with a different company and we stayed about 5 blocks from St. Marks right on the beginning of the Grand canal. We ate breakfast every morning on a canopied outdoor deck right on the canal right across from the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. Fabulous hotel. ABD should do what most good business do and spy (and at times steal) from the competition. Let's see...pool vs. Venice....in my world Venice wins.

 

[khertz]

Day 9: Tuesday September 23rd

On our last full day in Venice, DH decided he wanted to get up early to go take some sunrise photos. But that had to wait a minute when he checked his email and discovered that thankfully (never thought I would say this) our Air France flight from Venice to Paris was cancelled! Now we didn't have to play the wait-and-see game, and we could jump on booking another flight that Marco had helped us find. We had been hesitant to book because if we did, and the Air France flight still went, we would be out quite a bit of money. So we quickly booked 2 seats on the Easy Jet flight we had found that would get us to Paris. Problem solved!

DH headed out to take his photos, and I decided to sleep in a little bit more. So many early mornings and late nights with days full of walking in between was catching up with me!

Even narrowing these d0wn to just a few of the ones he took, it will still eat up the 25 picture limit! (Is there still such a thing since the boards updated? - I'll spare you, I tried it and you can still only do 25 at a time!)

So, enjoy a morning walking around the beautiful city of Venice.

ABD 09 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


ABD 09 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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ABD 09-003 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
A Venetian parking lot


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DH got back to the room a little after 8 as I was waking up and getting dressed, so we went down a floor to have some breakfast, then made sure to call Dusty and give him our updated flight information so that he could set up our transfer to the airport in the morning. After breakfast, everyone that wanted to go visit the Doge's Palace met up in the lobby to walk together with the guides. The Doge's Palace was, as the name would imply, the palace where the Doge resided in the time of Venice being a republic. It was opened as a museum in 1923.

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Flooding in the Square


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Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Day 9 Continued: Tuesday September 23rd

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Although both of the guides were with us, going inside of the palace it was a self-guided tour, so we were on our own. If I am remembering correctly, this was one of the places where large bags had to be checked, so DH had to leave his larger camera bag. We took the steps up to the entrance, and DH got a couple more picture of the square before we ventured inside.

ABD 09-050 by disneymom1024, on Flickr

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The entrance to the museum starts with going up the Golden Staircase. I'm sure you can figure out why. Check out that ceiling!

ABD 09-053 by disneymom1024, on Flickr

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We toured through the Doge's apartments, which consists of large, opulent rooms. Each one is more beautiful than the next!

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Viva 09-014 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
DH as...The Doge!


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An enormous tree, with LOTS of Marcos listed!


Viva 09-017 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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Such a beautiful room! Love was even beginning to blossom between one Adventurer and our guide...

Viva 09-021 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
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Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Day 9 Continued: Tuesday September 23rd

We ended up inside one of the most amazing and enormous rooms of the palace, the Sala del Maggior Consiglio which translates to the Higher Council Hall. It's large enough to fit 3000 people inside and the walls and ceiling are lined with gold and paintings. It's so hard to capture in photos the enormity of this room.

ABD 09-077 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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The view outside of the window


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A secret window!
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Next, we made our way into the armory, which was pretty cool. It consisted of several rooms full of different types of weapons and armor from different time periods.

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The view outside of the armory windows was pretty breathtaking!


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I really feel bad for the ABD guides. They don't get to have any fun at all!

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I wanted to finish up the Doge's Palace with this update, but it was pretty overwhelming so we took a lot of photos there. This update has taken me most of the day! But I will apologize again for the updates being so few and far between lately. The past few months, I have been totally exhausted by the time I get home from work and weekends have been crazy with not a lot of downtime. I do think I have kind of a legitimate reason though...Pregnancy fatigue! We are expecting a new little pirate or princess in August, and it has truly been draining me. But I will absolutely try to do better. DS is really excited to be a big brother, and in fact, this was the photo we shared on our Disneyland trip, which won't be anything new to those I am friends with on Facebook or Instagram, but I thought I'd share with the wonderful people who have been following and replying along here on this thread.

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UP NEXT: An afternoon in Venice

 

[khertz]

What an amazing experience in Venice! I'm sorry about the stress of the strike/canceled flights!

I can totally understand your reaction seeing St. Mark's Square for the first time - it looks breathtaking!

And how crazy is that weather? It doesn't seem as if it was overly chilly (judging on what the people in the pictures are wearing) but that hail is wild!

Can't wait to read about your last day in Venice!

The flight situation really did not let us make the most of our short time in Venice, but I think we did okay as far as not letting it get to us too much. The most frustrating thing really was having to deal with making phone calls and only being able to use the spotty wifi at the hotel to call through Skype. Made an already frustrating experience even worse.

St. Mark's is amazing, and to be so close to the epicenter of the city was pretty amazing in itself. Big thanks to Kevin & John, who really fought hard with ABD to get that for us!

The hail completely came out of nowhere and it absolutely didn't seem cold enough to create hail! It got a little chilly in the evening when the sun went down, but I don't think anyone expected ice to be falling from the sky!

That's so crazy to think about, since I feel kind-of the opposite. We honeymooned in Italy in 2005, but didn't start going to WDW until 2009 (childhood trips didn't really venture into World Showcase). So, for me, Epcot Italy reminds me of real Italy and the time we spent in St. Mark's Square, etc. I'm glad you finally got to set foot in the real thing. I can imagine how emotional it was.

Also, reading your post is really making me wish that I had some sort of trip report or journal for our honeymoon. I know that we had a guide that took us around the places you went in this update, but I sure don't remember much of anything. It's nice to re-visit everything through you!


Those photos from the bridge are gorgeous. They look like paintings. So pretty they can't be real (but they are). I just love Venice and totally agree about retiring there (if it still is above water and all...)


Oh, wow, what a crazy meal! Sorry your food wasn't great. That would be a surprise to find ham in your lasagna. Could be good, in theory, I guess, but sounds like they missed the mark. That dessert does look tasty, though!

Now that I have been there, I am sure I will have a similar reaction when we go back to Epcot Italy. I can't imagine it not feeling different now that we have been to see the real thing!

I have always kind of done trip reports, but I never used to do any kind of notes. I just went by photos and memory. Now I take notes for almost everything we do that involves traveling because I want to be able to remember it all! I even take notes on non-Disney trips.

I think that lasagna really disappointed me because I had been kind of regretting not ordering the lasagna the day before in Florence and having food envy over DH's plate, so it was disappointing not to live up to the hype in my mind. Oh well, we'd had some phenomenal meals there so I can't complain about one off meal.

Okay caught up again sorry I keep getting so behind. That's crazy weather!

Girl, I am there with you. I seem to be finding less and less time and energy to log on these days! The weather was nuts, but what an incredible memory! I definitely won't forget the night it hailed on us on Venice.

That certainly was a strange weather night in Venice! Val & I were with a large group eating at a little place just around the corner from the hotel. We were just amazed at the hail. We got pretty wet just walking (running) back to the hotel at the end of the night.

To think that it followed us from Florence! I mean, two freak hail storms in two different cities we were visiting, it had to have been us. It was also pretty fun comparing stories with all the other adventurers about where they were during "The Storm."

Such a funny pic of Dusty holding your bags!

What an awesome location for your hotel!

The view from the Rialto bridge, wow so gorgeous!

Yikes, that hail storm! How crazy!

Dusty is so great! A lot of the really funny photos he took we didn't get to see until we got home and got the code for the photos the guides took on their cameras, and that was one of them!

The hotel's location was absolutely perfect. ABD used to use that hotel for all of their trips, and then they moved locations to a hotel on one of the smaller islands that requires taking a water shuttle to get into Venice. I am so glad we had Kevin setting up this trip and he fought for that hotel!

Those are some of my favorite photos that DH took of the whole ABD.

It was insane! But what an experience!!

Wow, that is pretty cool to see the Italy Pavilion in person.

I'll be honest, I would be right there with the birds. I used to love going to a nearby park and have the pigeons eat right out of my hand. However, I totally do understand one not particularly enjoying that either. They are a pretty dirty animal.

I so empathize with your travel struggles. It's always easy to say don't worry about it, and granted, there isn't anything you can do, but I would be fretting about it constantly because there was nothing I could do. I hate being powerless like that.

Wow, that is some crazy weather!!!

It's kind of like visiting Disneyland after going to WDW so many times. It feels a little familiar but at the same time is so different!

No thanks!!! One of my friends on FB posted a pic when they went to Venice of herself covered in pigeons, and I was HORRIFIED! I was pretty glad that as long as you don't really pay them any attention they leave you alone.

We both knew we wouldn't be stranded in Venice, but you just can't help that anxiety that comes with the loss of control over the situation. It was such a relief to have the flight end up cancelled the next day so we could move forward with an alternative plan.

It was insane! Something I will definitely always remember from our time in Venice.

We were at the same restaurant that Grant and Leslie were at. It was an old post office. We were sitting next to a fireplace when the hail began and pretty soon the hail started coming down the chimney and began to ping off of the grate at the base. That is an experience that we will never forget. We fortunately had our abd ponchos with us but we still got pretty wet walking back.

If we ever get the chance to be on another trip together, Kristy, I'm hanging with you and Dustin. He has a great eye for just the right shots.

I think I forgot to post it in the update, but a couple pieces of hail actually bounced into DH's food!! lol What a night. One we won't forget either!!

That is a great compliment!! Thanks, Chris!

 

[carpenta]

Congrats on your up coming birth. Your child could be a Disney movie star. Still LOVING the pictures. We also wandered around Venice very early in the morning and it is amazing how much ground you can cover and the amazing pictures you capture.