Back from Viva Italia

[Diskidatheart]

Well, my first ABD trip is in the past....so sad! We had an absolutely wonderful time. Our guides, Heidi and Marco were the BEST! For those of you that have not been on a trip yet and you read these reviews about how great the guides are, you will still underestimate how wonderful they actually are. i couldn't even imagine the trip without them. I will have a trip report later, more like a link to a trip report as I did a daily newsletter on my Mac summarizing each day with pictures, but I have to figure out how to create a website. Stay tuned, it won't be too long. The most amazing thing about the trip was that it rained almost every day, but somehow, Disney scheduled all the outside activities around the raindrops...

To answer some of the anticipated questions that I would guess are coming, the hotels that we stayed at were fantastic. The locations were ideal. The place in Tuscany was a bit in the middle of nowhere, but it was nice after all the walking in Rome. Believe me, there is ALOT of walking. We absolutely loved Venice. It is everything that you think of and then some more. It's beautiful in it's own unique way. The food that we had was buonissimo (delicious). The wine was even better and we couldn't believe how cheap it was for such good wine. The biggest surprise was how good the olive oil and balsamic vinegar was. We brought some home with us and need to find a good place in Pittsburgh to buy olive oil in the future.

We're glad to be back and we met many great people on this trip! Thanks to Heidi and Marco for making our trip so spectacular...you really did make this trip special for all 40 of us.

 

[Turtlemom]

Glad you had a great time--can't wait to read the trip report!!!!!

We're going on the Bella Italia trip on 8-8-10, but we're doing Rome first on our own--so I would love to read about your experiences to figure out what highlights we should go for.

Also curious if you have any packing tips. . . . did you wear shorts??? Did you need to dress up? I've heard that the churches and perhaps some other sites won't admit tourists in shorts or with bare shoulders. (Both are part of our daily summer wardrobe--so some adjustments will obviously need to be made.)

Looking forward to the pictures too!!!!!!

Turtlemom

 

[Diskidatheart]

Glad you had a great time--can't wait to read the trip report!!!!!

We're going on the Bella Italia trip on 8-8-10, but we're doing Rome first on our own--so I would love to read about your experiences to figure out what highlights we should go for.

Also curious if you have any packing tips. . . . did you wear shorts??? Did you need to dress up? I've heard that the churches and perhaps some other sites won't admit tourists in shorts or with bare shoulders. (Both are part of our daily summer wardrobe--so some adjustments will obviously need to be made.)

Looking forward to the pictures too!!!!!!

Turtlemom

I'm sure you'll have a great time on the Bella Italia trip. One of our guides is starting to guide those tours also, so hopefully you'll get Marco...he is great! It was a bit chilly at times, but Rome was the warmest of the locations we toured. I wore shorts on several occassions, except when we went to the Vatican. Although we did see someone in the Sistine Chapel with shorts, I would recommend wearing long pants for all or capris/skirt for the ladies there and you definitely need to cover your shoulders. In August, it will probably be very hot in Rome, so I don't think you'll need long pants. All the restaurants we went to were very casual. The two that we ate at were Il Chianti near the Trevi Fountain and La Rampa which was near the Spanish Steps. Both were excellent and shorts and t-shirts would be fine at either. We packed umbrellas with us, so in the few instances it did rain, we were OK. I would recommend small ones, otherwise you will have to buy them from the guys on the street. Bring a washcloth with you. My wife and I both said it was so nice to shower this morning with a washcloth.

 

[Tozzie]

Well, my first ABD trip is in the past....so sad! We had an absolutely wonderful time. Our guides, Heidi and Marco were the BEST! For those of you that have not been on a trip yet and you read these reviews about how great the guides are, you will still underestimate how wonderful they actually are. i couldn't even imagine the trip without them. I will have a trip report later, more like a link to a trip report as I did a daily newsletter on my Mac summarizing each day with pictures, but I have to figure out how to create a website. Stay tuned, it won't be too long. The most amazing thing about the trip was that it rained almost every day, but somehow, Disney scheduled all the outside activities around the raindrops...

To answer some of the anticipated questions that I would guess are coming, the hotels that we stayed at were fantastic. The locations were ideal. The place in Tuscany was a bit in the middle of nowhere, but it was nice after all the walking in Rome. Believe me, there is ALOT of walking. We absolutely loved Venice. It is everything that you think of and then some more. It's beautiful in it's own unique way. The food that we had was buonissimo (delicious). The wine was even better and we couldn't believe how cheap it was for such good wine. The biggest surprise was how good the olive oil and balsamic vinegar was. We brought some home with us and need to find a good place in Pittsburgh to buy olive oil in the future.

We're glad to be back and we met many great people on this trip! Thanks to Heidi and Marco for making our trip so spectacular...you really did make this trip special for all 40 of us.

Sounds like you had a great trip, I am very happy you enjoyed yourself and am looking forward to your trip report/photos.

I have a question about your flight home, I have been relentlessly checking on flights to and from Europe since Saturday when that Volcanic ash cloud started to cause trouble again. So how were your flight(s) home, were they delayed ect.

 

[glassslipper2004]

Neat - we had Heidi and Marco on our Viva Italia trip almost two years ago! We LOVED them. Although our guides the next year were also good, they just couldn't compare to these two. I'm glad you had a fun time.

 

[Diskidatheart]

Sounds like you had a great trip, I am very happy you enjoyed yourself and am looking forward to your trip report/photos.

I have a question about your flight home, I have been relentlessly checking on flights to and from Europe since Saturday when that Volcanic ash cloud started to cause trouble again. So how were your flight(s) home, were they delayed ect.

We were delayed. Our flights were supposed to leave Venice at 11:35, but were delayed until 2:20...then due to a strike, we didn't leave until 4:10. We flew by the ash cloud and I got some pictures...maybe I'll blow it up and throw darts at it We missed our connecting flight out of Philly, but USAir got us on the last flight leaving at 10:45. We made it home at 1am. The flight also took a little longer since we had to fly around the cloud. i think we were in the air a little over 10 hours instead of 9 1/2.

 

[Turtlemom]

Thanks for the restaurant and packing tips!
Can't wait to go this summer. I'll start looking for some cute peasant skirts that come "pre-wrinkled" to deal with the heat!

Let us know when that trip report comes on-line!

Turtlemom

 

[Dahly]

Thanks for your report. I am so looking forward to reading it! I FINALLY convinced my DH just this past weekend that this is the trip for our 15th anniversary next year. It will be good to have someone's report to share with him. Glad you had a great time and happy you made it home safely, even though it may have been a little late.

Dahly

 

[WeLoveABD]

Marco and Heidi together again! They were our guides on this tour back in 2007--our first ABD; they set the bar for us--and it was a very high bar. Great guides. I look forward to your report!

(And I'll put this out there again, just in case a Disney rep is "listening"--why not post photos and bios of the guides on the web site??)

 

[Bronxboy52]

Having just gotten back from italy (with a great flyover view of Greenland due to the volcanic ash cloud), I echo your sentiments. Heidi and Marco were the BEST! In fact, the one day we stayed over in Venice, we must have said with , how we could have used Heidi & Marco. It is amazing how much work they put into the trip. The final dinner gala was great and the picture montage was wonderful. I can't wait to see the CD that they will be sending. I think what really made the trip great was how well we all got along, considering the age, geographical and other differences.

 

[helenk]

I'm sure you'll have a great time on the Bella Italia trip. One of our guides is starting to guide those tours also, so hopefully you'll get Marco...he is great! It was a bit chilly at times, but Rome was the warmest of the locations we toured. I wore shorts on several occassions, except when we went to the Vatican. Although we did see someone in the Sistine Chapel with shorts, I would recommend wearing long pants for all or capris/skirt for the ladies there and you definitely need to cover your shoulders. In August, it will probably be very hot in Rome, so I don't think you'll need long pants. All the restaurants we went to were very casual. The two that we ate at were Il Chianti near the Trevi Fountain and La Rampa which was near the Spanish Steps. Both were excellent and shorts and t-shirts would be fine at either. We packed umbrellas with us, so in the few instances it did rain, we were OK. I would recommend small ones, otherwise you will have to buy them from the guys on the street. Bring a washcloth with you. My wife and I both said it was so nice to shower this morning with a washcloth.

Thanks for the tips. My daughter and I are going on this trip in less than 2 weeks. I've got a folder for all the tips I've printed from the boards.

 

[LEB]

I will be leaving on June 4 with my 23y daughter. It is very helpful reading what you have written and hope that we have the same good fortune with the guides. The tip about the washcloths was great. Do they have shampoos etc in the hotel rooms? I also wrote down your suggestions for restaurants in Rome. Thanks

 

[Diskidatheart]

I will be leaving on June 4 with my 23y daughter. It is very helpful reading what you have written and hope that we have the same good fortune with the guides. The tip about the washcloths was great. Do they have shampoos etc in the hotel rooms? I also wrote down your suggestions for restaurants in Rome. Thanks

I believe they did have shampoos and conditioners in each of the hotels, although we didn't use any of them. They had hairdryers at each place also, but my wife didn't like them because she had to hold the switch on the entire time using it, so she just used her own. You will love this trip. It truly is magical.

 

[helenk]

I believe they did have shampoos and conditioners in each of the hotels, although we didn't use any of them. They had hairdryers at each place also, but my wife didn't like them because she had to hold the switch on the entire time using it, so she just used her own. You will love this trip. It truly is magical.

Adding a hair dryer to our things to pack.

 

[helenk]

Just curious, how far is the airport in Venice from the hotel? Our flight back to Phila leaves VCE at 11:35 am, so just curious what time we will be shuttled over to the airport.

 

[LTFrench]

The airport is only 20 minutes or so from the hotel. Disney schedules you to be picked up about 3 hours before departure. It was a piece of cake. Now ordering coffee in the airport, that was another story, LOL!

We had a nice little Italian help us get all all luggage out of the boat/taxi, but remembered the Disney advice.... They did not have a paper with our name, Disney, nor Viva Italia on it and he pretended to speak no English as he tried to carry our luggage off saying "private car, private car". All I said was no money and he looked at me funny and left it all, LOL! Immediately the Disney people were there to pick up the pace. It was priceless.

 

[Diskidatheart]

Just curious, how far is the airport in Venice from the hotel? Our flight back to Phila leaves VCE at 11:35 am, so just curious what time we will be shuttled over to the airport.

We were on the same flight. We left the hotel at 9am and took the water taxi to the airport and were there by 9:30. The guides will give you all the instructions that you need. The one thing that they did forget to tell us (or more likely, I wasn't listening very well) was that there are 2 checkpoints after you dropped off your luggage at the ticket counter, one for security, which was a small line and one for customs, which was a long line. After we went through the security line, we went upstairs for a while since our flight was delayed and it was much quieter there. When we started to walk to the gate, we then noticed a very large line to get through. It took about 25 minutes for us to get to the gate, so just make sure you leave yourself a bit of time to get to the gate.

 

[Diskidatheart]

The airport is only 20 minutes or so from the hotel. Disney schedules you to be picked up about 3 hours before departure. It was a piece of cake. Now ordering coffee in the airport, that was another story, LOL!

We had a nice little Italian help us get all all luggage out of the boat/taxi, but remembered the Disney advice.... They did not have a paper with our name, Disney, nor Viva Italia on it and he pretended to speak no English as he tried to carry our luggage off saying "private car, private car". All I said was no money and he looked at me funny and left it all, LOL! Immediately the Disney people were there to pick up the pace. It was priceless.

We saw those guys too, but just totally ignored them. Fortunately the guy holding the Viva Italia sign was at the dock waiting for us. I would have loved to have seen the nice little Italian guys' face when you said no money.

 

[helenk]

We were on the same flight. We left the hotel at 9am and took the water taxi to the airport and were there by 9:30. The guides will give you all the instructions that you need. The one thing that they did forget to tell us (or more likely, I wasn't listening very well) was that there are 2 checkpoints after you dropped off your luggage at the ticket counter, one for security, which was a small line and one for customs, which was a long line. After we went through the security line, we went upstairs for a while since our flight was delayed and it was much quieter there. When we started to walk to the gate, we then noticed a very large line to get through. It took about 25 minutes for us to get to the gate, so just make sure you leave yourself a bit of time to get to the gate.

Thanks again for all your info.

 

[helenk]

The airport is only 20 minutes or so from the hotel. Disney schedules you to be picked up about 3 hours before departure. It was a piece of cake. Now ordering coffee in the airport, that was another story, LOL!

We had a nice little Italian help us get all all luggage out of the boat/taxi, but remembered the Disney advice.... They did not have a paper with our name, Disney, nor Viva Italia on it and he pretended to speak no English as he tried to carry our luggage off saying "private car, private car". All I said was no money and he looked at me funny and left it all, LOL! Immediately the Disney people were there to pick up the pace. It was priceless.

Ha, No Money, that always gets a good response. I will make sure we look out for a person holding a card with either our names or Viva Italia and
I will make sure I have the Italian word for coffee written on an index card.