The Dis Goes to Italy 5/24 - 6/1/2012 Viva Italia!!!!

[JWren1234]

Lauren - That is such a nice offer! I'm trying to convince my parents to bring my nephews down to visit WDW for a few days before the cruise. If I'm successful, then I'll be at the park. If that doesn't work out, then I may very well take you up on that. It would be nice to break up the drive. I know what you mean about leaving the day of...it's a little nerve wracking but I too am going to be pinching the days. I usually always take the last week of the year off. I don't think it will happen this year with all of the trips I'm planning to take.

I've been doing my trip planning for 2013. I wonder if I can squeeze in two BSM trips in one year...John's last post has me thinking...and of course all of the objective arm twisting...

Personally I think two BSM's in one year is a fantastic idea!

We have now been to Grom in three cities. (Rome, Florence and Venice).

There is one in NYC and I think we should make a road trip.

We should all show up at Jason's front door and each demand a room with a window.

Come on over! I have rooms with windows, no "entertainment" at dinner, and going to NYC in my SUV is more pleasant than being on the bus!

Jason

 

[WebmasterMike]

Nice Shallow Depth of Field, Heather!! Yum!

 

[sayhello]

Nice Shallow Depth of Field, Heather!! Yum!

Only Mike sees the photo first, the gelato second!

Sayhello

(PS, that is a great photo, Heather!)

 

[stenogoddess]

Party at Jason's! Woot!

Here's page 1:

 

[stenogoddess]

These have less photos, but I thought I would share them anyway. It helps me find errors. Why does Photoshop not have spell check? So rude! We won't talk about how many times I've pulled these down and fixed something only to repost them and find something else. It's so embarrassing!

And I just found some more! CARP!!! Oh, well, these are the ones staying up.

 

[Chropistopy]

Have you guys worked together before? I would swear that you've been practicing this!

I am just going to have to cave and secure a spot for December and figure everything else out later. I did it to myself with the Christmas tree. What was Christy's excuse? 'Cause now we have to work her over...

The dove page is spectacular! My photos look super happy.

OK...you've all done your job. Kevin has another request waiting for him. Wow...I'm glad Disney is my drug of choice. I would hate for you guys to pushing anything else.

 

[Chropistopy]

Lauren - I'm loving the scrapbook pages!

 

[Circusgirl]

OK...you've all done your job. Kevin has another request waiting for him. Wow...I'm glad Disney is my drug of choice. I would hate for you guys to pushing anything else.

Nice Shallow Depth of Field, Heather!! Yum!

If you have not been to Venice you MUST go there! I'd love to go back on a pure photographic mission. I saw lots of people there with tripods sticking out of their backpacks and amazed euphoria in their eyes. My tripod turned out to be too lightweight to really stabilize my big camera (I compromised too much for portability and compactness) so I have a whole set of uncaptured pictures waiting for me.

Personally I think two BSM's in one year is a fantastic idea!



Come on over! I have rooms with windows, no "entertainment" at dinner, and going to NYC in my SUV is more pleasant than being on the bus!

Jason

Party at Jason's! We should also schedule a stop at Laduree.

Lauren - your pages are amazing as always. Thanks so much for sharing!!

 

[GAN]

We have now been to Grom in three cities. (Rome, Florence and Venice).

There is one in NYC and I think we should make a road trip.

We should all show up at Jason's front door and each demand a room with a window.

I want to say there are 3 in NYC now. Upper west Side, Mid-Town, and Bleecker St. We're planning a visit this summer and will definitely squeeze a gelato in there at some point.

 

[stenogoddess]

So Christy and Heather have fallen in with my evil plan! I mean super cool Christmas idea! So happy! Come to the dark side! We have gelato!

I decided that since journaling my trip is the least fun part I would go ahead and get that out of the way first. I know these pages have a sameness about them. I'm hoping that will sort of work to visually tie things together when all the pages are in the book.

So here's my confession. As much as I expected to, as much as I wanted to, I did not love Florence. I think I was big citied out by this point and sick of the cars trying to kill me. It could be that Florence just happened to fall on the day of vacation where I had a bit of grumpy going on. I'm just not sure. Too many people that I think have great ideas and great taste just love Florence, and there I was thinking stupid Florence, stupid people everywhere, stupid Baptistry doors not being in the museum, but "out for cleaning". So though I did not love Florence as I expected, I fully reserve the right to have a mad affair at some point in the future. After all, I didn't get to see the Birth of Venus, so we have to go back for that!

Also, my Dr. Who brothers and sisters, someone has finally come out with a Dr. Who scrapbooking kit. Which I need like a hole in the head. But it's just so dang cool!! There's a police box and plants and stars, and, and, and....

 

[DisneyKevin]

So Christy and Heather have fallen in with my evil plan! I mean super cool Christmas idea! So happy! Come to the dark side! We have gelato!

We have 3 or 4 spaces left and this trip will be SOLD OUT!

here's my confession. As much as I expected to, as much as I wanted to, I did not love Florence. I think I was big citied out by this point and sick of the cars trying to kill me. It could be that Florence just happened to fall on the day of vacation where I had a bit of grumpy going on. I'm just not sure. Too many people that I think have great ideas and great taste just love Florence, and there I was thinking stupid Florence, stupid people everywhere, stupid Baptistry doors not being in the museum, but "out for cleaning". So though I did not love Florence as I expected, I fully reserve the right to have a mad affair at some point in the future. After all, I didn't get to see the Birth of Venus, so we have to go back for that!

Okay....I hate to be Captain Obvious, but you didn't take the John and Kevin tour of Florence. You stayed at the Prison.

And.....when you did get to Florence, you spent a great deal of your free time wedged between an inner and outer dome of the Basilica.

We need to go back and make up for this really bad first date. Florence didn't even stand a chance.

Come back to Florence with me and I'll introduce you to Tony One. That will fix everything.

 

[mattincanberra]

Following Kevin assuring me that there are no prison visits scheduled for the December trip - I too have signed on for the Christmas trip. Heather - bring your sunflower, I live to see further closed stores and restaurants.

Matt

 

[JWren1234]

:
Party at Jason's! We should also schedule a stop at Laduree.

I could really go for some of their macarons right now!

Jason

 

[Chropistopy]

Personally I think two BSM's in one year is a fantastic idea!

My bank account is going to be so empty next year...but can't tell you how excited I am.

YAY!

So Christy and Heather have fallen in with my evil plan! I mean super cool Christmas idea! So happy! Come to the dark side! We have gelato!

It wasn't evil. You are just looking out for our well-being. Can you imagine our state of mind if all of you were at Disneyland without us?

We have 3 or 4 spaces left and this trip will be SOLD OUT!

Wow! Lots of people want to join our "family" trip to Disneyland. Well, as Lauren said, that's where the cool kids will be.

Following Kevin assuring me that there are no prison visits scheduled for the December trip - I too have signed on for the Christmas trip. Heather - bring your sunflower, I live to see further closed stores and restaurants.

Matt

 

[DisneyKevin]

I told you something that was true before.

It's not true anymore.

The new truth?

The December 15th, 2013 Backstage Magic has sold out.

 

[wdwscout]

I told you something that was true before.

It's not true anymore.

The new truth?

The December 15th, 2013 Backstage Magic has sold out.

How fun! That was super quick. I'll tell you what - you guys are sure doing something right to make us all NEED to go on these trips with you!!!!!!

I have so enjoyed living this Italy trip vicariously through all of the stories and photos.
(and the London-Paris trip last year and all the previous BSM trips... super lurker here )

John & I are so excited to be a a part of the December BSM trip so we can finally see what all the fuss is about!

 

[WebmasterMike]

I could really go for some of their macarons right now!

Jason

Did someone say, "Macarons?"

 

[BriarRosie]

I told you something that was true before.

It's not true anymore.

The new truth?

The December 15th, 2013 Backstage Magic has sold out.

Holy crap, I just saw that. I know that I booked June. Looks like the usual suspects want December. I have to tell you, December at DL was awesome when I did this tour in 2008. I am sure the tour is MUCH better with all the stuff they tweaked over the years.

Did someone say, "Macarons?"

Oh man, I could go for those!

 

[LionKingRules84]

I told you something that was true before.

It's not true anymore.

The new truth?

The December 15th, 2013 Backstage Magic has sold out.

Kind of happy by this since the pressure is off to sign up now. I wanted to go but I just can't afford it and not really interested after looking at the dates at traveling in mid to late december. The June one doesn't work for me because it's to soon after the upcoming October trip I am going on.

So happy that everyone that is going are all old friends(or new ones) and I'll enjoy living vicariously through you all again like I did on this thread(and the podcast review).

Still excited for the October Trip though which I am signed up for I'm more of a Halloween person than a Christmas person anyway.

 

[Circusgirl]

Following Kevin assuring me that there are no prison visits scheduled for the December trip - I too have signed on for the Christmas trip. Heather - bring your sunflower, I live to see further closed stores and restaurants.

Matt

Yay! So glad to look forward to being on the road together again.
Sunflower, check. I'm pleased that I'll have lots of time to do research so I can take us to only the very best of the closed stores and restaurants.

Kind of happy by this since the pressure is off to sign up now. I wanted to go but I just can't afford it and not really interested after looking at the dates at traveling in mid to late december. The June one doesn't work for me because it's to soon after the upcoming October trip I am going on.

So happy that everyone that is going are all old friends(or new ones) and I'll enjoy living vicariously through you all again like I did on this thread(and the podcast review).

Still excited for the October Trip though which I am signed up for I'm more of a Halloween person than a Christmas person anyway.

You are going to LOVE the London-Paris trip. I'm so wishing I could be there to be there to see all the new additions and experience the extra super cool stuff that is planned for DLP.

So Christy and Heather have fallen in with my evil plan! I mean super cool Christmas idea! So happy! Come to the dark side! We have gelato!

So here's my confession. As much as I expected to, as much as I wanted to, I did not love Florence. I think I was big citied out by this point and sick of the cars trying to kill me. It could be that Florence just happened to fall on the day of vacation where I had a bit of grumpy going on. I'm just not sure. Too many people that I think have great ideas and great taste just love Florence, and there I was thinking stupid Florence, stupid people everywhere, stupid Baptistry doors not being in the museum, but "out for cleaning". So though I did not love Florence as I expected, I fully reserve the right to have a mad affair at some point in the future. After all, I didn't get to see the Birth of Venus, so we have to go back for that!

I had the same experience that you did, Lauren. Before the trip, many people told me Florence was their favorite, even over Venice. I loved the David, Tony One's place and the museums, but Florence did not wind up as my favorite. It may have been the limited time. Since I've been home I've talked to several people who didn't care for Venice (!!) which seems incomprehensible to me, so who knows what a second experience could bring.

Onward with the evil (super cool Christmas) plan!