Solo-on-a-Scooter on Safari LIVE Trip Report, March 2013 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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This is a trip I’ve been wanting to take since childhood—a trip to see the amazing African animals in the wild—but it’s become more than that. When planning this trip, I considered Botswana and Kenya, both fantastic places to see wildlife, but I decided on South Africa because I didn’t just want to see the animals. I’ve always been fascinated with the struggle to end Apartheid and never thought I’d see its end in my lifetime. To not only see it end, but to see Mandela released from prison to become president was beyond imagining, except for those who worked to make it happen. My heroes were Mandela, Oliver Tambo and Desmond Tutu, and I’d heard of the tour given in Cape Town called “Walk to Freedom” that documents those years and includes a visit to the Robben Island prison. I wanted to do this tour, so the idea to combine a visit to Cape Town with a safari was born!
I’ll be spending four nights in Cape Town, followed by two nights at an elephant sanctuary and then 4 nights at a safari camp. I can’t believe I leave tonight on this fabulous trip.
Because two of my flights will be on small planes, the weight requirements were a challenge. All of my bags—suitcase, carryon and purse—had to be no more than 44 lbs total! I managed to come in at 40lbs for all three bags.
I leave Boston TONIGHT at 9pm (jiggling with excitement at those words!!), arriving at Heathrow at 8:30am. My flight to Cape Town doesn’t leave until 5pm, and I was dreading the long layover until Cheryl (chezp) and her husband, Mark, offered to meet me at the airport and hang out with me for a bit! That’s what I call true friendship—waiting around at an airport with no plans to fly! I can’t wait to see them! I’ll finally arrive in Cape Town at 7 Monday morning to begin my adventure.
My usual method for trip reports is to write them up and post with photos every day while on the trip. Because I travel alone, doing live reports allows me to “talk” to people about my day and I love hearing the daily comments and questions. I’ll follow that method for this trip as far as I’m able. Once I get to the elephant sanctuary and the safari lodge the internet may not be as good, so I may have to suspend posting the full reports until I get home.
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Also very excited to read about your adventures. You may be "traveling solo," but all of us reading your report are with you in spirit, and wishing you a most successful trip!
the big day is finally here!! Wishing you a smooth flight across the pond. How nice to know that you'll get to see Mark & Cheryl at the airport. Looking forward to your updates.
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Safe flight over here and we'll see you in the morning! Can't wait!
Anyway, this is cool, as it's a dry run for us in three weeks' time when we head to Germany - now we know where the Hilton is, so it's helped us out and we've had a fun weekend already.
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the big day is finally here!! Wishing you a smooth flight across the pond. How nice to know that you'll get to see Mark & Cheryl at the airport. Looking forward to your updates. 
PassPorter Guide Author
Can't wait! 
Deb
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