Amy's Fabulous Split StayTrip Report!!!! (Finally)... - Page 19 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Wow!!!! Really great pics.... I have a savannah view for my upcoming trip and I am sooooooo Glad!!!! Also very glad to see that there is quite a nice bit of activity on the savannah as well!!!!
Great pics of both AK and AKL. I think I might be able to see our room at Kidani Village from a few of your pictures. We were on the 2nd level too, which I truly believe is the best for the savannah view.
Hi everybody! Happy Father's Day to those great dads out there. On we go....
So, you got pics of the savannah, I could give ya more, but we'd take up the rest of my allotted space here on PP for pics! So, lets move on...
Here's some pics of the lobby and the grounds...
Here's a view of the lobby from the rear of the resort, looking towards the front entrance. The front desk is to the left. There are some nice sitting areas, a firepit to sit around, and a really nice kid's tv viewing area as well. There are also a few cultural exchange spots where native Africans meet with guests and discuss their homelands and have African artifacts on display.
This is the staircase at the rear of the lobby, it actually takes you down to the lower level, where our room was. The lobby is on the "third" level, our room was on the "second" level, and the savannah is on the first level.
This is the glass atrium at the rear of the lobby. There is an outdoor firepit here with big rocking chairs to sit in, and it also takes you out to a walkway for the public viewing area on the Arusha Savannah.
A view of the pool at night. We only swam at night, which was nice, it wasn't so busy, but take note - the waterslide closes at 8:00pm.
Here's a last pic of the savannah - just because!
So, after we took a little break in our room and got unpacked, it was time for our 5:30 ressie at Boma. The layout at AKL can be a little confusing at first, and to be honest, I did not care for the location of the dining at AKL at all. It took us a good 10 minutes to figure out how to get to Boma! You have to go down a walkway near the gift shop and then take an elevator down to the first level, or go through this lounge, walk around it, and then take this staircase. Not the easiest thing in the world. We tried taking that staircase in the picture, figuring we could get to it that way, but it didn't work, it only took us to more hotel rooms! We ended up way down the hall, to the kids club, the spa, before we knew we weren't getting anywhere.
Anyway. Thankfully we gave ourselves plenty of time to get there. We had a 5:30 ressie, got there at 5:20. They were very busy, we were not seated until 5:55. I wasn't happy! The boys were starving, there was no place to sit, and people had their strollers all over the place. But, once we were seating, everything was great...
Boma is a really nice restaurant, the decor is darker, elegant, with that African flair, the larger tables for bigger groups are these huge one piece carved wood pieces that look like highly polished petrified wood, really beautiful.
There was a large variety of food, but it was all very ethnic. I have to say I was surprised, because I was expecting there to be more for a pickier eater to find here as well. It wasn't too difficult for my family though, as Tony and Michael are very adventurous eaters and they loved everything they tried here. They especially loved the couscous, the falafel, and most definitely the boboti- which is an African meat pie type dish. I am somewhat picky, and because even though I really enjoyed Marrakesh, I couldn't adapt to the flavor of cinnamon with meat , so I was reluctant to try new things while we were at Boma - I didn't want to upset my stomach. So, I stuck to "safer" choices, beef brisket, veggies, salad, things of that nature. Matthew had chicken nuggets - and a lot of them, as that particular night that seemed to be the only kid offerning other than mac n cheese which he won't eat.
We all had a TON of fun with the dessert bar! Lots of cookies, brownies, key lime pie, cheesecake, oh- an ofcourse ZEBRA DOMES! For those of you who don't know what a zebra dome is.... it is this sinfully delicious dessert about the size of half a racket ball, it has a yellow cake on the bottom, a vanilla sort of custard in the middle, and the dome is covered in the creamy sort of white chocolate/vanilla/decadent stuff that is drizzled with milk chocolate. They are just heaven. Even Matthew who is strictly a chocolate chip cookie and brownie kid fell in love with them!
Next up - final reviews of AKL.....and on to Downtown Disney....
I haven't been to Boma yet and am cautious because dd and I are both very picky eaters. Sounds good but also sounds like I'd be moving quickly to the dessert bar.
Loving all the safari shots - this has moved up on our list, definitely our 2010 choice. Sorry for the confusion and the wait for dinner but glad everyone enjoyed once that was settled....sounds like everyone found something to enjoy (especially zebra domes).
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So, lets move on...
It took us a good 10 minutes to figure out how to get to Boma! 
You have to go down a walkway near the gift shop and then take an elevator down to the first level, or go through this lounge, walk around it, and then take this staircase. Not the easiest thing in the world. We tried taking that staircase in the picture, figuring we could get to it that way, but it didn't work, it only took us to more hotel rooms! 
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