Dreaming of a Disney spring break - part three COMPLETED - Page 65 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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What a great meal with Bruce and Marta, glad that even with the different menu you found enough to eat, the zebra domes looked very delicious. Love the night pictures of the giraffees. Can't believe that the trip is almost ending but what a special way to end it, can't wait to hear all about the sunrise safari.
The tea tour sounds like fun! i had never heard of that. I wonder how that guy knew what dead frogs tasted like?
The nighttime pics of the giraffes are great! I am going to have to play with my camera in the next couple weeks to see what different settings I can utilize at WDW.
I don't know about anyone else, but I think dead frogs--at least their legs--are delish! I'm sorry that the Saturday Boma menu wasn't to your liking. I wish they would publish them so we could easily choose what night we'd like to visit!
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Well, I can not imagine where that guy tasted "Dead Frog". I am a tea drinker hot or cold. We will check into the tour next time. Loved your nighttime pictures.
Dead frogs?!?! Well, it tastes like chicken, isn't that what they say? So maybe that means he thought the tea tasted like chicken broth?!
Can't wait to hear and see all about the Sunrise Safari!
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My question to the man who interrupted the tea tour would have been "And just how often do you drink dead frogs?" Said in the most sincere, friendly way, of course....
I don't know about anyone else, but I think dead frogs--at least their legs--are delish! I'm sorry that the Saturday Boma menu wasn't to your liking. I wish they would publish them so we could easily choose what night we'd like to visit!
Very good about the frog's legs!
I agree - it would be so much easier to know what's served on what night, so you know what you're getting in advance and can check if your favourite dishes will be served the night you visit.
Sunday 24 April – part one: my safari will be “funner”
We had the worst night’s sleep possible, which wasn’t a great start to the day, especially as we would be flying home overnight this evening.
I know Mark was awake on/off from 1am and, for me, it was more like about 2.30am onwards. We both heard music and sound effects from the lobby, which was intensely irritating. You’d think that Disney would can those overnight, but obviously not.
We mentioned something to the first Cast Member we saw and she knocked 25% off the room rate we theoretically would’ve paid to compensate us for the inconvenience, which was good of her and another example of great Disney service.
Finally, we stumbled out of bed, feeling very tired, to get ready for our Sunrise Safari. At first, there weren’t many of us in the concierge lounge, waiting for that, but then the numbers grew and grew until we were at 58 of us. As a result, we had two guides. We were put with Jay, who had earlier promised that his safari would be “funner”.
We were the first group out on our specially marked up buses.
I was amazed at how long the bus journey took, during which time we went backstage for much of it. Of course, we weren’t allowed any photos, but apart from a rhino sighting, there wasn’t much to see. In fairness, some of what we saw was “on stage”, as you can see it from the train that goes to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. One thing I did notice as we went through the backstage area was the smell of animals. They must have some way of keeping that confined to back here, as you’re certainly never conscious of it in the park.
We stopped up just by the station for Rafiki’s Planet Watch and walked through from there. It had become fairly apparent by now that one of the children on this tour had problems, although I’m no expert so I couldn’t tell you what exactly, from his behaviour. His mother was constantly having to run after him, as he got distracted and started wandering off. He would occasionally yell things out at random. He was certainly a handful, but worse was to come....
We boarded our safari truck and set off, very slowly, stopping for every animal opportunity we had – and my goodness, there were plenty as the photos will show. Jay was exceptionally knowledgeable about the animals we saw. His background was that he’d once worked as an alligator wrestler, which was interesting!
We learnt so much on the way round, although of course, I can’t remember half of it. With the hippos, we learnt that the male was on one side, with the females on the other. They all sleep, touching each other, which helps to reinforce the group.
When we got to the crocodiles, the child behind us scared the living daylights out of us – and no doubt everyone else on the truck – by getting very excited and starting to talk about swimming with crocodiles. He then stood up and, for one horrible second, we thought maybe he was going to jump. Thankfully, he sat back down and things were much better from that point onwards.
We got some lovely close-ups while we were out on the savannah...
Great Safari pics- i would love to try this at some point. Was it difficult to get AKL concierge level through DVC? I'm presuming you booked at 7 months out?
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Sorry your sleep was disturbed by lobby noise! I've never had that happen at AKL before. Maybe they forgot to turn down the volume? Can't imagine how loud it must have been to hear it from the rooms on the upper floors! Great safari, though! Scary moment with the child wanting to swim with the gators!
I, too, wish they'd publish the daily Boma menus. Maybe we need to systematically visit each day of the week to figure it out!
I guess I should remember to pack ear plugs with me just in case since you're obviously really close to the lobby when staying in club level rooms...thanks for the heads up. And what great customer service on Disney's part. By the way, I would have freaked out too if I had heard the child wanted to swim with the crocodiles!!!
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I am a tea drinker hot or cold. We will check into the tour next time. Loved your nighttime pictures.
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Thankfully, he sat back down and things were much better from that point onwards. 
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