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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We are going to be visiting Busch Gardens this visit for the first time. It is all adults and teenagers. Do you have any suggestions for this as it is a little hard for me to try to plan as we have never been there. Thanks much
I took DD Samantha there a few years ago, with her bio. father, his wife and kids.
Sorry - can't tell you a THING about how to go about doing it. We got on the little overhead hanging ride thingy that goes around the park so we'd be able to see what there was - and suddenly - HUGE thunderstorm!!
Lightening strikes were everywhere, they got everyone off of the ride at the halfway mark, where there is a loading area - well, everyone but us, since Samantha's wheelchair had been left at the other little station! We had to ride for an additional 15 minutes on the ride they were telling everyone was too dangerous to be on.
We sat in the park for a long, long time while it rained so bad the sidewalks were flooded up to my knees, and finally decided it wouldn't get any better and left.
This concludes my saga of Busch Gardens!
(oh, I recommend taking an umbrella for the SUN - there is NO shade in the area to get tickets, and the line was horrid - we were there for 2 hours before we figured out that the handicapped entrance included a ticket booth for it!)
I've been to Busch Gardens a few times, so if you want to ride the coasters, here's my plan of attack...
- Arrive 30 minutes before opening so you can get into the parking lot, wait for a tram, use the bathroom, etc.
- When the park opens, do the coasters in this order:
- Sheikra: walking is quickest to get there, but it takes 15 minutes. If you want to save foot power, take the skyride to the Congo and walk a short distance to Sheikra
- Kumba
- Cheetah Chase (if you really want to, but I consider it the worse mouse ever!)
- Scorpion
- Montu: take the train back or walk
If you want to do Gwazi, save it for later in the day. Gwazi Lion and Tiger are very rough, though.
Take time in the afternoon to look at the animals or watch some shows. The best show in the park is Katonga. That show has all the free A/C you want too! For lunch, my favorite place is the smokehouse by Sheikra. The ribs are delicious. Plus, you get entertainment from watching Sheikra go round and round.
Later in the day, re-ride your favorites or see stuff you missed. If you really want to do Rhino Rally, do it first thing or near park closing. Lines tend to be shorter at those times.
I go to BG every Disney trip (Seaworld, US, IOA too). Mears runs a bus that picks you up at your hotel, and drops you off at the parking lot of Universal, where you catch another bus that deposits you at the BG entrance. It takes about and hour and 15 minutes from Universal to BG. If you don't want to rent a car, that's the way to go, The coasters in BG are all good, Sheikra is the most intense. I just enjoy walking around looking at the animals. The aviary is my favorite spot. My favorite places to eatare the smokehouse by the flog flume ride and the pizza at the Anheuser Busch Hospitality place. BG is definitely worth a day
We did busch tampa when they were building shekra. it was jan and rather dead, there were NO lines for the rides. i made the mistake of doing the wood coaster first (never ridden a wood coaster before) and basically said thats it no more rides for me today. the hubby rode the other rides on his own.
personally i liked the park, more so for the photo options as thats when i started getting into photography. where the park was in town was sort of odd to me as wb is basically surrounded by busch property and tampa is almost in the center of a neighborhood. they were also redoing the gates then so we just kept following signs. but overall we really liked it.
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The wooden coaster Gwazi will really knock your teeth out! I wouldn't recommend riding Tiger and Lion on Gwazi unless you really want to. If I want to ride them, I usually save them for the end of the day, when the lines tend to be the shorest. Most of the time, I usually walk right past Gwazi.
No, there is a ton more than coasters. We go about 4-5 times a year. I hate coasters and I have fun. I loved the show there, Katonga. I didn't make it a priority when we first went and we went back I thought I better go and see it and I really loved it. It was beautiful. And of course a nice break from heat. There is the bird show too......which in my opinion was just ok. I am not a huge fan of birds, but it is hard going from SeaWorld and seeing Horizons or Believe and then seeing this bird show... . I really like Busch Gardens, the Africa theme makes it interesting and fun and not so stereotypical amusement park. I like how they have upped the ante for these types of parks and include shows etc. Hope this helps.
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. I really like Busch Gardens, the Africa theme makes it interesting and fun and not so stereotypical amusement park. I like how they have upped the ante for these types of parks and include shows etc. Hope this helps.
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