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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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DH is "moused-out" so we're focusing on WWoHP and Busch Gardens on our next Florida trip.
We generally aren't amusement park people, so this could be interesting.
For those of you who have been -- what are the things we absolutely shouldn't miss? What's overrated?
Any particularly good places to eat? Is CS okay or should we spring for a sit down?
What three (more or less) things you wish you'd known before you'd gone?
And finally -- is the safari ride worth the extra $?
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BG is a great park. It's more than just very cool coasters, which i take it that you don't particulary like. The Aviary is a lot of fun, and going out to see the animals up close is definitely worth it. I'd eat CS. The white tigers are a site to see, The Skyride is the best way to travel from one side of the park to the other
We went to BG in Virginia. I'm not sure how similar it is to the one in Orlando? But it really was alot of fun! I would actually put it as our 3rd fav park behind MK and Epcot. Though, US/IOA WWoHP might change my rankings on our next visit. I'm sure you will have a blast!
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We went to BG in Virginia. I'm not sure how similar it is to the one in Orlando?
Va's is old country Europe and Tampa is Africa. We love Kilimanjaro Safari and the animal trails but have no strong feelings one way or the other about the rest of DAK so are hoping this will be a good fit.
We love Busch Gardens for the wonderful animal attractions there. We are not coaster people at all. : Rhino Rally is great fun and there's nothing more enjoyable for us than just wandering through all the various animal areas and taking the Serengeti train around the savannah.
I worked at Busch Gardens (as I think just about every teen in the Tampa area is required to as like a rite of passage or something...) when I was in college. (Worked on the coaster Kumba if you are curious) BG has TONS of stuff to do besides the big rides. I love roller coasters, but the animal area is actually my favorite at BG. There are lots of areas to walk around and see the animals, as well as a train that goes around and partially through the savannah area (where animals are roaming freely). The sky ride is a great way to see the park too, and lots of fun. I would eat (CS) in the Festhaus during one of the shows (German dancing). They are really fun. I also quite enjoyed the ice skating show when I was last there, but they changed that every now and then so I'm not sure what it's like now. I have not personally done the safari, but many friends have and they say it is amazing, so if that's something you are interested in, go for it!! I think BG (much like Disney) offers many more things than the average "Six Flags" type theme park. The African theming is really great - I like to just wonder around and look. Like I said, it's been a few years since I've been down there, but if they still have a place to get strawberry mirages (a strawberry slush sort of drink) in Timbuktu, GET ONE. They are so delicious. Oh, and don't miss the animal nursery...we saw some of the cutest little guys in there! Have fun!!
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MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
It really sounds like a lot of fun. I think I went there when I was a young child.
Do they or did they have a bird show where the birds would ride little bicycles?
Yes they did! They used to have quite an extensive aviary. I'm not sure what it's like now though. They just recently (like I think earlier this year) opened a Sesame Street area for little kids (used to be called Land of the Dragons, but was expanded and reworked). LoD was right next to the aviary area, so if they expanded, I'm not sure exactly where they expanded and what they took out to make room.
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MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
We liked BG as much, if not more than, AK! It has similar African theming with an emphasis on animals. I would personally not spend money on the safari because you can see it 3 different ways (Rhino Rally, by train, and by skyride) with your regular admission!
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We liked BG as much, if not more than, AK! It has similar African theming with an emphasis on animals. I would personally not spend money on the safari because you can see it 3 different ways (Rhino Rally, by train, and by skyride) with your regular admission!
Thanks for the safari advice. It's hard to tell that from the online map.
Our tix are good for two days -- we can always try to get a spot on Tues if we're fascinated on Monday.
I disagree about the safari. Yes, you can see the animals from the Skyride and the train (forget Rhino Rally), but on the safari the truck is on the savannah and you get a chance to stop and see the animals up real close
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I disagree about the safari. Yes, you can see the animals from the Skyride and the train (forget Rhino Rally), but on the safari the truck is on the savannah and you get a chance to stop and see the animals up real close
I agree. My friend has AMAZING pictures from when he went on the safari. They got to feed giraffes, pet okapis, all kinds of really cool things that you can't do just from riding the sky ride or train. Since it's a pretty open area, you never know for sure where the animals will be, so if they aren't in the prime spots for the train/sky ride, you might miss something. The safari though obviously can go all around and search for the animals specifically.
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MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
I haven't been to BG sice I was in HS, but I loved it. Te raft ride like Kali River Rapids is so much fun(just remember to bring a change of clothes as you get drenched). My must not miss attraction are certainly the White Bengal Tigers. Such beautiful animals. If you're spending a little more time in Tampa, the aquarium is amazing too. Sorry I don't remember what the food is like at BG, but the CS was edible. If you get to go through the Aviary, they used to have cups of Nectar that you could feed the birds. We had several gorgeous birds come up to us and drink the nectar right out of the cup(believe it or not we had birds for pets so this was a must do for us). Hope you have a great time. Also you can see the famous Busch Clidesdale Horses too(they're beautiful and huge up close).
If you get to go through the Aviary, they used to have cups of Nectar that you could feed the birds. We had several gorgeous birds come up to us and drink the nectar right out of the cup.
This area is called Lorikeet Landing, and believe it or not, I worked here for a little while too. When I worked there it was only $1 for a cup of nectar. It's pretty neat, but one suggestion would be to ask the person working the nectar sales if it's been busy recently or not. When I worked there we would get really busy times, and then the people at the tail end of that would usually come out complaining to me that the birds didn't seem interested in the nectar. I felt bad, but there wasn't really anything I could do about it.
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MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
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: Rhino Rally is great fun and there's nothing more enjoyable for us than just wandering through all the various animal areas and taking the Serengeti train around the savannah. 
I agree. My friend has AMAZING pictures from when he went on the safari. They got to feed giraffes, pet okapis, all kinds of really cool things that you can't do just from riding the sky ride or train. Since it's a pretty open area, you never know for sure where the animals will be, so if they aren't in the prime spots for the train/sky ride, you might miss something. The safari though obviously can go all around and search for the animals specifically.
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