Cannot connect to MySQL server, hosted in AWS & Bitnami

[SusieQ]

I have successfully followed the instructions from Apache Friends on how to "Host your Application in the Amazon Cloud with XAMPP and Bitnami". However, I am failing at the very last step. I am unable to connect to my remote database thru my code.
(I am able connect to my remote database when I log in directly to phpmyadmin thru a browser.)

These are the message I received:
Warning: mysql_connect(): MySQL server has gone away in C:\xampp\htdocs\QuiltPlanner\includes\connection.inc.php on line 11
Warning: mysql_connect(): Error while reading greeting packet. PID=6588 in C:\xampp\htdocs\QuiltPlanner\includes\connection.inc.php on line 11
Warning: mysql_connect(): MySQL server has gone away in C:\xampp\htdocs\QuiltPlanner\includes\connection.inc.php on line 11
Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded in C:\xampp\htdocs\QuiltPlanner\includes\connection.inc.php on line 11

This is my code on line 11:
$db_connection = mysql_connect("127.0.0.1:8888/", "root", "<password>");

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

-Susan