Intranet with MacBook Pro and iPads

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the right forum or not, but here is my issue.

I'm trying to set up a simple intranet network hosted on my MacBook Pro running Mountain Lion 10.8.5. I have created a local web site hosted in the Apache server on the MBP, and I want 5 iPads to access it. Its event photos for sale. The problem is, the site shows up on the iPads ok, but when I tap a photo to enlarge it, it hesitates, then the browser crashes, every time, no matter what browser is used. I use the .local address of the MBP.

I'm using an Airport Extreme for the wifi. I tried connecting the Airport to the MBP with an ethernet cable, and making a whole new intranet network on the Airport, and it still does the same thing, despite trying a lot of different configurations. So, I got a MAMP server, and it still did not help. I need it to work offline because the events I photograph rarely have internet access. I've tried using the peer-to-peer connection with the same result.

I have used the exact same system hosted on my iMac (identical operating system) with no problems.

I can't figure out what is wrong, perhaps I should use a Mac Mini as a server, any help would be appreciated!