Florida Trip Days 5-9 (Fort Lauderdale)
	Florida Trip Day 3 (Disney MGM Studios Orlando)
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Getting to the Park

This morning, Ron wasn't feeling 100%, and he wasn't sure he would be able to spend all day at Disney's Animal Kingdom. He didn't want the rest of us tied to how he felt, so we decided to take two cars down to the park, just in case. We left the hotel about nine on Saturday morning, once again heading back down towards International Blvd. Then we went under the Beeline Expressway and then circled around to get on it heading back towards I-4. Then we took I-4 south until we began seeing the signs for Disney's Animal Kingdom.

We ended up going just one exit further on, to the Osceola Parkway and from there westward to the park entrance. We got there fairly early, and were able to get parking spaces fairly close in. Ron took along some Benadryl for his nausea and we headed into the park.

As with all the Disney parks, you CAN walk from your car to the entrance, but, once again, we took the super-convenient tram from our car right to the entrance.

An Orientation to the Park

When we actually begin looking at the many pictures we took today, I will be using the map of the park taken from the brochure we picked up at the entrance. It has all the major areas and attractions marked on it. A small version of it is shown at the left. At first, I thought I might see what aerial views were available from the Internet, and I did find that the resolution covering the park is pretty good. But I concluded that the aerial views, while interesting, didn't really add much to the actual pictures that we took, and I found that the park map was sufficient to show you the relative orientation of the areas of the park that we visited.

Unlike yesterday's document, this time the Disney's brochure adhered to the usual standard of having "south" towards the bottom of a diagram and "east" toward the right. So that will make it a little easier for you to get a feel for how the park is arranged and how the little inset maps that I will use to trace our progress through the park actually fit together.

As you will see, Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park is comprised of seven major areas: Discovery Island (at the south center of the park, it is actually an island) and then, around Discovery Island from the south clockwise, the Entrance Oasis, Camp Minnie-Mickey, Africa and the Safari Area, Rafiki's Planet Watch, Asia, and Dinoland U.S.A. The way the park is organized, from the entrance you must go directly to Discovery Island. From there you can go directly to any of the other areas, and from most of them you can work your way around the park in a circle if you wish.

Unlike yesterday, today we tended to do everything we wanted to do in each particular area all at one time, so it will be pretty easy for me to organize the pictures for you in that same manner. So, just like yesterday, I will have a heading (and park map extract) for each area, and I'll talk about what we did in that area, and show you the pictures and movies from that area- all at once (although even today, because of show times and schedules, we had to re-visited a couple of areas).

But before we head on into the park, I did want to include one aerial view of the park itself. You certainly can's see everything, and the aerial view certainly isn't detailed enough to track our travels, but it IS interesting in its own right in that you can pick out some of the major buildings and features.

One thing I might mention is that the aerial view clearly shows the theatre venue for the "Finding Nemo" show, but the park Brochure Map does not mention it. We did go to the show, and so I can only conclude that the online map is lagging behind the actual one, since the Nemo show has been open for about a year.

Have a look at the aerial view at right and then scroll on down to enter the park with us.

Entering Disney's Animal Kingdom

Arriving at the entrance from the tram, I stopped to take a couple of pictures of our group with the entrance as a backdrop. In the first picture are Fred, Ron and Jay and in the second it's just Fred and myself.

Today, we learned that Jay has a fondness for monkeys (as in plush toys and knicknacks), so during the day you will see lots of monkey-themed pictures, including this one with Jay and friend. The walkway into the park actually leads by an artificial stream populated by a number of different birds, and goes through some tunnels and stuff to get you in the mood for the natural-world theme of the park.

Discovery Island

Walking across the footbridge from the Oasis and Entrance, we were on Discovery Island.

     The Tree of Life

The name for the huge artificial tree that is the centerpiece of Discovery Island is taken from "The Lion King," and is "The Tree of Life." It can be seen from anywhere around the central lake, and so is a meeting place much like Mickey's Sorcerer's Hat was at MGM Studios. The huge artificial trunk is covered with carvings intended, I think, to illustrate the interconnectedness of things.

From Discovery Island, you can see across the lagoon to most of the other areas of the park, such as this view looking towards Forbidden Mountain and the bridge from Dinoland U.S.A to Asia. Click on the thumbnail images below to see some of the other pictures we took near the Tree of Life on Discovery Island:

     It's Tough to Be a Bug

This attraction is a 3-D show that is actually housed in the root system of the Tree of Life. To get to the theatre, you begin at the walkway around Discovery Island and then head down and through a tunnel which is supposed to be going through those roots. That explains all the carvings along the walls of the tunnel and walkways down to the entrance to the theatre, such as these carvings next to Fred. As we were walking along, we came across another carved animal that seemed suited to be in a picture with Jay- a monkey.

The show iteslf was hosted by Flik and Hopper, two of the characters in Disney's presentation of the Pixar movie "A Bug's Life." The show made good use of the 3-D capability, as well as the usual water sprays, sound effects and mechanical seat movements. Everyone got a start at the end of the show when Flik asked patrons to stay seated with the beetles and roaches made their way to the exits and the seats undulated as if a horde of insects were passing underneath. It was a clever show. Outside the show, there was a good example of your typical Disney attention to detail- a waterfall coming out of the roots of the Tree of Life. You can watch a short movie of that waterfall with the player at left.

     Flame Tree Barbecue

We did not actually eat lunch just yet; we went through some other attractions first and came back here a bit later. But since we are on Discovery Island, let me go ahead and include the pictures of us at lunch. We weren't exactly sure what we wanted, but when Fred stopped to take a couple of pictures of some of the adornment atop one of the fast-lunch places (this one a barbecue place), we just decided to go ahead and stop and eat. By the way, you can see Fred's pictures of the colorful figures adorning the small building here and here.

While the guys got in line to get our stuff, I grabbed a vacant table in the outdoor seating area adjacent. As soon as I sat down, I was surrounded by all kinds of birds- what looked like ducks and egrets and some wading birds I couldn't identify. Although it probably wasn't a good idea, when the guys arrived with our meal, I fed some of my bun to some of the birds. Click on the thumbnail images below to see some of the pictures we took of these birds, and some of the other pictures of us at lunch:

I also took a pretty good movie of the various birds wandering around during our lunch.

Dinoland U.S.A.

     Dino Sue

Dino Sue is billed as "the largest, most complete T-Rex ever found." At least that is what the park guide brochure says. And indeed the T‑Rex skeleton that stands outside the "Dinosaur!" attraction looks realistic. It's just a copy, of course. No skeleton of that quality would be found outside a museum, and, even if Disney owned one, they'd not be likely to just put it outside, exposed to the elements as well as to damage and/or theft. It DID look realistic, though!

     Dinosaur!

According to the guide brochure, in the "Dinosaur!" attraction you can "go back 65 million years to save the last dinosaur on this always thrilling, sometimes frightening, ride through the past...and the dark." I have to admit that not once did I think I was really going back 65 million years, although the illusion was pretty good. And I don't think many adults were either thrilled or frightened, but this virtual-reality ride, set up nicely with pre-ride videos, set decoration and mechanical contrivances was definitely worth the short wait.

As Disney is wont to do, the line control devices route you through what appears to be the interior of a museum, and there were enough exhibits to see and things to read that the short wait seemed even shorter. There was also another T‑Rex skeleton inside the building. We enjoyed the ride, and when it was done, found ourselves back out on the main pathway through Dinoland U.S.A.

     "Finding Nemo" - The Musical

As I mentioned earlier, the Finding Nemo Show is kind of an odd attraction for Disney's Animal Kingdom. Were it not for the fact that it is, after all, about animals, I might have thought it more properly belonged in MGM Studios- back in the Pixar animation area. It is also a relatively new attraction here, opened just about a year. Why it is located on the border of Dinoland U.S.A. and Asia I have no idea, but I guess the location was as good as any.

So we decided to attend the show as we were walking around the park from Dinoland to Asia and, as luck would have it, we did not have to wait long for a show to begin.

Finding Nemo - The Musical marks the first time Disney has taken a non-musical movie and transformed it into a musical show for the parks. It's an adaptation of the Disney-Pixar movie, re-telling the story of a father clownfish, Marlin, and his son, Nemo, who learn how to love and understand each other. Nemo is taken away and Marlin will stop at nothing to get his son back, facing undersea challenges such as sharks, jellyfish with his new, ever loyal, friend Dory. Meanwhile, Nemo is trapped in a fish tank in Sydney, and makes his own new friends who inspire him to do whatever it takes to see his father again.

"Finding Nemo - The Musical" gives guests the chance to be literally immersed in the story of Marlin and Nemo through the combination of puppets, dancers, acrobats and animated backdrops. It's performed in the now enclosed Theater in the Wild in DinoLand U.S.A, the former home to "Tarzan Rocks". The theater itself was updated with innovative lighting, sound, and special effects to create Nemo's undersea environment. Like the Broadway version of Disney's "The Lion King", the audience sees the performers as well as their puppets throughout the show.

Not only does the audience get a chance to see the well-loved story in a new production, but they enjoy the original songs written just for the show, including "Big Blue World", also heard at The Seas with Nemo and Friends at Epcot, and Crush's big number, "Go With the Flow", a tribute to 60s surfing music.

Unfortunately, not only was flash photography prohibited during the performance, but the lighting was such that unless you were standing right up on stage, or unless you had the flash of death, it wouldn't have helped anyway. So I contented myself with one movie excerpt that will give you an idea of what the production was like. You can watch that movie using the player at right.

If you have seen the aforementioned stage musical of The Lion King, then you have some idea of what this production was like. But the "underwater" stage settings and the innovative use of puppets and puppeteers was nothing short of enchanting. To give you a better idea of what the production was actually like, let me include here six random pictures from a Web Site devoted to the Nemo production here at Disney's Animal Kingdom. These pictures are not thumbnails; they are actual size:

Asia

Getting out of "Finding Nemo - The Musical," we walked across the land bridge from Dinoland U.S.A. to Asia (very appropriate that we should be going the other way). The first attraction we came to was the wildest ride in the park- Forbidden Mountain.

     Forbidden Mountain

(NOTE: There's a real treat coming up.)

Forbidden Mountain is Disney Animal Kingdom's most exciting and most popular ride. We were lucky that today the weather was not the greatest, and it was after the summer vacation season, and as a result the line for the ride was not very long at all.

Ron had not been feeling the greatest this morning, so he and Jay decided that they would sit this one out, and they just waited for us at the exit from the ride.

First, take a look at some of the pictures we took in and around and after the ride by clicking on the thumbnail images below:

As we were waiting in line (actually, the line was moving so fast that we hardly ever stopped until we got to the train platform and I asked to wait for a front-row pair of seats), we were guided through the building past a number of interesting exhibits and artifacts (fake or real, who can tell?). It was really interesting, what I saw of it, and I almost wished the line were moving slower so I could take it all in. You can watch a movie of some of this interesting stuff.

Now for the real treat. I'd heard this was going to be an interesting ride, with forward and backward movement and switches in the track, and so I decided that just after we left the station, I would film the entire ride. So buckle your seatbelt and get ready for a bumpy ride!

     Walking Around Asia

From the Forbidden Mountain, we walked along the lagoon around towards the next attraction. On the way, Jay found some real and some not-so-real monkeys, and we took a few pictures along the way. Click on the thumbnail images below to take a look at these pictures:

     The Maharajah Jungle Trek

The Maharajah Jungle Trek attraction was a walking tour. There were simulated ruins evoking Angkor Wat or something similar, and various jungle animals in a zoo-like setting. That's what it reminded me most of- a zoo with better ambiance. But I thought the whole area was very well done, and there were certainly enough animals to look at the fake ruins to add to the experience.

We took quite a few pictures on the trek. I've eliminated the duplications and chosen the best of the remaining ones, so if you will click on the thumbnail images below, you can see some of the pictures we took in this part of the park:

     Flights of Wonder

When we came out of the Maharajah Jungle Trek, we walked a little bit further around the lagoon and found the "Flights of Wonder," which was a show featuring different kinds of birds. We had a bit of time before the show started, so we were able to wander around the Asia area (taking some of the pictures that you saw above). When it was near time for the show to start, we wandered into the small amphitheatre.

This was a much smaller, much more intimate show than the one we just recently saw at the Texas State Fair. There were only about ten rows of benches and a few bleacher-type seats behind them. The "stage" area was done up again as a jungle ruin, much like those on the Maharajah Jungle Trek. The emcee was a youngish guy, and during the performance he called on a fellow from the audience who said he was a tour guide here with a group, but who turned out to be a compatriot- one of the Disney cast members- and part of the show.

The show itself was interesting, with plenty of birds and the typical tricks with the audience. The lighting was not good in the amphitheatre (which was covered) and we were too far from the stage area for a flash to work, so most of the pictures we took were fuzzy. Some of them did turn out, though, and there are clickable thumbnail images for them below:

We took a couple of good movies during the show, though. Fred took an excellent one of a routine that the emcee did with a white cockatoo.

As with many shows, birds are trained to accept donations, and you can watch one of the birds doing so.

Rafiki's Planet Watch

Rafiki's Planet Watch seems to be Disney's contribution to ecology education. It is an area in the northeastern corner of the park that is devoted to instructional exhibits and attractions directed towards kids. There is an outdoor discovery trail that tries to educate people on how to share planetary resources with animals, and at the Conservation Station kids (and adults) can interact with live animals and learn about their habitats.

Disney also provides a great deal of information on its own veterinary, nutrition and research programs that involve the animals in the park. There is also, this time just for kids, a petting zoo on steroids, with a great many animals way outside the barnyard milieu.

To take the visitor to all these attractions there is another attraction called the "Wildlife Express Train." It is, in fact, a rustic train ride from a station near the central lagoon in Africa out to the Planet Watch attractions and back again. We weren't much interested in the attractions for kids, but we thought the train ride might be fun, so that's the part that we did in this area of the park.

We didn't take many pictures in this area of the park; the fun part was just riding the train. Most of the animals we saw were too far away for good pictures, although we did get close to some rhinos. Anyway, you can look at the best of the pictures we took (or had taken) if you will click on the thumbnail images below:

I did take one movie while we were on the train so you could ride along and see what it was like.

Africa

As its name indicates, the "Africa" section of Disney's Animal Kingdom is devoted to animals, birds and fish that one might find on that continent, and the two major attractions brought you fairly close to much of the diversity of African wildlife.

     Pangani Forest Exploration Trail

The main attraction on the Pangani Trail would eventually turn out to be the gorillas, but on the way to the back of the trail where they could be found, there were monkeys (or perhaps baboons, I am not sure which), fish and some other animals.

Right at the beginning of the trail, there was a huge caged area that at first seemed empty. But when we looked closer, we could see a pair of black and white baboons. At least, I think they were baboons; you'll forgive me if I have forgotten what the sign said. As we continued along the trail, we would through some artificial rock tunnels and canyons, and then came into a rock-walled area that had what looked like a freely-running stream but which was actually an waterfall‑fed aquarium. It contained a myriad of brightly‑colored fish of all sizes and descriptions.

I took a pretty good movie of the fish, looking through the aquarium glass at the end of the pool created by the waterfall, showing the incredible number and diversity of them.

I also made a movie of the shallow end of the pool near the waterfall and of the waterfall itself.

As we moved on along the trail, we encountered a couple more waterfalls that seemed to be used to help separate different areas. The pictures we took along the walk were many and varied, and I've included some more of them there. Click on the thumbnail images below to see some of these pictures:

Towards the back of the trail, we came to the area where there were at least three gorillas. At first we thought that the two animals that were in a glass-windowed enclosure were the only two there were, but then a ways further down the trail Fred spotted two very large ones off the trail. These big gorilla seemed unrestrained, but were actually separated from the walkway by the clever use of a very deep crevice. In any event, they seemed more concerned with staying away from us as with anything else. Using his high-power zoom, Fred got a number of good pictures of them. I've gathered together the best of the gorilla pictures and have put clickable thumbnail images for them below:

As I mentioned, there were a couple of gorillas roaming free and a couple in an enclosure with a glass wall to permit us to view them up close. I made a movie of one of these gorillas and, while the gorilla wasn't very active, may give you a good idea of what they were like.

Well, we were pretty much at the end of the trail. Just before the trail crossed a bridge near the exit, I looked back and saw Fred taking a last couple of pictures of the gorillas. Here, you can see the cliff and moat separating the trail from the gorilla habitat.

Early on the expedition trail, we went through an area that was more like a zoo, with some unknown animals wandering around in their enclosures. There were only two or three of them, but I made a movie of one of them that looked like a cross between a horse, an antelope and a zebra.

     The Kilimanjaro Safari

On the Kilimanjaro Safari, we rode in an open‑air vehicle (a top but no sides) which resembled a rickety covered jeep that seats fifteen or twenty people. They were like school buses without sides. The "ride," if you can call it that, did not follow a track or anything- just a normal road. Unlike a roller-coaster, we were in a separate vehicle, and they did a good job of separating the vehicles by enough space that you had the illusion that your vehicle was the only one on the safari.

The winding road took us through a simulated African savannah where, supposedly, giraffes, gazelles, elephants, rhinos and lions were roaming freely. We saw a few of these animals, but certainly not all. And most we saw from a distance. (If there are free-roaming lions, I have no idea how they might keep them from getting too close to the vehicles.) We also saw some very interesting plants, such as this pod‑bearing tree near the embarkation point of the ride.

There was no set order to the safari and, indeed, it seems as if every ride is different from every other, since there is no way to ensure that the various animals will stay in certain spots. At one point, interestingly enough, I seemed to have gotten a picture of both lion and prey right next to each other. I'm not sure at all how they pull that off.

We took a number of other pictures along the safari, capturing pictures of just about all the advertised wildlife- and some that wasn't. Take a look at these pictures by clicking on the thumbnail images below:

A ways into the safari, we had all bought into the illusion that we were actually on safari in Africa. There was what sounded like a radio up front in the vehicle, and what sounded like some kind of game warden or official telling the driver what was up ahead (there were some poachers being caught and everything). From the crackle of the radio to the rickety nature of the bus, it certainly appeared to us as if we were on safari (if you just ignored how everyone was dressed). At one point, we had to stop for a few minutes, and I made a movie of the realistic-looking surroundings. You can watch that movie using the player at left.

I also made an interesting movie as we were riding along through the simulated Serengeti, and it will give you a good idea of what riding on the safari was like.

Now, you may have seen the movie "Somewhere in Time," in which Christopher Reeve wants to travel backward in time to meet a famous actress when she was young. He dresses himself for the time, renting a 60-year old suit for the purpose, arranges his hotel room meticulously to remove any hint of a future time, and then hypnotizes himself into thinking that he has traveled back in time by about sixty years. Because of his dress, the way the room looks and the sounds and events he has convinced himself he is hearing and living, the illusion is complete. He IS in the early 1900s. But at one point, while talking to Jane Seymour's character, he happens to reach into the watchpocket of the suit and pulls out a coin that someone had left there- a 1977 penny. This breaks the illusion, and he awakens back in the present.

That's what happened to me on this ride. I had pretty much convinced myself that this was a safari, when I heard a noise behind our vehicle. I turned just in time to film my own 1977 penny (use the movie player at left).

     Disney's Animal Kingdom Afternoon Parade

With the completion of the safari ride, we had done about everything we wanted to do here in Disney's Animal Kingdom. When we returned to the station from that safari, then, we walked back out into the middle of the Africa section to find that the afternoon parade was just beginning. There is a staging area off just outside the guest area of the park where the performers and vehicles line up, and at a certain time the access to that staging area is opened, and the parade comes through, winding its way down to Discovery Island and around that island.

(I might point out that the aerial view of the park reveals that it is pretty much surrounded with administrative and support buildings, as well as delivery areas, employee parking and the like. It is pretty amazing that all of this is totally concealed from the guest when in the park; just another example of fostering an illusion. So seeing the gates, which up until then had appeared to be fake buildings and real vegetation, open up and seeing the mundane support structures through the opening, was much like pulling the curtain back on the Wizard of Oz. Had we not been right at the absolute start of the parade, though, we wouldn't have seen even that.) We took quite a few pictures at the parade, which was a procession of dancers, singers floats and vehicles, all with an animal theme. Very creative and very entertaining. You can click on some of the thumbnail images below to see the pictures that we took during the afternoon parade:

Ending Our Day at Disney's Animal Kingdom

The Parade was not the official end to the park day; that honor goes to the Festival of the Lion King, which is similar to the Fantasmic! show that we saw at the end of yesterday, but much earlier and not nearly so extravagant. As the parade wound its way down to Discovery Island, we followed it through the thick crowds until we reached the bridge over to Camp Minnie-Mickey and the theatre-in-the-round that houses the Lion King Festival.

The performance was pretty amazing, and I am sorry that I did not take a few movies while it was going on. Photography would not have worked, but movies would have, and right now I am unsure as to why I didn't take any. The show was something like a cross between the Nemo show and Cirque de Soliel- there were wild, extravagant costumes and props and lots of performers, acrobats, trampoline artists and rope performers. It all had a Lion King theme and it was all pretty darned good. There was also quite a bit of audience participation and I think everyone, particularly the kids, enjoyed it.

The Lobby of the Statehouse

When that show was concluded (after about an hour), we made our way to the park entrance, crossing Discovery Island and heading back through the Oasis. When we were almost to the entrance turnstiles, we found that one of the vehicles from the parade had been brought out and parked, and the Disney characters were aboard saying goodbye and waving to the guests. I made an initial movie of these characters, and you can watch that movie using the player at right.

We also took some pictures while we were here, and if you click on the thumbnail images below you can see these pictures:

To wrap up the day, I took one more movie as we were being waved off by the Disney characters.

We drove both cars back to the hotel, relaxed and exercised for a while, and then the four of us went out to a nearby Chinese restaurant, which turned out to be quite good. Then it was back to the hotel and preparation for checking out and driving on down to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow.

Use the links below to take a look at another album page for our Florida trip.

	Florida Trip Days 5-9 (Fort Lauderdale)
	Florida Trip Day 3 (Disney MGM Studios Orlando)
	Return to the Florida Trip Master Index