Per request – The Animal Kingdom

It is a well known fact that we are animal lovers. What I love about Disney is exactly what Walt’s mission was – the parks immerse you in another world. No matter where you go, Walt wanted you to have little evidence of the world you left and to feel like you had gone somewhere else. It is so hard to describe how effective this is in AK. You can almost feel like you are truly in Asia or Africa.

We enjoyed our day at the Animal Kingdom, well it wound up being a day and half and two safari trips, two thunderstorms, and still not getting to ride the rapids because of the rain. But fun anyway – although to be brutally honest, the pictures from the Animal Kingdom Lodge, which I will post tomorrow, I believe are better. :)

The first thunderstorm was fun…..

as evidenced by the soaking wet children.

K did discover a bit later that attempting to remove and re-don wet denim in order to use the bathroom is NOT fun. Teehee…I told her so!

The fifth thunderstorm and fifth day in wet sneakers, not so well received.

I think this is our ONE family shot that is not a PhotoPass shot.

No K and I did not match on purpose. :)

The Tree of Life.

And I think the request wanted to see animals??

So maybe I should get to the animals now?

The park is very cool, divided into geographical areas with natural habitats throughout…..and then there is the safari.

This was the best picture of the giraffes in the safari. WAIT until you see the pictures from our room!

Elephants!

We missed the 6 month old baby because the driver just drove too fast and Mama was good and keeping that one safe!

Black Rhino

The “king” taking a break.

Gibbons. They live on a huge bamboo apparatus out in a lagoon type enclosure. It is pretty cool to watch them climb way up and play with each other.

See the baby?

 

True Blood anyone? This enclosure was pretty cool. They were hanging EVERYWHERE. We were nearly under them.And they were HUGE. Each about the size of a  cat. Hanging. Upside down.  I had to laugh at the sign just outside the building before you entered. It said, This way for those that would like to see the bats. And an arrow pointing the other way to a path around the building for “those that prefer not to “experience” the bats up close”. Thanks for the warning!

These two were gor-geous. The one on the left kept looking very longingly into the crowd. They are in the Singapore (I believe that is the area) area. I also took some cool pictures of K around the japanese gardens etc. Some nice architecture and props.

Then, we saw a pretty cool bird show. Which K participated in, but because she was holding MY camera, I have no pictures! LOL!

This is an african crowned crane they had trained, and is in mid-flight. These were all over our hotel, and are pretty and the picture really does not capture the impressiveness of their flight.

Is this NOT the COOLEST owl ever?? I for the life of me can not remember the name, but it’s eyes, and coloring were amazing!

And it seems the primates have been busy – another baby.

 

Hippo! We didnt’ get a picture of the hippo enclosure. We could watch them “walk” under the water. They don’t swim. But the shots did not come out. So this one is from the safari.

Croc or gator? You tell me <smile> I know.

And just so as not to deceive you as to what a perfect photogenic family we are, and how perfect our vacation was, floating along all smiles….this picture was prefaced with…

“Do we have to stand in front of the sign?”

“Just do it please”

“why, we don’t want toooo”

“because we have been doing what ever YOU want for days, and all I want is one picture like one I took the last time we were here, and I DON’T think that is too much to ask, so get over there and smile”

“Cheese”

And don’t they look deceptively happy to be posing there!?

This is the picture to which I was refering.