Disney Pics!

This is actually round 2 of the Disney and Florida Pics. I'll post the Magic Kingdom and maybe a few more Animal Kingdom photos tomorrow. We didn't take any pictures in MGM since we were only there a few hours and I only took a few photos of Epcot.

Can you see the horse and the lion in the tree? This is the Tree of Life, the centerpiece to Animal Kingdom. (Magic Kingdom has the castle, Epcot has the golf ball and MGM has a Sorcer's Apprentice hat)

This is the 3 of us in front of the Tree of Life. The It's Tough to be a Bug show goes on in the bottom of the tree. That's one of those 3-d shows Disney does... this one about the bug world. (Obviously)

Everest. This is the new "thrill ride" at Disney's Animal Kingdom. It was really fun! We got to go on it 3 times. I <3 roller coasters! It travels backwards and through the dark. The lead character is a Yeti. ;) The whole area is themed like the Himalayas. All in all a very fun area.

On the Maharaja Jungle Trek (a path near Everest), you can see a variety of animals including bats! Bats are awesome. Although these bats were HUGE. The ones we used to see in Fairbanks were probably the size of my thumb. I think the guy said that these could get as big as 6' wingspan.

Gorilla. The boys were kept in their own exhibit and then there was a family group in another one. This is one of the boys. They are not socialized with people and they discourage you from making eye contact or spending too much time looking at one. (Unlike San Diego zoo and even this one, where people seem to have developed weird bonds with the gorillas.)

Baobob Tree. This one is over 700 years old. It is part of the safari tour. (As are many of the next pictures)

These longhorns were in the grass a mere 10 feet tops from us. I thought their coats were BEAUTIFUL. They were these dark mahogany colors. I really dug them.

It is like Where's Waldo. Can you see the parents in this pic?

Baby Giraffes! Yay! Babies are so cute and "little."

A zebra just standin' on the road. The lions were out the other side of the car. The whole area is set up with natural barriers between all the animals so that the carnivores can't get to the other animals.

This was not on the safari. This is out at Rafiki's station. There's a petting zoo out there. That area is also the place where I found out a guy I know died through weird circumstances (he was Christian Scientist and they don't believe in doctors so who knows what actually killed him... he didn't believe in doctors, but apparently butt sex was not a violation of his religion??) and that my friend V was moving to San Diego... on August 1. Anyway, the petting zoo had these sheep and they seemed to have stuff shaved into their wool. I thought this one was awesome. :)

I took this without a flash during the Festival of the Lion King show. I liked how the lights weirdly formed Mickey heads. This is of a woman who is on a rope doing a spinning acrobatic thing.

My sister, me and my niece with the big man himself. This was at Epcot on our last day at the parks. We spent most of the day at Epcot and went to MGM in the late afternoon. We stood in line so that Kayla could get her photo taken with all the VIP characters.

Here's the 3 of us in front of the golf ball. The arm is being removed but it used to be a hand with a wand. While there I went on Mission to Mars, (the ride that has killed at least 3 people, yeah yeah, they had a pre-existing heart condition), but I wussed out and took the easier version. It was still pretty cool and rather reminiscent of Star Tours (for those that have been to Disney) although you're kind of in your own little unit. The other version (which my sister and niece braved) also spins I believe. That was the part I knew I couldn't do. I don't do spinning things.

I had the brilliant idea that instead of taking a bus from Epcot to MGM, we should take the boat out of England. So we did. And then a thunderstorm started and there was lightning and while we stopped at the Yacht & Beach hotel (part of the route) the captains got the word that we couldn't go anywhere while the lightning was going on. (Florida is the lightning strike capital of the US you know). We were stuck for probably close to an hour. I read Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows and Mandy and Kayla napped. Kay and I also played a couple hand games which was fun and made us laugh. A lot of people hopped off the boat, but it was kind of a nice little forced relaxation. It also poured during that time and most of the outdoor rides can't run in the rain/lightning.

On Sunday we went tubing down some spring. I'll have pictures of that later since they are on my waterproof camera. This is St. Augustin beach. The flag was red which means bad undertow and big waves. And they were big. We got splashed a lot! I'm not 100% certain that I love the ocean after that. :) It was very different than Hawai'i, although not that different than Oregon. Warmer though. :)

My niece Kayla and her friend Kayla. They both had a good time playing in the waves. For a long time we were jumping around in the big waves but then when we got tired the girls would just kind of lay in the waves and let the waves push them to shore like dried up driftwood. It was kind of funny.

The next day I got on the plane and headed for home. For the first time, I didn't get my standby flight. That kind of sucked since it meant I was in Philly for an extra 2 hours. Sigh. But somehow although I was assigned to an aisle seat, the person who had the window didn't show up so I didn't have to sit squashed in between two people for the 5 and a half hour flight.