Safari tour
Here's a tip—when you go to Disney's Animal Kingdom, run to the back and do the safari tour first thing in the morning. The animals are more active.
Safari tour
The Lion King was scoping things out.
Okapi
This picture was for my cousin's little girl, Ashlyn. She loves okapis.
Aviary
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Aviary
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Aviary
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Animal Kingdom
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Animal Kingdom
I don't normally use digital zoom on a camera, but I decided to try it here. Obviously the quality of photos shot this way will suffer.
Animal Kingdom
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Just chillin'
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Me too.
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Okay, I'm done chillin' and ready for some be-boppin'
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Plant creature
A "plant creature" was mingling with park guests. Prior to this photo, the actress was posed up against the foliage along the sidewalk. People didn't even realize she was there until she made a subtle movement that had a tendency to startle people—but in a good way!
Very big lizard!
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Oh, bats!
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Oh, bats!
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Oh, bats!
Beautiful creatures—in an ugly sort of way!
Oh, bats!
Amazing to think that their wings are actually stretched across what amounts to be their fingers.
Animal Kingdom
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Animal Kingdom
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Aviary
Actually there were two aviaries at Animal Kingdom.
Aviary
This one had prettier birds.
Aviary
More opportunities for close-ups, though it looks as though I used the digital zoom again this time.
Bald Eagle
At a bird show, this is the closest I've ever been to a bald eagle. They are spectacular birds.
Tarzan show
Our last stop at Animal Kingdom was to see the Tarzan show. It was kinda neat. I don't think my mom liked it all that much—loud music.
Tarzan show
But the singers were really pretty good.
Tarzan show
Thankfully, the Tarzan actor's physical skills were far better than his costume…especially the wig.
Tarzan show
I love acrobatics like this, and these performers did it well.
Tarzan show
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Tarzan show
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Tarzan show
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Tarzan show
Then, the cheesy cartoon characters come out!
Tarzan show
The stage was pretty cool, too. Lots of ramps and tracks that actors on rollerblades used. Sorry, none of my shots of the rollerbladers are decent enough to show.
Jammitors
The next day, we all came back for a day at Epcot. This act has changed a lot since I first saw it. When it first started, it was just two people who very much appeared to be run-of-the-mill custodians, actually tending to some of the trash on the ground. But then, without warning, one of them would start tapping on his garbage can, pick up the beat, and the second would join in. Obviously, these spontaneous performances weren't exactly something you could find on a schedule.
Jellyfish
Inside the Living Seas pavilion, a tank held a bunch of jellyfish. I suppose a blacklight or something was being used to make them glow.
My dad, the conductor
The flash completely washed out what was on the screen. This exhibit allowed guests to manipulate various parts of music by waving your hands within a sensor region.
Spaceship Earth
At the end of the day, trying some flash foreground and slow exposure for background. I never could get the balance quite right, but this was the best of my attempts.
Splash!
A few weeks later, Jeff and I went to MGM Studios (as it was still known at the time). This is the venue where they show off some live movie effects for scenes filmed in a mixed up order, them put them all together to show the final scene. Yes, there actually is a park guest who was selected as an "actor" who is obscured by all that water.
Dive bomb
Meanwhile, dive-bombers are targeting the destroyer with more "actors."
Backlot tour
After the mock movie scene, we took the backlot tram. Much of this trip, including the old neighborhood house facades, are now completely gone, so I'm glad to have had one last photo opportunity. I was back to MGM in October and the whole area had been ripped up to build the new Motor Stunt Show.
Backlot tour
This plane we circled is one of the props seen on a runway in the recent Pearl Harbor movie.
Backlot tour
Many more props—some I recognized.
Backlot tour
Most of them, however, were suffering outrageous deterioration due to sitting out in the weather. This is the tank that was used in an Indiana Jones fight sequence.
Backlot tour
Another deteriorated vehicle prop—this one from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Backlot tour
The ship from Disney's Flight of the Navigator.
Jeff posing at fake New York
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Me posing at fake New York
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Indiana Jones stunt show
The Indiana Jones stunt show is always a fun thing to watch. Look out for that spike!
Indiana Jones stunt show
Collecting the prize.
Indiana Jones stunt show
I put my camera in rapid-fire mode, ending up with nearly 100 images of the various parts of the show. Here are the better stills of the sequences.
Indiana Jones stunt show
First of two favorites of this stunt.
Indiana Jones stunt show
Ta-da!
Indiana Jones stunt show
Too bad the exposure got locked on the sky and made the foreground too dark. There were some other shots in this sequence that would've been pretty nice, but they were too dark.
Indiana Jones stunt show
Oh well, here they are, anyway.
Indiana Jones stunt show
Note the guys down at the bottom of the ladder who are trying to push it back to the wall.
Indiana Jones stunt show
I've seen this show several times, and this part surprises me every time. You see that I didn't even get a shot of it before the guy with the fire extinguisher was already running toward it.
Indiana Jones stunt show
The final scene, however, I was ready for. It culminates in a fire burning across a gas trail that leads to…
Indiana Jones stunt show
…a conveniently parked tanker. BOOM!
Indiana Jones stunt show
Massive heat could be felt, even from the distance the audience sat.
Mission: Space
In August, Jeff and I returned to Epcot, mainly to see the newly opened Mission: Space pavilion. If you ignore the very slight spinning sensation, the feeling is very convincing that you're experiencing the G-forces of a liftoff. Alas, I've had my fill of the effect. It now makes me somewhat nauseated.
Queue inside Mission: Space
A space station mock-up is inside the waiting area, spinning as it would create artificial gravity.
French acrobat
In front of the France pavilion, someone who initially seems to be a wary spectator actually turns out to be the one doing the real performance. Ignore the comic relief dude who starts the show and "picks" the "spectator."
Chinese acrobats
Young acrobatic performers were in front of the China pavilion. Plate spinning is always a great spectacle. The kid in white is the only one who was doing the spinning. The red-clothed kids were acting like comic goofs getting hysterical about plates that needed to be re-spun. (By the way, just a little tidbit—not long after this Epcot trip, I saw the entire "Reflections" music video sung for Mulan by Christina Aguilera. I'd seen snippets, but never the whole thing. Her scenes were filmed at this pavilion.)
Chinese acrobats
The girls' team performed some unbelievable acrobatic moves. Incredible flexibility.
Chinese acrobats
One of many back-breaking poses.
Chinese acrobats
This one just defies explanation.
Even Disney suffers the BSOD!
You can tell I've been to Epcot a lot. I've pretty much photographed all the typical tourist stuff in past years, so I focus more on atypical stuff, or finding angles other than where most of the audience sits. This explains why you see much of the audience in the previous Chinese acrobatic shots. Then, of course, there's finding totally off-the-wall shots, like this computerized phone kiosk sporting the blue screen of death! Hahaha.
