Since Arkansas mom is waiting for gorillas...
Part Day 2 continued- To Going Against The Grain (aka The one with Gorilla Photos)
I think that sometimes when were at Disney, it is easy to go into a sort of sensory overload- there are so many amazing things around every corner that they all sort of blend together for a while. Standing in front of the gorilla exhibit, I thought back to my trip last year when I was standing in this same place, and heard a pre-teen aged girl whine loudly, What are we going to DO all day? Id been standing there watching the gorillas for a good 20 minutes at the time, and couldnt image not knowing what I was going to do all day at DISNEY WORLD! But I do get it in a way- when youre in a place where you can wake up to giraffes and zebras outside your window, it can start to feel normal after a few days. While at home, I can spend hours looking through the resort photo thread, all misty-eyed over Wilderness Lodge photos, once Im back at the World, it all starts to seem normal- yeah, theres the Polynesian, over theres the MK. You feel like youre there all the time, since it is, after all, home.
So I try to remember this when Im there, to stop for a minute and say Hey! These are freaking Gorillas! Right in front of me! How cool! I think about the report I read a while back about traveling in Uganda to track gorillas- it involved all sorts of special permits, a five hour hike each way, and they were only allowed to observe the gorillas for an hour. And did I mention that they were escorted on their hike by people with machine guns, to protect them from rebels that may be hiding in the jungle? (Check out the Uganda section of thirteenmonths.com for their whole gorilla tracking story- it is an amazing site! They spent thirteen months (duh) traveling on their honeymoon!) When you think about all of that, it makes you realize a little bit more how lucky we are to be able to hike ten minutes down a beautiful path, and have two groups of gorillas *right there*, and we can stay there all day if we want. Halfway across the world, people are paying thousands of dollars and hiking for hours through impenetrable forest, in the rain, for just the chance to see gorillas for a while.
And now I present you with fifty million gorilla photos! No hiking, security, or immunizations needed!
Check out that LOOK! I wonder what hes thinking?
I seriously think that Animal Kingdom hires the models of the gorilla world. They were throwing out perfect poses faster than I could click photos! (There was some major telephoto action going on here, btw- the gorillas were pretty far away, thus the grainyness.)
I have no idea why, but the look on this gorillas face reminds me of Peter from Family Guy.
Remember the eight times I mentioned it was cold this morning? The keepers had put out some blankets for the gorillas to play with, and this one went around collecting them and piling them on top of himself! Smart gorilla!
As I mentioned back in the pre-trip, Ive been learning a lot about photography this year. Im still not *good* by any stretch of the imagination, but Im learning! I thought Id share a little of what I learned with you guys, so heres Crystals Super Basic Photo Tip #1!
Ive figured out that you can get totally different waterfall photos, depending on what your shutter speed is. For example, the shutter speed on this first photo was taken with a fairly fast shutter speed of about 1/80 second.
This second one was taken with a much slower speed of ¼ second. See how the slower time gives the water that milky effect? Both are good, depending on what effect youre going for.
Here endeth the lesson!
There are so many nifty details tucked into Animal Kingdom!
By the time I finished the Pangani trail, I had about 5 minutes left before my Safari FP time, so I found a bench and kicked back to people watch. I could see the FP entrance to the safari, and was amused by watching people try to enter before their time. (I get showing up a few minutes early and waiting around, like I was doing, but some people wait around for ages!) I cracked up when I actually heard the CM tell some people You have two minutes, youll live!
I had good luck with birds posing for photos on this trip!
I decided to try out my telephoto adapter for my camera on the safari today- lets just say I need more practice! Sorry for the quality of the safari pics- hopefully Ill have the hang of it by the next trip!
Wilson Matua wants you to prevent poachers!
(Hey, if you have the music from the Safari downloaded, go put it on while you read- it will be like youre there! If you dont have it, either see the DAK link in the Want to download some Theme Park audio? thread, or sit there and sing it to yourself. Na woo woo woo
)
I had to break out my DAK book again for these guys! Theyre called Nyala!
And elands! (At least these I knew! I think.,,)
Im pretty sure you know what this is!
I really love elephants- I wish they had them in the park somewhere where you could stand and watch them (like you can the gorillas) instead of just driving quickly by them! Theyre such cool, intelligent, emotional creatures. I remember learning on the Backstage Safari the first time I took it that the females like to stand around and gossip, and if one of the males shows up, they shut up! I also saw a show about them on Animal Planet- when one of their herd died, the entire herd gathered around to mourn it, almost like a funeral, before moving on.
This is an awful picture, but you can kind of see the new giraffe baby in there!
Another really shaky pic, but this is the ONLY time Ive ever been able to see a warthog on safari! Hi, Pumbaa!
And here we have to pause again! Stay tuned for a hilarious night at the Magic Kingdom!
When I eventually muster up the courage (and bucks) to go deluxe, WL is definitely first on my list. BTW, the last sentence and picture are really touching. 
You always get the most unique and fantastic shots. BTW, it was you that inspired me to go for a solo trip as you made it seem so much fun to explore on your own schedule. Oh yeah, and because of you, for the first time ever, i have found out how to put a new font on my computer, and a disney one too
what a pain! I lost my phone at a bar once so I feel your pain. Luckily it did turn up. I hope your phone does too!
I wonder if there is anyone you can suck up to to get up on the WL roof without being the flag family? I've never asked to do the flag, since I'm usually solo, and I'd rather let an actual family do it, but man I want up on that roof!!!
He's a cutie, huh? Too bad he's taken!
