That's it, moved to FL to be closer to Mickey! Update 2/4 Kidnapped at WDW 10/03/09

[irky416]

Could you please warn me if you are going to be posting pictures of birds in the future? Especially big giant ones!?

I like your pictures of the Tree of Life and that sign in front. I didnt' notice it either.

As for "line jumping" all those people, if they were too dumb or oblivious to see another gate open, it's not line-jumping to me, especially when you spoke up about it! I wouldn't have said anything probably. (On second thought, maybe dumb was not a nice thing to say... After a week of testing and students going crazy because the schedule was different I can't think of a nicer way to put it.)

I can't wait to see all these pictures!

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Hi Melissa,

All caught up now! OK, Let's get to those butts!!! Whose butts in particular are you talking about? Are they cute butts? The World needs to know!!!

Sounds like a fun day at AK, lots of photos!!!

Oh, I really liked the story of JS and his mum in the church - you have to admire women like that!

Hope Jacob wakes up a bit, my 2 are just the same if they don't get enough sleep, especially the boy!

Di x

 

[carissanboys]

Do you still have it?

No. Somewhere along the way it broke and we threw it away.

 

[carissanboys]

Jacob liked having his picture taken? Maybe not getting any sleep is a good thing for him! Owen is the only one of my three that will willingly pose for pictures for me.

Can't wait to see all of your pictures!

 

[tinkgurl]

The guard tells me to open all pockets, "Sir, they are all already open." He laughed and said I must have done this before.

Haha, the same thing happens to us! We already have everything open and ready for them to look in and they are surprised! I just think it's easier and faster.

 

[jmskinner]

Could you please warn me if you are going to be posting pictures of birds in the future? Especially big giant ones!?

I like your pictures of the Tree of Life and that sign in front. I didnt' notice it either.

As for "line jumping" all those people, if they were too dumb or oblivious to see another gate open, it's not line-jumping to me, especially when you spoke up about it! I wouldn't have said anything probably. (On second thought, maybe dumb was not a nice thing to say... After a week of testing and students going crazy because the schedule was different I can't think of a nicer way to put it.)

I can't wait to see all these pictures!

Warning you now, this whole MTR will have birds. Not too many and most are not in flight. Which reminds me, have you ever been to the Birds in Flight show?

I think some people think you are stirring them the wrong way. I actually worried that I would get up there and learn the thing wasn't working and then I would be embarrassed, but the green arrow was on and that is when I tried to help the people in front of me.

Hi Melissa,

All caught up now! OK, Let's get to those butts!!! Whose butts in particular are you talking about? Are they cute butts? The World needs to know!!!

Sounds like a fun day at AK, lots of photos!!!

Oh, I really liked the story of JS and his mum in the church - you have to admire women like that!

Hope Jacob wakes up a bit, my 2 are just the same if they don't get enough sleep, especially the boy!

Di x

And I was worried about using the word "butt" in my TR. Afraid I'd get in trouble.

Jacob liked having his picture taken? Maybe not getting any sleep is a good thing for him! Owen is the only one of my three that will willingly pose for pictures for me.

Can't wait to see all of your pictures!

It wasn't until I got home and uploaded all the pics and kept saying, "Wow, great pic of Jacob". I think it helped that we weren't rushed and could just take our time. You only have 7 days!

Haha, the same thing happens to us! We already have everything open and ready for them to look in and they are surprised! I just think it's easier and faster.

It shocks me how many people walk up, put the bag on the table and just stand there, and of course I am always stuck behind that person.

Ok, plan on updating this afternoon. Need to go to the doggie opthamologist and pic up Mozarts medication that I ran out of. It is all the way on the other side of Tampa. At least it is pretty weather and I can get there and back before the traffic starts up.

Hey, if anyone has some rain, send it our way. I know Carissa doesn't want it around for her trip, but they just announced that the city of Tampa is banning all watering except with a hose, no sprinklers at all. All the ponds in our development are drying up also.

 

[jmskinner]

Jacob and I were heading to Africa. Now, during that lovely trip that all pictures were lost, we found some areas we didn't know about. Irky, look the other way (Bird Alert)

We also found the otters last time and they were out having a grand ol time, but not this time, but Jacob liked the fish:

One of the fish was looking at him, but turned just as I got in position to take the pic. The animals were not cooperating with me on this day.

Then we found another path we had never seen and saw these guys (Bird Alert):

The only way I got this pic was to hold the camera above my head. They were well hidden behind the greenery.

And of course I had to get a pic of EE, I apologize the sun was in a bad spot for the pic:

It looks like it is miles away. Disney magic!

Now we are at the Safari, it was a 20 minute wait, but FP was for 10:50, so why not FP and check out one of the trails. Down the trail we went and a whole lot of pics:

I had to have a pic of this frog. When we were here previously I could not get my camera to focus on this frog and take a pic. Remember my photography class, one thing I learned is when it won't focus, turn off the auto focus and use the manual. I know, DUH! This frog is what I thought of when the instructor told us this and it worked.

Some of the photos taken, you will have to locate the animal, this is an easier one:

If I see this guy in my backyard, think I'll move back to Texas or MD!

This little guy kept putting his face back in the log, but I finally got him.

This is the inside of the hut you stand under while looking at the Meercats.

He wasn't doing it in this photo, but you couldn't really tell in any of them, but he was scratching his butt about this time. All the adults, not the kids, the adults kept laughing and saying "He's scratching his butt!"

I got better pics of these guys at the exit of the trail than I did at the entrance. I like that you get to see them from different angles.

I thought the leaves on this tree were just gorgeous.

We still had about 10 minutes until our FP time, so I suggested we go in a store. We have never spent a lot of time in the shops in AK. All other parks we had, but not AK, so that was one of our missions on this day. I think that is also what perked Jacob up. He likes to look.

Earlier in the week I found a bunch of clean pennies and quarters to do pressed penny's and quarters:

Well, I am at my pic limit, so will continue in next post.

 

[irky416]

Thanks for the bird warnings!! Weirdly, though, flamingos are like the only bird I like!

You got some great pictures of the animals! Especially the meerkats!

 

[jmskinner]

Thanks for the bird warnings!! Weirdly, though, flamingos are like the only bird I like!

You got some great pictures of the animals! Especially the meerkats!

Thanks. I love the Meerkats because they make me think of my dog Constanze. Same facial expressions. I can't watch Meerkat Manor because of the deaths, just can't handle that. I know it is just the natural order of things. Oh, and I didn't spell Meerkat correctly in my TR. When I saw your spelling, I went, DUH! I'm having a lot of DUH! moments lately.

So, you like Flamingos. I believe I have at least one more pic of them, but sorry to say, more bird pics are on their way. Is that being mean?

 

[irky416]

Thanks. I love the Meerkats because they make me think of my dog Constanze. Same facial expressions. I can't watch Meerkat Manor because of the deaths, just can't handle that. I know it is just the natural order of things. Oh, and I didn't spell Meerkat correctly in my TR. When I saw your spelling, I went, DUH! I'm having a lot of DUH! moments lately.

So, you like Flamingos. I believe I have at least one more pic of them, but sorry to say, more bird pics are on their way. Is that being mean?

Haha. It's your TR!! As long as I know they're coming, I'll be fine.

 

[jmskinner]

Ok, I just realized I had said my TR posts would be in a different color and didn't do the last two that way, another DUH! moment for me, so here goes. Ok, much better.

So we left off with Jacob pressing pennies. From there we went in the store.

This pic came out blurry, but had to post it. I saw these and there was one with a painted pic of each of the parks. I thought it would look great in our living room. I pick it up, look at the price, $125!!! Slowly I set it down and tried to take a close up of it, but it didn't work. About that time this little boy walks up and starts picking up these eggs. I decide it is best to walk away before he drops one and someone thinks he belongs to me.

Jacob was taking a look at rocks. They were studying rocks this week at school, but he has always loved rocks. He wanted to buy one and I told him I would think about it, but I bet there are more, so why don't we wait until the end of the day. He agreed and we proceeded through the store.

I had my lens on that is more for distance and doesn't take wide shots, so this was a hard pic to take, but I think it came out ok.

Love these, but really can't think of anyplace in my house for them.

I think Jacob found a distant relative.

This is not the rock he wanted.

I saw these and thought they were cute. Jacob thought I was really weird taking a pic of pillows.

Now our FP time had arrived, but stopped for one more pic (Hey Irky, if you like Flamingo's do you like these also?)

So, we get in line for the Safari. As we are almost to the ride vehicle, this man taps me on the shoulder and says, "Excuse me, but you have a very large insect with a nasty bite on your butt!" I start laughing and try to get it off, his very sweet wife offers to swat it off and is able to get it. I thanked them and then said, "Disney Memories". Thinking of the cell commercial where the lady has the b-day party and they send the scary dinosaur instead of the nice kid friendly one.

Then we end up riding with this couple. I hope I didn't annoy them with all of my picture taking.

Never get a good shot of Hippos.

Oops, forgot to warn Irky. For some reason I have always loved Pelicans. They just crack me up.

Do these guys ever move? I have never seen any movement.

This guy was sitting on a sign right by the vehicles. Guess he knew we weren't hunters.

I didn't lie about the butts!

Do you see the animal?

These are the babies. I remember in June they were babies, now they are more like teenagers.

I'm sure I am close to the limit, so next post coming up!

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Hi Melissa,

Enjoying all the updates and photos! Have to say I'm a bit disappointed in the butts - I was hoping it would be a cute CM or maybe Tarzan...

Jacob looks like he was having fun - hope he managed to get his rock, in our family I say things like that then we never see the item in question in any of the other shops.

I saw on the Daily Show this week Florida appears to be having a bit of a snake infestation at the moment! You haven't had to wrestle an 18 foot Burmese python lately have you?

Di x

 

[jmskinner]

I love this pic and wish it had come out better. The baby elephant was reaching for something, or just stretching.

This guy was a big one, really tall.

More... I don't think I need to say it.

This pic I was just trying to show how close the rhinos were to the vehicles, but once I downloaded it, I thought he looked more like a large hog.

I love these poor guys. They are so ugly they are cute. Do any of you remember the movie, "Animal Are Beautiful People"? I remember the scene where the warthog trys to back into his home and the female keeps poking him in the rear.

In the little area outside the exit to the safari.

Jacob spotted the little campsite on top of the ridge. We had never seen it before. More Disney magic.

Now, it was Noon and I was getting hungry. Of course Jacob wasn't, so I decided to grab myself a quick burger.

Ok, it wasn't quick. We ordered and then stepped around to the next window to pick up our meals. I was number 69 and was the CM makes this one tray and calls out "64". No one picks it up. The family in front of me asks if she can go ahead and make theirs, but the CM said she has to do them in order, and that makes sense. So the tray of food sits. She sets up the next one, "65". Again, no one picks up the food. I don't know if they thought someone would bring it to them or what. It was already paid for, so this was really weird. So, at this point the CM asks the family in front of me what their number is, "67", so she pulls their ticket and gets to work. The line is really getting backed up at this point, so she tells the cashiers that they should stop ringing up people and help her. There is also this kid filling drink orders. There must have been 20 drinks sitting on the counter. He couldn't even figure out where to put them, but he kept making them. Finally one of the cashiers comes to help out and calls out the numbers for those two trays again. We all tell here we don't know where the owners are and she just throws all the food away. Finally we get our food and go sit in the little area behind the restaurant. I had never been back here and thought it was beautiful.

Since Jacob wasn't hungry he played his DS. As usual I asked about 50 times if he wanted something because I can always feel eyes on me of people thinking I just don't feed the child.

I thought I had more pics of this area, but guess I didn't download them. Ok, think I will stop now. Need to clean house and other things. More butts, birds to come. And I meet my first Diser!

 

[jmskinner]

Hi Melissa,

Enjoying all the updates and photos! Have to say I'm a bit disappointed in the butts - I was hoping it would be a cute CM or maybe Tarzan...

Jacob looks like he was having fun - hope he managed to get his rock, in our family I say things like that then we never see the item in question in any of the other shops.

I saw on the Daily Show this week Florida appears to be having a bit of a snake infestation at the moment! You haven't had to wrestle an 18 foot Burmese python lately have you?

Di x

Sorry that I have disappointed you, never saw any cute CM's and no Tarzan either. Just noticed I had a lot of pics though.

There will be more on the rock, but we usually have the same problem. Oh, we will find it in another store later and then never see it again. That is now part of my problem, I see stuff and buy it because I am afraid I won't find it again. WDW is good at rotating merchandise to get money from those of us who go often.

No, haven't seen any snakes around here and I hope I don't. My poor dog is now blind and deaf and can't find the back door when I let him out. So I have to wander around the back yard and catch him. Not fun in the dark when you wonder what is out there.

 

[Finkelstein's Hubby]

Great pics Melissa. The gorillas are fascinating to watch. You ever seen them run? Its terrifying!

Looking at your pics I am seriously bummed I wont be at Disney this year

 

[jmskinner]

Great pics Melissa. The gorillas are fascinating to watch. You ever seen them run? Its terrifying!

Looking at your pics I am seriously bummed I wont be at Disney this year

I did see one running another off on this day, but the pics didn't come out that well. Funny, this was only the second time we had been on this trail. JS hasn't even been on it. Got to get that man out of the house more often.

I'm sorry you are getting bummed. I've been there, never imagined I would get to live so close, but before I know it we will be moving again. Very little chance it will be some where close.

 

[carissanboys]

Great photos Melissa! I can tell your photography class is paying off.

That was one fat frog!

Were those emu eggs in the shop? We wanted to buy one when we lived in Australia, but they are expensive.

I love the meerkat pictures. I have a picture for you. Last year we went to zoo in D.C. and I got this picture:

It looks like the meerkat is leaning back and resting on a pole or something, but that's actually just the corner of the glass meeting. He was cracking me up because he was just leaning back like that and as he got more and more relaxed - the further back he'd go.

 

[jmskinner]

Great photos Melissa! I can tell your photography class is paying off.

That was one fat frog!

Were those emu eggs in the shop? We wanted to buy one when we lived in Australia, but they are expensive.

I love the meerkat pictures. I have a picture for you. Last year we went to zoo in D.C. and I got this picture:

It looks like the meerkat is leaning back and resting on a pole or something, but that's actually just the corner of the glass meeting. He was cracking me up because he was just leaning back like that and as he got more and more relaxed - the further back he'd go.

Life is good when you're a Meerkat. Great pic, thanks. I have some pics of the Meerkats at DC. I need to start scanning pics more.

I'm not sure what type of eggs those were. I really would like to have one painted with something Disney related even though they were all gorgeous.

Hope everyone survived the Dis update ok. I know I was experiencing withdrawals.

 

[ScotsMinnie]

Great pics Melissa - very clear! I forgot you did a course.

Animal Kingdom is such a good park - so much to see. I love it!

Love the ones of Jacob and the fish.

 

[scottny]

great update and pics.

Love the Meerkat pics. I miss Flower on Meerkat Manor.

Looking forward to more.