Trip Report Index is here
Day 03 - 29-Jul - Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom. Uncle John loves Animal Kingdom, it's his favourite park. Me? I'm just not so sure. I konw that standards are a thousand times better than most zoos, but there are still animals in captivity, and I'm a bit torn about that.
Anyway, I have to admit that we hardly saw any animals today... it was one of "those" days.
It all started well enough; the kids were still a little nippy at each other but a long lie in the morning helped loads. We had breakfast in the hotel. The little plastic tubs they sell cereal in are great... what a pity that the cereals they sell all seem to be sweetened so enthusiastically. By the end of the holiday, I do think I might have killed for a nice bowl of Jordan's muesli!
That done, we went back to the room, freshened up and went to the bus stop for the Animal Kingdom bus.
I tried to get Marie to be a tiger, roaring and growling at me for the photo. Somehow, I think she maybe felt a little bit inhibited!
You wouldn't tell it from this picture, but we were in fact seeing some improvement in the kids today. The long lie definitely helped and while they both had their moments for the rest of the holiday, the worst was past and we were much more able to relax and enjoy the holiday...
...well, except for the moment when we went in, and Jenni lashed out at her brother. I don't know why, but it seemed a good moment for a quiet father/daughter discussion. We got to see some pretty animals
and any suggestion that I threatened to feed her to this fellow if there was more misbehaviour would be entirely incorrect!
Soon, Jenni and I completely understood one another
and were able to rejoin our party. We peered through the darkness, and found the others... Wait a bit... darkness? In the morning? That must mean... wow, look at that cloud cover!
Any doubt in our mind was assuaged by the lads standing outside It's A Bug's Life who were encouraging us to go in by shouting "Come in, it's an indoor show and it's dry inside!"
So in we went. There is a really long passageway to get to the cinema where It's A Bug's Life is shown. I felt a bit like Theseus going to face the minotaur. Indeed, I have a theory that the show is in fact not in Animal Kingdon at all, but an abandoned part of Epcot... But I digress.
We reached the cinema and after a short wait
we got to go into the anteroom, where we all posed elegantly in our 3D glasses
The rain was already belting down outside, so we were glad to be under cover. The show was excellent - it's one that we remember vividly from last time - and we still let out the obligatory squeals at the end!
All too soon the show was finished, and we were sent outside. Now, since this was the park I wasn't convinced about we were probably less organised for this one than any of the other parks we visited (I did most of the organisation). We weren't sure what to do next so when we passed Finding Nemo and there was no queue, it seemed natural to go in.
We had quite a long wait before the show started, but once it did start it was an excellent show.The production values were extraordinary - I've never been to Broadway but I have been at the West End, and this matched that for sure. And I am as sure as I can be that the singing was live... if not the miming was extraordinarily good.
Lighting, direction, acting, choreography... all excellent. Not entirely sure that I found much in the music to like, but you can't be too choosy.
Now, a slight aside here. A major hobby of mine is photographing stage musicals. You can see my work at http://www.stagepics.co.uk. I only mention this to make it clear that when I do so, I do it much better than in the Nemo pictures below. I had the wrong lens, and the post-processing is pretty lousy. But the pics give an idea of the feel of the thing
Day 03 - 29-Jul - Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom. Uncle John loves Animal Kingdom, it's his favourite park. Me? I'm just not so sure. I konw that standards are a thousand times better than most zoos, but there are still animals in captivity, and I'm a bit torn about that.
Anyway, I have to admit that we hardly saw any animals today... it was one of "those" days.
It all started well enough; the kids were still a little nippy at each other but a long lie in the morning helped loads. We had breakfast in the hotel. The little plastic tubs they sell cereal in are great... what a pity that the cereals they sell all seem to be sweetened so enthusiastically. By the end of the holiday, I do think I might have killed for a nice bowl of Jordan's muesli!
That done, we went back to the room, freshened up and went to the bus stop for the Animal Kingdom bus.
I tried to get Marie to be a tiger, roaring and growling at me for the photo. Somehow, I think she maybe felt a little bit inhibited!
You wouldn't tell it from this picture, but we were in fact seeing some improvement in the kids today. The long lie definitely helped and while they both had their moments for the rest of the holiday, the worst was past and we were much more able to relax and enjoy the holiday...
...well, except for the moment when we went in, and Jenni lashed out at her brother. I don't know why, but it seemed a good moment for a quiet father/daughter discussion. We got to see some pretty animals
and any suggestion that I threatened to feed her to this fellow if there was more misbehaviour would be entirely incorrect!
Soon, Jenni and I completely understood one another
and were able to rejoin our party. We peered through the darkness, and found the others... Wait a bit... darkness? In the morning? That must mean... wow, look at that cloud cover!
Any doubt in our mind was assuaged by the lads standing outside It's A Bug's Life who were encouraging us to go in by shouting "Come in, it's an indoor show and it's dry inside!"
So in we went. There is a really long passageway to get to the cinema where It's A Bug's Life is shown. I felt a bit like Theseus going to face the minotaur. Indeed, I have a theory that the show is in fact not in Animal Kingdon at all, but an abandoned part of Epcot... But I digress.
We reached the cinema and after a short wait
we got to go into the anteroom, where we all posed elegantly in our 3D glasses
The rain was already belting down outside, so we were glad to be under cover. The show was excellent - it's one that we remember vividly from last time - and we still let out the obligatory squeals at the end!
All too soon the show was finished, and we were sent outside. Now, since this was the park I wasn't convinced about we were probably less organised for this one than any of the other parks we visited (I did most of the organisation). We weren't sure what to do next so when we passed Finding Nemo and there was no queue, it seemed natural to go in.
We had quite a long wait before the show started, but once it did start it was an excellent show.The production values were extraordinary - I've never been to Broadway but I have been at the West End, and this matched that for sure. And I am as sure as I can be that the singing was live... if not the miming was extraordinarily good.
Lighting, direction, acting, choreography... all excellent. Not entirely sure that I found much in the music to like, but you can't be too choosy.
Now, a slight aside here. A major hobby of mine is photographing stage musicals. You can see my work at http://www.stagepics.co.uk. I only mention this to make it clear that when I do so, I do it much better than in the Nemo pictures below. I had the wrong lens, and the post-processing is pretty lousy. But the pics give an idea of the feel of the thing
your photo's are amazing. 
you have a great family
I would recommend shooting RAW and re-processing them later; it means you don't have to get it exactly right first time!
