Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Disney's Animal Kingdom - part 3




For my final post concerning Disney's Animal Kingdom I'm providing an assortment of photos taken from around the park, mostly of the animal themed architecture and details. Click on any image to see it larger. Check back this weekend for a post that includes much of the yeti related aspects of Disney's Animal Kingdom.



























The thing that surprised me the most about Animal Kingdom was the sheer enormity of the Tree of Life. Pictures absolutely do not do it justice as they simply cannot convey the scale of this centerpiece and symbol of the Animal Kingdom park. It's really impressive, and just stepping a few feet in one direction or another will reveal new details and new animals carved into the surface of the tree as if they were grown that way. I was amazed.

My favorite thing seen at Animal Kingdom was this seen close to sunset:


Crossing from Discovery island into the Oasis area on your way out to the park we came across this scene. The trees were filled with hundreds of ibises roosting for the night. These are not part of the park's captive fauna. these are essentailly wild birds who choose to reside here and can come and go as they please. As anyone who has been to Walt Disney World can tell you the ibises serve as the pigeon of the parks. They are everywhere, particularly around outdoor dining areas where they scavenge for dropped french fries and other morsels.  Even though they have been reduced to something of a nuisance, they are still a pretty exotic and welcome presence for me since living in New England I never see them. seeing so many of them gathered in one place was pretty spectacular.


I was also pretty excited when I spotted a wild armadillo from one of the buses.


   

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