A Day In The Jungle

February was another month of not much happening other than dr. appointments, a campground-wide yard sale where we made $37, and continuing to sell some of our stuff on eBay (which at times almost seems like a fulltime job!)  And I finally tried out my new sewing machine Russ got me for Christmas (the mending was backing up!)

We also went to Animal Kingdom one day mainly to try out our new camera. Russ had found a great deal on eBay for a brand new in the box camera that came with two lenses, a tripod, a camera bag, and other goodies.

We figured Animal Kingdom would be a great place to try out many of its features, and the day we went couldn’t have been more perfect with its overcast skies. We got there early and immediately headed for the Kilimanjaro Safari in Africa, getting a FastPass before boarding to ride again without
having to wait in the long lines. In our open-air safari vehicle and the dreary day, we saw more giraffes at one time than we ever remember seeing before, and it seemed like there were many more animals out in abundance. You can see by the photo above left how close the animals can get to the trucks.  Sometimes they even cross the road right in front of you, but other areas have hidden barriers

that keep for example the lions from getting too close.  We also had the best view of the cheetahs we’ve ever had.  On our second time through I switched lenses and put on the 55-300mm one to try shots at greater distances, and got some great ones including this beautiful lioness and the cheetahs.

After the safari, we went next door to walk through the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. Lots more animals to see like this cute little meerkat who was on sentry duty, and the baby gorilla who was entertaining the crowd on the other side of the glass.  She was having the best time climbing, rolling around, and playing with the hay.  Thanks to the continuous shot feature on the camera, I was able to get some great ones (only posting 2 here).

   As we made our way over towards Asia, we came upon a crowd who had been watching DiVine “entertain”.  DiVine is a performance artist who appears throughout the day as a living vine, covered head to toe in leaves, vines, and even clusters of grapes.  You could walk right past and not even know she was there, that’s how well she blends into the surrounding landscape.  Performing on stilts, and without words, she becomes part of the jungle forest as she gracefully twists,
bends, and then begins to walk.  She has startled many a visitor!  As we approached, she was just finishing, and I was able to get a close-up of her beautiful face as she passed.

   In Asia we wandered through the Maharajah Jungle Trek which is supposed to resemble the ruins of an ancient palace inhabited by exotic animals like this Komodo dragon and the mighty Bengal tiger.  There are actually several tigers in separate areas…
   napping, pacing, or just wetting their whistle.  Incredibly beautiful, majestic creatures!  Plus there are several other critters on this self-guided tour, mainly birds and some cool bats but I couldn't get a good pic of them...too many people in the way.

There are also more than 50 different species of exotic birds flying and just milling around amongst the foliage and the people in one area of the Jungle like these two variations of pheasant. The vibrant colors on
     many are incredible and so vibrant and like nothing you've probably ever seen.

The camera performed superbly, and it’s just going to take time for
       me to get comfortable and confident enough with it to take the shots without having to think about it so much.  Want to be ready for Yellowstone this summer!

Gators Chomp Tigers

Not much happened during January mainly because we’d both been under the weather with one bug or another.  However, we were well enough to attend a Missouri basketball game in Gainesville, FL, about mid-month at the University of Florida.  Located about 2 hours north, we’d have to leave early since we were unfamiliar with the area and would need to find a place to park.  Game time was set for 1pm so it was going to be a long day, and thankfully our friend, Amanda agreed to come by to check on Abby.

As luck would have it, the parking lot on campus directly adjacent to the Stephen C. O’Connell Center where the game would be held had plenty of spots available when we arrived.  Our first mission was to find a restroom, and the closest was across the street in the Ben Hill Griffin (Football) Stadium, affectionately called “The Swamp”

since the early 1990s by those in Gator Nation.  We were surprised at how small the interior of the stadium appeared even though it can hold about 90,000.  The steps seem to go straight up, and there’s just no extra space around the field like many other stadiums we’ve seen.

 

Outside the stadium is a huge bronze alligator with the inscription “In honor of the 2006 Football National Championship and members of the Bull Gator program” along with the names of those members. 
A little further down on the west side of the stadium are some plaques immortalizing former students who were enshrined in the Football Hall of Fame and 3 large bronze statues of former students and Heisman Trophy winners Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel, and Tim Tebow.
 

   Since we still had time to kill, we walked back across the street to the O’Connell Center, continuing around the building to check out the surrounding campus. Once inside we stopped by the pre-game rally designed to get everyone pumped up with games, music,

  balloon animals, autographs from the ladies' softball team, and you could even get your picture taken with the Florida Gators mascots, Albert and Alberta.  These young Mizzou fans had no issue with that!

 

   Inside the arena both teams were busy warming up, and we hung out for awhile behind the railing of the lower level to watch. It was still an hour before game time, and the student section (known as the
            “Rowdy Reptiles”) was already nearly full and would periodically break into working on their cheers…or should I say jeers at the Tigers?!

 

   Our seats were a few rows from the top of the arena so getting any decent photos during the game proved difficult.  The best I could do was when both teams lined up for the national anthem because the one I took at tipoff blurred!  The ladies next to us were very nice and obviously alumni.  They were really into the game and
knew all the cheers including the Gator Chomp.  Quite a number of Tigers fans were in attendance (probably a couple hundred), but it wasn’t enough to propel our team to victory.  Going in we figured it would take a miracle for our team to win, and the Gators dominated from beginning to end with a final score of 83-52.  Despite the loss, we had a good time, and always enjoy visiting other college campuses and soaking up the atmosphere.

Telling Stories

As most of you know, one of our favorite things about Disney World at Christmas is the Candlelight Processional.  A 50-piece orchestra led by a distinguished conductor, a mass choir of approximately 200 cast members and high school groups from around the country, members of the nationally

Conductor Dr. John Sinclair

   acclaimed Voices of Liberty, a guest celebrity narrator reading the story of the nativity, a sign language interpreter to translate all that is said and sung…what’s not to love!  The narrators change every few nights, and though they all read the same script and most are very good, some are better than others. This year we saw 5 celebrity narrators we had had missed in previous years.

First up was Andy Garcia (The Godfather Part III, The Untouchables, Ocean’s Eleven trilogy), a fine actor who I assumed would do a splendid job.  Unfortunately we were greatly disappointed.  It wasn’t because he kept breaking into Spanish translation (though that does kind of break the flow), but more that he practically treated it like a comedy routine.  He kept talking about breaking into a dance, made little side comments to the choir behind him, and right before Silent Night he broke into a bad German accent talking about Franz.  We didn’t know if he was adlibbing or if something new had actually been added to the narration, but it didn’t make much sense.

A few nights later the narrator was actress/singer Jodi Benson, best known as the voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid and Barbie in Toy Story 2 & 3.  What a contrast from Andy Garcia!  She read it with such reverence and passion, and as it turns out, there was a new section added to the narration.  When she read the portion before Silent Night, it finally made sense.  It tells how the song came to be written in the early 1800s in Austria. Jodi Benson truly did an outstanding job and is probably now one of our favorites.



Alfre Woodard

Throughout the rest of the month we saw actor Alfre Woodard (St. Elsewhere, Radio, Desperate Housewives), actor Gary Sinise (Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, CSI: NY), and singer-songwriter Amy Grant (Emmanuel, Baby Baby, I Will Remember You).  All were wonderful.  We actually saw Gary Sinise on Christmas Eve, a night we traditionally go to see the Processional when we’re in town.  No matter how many times we see it, we marvel at the beauty and majesty of the sound, the story, and the performers.


Gary Sinise

Amy Grant




Something else that has become a tradition for me is to take a day to myself and go over to Epcot for Holidays Around the World.  Each country brings their unique holiday traditions to life through decorations and Holiday Storytellers.  Though the telling of each tradition is only about 5 minutes long, there’s no real flow to the timing so that you can 

easily go from one country to the next without skipping around and missing some.  Though the first one didn’t start till almost 11:30am, I arrived early figuring I’d have to hassle with traffic and crowds.  Since I was early, I managed to catch the JAMMitors, a humorous trio of “park custodians” who perform live percussion using trashcans, lids, mop buckets, just about anything!  They’re pretty talented!

I made my way over to France for Pere Noel…even got my picture taken with him afterwards. I was trying to see some I hadn’t seen in a couple of years, so over the next few hours I visited Italy for La Befana, Germany for Helga and the Nutcracker, and my favorite, Julenissen and Sigrid in Norway

(below right) though they didn’t come on till 2:45pm and were the last that I planned to see that day.  In between my “scheduled stops”, I was able to enjoy the music of Mexico, the drums of Japan, and watch Reinhard create his hand blown glass ornaments in Germany.

In between I also visited America because though I had seen Kwanzaa and Santa Claus before, I had never seen the Hanukkah storyteller.  I know the story but the Disney cast members always do such a wonderful job, and Danielle was no exception.  Her presentation was held inside the American Adventure building, and

immediately following I found myself a seat there in the rotunda to await the Voices of Liberty, an 8 member a cappella group.  Dressed in period costume, they generally perform patriotic songs, but of course during the Christmas season they sing carols.  I just love listening to them!

As I was exiting the building, the colonial-era Spirit of America Fife & Drum Corps came marching along playing “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, stopping in front to perform their patriotic set.  I decided to stay and listen instead of heading to another country, and I’m so glad I did.  I had forgotten how good they are. 

Besides playing Grand Old Flag and God Bless America, they asked all the children come out front and lead everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance, and then we were all invited to sing the national anthem.  It only lasts 10 minutes but is such a feel good experience.

And speaking of feeling good, that’s exactly what Joyful! A Gospel Celebration of the Season does for you!  This muscial act consists of the group D’Vine Voices and their band who “blend gospel and inspirational songs with the sounds of R&B, jazz, and urban-inspired music”.  From the moment they hit

the stage, their high energy and enthusiastic performance had me moving and clapping along.  You could get worn out just watching them! This was my first time seeing an entire set of this extremely talented group. I was definitely impressed and planned to catch them again another day.

Expanding the Magic

This winter we’re staying at Lake Magic RV Resort in Clermont, FL, a place we’ve stayed at in the past partly because of its relatively close proximity to Disney World.  Our site is located towards the back and relatively quiet away from the front entrance but not a far walk from the clubhouse.  We even have wildlife here...sandhill cranes, garter snakes, and lizards galore, like these two that got into a little sparring match on the picnic table!   Now that the refrigerator issue was resolved, we could finally put up our Christmas decorations.  No, Abby, isn’t part of the décor, she’s just curious as to what I’m doing. J

A few days after we arrived, we headed over to Magic Kingdom late one afternoon to pick up our annual passes.  Of course the place was all decked out in its Christmas best, toy soldiers and candy canes greeting us as we entered.

 

     Walt Disney World is always evolving to make it the best experience for everyone who enters its gates.  The newest change is Fantasyland, the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom history that doubles the size of the

   original Fantasyland.  It’s divided into different themed areas, the first of which we entered being Storybook Circus complete with colorful circus tents and Disney characters including an expanded Dumbo ride.   In the Big Top Souvenirs shop cast members were
     busy decorating caramel apples like Mickey Mouse to be added to the yummy display case.  We enjoyed walking around, checking out the sites but didn’t board any of the rides.
 

 

   From there we walked towards the Enchanted Forest which is inspired by The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.  There’s a ride called Under the Sea-Journey of the Little Mermaid, which tells Ariel's story through song while you ride in a giant clamshell.  Of course, it’s mainly geared towards
  little kids and is already a very popular ride requiring us to get a Fastpass, but we enjoyed the relaxed journey under the sea.  Situated on top of a mountain (aka Magic Kingdom’s newest restaurant, Be Our Guest) sits the Beast’s Castle, a true study in the art of forced perspective. There are a couple other places in this area that we decided to check out at another time.

 

The Fantasyland expansion will continue over the next couple of years with the addition of the Princess Fairytale Hall opening in 2013 and the Seven Dwarfs Mine opening in 2014.

We ventured over for a ride on It’s A Small World and marveled at the beauty of Cinderella’s Castle as we made our way to the park’s exit.  We managed to catch the monorail to Epcot in time to watch the fireworks, Illuminations: Reflections of Earth before heading home.  Just another

magical day in the happiest place on earth.