126 WILDLIFE AND MOONBEAMS

So, I decided to go for a change of pace, sort of.  It’s still one of the feature parks, but it’s Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  I can do with the influence of some exotic birds and animals to take pictures of.  It marked another first for me as it’s my first ever Uber ride.  So, after a bit of a learning curve with the app, I finally figured it out and called for an Uber to take me to the park.  There’s no shuttle from the hotel as they are owned by Universal rather than Disney.

From the time I pressed the button it took less than 5 minutes for a nice young lady from Guatemala to arrive.  The ride was already paid for on my credit card and was $22.  Not bad as it turns out Disney is quite a long way from the hotel.  Once arriving it became readily apparent that this was a good choice as parking is a minimum of $25, so right away it’s cheaper.

She dropped me off right at the entrance and right away, I noticed the security procedures are different at Disney than Universal.  At Disney they physically hand search every bag going through at Universal they have X-ray machines.  Anyway, I got through, and now it was time to purchase admission.

I was shocked to see it was $133 US for a day pass into the park and I assume similar at other Disney Parks as well.  An annual pass for Disney is $1049 in 2018 dollars, but the price went up January 1.  For Universal I had purchased a 7-day 4 park pass before leaving home and when I got here, I ended up upgrading to a yearly pass for an additional $4.  That’s it.

The advantage to this is that I get unlimited entry to Universal for a year, even if I don’t come back here.  Because with the 7 day pass you must use the 4 parks up within the 7 days or forfeit the rest.  It was only $254 US.  I ended up buying a 6-day 4 park pass for Disney.  The kicker here is like Universal, I had to use up the 4 parks within 7 days of activation.  It could be the same park 4 times if you wanted.  With Disney, the kicker to it is the same, use it up within 6 days, but the kicker here is that you must use each pass at a different park each time, you can’t go back to a previous one.  The Disney pass cost me just a few dollars under $500 Canadian.  I don’t care as I’m on holiday.

Anyway, I got my pass and having already been searched, I started chatting with 2 Orlando cops.  They are working an overtime shift here, to augment security at the park.  After that, I headed into the park and started my adventure.  My feet and legs are feeling much better after taking a day off.  I’m really excited about getting to photograph two “bucket list” animals.  First off, Gorillas and the second is Tigers.  Off I went in search of them, my own mini safari if you will.

It was a long walk, with numerous birds and other animals to photograph first.  Pretty sure I got some great stuff.  It was cloudy, cool and very windy.  Not a good combination for being able to photograph the, Super Blood Wold Moon later tonight, but fingers crossed.  One never knows with the weather.

Finally, there they were a batch of gorillas, one of them was a real shit disturber too.  One male was relaxing lying with his back to the glass.  The trouble make was up on the hill and actually shit into his hand, sniffed it and turned around and threw it at the guy relaxing.  He then proceeded to through sticks and hay and dirt at him too.  I was expecting a fight, but the big guy just walked away.  I found another pen with a big “Silverback” gorilla in it.  He doesn’t associate with the younger ones.  With those antics, I think I know why.

Further along, there were the tigers.  Anytime I have seen big cats before, they are not very active, but in this case the cooler weather brought out the best in them.  They were very active, chasing each other around, hiding and pouncing.  The attendant said that they are 4 years old and bother and sister.

Those were the highlights, although I did a ton of walking.  I finished up with 8 hours of walking and “only” 18 miles today.  Took another 1000 photos to edit.  Those totals may go up though as I’m planning to head over to Universal and shoot the lunar eclipse over Hogwart’s Castle or at least over Margaritaville.

When I discovered the eclipse wasn’t happening until 11:45 PM EST I knew that was a no-go, as Universal is closed before then.  It became even more impossible when I got outside and discovered that the moon was straight up overhead and not low on the horizon.  I did get some good shots of it but was forced to use Photoshop to composite the moon into where I wanted it.