Not a lot to talk about today. If you have something more pressing to do, like mowing the lawn, this can probably wait. And sorry for reminding you that you need to mow the lawn.
Animal Kingdom is going to be a little more crowded than it was on Tuesday, when it was the most recommended Park. It’s still recommended Friday, so things shouldn’t be too bad. Tuesdays are generally the best day of the week to visit Animal Kingdom because it has morning Extra Magic Hours on both sides of it and it’s early enough in the week that most people are intent on visiting Magic Kingdom and Epcot.
Looks like they have room for us.
I really can’t overemphasize how pleasant September is compared to summer crowds. I would tell you that July is miserable, but that would be bad for business. It’s 1:56pm so it isn’t like we’re sneaking in at 4:59pm or something.
JOSH HOW CAN YOU RECOMMEND ANIMAL KINGDOM! THE WAIT AT EVEREST IS 100.00% LONGER THAN IT WAS ON TUESDAY! YOUR CROWD CALENDAR IS BAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD!
DinoLand is themed better than Old Fantasyland. There, I said it.
The other thing I can’t overemphasize is how much of a scam photography is. Directly above is how the scene looks “correctly exposed” on a $3,500 camera. Above that is how I would normally edit it.
And the same image over-edited.
I make fun of my roommate because she has a gigantic head. Like when we are sitting in the living room, her head consumes most of what would normally be deemed “public space.” I imagine if I took her to this caricature station in DinoLand, that they would just say, “There’s nothing we can do here.” Or it would be more of a portrait.
TriceraTop Spin is sad. It’s spinning with empty dinosaurs.
Not as concerned with how Primeval Whirl feels. There are maybe 15 people in line on each side.
We’ll pop over to Dino Diner to see how the $8.50 “Frozen Bacardi Raspberry Rum Lemonade” tastes.
Like most of Disney’s “frozen” beverages, it consists of less than an ounce of “Bacardi Black Razz” rum underneath the usual frozen lemonade. You’d be much better off putting some rum in a water bottle and ordering the $4 non-alcoholic version. It’s quite refreshing in the hot weather, but don’t expect much booziness.
We’ll pop onto Expedition Everest. I saw an amusing thread over at WDWMAGIC concerning the plants that are supposed to cover one of the buildings at the beginning of Everest.
And I’m happy to report that it’s again covered up pretty well. This is not the sort of thing that most guests would notice, even uncovered. When news of the damaged Dumbos “dropped,” I was even more amused how I nor anyone else had noticed. I can’t count how many times I stared at the Dumbos and didn’t notice, not to mention all of the photos of them I edited. And the damage was even apparent on Disney’s “media” photos that they stuck online, meaning no one there noticed either. You would have seen the scene above for about four seconds at the beginning of the ride, when everyone is staring ahead at what’s about to come. Also, you can see the above image lifted off my Twitter account on said WDWMAGIC thread in page eight. If you ever want to use one of my pictures for anything, you’re more than welcome. Just send me an email and ask. I happened across a “trip report” on DISboards.com of someone that had stolen about a dozen of the pictures and uploaded them onto their Photobucket account. Being annoyed, I called them out on it and they proceeded to lie about simply finding them on a “Google Image search.” I can assure you that there’s virtually no string of words that would cause my Port Orleans Riverside pictures to come up on the first page of an image search. And from there, it’s impossible that someone would simply choose to pick only my photos from said search, disregarding all of the others that would naturally show up. And then I’m a huge jerk for calling them out on it. If I could just Google image search everything and use those photos, I can guarantee you I wouldn’t be sitting in 95 degree weather in Florida right now. I’d be blogging from the beach in Washington state sourcing all of my images from DisneyTouristBlog.com. Anyway, by all means ask. You’ll put a smile on my face because you like them.
No longer an exclusive look!
There was nobody in the single rider line. That’s a few people with FASTPASSes standing there. I walked right on three times in a row.
Since I know you’re concerned about what is and isn’t working on the ride, the smoke that’s supposed to come up at the end of the train wasn’t working.
Both waterfalls were operational.
Tom Bricker and I got into a huge fight about how “photographable” the Disney World theme parks are. Which is to say, I tweeted one thing and he responded one time and that was that. In terms of “photographability,” Tom puts Animal Kingdom #4 out of 4. I love Animal Kingdom. It has two of my favorite rides – Everest and Kilimanjaro Safaris. I don’t think there’s a single attraction at Epcot that screams “photograph me,” like Everest and Safaris do. Maybe Test Track when it’s open. Larger version: http://www.easywdw.com/reports5/mountaineverest.jpg. I think it’s my favorite shot I’ve taken of all time. Of all time.
I managed to ride three times in 19 minutes without much rush.
All of these shots are taken with Canon’s 40mm “pancake” lens, which I seem to think is cuter than anyone else does, so I’ll stop talking about it.
At F18, more is in focus.
Looks like “next-gen” isn’t testing at Kali River Rapids.
Disney has installed storage lockers near the exit. I can imagine a lot of things are ruined because people aren’t expecting the ride to be quite that wet.
But I can assure you that it is. And yes, I’m all up in the bushes right now.
With nobody around, we’ll walk the Maharajah Jungle Trek together.
Maps of what you may or may not see are available at the front. Disney would like you to return them at the end. Larger: http://www.easywdw.com/reports5/bigmap.jpg.
The other side. Larger: http://www.easywdw.com/reports5/theothersideofthemap.jpg.
Admittedly, this is not going to be particularly exciting.
But they do have an iguana or something!
Normally there would be a lot more people around.
Apprehended.
Yay ducks.
You’ll come across the bathouse, which you can choose to bypass if you so choose.
Since I can’t zoom in, I won’t. They are much larger than you might imagine. A few more inside:
And continuing on, I joked with the cast member manning this scene that I would just Photoshop the tigers.
So I did, lifting a copyrighted image taken from Google image search. Hey, I’m American! Of course I’m hypocritical.
You’ll see the area pictured above up these steps immediately after leaving the bathouse.
LAZY!
A few more:
It’s very pretty, but we certainly didn’t see much. A komodo dragon, some ducks, a few bats, two sleeping tigers, and some birds.
Said lockers. I’m not sure how much money they cost, but there was a place to swipe a card so they must cost something. I’m not sure if some amount of time is “free,” but it’s Disney so I’m doubting it.
The drink kiosk across from Yak & Yeti that had been selling Chinese wine and mixed drinks is gone. The cart across from Expedition Everest remains.
We’ll try out two of the items from the new “Vegetarian Offering” kiosk that sits near the entrance to Flights of Wonder.
Menu:
This stand used to sell a “Summer Roll” for $1.99.
This is what they looked like. At the time, I said, “This thing is only $1.99 and soooo good. The best $2 I’ve spent at Disney World in a long time.” This is a very dangerous sentiment, because it virtually guarantees that the price is going to be increased exponentially. I should probably keep my positive comments to myself.
This is the new version on the right. It’s served with a Peanut Sauce that wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. I was thinking it was going to be more of a Thai peanut sauce. Instead, it’s a sweet, extremely gooey concoction that did taste a bit like peanuts, but it seemed to be soy-sauce based.
On the plus side, they’re still very good. You now get two and they’re a bit longer and much thinner than before, making them easier to handle and lowering the chances that they’ll break.
On the other hand, I don’t think they present much value at $5.49. Considering everything at Disney World is “overpriced,” we do have to take that into consideration. But it’s not a lot of food for nearly six bucks. They are a nice, light option though if you want to look at it from that angle. If they were available in bulk from Costco for $1 each, I’d have these in my fridge 24/7. So I guess I’m saying that they’re still very good, but the high price lowers the value, especially considering six months ago you could get just as much food with a better sauce for two dollars.
This is the Asian Noodle Salad, which runs $6.49.
The presentation on this one is kind of sad. I don’t like being served food in a container that I can see the bottom of. Is that weird? But it would look like a lot more if they used a container half the size. This was also peanut-flavor-based and reminded me of a recipe my mom makes. I thought it was very good, if not a bit awkward to eat with the long spaghetti noodles and various vegetables. I was making a mess. This isn’t a lot of food either, though heartier than the Spring Rolls. I spent $12.76 on the two items and came away hungry, which isn’t a good thing in my book. I’d be more positive about both items if the Spring Rolls were $4 and the Noodle Salad was $5. That’s still overpriced, but more in line with other items. Both items tasted very good, but I’m not sure the value is there. This stand tends to close around 3:15pm, so keep that in mind if you’re planning to purchase something.
Overly-edited Tree of Life.
The netting around it remains and you can see that there’s a tarp on the left.
Unedited.
Edited.
Posted waits circa 3:35pm. 10 minute to Parade time and Animal Kingdom closes at 5pm.
Quick pop in. No big deal.
{ 45 comments… read them below or add one }
I love all the pictures! As I said on Twitter, I think this is a very photographable park. From our trips, most of our pictures come from AK and the World Showcase at Epcot.
Those spring rolls and the noodle salad look really good but you’re definitely right about the price. I’d still probably try them though. (You should get that recipe from your Mom and send it my way!)
#4 out of 4???? I think it’s the other way around. AK is so photographable even I can take a decent picture when I visit. I must admit, though, I am jealous of your skills Josh and your fancy camera.
Love the everest favorite photo of all time!
Tom Bricker has no idea what he is talking about. You can pass along to your roomie Vanna White (don’t make fun) was chosen to turn letters because of the size of her head, she must be a beautiful girl!
Love the update. The pictures are awesome! It makes me want to carry a camera instead of just taking pictures with my phone. OR maybe I’ll just send all my phone pictures to you and you can make them pretty!
Those spring rolls do look tasty. But I agree with you on the price. I think though that when you’re on vacation and immersed in “Disney pricing” you don’t think about how much stuff is over priced. At least I don’t. I’m sure Disney is counting on most people being oblivious as I am.
Love the crowd levels as well. Hope they are this low at the end of January!!
Im becoming addicted to your site as my trip draws near(week after Thanksgiving.) Love the info you give and all the pictures. As an avid hobbyist photographer, I’m curious what you mean by “correctly exposed”? Do you typically shoot in manual and use the meter or do you use auto and let the camera do its thing? I’m hoping with that gear you aren’t shooting auto;) some of the uneditted pics look under exposed to me, so I’m just curious. And I don’t mean that to be critical, I’m basically just giving you a hard time because I like your sense of humor. What do I know? I’m just a mom with a camera who likes to shoot people.
Thanks for your site! Picked our park days by your calendar last trip and are going with your recommendations this time too!
I like your pancake lens Josh. And your edited photos. And Animal Kingdom. And your bring-in-your-own-rum suggestion. Tom is doing a wonderful job.
Animal Kingdom is such a beautiful park. Thanks for the wonderful pictures! My camera is on my phone, so all the camera technical talk I sort of daydreamed through until you got to the good stuff again.
Tom Bricker, ah yes I used to have a link to his site but I lost it “yawn”. He does a lot of camera adjusting tripod carrying. Makes for great pictures and unrealistic family trip memories. Your pics are realistic to the common family. I don’t remember going to Disney and everywhere I turned looked like a postcard. To rank each park on a scale from 1 to 10 for pictures is silly since beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I can’t tell I lie, I do have a few of your pictures on my hard drive for my desktop background.
Again, I also agree that photography is a huge scam. This was definitely better than mowing the lawn. Did that last week. Not so fun.
We’ll be doing AK twice during our next trip. One day will be a Friday. This gets us excited for the low crowds. Can’t wait.
“…my roommate because SHE…”
(Que “tires screeching to a hault” sound….)
You could have ended the blog there and it would have been the most impactful of the year!!!
P.S. I often steal photos from Google search to put in my trip photos. Like the time my wife and I, Kate Upton, vacationed with Will and Kate in Papua New Guinea, shooting bald eagles and white rhinos while rescuing ship captains from pirates off the coast of Somalia. I’d share them, but the pics of my wife and Pippa are very private….Google it…
“easywdw port orleans riverside josh” seems to do the trick on the Google Image search.
Long time reader, first time poster here! I love this blog but feel compelled to post a comment now because I “borrowed” a few of your excellent Dumbo photos for my trip report on the Dis. I apologize for not asking before I used them, but I did give you proper photo credit!
@Laura – If you said they were from his website, I don’t think that’s a big deal. If you try passing them off as your own photos…that’s where I think it starts to get sketchy.
Josh, have you considered watermarking your photos? You could create an Action in Photoshop (assuming you are using Photoshop) to do it quickly. I would never want a watermarked photo for myself, but to post on a website…
And I don’t get why “I found them in Google images” is even an excuse. I don’t care if your photos come up as the first results for every Google search, it’s still a copyright infringement to use them improperly. That’s like saying it’s OK to plagiarize a book you found at the library. Though you know, it also wouldn’t hurt to throw a copyright notice at the bottom of your Wordpress template if you can.
Oddly, I know what you mean about feeling weird about food containers you can see the bottom of. I noted immediately upon seeing the photo of the noodle salad that the noodles didn’t, in fact, cover the entire bottom of the container. Then I read you comments and commisserated!
Great photos, as always. I’ve only been to AK once, and I’m always blown away at how much I missed at that park when I read yours & other folks’ posts…
I would never, ever, get into a photo discussion with you or Tom Bricker. And now I’ve hurt my poor, dinky point-and-shoot’s feelings.
And kudos on that picture of Expetiton Everest. Although, sometimes, I kinda miss that endearing slant in your photos of yesteryear. Maybe you could pull a George VI in the movie “The King’s Speech”, when he said, “I had to throw in a few so they knew it was me.”
These pics are just perfect. Loved viewing them and getting me excited for our trip.
Great pics, makes me wish I was there. I’ve used some Disney pics from Facebook and from some other sites (mostly disneylandnewstoday) in my current DLand trip report, but I think I usually say where the pics are from (even if they’re scanned from a postcard I’ll say so)….I like to give good sites their due (I’m not paid for doing trip reports anyway), and then more people might check out their sites later. It’ll also mean less pictures I have to take myself when I’m there next month, lol (but I’ll still take plenty and already did when I was there last Sunday for the one day).
@patriot_14…Josh’s roommate has been mentioned before. If I’m not mistaken the last time we heard from Inappropriate Sara was during the Downtown Disney drinking blog.
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Oh, okay I missed the connection……2+2= NICE!!
Yes Tom Bricker’s photos are fantastic but sometimes he can edit so much it takes the WOW out of the photo, now your editing is getting pretty perfect IMO and I can see how people would want to steal your photos. I am curious why were you all up in the bushes? OH!!!!! Is that woman in the first photo striking a pose????????
)
There’s one pic of Tom’s that I’d love to duplicate myself….he uses it as his profile pic on wdwmagic, and it’s cool: pic of himself on Space Mtn in the glowy tunnel with people behind him in the pod showing up slightly. I just can’t do it with my little digital point’n'shoot camera, so I finally gave up and just enjoy the ride without worrying about trying to take that pic any more (plus I won’t ride Space at MK any more now anyway). I know he has a better camera and lens options…I’ll never lug those things around, so it’s the Olympus or my Droid and that’s it.
And Animal Kingdom is beautiful….I like pics at MK and DL, too, for when you want cool pics of Main Street or the other buildings, foliage, etc.
I admit that I dont usually write a trip report. Mainly because it would be the most boring thing you ever read. However, on the ones I have done, I can’t imagine why you would post someone elses pictures? ” First we went to dumbo, there was no one in line so we made it onto the first ride of the day. Here is a picture of an entirely differnt day and a different family.” Or ” We had lunch at the Castle and Belle, Snow White and Ariel were there, here is a picture of a day when Mulan was there. ” I guess I thought the point was to do a type of “show and tell” of your experience, I would have never guessed people were using pictures of entirely differnet trips. I dont think you are in any way a jerk for calling someone out on that.
Tara, in my case…if I’m showing a picture in my trip report that I didn’t personally take, it’s to show something that people might like to see (for example, I only just went to Cars Land myself this past Sunday but I had pics in my pre trip report before then of Cars Land stuff at DCA back around its official opening time in June – because at least one reader of my report was about to go there, and the info and pics were helpful). I don’t mind if people use pics that aren’t their own (and in some cases I used pics that were from my parents’ and sister’s cameras because they went to DCA before I did, a couple months ago) as long as they say where they got the pics – and I usually DO say where I got the pics or various articles I’ve posted. Three attractions will be shut down during my stay next month, so I’ve shown pics (or referred to my previous trip reports in links or by referencing the page numbers in the old trip reports) of those attractions without scaffolding/fences around them so people can see what the attractions look like when they’re not being refurbished/maintained. I don’t see anything wrong with that. We can put whatever we want in our trip reports, and I like reading others’ reports (they’re not boring). But I wouldn’t go use a pic of Josh’s without asking him….with my report being about Disneyland anyway there’s no chance of that here.
You know I know everyone says Disney’s prices are outrages but, my daughter convinced me to buy 6 flags season passes this year and THAT park has outrages prices. I usually end up splitting the pretty small portions of food if we eat there at all because I am not willing to spend $12 on chicken strips for each of us, which is pretty much all they have. The lockers reminded me of that because they were 16 dollars for the day at 6 flags and I remember the ones outside of magic kingdom only being a few bucks last year when we used them.
That discussion with Bricker was indeed weird. I think, for some reason, Bricker feels like Spaceship Earth and the gravestones in front are really “photographable” whereas what sort of amazing large and impressive buildings does AK have? Nary a one.
To each his own, I guess, but honestly I don’t see how anyone with a photographic eye could place AK lower than #2.
You know, now that I think about it, I’d say that just the Maharaja Jungle Trek by itself is more photogenic than the entire Future World section of Epcot.
Rebecca, that makes sense. I was picturing someone writing a report of what they did but showing pictures as if they did it when really they didnt. LOL. I also enjoy reading others trip reports, I just mean to say that if I wrote one it would be boring. I have zero writing skills.
Edited or no Tom Bricker’s photographs are awesome. But I do agree with Josh and many others here that Animal Kingdom is a beautiful and photogenic park. I would even argue it’s the best themed of any of the parks, especially the Asia and Harambe village sections. Having said that, Main Street at night after the crowds disperse will always be my favorite spot in all of WDW.
@Kevin – they really should do something about the gravestones but if my math is correct the whole “legacy” part of it means they can’t actually root them up until 2026 or so. I suppose if I had my picture on one of them I might feel differently. I’m glad they gave up on both the pics and the bricks around the seven seas lagoon. I’ll buy a paver for my local high school fundraiser. Buying one for The Walt Disney Company strikes me as ridiculous.
@Tara
I add what I call “bonus features” to my reports, lol – since I start them so early before the trip I throw Disney-related tidbits in to fill the time until the actual trip happens…hoping it makes it a little more interesting. This time I have a friend’s recent DLand engagement story in there, my parents’ one-day trip from July, and some other stuff (“facts” about DLR, food pictures from the new places I might or might not try, etc.) because I still have 42 days until I get to DLR with my own household, lol. Also, reading about a crowded July or Labor Day weekend trip is different from when we’ll be there in late October (so readers can compare wait times and crowd level pics, etc., in the same report). But by the time I’m done in October I’ll need never take any more pictures there or do another report unless there’s eventually something there newer than Cars Land (or we meet some rare characters in the future). And after this trip we might just stick with WDW anyway (even though I’m a SoCal native, I think I prefer Orlando’s parks).
I haven’t been to WDW in about 6 years (going in October!) but I have to agree with you that AK is the most photographable of them all! I mean, MK has some “magical” images to capture, but AK is just one postcard sight after another, without even looking like you’re in an amusement park half the time.
Your pictures are great, but I disagree about photography being a scam.
Not sure how well you know your camera and general exposure principles, but just having the exposure pointing to “0″ will not guarantee a perfectly exposed picture. The camera is trying to get everything to neutral and many images won’t look right that way. For example, a snowy field will photograph as looking grey if you set the needle on “0″. Anyway, apologies if this is all old news to you. Your edits look great!
Those noodles looked like the Lean Cuisine I had for lunch at the office the other day. They were tasty, but left me wanting more…
Josh, I totally understand about someone using your photos without even asking. I was searching around a few months or so ago for my snack thread and found a commercial website that basically lifted my entire snack list and posted it on their site, as if they did all the work maintaining it. How did I know they copied mine? There were a few errors I made on names of locations that they made the same error on. I posted on my thread that the least they could do is ask and give me credit if they were going to steal my list. Since then I’ve had another website ask permission to copy my list to their site and I was fine with it. Just ask first, that’s all we are asking for, right?
Keep up the great work. We’ll be in there in less than 3 weeks.
Oh, and BTW, it is possible that Disney won’t charge for those lockers. A little know fact is that the lockers located next to Grizzly Rapids in DCA are free for the first 2 hours. After that you have to pay to get your stuff out. But shhh, don’t spread it around or there won’t be any available when I want to keep my stuff dry. LOL!
Ahh, our infamous epic two-tweet debate on the photogenic qualities of the various parks!
Much is lost in 140-character limits, or perhaps in my constantly-sarcastic delivery, but there’s no question that for me Animal Kingdom is the least photograph-able park. For me. This is because I primarily shoot wide and my best photos are taken at night. A wide shot at Animal Kingdom is going to have a lot of dead space in it or a lot of foliage that doesn’t really have any dominant focal point. And the shot won’t be at night unless it’s taken at the end of a Sunday in January or February.
If you’re more into using a telephoto/zoom lens or like photographing details or animals, I’m not surprised that you’d love Animal Kingdom. That’s just typically not my style. Depending upon your style, I think you could rank any of the parks first and any of them last.
All of that said, I WILL FIGHT ANYONE TO THE DEATH WHO DOESN’T LOVE PHOTOGRAPHING SPACESHIP EARTH!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!!!!!!!!
As for my Space Mountain avatar photo that someone mentioned above, I took that in 2007 well before I owned a DSLR. It was taken with a really cheap Casio EXILIM point and shoot camera.
Aw, Tom…and I can’t even get that fun Space Mtn pose photo with my little blue Olympus Stylus Tough 10mp camera. I’ve given up on it, like I said. Whenever I try it’s just too much of my face and nothing else in the pic (maybe I have a big head like Josh’s roommate). I did finally learn to use a “candlelight” setting for my fireworks photos, and now they mostly turn out great (I took what I think are my best ever fireworks pics two Sundays ago at DLand).
@TerryinSoCal
Thanks for the tip about the GRR lockers at DCA…I might have to use one or two next month. I wonder if a big phone-battery-charger backpack would cram into one. Or we’ll go ditch stuff at the hotel room before we ride. Or, since it’ll be October, maybe it’ll be okay in a plastic-covered container in the middle of the raft (I assume they have those like on other water rides I’ve seen)? I still have never ridden Grizzly River Rapids…just watched people get drenched on it from the sidelines two Sundays ago.
That bat skull looks like it has glasses on. Nerd bat.
Respectfully, I think the picture two below your favorite pic ever is even better. The water with Everest in the background is the real money shot for me. Or some of the closeup animal pics you can get on the Safari are excellent as well. Overall, agreed, I always take way more pics in AK than any other park, though I think it’s primarily because of the animals. Look, a gorilla! 15 shots taken.
I love your pics, always makes me wish I was there. If I would ever need any of them for my daughter’s school work I will ask, other then that I don’t have any real need for them, other then to put a smile on my face!!!
Instead of “bathouse”, I kept reading it as “bath house”. And since I have a memory like Memento, I wondered when AK got a bath house and why Josh was spending so much time there.
Josh, Have you considered watermarking your photos in some way?
In the interest of full disclosure, I need to tell you that I sometimes use your AWESOME pictures in my emails at work since I am in COUNTDOWN MODE (75 days!)
Love your website and oh, BTW, my DH is SO sick of me saying “well, Josh says…”
You have a picture of the komodo dragon! Yeah! We enter the trail just to see the komodo dragon, only to learn that he is inside somewhere because it is “too cold” for him in Florida in December. My son then goes bat crazy and we turn around and leave the same way we came in, so we have never seen the bat house. Could you possibly do one of those larger version links of the komodo? Please? I’m thinking I’ll make it into a 8 x 10 and keep it hidden in our backpack, then when we try and see the dragon and cannot because it is only 70 degrees outside I can whip out the photo and hold it in front of him. Then I’ll say “There! You got to see the komodo dragon. Mom’s a hero! Moving on…”
Josh – you are my hero!!! My son is doing a report on bats, and he was going to use our pictures from the AK, but he couldn’t remember what the bats were called. (I said, “Duh, Bats.” I am the uncool mom.)
But since you, being the genius you are, actually took a picture of the map – he can use the pics from our trip now. I will make sure he cites your website in his paper
Maybe even in the opening credits!
Thx for another fab post. Made me laugh out loud more than once. Soooooo envious of those low crowds. Wish it was like that when we go in school holidays. Maybe when the kids grow up……..