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2005 - Disney, Animal Kingdom, & KSC
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I hadn't been to Disney in about 20 years, so this was a really neat
trip for us to share. I had won a free airline voucher as a door prize
at our company's summer picnic, and before letting it expire, we decided
Disney would be a good place to go. Neither of us had been to the Animal
Kingdom, and I had never been to the MGM Studio, and Kat had never been
to KSC (Kennedy Space Center), so this included some new with the old.
And of course, to me it was one huge opportunity to revisit the
Haunted Mansion!
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| ^top | Thrusday, June 30, 2005 |
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After spending the first day of our vacation just getting there, and getting settled into
the hotel, our second day was actually our first day to hit the amusement parks. We
started with Epcot, and this was the view from the car as we pulled into the parking
lot. The smirk on this lady's face was because I was taking the picture while driving. :)
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| ^top | Thrusday, June 30, 2005 |
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Something interesting to see is that they made widespread use of Segways in Disney, for a
variety of staff purposes.
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| ^top | Thrusday, June 30, 2005 |
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The "Jamitors" (not sure if I spelled that right) where percussion musicians who
used trash cans and a gong to make very interesting drum music. It was quite a
performance!
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| ^top | Thrusday, June 30, 2005 |
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These guys were quite entertaining.
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| ^top | Thrusday, June 30, 2005 |
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Epcot also had musical robots. This one had two percussion mallets with which
it would strike various metal plates and objects.
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| ^top | Thrusday, June 30, 2005 |
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This robot did several things, the more interesting of which was to play these
pipes with an air hose.
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| ^top | Thrusday, June 30, 2005 |
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Japan, in Epcot's World Showcase.
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| ^top | Thrusday, June 30, 2005 |
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More Japan. This is where they held the Taiko Drumming performance.
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| ^top | Thrusday, June 30, 2005 |
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My lovely girlfriend, as we were waiting for the Taiko drummers to begin. Isn't
she lovely? :)
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| ^top | Thrusday, June 30, 2005 |
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While we waited, I also took pictures of the Koi pond and surrounding gardens.
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| ^top | Thrusday, June 30, 2005 |
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The Koi. I need to build one of these, someday. :)
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| ^top | Thrusday, June 30, 2005 |
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Both of us, in front of the Koi pond.
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| ^top | Thrusday, June 30, 2005 |
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The actual Taiko performers. The performance wasn't long, but was quite impressive.
The guy on the left in this picture really got into it, but they were all very
interesting to watch. It's as much about style as it is about the music.
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| ^top | Thrusday, June 30, 2005 |
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Morocco, in Epcot's World Showcase... Me, next to a fountain. :)
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Our second day of hitting the parks, we chose to go to The Magic Kingdom. On the
way in, I snapped off this picture of the castle.
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Of course, early in the day, we had to take a trip over to one of my favorites...
The Haunted Mansion. Muahahaah!!
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On the way out, Kat took my picture in front of the horse-drawn hearse.
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I actually took several pictures of the mosaics in the base of the castle, but this one
is of course the best since it has Kat. :) It's amazing the level of detail and artwork
that abounds everywhere within the disney property.
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An interesting little garden amphitheater. We didn't manage to catch a show there, however
we passed it several times and took a liking to the stonework and lanterns.
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The mid-day parade, which started just in time to get rained on. Kat was holding the umbrella
up high enough over me to keep it out of the camera shot. This is Pinnochio's float.
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The villain float. It had even more to see on the back, but I only got this picture of the
front of it.
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Ah, the mouse-ears... Matching top-hat and veil, for the honeymoon couples to wear. :)
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Another random encounter with a musical performance. This barber-shop quartet had an interesting
set of chimes, used similarly to a bell-choir arrangement.
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Tomorrowland in The Magic Kingdom. This was the entrance arch. A wonderful view of the
future that never was, so to speak. :)
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From nearly the same position, I zoomed in on the rotating planetary display on the distant
building.
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| ^top | Saturday, July 2, 2005 |
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On our third day of visiting the parks, we decided to start the day in Disney's Animal Kingdom.
We weren't sure quite what to expect, but enjoyed it thoroughly. We started the day with the
African Safari. This picture shows some of the elephants we saw.
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| ^top | Saturday, July 2, 2005 |
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And this shot is of the flamingos. We also saw tigers, aligators, giraffes, and more.
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| ^top | Saturday, July 2, 2005 |
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.. and rhinos.
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| ^top | Saturday, July 2, 2005 |
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On the jungle-trail, we saw a variety of creatures. This little fellow was on guard-duty, watching
over all of us, ready to alert his friends at the first sight of trouble.
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| ^top | Saturday, July 2, 2005 |
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The Tree of Life.
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| ^top | Saturday, July 2, 2005 |
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One of the very-large bats we saw.
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| ^top | Saturday, July 2, 2005 |
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And a tiger, who was licking the wall for some reason.
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| ^top | Saturday, July 2, 2005 |
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A big surprise, we spotted a woman doing a live-statuary sort of thing. We almost
wouldn't have spotted her, except for the fact that her handler was a few feet away
and there were a few other people staring.
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| ^top | Saturday, July 2, 2005 |
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The ever-beautiful Kat, at the Animal Kingdom.
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| ^top | Saturday, July 2, 2005 |
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For the second half of our 3rd day, we went to Disney/MGM Studios. One of the earlier
rides we went on was the Star Tours (Star Wars themed) ride, and I took this picture
of the droids while in line. The one of the left talks to everyone, and said "Why don't
you take a picture; It'll last longer!"... So I did! :)
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| ^top | Saturday, July 2, 2005 |
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In the streets at MGM, they have several false-perspective backgrounds to make it look like
you're in certain cities. The is the San Francisco backdrop. The road actually ends at the reddish fence,
with the entire distance view being a painted backdrop. Kat also took a picture of me in
front of the New York backdrop, but it didn't come out as well.
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On our fourth day, we started out at Kennedy Space Center. We started with the bus tour.
This view shows the VAB (Vehicular Assembly Building), and to the lower left of it is the
main mission-control center.
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From the Observation Gantry, we could see the launch pad where Discovery was being prepared
for it's return to flight. This would be the first launch since the Columbia accident, however
we were probably a few weeks too early for the launch itself.
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Still in the gantry, I took this picture of a shuttle engine on display. The
bell actually extends a bit further down than you can see in this picture, since
the floor obscures it. This engine was actually used for a number of flights before
being retired.
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Me, next to a space capsule, sort-of. This was actually a photo-booth.
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The back end of the Saturn-V rocket on display in the bus-tour. I angled this shot to
include people for scale.
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This is the large Astronaut Memorial. It's actually a black-colored stone, but very
glossy. The reflection of the sky and clouds disguises the color. The lettering is
engraved in a golden color. Click the picture for the full-resolution raw image (3.2
megapixel, 983kb) from my camera, in which you can read the names.
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Behind me, when I took the previous picture, were several other memorial plaques.
This one commemorated all of the astronauts lost.
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At the end of our last day, we decided to drive down to Cocoa Beach. As we walked from
the wonderful little seafood restaurant we visited, we saw this rainbow.
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My dearest, standing on the beach.
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As our evening drew to a close, we got to watch the sun set, with the warm ocean water gently washing over
our feet. It was a perfect ending to a perfect vacation. :)
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