The Great Journey~ Pt.4 and End

THIS

is Max.  He’s a divin’ fool.

He demonstrates his technique.

In which figures largely this philosophy: lean until you are committed.

Hands out flat – 

Look down to make sure the water is still there.

Then dunk yourself and kick.  Kick a lot.

This is Max meeting Mike.  They hit it off right away.

More pictures of the tree of life.  I keep trying to shoot it (with the tiny camera, in jungle light) because it is one of the most fascinating things I have ever seen in my entire life, EVER.  The tree, which looks like a real baobob (I think), a gigantic one that is the centerpiece of the Animal Kingdom.  In actuality, the tree was constructed from the ground up out of structural steel, metal mesh and cement, sculpted by an army of Disney artists.  It started as a tiny sculpture, and was realized on this mammoth scale – planted with every kind of plant.  From every side, you look up this I don’t know how many stories high tree, and you see this celebration of animal life.  You could look at the thing for hours and still miss things.  I am sure there are tiny surprises hidden in the branches that no human being will ever know were lovingly and whimsically put there by a sculptor with mice and rabbits and chipmunks and wombats in his heart.

If you have never seen the thing before, you might enjoy looking at the original size shot and zooming in to see the detail.  Assuming you choose one of the shots that actually has detail and is successfully focused. 

Just below this is one of my favorite things about Animal Kingdom, which seems to be the park I shot most frequently: the clever form and function, the seemingly meaningless detail that in actuality is the infrastructure of the park.

We are on the Safari.  And GINNA SHOT THIS.  Isn’t it horrible?  See?  It’s not just me!!!  When you go on the Safari, you load into a huge Landrover looking vehicle (actually a flat bed truck with an antique cab) and your driver actually drives you along the roads that go through the animal park.  Along your way, there are animals that roam free – giraffes and the rhinos and antelope – and flamingos (birds that should always be ashamed of their flamboyance).

There are also animals that are NOT allowed to roam free: alligators, lions, hippos and the like.  But this is not a zoo.  It’s the veldt.  So you can’t put up cages or fences or any other thing that would break the illusion of the natural habitat.  Even the botanical aspects of this park are authentic – imagineers brought thousands of plants from Africa to plant here.  So what do you do to keep the lions from taking the example of the giraffes – sticking their heads right into the Safari vehicles for a little hit of human?

There are, of course, fences.  You just don’t see them.  The horrible picture above is of the road over which you journey.  The story is that it’s during the rainy season – or close to it.  The roads have been muddy, and the passage of early heavy vehicles has left deep ruts in the mud, especially at the turns, where the vehicle slid slightly, driving the edges of the rut high and thick.

In actuality, those ruts that look so much like drying mud are cement barriers that keep alligators from wandering the countryside (crocodiles, more like).  So the very details that make the thing seem so real are the structure of your safety.  Amazing.  An incredible feat of engineering, design, imagination.

Max and female friend.

Max and Chaz and male friend.  Check out the shoes.

One of my favorite places in the entire park.  This wall just charms me.  And the street lamp.  I want to live in this place.

I found this magical also.  I want to make things like this – not necessarily big wooden things, but shaped things with wonderful designs worked into them.

I even love the signs.

As I say, I think Animal Kingdom is my favorite place.  At least, it vies with Epcot.  I always wanted to be an illustrator – a kids’ book illustrator – this place is like a living illustration.

Always character worked into the shapes.  And I adore the use of color and texture.

Here we have Dumbo, the early years.  This is another part of Animal Kingdom – not my favorite.  But interesting, none the less.  Always a visual feast.

Back at the Magic Kingdom.  Chaz was seriously studying the construction of the castle.  Not quite Neuschwanstein, but close as I’m going to get in this life, I bet.

Chaz, still studying it.

This is what I love about the Disney way – the research, the detail, putting me into a new place, a dream place, where things are as they should be, somehow – all the best bits, smoothed together into a beautiful, wonderful vision.

And bubbles.  They even blow bubbles there.

 I had something else to say, but I’ve forgotten what.  So that was our journey.  Thank you for coming.   Wish you had been there.  I really do.