Disney World's Animal Kingdom

[cesstrelle]

Hi all, going to take a quick one day trip to Animal Kingdom tomorow to meet some family up there for the day (we are not far, just a few hours)...going to take my digital rebel with 300mm lens...any suggestions for good places to get animal pictures? We are going to do the safari ride for sure. I've never taken my good camera there, only my small G2. Can't wait to try the rebel there. Of course I'm taking two batteries and two 512 cards, lol. :D

[PacAce]

Get to the Safari ride as early as possible. The animals are the most active early in the morning. And that'about the time they're fed, too. Towards the middle of the day and later, they'll most probably be taking their siestas so you won't get to see much of them during that time. And you want to be by the window. On either side you still might miss out on something on the other side so if there aren't too many people and you have time, you might want to go through twice.

After you get off from the safari ride, there's a long trail that you have to go through. Keep your eyes open for a family of silver-back gorillas "running loose" there, especially the adult male.

If you like birds, there are two aviaries where you can get some pretty good and colorful bird shots. You'll need your flash, though, since it's pretty dark in there and tripod/monopod won't do anything to stop the very active birds in there.

And if you're going to be taking in any of the shows, like the Lion King show, you'll need a lens wider than the 300 and something faster if the lens doesn't have IS (no flash photography allowed there). I used my 28-135 IS at around 1/40 to 1/60 handheld and got some pretty good shots of the show. Just had to make sure my IS was turned on. And, of course, the camera had to be set to Manual mode.

Have fun at Disney World! :D

[tommykjensen]

Get to the Safari ride as early as possible. The animals are the most active early in the morning. And that'about the time they're fed, too. Towards the middle of the day and later, they'll most probably be taking their siestas so you won't get to see much of them during that time. And you want to be by the window. On either side you still might miss out on something on the other side so if there aren't too many people and you have time, you might want to go through twice.

After you get off from the safari ride, there's a long trail that you have to go through. Keep your eyes open for a family of silver-back gorillas "running loose" there, especially the adult male.

If you like birds, there are two aviaries where you can get some pretty good and colorful bird shots. You'll need your flash, though, since it's pretty dark in there and tripod/monopod won't do anything to stop the very active birds in there.

And if you're going to be taking in any of the shows, like the Lion King show, you'll need a lens wider than the 300 and something faster if the lens doesn't have IS (no flash photography allowed there). I used my 28-135 IS at around 1/40 to 1/60 handheld and got some pretty good shots of the show. Just had to make sure my IS was turned on. And, of course, the camera had to be set to Manual mode.

Have fun at Disney World! :D

Great tips, I am going in april :D :D :D

[cesstrelle]

Thanks so much for the info! I've been to disney at least once a year since I was a baby and am 31 now, so I'm a veteran,lol. But this is the first time I'm taking my 'good' camera so I'm very excited. I am going to be sure to look for the gorillas. I'm not too big on shows, so not sure if we will do those, maybe while the kids check out the show I'll go around looking for animals. I love the bats, and they are behind glass, right? Is just sticking the lens up to the glass good enough to get some good pics of them?

[cesstrelle]

found some neat photos here: http://www.danheller.com/disney-animals.html