Well, my Disney trip this past weekend wasn't all wonderful photo opportunities! I consider myself lucky to have made it through 4 days without a drop of rain in the Florida summer season. But on Monday, my final night, I took advantage of Animal Kingdom's late Magic Hours and went from 7pm to 11pm. I could see what looked like stormy skies approaching, but other than my camera, I don't mind the wetness (and I had brought a bag to protect the camera in emergencies). Upon arrival, I managed to jump on line for the last few Kilimanjaro Safari trucks, which only run until 7:30pm. While on line, thunder began to rumble closer. Light rain began to fall. Then lightning started to zap within visibility, and I was sure the ride would be closed before I got there. Getting to the final part of the cue, lining up in front of the gates to get on the truck, one bolt of lightning touched down within a few hundred feet with a deafening blast - and some people got off the line immediately. I was willing if Disney was (I'm a Florida boy...I'm used to lightning)...and when the gates opened, I jumped aboard. Yep - they're still going on safari! I was warned it might get a bit wet in the open-sided trucks...but I was game, so off we went. Here is our driver waiting her turn - you can see the light rain coming down on the windshield: Just around the hippo pools, it really started to come down, and the skies were dark grey - wonderful conditions for photography! 7:30pm, heavy clouds and dark, and heavy rain! I tried to snap the white pelicans sitting in the rain, by cranking up to ISO800 - but the low light and rain killed any chance at detail: Making the big turn onto the savannah view, I had to stick with ISO800 and try to shoot through grey-out conditions and heavy rain - the herd animals were herding together under the trees: By the time we made the giraffes, the skies had opened up fully. This giraffe was fully aware that the ranger was standing nearby, waiting for the last trucks to pass so they could herd the tall beast in for the night, and out of the rain: All the animals looked very unhappy with the rain...except the elephants, who seemed to be having a grand 'ol time - they had gotten in the water for a swim and some play in the rain: At the end of the ride, we were caught in traffic waiting for the trucks in front to unload (longer than usual, because as people unloaded from the trucks they didn't want to leave the shelter of the hut and walk out into the rain and lightning!). I wanted to snap a pic of the workers by the other truck unloading platform through the rain, and as usual with Disney employees...when they saw the camera pointing their way, they immediately posed: Well, they were certainly some of the worst shots I've ever taken on the Kilimanjaro - or in Animal Kingdom in general! But it was a very fun ride, and a fun story to be able to tell...so in the end, I don't mind that the pictures aren't that great. They will always make me remember that day and that ride in an open-sided metal truck through an open field in a raging electrical storm and downpour!
Actually I think that would be kind of fun. Something you don't get most days. I would rather have rain pics than the gloomy ones.
I like the elephant pics. Very unique. BTW, don't be afraid to crank the ISO. I shoot at 1600 in low light with excellent results and today's noise reduction software can do wonders.
Can I just say that I'm very pleased to hear that they kept the ride open. I think the lightning fear is grossly overblown. Metal sided vehicle nothing.. It should have been as safe as being in any vehicle. The lack of window glass shouldn't have mattered much, when you get voltage as high as lightning bolts I doubt a pane of glass would change the situation. Ultimately the vehicle should be a better conductor than meat (human bodies). It's just that I'm still annoyed beyond belief from last Summer when I found myself at Universal, against my better judgment. I don't want to make this into an anti universal thread, all I'm saying is that I personally dislike them because of some of their practices, but was forced to go there because I was there with someone else who wanted to go (my cousin, he's sort of become my Disney World partner in crime). He'd never been to Universal, and he was definitely the sort of person to appreciate a place with a lot of roller coasters and such. I ended up stuck in the line for Jurassic Park for a very long time because they shut the whole thing down because of lightning. I kept thinking about how LOW the ride vehicle was compared to the much higher trees surrounding the water way. Logic told me that the ride should have had a low lightning threat, but they had to close it all down for a long stretch of time, and we ended up missing the ride completely. I know they always say to stay away from trees, but I've seen a much more logical version of that rule. Stay away from solitary trees. Besides, it would have been simplicity in itself to sneak a few lightning rods into the fake trees surrounding the ride path. Anyway, the tallest part of the ride is a large fully enclosed building that should also have been as safe as anything else. Neat series, like the detail about the giraffe waiting to be called back to its night time quarters. And I love the cast member smile shot. Simply because you told us about the circumstances that it was taken under. I've got a great video of cast members on that ride improvising for what had to be around 10 minutes or more because of some sort of delay. We hadn't even left the start, we were still stuck against the boarding area. Still pictures don't do justice to one of the people taking a broom out of a closet and sneaking up on a kid who had an iguana (picture) on his shirt, doing a routine where he acted like he was saving the kid from the giant lizard climbing up his shirt.
Thanks guys! Scott - I can't crank up the ISO as well as the DSLR crowd - I've only got my superzoom with a small sensor - it can handle up to ISO400 clean, and a barely salvageable ISO800...but that's about it. I accept the limitations because a large majority of my photography doesn't require low-light high-ISO sensitivity...but every once in a while, I bump up against the limitations like this time! Still, it was a fun and different experience, and worth taking pictures during just for the memories. Dan, I was quite happy Disney kept the ride open too. I have no fear of lightning, but a logical respect for it living in the lightning capital of the U.S. In my time living down here, I've had lightning strike my pool, a tree in my yard, my chimney, and various standing structures all around me. I've lost lightbulbs, televisions, phones, VCRs, and a couple of trees (coconut palm blown clean in half by a strike). Of course, lightning CAN strike you in a car...windows or not, rubber tires or not. You're right - the car is usually a much better conductor, and the body of the car will take most of the strike, but you might get a shock out of it too if you're touching anything conductible. And certainly, if a tree is struck, so is almost everything around it (trees are not grounded, so when struck, electricity tends to branch out and conduct with any other metal or conductive source nearby - including people. One has to play the odds - as you said, don't stand under the only tree in the big, flat field. You can still get struck in a grove of trees, but your chances are much more normalized - as much chance of getting struck anywhere else. I've been caught camping and hiking in the forest during intense lightning storms - and though it can be a bit nerveracking...my chances of getting struck were not enhanced by the trees since there were so many - the lightning had an even chance of striking anywhere. I presume Disney has a very strong network of lightning rods and grounding throughout the parks...I have always been aware of the lightning rod systems on the roof of every building (those little foot-tall metal rods sticking up on the corners of the rooftops), and have seen the occasional lightning rod hidden in trees...all of which are grounded and insulated. And I am fairly confident that the Kilimanjaro ride has the same network of grounded rods throughout the area - it would be a cinch to hide them in the fake baobabs and rock landscaping high points. As for Universal...I suppose it may happen at Disney too, so I wouldn't get too on-their-case about that one - I'd be a bit surprised if Disney let Everest or Big Thunder continue in lightning. Not that there is a large threat of imminent death or anything - but just to protect against the off chance that an errant strike gets past the grounding and does hit the track system. It may never happen, and if it did, it's possible noone would even get hurt - but in our lovely litigious society, no billion-dollar entertainment empire with millions of visitors can take the chance that one person does get hurt - or even CLAIMS to be hurt - by lightning. Lawyers would be queued up at the end of the ride waiting to sign up potential claimants! I'm sure Universal was just reacting to the legal threat, and not the lightning threat! Back to the pics - on that giraffe...I took 4 shots of him as we went past - and I didn't even notice the cast member standing in the tree line next to him until the last shot (looking back, he's in all of the shots). I knew the giraffe was waiting at the gates to go home...but didn't notice the person until the last minute. Those little cast member moments are one of the thousands of things that make Disney special. I always love when they jump enthusiastically into photos with a big smile, even if you weren't intending to take their posed shot. Those two on the ride were so wrapped up in a conversation...and I was just one person out of 20 or so on a truck across the way - but one of them happened to notice me aiming in their direction, notified the other, and before I could press the shutter, I had two smiling faces looking at me!
If I'm remembering correctly, DL shuts down any outdoor attraction in the rain, with maybe the exception of the Columbia and the Mark Twain. But that includes Dumbo and the Teacups, and Alice in Wonderland. Does DL have the only (question refers to amusement parks owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company (NYSEIS) within the continental United States) "dark rides" that either load uncovered or go out into the air for some portion of the ride? (a la Alice in Wonderland and Winnie the Pooh, and I guess IASW, but it's a boat. Disneyland's trains don't count - it's only dark for the last part) While Splash Mountain is partially dark, it's more of a thrill ride. And it would be ironic to shut it down in the rain. Tower of Terror doesn't count either. Backlot tour isn't a dark ride.
Hmmm...depends on how much 'outdoor' area qualifies in your example. I assume you don't include rides like WDW's Snow White, Peter Pan, Small World, etc which are technically queued and loaded outside (though under cover) then go inside. Splash Mountain is a pretty good example...it is predominantly an indoor ride, with just an outdoor section. And Everest has a good bit of indoor area too...but is also more of a thrill ride. Test Track also...it is loaded and mostly indoors until the last bit, when it heads outside. I'm not as familiar with other theme parks - I've been to Knott's Berry Farm, Magic Mountain, Busch Gardens Virginia and Tampa, and Great Adventure in NJ - but they were all more than 15 years ago and I don't remember them that well!
DL's Snow White, Peter Pan, and Pinnochio are just the same. Toad I think is the only one with a door with an indoor queue (if the line is that short) before loading.
