Saturday, June 27, 2015

Disney - The Flora, the Fauna, and the Merry Weather

Well, you know me.  It wouldn't be a Vacation without me taking pictures of Flowers and Wildlife.  So here's some Fabulous pics from that portion of our Epic Adventure.


Thie beautiful blooming hibiscus was next to the pool at the Legoland hotel.  


These fun hostas greeted us as we entered the Grand Floridian.  
I thought to myself, even the hostas are pink!  There's a lot of pink in that place.  I love it. 

In the shade of this fruit tree we got to meet Snow White.  It looked like Limes from below, but could have also been early Oranges, most likely, but hard to tell. 

Someday I hope to go to WDW during the Flower and Garden season, because there are fabulous topiaries everywhere.   But I enjoyed this Alice in Wonderland topiary located right by the Teacup ride.  

This looks so Natural.  But it's a man made waterfall just outside of Beast's Castle. 
We passed by on our way to have lunch at Be Our Guest.  


Jacob found these jasmine relatives in Hollywood Studios.
The boys had taken the stroller and rushed ahead to get in line for Padawan training while Jake and I moseyed behind.  If we'd been dashing we never would have seen or smelled them.    
The whole area smelled Wonderfully!  

Turns out it's called Angelwing Jasmine. 
Beautiful. 


I love this giant palm tree at Hollywood Studios.  
They are so pretty.  We were parked in the shade underneath them waiting for the Star Wars Parade to start.   The sun shone on the tree, but not on me!  


Saturday morning, we got an early start in Animal Kingdom.  
Eric and I went to the Rainforest Cafe on our honeymoon.  Chris took this photo of us at the entrance.  At the time, it was brand new, and easy to spot, and we ate there twice during our 5 day trip.  It's a little harder to find with all the foliage filled in.  


This pretty tree is called the Purple Glory.  
It's Gorgeous!  


Loving the purple flowers against the sky.  
This was a little tricky, as my camera kept fogging up in the humidity.  Ha Ha!


What a Beautiful Bouganvilla.  
These beautiful pinkish purple petals aren't actually the flowers, they are actually leaves.  They are papery spring leaves, almost like a dogwood's bracts.  The flowers themselves are tiny inside.  Of course, this one was climbing too high for me to actually capture the centers.  Still, they look pretty. d


One last Puple Bouganvilla against the sky. 

And all these pretties were even before we made it into the main area of Animal Kingdom! 



It's not real, and there was a lot of construction going on, but I have to smile every time I see the Tree of life in Animal Kingdom.  

Javanese Glorybower
Yeah, I had to look that up, I didn't just Know that one.   Pretty invasive wee beastie. 


Not sure if this fella was local, or a legitimate guest from Africa on our adventure.  


The Zebra just waltzed right past our truck. 


This ostrich was in snippy nesting mode, and made us sit there for 20 minutes, just staring down our vehicle.  She would not let us pass.  The CM didn't want to do anything to scare her, and recommended we do the same, so we pretty much had to wait her out.   Obstinate thing.   And her nest was huge! 


That's a proper stork.  We have one of these in Indy, I think, though they are both pretty shy.  Maybe just Pretty and Shy.


Looking down on the welcome garden at the Polynesian. 



While glancing around from the monorail, we noticed this wasp nest in a banana tree leaf.  Ew!


Gardens in Epcot. 

Canna Lilly!

I love this garden.  It's the Victoria Gardens, right next to the Canada pavilion in Epcot. 

Getting ready to go to dinner in Morocco, we find ourselves in France in Epcot.  
I found myself with some time to look around while the boys had an Agent P adventure. 
The smells of the Perfumeries were toxic, I was happier outside with nature. 


Beautiful gardens in France (well the Floridian version of France! 


Our last day.  Farewell beautiful palm trees at the beach by the Grand Floridian. 

All three boys taking off towards the pool, through the gardens on our last day, before we check out.  

The view from the marina on the way to our room.  If our necks had been a little longer, we could have seen the fireworks every night from our own balcony.  But we were either there, or trying to sleep.  Still, it's pretty neat to see the castle from across the lake.  


The rosebush just outside our building at the Grand Floridian.  


This rose was on our table at our last meal at the Grand Floridian Cafe.  
We ate there a bunch on our honeymoon, but only once this trip.  I do so love that place.  Every time we walked in, they said Welcome Home.  It was true.  Disney World is my second home.  Someday I'd love to belong to the Vacation Club, and really be a part of it, sort of live there for a while.  But we've got to be a lot more financially set.  I cried when we left.  I always do.  It really is the Happiest Place on Earth.  






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