2026 Animal Kingdom Sketches

My current Sketchbook is an interesting one.  It's an OOLY I bought at an independant book store over the holidays and it's interesting. The pages are very thin, but they have a nice tooth. And I brought it to Disney World with me:

I got to see the baby elephant play in the water!

Disney's Animal Kingdom 2023 Sketches and Trip Report!

Earlier this year, my family and I went to Walt Disney World.  Here are some thoughts.

The Flower and Garden Festival was lovely as usual.  We got to ride on everything we'd wanted to experience.  The weather was perfect; we even got to float in the pool more often that I'd expected.  And the new-to-me Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind was a blast!  

A few not-so-great things: EPCOT is really suffering with all the construction in Future World (and the day I call Future World "World Celebration/Nature/Stuff" is the day I call Twitter "X").  Space 220 had very good food and I enjoyed some of the little touches, but for the price and popularity, I was expecting more than feasting in the warming glow of a screensaver.  The idea is similar to Coral Reef but I think I'd rather eat in the company of real actual fish.  On the subject of food and drink, I did not care for the Villain's Lair retheme of the Bay Lake Tower DVC Lounge.  Not everything needs to have Disney characters or a Theme and we all agreed that the drinks are ghastly!

And Genie+ is a disaster, but I think I went over that last time.  I still can't get over how confusing this must be for Newbies.  Dear Joe Disney, your park has too many attractions named “Space”, “Star”, and “Galaxy”.  Please change the names of three.  (I’m not a crackpot.)

Anyway.  Animal Kingdom sketches!

2022 Animal Kingdom Sketches!

We went to Disney World earlier this month!  It was wild!  I may do a brief trip report next post but for now, we had a lot of fun.  And as is tradition, my drawings of the residents of Disney's Animal Kingdom:

I got to watch the Great Argus Pheasant "Peacocking" in real life right in front of me and I'm not even kidding, this was one of the coolest things I got to experience on the whole trip!  Right up there with Rise of the Resistance!

The Painted Wolves/African Wild Dogs/Cape Hunting Dogs/Lycaon pictus are, I think, a new addition to the Safari.  And they're very cool.  (And boy I wish I was not sitting adjacent to a very loud fool insisting "No, those are Hyenas like in 'Lion King'!" 😞 )

"Feathered Friends in Flight" is the latest and maybe the best iteration of "Flights of Wonder"/"Up!  The Big Bird Adventure"/"Whatever, IDK What You Call It Or What The Framing Story Is, I Am Just Here For The Birds".  Simply because - get this - there is NO framing story, just a lot of cool birds doing cool things!  What a concept!  I got to see a Harpy Eagle in real life!  That's right up there with the Skyliner!

Animal Kingdom Sketches 2020

Approximately five and a half million years ago*, my family and I went to Walt Disney World.  As usual, I took loads of photos at Animal Kingdom and did sketches of the residents.  Mostly birds, of course.  Enjoy:







* - It sure feels like.  In reality it was only three weeks ago which seems impossible.  I'd like to do a trip report once it doesn't feel like a big fun and exciting blur that happened ages ago.

Animal Kingdom Sketches 2019

Brought my Illo on an adventure to Disney's Animal Kingdom and Animal Kingdom Lodge!

My Afternoon With the Blue Catpeople: Thoughts on Pandora: the World of Avatar

I have to start by saying it feels really weird to be finally writing about Pandora: The World of Avatar now.  It feels like I'm extremely late to the party, and that the conversation in Disney Theme Park Internet World has moved on.  To a Galaxy far, far away in fact, and if anyone is talking about Pandora, it's judging it as a sort of test run for Star Wars: Nothing But Star Wars: Here, Have More Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.

And comparing it to Harry Potter over in the competing park down the road.  That too.

I really don't want to do either of those things.  Instead, let's back up.  A long time ago, a terribly long time ago it feels, it was announced that a whole new Land was going to be built in a Walt Disney World theme park: Pandora, the World of Avatar.  I was generally more enthusiastic than, uh, everyone else it felt like.  You can read my initial thoughts here.  But that was many years ago and I've only got the chance to visit Pandora myself last month.  Everyone in the Disney Blog-verse has an opinion about the new land and here's mine:

I really like it.

I'm a sucker for a good, truly immersive, "You are in an imaginary land turned real" experience.  This delivers quite nicely.  The overall effect of the land is stunning, but I mostly appreciate all the smaller details.  And goodness, I wish I'd had more time to explore the land at night.

For now, Pandora has two rides.  I want to give some love to the Navi River Journey, as it tends to live in the shadow of Flight of Passage, the big state of the art headliner.  I'm just happy River Journey exists, because we've been losing so many slow-moving atmospheric rides lately.  Rides like The Great Movie Ride that you can enjoy with your grandmother.  "Grandma Rides", if you will.  If this is a genre, River Journey is an excellent standard for them.

And then, there's Flight of Passage.  I have no words, man.  This is damn near everything I always dreamed of in a flight simulator.  It's good and long, too!  It's also notoriously difficult to acquire Fastpasses for and has a standby line you could pretty much watch "Avatar" in while waiting.  Still, everything I've ever wanted from a flight simulator.

Plus it turns out I make for a pretty cute catgirl!  Look at my Avatar, look at her!  Dang, she even has the same "They're taking my picture! Oh, please don't blink..." look!

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Art of the Day:

Fishies!

2018 Animal Kingdom Sketches

I went to Animal Kingdom for the first time since they opened Pandora: The World of Avatar Pandora Landora!  But before we talk about that, we need to dive deep into the early days of this blog and talk Moleskines and Moleskine alternatives.



The unthinkable happened; I was about to go on a trip and did not have a new Sketchbook handy to start once my current one ran out of pages.  (I draw through and entire Sketchbook and start a new one immediately.  I have heard this is unusual of me but my broken OCD brain and I just can't believe it.)  Fortunately, I was able to order the two lovelies pictured above right away from Amazon.

The one on top is the one I am currently using and that went to Florida with me, the ZenArt Supplies B6 Sketchbook.  And it's very nice for sketching, doodling, and writing with a pencil or ballpoint pen.  But the pages are almost ridiculously thin; I have to scan with a sheet of card stock in between the pages or you'd have a nice preview of the art on the next page.  Art markers bleed right through and the pages roll over and give up at the very sight of even a dry-ish watercolor brush.  It fits right in my purse, though, and so this little Sketchbook joined me on every ride, show, exhibit, and other adventure in Disney World.  (For what it's worth, yes the paper is blacklight sensitive.)

And the ZenArt went to Animal Kingdom with me.  I have to say the ZenArt is very nice for drawing quickly on the spot.  I suppose though, so would a Sketchbook with nicer paper of the same size.  Oh well, here are the studies of the animals there:

WDW Trip Report: Animal Kingdom Sketches

Oh yes, it is time!   Time to share what me and my little Moleskine Watercolor Sketchbook got up to while in Disney's Animal Kingdom:



Wild Anhinga spotted on the river, a duck (Pochard?), and a really cool plant.



More abstract studies of another Anhinga.



On the subject of birds, there is a new presentation at Dinoland USA that features live birds, is essentially a sequel to my beloved Flights of Wonder, and matter-of-factly presents birds as a kind of dinosaur.  This... okay, Dinoland still makes me drink heavily, but this is a very nice change for the better.  More like this, please.





Flights of Wonder is still awesome and I finally got to sit in the "I'm glad I am wearing a hat" seats.  Only thing is, I thought I'd heard that the show had finally received a rewrite, but it seems essentially the same.  I tell you, the Dr. Guano story is getting as taxing as Little Red back in the day.



The Komodo Dragon was surprisingly spry, and the Lion Macaques are a new addition.



A graceful Tree Monitor, a handsome Jungle Fowl, and a Mystery Bovine!  (All Ears identifies it as a Banteng, while the Cast Member I asked called it a Water Buffalo.  Either way, nice model.)



An Argus Pheasant and Crowned Pigeon...



...and some studies from my Safari photos.



Bonus: A Limpkin I met at the Boardwalk docks...



And a surprisingly graceful Manatee at the Living Seas.