Photo Intensive Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Trip report

[darklingscribe]

I got a DLSR camera to take along with me on the TPR Europe trip and decided to give it its first test run at SFDK. That's pretty much all I have to say, most of the trip report will be included in the photo descriptions.

Synchronized dolphining (is that a word?) This is the last photo for now. I'm only half through but it's nearly one in the morning and I have to go to sleep. Stay tuned for tomorrow when I'll be posting the other half of the trip report.

Dolphin doubles.

Weeeeee!

Sploosh!

The People were then soaked.

Dolphin limbo.

Do the twist. (I'm running out of captions)

They called up some people to dance with the dolphins.

...and splash the audience while the other one was doing a trick.

One would often sneak up...

They were really quite graceful animals.

Dolphin signature shot.

Oh well, what can you do.

She then wiped her hands on her shirt to get rid of the fishy smell.

They called up a little girl on stage to help feed the Dolphins.

Weeee!

It was here i really got to test out the High Speed shooting function of my camera.

Sploosh!

Weeeee!

The stadiums here are pretty big and it's nice being in the shade.

At the dolphin show waiting for it to start.

But the line was looking a little long and we wanted to see the Dolphin show in 30 minutes.

We then went on over to check out Tony Hawk's Big Spin.

BS that this doesn't count as an inversion.

Up the 45 degree barrel roll.

I love this photo. She just looks so thrilled.

V2 launching. my Favorite of the impulse coasters.

Someday I may do this, when I'm not carrying all this camera equipment around with me.

This is where you can pay to swim with the dolphins.

A little bit further down the path is the dolphin experience.

Is it me or does it look like they are plotting something?

I spot a Penguin. Their enclosure is very randomly placed across the path from the Sting Rays.

Yes, thats right, a place where you can PET STING RAYS.

We then went to the Sting Ray petting pool.

Clean up Andrew.

"Did someone say fish?"

"NO! Don't eat my fish!"

NO Andrew! DON'T eat his fish!

Andrew has his fish.

He wants fish.

Every animal enclosure today had at least one staff member in front of it to answer questions about the animals and educate the kids. This is the first time I've seen this kind of attention at SFDK.

...to the seal enclosure. Hmm... He seem to be contemplating whatever that thing is.

We then made our way past the kiddie section...

It was a long and slow line because there was only one person there, though we couldn't complain because the sign on the door said that the place wouldn't open until 2 and it was only 12.

We then went to get our season passes.

Water dummy enthusiast shot.

Cobra is long for a kiddie coaster and if you sit in the very front or back you might even get one or two pops of air. Can you spot Andrew?

Heading to the lift hill.

I see you.

Andrew waiting in line, excited to finally get his Cobra credit.

First we headed over to the land section to hit Medusa and the kiddie credit Cobra.

The animal that they were showing today was one of the largest parrots I've ever seen. Be careful now, it eats fingers for breakfast.

My friend Andrew, happy to finally be here after enduring an hour and a half of Bay Area rush hour traffic.

This is what you will see after entering the park, by the Discovery Kingdom sign there is always a trainer showing one of the animals.

Roar was also running great today and offered many little "pops" of airtime after the first and second hill.

First drop of roar, through the trees!

Now that all the trees have grown, you'd hardly notice that this is a parking lot coaster.

Into the first helix! I still think Medusa (west) is the best floorless I've been on and it was giving great rides today.

The drop out of the MCBR of Medusa gives a nice pop of air.

Into the Zero-G Roll!

Though the Loop!

Signature Shot!

The public seemed to really enjoy the ride. Personally it was fun, but nowhere near the ride of my Favorite Spinning coaster, Dragon's Fury at Chesstington World of Adventure.

A new credit! Tony Hawk's Big Spin

Still a ways to walk, but what is that I see ahead of me?

...and that fish is... sleeping. Yeah that's it, just sleeping...

Um... Yeah that water looks perfectly... clean.

Just to remind you where this is.

This is what SFDK's parkling lot looks like, as parking lots go it's not that much of an eyesore.

The park itself has one of the more beautiful skylines of the Six Flags parks, especially from the parking lot.

[caliraiden]

Man this trip report sucks!! There are not enough pictures of me! Worst Report Ever.

[RIP Psyclone]

^Worst post ever. A lack of pictures of you is a very good thing.

[RaptorBoyASU]

Good pics of the park, but yikes those first few seem really oversaturated.

 

I really need to go to this park again. I've been once, and it was horribly crowded, and I didn't even manage to snag all the credits. Mmmmmm......garlic fries.

[chmilo24]

Great TR, I love the dolphin pics. I was debating if wether I should get a DLSR camera, and I just may after seeing your pics.

[handy-andy]

Looks like you have a great new camera there and had a great time at he park. I look forward to seeing your Europe photos!

[kraken613]

Man your camera takes nice pictures!

My Dad has a DSLR but wont let me use it....

[darklingscribe]

I noticed that the saturation levels on some of the photos was high as well. I'm not exactly sure why, but somehow iPhoto did that when I batch exported them into a smaller size.

 

Here is section two of the trip.

Sploosh! And thats the Last picture I have to post. My camera's memory card was full. We didn't do much after the killer whale show, we just went over to ride Tony Hawk and Roar and then the park closed at 6pm. Hopefully I'll be back at SFDK next week to check out all the shows and exhibits I missed. This is really turning out to be one of the best parks in the SF chain.

And she makes it!

Shouka coming up for her largest jump. (my favorite picture I got of the show)

Sploosh!

Only to have Shouka drench him.

They got this poor kid to stand up close to the pool.

But what Shouka lacked in maneuverability, she made up for in grace.

This show was less energetic than the dolphin show.

In these pictures it is hard to get an idea on the size of the animal.

I can't remember the last time I saw an Orca show.

We then went to see Shouka the killer whale.

This aviary is located in the kids section near the petting zoo and the elephant rides.

Beautiful plumage. These birds have tongues like paint brushes, all the little fibers just sponge up the liquid.

The black and orange gimpy bird seemed to appreciate my gesture.

You have to be careful when you are in here, because these birds will bite you if you try to pet them.

I then went to offer the nectar to the gimpy footed black and orange bird.

These two birds kept on fighting.

They give you two little cups of nectar, you walk into the aviary, and then the birds swarm you.

Next we went to the lorakeet feeding.

Both of the cats were over eight feet tall when they stood on their hind legs.

See that? All muscle.

The tigers also got some two percent milk.

Say cheese Odin.

"Can I has more meat?"

There it is.

This one had some trouble keeping track of where the meat was thrown.

The teeth on these animals seemed to be at least six inches long.

Using it's claws to grab the meat and drag it into it's mouth.

This tiger really acted like a cat.

See that front leg? Yeah all muscle.

Are they trying to scare us? Nope just diving for meat.

Rawr.

They want your kids.

Odin then demonstrated how he can jump over ten feet, and that we should fear him.

Om nom nom.

The paws on this tiger were huge.

First they showed us how tigers can swim, using meat on a stick.

We were in luck, the show was about to start.

Where the now internet famous, Odin resides.

We then went over to the tiger exhibit.

She also said that they regularly walk their animals around the park after closing, and early in the morning.

A really beautiful cat. The trainer said that the three cougars they have at Discovery Kingdom are still not fully adults and that they were from the wild, found a couple of weeks old after a hunter had shot their mother.

Don't worry Andrew, they have it on a chain.

Holy sh!t, a cougar.

They also had kale, usually the giraffe feeding is one of my favorites at Discovery Kingdom, but today it was kind of subdued.

After the green onions one of the giraffes finally came over to munch on some carrots.

Om nom nom nom.

"Green onions, did you say?"

Finally one of trainers went over to lure the giraffes over with their favorite snack, green onions.

It was time for the giraffes' feeding but neither of them seemed all that hungry.

The lions weren't doing much.

I'm not too familiar with the children's series, but why is the rear end of the train smiling?

The families seemed to be enjoying themselves... generally.

The railroad crossing lowered as we were leaving and we got a glimpse of the new Thomas kids section.

We then ate and went to the shark tunnel exibit. I'm sorry to say that none of my photos came out in dark tunnel as I haven't yet figured out how to manipulate the ISO factor to a satisfactory level so here here is a random photo of a stingray I took outside of the exibit.

[Simba]

What??? You bought an EOS 40D to use it in freaking basic modes??

awww man this sucks...

 

The 28-135mm IS could have got way better pictures than that only if you took the time to set the proper aperture, shutter speed and most important in this case: ISO.

 

Really if you want a camera that will get you "nice" photos without having to play with the settings just buy a bridge... Right now you're just wasting the potential of the 40D and that's really sad...

[coastrfreak2000]

^ No need to be so rude, he will get better at using the camera the more he uses it. I've had my DSLR for months and I'm still experimenting and learning new things.

[Simba]

sorry if it seemed a little rude, that's not the point.

 

But I've got a 400D for almost 2 years now and I never used it in auto modes. Cause I took time to play with the settings of my old powershot and learned the basics of photography.

 

Don't even consider buying a DSLR before knowing what means shutter speed, aperture, ISO, White Balance... that's just the basics. Owners of DSLR must love photography and have the will to improve and learn.

 

Well I know that this is new for you so I guess what I wanted to say is just: Play around with the settings, don't waste your time with the lame auto settings

 

 

I've had my DSLR for months and I'm still experimenting and learning new things.

I'm still learning some new things too.

Photographers always have something new to learn. Even more if you consider the new technologies: improved and more complicated AF systems, Liveviews, Raw files Processing...

 

 

Anyway the most important thing is: Having fun!

[darklingscribe]

I know all about shutter speed and the like, I'm a film major and have taken classes. I've had the camera for less than a week and my main purpose for taking it to SFDK was to practice my composition. The menus on this camera are labyrinthine and the night before I had misplaced my manual, so I decided to concentrate purely on composition and just have a good time.

[shesaidboom]

Those tiger pictures in the water are SO COOL!

[Mechanic]

^ Agreed! The underwater tiger shots were awesome. I enjoyed the rest of the pictures as well. Thank you for sharing them.

[laqueefa]

AWESOME photo report! Those tiger shots are so funny. LoLcats?

[coaster_dude2002]

You have some really great photos in there Tim. The tigers pictures are great, and the photo of Drew trying to eat the fish... well it is bringing back some very disturbing memories from Holiday World.

 

I can't wait to see what you take on the Europe trip.

[adeuce02]

awesome photos. Tigers are my favorite animal so i love this trip report.

[SLUSHIE]

What??? You bought an EOS 40D to use it in freaking basic modes??

awww man this sucks...

 

I see where your coming from, but unless your as into cameras as you are into theme parks, who's going to spend the time to setup for every shot.

 

If it were me, there would be a few times I would take the time to configure the settings, like at the killer whale show or any other time where I wasn't just passing by real quick.

[Coaster Sim. Fan]

Nice job with the picture some are really well done. This really does look like a SF park with a very good future.

 

Some times you need to have the right equipment also to improve your skills. I really need to buy a good digital camera. The digital camera I have takes good picture if your taking just regular pictures of like people and things, but when I try to get creative with it such as with action shots, night, sun rise, sunset and other creative things it just cant keep up. (ex the picture will be fine but what was moving is all blurry and to blurry to use for any thing) Only reason I have yet to get one is I am really in to video and not sure if I want to go HD (I would get both if i had the money). I can continue going on but I don't want to start ranting, I can say from many experiences though that not having the right equipment can really hold you back.

[darklingscribe]

Thanks for all the compliments. The tiger photos are my favorites as well, I'll try to take some more when I go back to SFDK next week.

[ebl]

Nice photo TR. SFDK is a park that I'd like to get back to since my last visit was nine years ago. I'm thinking of taking a trip to CGA and SFDK next year after the woodie at CGA opens.

 

You'll get better at using your camera the more you use it. To those who've criticized you, piss on 'em.

 

Eric

[Goliath513]

Dude, I just came across this and it's like reliving our visit to the park today! I loved the tiger shots especially. Hope everything works out well with the new camera and it was nice meeting you, Drew, and Ivan today.

 

 

 

EDIT: That was the most painful ride I have experienced on Kong. Ever. We could clearly see wheels that weren't touching the track, and during the ride the side wheel on the left of the car in front of me had at least a couple centimeter gap between it and the track. It's insane how this ride has gone to hell during the past year in terms of ride quality despite how bad it was before. Now I understand why Vekomas hurt so much - their cars are misaligned with the track. Hopefully this is a sign of future removal!

 

-Sam "still recovering from the pain" J

[Luka]

...and that fish is... sleeping. Yeah that's it, just sleeping...

 

This, made me laugh for a while...

 

Some very nice photo's, I especially like the tiger ones.

[Kennyweird]

I eventually want to get a DSLR. The one photo you took of the Orca whale breaking the surface of the water was absolutely beautiful.

[1FoolishMortal]

They want your kids.

 

LOL....oh man. That made me giggle, especially considering the picture it goes with.

 

 

 

Thanks for the great pics! I've been going to SFDK long before it was owned by Six Flags, and I'm glad to see the park doing so well.