Palm Trees at the Polynesian Village Resort / Natural Beauty
Floridian Polynesian Palm Trees
Palm trees surround the buildings at the Polynesian Village Resort at Walt Disney World, as seen during our 2019 Florida Summer Vacation.
I am no palm tree expert, despite the number of palm tree photos I have shared here over the years. But I would guess that these are actually Floridian palm trees more than Polynesian palm trees. They do look a little different than most of the palm trees that we saw in Hawaiʻi, if that counts for anything.
However, if I can’t tell the difference, I am guessing that the average guest at the Polynesian Village Resort can’t either. Or maybe I am just below average. Regardless of the exact species, palm trees do add a Polynesian feel to the resort, even though there are in fact palm trees all over Florida. But the Disney folks do a good job of making sure palm trees are not the dominant tree at the Wilderness Lodge with its rustic feel, while having lots of palm trees at the Polynesian to add to its island-like atmosphere.
This particular photo was from the same evening that we saw the Electrical Water Pageant and Magic Kingdom fireworks from out there on the Polynesian Village Resort beach. It was quite a night, and we have some wonderful memories from it.
Trees at Home
Because of my fondness for palm trees, I have always thought it would be fun to have a palm tree or two here at home. Unfortunately, those would probably not survive the Tennessee winters that we have here, so no outside palm trees for us.
There was a restaurant around here that had some palm trees outside of it, and I had heard that they had an arrangement with a greenhouse to move the palm trees inside for the winters. But evidently that did not work out, because for the last several years they have just had artificial palm trees outside of that restaurant. Maybe it was too much trouble to move the trees, or maybe they did not handle all of the changes all that well. That was just another reminder to me to not even try palm trees in our yard.
However, we do have a few palm trees inside the house. They are more like palm plants than palm trees, actually. We have a few different varieties that we have gotten in a few different ways. We bought a couple of them, and others have come to us as funeral plants that someone sent to the funeral home for different of our loved ones, and then we have brought them home. Fortunately, we have had pretty good luck with them inside our house, although we know well enough not to try to move them outside. Neither Laura or I have a green thumb, or any other green fingers for that matter. So we are content with the inside trees that thrive without too much work.
And that is actually just another reminder to me of how cool God’s creation is, if I even needed another reminder. There are so many different types of trees that grow all over the world. Some grow better here, and others grow better in other places. Some are strong and stand up to almost anything, and others don’t do so well in the wind. And some stay green all year long, and others turn beautiful colors in the fall before losing all of their leaves.
This is a wonderful world that we live in. Sometimes it takes going somewhere different to see some different things than what you are used to. But other times it just takes a reminder to look around and notice what we have here. So if you need that reminder where you are, here it is.
Take a look at the beauty of nature all around you. God’s creation is amazing.
Bible Verse
I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. - Psalm 89:1
About the Photo
Although it was starting to get dark when I took this photo, it was not all that dark yet, so there was no need for a tripod. That was a good thing, because I had not brought my tripod with me, preferring to travel light on that day. Sometimes less is a blessing.
In processing the photo, I used a gradient overlay in Aurora HDR, making the top of the photo more blue and the bottom of the photo more yellow and slightly brighter. Hopefully, it looks rather natural. And if you did not realize it before I mentioned it, then it must be at least somewhat natural looking.
Sometimes, photos take some work to make them look like what we see in real life. Some would consider that editing to be unnatural. But I just consider it to be art. I am not trying to win any journalistic awards here (unless anyone wants to give me one for the site as-is), so I am happy to take more of an artistic approach to these photos.
Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Aurora HDR. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
Lens: Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Lens
Date: June 10, 2019
Location: Polynesian Village Resort, Walt Disney World, Florida
