Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Some Images and Thoughts from the Walt Disney World 40th Anniversary

I will never claim to have the photography skills of Tom and Sarah Bricker from the Disney Tourist Blog, but I wanted to share the random cell phone images that I captured during the 40th Anniversary weekend. Here is the first set of images.

Thursday Evening: Disney's Hollywood Studios

A dusty tome from our first (of many) trips to the Twilight Zone. I think we rode it  5-6 times.

Star Tours: The Adventure Continues was fun. And I was the rebel spy on my very first ride!

Yeah, these were adorable.

Friday: Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and Epcot.
We visited three parks on Friday. It was morning  Extra Magic Hour at Animal Kingdom. We did Everest 5 times before park opening.

I assume that Rafiki is checking to see if Simba's diaper if ready for changing.

Obviously, it was too early in the morning to be having this much fun. Anyone guess the character on my shirt? (Back row: hubble and forehead. Front row: Montezuma and Sitsdown.)


At the Magic Kingdom in the mid-afternoon. Just an image from a shop.

Another detail shot.

This pair of fountains was amazing. Loved the tile and the colors.

Adventurland is my favorite place in the parks. Beside the Haunted Mansion, that is.

We made it to Epcot. Our first stop was the restrooms. Took a moment to snap the ubiquitous Spaceship Earth photo.

Wow. Michael Crawford from Progress City, USA was right: school bread from Norway is AMAZING!

Just a quick photo. The fall skies in Orlando are breathtaking.

TOTORO! Who wouldn't want a Totoro hand towel?

We didn't do this. If it wasn't a thrill ride, we kept on walking. I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of this sign.

At first, it was just a picture of my beer. Then I noticed the reflection.

Hmmm. Not a good composition.

A little better. At least you can tell that I was at Epcot.

Much better! Wait a minute. Why am I taking photos of my beer when I should be drinking it?

I must get a copy of this book!

Some Saki at Teppen Edo.

I started off with the kid's chopsticks but quickly realized that I would starve if I didn't switch to a fork.

Mai, our chef. She wasn't as blurry in real life. That must have been the Saki.

5 comments:

Shane said...

The Epcot beer reflection shots are actually pretty awesome! A great way to stage some interesting pictures.

Also, is that pigeon statue wearing a collar?

Dan said...

Great photos! I loved the detail shots and will echo Shane's comment about the excellent beer reflection shots. Wish I was there!

John Rozum said...

A nice variety of photos. I'm guessing that is Totoro on your t-shirt there. After the Haunted mansion, Adventureland is my favorite, too.

Trish said...

Fantastic pictures! I'm going to have to experiment with landscapes reflected in beers. And yay, Totoro!

But I have kind of a downer of a question. Am I horribly mistaken, or was the "party" (or giant unorganized cluster-f-bomb according to another blog) at Magic Kingdom on October 1'st the ONLY thing at all Walt Disney World is doing to celebrate it's 40'th? Because I am old enough to remember going to the park during the 15'th anniversary celebration year and the way they celebrated that was amazing and kind of insane.

Though to be fair, I am sure most people/entities are more enthusiastic about turning fifteen than they are about turning forty... :)

Unknown said...

Trish--

I covered that here:
http://www.imaginerding.com/2011/05/d23-destination-d-walt-disney-world_21.html

And yes, that was all they wanted to do for the 40th. From what I understand, Diz did not want to do anything on 10/1 but relented when the fans became incensed.

It was a major disappointment. I was there with my brother and two friends--when we saw the crowd and the 4 hour line to buy stuff, we ditched the ceremony and rode the Enchanted Tiki Room, Jungle Cruise and Pirates!