Duck Crest

Date: 12/2007
Location: Toon Town, Disneyland
Comments: This is the crest on Donald's Boat inside Mickey's Toon Town. I'm not a big fan of Toon Town, but there are a couple of gems to shoot. Not sure if Daisy is intentionally weathered or just plain neglected.

Chevron Gasoline

Date: 12/2005
Location: Condor Flats, Disney's California Adventure
Comments: This gas pump sits in front of the faux gas station outside of Soaring Over California. The pumps look to be authentic, 50's era gas pumps, but who knows, given teh artistry of Disney's Imagineers.

King Arthur's Jester

Date: 12/2005
Location: King Arthur's Carousel, Fantasyland, Disneyland
Comments: This crest is one of 20 or so that circle King Arthur's Carousel. the attention to detail is pretty incredible when you stop and look at these crests. the flowers and gilded framing are something you wouldn't bother to notice unless you look.

The Stork

Date: 12/2005
Location: Dumbo, Fantasyland, Disneyland
Comments: The Stork that delivered baby Dumbo in the 1941 Disney film adorns the perimeter of one of the parks original rides. There are 16 Dumbo's circling this hub & spoke ride. Timothy Mouse directs traffic from atop the balloon in the center of the ride.

Former President Harry Truman refused to ride the attraction in a 1957 visit, because he didn't want to be seen enjoying himself on anything associated with the Republican Party.

Bon Temps Xmas

Date: 12/2005
Location: New Orleans Square, Disneyland
Comments: The holiday season is one of the most fantastic times to be at Disneyland because of the decorum. There's no denying that it's the holidays when you're in New Orleans Sqaure either. This is probably the most decked out sections of the park. This photo was taken just outside the Pieces of Eight shop.

Hyperion

Date: 12/2005
Location: Hollywood Pictures Backlot, Disney's California Adventure
Comments: Opened on February 8th, 2001, this art deco inspired theater is the rallying point for stage shows featured at DCA. The theater holds seats 2000 on three levels (orchestra, mezzanine and balcony, which "evokes the gandeur of Hollywood's Golden Era". As of this print, Disney's Alladin - A Musical Spectacular was the fixed show at the Hyperion. The theater is named for the original location of the Walt Disney studios on Hyperion Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Known shows to have appeared at the Hyperion: Kaboom, Steps in Time, Blast, Alladin.

Headed to the Magic Kingdom

Haven't posted much new content here in a while, but I'm headed to Disneyland and Cal Adventure a week from Saturday. I hope to have lots of new images upon my return. Check back in mid December for more great scapes.

Mike

Tom Morrow

Date: 5/2005
Location: Innoventions, Fantasyland, Disneyland
Comments: Tom Morrow is the witty host of the Innoventions attraction, which features the technology of tomorrow. The two story building housing Innoventions originally served as the Carousel Theater, the home to America Sings, which opened on June 29, 1974. Sam the Eagle served as host an MC of the musical tribute to American song. When the attraction closed in 1988, many of the animatronic characters were reassigned to duty in the Splash Mountain attraction in Critter Country. The building sat idle for ten years, until the Innoventions attraction opened on July 3, 1998.

Building Speed: 6" per second/17 minutes for full rotation
Ride System: Moving building with interactive exhibits

An Original

Date: 5/2005
Location: King Arthur Carrousel, Fantasyland, Disneyland
Comments: This plaque signifies the attraction (King Arthur Carrousel in this case) as one of the original attractions present on Disneyland's orignal opening day back on July 17th, 1955. Thought it was very relevant to post this shot this week.

Geosphere

Date: 3/2003
Location: Spaceship Earth, EPCOT Center, DisneyWorld
Comments: The world-renowned 180-foot-tall geosphere is the marquee attraction at DisneyWorld's EPCOT Center. Walt Disney's fascination with the future came full circle in 1972, when EPCOT and Spaceship Earth opened. Sadly, Walt would not live to see the debut of his natural wonder. The Geosphere's outer shell is comprised of 11,324 trangles (composed of Alucobond, a thermal polyethylene core bonded to aluminum), is 518.1 feet in circumference, 165 feet in diameter and covers 150,000 square surface feet. The sphere also weighs 16 million pounds, stretches 180 feet above the ground and took 26 months to construct.

Grinning Toad

Date: 5/2005
Location: Mr Toad's Wild Ride, Fantasyland, Disneyland
Comments: This is the wood sculpture of Mr Toad, which sits in the study as visitors wait to join Mr Toad on his madcapped adventure. The statue was added to the attraction after the fascade was overhauled by Imagineers. [looking for refurbishment details]

Winter Castle

Date: 12/2003
Location: Sleeping Beauty's Castle, Fantasyland, Disneyland
Comments: This has the be the most photographed image at Disneyland, so I wanted to play around with visual affects on my rendition. This was taken during the Holiday season, so the castle is decked out in holiday regalia.

Main Street Concept

Date: 5/2005
Location: Art Gallery, New Orleans Square, Disney's California Adventure
Comments: This is an original concept sketch of what Walt Disney envisioned Main Street to look like. Notice the opera house is ont he left side o the street, while the fire house is on the right. This is the inverse of what would soon become the actual Main Street. Note: I had to touch this photo up quite a bit, because of all the light reflection that the cover glass gave off. Some portions of the image were smudged in order for me to remove the gallery lighting reflections. This finished image was also a blend of three seperate shots of the original sketch.

Electric Bug

Date: 5/2005
Location: Electric Light Parade, Sunshine Plaza, Disney's California Adventure
Comments: Part of the landscape of Disneyland included the Disney Electric Parade, which made its debut at Disneyland on June 17, 1972. Then called "The Main Street Electric Parade", it features floats, characters and cast members covered with "over a half million lights" was a mainstay at the park until 1996. It was resurrected at Disney's California Adventure in (need date).

Spires

Date: 2/2003
Location: Cinderella Castle, Fantasyland, Disney World
Comments: This shot was taken on the backside of the castle. Some facts I uncovered online: The castle is 189 feet tall & is made out of fibreglass. Construction of the castle began in late 1969 and took 18 months to build. Herbert Ryman began with a charcoal sketch, which he developed into a painting. He used several French castles for his inspiration, among them Chambord, Usse, and Chenonceau. Inspiration also came from the classic Walt Disney animated feature Cinderella. Six hundred tons of steel were used in the framework. There are 10 towering spires on the castle. Contrary to myth, the castle cannot be, nor has it ever been, dismantled in the event of a hurricane. Inside Cinderella Castle, space for an apartment for the Disney family was designed & built inside the castle's upper floors, but it has never been completed or used. Finishing touches to the castle included Cinderella's mice friends carved into decorative columns and the Disney family crest in stone above the breezeways. What's inside the castle? A shop selling glass & crystal ornaments, & a restaurant Cinderella's Royal Table (formerly King Stefan's Banquet Hall). A series of mosaic tile murals adorn the walls in the entry corridor. The murals, designed by imagineer Dorothea Redmond and executed by mosaicist Hanns-Joachim Scharff, tell the story of Cinderella in five 15-by-10-foot panels.

Golden Pony

Date: 5/2005
Location: King Arthur Carrousel, Fantasyland, Disneyland
Comments: The gold horse signifies that the carrousel is one of the original attractions present on Disneyland's debut in 1955. The attraction was remodeleed and relocated in 1983. It underwent another major overhaul in 2002.

The Lone Cypress

Date: 12/2003
Location: Inside Main Entrance, California Adventure
Comments: For those not familar with California, this section of mosaic found at the entrance to California Adventure, features the Lone Cypress on Carmel's famed 17 Mile Drive. Often mistaken as the Monterey Cypress, this tree is one of the landmarks found on the Monterey Peninsula, just down the road from the famed Pebble Beach Golf Course and historic Cannery Row. The mosaic is also adorned with a native California Sea Otter.

Piecing California Together (from The Great California Adventure, Imagineering Disney's California Adventure & The Disneyland Resort; 2001)

"Containing more than 12,000 pieces of hand-crafted tiles, the entry wall - a "Postcard from California" - captures the images of numerous California icons including LAX, Catalina Island, the redwoods, and San Francisco's Lombard Street and Chinatown. Each tile was cut from clay, baked, hand-painted and glazed (this includes using 14-carat gold paint). According to vice president, executive designer Tim Delaney, the Bulgarian couple who made the 12,000 tiles numbered and lettered each one so they could be put together by Imagineers on site.

"When the english letters ran out there was some type of bulgarian coding," says Tim. "We started to panic because if anything happened to those two people we would be lost in a sea of tile big enough to fill a football field."

Thankfully, the jig saw puzzle of tile was completed and has carved its place as of of the largest hand-crafted tile murals in the world."

It's a Jungle out there

Date: 5/2005
Location: Jungle Cruise, Adventureland, Disneyland
Comments: One of the original Disneyland attractions, the Jungle Cruise begins with a Colonial outpost centered deep in Adventureland. This attraction is also home to some of the corniest jokes on the planet. Where else can you see, "...those lions protecting that sleeping zebra." The most dangerous part of your journey? "The return to civilization!" I love the details that are laid out in the line for this attraction, which include a telegraph station and a variety of maps and expidition trinkets.

It's a Small & Colorful World

Date: 12/2003
Location: Small World, Fantasyland, Disneyland
Comments: If you've never been to Disneyland during Christmas, seeing Small World lit up like this is worth the trip alone. The holiday lighting from this vantage point is one of the most impressive views in the park. You're bound to find more people checking out this view, than in line for the attraction.

Coast to Coast Peoplemoving

Date: 12/2003
Location: Main Street, Disneyland
Comments: This window was dedicated to long time Disney employee Dick Nunis on June 28, 1999. Nunis's career with The Walt Disney Company spanned 44 years. Dick was getting his masters degree in Education from the University of Southern California and needed a summer job. He got a job as an hourly orientation-training instructor shortly before the opening of Disneyland on July 17, 1955. In 1961, after serving at DL in a variety of positions, Dick was named director of park operations, and in 1968 he was promoted to vice president of operations. Dick became executive vice president of Disneyland and Walt Disney World Vacation Kingdom in 1972 and was named president of Walt Disney Attractions in 1980, a position he held until his promotion in 1991 to Chairman of Walt Disney Attractions. On May 26, 1999, (his 44th anniversary with The Walt Disney Company) Dick officially retired as chairman of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. He served on The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors from 1981 to 1998 and in a director emeritus role through 2000.

The window reads: "Coast to Coast Peoplemoving, World Leader in Leisure Management, Dick Nunis Proprietor Started 1955, Offices Anaheim, Orlando,Tokyo. Wave Machine Specialty"

The Crystal Arcade

Date: 12/2003
Location: Main Street, Disneyland
Comments: I believe the arcade has been transformed into retail space, but when I was a kid it was still home to some of the antique arcade games that called Disneyland home.

Holiday Golden Gate

Date: 12/2003
Location: Under the Golden Gate Bridge at the entrance to DCA
Comments: Holiday trim decks the bridge.

Far East Imports

Date: 12/2003
Location: Main Street (above Disneyana), Disneyland
Comments: This window is dedicated to Marc Davis, one of the nine old men. Some of his characters include Maleficent, Sleeping Beauty, Cruella De Vil and Tinker Bell. He conceived the America Sings attraction. His works also included design of the Haunted Mansion, Small World, Pirates of the Caribean and the Tiki Room among others.

Window reads: "Far East Imports - Exotic Art - Marc Davis - Proprietor"

Captain Charles Gibbs

Date: 12/2003
Location: Just inside the entrance to Pirates of the Carribean
Comments: Born in Rhode Island, Charles Gibbs confessed to the murder of nearly 400 people over the course of his career as a pirate. He originally took to the sea as a member of the U.S. Navy in the War of 1812. At some point after the war, he joined a privateering ship. Perhaps not content with the rewards of privateering, he led a successful mutiny and became captain of his first pirate ship. He is best known for his cruelty, often slaughtering entire crews of the ships that he took. With the riches he plundered as a pirate, he left the sea for a time. But, he squandered his money and in 1830 found himself a seaman again. He attempted another mutiny, but this time was unsuccessful—and he was hanged at Ellis Island in New York in 1831. His final words were "No mercy did we ever show, for dead men tell no tales." (from PirateSoul.com)

Holiday Royal St

Date: 12/2003
Location: Royal St, New Orleans Square
Comments: Holiday trim in the Square.