Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Another May Trip Report, Pt. 4



After an action-packed day, I decided to stay overnight and get a few early morning shots before heading home.



Views like this of Main Street, devoid of guests, made it worth getting up so early in the morning!





Alice Davis' window is next to her husband's Marc. All I can say is...it's about time!



There were more cast members than guests!







I love these little hitching posts, which can be found all over Main Street:



Breakfast at The Plaza Inn gave me an opportunity to shoot more light fixtures:









Kudos to Disneyland for turning The Pavillion back into a vibrant space:





How often do you get to shoot the entrance of a land, devoid of guests?





I decided to attempt to ride Nemo, as it had been at least a year or more since the last time.



A pleasant journey...





But overall, my feelings about it were the same.



Loud...disjointed...and full of special effects that weren't so special.



See you in another year or so!



The Monorail had an overlay celebrating the imminent opening of Cars Land:



The Carnation Plaza Gardens is already under the wrecking ball:



and The Carnation Cafe is getting closer to being finished:



My last bit of fun for this weekend was at The Opera House, where I decided to take in Mr. Lincoln.



The lobby display is worth viewing.



It makes the perfect preamble to the Lincoln show.





What a gorgeous tableau. If this scene doesn't make you feel patriotic, I don't know what will!



Back to my TPE series tomorrow!

See more vintage & current Disneyland photos on my Disneyland web page.

8 comments:

Major Pepperidge said...

Did you get some sort of early admission (before the regular guests) because you stayed at the Grand Californian? It's like the park isn't even open yet!

Daveland said...

Major - I was slumming it at the Jolly Roger this time! The absence of guests is because I went in at 7am for a character breakfast, and because I am patient enough to wait to get shots in between the waves of cattle stampeding through Main Street!

K. Martinez said...

I usually don't care for the monorail overlays, but I do like the car-o-rails they did for Cars Land.

HBG2 said...

Nice shots, especially the submarine views. No complaints, none at all, but I'm hoping you won't become too, too addicted to HDR, as it will never replace the natural look. I like it; I'm jes' sayin'.

Daveland said...

HBG2: I'm still finding my way with the HDR; much of my stuff is still over saturated or unnatural looking...I have a lot of learning to do! It's a great tool in getting some shots that were previously unattainable.

Douglas McEwan said...

You may not like Finding Nemo but it has something very special, at least to me: my friend and idol, the great Barry Humprhies, funniest man in the world, best known in America as "Dame Edna Everage", is the voice of Bruce the shark on that ride, as he is in the movie. For me, it's like encountering a friend living in Disneyland. Well, he IS my friend. As long as he's part of that ride, I will not go to the park and miss it.

Maybe it's my love of over-saturated colors (Give me good old three-strip over-saturated Technicolor movies from the 1950s over today's drab looking, "let's-make-every-thing-blue", digital movies anyday!), but I thought a lot of these shots in this posting were absolutely gorgeous.

Douglas McEwan said...

PS. I LOATHE the Carsland overlay on the Monorails. It's creepy! And it has no business being part of Tomorrowland. Walt never intended: "In the future, monorails will stare at your with hooded, creepy eyes that saw what you did, that know your shameful secrets, that are hungry to eat you, and will get you when you sleep."

Daveland said...

Doug - I have seen Bruce twice doing his Dame Edna schtick; the guy really is brilliant. I have never laughed so hard. Maybe you could suggest to Disney that they upgrade Nemo to "Finding Dame Edna." THAT is an attraction I'd go to see every time!

Yup yup yup on 3 Strip; oh those gorgeous saturated hues of the classic technicolor films. As anyone who sees my photos can attest to, they had a huge impact on how I see the world.