WJMcIntosh's photostream  

Last Friday, Sam (Disney Resort) and I made a trip in to meet with Bob Desmond, who is a professional Disney staff photographer from Walt Disney World. Bob was in town to shoot the new Buena Vista Street and Carsland this week, and was kind enough to let us tag along as he was granted access to the viewing deck at the top of the Grand Californian Resort. As I had never been up there before, I started snapping away almost immediately as I knew that chances were slim that I would ever be allowed up there again...unless I purchased a room on that floor which are somewhere in the neighborhood of $600 a night. We shot for a while, and then headed off for dinner, and as we returned to the viewing deck, we added Gregg and Justin Cooper to our group. We stayed to shoot World of Color before heading back down to some of the other new items in the park, including the neon over the fence at Carsland, and the new fountain in front of the Carthay Circle Theater. While the view of Paradise Pier was impressive, we all agreed that we want both of the new areas of the park to open NOW. It's going to be a long three weeks before they open to the public. : (

First of all, I need to apologize for being out of the Fireworks Friday mode for so long. I think it's been a number of months since my last fireworks shot, but I hope to remedy that as we head into the Summer.

Last Saturday, I was back in the park looking for a new location for the "Magical" fireworks show which will begin showing nightly again for the Summer beginning tonight. After snooping around Tomorrowland, I came back to Fantasyland and Monstro here caught my eye. I had a general idea of where to expect the fireworks, set up the tripod (no security in sight) and fired away.

(Please view larger on black in lightbox if you have a second. Thanks! :) )

I had to wait.....and wait.....and wait.....and wait some more for this particular shot as the die hard guests kept filtering out of the park long after the announcement came that the park was closing for the night. The killer sunset was reduced to embers by this point, but I was grateful that the people actually stopped coming down Main Street before all the light had gone from the sky.

When comparing this park to the one up the freeway from my house here in Orange County, I'd have to say that this park wins hands down when it comes to overall beauty and aesthetics. Rather than the cracked and broken pavement that makes up the area around the hub in Anaheim, the brick work is incredible up and down Main Street and only becomes more so when lit by the last rays of the day. The original Disneyland leaves Disneyland Paris in the WEEDS when it comes to the number of attractions and overall atmosphere, but I believe this is arguably the most beautiful park that the Disney company has built to date.

Handheld, HDR, Photomatix, Nik Efex, etc, etc.

Timothy Q. Mouse sits high atop the Dumbo ride as the last guests of the day take a final spin in Disneyland Paris. I was pleased that the Nikkor 18-200 held up rather well on our trip to Europe as I needed a lens that was lighter than the 70-200 and extremely versatile. This was taken from across Fantasyland back toward Dumbo as the park emptied out after 9 PM.

One of the strangest things about our visit to Disneyland Paris last year was closing down the park with the sun still in the sky. The park closed at 9 PM, but I was able to keep shooting until just a little after 10. There was still plenty of daylight left as I was shooting just a week after the Summer Solstice, and as the hour grew later, it soon seemed that I had the park all to myself.

This is the view from just inside the castle as you look towards Fantasyland. Not wanting to lift the same name from our Carousel here in Anaheim (King Arthur), they went with "Lancelot." If I haven't said it before, this is one SERIOUSLY gorgeous park and I can't wait until we get a chance to make a return visit some day.