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The Stockyards
Fort Worth, Texas

I've only had brief experiences in Texas. Slices of life, bits of truth. You hear that everything is bigger in Texas and assume it's just talk and bravado, but I actually found it true. The first and most immediate thing I noticed about Texas was a sort of grand openness that permeates every facet of the state. It's immediate and forward, it's big, it's vast: It's the Lone Star state.

These aren't bold photos of recognizable tourist spots. These are just slices of quick visits to grand, vast Texas.

Twitter: photojames
Instagram: jdhilger

Tokyo DisneySea
Tokyo, Japan

Mount Prometheus is a simulated volcano near the center of Tokyo DisneySea. At 189 ft tall, it matches Cinderella Castle in height. It is notable for being one of three Disney Park icons to simulate a natural vs. man-made structure (the others being the Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom and Grizzly Peak at California Adventure). It also follows the trend of featuring a vehicle-based attraction within it, like all the non-castle park icons. Opening in September, 2001 Mount Prometheus is also Disney's most recent non-cloned park icon: Honk Kong's Sleeping Beauty Castle is more recent, but it is a clone of California's castle.

While visible from several areas of the park, the mountain is technically part of Mysterious Island, an adventurous, Jules-Verne based land. The attraction Journey to the Center of the earth takes place within and around the Mount Prometheus structure and the vehicles for this attraction can be seen hurling from the top in waterless Splash Mountain-type fashion. Every so often the Volcano will erupt for a few minutes, with a loud rumble and fire and steam effects. Mount Prometheus is the only park icon to inspire trepidation as much as beauty: that blend of emotions is a large part of what gives DisneySea as a whole it's unique character.

Twitter: photojames
Instagram: jdhilger

Tokyo Disneyland
Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo's Cinderella Castle is essentially a carbon copy of the exterior of the Magic Kingdom's Cinderella Castle, built for Tokyo Disneyland which opened in 1983. Same look, same height, and even the same color schemes until minor changes were made to Tokyo's in 2006. The most notable difference between Florida's version are the grounds itself. Tokyo Disneyland is really big and the hub area surrounding the castle is especially large in Tokyo. Tokyo's Castle lacks the central stage that is placed in front of Florida's castle. Disney would not clone a park icon in such a fashion again until 2005 when they opened Hong Kong Disneyland which was largely a clone of California's Disneyland.

The interior of Tokyo's castle, however, is wholly unique. In 1986 Tokyo's castle opened a walk-through attraction called the Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour. It heavily featured Disney villains in an almost haunted house style setting, including some based of less known animated features such as the Black Cauldron (Tokyo Disneyland opening as that feature was in production). That wacky and rather dark walkthrough was replaced in 2011 with Cinderella's Fairy Tale Hall, a more benign and princessy walkthrough showcasing art and artifacts related to the story of Cinderella.

Twitter: photojames
Instagram: jdhilger

Epcot
Walt Disney World

[This week I'll be posting the park icons of my five favorite Disney parks - in chronological order]

Spaceship Earth (SSE) is the icon of Epcot, the first non-Disneyland based park Disney constructed. 180 ft tall, it looms large over the entrance to the park, the first and arguably only park icon to be placed directly at the entrance rather than as a "weenie" to draw further guests in.

SSE was also Disney's first park icon designed to also function as an attraction. SSE the attraction is a trip through the history of human communication, lasting 16 minutes and taking place within the large geodesic sphere. While subtle changes and upgrades have taken place, SSE is one of the few Epcot Future World opening day attractions that still remains largely in its original form. Both the structure and the attraction were designed with the input of science fiction writer Ray Bradbury.

While Epcot's FutureWorld is experiencing a bit of an identity crisis these days, the heart and soul of the original Epcot project and its vision of a showcase of science, progress, and human achievement can still be found in Spaceship Earth.

Twitter: photojames
Instagram: jdhilger

The Magic Kingdom
Walt Disney World

[This week I'll be posting the park icons of my five favorite Disney parks - in chronological order]

This an iconic view of what may be Disney's most iconic structure. It wasn't Disney's first (that's Sleeping Beauty Castle in California), nor is it their prettiest (that arguably goes to Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant in Paris) but it's definitely the most iconic. Very few people see this castle without immediately thinking of Disney in some way.

Cinderella's Castle in Florida opened with the Magic Kingdom and Walt Disney World in 1971. The 189 ft exterior was later cloned for Tokyo Disneyland in 1983. The Florida version is unique for housing a restaurant currently called Cinderella's Royal Table which allows you to dine up in the castle itself. It also houses the Cinderella Castle Suite, a special bedroom suite originally intended for the Disney family that was later finished as a VIP experience (good luck getting a reservation).

This shot happened to catch a bit of whimsy, just the right colors and light at just the right time. Totally unplanned, a complete surprise, and much better off for it. I think some sort of stage show happened to start as I was taking this shot. While some may lament the technical imperfections it caused, I think the lighting captured just the right magic and more than made up for it.

Nothing looks more magical from afar than Cinderella Castle.

Twitter: photojames
Instagram: jdhilger