In the 10-year period from 2010 to 2020, I took more pictures than I did in all the previous years of my life. What happened that decade to change all that?
Lots: Neighborhood photo documentations. Theater. Football and basketball games. Campus landscapes. And in that one decade, I did the most traveling I've ever done -- by a longshot.
I was pretty exhausted at the end of doing an archival shoot of a community theater production in Indianapolis, because I was constantly moving on the stage, angling for optimum perspectives and shots. I also was pretty worn after running along the sidelines of a college gridiron to keep up with play at football games, and I usually was using my very heavy Canon EF 70-200mm f/28.L IS lens while doing it.
Still, that decade of photography might not have anything on the single week -- yes, just six days -- that I spent photographing theme parks (mostly Disney) in the Orlando area of Florida in late May and early June.
But for six consecutive days in Florida this spring, I don't remember being as exhausted as I was each late afternoon after traipsing through Magic Kingdom (twice), Animal Kingdom, Epcot Center, Universal Studios and Hollywood Studios. We usually got to the parks at or near when the gates opened (8 a.m. in most instances) and didn't leave until after 4 or 5 p.m. The eternal standing in lines for various rides or shows exacerbated the fatigue.
One thing in my favor was that I used my light (relatively speaking) but extremely versatile Tamron 20-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD lens on my Canon 6D each day for all my shots, but I shot a lot, pushing the capacity on my 32GB SD cards to near capacity on most days, and exceeding capacity (requiring a second card) on just the trip to Epcot Center.
Today, I'm going to begin an initial installment on the pictures from that tour of the sundry theme parts. I'll devote one post for each day (six days), then spend separate posts on two specific attractions at two of those parks -- the Star Wars area of Holywood Studios and the Harry Potter area of Universal Studios.
The visit to the Orlando area came in that small window between when the CDC said that people fully vaccinated for COVID-19 could be outdoors without masks and that while they should be safe indoors as well, it was advisable to wear masks in crowded indoor situations. At all of the theme parks, masks were required only while standing in lines and while inside a structure. Today, a month and a half later, with COVID cases nationwide quickly rising again -- and with Florida being one of the states where the upward spike is most dramatic -- I'm not sure what they are observing or requiring at the parks.
Hope you enjoy the tour as I do this reminiscence.
Today's post is devoted to our first trip to Magic Kingdom, which occurred on May 29. The photo leading off the post is the iconic flower-formed image of Mickey Mouse's face that greets visitors near the entrance of the park. I don't intend to suggest that photos here are representative of the full theme park; they are images I selected to include for this post for various reasons.
As always, you can view a larger and sharper image simply by clicking on it. You can see a full gallery of images from the May 29 visit to Magic Kingdom at the link included in this sentence.
Most visitors use the free Monorail system (above) to actually reach the Magic Kingdom property from the parking lots (parking is $25 per car). You'd think they'd make it pedestrian friendly so you could just walk into the park from the lots, but no. The park does provide an alternative means of getting to the Kingdom from the lots -- a ferry boat across Seven Seas Lagoon. Yes, Magic Kingdom has a City Hall (above), which actually does have an area where visitors can conduct business (such as seeing about getting an express pass to rides for people with disabilities). Quite often, people dressed in Disney character outfits (below) perform in a review and/or simply wave and greet visitors just inside the entrance area, perpendicular to City Hall. A walk down Main Street towards Cinderella's Castle (above) awaits visitors once they get past the plaza across from City Hall. A little closer look at the castle (first photo below) followed by two photos (a perspective and closeup, second and third photos below) of park namesake Walt Disney with his longtime pal, Mickey Mouse, situated in another plaza in front of Cinderella's Castle. Above and below: Just beyond the castle is this merry-go-round, which I presume is ideally situated to grab the attention of toddlers while still early in their visit to the park.
When my family visited Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., when I was 10 years old, my greatest excitement was driving the bumper cars. An exterior shot of the Speedway at Disney World appears above; a slice of the bumper car track appears below. I was at Disney World in 1978 and '80, and I don't recall that I rode the bumper cars then. But things have changed since I was at Disneyland many years ago; I saw no physical contact among the cars when I was there this year. And yes, this time, I did ride a bumper car; it was not the thrill I remember it being many, many years ago. Above: A curve in the Monorail track inside the park.
Above: Space Mountain (I think) in the distance, which has an all-interior ride (almost entirely in the dark) that I elected not to try on my first visit May 29. I was persuaded to try it on the return trip June 3. While I'm glad I got to experience it, I would not do the ride again. Above and below: Because of these photos' proximity in the next to the photo of Space Mountain, I could understand if you thought this image was from that ride, but it is not. I don't recall the ride the above photo and below are associated with, though.
Above: There are lots of waterfalls landscaped throughout the Disney theme parks; this is one at Magic Kingdom. This might have been from Splash Mountain, but I'm not sure.
Above and below: Examples of different lamps that struck my eye during my walk through the park.
The character Gaston has his own statue and tavern at the park; later in the day, I would run into a personification of this arrogant and chauvinistic antagonist in "Beauty and the the Beast" in one of the several spontaneous mini-parades the theme park throws during the day.
Above and below: I forget the brand connection of this carriage I came across (it could have been associated with the Cinderella story), but I photographed it because I was attracted to the windows' reflective quality.
Above: An attraction I enjoyed in my 1978 and '80 visits to Disney World was the Hall of Presidents, which featured a show in which wax representations of all U.S. presidents are positioned on a stage and are programmed with audio capabilities to make a presentation to seated audiences. But the hall was closed both days I was there this time; the explanation was that the hall was preparing the figure and script for the newest president, Joe Biden. Above: A fellow pedestrian, perhaps sharing my dismay about the Hall of Presidents closure.
The photo above and the four immediately below are from the most involved mini-parades I witnessed this day.
Above: A river cruiser takes off on a short ride. This might have been from the Rivers of America area.Back at the plaza in front of Cinderella's Castle, this statue of Chip and Dale can be found on one of the stone and brick pillars. Other Disney characters can be found on other pillars. Above and below: Peter Pan personified in an extremely brief mini-parade down Main Street.
Above: A better view, in my opinion, of Main Street looking toward Cinderella's Castle than the one I presented higher up. Above and below are two shots of Gaston from yet another mini-parade. In the photo below, I was close enough to him that I could hear him as he preened and boasted, "You're getting my best side, too!"
Above and next two below: More characters from mini-parades.
Next up: Hollywood Studios
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