Orlando theme parks, Part I: Disney World's Magic Kingdom, visit 1

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

Return to Taylor University more serene, somber than I had anticipated

It was almost nine years ago that I first stopped at Taylor University while pursuing a project to visit campuses of Indiana small colleges and universities that fielded football teams. 

The project (including the visit to Taylor) was a rewarding and fulfilling experience. But in the years since 2016 when I concluded the project, it has gnawed at me that I didn't spend nearly as much time as I would have liked at most of the schools while trying to capture their landscape "essence." None of the regrets, however, bothered me as much the failure to photograph the Memorial Prayer Chapel at the Taylor University campus. 

In 2008, the university built the chapel and dedicated it to the four students and one staff member killed in a horrific university van and semitrailer crash on nearby I-69, two miles north of Marion, Ind., in April 2006. Marion is not far from Taylor. One student survived the crash, and her two-months-long case of mistaken identity for one of the fatally injured students became a national and global story. 

In May 2021, I had a chance to correct my oversight. While in Indianapolis visiting family, I took a trip back to Upland and spent a couple hours at Taylor. The campus seemed deserted; the semester must have let out for the spring. Perhaps that aspect was responsible for the somber mood I felt while touring the chapel. There, a wall monument along an outdoor hallway describes on several occasions the individuals' deaths as a form of "home going." 

Not only did I photograph the chapel -- from many angles, including the one you see in the photo leading off the post -- but also other areas I had overlooked or not gotten a chance to photograph on the original visits. I also photographed at least two structures that were erected in the interim years. 

Two of the most prominent of the latter are the LaRita Boren Student Center, which is attached to Rediger Chapel\/Auditorium on the north end of campus, and Breuninger Hall, a coed dormitory, on the south end of campus; it is attached to Gerig Hall, another coed dormitory.

My 2012 visits to Taylor were in fall —  late October for a football game, and early December for the Silent Night tradition. With this third visit coming in spring, I enjoyed a side benefit. I was able to photograph flowers in bloom in the Whipple Azalea Garden, which is on the south end of campus, not far from the Prayer Chapel and Breuninger and Gerig residence halls. The azalea blooms were in colors -- orange and yellow, primarily -- that I had not seen in azaleas before. In the South, most azaleas are pink, red or white, including several pink and one red one on our own property.

To see a larger, sharper version of a photo, simply click on the image. Since my 2021 trip to Taylor, I have made separate galleries of campus images at my site at SmugMug.com for each of the visits. To view photos from the 2012 visit, follow the link in this sentence. To view photos from the 2021 visit, follow the link in this sentence. 

Above and below: Two views of Whipple Azalea Garden. The one below illustrates its proximity to the Prayer Chapel.

There is an outdoor hallway that dissects the chapel on one side (above). Below are the remembrances of the four students (Brad Larson, Betty Smith, Laurel Erb and Lauren Van Ryn) and staff member Monica Felver killed in the 2006 accident. The center plaque tells the story of that fateful day and the move to build the memorial chapel.    

A gathering room (above) and lectern (below) are on one side of the chapel. Two photographs below you see an interior wall abutting the outdoor hallway. I took the picture for large ornate glass window on the upper portion. The chapel also has a couple small side rooms containing kneelers for individual prayer and meditation (third photo below).  

Above and next two below: On my previous visits, I did not appreciate the beautiful landscaping on south campus, developed around Cane Run, a stream that snakes from just east of the chapel into Taylor Lake on the far south end of campus. 

Cane Run pools in front of Breuninger Hall (center above; Gerig is the red brick structure to the left). The stream drops over a modest brick wall to form a falls (below). 

The new LaRita Boren Campus Center stands in the background of Bond Plaza in the above photo. Below is a closeup of the center's outdoor seating under a pergola equipped with a sun-blocking canvas. 

Above: Perpendicular to the Campus Center (foreground) is Rediger Chapel/Auditorium, which from this view stands beyond the center, just in front of the school's water tower. A straight-on shot appear in the second photo below. In the photo immediately below, a mode of transportation is parked in the slots outside the Campus Center. 

The campus water tower (above), as framed by tree foliage. Below is the new student bookstore (well, it's new to me; it wasn't there when I last visited in 2012). The store, named The Bishop's Nook, is a short jaunt from where the bookstore used to be as part of the former student center (second photo below). That structure featuring a partial glass facade appears to be unused by the community. 

A curious glass artwork (above, with a closeup below) on the back side of Samuel Morris Hall, the front of which is shown in the second photo below. 

I used several photos of Zondervan Library and Rice Bell Tower in my 2012 post. Above is a 2021 look at the bell tower, with Zondervan largely obscured behind the trees in the foreground. Below, the back side of Zondervan as seen from a point near the chapel and Whipple Azalea Garden. 

In my 2012 post, I used a photo of the back side of Euler Science Complex. This is a look at the main entrance, taken from the bottom of a slight hill opposite the fountain outside the building. 

Above and below: I also missed shooting Taylor Lake on my 2012 visits, but I took care of that last week. Other than a young woman and her dog, I was the only person there when I took pictures of the lake.