Oh, I'd just LOVE another photo update!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Well, we aim to please, Minnie!
 

Here's my Photo Update for the week, folks!
I visited the parks a couple times in the last week, and got
a couple interesting photos for you, and about
60 boring ones...

All in attempt to keep us all updated on what's going on at the parks.

 Some stuff I know, some stuff I just say "Huh?"
 

So read on

if you dare!

It's not too busy on Wednesday afternoon when I visited.
Quite a change from the past few weeks, but I knew by now not
to kid myself. It's quiet here because most likely all those Southern California grade school
students on a field trip are already through the turnstiles enjoying themselves!
 
 
 

I didn't expect to see a film crew once I got through the gates, but it appears
some filming for an Asian Market was being done. I asked a Castmember who was
keeping the riff-raff away from the ropes what it was all about, but he said he didn't
really know.
 
 

Not terribly quiet, but the flowers look nice.
Disneyland's landscaping department is just top notch in my book.
 
 

Space Mountain is still closed. It's been like 2 years now that it closed suddenly one morning after
crews found cracks in the steel roller coaster track. It's scheduled to reopen July 15th with all new tracks
(although in the same configuration as the old track). The rumor I've heard is that the new
castmember uniforms are in and they're pretty spiffy. Also supposedly test runs with
Castmembers have begun.

I'd expect sneak previews for guests to start very soon. Not this coming week, but the week after.
You never know with Disney, though.

New rumors about this ride plop up to the surface every other day.

I would say that we can expect that all references to Fed-Ex will be gone from the Queue area when it reopens, as
the contract with Disney has expired. Also the new special effects once you are on the ride are supposed to be one of the
big improvements, as well as newly designed cars with speakers for the ride soundtrack.
 
 
 

Outside Innoventions:

This wall appeared in front of the exit ramp for Innoventions
 
 
 

I walked up the exit ramp to take this picture. A castmember just about had a coronary
that I walked the 15 feet up the exit ramp, and then was almost beside herself that I took this picture.
I don't understand that. It's obviously in plain sight from anyone exiting innoventions, and no real
work has started on it yet.

My guess right now is that it will be another Photo Montage spot, but it's just my first guess.
I don't think it's going to be another Outdoor Vending Booth, as there is already a permanent
Lemonade stand about 20 feet away from this spot.
 
 
 
 

Music coming from the Club Buzz Stage area means that I HAVE to go check it out.
The schedule says that they're DJs. Interesting that they (the two people in the magenta T-shirts) are DJ'ing
from IPODS!

The fellow on the left, if I am not mistaken, also doubles as the controller and voice for "PUSH" the
talking trashcan that roams around Tomorrowland.
 

They were playing some Britney Spears and some other such tunes while I was there.
SOMETHING from Disney?
From DisneyMania 1, 2, or 3 perhaps?

Nope.

They play Disneymania at Downtown Disney all the time, and I always see folks responding very well
to the new renditions of Disney Tunes. It'd be nice if they played these songs in the park as well!

While here at Club Buzz would work, I have thought in the past that along the parade route about
15 minutes or more before the parade starts would be a lot of fun, too! I think it would
serve to hype up the crowd sitting in the hot sun waiting for the "Parade Of Dreams" to start.
 

I walked through Fantasyland and the glinting gold "Dumbo" ride vehicle caught my eye.
One vehicle from each attraction that opened in 1955 along with Disneyland has been painted Gold.
It's a neat idea, I guess, but it kinda' throws off the concept of riding Dumbo.
 

Here's a shot of the backside of the Glinting castle.
Named after the famed architect Dr. Albert...    Glinting
 

(Is glinting even a word?
Only my spellchecker will know for sure)
 

As I walked through the castle the Disney people that were with the film crew
started blocking off access so that they could get some shots of their people in front of it.
 
 

You don't get this kind of opportunity too often, so I just had to take a couple shots.
Not the best weather, and the sun wasn't that great, but I like pictures without crowds in them, so here ya' go.
 
 

Here are the actors that the film crew was filming.
The woman has her hair done up like Minnie Mouse Ears.

Anyone know who they are?
Anyone recognize them?

I walked off to the side and took a couple pictures from there, too.
I liked the flowers in this shot.
 
 

And here's another shot from an angle of the castle that I just cannot resist.
Again, no one in front of the castle or in the walkways even is refreshing.
 

At this point, I wanted to walk over to Disney's California Adventure to try and see if Chicken Little
was running around. DCA closes at 6om, so I headed down Main Street USA.
 

I noticed several survey takers stopping people on both side of Main Street. It seemed like it was
more than usual, so I thought I'd mention it here.

A couple days later when I came back to the park, I was actually stopped by one. Usually they find out you're an
annual passholder and they smile and move on. But this time the person asked to take my email address so that they
might send a questionnaire to me at a later date. This appeared to be all they were doing when I took
the picture above, as well.
 

Goofy was out causing mayhem in front of City Hall.
 
 

This shot was taken after I found out that nothing was going on at DCA at all.
A little prep before Block Party Bash, but that's it.
 

Someday, I'll stick around and take some pictures of that new parade featuring
Disney's "Pixar Pals"  - I just haven't gotten to it yet.
 

I thought this was an interesting shot. It makes a cool little desktop tile.
Right-click this picture and choose "Save Target As"... saving it in your desktop wallpapers folder.

When you choose the picture as a desktop, be sure you tell Windows to "TILE" it, instead of
centering or stretching it. It comes up pretty good!
 
 
 

THIS is the line to get into "The Mad Hatter" for those 50th anniversary Golden Mickey Ears.
The line is actually longer than I got in the picture here by several people.
 
 

I walked back over to New Orleans Square, and got this shot from the queue in front of Haunted Mansion.
 

I got lucky and Haunted Mansion stopped me right in front of these fellows. I've taken a decent picture
of these singing busts before, but I've never actually stopped in front of them like this.
I was so happy I already had my camera out, as the ride stopped for only 5 or 10 seconds.
If I hadn't had it out and already set to a slow exposure with no flash, I probably would have missed this shot.
 

Constant Vigilance!

I don't often go over to Tom Sawyer's Island, but I thought I'd check it out today...

 

The princesses were having a little meet & greet over in the Carnation Gardens performance area.
I just love watching how they interact with guests, especially little girls.
 

...and each other.

You can really tell that they love to see the awe of magic in children's eyes.
 
 
 

A few parade shots from Thursday:

I was standing on the landing for Main Street Station when I got this shot.
It's about the best you're going to get from that standpoint, because otherwise there's a flag pole in the middle of your view!
 

I liked this shot because it's the quintessential Tinkerbell pose.
I think this is a new Tinkerbell, and she really gets into character!
 
 

And here's Ariel!

Taking shots from what amounts to a second story level is really nice for this parade, as many of the floats
are very tall!

You get a nice view of the Pinocchio performance stop, too!
 

The following pictures are from Friday, June 15th

My wife and I were planning on going to the park on Friday as I had the day off.
About 10 o'clock Thursday night, I got word that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and some atheletes
were going to be at Disney's California Adventure at 10am for some kind of ceremony.

So my wife was kind enough to follow me around while I took some shots of the goings on.

This is the check-in tent for the media showing up for the 'event'.
 
 

Because of the morning gloom/mist/storm, the neon of the California Zephyr train stood out.
I thought it'd make a neat desktop.
 
 

I originally went up the redwood trail side of DCA because Disney was making announcements that
the ceremony would be in front of the "Golden Dreams" building (that's close to the
San Francisco area). I thought this would be the quickest way to get there...

I took this shot on the way. The morning mist combined with the misters from the
"Grizzly River Run" ride made a neat foggy statement for this picture.
 

It turns out Disney had a rope strung across the walkway blocking access to the Golden Dreams area. The gentleman working security
at the rope said that I would have better luck going around the other way.

He was right. There was NO rope going the other direction. Following the crowd in this situation would have been the right thing to do!
As it was, by the time we got to where the stage had been set up, I was a couple people deep away from the barricade. So I was forced to shoot
pictures from an even greater distance!

Suits, Suits, and more suits... and a few athletes made their way into the roped off area. Doing their best to
ignore the riff-raff paying guests off to the sides.

Meanwhile Disney was announcing that the event was going to be happening from every loudspeaker in the park
for the hour that we had to wait. Our line of sight was very poor, and I can't imagine what it must have been like for the
folks 20 to 50 people deep behind us!

Finally the show started...

Turns out, the "ceremony" was actually the kickoff for the "Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports"
 

Disneyland Ambassador Rebecca Phelps came out to greet the crowd
 
 

The cast from "Block Party Bash" came out to dance and lip-sync to some peppy music.
 
 

Disneyland Resort President, Matt Ouimet
 

The "Godfather Of Fitness", Jack Lalanne
 

Tony Hawk makes his entrance. Michelle Kwan and other Olympic athlete's ( as well as Jack Lalanne) are already on the stage
 
 

Tony Hawk is not a young guy.

But then again, neither is Jack Lalanne!
 

Michelle Kwan addresses the crowd
 

We gotta have Mickey and Minnie mouse and the rest of the Fab 5 gang in the house!
 

Boy scouts march in carrying State of California Flags.

A new fitness badge has been created for them to earn.
 

You know who!
 
 

Some people were counting how many times he said "Kah - lee - forn - yah"
 

..and yes, he actually used the phrase "Pump you up"
 

Is Jack Lalanne trying to look younger in those glasses?

I'm impressed he's still alive and able to WALK, let alone leading the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports!
 
 
 

Michelle Kwan was probably the one athlete who most looked like they were enjoying themselves.
 

Group Shot.

You can read more about the whole deal at

http://www.activeca.org//

and there are more pictures of the event
(taken from the front and center press stage) here:
http://www.photos.gov.ca.gov/essay63.html
 

Here are just a few more photos of our day on Friday:

 

This wonderful guitar player sits on Royal Street in New Orleans Square.
Think "Wes Montgomery" and you won't be far off.
 
 

I ran into the WONDERFUL Burt the Chimney Sweep and Mary Poppins
while waiting for the Parade of Dreams to start.

They are easily the best resemblance to any actual actors I've ever seen in the park.

 

Immediately after posing for this picture, they continued walking towards City Hall, and on the way
"Brut" did this kind of head over heel handstand using his Chimney Sweep Broom.... it was
truly remarkable to see, and WAY-Y-Y beyond the call of a castmember!
 
 
 

Mickey and pals did a little cavalcade around the town square about 10 minutes before the parade started.
 
 
 

Belle
 
 

Pinocchio & the drummer toy
 

I heard that one confused guest once referred to these characters as "Dum and Dummer"

sigh.
 
 

Goodbye, all!

I hope you enjoyed another week's update.
More pictures of the Parade Of Dreams, I know, I know...
But it's the most "Disney" thing that happens in the park, and it's just
so darn good (and you don't have to wait 4 hours to get a good viewing
spot like the fireworks show!)
 

Tune in Next Monday for another update!
Same Bat time, same Bat Channel!
 
 

If you enjoy these updates, won't you please consider donating to help cover
our expenses here at VisionsFantastic.com?
Disneyland fans everywhere thank you!

Love Up!
Daddyb

email
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I shoot my photos using an
Olympus 8080widezoom 8 megapixel Digital camera
with an Olympus .8x wide angle conversion lens

I also use a Moose warming/polarizing filter on many of my shots.

not a paid product endorsement in any way, simply letting you know the equipment I have paid for
and use and really, really appreciate!