Welcome to the Weekend Update, Labor Day edition!

It may be the Labor Day weekend but our photographers have labored over their submissions this week to make your long weekend a little bit more fun. We're all over the world this week with the final installment of Greg L.'s European theme park photos, Jack takes us on an underwater trip, TDLFAN has a surprise destination, and Summer and Denise give us the World.

This week we'll start on the West Coast:

Disneyland Resort
Anaheim, California

Jack hollywood1939 Wixom is back this week with a photo tour of Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage at Disneyland. As usual, Jack turns in some amazing shots.

Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage is an attraction located in the Tomorrowland area of Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, which opened on June 11, 2007. Based on the characters and settings of the 2003 Disney/Pixar film, Finding Nemo, the attraction is a re-theming of the classic Submarine Voyage attraction, which closed in 1998.*










I prefer to go on during the day, you can see more detail.





Darla:


I love the tributes to the old Submarine Voyage, these are supposedly in the same exact spot
that they were in then before the redo:




This guy is able to take flash pictures:


Karate Crab:


Time for school!


They don't want to go.


Search team:


Boing.


Mount Wannahockaloogie.


Probably my most favorite scenes in any Disney attraction.




Gimme some fin, noggin, sssswwweeettt!




Dory is eskeered.


Another tribute.


The end.



Europa-Park
Rust, Germany


Here is the last installment of our European theme park tour provided by Weekend Update reader Greg L. This week he takes us to Europa-Park in Germany.


Europa-Park is the second-most-popular theme park in Europe (more than 4 million visitors in 2007), after Disneyland Paris and the most-popular seasonal theme park in the world. It is open from mid-March to the end of October and from the start of December to mid-January. It is located in Rust, southwest Germany, between Freiburg and Strasbourg. Its mascot is a grey mouse named Euromaus whose friends include Eurofant, an elephant. It is split into fourteen different areas, typically named after European countries or regions.*



Europa Park was another very beautiful park that had many features that I was only familiar with from my days of playing Roller Coaster Tycoon. In this case we have jumping water fountains that crisscross these garden paths.



How to describe this ride? It was a dizzying Space Mountain set within Spaceship Earth's dome. Europa Park enjoyed their techno beats and spiraling lift hills. This attraction was my first opportunity to witness the young people that like to chant through entire rides. It was always entertaining especially when I got a foreign serenade of "Who let the dogs out" in what I can only guess was German with the familiar barks.



The park was themed to many different European nations including Switzerland pictured here.



This is the path between the buildings in Switzerland, and one really cool feature was a well/fountain that spilled the water down a trough right in the middle of the street.



5/6. These two show the Euro-Mir attraction in Russia. This tangled coaster included another spiral, techno lift and the round cars rotated controllably to switch those facing backwards for front and vice versa. This is also the first attraction I've ever seen where two of the cars are equipped with video cameras to offer on-ride videos of the experience.




View out over the Vindjammer and the Fjord-Rafting in the Scandinavian section of the park.



Two shots of the Atlantica SuperSplash attraction in Portugal. The ride ascends to a turntable sending the boats across the elevated dip backwards before resetting them for the drop into the water. Onlookers could also cause waterspouts to shoot up out of the lagoon adding some cool dynamic interest in the setting.




Three attractions pass through this building of magical wonders and delight, the walking path being the only attraction to get a proper view of the "Magic World of Diamonds." The other two attractions being a log flume and mine train passed through at lower elevation and at higher speeds to not fully appreciate the intricacies. We're in Austria, can't you tell?



Throughout the couple European theme parks I visited, I found many cool-looking playgrounds and pathways that could be classified as a bit too dangerous to be found in the States. This photo show some of the interactive water features. Right next to these hills was a round tent full of what appeared to be punching bags and quite a few teenagers were enjoying battling within. There was also a small maze of bats and disguised gates that was fun to traverse.



And last but not least we have this dark, miniature pathway that I believe led from the "Magic World of Diamonds" to a gift shop.


A hearty thanks to Greg L. for sharing his trip to Europe with us. I think I'll have to start saving my pennies!

***************************************

We're lucky to have another globetrotting photographer on our crew. TDLFAN updates us with some Disneyland Paris photos with a side trip to Hawaii!

Well... summer is coming to a close and the kids are going back to school... one last chance to hit the beach... so, get lei'd because TDLFAN is taking you to....






Can you hear the waves crashing and the winds blowing you into relaxation heaven?


Clash of architectural styles along the beach line..


Kalakaua Avenue alongside Waikiki Beach... is a shoppers and boy watching paradise!!! Hotels line up the avenue as well.



"The Ambassador of Aloha" and " Father of International Surfing".. Duke Paoa Kahanamoku. He was a celebrated olympian in the 1920s, and an actor in the 30s... died in 1968. This famed statue is found on the sandy shore of Waikiki Beach.



Lovely flower of Paradise...



The Moana Surfrider Hotel... and classic institution in Waikiki. These grounds once belonged to the Hawaiian Royal Family...



The grand lobby of the SurfRider Hotel...



Princess Kai'ulani. A celebrated and much beloved princess in the Hawaiian islands...in the late 19th century, died in her early 20s after a short term illness...



How time flies and we must say ALOHA! to Waikiki Beach...



...And fly to Paris... DLRP that is..


Very busy at DLP today.



Discoveryland



Le Petit Monde



Casey Jr Trains and Storybook Land.



Alice's Curious Labyrinth



Toad Hall



Pirates of the Caribbean



Robinson's Treehouse.



Phantom Manor



Big Thunder Mountain Railroad



Le Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant



A very busy Town Square.



Follow the colorful flowers to Walt Disney Studios Paris..



Studio 1 currently under rehab.



Partners Statue and Tower of Terror.



Crush's Coaster.



Stitch Live!



Le Fin mes amis.



Walt Disney World
Orlando, Florida

SummerInFL visited the new exhibit Stormstruck at Innoventions at Epcot and shares these photos.



Denise nbodyhome Preskitt is back this week and covers Walt Disney World with a vengeance!

The Contemporary Resort DVC tower:




Precious Moments at the Contemporary:


From the Polynesian:






Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas:




Caribbean Beach Resort pool:






The following photos were taken on Friday. The Halloween decorations are almost all up at the Magic Kindgom!













Lights are going up on the castle:


Check out Denise's latest photos at her website Mousesteps.com.



Eye Spy

Each week, we provide you with Disney details which we challenge you to identify. Where in the Disney universe can you find this little beauty?



Eye Spy Answer from last week:


Editor's note: Some of you may have noticed that the following photo from this week's Update also appeared last week. Special thanks to several of our eagle-eyed readers who let us know that this photo belongs in Europa-Park, not Efteling.





And that brings us to the end of another week. Our photographers have just enough time to reload their cameras before we see you all again next weekend. Thank you to all of our wonderful readers, and as always, a huge thank you to our amazing team of global photographers, spies, and gossips:

Jack Hollywood 1939 Wixom
TDLFAN
Denise nbodyhome Preskitt
SummerInFl
PhotoMatt
Fishbulb
sir clinksalot
MickeyMaxx
A very special thank you to our wonderful guest photographer Greg L. for sharing his vision with us.
Your Editor - Rixter



*Some factual information sourced from wikipedia.com.