Disneyland Trip - May 31st - June 4th (Picture Heavy)

[MistrWebmastr]

Great shots! I have to ask though, what is the story behind the "phantom ship"? I have never heard of it or noticed it before.

Best I can figure is it's just another small detail that relatively few people notice that makes Disneyland what it is. Ill have to find the thread from may that was discussing it when I get back home (vacationing right now with family in town)

The way I found it was talking to the captain of the mark twain. I had asked him about the ghost ship and he said it's proper name was the phantom ship, named such because it's a ship that never fully comes into port and never fully leaves. It's a really, really cool tidbit of Disneyland trivia.

[kaylee]

It's a really, really cool tidbit of Disneyland trivia.

Wow, very cool! Just when I thought I had seen all of DL, I am proven wrong again. I love learning of a Disneyland detail I have yet to spot! Thanks for pointing it out!

[MistrWebmastr]

I could not find the thread on the phantom ship! I remember the thread had a map pointing to where it was, but no one had pictures of it. That's why I made a point to find it and get pictures of it. You'll probably see them tomorrow, since I'm heading out of town on Thursday and I'll try to get the rest of them up tomorrow.

Anyway, here's WEDNESDAY:

Wednesday started out in California Adventure:







































































Of course, I was holding my camera as it was recording Once I figure out how to optimize video for YouTube, I'll post them. Right now it's 60GB of footage from the week!









We saw an actor from Ghost in Off The Page. Because I know how creepy it is staking celebrities, and because I didn't want to draw attention, I went back in with just my camera, snapped one quick picture of him and bolted. I don't want to disturb him while he's trying to spend time with his family.









































Using the same method as I got the Fort Wilderness pictures, I managed to get pictures over the wall looking toward carsland:

Cars Land looking over the wall | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I also didn't get any pictures on California Screamin' because I was busy making a video of the ride, but I did get a picture of myself on it.



I put a circular polarizer on my lens before heading into Toy Story Midway Mania to hopefully get video without 3D, and it managed to get some interesting pictures of Mr Potato Head's eyes:





I also got a neat picture of a crane rising up over the top of Toy Story Midway Mania, but I'll just link to it for people who like to see these sort of things:

Crane out behind the Toy Story Midway Mania building | Flickr - Photo Sharing!



The new Midway Game:



I just love the victorian styling of every little thing, down to the game glasses sign:



This should be a good explanation of why the video I was trying to record in Midway Mania didn't turn out so well:





As we walked back along the wall in front of the Arial construction, I raised my monopod yet again to get pictures behind the wall. I'm amazed that more people don't do this. To preserve the magic, I'lll describe them, but only post links.

Corn Dog Castle: Paradise Park Construction | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Souvenir 66: Paradise Park Construction | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The following are all of The Little Mermaid ride:

The Little Mermaid Construction | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
The Little Mermaid Construction | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
The Little Mermaid Construction | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I found this great. It was a week before World of Color opened, and hidden under the Palace of Fine Art replica was rope & signage for it - including show testing signs prohibiting photography & video: The Little Mermaid Construction | Flickr - Photo Sharing!





I absolutely love the Soarin Over California show building:



They had misters running! I didn't know they even had misters (though most didn't work)








Then it was back to Disneyland for the afternoon:

















Daytime long exposure of the lagoon, with the Monorail peeking in:



When we walked past the castle, I decided to go in since we hadn't been able to go in January since we couldn't get my sister in via the handicapped enterance. These were all taken by just holding my camera steady against the glass. This also helped keep out stray light.



















I went back in the evening to video record Fantasmic & get night pictures. Walking in I saw the castle with great spotlights:



Long Exposure of the Rivers Of America during fantasmic cleanup (notice the trails of light?):



Critter Country, New Orleans Square, & Adventureland Nighttime pictureS:















So it turns out that the park had closed at the end of Fantasmic!, but I hadn't caught that till I saw a security guard after I took this picture and asked if they were getting ready to close:





This has got to be one of my favorite pictures of the trip: a 30-second exposure of the Haunted Mansion closed up for the night:



Looking back, maybe 15 seconds was too long for this water picture:







Long-exposure pictures of Main Street USA makes them look like they're closed since anyone moving wouldn't be caught because the light would only disapear from behind them for a short bit:





Of course the required Celebrate Today! picture:









A very cool picture of the California letters at night:




Walking back, I had the most awesome accidental discovery: The Ridez contstruction had left the lights on, and so it was clear as day to the inside of the building. I'll just post links to it, since it's behind-the-scenes type stuff:

Ridz Construction | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Ridz Construction | Flickr - Photo Sharing!



And that does it for a LONG Wednesday!

[Agreach2]

Wow, your pictures are awesome!!

[Kangel]

Great Trip Report!

The wooden indian shot is really interesting, how did you shoot it?

Your water shots are really soft and beautiful! It’s amazing what it did for the shot. And pardon my ignorance but what is an ND filter?

I liked the unique pictures of the Columbia.

Your night pics are really impressive! And the Main Street gives you exactly the feeling you have walking out of the park at the end of the night!

[royaldisneyfan]

Nighttime + no people= spectacular shots!

Awesome work!

[MistrWebmastr]

Great Trip Report!

The wooden indian shot is really interesting, how did you shoot it?

Your water shots are really soft and beautiful! It’s amazing what it did for the shot. And pardon my ignorance but what is an ND filter?

I liked the unique pictures of the Columbia.

Your night pics are really impressive! And the Main Street gives you exactly the feeling you have walking out of the park at the end of the night!

As much as I can, I like to get as close as I can to what I'm trying to shoot. It serves the purpose of looking really cool, and the further back the background is, the softer it will be.

An ND Filter essentially is like non-polarized sunglasses for a camera lens. It uniformly drops light going into the lens, without changing the color or anything. It allows me to take longer exposures, even in the middle of the day (which most of those waterfall pictures were)

[MistrWebmastr]

For Thursday, we started off with Star Tours. Knowing it would be closed soon, I took the opportunity to take as many pictures as I could of the Queue.













































I also spent a huge chunk of time processing these images I took of the posters hanging at the exits so that they looked like a poster you'd buy at the park.











I'm also going to skip ahead to Friday real quick, as I was lucky enough to have the Star Tours Extended Queue open to take pictures in!













Back to our regularly scheduled Thursday pictures:













I was expecting my pictures from Pirates of the Carribean to turn out horrible, as I threw the ISO up as high as it would go, but it would turn out that Lightroom 3 came out as I was processing pictures that made Noise Reduction absolutely INCREDIBLE!













































































When waiting to board the Mark Twain, I thought this was quite odd that you could clearly see the wiring & outlet for one of the lantens in the waiting area. I thought this kind of stuff was hidden better usually.

Sailing Ship Columbia Waiting Area | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The first day the Mark Twain Wheelhouse was open, and I was about the 6th person there.













This guy was great to chat with. He's the one who helped me find the Phantom Ship sails:



The new stairs & railing in the Wheelhouse;









Through the trees, you can just barely see Fantasmic! Storage behind the Rivers Of America. To preserve the magic, this picture will just be linked:

Fantasmic Storage Area From The Mark Twain Riverboat Wheelhouse | Flickr - Photo Sharing!











I leaned on the same window that Walt Disney did! Neat!!















































If someone could help me figure out which movie this scene is from, that'd be great! I can't for the life of me remember what the guide said.

Now, Without further ado.. THE PHANTOM SHIP!

Then we were off to the train!



Another example of so many layers of paint the detail of the metal piping on the Train railings going away: Disneyland Railroad Overpainting | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

We also saw Grad Nite gear behind the gate next to It's A Small World: Gradnight Equipment Behind It's A Small World | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Then we went through the Grand Canyon:



























Killing time waiting for the fireworks to start:

















And my last picture for tonight - some beautiful flowers around the square:



I'll work on continuing to post the pictures tomorrow, but we're heading out for our road trip early tomorrow (today) and I would like to at least get some sleep

Until next time!

[skybluefusion]

That's a LOT of amazing photos. Thanks so much for posting! I love all the details you managed to catch and the backstage links.

[Vincent]

What a great Trip Report ! Your photos are just magnificient. Thanks for sharing !

[Kangel]

Oh my gosh! You take all the pictures I WISH I could take and have them come out nice!

Pirates pics look like something Disney would do for a promo ad!!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing!!!!!!

[MatterhornJ]

Wow, amazing photos! That Phantom Ship is really cool!

[niklj]

Greeeeat trip report, photos and captions alike! I really appreciate all the effort that went into your posts Must've taken a really long time. Have fun on your trip!

[dupton]

Top notch report. I appreciate the backstage shots.

[jbean]

Absolutely amazing photos! Love your angles and also all the backstage views. Thanks!