SUPERMOON2012!!!

It seems it comes quicker every year. This time I was around the Matterhorn when I felt compelled to take a shot. May 5th, 2012.

Pumpkin Time

Today’s photo is from September 18th, 2011, at the wee hours. A few stragglers as usual, Halloween decorations being put up for the typical two whole months of Halloween. The nights are starting to get a bit more chilly. And the giant pumpkin Mickey stands out over the street, like a hint towards the giant tree that’ll be there in a few weeks.

Wow. Where is everyone?

So this is another photo from the Star Tours re-launch on May 20th, 2011. It was just amazing seeing an open Main St. with nothing on it. Sadly, there IS one or two cast members hiding. See if you can spot them. Haha. It looks so much more like a park when there aren’t so many mammals in the shot.

Alone for the perfect shot

So I like to stay at the parks late. And I also usually refrain from posting pictures of myself here, but I think I can make an exception for this. This was taken September 4th at 12:56AM, so about an hour past ‘closing’ as most guests know. But if you listen to the announcements, they always say “Main St. will stay open for an additional hour for your shopping experience” or something along those lines. Traditionally we’ll get a cup of hot chocolate and split a cinnamon roll at the Blue Ribbon Bakery. The shift over to the Jolly Holiday hasn’t been perfect. It’s more crowded than ever over there, the cinnamon rolls are smaller, have less icing and the hot chocolate is no longer made with steamed milk. Still, it’s nice to decompress after a hurried day and watch the crowds quickly disappear. There’s just something to be said, as the weekend ticks by, to be completely alone at Disneyland.

Next time, don’t be in a rush to leave. You’ll know it’s time to go when you see the security patrolling down Main St. THAT’S the signal to leave.

This was a special treat

Sorry I haven’t posted for a while. I’ll get on it again soon. This was taken on Sunday, January 22. Right now Fantasmic! is down for a break, while the Columbia gets a sprucin’, so the Mark Twain can run later into the night. And in this case, they dock it right when the fireworks start, so you can watch right from the top. Pretty awesome, especially because of how few people knew to ask. There’s a few benches, and it’s quite a change to watch fireworks at Disneyland sitting down. Most seats get taken quite early. The only problem was you could hear multiple sets of audio playing with about a second lag, but it was easy enough to just focus on one.

Earlier in the year, AT&T with LG released the LG Thrill 4G. This event, Your World Comes Alive, was held in downtown Hollywood to promote it, as there was an open tournament competing in GameLoft’s N.O.V.A. 3D. Yeah. 3D. Not polygon 3D, but actual 3D, on a cellphone. Glasses-free.

NOVA's hero, Kal Wardin, bursts out of the phone. REALLY 3D

My friend, Dexter, and Kal sneak up on unsuspecting people

The winner of the 3D tournament is crowned, and he got an LG Cinema 3D TV!

A static photo of the archway

The surrounding balconies got plussed up, too!

But it also does video, too. And YouTube has great 3D video integration. Here’s a shot of the projection, in 3D with the camera.

If you have red/blue glasses, you can configure YouTube to display 3D that way!

But that wasn’t the only tournament that day. There was also a private one for our special group. We were in 4-person deathmatches against each other and the winner got a great prize. (More on that in a bit) I had experience playing NOVA before, but in 3D it was even more fun. It took a bit to get used to the controls, as in addition to dragging on the screen to aim, you can use the gyroscope to physically move the phone to look around the environment. And it’s REALLY precise. When sitting down, it really makes it more intense. Naturally, I kicked butt against the other people there, but they got the hang of it pretty quickly as the night wore on. I love that NOVA3D has multiplayer. Not enough cell phone games implement it beyond comparing scores. And that doesn’t even cover the  great controls, intense 3D interface, and all the extra polish like achievements!

All in all, the tournament was pretty awesome. All the displays were the LG Cinema 3D TVs that use passive glasses, like movie theaters, so there’s no need to worry about expensive glasses or de-syncing from too many displays. (A common issue at E3 and CES) There’s something to be said about looking around and just seeing INTO every monitor displaying content. Then we were lead outside as they turned on a projection onto the archway in the mall.

It made the wall come alive. Really impressive. And as thanks, I got to keep the phone AND I got an LG Tone, too. The Tone is a bluetooth stereo headset, so I can listen to my music wirelessly. I have bluetooth earpieces, but this is a different piece altogether. Everyone I’ve shown it to wants one. Gives me an excuse to walk more.

And major thanks to LG, AT&T and GameLoft for hosting this event and inviting me!

But let’s go past all that. You’re on a Disney picture blog, for a reason! Stay tuned for a MASSIVE update. But here’s a preview:

oontown Mickey Fountain IN 3D!!!

Floating!!!

Dang, that’s some standup hair. Like I mentioned yesterday, I got a new camera and this is what it can do in low-light situations. Not too happy with how she looks here. It just looks fake and unrealistic. Taken June 11th, 2011.

Quack. Quack. Where is everybody?

Sorry I’ve been out so long. Busy finishing up my game at work, changing jobs and just hating my camera. I had time to update this, but wanted to take a break. Anyways, back to the goods.

As you can see, this was a special day. May 20th, 2011. I was one of the 1,500 selected to ride Star Tours in a special event. I had ridden it 3 days earlier during the Cast Member preview, but this was different. I left the house at 5:30 AM because I HAD to be there before 7:30 AM for check-in. We got there, got in a HUGE line, got some free hot chocolate and waited outside of the park. And waited. And waited.

Eventually they led us in, before everyone else, so of course I had to take photos. I have more of the empty park. ONE custodial CM is in the background. Darn.

Also, I picked up a new camera. This was shot with the old one, but I’ll have a BUNCH of new pics coming soon from my Panasonic Lumx LX5. I got some great shots on dark rides. I need to get better with it, but I’m getting there.

That's a big Mickey

It always feels to me the Animator’s Workshop building at DCA is really overlooked. It’s empty a lot of the time but has a wealth of stuff to do inside. Heck, this one area is decorated like a day care center of my dreams. I wish I could play with them all. This is from July 25th, 2010.

Lo and behold

July 18th, 2010. The decoration around the Haunted Mansion is really something else. I love the spooky atmosphere with the design. I haven’t seen the Florida version lately, but the preservationists of the Haunted Mansion are freaking out BIG TIME because of the interactive elements that got added. I’ll have to see for myself before judging. Although, the idea of the tombstones making noise and playing sounds makes it sound very grating to those waiting patiently.