Stuck In Customs » Orlando

Cinderella at Sunset

tratcliff — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:24:42 +0000

The striated Florida clouds seemed to streak across the sky every evening we were there. It was hard for me to drink in all the great photography opportunities there… just too much for the senses! Needless to say, no one got to go on any rides during the sunset hour as I had them all goose-stepping around the park to get good locations that I had secretly been scouting the whole day!

Life is but a Fairy Tale Stage

tratcliff — Thu, 08 May 2008 02:08:51 +0000

I thought this was a perfect little stage, beautifully lit in the evening. This was shot on the night of the Pirates and Princesses Party at Disneyworld, where all the kids would come dressed as one or the other. This is a little area where the little girls come to listen to stories read by Cinderella and Snow White…

From the Gates of Hell to a Sunset at Disney

tratcliff — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:00:57 +0000

Yesterday’s shot was a bit macabre (but cool!), so here is something a bit lighter for the weekend.

Whenever the sun starts to set at Disney, everyone rushes for the castle to watch a special show preceding the fireworks.

A Magic Evening

tratcliff — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:16:56 +0000

Dusk falls on the pink Cinderella castle in the Magic Kingdom. It was a quiet night… not too many people around.

The Giraffe on the Savannah

tratcliff — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:42:09 +0000

Our giant reticulated friend, unable to articulate, was forced to gesticulate in the most ridiculous manner.

The Lobby of the Animal Kingdom Lodge

tratcliff — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:27:02 +0000

This hotel is great.Â We have a room that overlooks the Savannah and we can see giraffes, zebras, and about a dozen other exotic animals frolicking about.Â Thank goodness I brought the 200mm lens… although this one was taken with the 10mm Sigma.

Last night we had the Pirates and Princesses party.Â I was trying to figure out why so many adults were standing in line to get autographs from a Disney actor that was pretending to be Jack Sparrow, another actor.Â Mass hysteria, I say!

Disney Studios at Sunset

tratcliff — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:12:35 +0000

I’m here with the family in Disneyworld for a few days. I hear a lot of, "Dad comon we gotta get a FastPass," and "Dad comon didn’t you take pictures last year?" But the clouds are different. THE CLOUDS ARE DIFFERENT!

Disneystorm

tratcliff — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:31:53 +0000

Everyone ran for cover, and I ran for the tripod. It’s not like metal attracts lightning or anything… comon, that is a problem in microwaves… not storms… everyone knows that.

Galileo Galilei

tratcliff — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 17:17:40 +0000

And his heavenly bodies…

My Art Room

tratcliff — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 21:24:52 +0000

Found in Disneyworld….

Why don’t people build more houses like this and have some fun?

tratcliff — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:20:02 +0000

I always think quirky houses are fun and different… I know my daughter would love to live here!

I also got a nice email from a master gingerbread-house maker and he said he was going to use this house and my previous picture of it for a model for his upcoming holiday creation…. so I will post a link here when it is done!

The Evil Stepmother and the Extra Evil Stepsisters

tratcliff — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 02:56:59 +0000

The mother is a prickly one…

An Afternoon on the Roof

tratcliff — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 22:43:02 +0000

Here is a little Americana… when you run out of rooms to eat fast food in, the roof will always do nicely!

The Merchant of Venus

tratcliff — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 13:15:42 +0000

The quality of neon is not strained… Which reminds me I was involved in a charades game a few months ago at a retreat and one of the clues I gave the other team to perform was “The quality of mercy is not strained”, and they got it! Sometimes the hardest charades clues turn out to be the easiest to get… what a strange game that is…

Below that Tomorrow Land shot, I put another one of my favorite pictures from Disney around dusk…

Isabella’s Little Pink House

tratcliff — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:35:52 +0000

It’s a cute little house here eh?

The Black Rhino

tratcliff — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 16:34:26 +0000

I guess these are endangered. I dunno… seems strange to say endangered when everything is endangered. I like to say they are losing the Darwin race, but people that are really into endangered stuff don’t like to hear that.

The Bazaar in the Serka Zone

tratcliff — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 22:10:03 +0000

I am not sure who is in charge of decorating these places, but they are great with fonts and textures. If anyone knows, let me know so maybe i can hire them for the game company!

Electric Skies over Disney

tratcliff — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 18:37:51 +0000

Here is another shot from later in the fireworks show at Disneyworld.

The Haunted Garden

tratcliff — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:18:24 +0000

This is a good example of the cool “line areas” of Disneyworld. They put as much thought into the lines as the do the actual rides themselves. This is the middle part of the line of the Twilight Zone Haunted Hotel ride… it was also very nice that we were the only ones on the ride so we got to take our time and look at all the cool decor.

The Royal Anandapur Tea Company

tratcliff — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 22:35:40 +0000

For some reason this tea looks really good, even though most teas taste the same to me.

Girders and Rails

tratcliff — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:00:41 +0000

Here is a very cool little rollercoasterat Disneyworld.

Ice Crystals at Epcot

tratcliff — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 05:29:44 +0000

The clouds at Epcot were rather Disneyesque…

Elephant Reflections

tratcliff — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 11:42:10 +0000

We found this guy in a perfect reflection pose in the Animal Kingdom. Ethan and I were about to jump out of the jeep to go over and saw off his ivory tusks so we could make some new silverware, but we thought that might be in bad taste.

Weather

tratcliff — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 06:36:01 +0000

I thought the textures in the sky and the tower here were kinda nice so I got this shot.

Amazing Fireworks at Disney World

tratcliff — Mon, 28 May 2007 19:34:43 +0000

This night was a special night for sure because Ethan lost his first tooth.Â It was alsoÂ his first time ever at Disney World and the first time to see the fireworks, so it was sort of a perfect storm of magic.

He was very nervous about me pulling out the tooth, so five minutes before the show, I told him the magic of Disney would help me with the extraction.Â We both have a bit of wizard in us, anyway, he responded.Â I pulled it out and he was shocked… then just sat in awe to watch the fireworks while his dad fired away with the camera.

I took a lot of great shots of the fireworks show.Â It was tough to pick a favorite… but this one was right up there.Â I hope you enjoy it.

The Main Street Confectionery

tratcliff — Sun, 27 May 2007 14:52:00 +0000

You can’t go wrong with Disney’s main street at night, can you? It’s okay to forgo the extra calories with all that walking… at least that what I kept telling myself.

Also, I didn’t realize before going that the castle changes color every few minutes with tons of different lighting configurations. You can see the warm orange colors in the large version below.

The Scary Apothecary

tratcliff — Sat, 19 May 2007 16:18:45 +0000

This is a tiny theater-shaped building that actually is a dessert shot in MGM Studios that is lit well in the evening. It’s called the Scary Apothecary, but the only thing scary about it is the delish calories.

Castle Reflections

tratcliff — Wed, 09 May 2007 16:41:13 +0000

I spent a lot of time outside of bathrooms wandering around with my camera. I ended up on this not-oft-visited side of the Disney Castle.Â I wonder if they have secret rooms at the top of the castle with high-speed internet.Â If I ran Disney, I would put my most creative people in the top of those spires in cool little offices and equip them with crossbows and burning pitch just in case.

Tower of Terror

tratcliff — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:54:46 +0000

This is the Twilight Zone ride - the Hollywood Tower of Terror at MGM Studios at Disney World.Â The ride was great and got a big thumbs up from us.Â The coolest thing, as always with Disney rides, is the decor, the costumes, the lighting, and the art direction embedded in the “Line Experience”.Â This is also one of the first rides I know of that has a “randomizer” so that the experience is different and you never know what you are gonna get.

The Magic of Disney

tratcliff — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 09:06:41 +0000

This was taken this evening at MGM Studios in Disney World before we went to go see the big fireworks show. I have a few images of that too, of course, but not processed yet. I still have a big backlog of other unique travel stuff to get through when I get some time!

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