Disneyland In HDR

My friends and family threw me an incredible surprise birthday party for my 30th birthday this last weekend! It was awesome.

At the end of the party, my gift from Mary was another surprise. A surprise trip to Disneyland! Really, I had to leave the party to get to the airport for my surprise flight. As I said, awesome.

Disneyland was fun. Crowds weren't too bad for a holiday weekend, and the weather was perfect. So perfect that Mary was willing to sit by while I took lots and lots of photographs. I even got to take a bunch of HDR photos, which take more time, but usually turn out pretty cool.

I even got to ride the new Toy Story Mania ride twice! :D

Welcome to Disneyland! (HDR)

The New Mickey Floral Lights Up at Night (In HDR)

Here We Go...

Special Birthday Music

Main Street USA (HDR)

The View Further Down (HDR)

An Uncrowded Hub (HDR)

One Photo, Three Attractions!(HDR)

Is That a Popcorn Cart I Spy? Mmmmm... (HDR)

More Hub (HDR)

Partners (HDR)

Yep. It's a Castle. (HDR)

With a Moat! (HDR)

No Long Lines Here (HDR)

So We Should Ride Repeatedly! (HDR)

Welcome to The Fuuuuutuuuree! (HDR)

And Don't Forget... The Paaaast! (HDR)

Mark Twain! (HDR)

Still the Best! (HDR)

No Lines Here Either!

Haunted Mansion Rules. (HDR)

Formerly Bear Country (HDR)

We Got SOAKED This Time around On Splash (HDR)

Chick-a-Pin Hill (HDR)

Time to Hit DCA (HDR)

Heh. Eight Years and They're Still Defacing It...

GRRrrrrrrr!

Didn't Get Too Wet on This Though (HDR)

The Golden State Area is Pretty (HDR)

Refreshing Mist for You (HDR)

Is it Hollywood? No. No it's Not (HDR)

There's a Kid In Here!!!

I've Had Dates That Ended That Way...

Occupied!

All Hail Tower! (HDR)

Check-in Time (HDR)

My Room is Not Ready Yet. :(

And They Made Me Take The Service Elevator. :(

Mary Wants to Ride Midway Mania!

And So Does Everyone Else! (HDR)

Midway Mania Was Pretty Fun

Yes, It's Running Windows Vista!

Nice Shootin' Tex

But You Didn't Beat My Score!

Sunset Over Paradise Pier

I Shall Spin You to Nausea!

A Panoramic Shot of the Pier at Night
(Click Image for Large Panorama)

Another Panoramic Shot of Sunset at the Pier
(Click Image for Large Panorama)

Tower is Evil at Night

Back to Disneyland! (HDR)

To Take Photos Through the Crowds (HDR)

I'm Amazed this Signage has Survived So Long

And We End With a Whirl on Space Mountain! (HDR)

Well, that just about wraps up this trip. I hope you enjoyed the photos. See you again real soon!

Quck San Diego Vacation

Mary and I were lucky enough to spend a couple of days out in San Diego with Mom and Dad recently while they were on vacation.

We stayed at the Hotel Del Coronado, which is incredibly luxurious and peaceful. The Hotel Del has a lot of history and is in a pretty cool location, surrounded by military installations. What that means is while Mary relaxed on the balcony, I could check out the aircraft carriers moored nearby, the F-18s flying over regularly, or the Navy Seals doing beach assaults right on the hotel beach. It was pretty neat.

I highly recommend the Hotel Del, but be sure to bring a cooler of your own food. $25 for a cheeseburger is a little steep for even my taste.

Welcome to the Hotel Del Coronado!

Front of the Hotel
(In HDR)

The Lobby is Old and Neat.

Lobby Centerpiece

This Hotel IS Old.
I Hear These Devices Are Called "Pay Phones" and Are What People Used to communicate Prior to the invention of Cell Phones

Old Can Sometimes Be Spooky Too...

Our Room
(In HDR)

View From Our Hotel Room
(In HDR)

Dinner Time!

Mary & Mom At The Mexican Restaurant

Brand New Morning
(In HDR)

Mary is Enjoying our Balcony

We Took a Tour of the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier

F-14 Tomcat

A-4 Skyhawk

Monument In The Life Preserver

The Hangar Bay Is ENORMOUS

Anchors Away in the Forecastle

Living Space Is Cramped

But It's Better Than Living In The Brig!

Up In The Con Tower

The Air Boss and Mini Boss Run Flight Operations

View of the Carrier Deck

Mary and Mom Watch the Bay

A panoramic shot of the Three Other Carriers In For Rehab
(Click Image for Large Panorama)

There Was a Lot of Security In the Bay

Back to the Hotel!

And Time for Portraits...

Mom & Dad

Mary & Myself

Me & Mom

Mary & Mom

Still Time Left for Candy!

And Ice Cream Too!

The Ice Cream Shop was Cool

Moon Over the Dell
(In HDR)

Time to Say Goodbye From the Beach
(In HDR)

NOBC Bel-Air

Spent the week in sunny California attending the NOBC (National Organization of Bar Counsel) Conference.

The Conference was good, and I picked up some good caselaw that should come in handy responding to motions. It was also interesting seeing how other states, and even other countries, handle their lawyer discipline programs.

We stayed at the fancy Luxe hotel in Bel-Air. It was nice, but very secluded. We ended up taking cabs to go out and find food. The pizza delivery guy was also our good friend this trip. (Dominoes that is, Pizza Hut refused to deliver to us!)

Matt is so Happy to be back in LA!!!

Too bad the Super Shuttles won't stop for us

Fancy

I call this one, "Fruit... and Apples"

My Room was Fancy too.

Rusty is so Stoned...

Amy and Maret posing

The Less-Than-Reliable Hotel Shuttle. It was only 45 Minutes late when I took this Picture

Time to go to Class

You can almost See the Learning taking place

Did some good Drinking in Westwood Village. These are Crazy One Screen Movie Theaters on each Corner

Fatburger! Best Food of the Trip!

Disneyland -=VIDEO=-

Started my year off on the right foot with a trip to The Happiest Place On Earth! Mary, Mom, Dad, and I all headed off for a great weekend at Disneyland, and as usual, had a blast!

Don't mind the band aid on my head, I had some minor surgery just before going on vacation. All better now!

Disneyland's 50th!!! -=VIDEO=-

Finally made it out to Disneyland for the 50th Anniversary bash! The place is looking great (much better than recent years anyway) and it was good to hang out in my old stomping grounds again. :)

Knotts Berry Farm / Disneyalnd -=VIDEO=-

Jason, Mary and I took a weekend trip out to Knotts and Disneyland to celebrate MLK day. We had a great time, and I hope to recover from the bruises Ghostrider left on me in the near future...

Another Visit to the Happiest Place on Earth!

I've been making good use of my Annual Pass to Disneyland this year! Decided to take a trip down to the theme parks along with my wife, Mary. Added bonus, our friend Jeff was there this weekend too and we were able to all hang out together.

Weather was great, I managed to get some good photos, and Mary almost died on the Challenge Trail. Good times for everyone! ;)

A panoramic shot of the entry to California Adventure. Can you guess if I had to be there really early, or really late to get this photo? ;)
(Click Image for Large Panorama)

We're finally here!!!

What happened to the railroad push cart?

The fruit cart is tempting me... Nah, I'll get a sticky-bun!

Mary is happy white space mountain is back!

Observatron sits motionless, wishing it could send cool laser and music messages to other planets...

I for one, welcome our new robotic overlords

If you look in the deep, dark corners of Frontierland, you can still see the remains of the Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland

You know what that means... we must be in DCA!

And there's Grizzly Peak in all its majesty

I really like this angle of Grizzly Rapids

Jeff and I on the Challenge Trail!

Mary REALLY wishes she didn't get up here...

The one, the only... Tower of Terror!

The evil increases as you approach

The boiler is laughing at you

Room for one more...

Time to go!

We had an excellent time as usual this trip. Good food, good friends, and good fun make for the perfect vacation. Thanks for coming along!

ToT Preview Night!!!

Scored myself some tickets to the AP preview night on the new Twilight Zone Tower of Terror! :D

Mary and I had a fun and eventful day before heading out to the ToT for our after-hours preview. There were about a hundred people there, and we had a serious blast! I rode the Tower about ten or twelve times in a row before by stomach started to give out from all the hang time. We took it a little easier after that.

Disney put on a pretty good event. There was swing music, prizes, and I got a free commemorative Hollywood Tower Hotel pocket watch. The ride itself is pretty damn good. It's not as good as it's Florida cousin, but it's still the best thing to hit DCA so far. I don't think people will be disappointed.

Flowers were Blooming all over the Park. Pretty!

It's Good to Always See the Matterhorn Running. I Remember when it was Up only About A Month a Year.

Funny thing happened as soon as we got to the park. We decided to take the Monorail from the Disneyland Hotel into Tomorrowland, but when we were passing in front of the Disneyland main gate, our monorail ran over a palm frawn and it wedged under the train and started smoking. We were stuck in front of the main gate for about 20 minutes before they SLOOOOWLY drove to the switch back by the roundhouse and un-wedged the frawn. Good fun.

A Surprised Facilities Worker at the Roundhouse Switch Realizes there are Guests on This Train!

Mary Emerges Victoriously from her traile... no... wait... That's the Women's Restroom

GRR! I am Grizzly!

Time-lapse of Grizzly Falls. Purty.

Can't wait for Sundown to Ride This!

The Detailing is Awesome

There's Always My Way...

I Don't Care what They Say, the Midway is Cool at Night

A Train Rounds the Maliboomer

Another Cool angle of the Maliboomer

Screamin!

It's that Time!!!

Awesome!

A Final Goodbye! No on-ride Photography, so You Have to Wait until May!

Tower of Terror Construction

As promised, here are a few construction photos I took of the Tower of Terror. I haven't been this excited about a new attraction at Disneyland since we got Indy in 1995. It's looking good!

I used a TCON-300 telephoto to really reach up and get some close-ups of what's going on in there. It should be interesting for you all.

It's Finally Starting to Look Like a Tower!

Evil Tower Bends All Other Buildings To Its Will

Adding Detail... And There's A Lot!

My Telephoto Drew The Attention of Some Imagineers Taking A Break Up On The Roof

There Do Actually Appear To Be Some Sort of Rooms Behind Some of The Windows

A View Inside the Mysterious Horton Doors. There's Your Drop-Shaft Folks!

I suppose we'll just have to wait until the grand opening to see more inside that awesome tower!

Disneyland Photography Super Trip

Just spent three days at the Disneyland Resort photographing anything and everything to my heart's content. Normally, when I travel to Disneyland with friends, I'm pretty much obligated to spend most of my time riding rides, but this time I was solo.

Took all of my photography equipment along with me and took a BUNCH of photos. I'm extremely happy how this batch turned out. Even better, I took some telephoto pictures of the Tower of Terror, which looks like it's coming along nicely. I'll post those construction photos tomorrow for you all.

Bright Sun, Hot Day!

Hooray! I'm At Disneyland!

Mousketeer Award for Whoever Can Tell Me Where I found This Marker

Partners Island

Hyuck!

IJA Rules You!

Still No Equal to the Mansion

Everybody's Got A Laughin' Place, Maybe This One Is Yours...

Welcome To the Town Of Big Thunder

Spiral Butte

BaAaAaAaAaaaa

The Non-Obscene Viewing Point

Castle!

He Went... That Way...

Mickey Welcomes You to His Town

It's Like the Teacups on Steroids

RAAAAAWWRRR!!

Corporate Seating

I Shall Burn You With My Golden Rays Of California!!!

Grizzly Peak

And the Time-Lapse Version

I Could Sit In Here All Day

DCA Does Light Up Well At Night

Even If There's Nobody In It... Creepy!

Paradise Pier Is Pretty At Sunset

And At Night

Sun Wheel

Astro-Orbiter Spinnery!

Greetings!

Innoventions Looks Cool, Even If It Is Closed At Night...

Fireworks Over The Matterhorn! Where's Tinkerbell?

Fireworks Over Small World Are Equally Impressive!

Man, I love taking trips that allow me plenty of time to take photographs. I really do enjoy it as much as riding the attractions themselves. Well, I hope you enjoyed the photos, and until next time, take care.

Disneyland Weekend!

I finally had the chance to escape for a weekend and get out to Disneyland. That place is my Spiritual Mecca, I feel so great whenever I'm there.

I spent a day-and-a-half at the Disneyland Resort this time before driving back to Phoenix. Rode most of my favorites while I was there and managed to snap a few photographs as well. Crowds were moderate and the weather was very obliging.

Welcome to Disneyland Proper!

Yes you do...

Station North

Music type guys leaving for breaktime

Gearing up for the 4th of July

Spooky Mansion

Even closer

Brigham Young's hearse

There's always my way...

Can't keep my eyes off of you

Lemme Out!

Leota Time

The critters welcome you to their country

Brer... uh... everyone

Chick-a-pin hill at dusk

Thar be fox ahead

Virtual Sky of the Fuuuuuuture!

Virtual everything else

I can hear the tormenting song in my nightmares

Big California sky over a big California Theme Park

I shall melt you with my golden rays of California!

The long (and wet!) lift hill up Grizzly Mountain

Wheeeeeeeeee!

Blue light district inside Soarin'

It's Hollywood! Only without the prostitutes and muggers

Screamin' rollercoaster

I love photographing Disneyland. It's so colorful and vibrant. Hopefully I'll be able to get a few more lenses/accessories for my camera this month and perhaps take another trip to get some good effects shots of the park.

Winter Disneyland Recap

This winter I had the chance to catch up on some much needed trips to Disneyland. It's been entirely too long since I've been able to visit, and I welcomed the opportunity to visit once with my family and once with my girlfriend, Mary. I love this place. :)

Even better, I had the chance to make some special memories on my last trip, proposing to my girlfriend at the wishing well. I'm already looking forward to visiting again with my fiancee.

Grizzly River Run has to be one of my favorite rides. I love it!

Water drains into the massive flood basin at the base of the old mill

Tour rafts make their way up the rickety lift hill

A final shot of the Grizzly Peak through some trees

The marching band plays their way down Main Street, U.S.A.

Main Street reflected in the holiday decorations

Mary meets some new friends ;)

It's A Small World Holiday twinkles brightly in the night

And so ends another perfect trip to The Happiest Place On Earth.
I can't wait to return!

Mary Visits Disneyland!

Mary visited Disneyland with me this weekend to celebrate my birthday. She had never been before, so this was a great trip for us both!

Together In Front Of Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Mary Found Some Friends!

And We Finished With a Romantic Dinner at the Blue Bayou