May 4, 2009

• PhotoPost: Celebrating my birthday at Disneyland

  

  The theme for Disney Theme Parks this year is "What Will You Celebrate Today?" At Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA and at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FLA, they are giving away free admissions to guests on their birthdays in 2009. Since my 56th birthday was on May 1st, I decided to visit the "happiest place on Earth" to celebrate my birthday. I had one of my best birthdays ever at Disneland Anaheim on Friday! My ex girlfriend Liz was going to accompany me, but she had to show up for jury duty. So I was to head out alone, but once I got to the park, it was as if I and a few hundred other people were being feted for the birthday celebration of a lifetime. I applaud the folks at Disney for this great idea for a "celebration".

  

  You can print a birthday ticket from your home computer, and when you get to the park, you don't have to pay the $69.00 (in California) admission fee. Just show proof of age, like a driver's license, and you are issued a "Happy Birthday" button to wear around the park. Whenever a Disney "cast member" or worker would see the button, they would wish me a "Happy Birthday". I really felt as if the whole place was a having a birthday party especially for me. In turn, when I would see others with a birthday button, I would wish them a Happy Birthday. The "celebration" was quite infectious.

  

  I ended up spending most of the day at the park. Since I'm on crutches, I was able to enter through the exit on most rides, and didn't have to wait in long lines. (The wait for premium rides like Indiana Jones or Space Mountain was up to an hour, but I was able to go right up to the loading section.) Since I haven't been out and about that much this year, I did take my camera. I didn't shoot any video, but I did get almost 200 photos which can be seen on my Webshots Gallery Folder: "Disneyland on My Birthday". The first two pictures show the front and the back of the train station at the Disneyland entrance. Above is the corner of the Main Street Cinema, where six Mickey Mouse cartoons play endlessly.

  

  This is the stove in the center of the General Store on Main Street in Disneland. I got to the park at about 10am, an hour after opening, and I stayed till about 8:30pm. Since I didn't have to wait in lines, I did get to ride quite a few attractions. I didn't take any photos inside the rides, which are pretty dark. (and no flash photography is allowed) I wanted to take photos which for the most part, didn't include the crowds of people, and are not the "typical" photos that people take when visiting the park.  

  

  I did catch this couple rolling their two "Disney Princesses" in their strollers. The "Disney Princess" brand is quite popular, and there were little princesses all around the park. Thankfully, the Princess section was way in the back of Fantasyland, over by Toontown, and was far enough out of the way that I didn't encounter the millions of little girls who make a beeline right to the princess section. I did think this couple in their stroller were cute enough for a picture.

  

  I inserted blue skies in some of the photos, like this one of the Goofy statue in the center of the park, looking back toward the train station at the entrance to Main Street. Otherwise, this shot is not composited at all. The Goofy statue is only about 18" high, and he's on a pedestal.

  

  Here is a shot of the "Partners" statue in the center of the park, in the Plaza section which leads to all the various "lands" in Disneyland. This is rather normal view of the statue, but there were lots of other photogs gathering around, and I took a snap when I didn't see too many people in front of the statue.

  

  This is the interior of the Golden Horseshoe Ice Cream Parlor in Frontierland. They used to have the "Golden Horseshoe" review in this building but no more. Liz told me that there are performances on the stage a few times daily, but not on the scale of the old review. I didn't know there were still shows, so I didn't stick around. I'd never been inside this particular building, and I've been to Disneyland many many times since 1967.

  

  The first place I usually go when visiting Disneyland is the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, followed by the Haunted Mansion, pictured above. Like the Goofy shot, I composited another sky, a stormy cloudscape I shot in another time and place, in back of the mansion, to make the photo look more "spooky". There was a cloud cover when I visited, but the whole sky was white.

  

  The only way to really get shots without people is to shoot above their heads, as I did of the water tower while standing on the Frontierland station waiting for the train.

  

  After riding Pirates and the Haunted Mansion, I took the train to Toontown, and rode the Roger Rabbit Spin, then took off with my camera to find shots around Toontown. I didn't recomposite cloudscapes on these photos, so the white sky is what was really there. Toontown is built so that the buildings look like they're in a cartoon.

  

  Another shot of Toontown. Very difficult to get shots without a lot of tourists. I took lots more photos, including the gas station and the trolley stand, but there were too many folks milling about for the photos to have much effect showing the architecture.

  

  A shot of the Toontown City Hall.

  

  Here is the statue of Mickey Mouse in front of his home in ToonTown, backed with the "Toontown Sign". Toontown was built after the success of the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" in 1988.

  

  After Toontown and "It's A Small World", which reopened recently after renovations, I shot some angles around Cinderella Castle, the focal point of Fantasyland.

  

  Some pink roses framing the castle from the side of the moat.

  

  Next I visited Tomorrowland, where I bought the Disney Treasures collector tin of "Tomorrowland" which includes the documentaries "Man in Space", "Man on the Moon" , and "Mars and Beyond". I spent some time in "Innoventions" and would have ridden Space Mountain, except that they closed the ride down suddenly while I was waiting. Here is a shot of the front of one of the monorail trains, which I took to Downtown Disney, where I had lunch at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen, a favorite restaurant when I visit the mouse house. At the Jazz Kitchen, my server gave me a free refill on my "Hurricane" rum drink, cause it was my birthday!

  

  After lunch, I took the monorail back to Tomorrowland, then walked over to Adventureland for a spin on the Jungle Cruise, pictured here at the end of the ride, and the Indiana Jones ride. By now it was late afternoon, but my feet hardly hurt because I was not forced to wait in the long lines because of my handicap.

  

  Before leaving the park, I stopped by the Disneyania Shop on Main Street, and narrowed my search for collectibles to three figures. I really wanted the large 2 and a half foot tall Jessica Rabbit, for $175.00, but I already have a Jessica figurine in my collection. There were also 1928 versions of stuffed Mickey and Minnie dolls ($125.00) and a Goofy One Man Band figurine I would have really loved to see in my collection, but at $350.00 was far too much money. I couldn't make up my mind, so I stepped outside to watch the "Celebration" parade, which occurs twice a day. This is one of the floats.

  

  After the parade, I went back to the Disneyania store and chose this 7" tall wooden Steamboat Willie figurine for only $40.00. The ships wheel turns! I ended up not spending a fortune. Admission to the park was free. All in all, I had a great birthday, and while my feet do hurt a bit, and I did get a few callusses, I was able to walk around the total park on crutches and see everything I planned to see without too much trouble. I also got a "2fer" ticket which means I can come back before the end of the month and visit California Adventure, the 2nd Disney park in Anaheim for free!  I'd like to give thanks to all the Xangans and Facebook friends who wished me a Happy Birthday as well. I think my 56th was one of my best birthdays ever!

   

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