Daily Photo Tour - Stars and Stripes and Steam

One of my favorite parts of riding the Mark Twain is standing on the top deck and watching the steam. It floats off into the sky and lingers as though it weren't ready to leave. Those steady sounding puffs thrust the vessel along the river and before you know it, it's time for you to leave and make way to your next adventure.

Daily Photo Tour - Details in the Dock

Oh the stories these oft overlooked details could tell, whether it be their imagineered backstories or their real park ones. What river adventures did they take part in? Did they save a life? I'm sure things like this get replaced as needed and that's probably more frequently than we realize, but can you imagine how many guests this rope and this life preserver have seen and conversely, how few have taken notice of them? How many conversations they've given ear to? What special moments they played part to by some obscure degree of separation? How wonderful that must be for their craftsmen. Beauty is in the details. God is in the details. Taking a moment to enjoy the details is taking a moment to enjoy the present and making a decision to lead a rich life.

Daily Photo Tour - The Horseshoe Lighting Revue

As we were waiting for the next show to begin, we made our way around the Golden Horseshoe to explore different angles and details. One of the things I love in there is all ornate lighting. This chandelier in particular caught my eye as it served as the perfect foreground to the grand stage.

Daily Photo Tour - The Abandoned Mine

If you wander around the backside of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad you'll find a shaft entering the abandoned mine. Even though I know it's not real, I can't help the urge to cross the fence and explore. The unseen has a way of grabbing our imagination and enticing our curiosity.

Daily Photo Tour - Room Aboard the Mark Twain

The Mark Twain offers a few options for your journey through the Rivers of America. There are the decks which offer a view of the surrounding wilderness and then there are cozy cabins where you can rest a spell. Fortunately the steamer takes her time, leaving the opportunity to enjoy all she has to offer. Go ahead, have a seat and listen to the whistle sing, the stacks puff steam into the sky and the paddle wheel churn the open river.

Daily Photo Tour - Resting in Frontierland

Oh to rest. To sit upon a bench in Disneyland. To sit in the sun and just relax. I'd love to just sit without any tax. With the bright dancing rays upon my face, oh how I long for such a place. A place to just sit on a bench and rest. It is without a doubt the very best. To take an entire day off and just sit on that bench, I would do it in an instant without regret. I'd buy a large soda and a sweet tasty churro, and reminisce for a while about how Walt Disney's my hero. I'd sit for so long that my butt might get quite sick, but I know I'd make it through both Fantasmics. I'd sit on a bench but not a fence. I'd sit on a bench but not a wrench. If Tony Baxter walked by I would not arise, If John Lasseter were to pass I would not even gasp. But If Mickey Mouse strolled by I'd have a fit, I would quickly shout out, "Go ahead please sit!" I'd talk for a while about how my life has changed, how in just three years it's been rearranged. I'd tell a story of adventure that's been nothing but joy, and he'd probably exclaim a famous, "Oh boy!" You see it's moments like these that are at most perfection, the times to sit in quiet reflection. To think of the past, and how far you've come, to dream about the possibilities and then some. See, a bench is not just a bench although it may seem, it's really a spot to think and dream. To re-imagine your life on the great grand scheme, to really believe you can accomplish anything. All you need to pursue your own dreams is courage and hope. Oh! And one last catch, a Disneyland bench.

Daily Photo Tour - Frontierland Sunset

The past few months have been some of the craziest and busiest the three of us have ever had. The chair at my desk seems like it needs a vacation almost as much as I do and I hope that time is coming very soon. I hope too that the time will be coming soon when we can share with you just what we have been working so diligently on. In any case, one of the greatest challenges in a hectic schedule or a pressure filled situation is to find or rediscover your center. What I mean by that is your quiet place. A place of peace. A place where you can see clearly your objective and the path that will take you there. A place where you can check your motives with all transparency. A place where you are certain of your purpose. Fortunately, having done this dance a time or two, I have a few ideas of where to look. Sometimes I look to the beauty of nature, which always seems to have a calming effect. There's a simplicity to it, like a Frontierland sunset. Other times, a great story to escape into will help slough off what ails me, whatever form it may come in. Without fail, prayer puts me in this place. There's just something about talking to my Creator that makes the complex things simple and the overwhelming noise a whisper.

Daily Photo Tour - Exploring the Rivers of the Far West

As we were so kindly recently reminded, much of the beauty to be found in Disneyland (and in life) is neatly tucked away in the details. Sometimes those details are big and other times very small. They work together to create an atmosphere that saturates you with appreciation and immerses you in a place that pluses reality. The rivers of the Far West, or as we like to call them, the Rivers of America, are rife with such details from the texture of the riverbanks and the trees that line them to the sun's sparkle over rippling water and the safe and reliable sternwheeler that steams its way through in exploration. In a way, exploration is an endeavor to find the details. The most exciting part, of course, is that you never know what you might find when you set out to explore and expose yourself to the details of the world.

Daily Photo Tour - Horses, Wagons and Cowboys

Curiously, or maybe not so curiously, one of the most interesting things in Disneyland is the surface you walk on. There's always a reason for it. What reason can there be, you might ask? Story. Disneyland's ability to immerse you in its environment is directly tied to how well the story around you is told. Take Frontierland; the ground could have been any number of things that might remind you of the frontier (probably something like dirt). The Imagineers didn't stop at dirt, however, they went so far as to put tracks in the pseudo-dirt. Horse tracks. Wagon tracks. Even cowboy boot tracks. Even then the tracks themselves tell a story. I'm not much of a tracker, so I couldn't really tell you which horse has a limp back leg, but I'm pretty sure that the wagon driver spent a little too much time at the saloon! Next time you visit the Park, look at the ground, feel it beneath your feet and watch it shift and change with the story.

Daily Photo Tour - The Golden Horseshoe Stage

I love popping in to catch a show at The Golden Horseshoe. When I was a little younger I wondered what fun it could be compared to all the other attractions. I had no idea what fun I was missing. All it took was a singing violin and a hillbilly grin and I was hooked.

Daily Photo Tour - Sunset at the Frontierland Dock

Sunsets like this create a new, inexplicable layer of magic to Disneyland. It's almost as if you've stepped into a painting or a dream. You can't waste any time enjoying enjoying it either; soon the light and color fade, giving way to a blanket of stars.

Daily Photo Tour - The Wildest Fort in the Wilderness

Making it over to Tom Sawyer Island is not a common occurrence for me but I always manage to get lost on that speck in the middle of the Rivers of America for hours when I do. It's an adventure with so many hidden treasures. My favorite part, for some reason, has always been Fort Wilderness. Davy Crockett was one of my heroes as a kid and I can just imagine him and me hold up in there with our trusty muskets.

Daily Photo Tour - The Great Outdoors

It still amazes me how much there is to enjoy at Disneyland. Aside from the myriad manmade marvels there are glimpses of the great outdoors. Take this small forest, for example; it might be difficult to place without a little help. It's at the backside of the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, near the transition from Frontierland to Fantasyland. It's a reminder to me of how Walt loved nature and the many adventures to be found in it and serves as inspiration to give more consideration to my appreciation of the habitat around me.

Daily Photo Tour - At the Edge of Winter

It's starting to finally get a little chilly here in Southern California. I've noticed that guests in Disneyland have replaced sandals and shorts with pants and parkas. We've seemed to really skip the whole in between phase of shorts and a hoodie. Yes, it's common to see local residents sporting shorts and sweatshirts. What can I say, it's a California thing. This year, the cold winter weather is falling on us quick. The Rivers of America is so beautiful, and I love it even more during the Holidays. It just feels right. There is a very unique atmosphere that is caused by the surrounding area of Frontierland and New Orleans Square that brings a cheerful spirit to the river during Christmas.

Daily Photo Tour - A Haunting Halloween Harmony

Matt and I attended Mickey's Halloween Party for the first time this year. Although we felt its worth to be questionable at the time, our experience proved otherwise. The lighting alone was enough to put a smile on our faces as it opened up a whole new world just waiting to be captured. You know it's a good night when you see something and already have a vision for the completed image; this was no exception. We were on our way to the Golden Horseshoe when we heard this beautifully eerie harmony that stopped us in our tracks; the Cadaver Dans. They slowly floated by, shrouded in fog, materializing just long enough to serenade a few lost souls before drifting off into the dark night.

Daily Photo Tour - The Fiery Frontier Furnace

Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland holds a lot of fun surprises. Some of the best are the unique ways different parts of the Park are lit. A familiar atmosphere instantly transports you somewhere else. A harmless cavern becomes a frightening fiery furnace. As the howling of a hungry wolf pierces through the echoes of a brooding storm, do you dare look to see what's inside? Imagination races wild on the frontier at Halloween time.

Daily Photo Tour - Through the Changing Leaves

I'm really starting to get in that autumn spirit. Is there one? I think so. For me, it involves completely changing my wardrobe. Shorts to pants, shirts to long sleeves. Finally pulling that year old jacket out of the closet, or a reason to buy a new one. Leaving the window open at night to closing it and adding a few more blankets to the sleep machine. The iced caramel macchiato has turned into a hot caramel macchiato which means minus one espresso from my morning routine. That's definitely not good. But it also means seeing amazing scenes of the Mark Twain steaming away through a tree of changing leaves. The changing atmosphere of fall has always given me a sense of something to look forward to. Autumn has always been that season of change for everyone. I can't wait to see what this winter season has in store.

Daily Photo Tour - The Harvest Hayride

What could be more fun than a wagon of pumpkins? A wagon of pumpkins at the happiest place on earth! It always amazes me the effort that goes forth into transforming sections of the Park for a short season like Halloween time. The attention to detail definitely has more than these Jack-O-Lanterns smiling.

Daily Photo Tour - There's No Place Like Home

Disneyland always seems different on a cloudy day. The already transporting ambiance takes a new direction. I'm fond of cabins, so this one in Big Thunder Ranch in Frontierland is a nifty spot for me. The looming dark clouds overhead, for some reason or another involving random synapses of the brain, make me think of Kansas before the tornado spirals in to sweep Dorothy and her dog to a place that isn't, a place called Oz. That idea is what I hoped to convey with this image. Flying monkeys not included.

Daily Photo Tour - On the River in Autumn

The Rivers of America really start to glow during the fall. As the sun makes its way to the west and drops late in the year, a golden glow reflects off of the waters in a real magical way. The leaves begin to turn just enough to remind local Californian's there is such a thing as autumn. I was able to barely catch the Mark Twain a few weeks ago as it passed quickly by the Sailing Ship Columbia. It is truly remarkable to see the size of these boats next to each other, and then to realize the enormity of the tree in the center of the frame. It dwarfs the masts and doesn't even fit within the composition. For me, it's the authenticity of theses rivers that pull me in every time. Walt sure knew what he was doing when he saved those trees.