Five Years!

Hooray! It's been five years since Mary and I got married at Walt Disney World! To celebrate, we decided to go back with our friends and family to where it all started, in sunny Florida!

Anniversary Time!

WDW Was All Decked Out For Christmas

And So Were Paul and Sheenae

We stayed at the Contemporary, on the Atrium Club level. It was pretty cool since they had free food and drinks all day and night for us. We also had our own private lounge where we could relax, watch fireworks, or play cards and watch TV.

You Can See MK From the Concierge Lounge

As Well as the Polynesian

And the Grand Floridian

Our Room Overlooked Bay Lake (HDR)

As Well as the New DVC Construction
(Click Image for Large Panorama)

All Aboard The Monorail to Fun!

I Was The Only One That Got Wet... :/

Too Many Rules!

Brer Rabbit

Brer Bear and Fox

Brer... Skunk?

Uh... Brer... Vultures?

This Is The Largest Audio-Animatronic Prop Ever Created

YEOW!

Haunted Mansion!

Leota Floating

Anniversary you Say?

I Forgot How Bad This Show Is

Yeah...

Now This Is Better!

Those Sure are Big Boots

Nick Approves

Sci-Fi was Neat, but Had Mediocre Food

OM NOM NOM

Hey! It's The Vucics!

The Food in Mexico was BAD

Good Thing It Doesn't Have To Stay Down For Long!

Ready To Upchuck Where No Man Has Upchucked Before?

Still an Awesome Ride

I Love Photographing the Tower (HDR)

Except When Jerks Get In My Shot! (HDR)

They're Heeeeere...

Back Row Rules You!

Do Drop In Again Soon (HDR)

The Safari at Animal Kingdom Was Good

And Expedition Everest Was Awesome!

Possibly the Best Ride at WDW

Beware The Yeti...

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo!

The Pauls Seem To Be Scared of Dinosaurs

We Ate at T-Rex. It Was Cool! (Har Har)

Meteor Storm!

The Lighting Drove Some To Madness...

Ohana Has The Greatest. Food. EVAR.

Too Much Drinking From Pineapples!

The Disney Studios Hat Looks Cool At Night (HDR)

But It Still Needs To Go To Unblock The Theater (HDR)

It's Japan! It's EPCOT! It's (HDR)!

I Found a Hidden Mickey In the Nemo Tank!

Thank God The Giant Wand is Gone! (HDR)

Cinderella's Castle

Reflecting in the Moat (HDR)

And We Finish With Fireworks...

...As Seen From the Contemporary.

Well, that's all for this time. We all had a great trip, and can't wait to go back again for our Tenth Anniversary! If you'd like to see all my WDW photos, you can CLICK HERE. Or, if you'd like to see all my Disneyland Photos, you can CLICK HERE. Enjoy!

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!

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!

Cedar Point!!!

Treated myself to a nice birthday trip and went all the way out to Sandusky, Ohio for some Cedar Point action!

First time I'd ever been to Cedar Point, and I had a good time. Roller coasters there are truly awesome, and I racked up a bunch of credits on this trip. Sadly, taking photos was pretty tough. The sun was hot, and reflecting off the water all around the park (it's on an island). Also, the park is very photo-unfriendly. No tripods, and I even got hassled by security just for standing to take pictures in the middle of a walkway.

Even so, I think the photos turned out okay. Be sure to also check out the video I took and posted a couple of days ago, it's much better than the photos!

A panoramic shot of Cedar Point and Hotel Breakers from the Beach. This is where We Stayed.
(Click Image for Large Panorama)

The Rides really are Right on the Beach. It's pretty Cool

Hey, I rode this in the 1980's... when it was at Knott's Berry Farm!

Wicked Twister

Twister reaches its Apex

AWESOME

This ride is Fast. Painful Fast

MF was Easily my favorite Ride

Hot Stand Up Action

Mine Ride is Tame, but still Fun

Dragster is Ominous at Night

As Is MF!

Cedar Point -=VIDEO=-

Took a birthday trip to the roller coaster capitol of the world, Cedar Point! I had never been to Cedar Point before, and since it's so far away, probably won't get another chance to go anytime in the near future.

The coasters were pretty darn cool, but I wish there was more to do in the area. Cedar Point really is the only thing for miles and miles that's even remotely interesting. Here's a video I made of it!

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!

WDW Supertrip!

I just came back from what has to be the best trip of my entire life. Not only did I get married, but I got to spend two whole weeks at Walt Disney World with all of my friends and family!

Awesome weather, awesome food, and awesome rides were par for the course on this trip. We hit pretty much every part of the World, and enjoyed every minute of it. As promised after my last WDW trip, I took a HUGE number of photos for you all to enjoy this time!

Woohoo! Another Stay at the Luxurious Grand Floridian Resort!

Ginormous Castle

And Its Companion, Ginormous Geospehere

Mary is Already Showing off Her Ring...

Obligatory Shot of BTMM Rounding Spiral Butte

Jose Wonders in Disgust What They've Done to His Tiki Room

If You Walk Far Enough, You Can Watch Logs Exit the Final Splashdown

Mission Space! Evacuating Stomaches All Day Long

The Mission Space Plaza is Pretty Nice

There are Lots of Sweeping Curves to Photograph

More Mission Space Art

Cars Speed By In the Viewing Mirror of Test Track

And Continue to do so After Nightfall

Futureworld Fountains at Night

Innoventions Plaza

A panoramic shot of the Boardwak Resort and... well... Boardwalk
(Click Image for Large Panorama)

Greatest... Ride... EVAR

Room for One More...

Infra-Red Shot of the Tower. Spooky!

Man That Thing is Huge

Drop In Again Real Soon

It's Graumans Chine... Wait... No, It's a Hat!

Big Thunder is Pretty at Night

It is Lit Waaay Better than Disneyland's

The World of Tomorrow... Today!

The Astro Orbiter Whirls its Victims to Nausea

WDW Space Mountain Rules. It's the Matterhorn in the Dark!

Believe!

There's Magic in the Stars!

Goodbye Walt Disney World! We'll Miss You!

Like I said, I think this was hands-down, the greatest vacation I've ever taken. I'm already planning on bringing us back for our 5 year anniversary. Hopefully I can see you all there!

My Wedding!!!

Well, it finally happened! After years of waiting, planning, and navigating the horrors of the immigration system, I'm finally married to my beautiful wife!

Mary and I tied the knot today at the most perfect of locations, Walt Disney World! We've been staying at the Grand Floridian (DEFINITELY recommend) and had the ceremony at Disney's Wedding Pavilion.

The folks at Disney really make these kinds of events special and everything went off without a hitch. Where else in the world can you get wedding photos like the one with us in front of the castle? Perfect memories.

Posing on the beach between the Grand Floridian and the Wedding Chapel

Better get back or we'll miss the reception!

Castle in the Sky. Best tasting cake... EVER

Yes, she smashed it into my face

The obligatory night time castle portrait

Oooh... now I'm standing further back

Looking to Cinderella's Castle

We have the Magic Kingdom all to ourselves!

Must pose in front of the Mansion. No, she didn't jump off of the roof

There's my beautiful bride!

Posing on the steps of the Grand

Let me get some of that stairway action!

Who's that handsome man?

First dance

Uncle George dances the night away

Jamie and Scott enjoying themselves

Grandma steals the groom!

Judy and Jimmy dancing

Can it be a Carla sighting?!

Party animals

Parents of the Bride

Mike and Amy came to my wedding even though I missed theirs!

Prosecutors in love

Kara looking fabulous

The ultimate party table!

We had quite the turnout for a wedding in Florida!

Making things official in the chapel

This place really is beautiful

You may kiss the bride

Parents of the Groom

Time to depart in our carriage!

There we go!

A HUGE thanks to all of our friends and family that came and made this moment special for the both of us. This is one trip we'll never forget!

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

WDW Millennium Celebration!

Went with the family to Walt Disney World for Thanksgiving and to catch the end of the millennium celebration. Trip was awesome as usual, but I didn't get too much free time to take photos.

Millennium celebration was awesome, with some interesting music going on over at EPCOT. I picked up the enumerative CD to take home with me. It fits EPCOT pretty well.

We Stayed at the Grand Floridian, Already Dressed Up for Christmas

Went to EPCOT for the Celebration. I'm not Sure I Dig the 2000 Thing they Affixed to Spaceship Earth...

Test Track was the New Hotness at the World. Yes, That's the Line I'm Standing In

And of Course, the Greatest of All Time...

Tower of Terror!!!

Had a fantastic trip and look forward to going back soon. Sorry about the lack of photos, but I promise I'll do better next time!