Photo Supply Co. and PhotoPass

2 Comments Posted by on February 27, 2012

You know how I’m always picking on myself for not taking very good pictures because I AM AN AWESOME PHOTOGRAPHER!!!? Well, Disneyland has an answer to that.

Up at the end of Main Street on the corner is the Photo Supply Co. store. This is prime real estate, my friends.

Location, location, location!

Once upon a time, the camera store at Disneyland was hoppin’. You could buy all kinds of stuff for your very own camera. Everything from 35 mm film to those flashbulbs that came in a cube and like totally exploded in order to make the flash, leaving me with a latent childhood fear of flashbulbs bursting past that plastic cover thing shooting hundreds of tiny little flashbulb shards into my eyes, totally blinding me and quite possibly entering my brain, killing me as well.

I had an active imagination.

Anyway, Disneyland doesn’t sell those anymore.

They do sell these:

Which is like totally the same thing, right?

In keeping with the oldey-timey theme of Main Street, the Photo Supply Co. has cool window displays.

Surprisingly sponsored by Kodak

I want to say that the whole mirror-type groovy effect with the crowd moving by and my arms holding the camera is some kind of artistic choice to bring out the true experience of Disneyland, which is both reflective and transparent, coupled with the new and the old, brought together in a montage of gilded definition, but actually I’m just not a very good photographer.

If you look closely at the O in DEVELOPING, you can make out my sneer as I attempt this photograph

There is cool stuff in the actual window.

Like this!

 

What kind of camera is that? I’m not sure.

ANYway, inside the Photo Supply Co. and two very small reminders of the existence of actual non-digital photography. The first being the disposable cameras above, and the second being this:

A small display of photo albums

The rest is all devoted to PhotoPass.

What is PhotoPass, you ask? Or didn’t ask?

PhotoPass is Disney’s in-park photography system. There are PhotoPass photographers stationed strategically throughout the parks (in front of the castle, for example, or by the flower Mickey at the entrance). They will take your picture and scan a card with a code. Interestingly, the new Annual Passes have a PhotoPass code on them, so if you’re an AP holder you no longer have to worry about carrying around a PhotoPass card!

If you’re not an Annual Passholder, then you will have to worry about carrying around a PhotoPass card.

Anyway, so you take pictures throughout the park, and then you can look at them and get them printed and such. You can do that at home on the internet, or you can do it at…

wait for it…

wait for it…

the Photo Supply Co.!

But here’s the cool part. You can actually go around collecting PhotoPass pictures throughout your whole vacation and then you can buy a CD of ALL of your PP pictures, called the Disney PhotoCD. And that’s cool because then you can get them printed anywhere. And you can go online and add cute little borders and stuff. It’s actually a pretty good deal, especially because it means the whole family gets to be in the picture. And you know how I feel about that.

(if you don’t know how I feel about that, it’s that I feel that it’s really important for people to put down their cameras and experience the park with your whole group every once in a while)

You can also had the PP photographer your own camera and they will take a picture for you.

How much does this cost? Excellent question. I grabbed a shot of the price list:

here it is!

 

To translate, the Disney PhotoCD is $59.95. The prices on the bottom are for prints of various sizes. The package at the top is the PhotoCD and three 5×7 prints.

But wait! There’s more!

You can also buy “Disney’s Photo Gallery CD.” What’s that, you ask? Or didn’t ask? Well, it’s a collection of professional photos taken around the parks including rides, attractions, characters, and so on. What’s really cool about that is that you know how you spent all that time trying to get the perfect shot of the facade of Small World but your camera is kind of lame or whatever, and you never get the angle right? With the Photo Gallery CD, you don’t have to do that anymore! Because the picture has already been taken for you! And not that I wish to speak poorly about your photography skills, but chances are it’s a better picture than the one you would have taken!

Which goes back to my whole “put the camera down” thing. There’s no point in trying to that perfect picture of the Haunted Mansion to add to your scrapbook later, because that picture has already been taken. So put your camera down and enjoy the park.

The Photo Gallery CD is $39.95.

The inside of the Photo Supply Co. is largely centered around the PhotoPass system. There are computer screens everywhere where you can view your pictures

This kind of reminds me of the computer check-in kiosks at the airport

And also more oldey-timey cameras decorating the wall

Whatever they're called

So swing by the Photo Supply Co. for all of your photo needs, or most of them anyway.

Follow the pointing finger

 

Main Street , , , , , , , ,

Construction and Corndogs

6 Comments Posted by on February 24, 2012

Well I finally, finally made it back to the park today! Twice, actually. I mean, Theo and I went to the park for a couple of hours this morning, and then once I got home I checked my phone and had a text from a friend saying, “Hey, me and your other friend are at Disneyland, wanna meet up?”

Seriously. Right as I walked in the door coming back from Disneyland.

And I was so proud of spending quality time with Theo that I stayed off of my phone basically the whole time. And then, as it turned out, it wasn’t quality time after all. Theo wanted to go on Small World but the wait was a bit long and he was being really antsy, so I said no. Then he wanted to go on the Jolly Trolley in ToonTown, except that the Jolly Trolley doesn’t actually move or go anywhere anymore, unfortunately. He got to play in ToonTown but didn’t get to ride any rides.

So when we got home, Kevin asked him what he did at Disneyland, and he said, “Mommy said no rides. Got time out.” Way to make me look like the bad guy, kid! And for the record, he did NOT get a time out, he was just threatened with one when he wouldn’t get back in his stroller. But if you followed his logic, it was pretty much the worst trip to Disneyland ever.

Whatever. That’s what you get with a 3-year-old.

Anyway, here’s a picture:

Right above the East side entrance arch

I figured I needed to throw a picture in there. That’s the Lilly Belle, the private train car I didn’t even know existed until I started this blog.

February and March are generally a good time to come to Disneyland. The crowds are low, except on holidays like President’s Day. However, the drawback is that you can run into a lot of things down for refurbishment.

They did finish up the Jolly Holiday Bakery back in the building that used to be the Annual Pass headquarters called the Plaza Pavilion. In exchange, they shut down the Blue Ribbon Bakery:

With a giant tarp too, talk about shut down with extreme prejudice!

The Carnation Cafe and the Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor are also shut down. They both will be returning, but the Blue Ribbon Bakery will not.

Let us hold a moment of silence for the Blue Ribbon Bakery.

Feeling better now? Yeah, me neither.

They also blocked off the opening of the Penny Arcade

I have no idea why

Really, I don’t. I don’t think it’s part of the Carnation Cafe expansion, but I suppose we’ll know soon enough.

Probably the biggest refurb going on at Disneyland right now is the Matterhorn.

Does the real Matterhorn have scaffolding?

This is a major refurb, with everything from re-doing the exterior to replacing the bobsled cars.

Yes, I said replacing the bobsled cars.

Back in the old Matterhorn you sat in your bobsled car with another people sitting between your legs. I mean, it was awesome for Date Night and all, but a bit awkward with your friends. The new sleds have individual seating for 3 with two sleds per vehicle. This should increase the ride capacity (yay!) which means quicker lines (yay!), but less opportunity for groping. I believe they are also fixing the track to be less jerky and bumpy (a welcome improvement) as well as the abominable snowman (or snowmen, as the case may be). What’s not changing is the fact that the two sides are slightly different, with the Fantasyland side being better than the Tomorrowland side.

Insider tip there. If you go when it’s actually open.

Anyway, other than the refurbs, I also wanted to point out one of my favorite eating establishments in the park.

Yes, I consider a red cart to be an "eating establishment"

The Corn Dog Cart is found on the hub at the end of Main Street. The corn dogs are hand-dipped, which makes them delicious but also takes them longer to cook, so you end up with this:

There were actually more people in line but I was getting funny looks so I had to pretend to photograph something else, and then I just got this shot and called it a day

I also think the Corn Dog Cart is one of the best values for your money at Disneyland.

And I'm not talking about the $2.79 bottle of water

Corn dog and chips? Pretty good!

If you don’t feel like waiting for the cart, however, you can get the exact same dogs over at the Stage Door Cafe which is usually faster and less crowded.

And that rounds up our miscellaneous pictures for the day!

Everything Else, Main Street , , ,

Court Des Anges

7 Comments Posted by on February 21, 2012

New Orleans Square is such a lovely place to walk around. Little details everywhere are just delightful.

So it makes me feel incredibly guilty that I’ve spent so little time there in all my time at Disneyland. Although that’s what this blog is for, right?

For example, I had no idea this existed.

Court des Anges!

 

Tucked away close to the exit of Pirates of the Caribbean (and speaking of feeling guilty, because as many times as I’ve ridden Pirates, I’m pretty sure I never turned my head left coming out of it) the Court des Anges is a cute little courtyard.

With a staircase

 

If you enter the Court and turn around, it looks like this

People subject to change without warning

 

To the left of the Court sign, there are stairs and a few doors

Also, lights

 

The main staircase, which is pretty much the focal point of the Court, starts out looking like this.

Potted plants and everything!

 

The steps continue

Up up up

 

To a Cast Members Only door up at the top.

There it is!

And unlike many of my other entries in which I kind of flail around pointlessly, I can say that this is actually part of Club 33. Ha! I knew something! I think.

But speaking of knowing things, or not knowing them as the case may be, partway up the stairs there’s one of those thingies that’s a recessed half-circle with a little statue of something.

In this case, a little boy

 

And I’m sure there’s a name for this type of thing, but I have no idea what it is. Anyone?

Also, much like Main Street, you can do various fictional things in this Court.

Like take music lessons

 

I’ve often thought that it would be awesome if some of these things were real. Like if you really could go to the dentist in the shop by the lockers on Main Street. I mean, I would totally do that. Or take music lessons or something. How cool would that be?

 

New Orleans Square ,

L’Ornament Magique

2 Comments Posted by on February 17, 2012

Let’s hang out in New Orleans Square for a while, okay? There’s so much to see in there, and to be completely honest I’ve most often just blown through there on my way out of Pirates of the Caribbean (which, by the way, they renovated to widen the exit–badly needed!). Anyway, for those who love to stop and pay attention–smell the artificial roses, as it were–New Orleans Square is the place for you.

And among the shops in New Orleans Square is

*Blurry people not included

L’Ornament Magique sells, shockingly, ornaments.

I know–I didn’t see it coming either.

It's a princess tree!

Now I have to say, Disneyland was a little disappointing on the ornament front this past year. We’ve got a few Disney ornaments but didn’t buy a Disneyland one because we couldn’t really find one that struck us as THE ornament.

Plus we got one from the Mouse-in-Law AND from the cruise, so you know, it’s not like we were hurting for mouse ears or anything.

For a while they had these princess ornaments that were just the princess dresses. Like all pink and blue and yellow, etc. just the dresses. Which was not inherently a bad idea, but the execution was, well, it looked like an execution. You sort of had these disembodied dresses hanging around that were frankly quite creepy. You almost expected another tree of severed princess heads.

Ew.

Oh, back to the shop!

It’s small.

The picture up there is one side,

And this is the other

Like the rest of Disneyland, the details are fully realized. Looking up:

I'll have a blue Christmas without Disneyland ornaments

And I’ll be honest here, the ornament shop is not my favorite. It’s tiny and the displays are a bit overwhelming. But if you’re looking for an ornament year-round–well…

New Orleans Square

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