Memories at the Happiest Place on Earth

Today's post is dedicated to someone very special to me and I'm filling it with pictures of her favorite things at Disneyland!  I have so many wonderful memories at Disneyland with her, many more than I have time to write about today.  It's a joy to think back to the great times at Disneyland with my Mom!


Happy Birthday Mom!  I love you :)


My Mom's favorite character is Dopey!  If she's not at Disneyland with me I make sure to take a picture each and every time of him to bring back for her.  I have so many fond memories of when I was little of both my Mom and I yelling out to Dopey as loud as we could: "We love you Dopey!!" anytime we saw him in a parade or show.  It made the moment that much more special anytime we could get him to wave back to us!






This second Dopey picture is more of an "action shot" of him in the finale of Fantasmic! :)






Next up is a shot of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Christmastime!  My Mom and I both love to stand in front of the pretty castle at Christmastime and let the snow, or as we call it: "snoap" (snow+soap!) fall over us!  It's one of the prettiest sights to see at Disneyland and I'm so happy I've been able to share this sight with her!






Our next picture reminds me of my Mom because she took the exact same shot back in the 80s before I was born!  This picture is stored safe in a scrapbook of mine but it inspired me to take the same shot now. I'll make sure sometime to scan it in and post both side by side!  It's neat to see the "then and now" of the same shot!






Another fond memory I have of going to Disneyland with my Mom is that we always stop past the Enchanted Tiki Room to sing along with the birds!  From probably the time I was able to talk (or even before that) she started teaching me the song so I was able to sing along with her.  We still sing along even now and have a blast every time we do!






To finish off today's post I have a picture of my friend Erin, my Mom, and myself during our last trip to Disneyland!  Can you tell we coordinated the "red shirt day"? :)






Again, have a very happy birthday Mom!  I love you :)

Adventures in Wonderland

"My adventures in Wonderland began when I followed the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole.  All of a sudden, I fell! Down, down, down..."







Alice in Wonderland is just one of those little cute Fantasyland rides that is a must-see when you go to Disneyland!  I've always found it so fun because it goes on two different levels of the building and is both outside and inside too!  I thought it was the coolest thing when I was little that I got to sit in the front all by myself, like that little seat was made for me! :)


All the oversized "plants" and such at Alice in Wonderland make it a pretty place to look at, as well as all the bright colors!  Love it!







Something I really love to look at and take pictures of in the Alice in Wonderland area are the big oversized leaves in all the pretty colors!  I even made these out of paper for a scrapbook once!  They're a nice thing to shoot picture of if you have time to kill in line, which is exactly what I did!












Finally, I have a pic of the lanterns that hang above the Mad Tea Party which is right next door to Alice in Wonderland!  These lanterns seem to bring out a smile from me every time I see them!  To me they mean a fun ride of spinning my teacup till I'm super dizzy!  :)

The Mighty Matterhorn

The Matterhorn is a one-of-a-kind piece of history that makes its home at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.  Disneyland's Matterhorn was the world's first tubular steel roller coaster, paving the way for many of the modern thrill rides in operation today!


Disneyland's Matterhorn Mountain stands at approximately 147 feet tall and the coaster reaches around 25 - 27 miles per hour in speed.  The ride officially opened on June 14, 1959 along with two other attractions on the same day: The Submarine Voyage and the Disneyland Monorail.  The Matterhorn actually has two separate coaster tracks inside it, making it double the fun!








I love days where I can get Matterhorn pictures like this!  When the sky is perfect and the waterfalls are running!  To set the atmosphere even more: just imagine the sound of a roaring Abominable Snowman coming from inside the mountain!


The Matterhorn has always been one of those classic attractions we ride every trip.  Even though it can be a little rough of a ride, it's sure to bring a smile to my face and make me laugh.  If we have the time, we even try to ride both tracks!








One of those sights I love to see at Disneyland is a bobsled flying down the Matterhorn!  I'm sure many of you can agree with that!  That plus the now seemingly rare occurrence that Mickey Mouse himself climbs the Matterhorn!  The last time I personally saw the Mouse on the mountain was back in Spring 2008.


This last picture is my attempt at an "artsy" shot of the Matterhorn taken on the Tomorrowland side of the mountain while waiting in line to ride it.  I really enjoyed the look of it with the waterfall and the pine tree and hope you do as well!  Next time you're at the park, stop by the Mighty Matterhorn and take a ride down it's icy slopes!

Fantasyland Friday!

Per the request of some followers of Pics from the Pixie, this Friday's post will feature Fantasyland Friday!  So please, do remain seated with your hands, arms, feet, and legs inside and enjoy your ride! :)


We start today at the front of Fantasyland and the gateway to the rest of the land, Sleeping Beauty Castle! This particular photo I took this past November which is why it's decked out in it's Christmastime snow!  I love taking pictures of the castle from the side rather than straight on!  To me it changes the shot -just- enough to make it special! :)







Next was a picture I took next to Snow White's Wishing Well next to the castle.  I was there at that beautiful time of day where the sun is perfectly situated to light up the flags that are on the castle.  The light breeze that day added to my picture since it twisted the flag around nicely!







Our next stop on our tour of Fantasyland is back in Storybookland!  At the beginning of the Storybookland Canal Boats ride, you get "swallowed" by the mighty Monstro!  Just try not to bump into his teeth!







Also in Storybookland is the Casey Jr. Circus Train!  One of the views that is my favorite from this little train is where you have both the miniature Alps and the Matterhorn all in one look!  I think the big and little Matterhorns together are so cute!  I managed to get a picture of this the last time I was at Disneyland and you can see it here!  The day I took this picture it was extremely cloudy and rainy the whole day, hence the cloudy sky in the shot.







We move next to King Arthur's Carrousel in the middle of Fantasyland!  This lovely Carrousel has been at Disneyland since opening day and is a must-ride stop for me each time I go to Disneyland.  I took this picture of the pretty gold crown that sits atop the carrousel on a nice sunny day in the park and I hope you enjoy it!







Another fun Fantasyland ride is Snow White's Scary Adventures!  Ever since I was little I've had the attraction poster for this ride framed and hung up in my room.  The front of the ride to me is very striking and I love to take pictures of it!  The first picture is an interesting angle at the front of the building.  The second picture from this ride is of a gargoyle in the queue that I've always wanted to take a picture of and finally did!  Enjoy!












Our final stop on this Fantasyland Friday is back at it's a small world!  The picture I have today is one I purposely took because my Mom took this exact same picture back in about 1983 (or so).  I have the picture at home and loved how it looked, so I decided to take a "newer" version of the same picture!  It's neat to have the two side by side and they both look quite the same!







I hope you've enjoyed today's Fantasyland tour and I wish everyone a pleasant Spring weekend!  Please make sure you have all your belongings before you exit and step carefully out to your right! :)

Sleeping Beauty Castle in HDR

Today's post is short but hopefully quite sweet! :)


I've been playing around with editing my photos to make them have that HDR effect / feel to them and this is one of my first attempts at doing so.  I took this photo back in July 2011 and later applied the HDR edit to it to give it the look it has now!


I've always admired shots that have both the Castle and the Matterhorn in them so I finally took one myself!  I'm never sure why but somehow shots with the both of them together almost look miniature to me.  If you're someone who makes / takes HDR pictures your feedback with how to possibly improve this picture is greatly appreciated!  As always, I am working to improve my photography skills and would like to learn how to make my "HDR" shots better!  I don't do all my photos in HDR but I do like to have some of them with this effect.  Enjoy! :)

A Cloudy Day by the Castle

Although everyone loves a bright and sunny day at the Happiest Place on Earth, it can be a nice change to get a cloudy day there!  Especially if it's supposed to pour rain all day and the park is super slow and empty!  Today's pictures are from a very cloudy day at the park and if I remember correctly it started raining right after I took these pictures (as you can see from the sky).


My first picture is of the Archimedes statue and Sleeping Beauty Castle!  If any of you don't know who Archimedes is, he's Merlin's owl in the Sword in the Stone.  I love this little statue of him outside the Castle!  If you look closely at him, from the right he has a curious look on his face.  From the left he has a disapproving look on his face!  He really does have these different looks on his face, be sure to check it out the next time you go!  This picture is of his curious side.







Next is a photo of me with my favorite princess, Princess Aurora!  Both her and Snow White came out from the castle at the same time and I almost fell over with shock!  I got pictures with both of them but my favorite is with Aurora!







Lastly we have a photo of Sleeping Beauty Castle on this cloudy day in Disneyland.  You can tell it's just about to rain by how dark and cloudy the sky is in the picture. (it was taken at 3 in the afternoon!)  Hope you enjoyed today's pictures and the little look at a cloudy day in Disneyland!

You Spin Me Right Round, Teacups!

Today I was trying to make a cute title for my post and that's what I came up with! :)

I thought I'd share some pictures from the Mad Tea Party in Fantasyland!  The following pictures are something I've wanted to take for a long time.  I've seen many pictures like this before and have admired the beauty of the teacups spinning under the lanterns.  My friend was the one who reminded me of this when we went past the teacups late one Disneyland evening!  So, using the railing as a "tripod", I took some extended exposure shots of the teacups to get their spinning movement!  I was quite happy with how these turned out!  The lanterns all look nice and I got some cool swirls from the teacups in the picture!

The Mad Tea Party in Disneyland is one of those rides that people seem to either love or hate, nothing in-between.  I personally love them and consider myself to be a champion teacup spinner! :)  Just ask anyone who's ridden the teacups with me... you're more than a little dizzy when you get off them if I've been spinning!  The faster the better, right??

I truly hope you enjoy the pictures today!  It's a style of teacups picture I've wanted to take for a while and finally got the chance to!  Lastly, I want to wish everyone: "A Very Merry UNbirthday to All!" :)