This weeks mini midweek blog is a sort of continuation of last weeks blog, we talked about some of our favourite pictures. This mini blog will talk about where we took them. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say you will be hard pressed to take a ‘bad’ photo in Orlando, you have the sun, the beautiful blue sky and all those fabulous places to take photos of! So, in NO particular order lets look at a few of those “picture perfect’’ places to visit.
The globe at Universal Studios. If we had a Pound or a Dollar for every pic of this iconic landmark we could fly business class! This is a sight to behold, it virtually glows in the Floridian sun. Obviously there are always people waiting to have a pic taken standing in front of it, and we’ve stood there some days for nearly 25/30 mins, just to have a photo! We must be mad? This was till we watched a Tim Tracker vlog one day, and he showed us a cracking g place to stand, a little jetty area just opposite the NBC bar and grill, there is a little walkway and you have the globe in the background and all you have to do is wait for it to turn around for the best pic. Also there is a little ‘unwritten’ rule, please be kind and ask other folks if they want a pic taking with their own camera, don’t let folks struggle. Be nice, it costs nothing and the person behind you will do it for you, and so on.
Moving inside Universal Studios is one of our all time favourite rides, the Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket coaster. This is a thing of beauty, a vertical climb, then that drop into the corkscrew…(just sitting here writing this gave me chills. So I’ve had to go on YouTube and watch people riding it…) The coaster is one of the most photogenic there is, being bright red, it stands out for miles, some of the best pics of this we’ve taken have been the ‘drop’ section when the cars tip over the edge, we love that the most! We would love to film this from the perspective of the seat but alas you are not allowed any devices on the ride. Shame! One cool place to stand and film or photograph this is from by the bandstand, you can see a lot of the ride here and still giggle at folks as they scream…
Over in Islands of Adventure we move to the Hulk. Just the noise of this coaster makes the hair on your neck stand on end… Another ‘must ride’ coaster – this is one of the angriest in the parks. The way it shoots out of the tunnel to the huge loop at the top is awesome, there must be a bazillion insta boomerangs of this alone?? (What’s a boomerang?? Mr Oh). There is a myriad of places to get great shots of this, one of our faves is the foot bridge that passes from Superhero Island to the Port of Entry, you are right below it at this point and you cannot fail to get some cracking action shots. (Again just popped onto YouTube to watch this ride…) If you stand slightly to the one side you get great shots of the turn at the top, or the sharp descent into the tunnel with all the smoke/dry ice effect. I once spent nearly an hour watching this ride, I was mesmerised by it. But then I remember back to the day we rode it 5 times back to back…gulp…needed a sit down and bottle of water after that.
Onto Hogwarts. The way this appears is still a joy to us, we love the look on peoples faces when they see it for the first time. Obviously Universal use the “forced perspective” trick to fool folks into thinking its bigger than it is, but the way it sits there just blows you away, we love the double takes, and gasps of Potter fans when they see it. It’s what makes a holiday, seeing the delight in peoples faces. Another one is Hogsmeade, the level of detail in this place is superb, from the glistening snow to the window displays. This is a place we would dearly love to visit when there is no one about, just to get some clear street shots. It’s always heaving with people, so trying to get a good pic here while not impossible is a bit of a faff as we say in the U.K.
Our last little run about is over at Diagon Alley, the Gringotts Bank to be exact. The Dragon on top of the dome is just about the best picture you will take. Anywhere. Fact. A little tip if you want the perfect photo with the Dragon spewing flames is to wait for the “whooshing/growling” noise, you’ll know that the flames are moments away! A fun thing to do is to watch folks faces as it roars! It catches loads of folks unaware.
Over to WDW now. Literally every park, street and ride is a ‘Kodak’ moment and the most famous one is the picture of Cinderella Castle on Main Street. There are the official Disney photopass photographers that will take the most perfect photo for you, they will even use your own camera, just remember to say a massive thank you! What we love here is there is never any pressure to use any of the official WDW pics. They will happily take a pic with your camera or phone so don’t worry.
So we’ll take a little run, and talk about where we like to snap away! One of the most amazing places is in Animal Kingdom, Pandora, where the floating mountains really have to be seen to believed. The Imagineers have totally exceeded themselves here. The look and feel of the place is the nearest you’ll be to being on another planet, and what’s even more impressive is the Bio luminescent floor that glows at night. You’ll find yourself walking into all manner of things whilst looking down instead of where you are supposed to be going…
Over in Asia you have Everest, or Expedition Everest as the ride is called. This is beautiful. Just short of 200ft high it dominates the skyline. The whole of the “base camp” is really a set of wonderful photographs waiting to be taken, this is without a doubt one of our favourite queues – if there is such a thing. The level of detail they went into is so deep you almost forget you are in Orlando..almost. It’s the heat that reminds you. From whatever angle you look at it the mountain is perfect, and if you pop over by the monkey tree house by Mandala gifts the whole of Asia is framed ready for you.
In Hollywood Studios you start by taking a the first picture of the day of Mickey Mouse on the tall spire at the crossroads near the entrance, then along the street towards Tower of Terror. Lots of fun things to snap away at here as there are always cast members dressed up performing skits etc. As ever it’s the law in Florida to take a picture of yourself under the Aerosmith Guitar! THEN….you must dash off to Toy Story Land. Oh my days this place is a sheer delight! Bright colours (or colors If you are in the U.S.) the green army men marching around and drumming will keep you entertained and then there is Slinky Dog Dash, a fun “kiddy” coaster that is a treat even to watch going around and around. There are several places to take pics from, one of the best is on the exit after the ride. You can see Slinky dog coming down the track on the famous ‘humps’ and watch his tail wag!! The queue as well is full of little gems suitable for pics, like the front of the toy boxes etc. Great for the insta folks.
When you look around at Toy Story Land, there are loads of things to take pics of, the chairs are Babybell cheeses, the fences are made from a toy box (think meccano or linkin logs) there are even footprints of Andy’s on the floor, and obviously because you are “toy sized” the footprints are huge! It the “not” so little things that make it all.
Obviously now there is Blackspire Outpost or “Star Wars land”. This place looks next level in detailing. We haven’t visited yet, but the vlogs we’ve seen and the pics we’ve seen cannot do it justice. Seriously. A full size Millenium Falcon?? An X-Wing and a Tie Fighter??? C’MON!!! Add into this the cast and characters here walking about and interacting with folk its a Star Wars nerds dream! (FYI we have purchased a separate memory card just for this place!!!) and we will need it!.
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