Disneyland Archive photos, and Shuttle Endeavour visit

[JediTricks]

Last weekend, I visited the D23 Expo, the bi-annual Disney fan convention, and one of the exhibits was the Walt Disney Archives presentation for Disneyland's 60th anniversary. The nature of the exhibit meant no harsh lighting, no flash photography, as light degrades some of these precious items, that means some of the images aren't as pretty as I'd like them to be as I was shooting handheld in near-dark conditions. Also, while I tried to keep shots of the description plates with their respective objects, occasionally I had to step out or something and it got mixed in later.

http://www.jtreviews.com/photos/disneyland-exhibit/

Also, when I was doing those I realized I never put up the photos of my May trip to the Shuttle Endeavour, so I put those up as well. The shuttle is so much more impressive in person, no photograph could really express that, but I enjoyed geeking out photographing fine detail elements.

http://www.jtreviews.com/photos/Endeavour/

And don't forget that you can click a mid-sized image to view it full-sized.

[Sparky Prime]

The shuttle is so much more impressive in person, no photograph could really express that, but I enjoyed geeking out photographing fine detail elements.

Even so, those are some great shots of the shuttle. I've never seen the heat tiles up close like that (I saw the Enterprise once when I was little, but the skin on it is different from the shuttles that went into space). Really cool to see.

The D23 pictures are really interesting too. Lots of history from there. I really like the drawings of Disneyland early on in the gallery. Amazing how the park has changed and evolved since then.

[andersonh1]

I LOVE the photos of the Space Shuttle. Thanks for sharing those. I've never seen any of the shuttles up close, something I definitely regret. Maybe one day.

[JediTricks]

Glad you guys liked it, and enjoyed the shuttle close-up photos. I had no idea the tiles looked that way until I started shooting, I could have spent all day just examining the heat tiles alone, they're all individually numbered, a few of 'em even had scorch marks. The Enterprise was the flight test buck, I didn't realize it didn't have the heat shield tiles, seems kinda odd to test out functionality on a buck that doesn't fully emulate the flight systems. I guess that's what makes it a developmental tool, to advance beyond those. It's hard to believe how advanced the Space Shuttle looks considering it was under construction only 5 years after we landed on the moon with some rudimentary-lookin' equipment.

In the next 3 years, they're planning to change how the Endeavour is displayed, mounting it vertically to the last booster rockets and tank, building a facility around that with multiple levels so you can walk up to it from the side. I'm not sure if I'll like that more, there's something awe-inspiring about walking underneath it as a whole experience, but I suppose it'll get you closer to systems no lay person has really been able to experience before on the upper side.

I'm really glad I have my photos of it flying into the city on my gallery as well, I had actually forgotten those were posted, so it's nice to see the Shuttle Endeavour in 2 different ways from my humble camera.


The prototype drawing of Disneyland is one of those things I never thought I'd see in person, it's really big and there's lots of details. The park's initial plan seemed to be about twice as big as it ended up.