joe randel's art dump

So back in January my family and I went on a huge vacation to Walt Disney World.  We don’t go on many big vacations.  Usually we just do camping in the summer and just take long weekends when needed during the year, so this was a pretty big adventure for us.  But don’t worry, I took pictures to share with everyone. ^_^We flew out of Flint Michigan seeing as it was cheaper to get US flight tickets.  The flight was okay, but I’m not the best flier so I white knuckled it during turbulence.  They say it the safest way to travel (I think) but I can’t help but that think that if something happens and the plane falls out of the sky… that’s pretty much all she wrote.  But everything turned out okay and we landed in Florida A-Okay.

We decided to stay in the Polynesian Resort which had a Hawaiian and South Seas theme to it.  I liked it very much and the kids liked it too.  There where lots of fun tribal statues and designs all over the place.

This guy was near the resort entrance.

The hotel rooms were very nice. All done up to feel tropical and such. ^_^

Even the lamps where awesome.

So one the first day there we had to venture off  to the Magic Kingdom to have dinner with the princesses at Cinderella’s castle.  I think one of the coolest things was to know that you where actually there in person.  I mean, I’ve seen the castle on TV and such… but it’s another thing to actually see it and touch it.  The picture at the top is when we first got there.  The one just above is from a building right behind the castle.

Other things where just as classic to see, like the carousel, the Dumbo ride and other traditional Disney rides and sights.

The sword in the stone wobbled a bit, like it was ready to come out. ^_^

One things that really stood out for me was all the small details at the park, but you had to look for them.  These where the tops of the columns at Cinderella’s castle.

These where the tops of the lamps at the Dumbo ride.

I tried my best to take nice shots around the parks.  My camera isn’t the best though which makes me want to save up for a new fancy one.

I did get some nice night shots of the castle though.

Coloured lights on the castle would cycle slowly.  It was quite cool to see it go through all the colours.

The next day we ventured off to Hollywood Studios.  Oh, did I mention that it was still Christmas at Disney even though it was half way though January?

There’s a ride here called the Rock’n Roller Coaster featuring Areosmith.  I think this is Mickey trying to be Steven Tyler… maybe.

I think I’d be more… anything, if it was advertised with dancing girls.

There was defiantly lots to look at at Hollywood studios.  I very much enjoyed all the sights here.

This was my favorite garden during the vacation.

Here we saw Pooh, Piglet and their entourage.  He looks like he’s ready to mess you up.

I so loved the name of this shop!

There was a basket of Pooh and friends plush balls.  They where so adorable!

I also saw this cute Alice plush.  I feel in love with her and so she came home with me. ^_^

I wanted to win this DomoKun at pizza planet, but all this machine did was take my money.

Once of the shops at HollyWood Studios had wonderful art and statues to buy.  As fantastic as this is, I wouldn’t know where to put it in my house.

This guy was without a doubt the crankiest person at Disney.  He’s an ink and paint artist and he said he’d been doing it for 18 years and is one of only 6 people left at Disney that can do it.  So here he is, placed in public view like an endangered species for people gawk at as he makes fake cells for others to buy.  I guess he’s a right to be grumpy.

There was another guy doing fake animated frames.  On real animation paper and everything.  I took a look at one and thought… if I handed this in during college it would have been a fail.  I mean, I had to do a tight Bell cleanup as one of my assignments!  But others where walking up and saying how awesome and amazing it was so I didn’t ruin the magic for them.  Oh and they where selling these for $35 bucks a pop in a frame all classy like.  Hell, if anyone out there wants something like this, I’ll do one up and you can frame it and it would look like you bought it at Disney and no one would be the wiser. ^_^

These things where so cool!  It’s a little sculpture in a shadow box and light.  I love it!

I absolutely adore this painting.

This another grate piece.

There was also a great Tangled display with lot of concept art.

More tangled art.

This looks like another ink and paint artist behind glass.  This looks like the fate of the classical animator if you work at Disney.

One of the wonderful dished served to us during the stay.  A caramel and banana bread pudding with vanilla ice cream.  Yummers.

Another beautiful statue for sale here.  I really liked this one.

Mickey head logos where on everything here… even the soap… and lotion (wink, wink).

We also made a stop at Animal Kingdom during our stay.  It was nice there with a great African feel to the place.

We got there early in the morning so the light was beautiful.

When we where there we saw a live Lion King show.  It was awesome!

More details if you’re looking for them.  Great plant pots!

One night we ordered pizza.  Guess what was on the box.

Later in the evening we went to Downtown Disney.  It’s a shopping district for grown ups.  There was another shop there with more cool art, figures and what not.

You could buy these guys all over the parks but only certain ones so you had to travel all over to get the ones you wanted.  Also, they’re in blind boxes so you don’t know what ones you’ll get.

Another in the awesome princess series from the other store.

I also found this one.  It’s actually a real painting.  I had to stop and take a closer look.

Yup, real paint strokes!

I also went and check out the Lego store there.

Hmmm… pleasure island  made me think of other things so I was sort of disappointed as to what they had to offer.

If I had $185 bucks, this would have come home with me.  No kidding!

I almost bought this book.  The $50 price tag scared me.  Good thing too because I can get it for about $35 on Amazon.

I did buy somethings though.  Like this blank Mickey fig and a Tron toy.

While we where at the parks I did see a few sculpted bushes that where really cool.

Now I can say, with all honesty, I’ve seen Minnies bush.

And Alice’s bush. ^_^

While we where there I noticed that I was hard pressed to find any garbage.  Seriously, I think it’s the cleanest place I’ve been to ever.  Especially with that many people.  But I knew if I looked really hard I’d find some missed trash… and I did.  I found a Froot Loop under a plant in one of the gardens.

There was one place where they had the actual buggy used in Who Frame Roger Rabbit.  This is what was under Benny the cab.

See.  The actor rode on this with a driver in the back and then they put the animation over top.  I loved that movie.

Cool!  The Toon Patrol cab!

I wonder who’s decision it was to have Minnie’s bloomers showing almost all the time?  I’m not knocking it… I just wonder who.  It’s like she’s doing one of the first up skirts.

We saw a live performance of Beauty and the Beast on the final day  It was such a great show!

So that was pretty much my trip to Walt Disney.  Over all it was a great trip.  I little cool on some days, but hey, I’m from Canada so I could take it just fine with a hoodie.  I did see others with scarves, toques, mitts and even some earmuffs.  Good grief!  Everyone there was super happy no matter who they where (unless they where an ink and paint artist) and the princess and fairies that we met where pretty cute.  Especially the one that played Rapunzel.  She was totally hot!   We also had some of the best food ever there at the Polynesian Resort and I totally miss it even to this day.

It wasn’t all wonderful though.  I did let stress get to me a bit here and there.  And my kids did pick up a stomach bug during the last few days.  That really sucked.  They puked and crapped their way back to Canada, but at least it happen on the last parts of the trip.

So would I go back?  I sure would.  It was fun and the memories are great.  I guess I’ll have to get saving though as it sure cost me a pretty penny.  But it was worth it.  Have you ever been to Disney before or maybe just an awesome family vacation?