Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
February 28, 2008 - Main Street USA (Walt Disney's Guide to Disneyland (1961) )
Posting the first two pages dedicated to Main Street USA.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
February 27, 2008 - Walt Disney's Guide to Disneyland (1961)
Its the table of contents. Now you get a preview of what's to come over the next week or so.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
February 25, 2007 - Walt Disney's Guide to Disneyland (1961) - Front Cover
Another series of scans from long out-of-print books! Yay! As things move forward, this is going to become more the focus of this little blog than posting photos from the Parks with little nuggets of trivia.
I want to share the stuff I've accumulated over the last couple years as I've become a huge fan of the Disney Park experience. Hopefully, much of this will be items that are not easily available, espically in high quality online. There will be more maps coming, many of which are common, more guide books from the early days of the park, and SOPs for rides. Everything will be in high resolution, cleaned up as much as possible, and easily made available.
There will not be any current items scanned which are available for purchase in retail stores. When I get around to writing up book reviews, I will use excepts, but also link to information on how to purchase the titles.
There will still be the posts about my struggles to stop buying so much stuff. It is not going too well at the time, but we are trying to buy a better house, and things need to be bought. I still have not bought any toys this year, and the majority of purchases have been made using funds from selling stuff on Amazon. So while not nearly perfect, I am keeping myself aware of what I'm buying and not shopping with abandon.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
February 24, 2007 - The Back Side of Water...I Mean Maps
One thing a lot of map scans I've encountered only focus on the Park Maps side, neglecting the back sides with all sorts of information. These are the back sides of the Disneyland Paris and the Disney Studios. Click through to see them in unnecessarily high resolution.
Disneyland Paris
The Disney Studios
Disneyland Paris
The Disney Studios
Saturday, February 23, 2008
February 23, 2008 - Disney Studios - Front
Within the next 5 years, I'm planning on visiting Disneyland Paris. I will say, this second park does very little to excite me. Aside from the raves Skipper Ben gave Crushes' Coaster on ITM, and checking out Cinemagique and the Armageddon stunt show, this park features little new experiences. That's alright, the smallness of it leaves more time for DLP.
Friday, February 22, 2008
February 22, 2008 - Disneyland Paris Guide Map
Some new scans: This map comes from an eBay seller whom I purchased the book Disneyland Paris: From Sketch to Reality. Some images of the book will be forthcoming (which is the best book about creating a Disney Park).
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Febraury 20, 2007 - Shrunken Ned Portrait
Found at Disneyland in Adventureland. Wonderful chap, took time to pose for this photo. Too bad to took up the offer for two heads for one of his own...
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
February 19, 2007 - Hallowishes
Quick tip on taking pictures of fireworks if you have no tripod/monopod: Use burst mode if your camera supports it and you have plenty of free memory. This allows the camera to quickly take multiple pictures, so long as you hold down the shutter. You will end up with hundreds of photos, and some will be quite nice.
Friday, February 15, 2008
February 18, 2008 - Phantom Manor - Disneyland Paris
Someday I can try to take this picture, probably after 2010.
February 17, 2008 - A Perfect Show
This is a view I'd love to see and shoot, if only for a moment before the crowds rush in for the day.
The Long Holiday Weekend
Going away for the weekend with the wife for a little time away from the house and dogs. I'm going to post the next few days of 365 now, so you can look at them all at once. They're going to be highlighting some other people's Disney photos I found on Flickr which are great.
Have a good weekend.
Have a good weekend.
February 15, 2008 - The Castle
And one more by Mr. Steadman. I think I've seen the expressions on these people's faces many times...
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
February 13, 2008 - Storybook Land Canal Boats by Ralph Steadman
Day 2. Another wonderful, if slightly demented sketch by Mr. Steadman.
I'll likely be doing more of these daily posts, sharing Disney materials I've collected and now scanned to digital. I think it is important that people be given the chance to see material that has been long since forgotten and placed out-of-print.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
February 12, 2008 - Ralph Steadman's Disneyland
Ralph Steadman is most well known for illustrating many of Hunter S. Thompson's stories, including Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, and the Curse of Lono. He also has many books out collected his artwork. This scan homes from a book titled 'America', which collected a mishmash of his work, including a five-page spread inspired by Disneyland.
To be fair, Mr. Steadman is British, and never seems able to fully grasp the vast commercialism of America, which comes through in many of his caricature of his subjects.
One thing to note about this and the upcoming pages is the attention Mr. Steadman pays to each drawing. Notice the Disneyland bag, and what appears to be the sketches of New Orleans Square in the background.
Monday, February 11, 2008
February 11, 2008 - Pirates!
"To set the mood for the show like this, you had to sort of become a pirate yourself," X said in Disneyland: Inside Story. "I think my Spanish background helped me to write the exchanges between the Pirate Captain and the defenders of the fort."
-Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies
Sunday, February 10, 2008
February 10, 2008 - Scene from the Dreams Come True Parade
Took this shot (and over 300 others) at the end of the eight hour 'Behind the Magic' Tour. After spending time behind the scenes, getting a chance to see nearly ever aspects of how Walt Disney World is ran, our guide Jim took us to a prime viewing spot for the afternoon parade. This was show the power of Disney magic.
Marry Poppins
Marry Poppins
Saturday, February 9, 2008
February 9, 2008 - Behind the Scenes
And this is the last day of these posts. Two pages of behind-the-scenes material and then a list of credits.
Friday, February 8, 2008
February 8, 2008 - 2 Views of the Matterhorn
Last year, I purchased eight binders full of slides from someone's vacations in the 1970s. I estimate there are close to a thousand slides, some commercial, and some taken by the vacationers. I have began to slowly digitize the interesting ones, in order to preserve these folks memories for a couple more years. The scanned slides will be on my Flickr account.
While there are no Disney ones, I did find some examples of things which inspired attractions in Disney parks. This is the first: A shot of the true Matterhorn, followed by the scale version in Disneyland.
While there are no Disney ones, I did find some examples of things which inspired attractions in Disney parks. This is the first: A shot of the true Matterhorn, followed by the scale version in Disneyland.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
February 7, 2008 - The Grand Finale
Well, almost. One more post tomorrow to complete this little book.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
February 6, 2008 - Cinderella & Dumbo
Double the pages today, as even I'm getting a little bored of these single posts each day. We're going to wrap up the Disney on Parade scans soon, then move onto other little niche things.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
February 5, 2008 - 1964 Disneyland Fun Map by Sam McKim
This was a little project I tried out with some success. I scanned a 28x42 map bought off eBay, piece by piece, and then stitched them together. Once done with that, cleaned up the colors, creases, and such in Gimp. The result turned out quite good.
Monday, February 4, 2008
February 4, 2008 - The Jungle Book
Update on the Fun Map: 99% of it looks like it did in 1965. Excited the share this!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
February 3, 2008 - The Jungle Book
Another two pages. Just made the post in before the deadline. Spent the weekend scanning a very rare Disneyland book and a Disneyland map.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
February 2, 2008 - Alice in Wonderland
A great cast shot, with some extremely creepy flower people in the background.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Chumby Review
First the background of why I wanted something called a Chumby. There was a blurb in Popular Science about a consumer product in development what promised a Linux-powered mini-computer, always connected wirelessly to the internet, with a touch screen displaying user-created widgets, enclosed in a fabric pouch. On top of this coolness, iPods connect to one of the two powered USB jacks in the back, which allowed the iPod to recharge and be controlled through the Chumby. These specs piqued my interest, and I kept an eye on the official website through the long gestation process.
In the summer of 2007, a notice went up on their website to allow fans the chance to sign up on a mailing list for first chance to grab a prerelease Chumby. My email was added to the list and in October, I ordered one of the first available units. The little device arrived at my front door via UPS from
To be fair, the Chumby acted exactly like it was advertised: The unit connected to my wifi network with ease and downloaded the widget I selected from the website. These widgets included a Flickr photo stream viewer, weather, little games, a flash video player, and alarm clocks. The widgets may have changed, and there are new ones since I owned the unit, but these thoughts are based on what was available at the time.
The Flickr widget sounded great in theory; a way to view random people’s pictures and see a little bit of the outside world. In practice, the stream presented a very limited number of photos, which cycled through very quickly. The weather widget worked fine, tough to mess that one up, and the alarm clock functionality was awful.
This is why: you can only choose two alarms, and each has standard rings for alarm tones. The only way to override this setting is to trim down MP3s of your own to fit the correct file size, rename them ‘alarm1’ and ‘alarm2’, and then make them override the built in sounds. I imagined being able to use the iPod as an alarm sound source, or even tuning into an internet radio station, because that makes sense. A mini-computer should have unlimited alarms, one for each day, and be customizable.
So the widgets were disappointing. Other failures I found: The touch screen looked nice, a little low-resolution, but no problems with color or clarity. The touch aspect was not so good, as it required a good jab to register a touch, each time felt like I was going to break it. The fabric casing was great; it helps to set this apart from the hard, industrial design much consumer electronics strive for. The speakers sounded fine, nice and clear for the size.
I did not experience one feature: advertising imbedded in the widget channels which help to support the network costs and allow the Chumby to be offered without any kind of monthly fees.
The novelty wore off within hours of setting the device up, and within two days it was the first-ever Chumby to be sold on eBay. There is nothing particularly wrong with the device, the features work as promised, and many people enjoy it. To me, it failed on a more basic level, that it is an unneeded device that brought nothing new to the table. You must use a computer to set up the widgets; it has to be plugged in, with no rechargeable battery offered. There is no internet memory available to load music, or anything on to, this much be done through the USB ports on the rear.
There have been updates to the operating system since I used a Chumby, and new widgets are popping up as the user base grows. These small fixes will not make the device suddenly relevant to most people. Give it a year, as the current devices feels much like a beta for sale to the general public. When (and if) the Chumby 2 comes out, we could be looking at a much better device.
If you must have something now that plays music, connects to the internet, and has a touch screen, spring for an iPod Touch with an alarm dock. It is a more expensive choice, but you get the added value back in spades.
(All pictures come from the Chumby website unless otherwise noted. All right reserved.)
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