While these official photo spots are terrific places to get well composed photographs, there are many other places where you can get excellent pictures. In a December 4, 2009 Netcast podcast, the broadcaster Van talks about some of his favorite unofficial photo spots around Disney World.
This is something really interesting to me since I run a web site of Disney World photography over at www.WDWmemories.com. It has 6,000+ high resolution digital photos and growing. But I digress..
I thought a few of the choices from the podcast were ones that I wouldn’t have picked (Morocco in Epcot for example), but several were very sold and interesting suggestions.
Here is a recap of some of what I believe are the best suggestions for great unofficial photo spots around Disney World:
1 – Big Thunder Mountain Railroad as seen from the Rivers Of America
If you have ever been to the Frontierland section of the Magic Kingdom, you have no doubt wondered at the splendor of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The immense attraction truly transports you to a different time and place: the Wild West of America during the Gold Rush time.
The specific suggestion is to take photographs of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad from the Liberty Square Riverboats that travel on the Rivers Of America. As the ships glide by the mountains they provide a unique perspective. I think this is a terrific idea, and I look forward to riding one of the grand old ships and taking a few photographs of the old Wild West the next time I visit the Magic Kingdom.
2 – The Hollywood Tower Of Terror
The Tower Of Terror is truly an architecturally beautiful building. The style, color, and design are unique and also transport you to a different time and place – the Golden Era of Hollywood, California. There are many great places from which you can get terrific photos of the Tower.
Many people photograph the tower when first approaching it while walking down Sunset Boulevard. This view can provide some great pictures. However, a unique alternative location for photographing the Tower is the walkway that leads towards the Rockin’ roller coaster. From this vantage point, you are relatively close to the Tower and need to point your camera up. This provides some great perspectives and angles to give a unique image of the Tower.
Taking a photograph of one of the most iconic structures and all of Disney World may seem like an obvious choice. It’s probably a safe bet that nearly everyone who enters Epcot with a camera first takes some photographs of Spaceship Earth. Its unique and timeless architectural design calls people to take pictures. But there are ways to get unique perspectives of this unique structure. One unique idea is to take extreme close up photographs of the skin of the structure. Zoom in so that you photograph just six or ten triangles that make up the skin of the giant sphere. You can do this at day were night. The results are quite striking and I think you’ll be impressed with what you see.
