Capturing The Magic – The Disneyland Resort

 

To all who come to this happy place: welcome. Disneyland is your land.
– Walt Disney –

 

Introduction

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Everyone who has ever been to a Disney Park knows the unique feeling of passing the turnstiles, entering the park and catching sight of the castle at the end of Main Street. It seems like a “natural” reaction to pull out our smartphone trying to capture the magic of that special moment in that special place.

Although I have been to Disney parks countless times (Disneyland Paris is my home park, but I have also been to Disneyland California), it is the same every time, and I am sure you all know what I mean. I don’t know how many photos of Sleeping Beauty castle I have on my laptop, but I do know that there are too many (wait, is that even possible?). But how often do we look at those pictures? Usually, quite seldom, right? Actually, that was the great thing about the good old (non digital) photo albums… we really sat down and looked at our photos.

Well, now before you start printing all your photos and make a Disneyland collage (doesn’t sound that bad actually), I have another solution for you: this book!

Capturing the Magic – A Photographic Celebration of the Disneyland Resort by author Holly Wiencek is a wonderful, large (about 300 pages!) hardcover book that takes us on a photographic journey celebrating the beauty of the happiest place on earth: the Disneyland Resort at Anaheim, California. Like the title already reveals, the main focus of this beautiful souvenir book is its visual content and the book really delivers what the title promises: it is packed with high resolution photos that put our Iphone pics to shame.

Disneyland Park

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So let’s kick it off with the first big part of this book, Disneyland Park. And with its 150 pages, fortunately it really is a big chapter! Like I already told you, this book is like a visual guide, so about every second page is a breath-taking full-page photo of the park. Still, Holly Wiencek managed to add just the perfect amount of comprehensible and well written text to accompany the stunning photos. I particularly like the idea of showcasing quotes of Walt Disney throughout the whole book.

The structure of the book is very well conceived, since it gives us the impression of truely visiting Disneyland Resort: the chapter begins at the Disneyland Railroad (Walt’s beloved train that should surround Disneyland) and then proceeds to Main Street U.S.A.. I really appreciate that the author pays tribute to Walt Disney’s private apartment that he and his family had above the Disneyland Fire Department. She even mentions the little lamp in the window that would always shine when Walt was “home”… a light that has never been switched off since his death in 1966 – so you see, we still get this kind of lovely detailed information although the book is more about the pictures.

Let’s move on to the heart of Disneyland, where we get to admire the legendary Partners Statue of Walt and Mickey at the park’s central hub. And just behind it: the icon of the park, Sleeping Beauty Castle (which is tiny compared to the castle at Disneyland Paris or Walt Disney World for example – still, it is the original Disney castle Walt Disney himself chose).

Let’s continue our tour: Adventure Land, New Orleans Square (gorgeous and unique to Disneyland!), Critter Country, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Mickey’s Toontown and finally Tomorrowland. We get to see everything: the signature Disney attractions with a proper description, the parades, the nighttime spectacular, but also little details cleverly hidden throughout Disneyland by the Imagineers. So much to see!

Hotels of the Disneyland Resort

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No wonder we got tired after all those adventures at the park. Fancy a nap at a Disney Hotel? But watch out, we haven’t got that much time (only 5 pages), there is still so much other stuff to do at the resort.

Downtown Disney District

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Now, let’s go shopping, shall we? For that purpose Downtown Disney is the perfect place with all its shops and restaurant. Don’t lose sight of time, because, yet again, we’ve only got 5 pages before heading to Disney California Adventure, the second park at the resort.

Disney California Adventure Park

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This amazing park is unique to the Californian resort, since it is dedicated to the Golden State. It beautifully pays homage to the land of hopes and dreams. Clearly, good,old Hollywood serves as the perfect entry to the park, and the photos of this book do a great job reflecting the spirit that reigns at Buena Vista Street. Another highlight is without doubt Cars Land with its awesome attractions and incredible theming (personal side note: Radiator Springs Racers is my favourite attraction of the whole park… although Grizzly River Run is great as well).

But that’s by far not all… what about a promenade at Paradise Pier by night? It’s the perfect place to admire the jaw-dropping Ferris wheel dedicated to a quite famous little mouse. Later on we could watch the World of Color nighttime spectacular.

Résumé

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What a day at the Disneyland Resort, it was soo much fun, don’t you think? And what a great book, right?

For me, flipping through this book really feels a bit like a visit to Disneyland. The way it is put together is great and makes just so much sense. Obviously there have to be a lot of pictures in a book that is called Capturing the Magic, and lucky for us Holly Wiencek worked with two very talented photographers: Bill Sferrazza and Eric Weber. Although I am not a pro when it comes to photography, it isn’t very hard to tell that these two guys did an extraordinary job. This book is full of colorful high resolution photos, quite often filling a whole or even a double page. In addition, the author provides some well written text, and even though the space for it is rather limited, we get to know everything that is important and sometimes even a little bit more!

I also appreciate the magical and well chosen Disney quotes that are beautifully highlighted throughout the whole book, but also the attention to detail, for example the little icon near the page number telling us in which part of the resort we are right now (a little castle for Disneyland Park and a Ferris wheel for Disney California Adventure).

One can tell that the author is totally in love with the Disney universe – and this love is reflected in the caring way this book was put together.

Just a great way to add some Disney magic to your everyday life!

Where to get it?

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Title: Capturing The Magic – A Photographic Celebration of the Disneyland Resort
Author: Holly Wiencek
Year: 2017

You can get the book on Amazon.com for about 40 € ( the same in $). By using the link below (klicking on the respective picture), you help me to keep The Disney Bookshop going. The author provided me with a copy of this book to facilitate this review

I hope you enjoyed reading this review – let me know, what you think about it. What is your favourite Disneyland book?

Get the book here: