Walt Surveys His Kingdom

This is one of my all time favorite photographs of Walt Disney. Here he is at Disneyland, surveying this amazing creation of his. Early in the morning, pavement still wet from the morning cleaning. No one around. Just the man and his ideas come to life. Awesome.


In October of 2003, my Wife and I took our first ever trip to Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It was my first ever trip to California, period. I had just started my tenure on "Birdman" five months prior and was still freelance. The Job/Money situation was still very much up in the air, so we figured "let's get while the gettin' is good, and go out to Disneyland, at least once in our lives." We went with the expectation that we would never be able to get back there ever again. This would be our one and only shot. We went for 7 days and did nothing else in Califiornia but visit Disneyland, 7 days in a row. It was PHENOMENAL! We went to the Golden Horseshoe everyday for lunch. The performers started to recognize us after a few days and would mention us here and there during their acts. We rode our favorite rides over and over. Each evening we would grab some ice cream and sit on Main Street as if we owned the joint.



So, in the tradition of Walt's photo, here I am, wearing my Cartoon Network shirt, surveying the kingdom that I, along with my Wife, owned for 7 days in the Fall of 2003.