Theme Park Thursdays feature photos from one of our theme park adventures in the past.

Bus Directional Sign (2007)

This directional sign is located at the Ticket and Transportation Center, and points to bus stops that you can use to visit Disney's Animal Kingdom and the Disney-MGM Studios.

I snapped this photo in September 2007 knowing that the Studios was going to get a name change to Disney's Hollywood Studios, thus that iconic logo would disappear from the parks forever.

You should also note the logo for Animal Kingdom, which harkens back to when the park opened. If you look carefully, you'll see a dragon represented in the middle. Originally, Animal Kingdom was to represent animals that are no longer with us, animals in the present, and fictional animals. While the first two points are met, the budget for Beastly Kingdom was cut and it never happened, only to be substituted by a placeholder land with ugly garbage cans.

However, given Disney's recent announcement that a land based on the film Avatar is in the works, we might actually see something surreal in Animal Kingdom after all!

Theme Park Thursdays feature photos from one of our theme park adventures in the past.

Our 3D Family (2009)

3D is all the rage in movies these days. But long before Hollywood hopped on that fad, Disney was forcing guests to wear these stupid looking glasses at various attractions, including Captain EO, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, It's Tough To Be A Bug, and Mickey's Philharmagic.

During a December 2009 trip with my family, we got the opportunity to ride Toy Story Mania at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It's basically a ride that's a 3D arcade… and one requiring the wearing of those goofy glasses. This photo features Amy in the front, my Mom and Dad wearing black, and my sister Karen and brother-in-law Brian in the back.  (Incidentally, this ride is also available at California Adventure on the West Coast, though there it's called Toy Story Midway Mania.)

It's a fun ride with a long wait, and the videogame element creates a high level of rerideability. However, it's no Pirates of the Caribbean or Haunted Mansion!

Theme Park Thursdays feature photos from one of our theme park adventures in the past.

Amy gets First Aid (2007)

During a trip to Walt Disney World in September 2007, we camped at Fort Wilderness. Often we would take the boat from the Magic Kingdom to the Fort Wilderness Marina. One night as Amy was stepping from the enclosed cabin onto the open front part of the boat, she tripped over the raised doorway… and fell on her face.

While it was dramatic, the only real damage was a lot of blood and scratches on her right leg. We patched her up that night, but the next day stopped off at the First Aid station at the Disney-MGM Studios to get some additional medical attention. They took a look at it and gave us a bunch of new bandages. Her leg was a bit sore, but she made it through the rest of the trip fine!