Matt and I had a fabulous time at the Disney Parks in Japan. We averaged about 20,000 steps daily in the parks and poked into every nook and cranny we could find. We looked at every clever detail the Imaginers and fabrication crews had carefully crafted into the parks and did our best to record all we saw. Over the last few days, I have gone through the photos I took, editing and sorting them for future reference. My collection added up to more than 3,000 photos, plus what Matt captured. When he returns to work next week, we will blend our collections to get a complete picture of the parks.

The thing we enjoyed the most was the cleverness with which the Imagineers visually told the story of the area they were portraying. They layered detail after detail, often in unexpected locations. Since we strive to do the same in our work, what we saw brought us immense joy and inspired us to continue and expand our repertoire in the future. My favourite reference shots were not those of the typical visitor, but rather these small, seemingly unnoticed details. Here’s one of those favourite reference pics… two cannonball hits in a plaster wall. This feature was tucked away in the back corner of one of the restaurants.