As I have said numerous times and anyone that stays around long enough reading this blog will figure out, I am a fan of Disney. In particular, I love going to the parks. My latest trip was a first time solo adventure in May 2012 to Walt Disney World. I had four days during the first Star Wars Weekend at Hollywood Studios and the last weekend of the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival. It was also my first visit since obtaining my DSLR. It was glorious!

I have reached that point with my visits where I just enjoy spending time exploring all the nooks and crannies. The first few trips with the kids were all out assaults on each of the parks. We tried to cram as much into each day as we possibly could. Now I enjoy a much more relaxed form of visit. And with that relaxed attitude comes a new appreciation for the amount of detail the imagineers have put into their creations. I would also attribute this new outlook to the way I see the world around me due to my photography. I notice more, see differently and appreciate the subtle touches.

Don’t get me wrong, I still grab that image of Cinderella’s Castle looking down Main Street and have a hard drive full of Spaceship Earth images, but this post is about the details. The often overlooked treasures you can find when you slow down and explore. During this visit I spent a couple of hours crawling all over Tom Sawyer Island at the Magic Kingdom and I found trails around the Tree of Life at the Animal Kingdom I didn’t even knew existed. I still managed to do all my favorite activities but I found so many knew places it was as if I had visited for the first time.