WDW from the air

[Courtman]

Having returned from holiday at WDW recently (stayed at CBR), we've finally sorted out the pictures out. This time we hired a Cessna 172 from Kissimmee and flew over the World to see it from a different perspective. Here are some of the best pictures we took. All are taken from over 3000' as there is a flight restriction over the whole of WDW to that height without specific permission to fly lower. The pictures were taken on January 31st.

Where else to start but the Magic Kingdom?

Lots of space by Toontown for expansion it seems. At the bottom of the pictures you can see the building for Splash Mountain, and to the right of that are two brown buildings - the top one is obviously PotC, but is the larger one below part of the ride too?

This picture shows how Walt's vision of making the Magic Kingdom a place far separated from reality works. It really is a long way from TTC across the lagoon!

Is this the biggest Hidden Mickey in WDW? Its listed in the Hidden Mickey Guide, but the book tells you to look at a picture in the reception area.. well we spotted it for real.

 

[Courtman]

Here is the view of the Seven Seas Lagoon looking across the Grand Floridian and Polynesian resorts. Wilderness Lodge is visible at the top of the picture.

The Wilderness Lodge:

The Contemporary hotel. The North Wing demolition is just starting in this picture.

 

[Courtman]

Moving on to the Animal Kingdom. Here is a view of Asia, you can see the Tree of Life and Everest in this shot.

Not the best of quality pictures, but this view from the back of Everest shows the Safari and Orange Lake Country Club (a resort of Highway 192) in the background.

Blizzard Beach looked busy, judging from the car park:

 

[Courtman]

The Disney-MGM Studios look really crowded from the sky, not as spacious as Epcot or Magic.

The Dolphin hotel. Two huge buildings at the back must be the convention centres.

Disney's Boardwalk with Epcot in the background. The Friendship boats can be seen moving between the hotels.

 

[Courtman]

The Future World in Epcot. The Land pavillion is hiding to the left of the shot.

We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort. Not the best picture from the crop, but you can see Epcot in the background and also the developing Bonnet Creek Resort. At the bottom of the picture is part of Pop, you can see the unfinished buildings in the bottom left:

OK, not in WDW but a view of final approach to Kissimmee Airport. The traffic jam at the bottom of the picture is on Highway 192 heading towards Orange Blossom Trail.

SleepingBindy (Linda or Mrs Courtman) posing by our photoship at Leesburg after taking all the pictures over the World. Gatorade is essential for aerial photography apparently!

And last but not least, our photoship back on the ramp at Kissimmee. The ugly bloke in front is Courtman, SleepingBindy (MrsCourtman) on these forums took all the pictures!

Thats it for all the aerial shots we have of Walt Disney World, thanks for viewing!

 

[disney_fan101]

hi ,loving the pictures they really cool , have you got anymore from the air ?

 

[Courtman]

Well, with the wonders of a digital camera we probably took about a hundred. Most were too poor though, these are the best shots we've got. Having got home we realised that we missed out totally photographing Downtown Disney and a lot of the resorts too, maybe next time!

After flying around WDW for about 30mins headed north to Leesburg (where the tornado chaos started just two days later), then down towards Tampa before returning to Kissimmee. Got some shots of Cypress Gardens from the air, that looks a bit different since we last visited in 2002.

 

[lpet11984]

Thanks for sharing your pictures...the shots you posted look fantastic!

 

[marni1971]

At the bottom of the pictures you can see the building for Splash Mountain, and to the right of that are two brown buildings - the top one is obviously PotC, but is the larger one below part of the ride too

Yep, both are PotC. Top is the queue, load and unload (and Caribbean Plaza), the main ride building is the bottom one.

 

[flscooman]

The Hotel in the background of this picture is actually part of Orange Lake Country Club a timeshare off of 192, Great pictures

 

[C&D]

Very cool pictures; thanks for sharing. The aerial views do take away from some of the magic by putting realities into perspective, but all you have to do is land and the magic returns (where then your imagination can soar again.)

 

[sanctumsolitude]

If you like the aerial pictures, Microsoft's Virtual Earth has aerials of WDW from all angles.

 

[disney_fan101]

hey, thanks for that link there sanctumsolitude , thats really cool

 

[dragonfox98]

Courtman, thanks so much for the pics - well done! As much as I love the magic of Diseny - I like the aerial shots. Thanks again!

 

[csaguy]

GREAT Pictures!

You did a great job. It is nice to see EE from behind.

 

[LuLaSue]

Awesome

Wow! How cool was that! Thanks for that wonderfully picturesque journey in the sky.

 

[MamaMunk]

Is this the biggest Hidden Mickey in WDW? Its listed in the Hidden Mickey Guide, but the book tells you to look at a picture in the reception area.. well we spotted it for real.

It may very well be now. At one time the biggest was located at MGM. But they built an oversize Sorceror's Hat on top of it.

 

[AndreainNY]

VERY cool to see everything from the air - that must have been a blast! Dh would love to do something like that - he wants to learn to fly, but it's just a tad bit beyond our budget!

 

[garyhoov]

THANKS!!
:sohappy:

Very cool! I love looking at these kind of photos, but I think I've already seen most of the ones available online.

 

[marni1971]

Very cool! I love looking at these kind of photos, but I think I've already seen most of the ones available online.

You tried Windows Live Local?