Christmas on Hollywood Boulevard at Disney's Hollywood Studios

Last Christmas

…I gave you my heart. Oops, sorry for breaking out into song. But this photo is actually from last Christmas. That would be December of 2016, if you are reading this far into the future. As you may remember, we took a trip to Christmas 2016 trip to Walt Disney World with our friends the Riedels the week before Christmas. Because there was not much time to post some of those Christmas photos after we got back and before everyone was ready to move on, I still have several that have not been shared. So here is one of those photos.

I used to always enjoy the garland strung across Main Street USA in the Magic Kingdom. But then they stopped doing that a few years back because of the height of the parade floats. They still have wreaths hanging from the Main Street buildings, but it just isn’t quite the same.

Fortunately, the holiday garland lives on, in a slightly more tinsel-y form, at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The garland strands add a nice touch to Hollywood Boulevard, and they make the area seem more festive and Christmas-like. Hopefully, that will continue on for some time.

For those of you who play along with our occasional game of Where’s Laura and Jaylin, you can see Laura at the far right of the photo, along with our friend Brant. The rest of the group was apparently just out of the frame.

O Christmas Tree

Even though this was just from last year, this is now one of those “back in the old days” photos. Last year, and for some years before that, the Hollywood Studios Christmas tree was outside of the park entrance. Everyone got to see it that way, but to me it was always a slightly unusual location. This year, they have added a large Christmas tree in the middle of Echo Lake near Dinosaur Gertie, but we haven’t been there to see it. Hopefully it will still be there on our next Christmas holiday visit, whenever out in the future that might be.

So for now, enjoy this look at yesteryear. Which was just last year.

Interesting Thought

People with two left feet must always be walking in circles.

Bible Verse

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David.” - Matthew 2:10-11

About the photo

As you might be able to tell by the lack of Christmas holiday crowds, the first photo was taken early in the morning. In fact, it was so early that the sun had not come up all the way yet. That made the street rather dark with shadows, while the tops of the buildings were illuminated by the sun. I was able to even it out rather nicely by adjusting the highlights and shadows in the original Raw file. Before that, the street was almost too dark to see anything at all, while the upper levels of the building were really bright.

The Christmas Tree photo was actually taken just a few minutes before the Hollywood Boulevard photo. But because there were no tall buildings around the tree, it was able to receive the full light of the sun. Because of the good light, that photo received only minimal processing, which makes things nice and easy.

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10
Lens: Rokinon 7.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens
Date: December 22, 2016
Location: Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney World, Florida