Gifts and Arcade at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom
Lighted signs along Main Street USA in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom indicate that gifts and an arcade can be found inside these walls. However, these signs are on the exterior of the Emporium, the largest shop on Main Street. Several different facades are used to make the building appear to be several different shops and tenants, but in fact it is all just one big space on the inside.
Actually, the “Arcade” sign has always been a little confusing to me. I know it isn’t referring to a video game arcade, as many of us who grew up in the 1980s might first think when we see that word, because that wouldn’t fit in with the Main Street USA theme at all. However, the Penny Arcade, or what is left of it, is actually located across the street from this building, so it isn’t about that, either, in case you were thinking about that.
An arcade can also be “a covered and sometimes arched passageway, usually with shops on one or both sides,” according to Dictionary.com. But you don’t even find that inside, just one big shop. Oh well, at least it looks interesting on the outside.
And don’t worry, there are definitely gifts inside. Lots and lots and lots of gifts!
A gift opens doors for a man and brings him before the great. - Proverbs 18:16
About the photo:
I have worked on several versions of this photo in the last few days, and I still can’t come up with one that I am really happy with. It is all good, except for the overpowering “GIFTS” with all the lights in each of the letters. In hindsight, this would have been a great candidate for some HDR work. I tried to approximate that with some different exposures from the RAW file, but that didn’t go all that well. To me, it looks okay at a small scale, but when you look at it larger, the flaws are really noticeable. But as you can see, I still thought enough of it to post it here, so it isn’t entirely bad.
A single RAW exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about the photo software and gear I use at the camera gear page.
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10
Lens: Olympus M.Zukio 25mm f1.8
