This is one of those pictures I’ve loved since I took it but that I’ve been sitting on for a while. While in a way it’s what this site is all about…beauty and connection to our happy place in the subtlest details, it doesn’t scream "MAGIC!" all that loudly at you.
But that's sort of the point, right? This walkway, the entrance path to the Swiss Family Treehouse in Adventureland, is really everything that Imagineering does best. Setting the stage quietly. Telling the story before the story even really needs to start. It immerses you in the castaway world of Swiss Family Robinson before you even set foot into the treehouse, made to look hand-built with materials salvaged from the shipwreck and resources from the jungle. A path built for survival over comfort that narrows as you move into it like a funnel.
As you cross it, you leave the order and indulgence of Magic Kingdom behind and step into a space where a family has made the most of their environment, turning a disaster into a home together. Not the worst mindset these days.
I took this with my 50mm, but instead of opening my aperture wide I tightened it all the way to f/16 to keep the scene in focus from front to back with a shutter speed of 1/125 and an ISO of 640. I probably could have dropped my shutter speed and gotten my ISO closer to 100 but the 640 worked out just fine.