I may have grown up with all of the cartoons from the late 90’s and the early 2000’s, but I also grew up with Islands of adventure and its Toon Lagoon section of the park for as long as I can remember!
This is the island that taught me all about the comic strips and the cartoon shows of yesterday, including: Popeye the Sailorman, Beetle Bailey, and Heathcliff just to name a few. They were all great shows (particularly Popeye the Sailorman) and I fell in love with their characters as easily as I did with my generation’s cartoons. Fast forward to 2016 and as I’ve grown a bit, I have come to appreciate the detail inside of Toon Lagoon and its references to the older shows/comic strips that I used to take for granted.
From the colors on the buildings to the water flowing all around you, this has easily become one of my favorite lands to photograph. There are lights everywhere and moving objects located above, below, behind, and on both your left and right side. All these factors make it a challenge to photograph once the sun begins to set and the shutter speed begins to get slower and slower.
Still, who doesn’t enjoy a good challenge? So I set out to photograph this section of the park with a couple of very good friends to keep me company. Here are my results:
1. Ripsaw Falls
Water everywhere equals a ton of fun with long exposure photography. I simply love the smoky look that is achieved when water is shot for an extended period of time.
2. Mt. Rushmore
Well, it isn’t quite Mt. Rushmore, but this looks like a great group of individuals that deserved to have their heads molded into the side of an attraction.
3. Gasoline Alley
This is a great, little store that sells anything from beach towels to license plates. Don’t worry, they’re fake plates, of course.
4. Popeye’s Pose
Granted, Popeye seems to be stuck in a rather uncomfortable position and facing away from his attraction, but as you are about to see from the next photo he doesn’t have a bad view of Toon Lagoon.
5. Right Down Main Street
I severely doubt that Popeye ever gets tired of this view inside of Toon Lagoon. Just remember, he’s always watching.
6. A Blue Toon Lagoon
This is probably the hardest photo to get during the blue hour inside of Toon Lagoon because of the amount of people walking up and down this street at a time, but with some patience, you can really get a good look at the detail that went into this Island.
7. Boop Oop a Doop
What else can you say about Betty Boop other than the fact that she is a timeless cartoon character with two stores inside of Universal Orlando Resort?
We’ve shown you some empty photos of Toon Lagoon that you may have never seen before, now it’s time to plan your own trip to Universal Orlando Resort to see this section of the park after the sun begins to set in person. You can visit our Toon Lagoon vacation planning pages or check out the other over 200 pages of Universal planning information!
If you don’t have the time to plan every detail yourself, Orlando Informer Travel can help! They can assist you with your trips to Universal, Disney, and more. Best of all, their services are free to you. Seriously. To get in touch, simply call (844) ORL-INFO or email them, or learn more by visiting travel.orlandoinformer.com.
