Category: VR

Discovery Cove photos added…and more.

A batch of photos from Discovery Cove have been sorted and added to the Universal/SeaWorld gallery:

https://us-sw.disneyfans.com

While I was there, I found some Disney Skyliner photos I never added to the Walt Disney World gallery:

https://wdw.disneyfans.com

I had completely forgot that while we were in town last year, we took a ride share over to one of the resorts and then explored the Skyliner routes. (Probably the “cheapest” day to spend in Orlando, if you don’t stop and buy food and drink while visiting them 😉

I am still going through the VR360 footage and uploading it to my Park Hopping in VR YouTube Channel as time permits:

https://www.youtube.com/@ParkHoppingInVR

There are a few nighttime ones taken at Universal Epic Universe in the Dark Universe area of the park. They are pretty cool to watch, even if the low-light quality is pretty poor. It is a much more accurate way to “see” what it is like in that immersive area compared to photos.

I also have a similar on walking through the portal (green pipe) to Super Nintendo World all the way to the entrance to Donkey Kong Country. These, and more, will be showing up soon-ish.

Meanwhile, my submission to Google Street View of the walking path from Stella Nova Resort to the entrance of Universal Epic Universe has been processing for 11 days so far. While it is promising that it did not get rejected the first day, as often is the case (gaps in the GPS signal being the usual suspect), it is bothersome that it is taking this long. I am now bracing for some new error telling me to try again.

More to come, I am sure.

Upcoming Epic Universe VR videos

I have a few VR photos and videos taken at Universal Orlando Resort’s Universal Epic Universe. (Yeah, that full description is a mouthful full, innit?)

Many of the photos have already been shared in the Park Hopping in VR Facebook Group in albums:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/parkhoppinginvr/media/albums

The videos are being uploaded to the Park Hopping in VR YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@parkhoppinginvr

These videos always take a long time to process, with some reports saying it can take about a week for an “8K” 360 video to be completed. We shall see how it goes this time. Right now, I am just seeing “Video processing is taking longer…” and “Checks still running” messages.

While we wait, here is a boring 30 second reel looking out the Helios Grand Hotel top floor where Bar Helios is located. At least during our visit, anyone was allowed to enter the hotel and go to the lobby level bar as well as the rooftop bar. This view is away from the theme park. Turning around is a short hallway where the elevators are, then it opens into the hosts are to sit you at a table (if you choose) or just let you go sit at the bar or patio.

That video is posted to my non-VR Park Hopping YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@parkhopping

And if you think that one is boring, wait until you see my extended video looking around the top floor of Bar 17 Bistro at Aventura hotel 😉 Michael Bay has nothing to worry about!

More to come…

Branson and Silver Dollar City photos added

Two of my galleries have been updated with new photos:

Branson Missouri photos, including A Tribute to the King, Retromania, Branson Landing water show, Masters of Escape, and much more:

https://misc.disneyfans.com/OtherPlaces/Missouri/index.html

And new Silver Dollar City photos:

https://themeparks.disneyfans.com/SilverDollarCity/SilverDollarCity2025/index.html

Also, new VR photos have been posted to Branson in VR and Park Hopping in VR on Facebook, and new VR videos are showing up on the YouTube channels for each one. Here’s a VR walk from the entrance of Silver Dollar City to the old Fire in the Hole, then over to the new Fire in the Hole.

…with many more scheduled to post.

Area 15 does not exist.

Area 15 in Las Vegas (not to be confused with Area 51) is an entertainment complex that houses various food, drink, and entertainment offerings. You can ride an indoor zip-line, throw axes, play retro video games, experience Virtual Reality and spend hours exploring Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart.

Here is a VR walk around some of the art displays outside the building:

And here is a VR walk around the inside of the Area 15 building:

Admission to the building itself is free, so you can just go there and look around. Individual attractions and experiences all charge their own fees.

You can buy combo passes to save some money, as well, though I did not check to see how much of a saving this actually is.

Disneyland VR360 photos from 2017

When I bought my first digital camera in 1996, I was the only person I knew that had a digital camera. I had to explain it as a “computer camera” when folks asked what it was. No one knew the term “digital camera” yet.

Even when I’d visit Disneyland, no one had them. You’d see the occasional camcorder or film camera, but no one was snapping away digital … yet. That changed quickly.

Later, I took a 3-D camcorder attachment on a trip, recording interlaced 3-D to Digital8 video tapes.

Around 2005, I took a “one shot panorama” camera gadget to the parks. You would point the camera up, where it would take a photo of the bottom of a half mirror ball. Software would later turn that in to a panorama with limited up/down viewing. This was the predecessor to the 360 cameras we have today.

When I “returned” to Disneyland in 2017, I took my RICOH Theta VR360 camera with me. I have never shared any of these photos before (there really wasn’t an easy way to share them back then), but I have started uploading them to my “Park Hopping in VR” YouTube group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/@parkhoppinginvr

Stop by and see opening year of Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout in VR.

Experience A Bug’s Land in VR.

Be amazed at the incredible quality of a 2017 VR camera 😉

Or not. But they are still fun to look at.

Drop by and if you also do VR photography, feel free to share some of your theme park VR photos.

More to come. So much more…

In VR…

As I began sorting nearly 200 VR video and photo files from a recent trip, I decided maybe I should find a place to upload them. So…

For other VR photographers and videographers, I have also set up some similar Facebook Groups so we can all share our work:

Logos by Tanjalin.

Butterfly Palace and Rainforest Adventure in VR

Here is 10 minutes of VR 360 video from Butterfly Palace and Rainforest Adventure in Branson, MO. You can look left, right, up, down and even behind you from various locations.

4/28/2024

This video was recorded using an Insta360 X4. It was set to 8K mode using all automatic settings. This should give folks an idea of what the quality is like “out of the box” without making any adjustments.

NOTE: YouTube appears to downsize the video to 4K 🙁