Avenue Toward the Castle

When I visited Shanghai Disneyland six and a half years ago, I spent the end of my first evening taking my time to close out the park.  But the experience was a unique one, because the first half of it consisted of being immediately funneled to the heart of the park in the Gardens of Imagination promptly upon park closing, before virtually unlimited time was allowed in the entrance half of the Gardens of Imagination and down Mickey Avenue to take any and all the nighttime photos I fancied.  While I was bummed to miss taking empty nighttime photos of the other parts of the park, I did get my fill of Mickey Avenue photos, and my series in the "Town Square" portion of the entrance land, looking at the castle between the central trees and lampposts, was my favorite.  

This was Mickey Avenue at its most evocative--the part that held the nostalgia of Main Street and that iconic approach corridor up toward the castle.  Given that Mickey Avenue is really more of a Buena Vista Street meets Mickey's Toontown mash-up, the frame below lends a more timeless ambiance.  And it's perfect for that end-of-the-night parting shot that creates that everlasting departing memory of this Magic Kingdom.

Flowers, lampposts, and trees frame the Enchanted Storybook Castle beyond.