Four Park Engagement Photos: the Disney Walls

Cover photo by Cara Mannino and Chris Largen. Actually all photos in this article are by Cara and Chris.

I have gone to four Disney parks in one day exactly three times in my life. The first time was when my mom and I did it in 2015 to see if we could do it; Jay and I did it in 2018 for Mickey’s 90th birthday, and we did it again in November 2019 for our Disney Walls engagement photos.  

According to the imaginary wedding rules of the internet, you’re supposed to take engagement photos one to two months after getting engaged. Well, nothing else about our wedding has been according to tradition, so why should this? 

I had decided engagement photos weren’t in the budget and that we weren’t doing them. Jay said we had the best engagement photos ever taken at the proposal, so we didn’t need them. As time went on, I realized they would be helpful to practice posing for wedding photos, and it would probably just be fun. I still didn’t know when or where we would do them. 

One night I had a brilliant idea pop into my head. I’d always wanted to do all the “Disney Walls”, and this was the perfect excuse! 

My friend Cara had been one of two people who had texted me congratulations when we got engaged, instead of just commenting on Facebook, and she had told me she and her boyfriend were getting into photography, and would be happy to take engagement photos. Well, it only took me about six months to take her up on it. 

I told her my idea, and instead of saying, “FOUR PARKS? ARE YOU INSANE?” (“The curse, it’s real!” Wait, no, sorry that’s Universal.) She messaged me back saying she’d asked for the day off! We were all set; now I just needed a shot list. 

I did some searching on Google and Instagram, and combined that with my own Disney parks experiences to put together a list that utilized the best “official” Disney Walls in each park, along with some places I thought would just be cool. 

Animal Kingdom

• Lion King (Pandora Entrance) 
• Moss (Satu’li Canteen) 
• Lion King (Harambe Village) 
• Dinoland 

Slightly ambitious for a four park day, but totally doable. Our only real issue was the sun setting around six, and I knew that would be our only real obstacle. We decided to start with Magic Kingdom, then head to Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and finish up with Animal Kingdom. 

Cara also sent me her list of ideas, and she had thought of some really cute stuff I hadn’t! 

I’m used to days where Magic Kingdom closes early for a separately ticketed event being less crowded days, so I wasn’t worried about the lines for security and the monorail. The monorail wasn’t bad, but the security lines were backed up, and that ate a bit of our time. 

We started at the World Famous Jungle Cruise, which happens to be where Jay and I met, back when I worked for Disney. I think the Field and Company sign at the exit should be considered one of the Disney Walls, since it’s pretty cool looking, but I’ll admit the sun doesn’t hit it at a good angle. Maybe we’ll get a better wall when the movie comes out! 

I would have done sign photos, but we were there during Jingle Cruise, and I was trying to avoid Christmas-y things. Jay had the brilliant idea to take photos with the map behind the Fastpass kiosks. Then we headed over to the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse for some bridge photos, which was on Cara’s list. 

From there, we made our way to Liberty Square for a trip on the Riverboat. If you’ve never ridden the Riverboat, I highly recommend it. It’s a nice, smooth and relaxing ride, and it is absolutely gorgeous. Some of my best pictures, from when I started the site, came from the Riverboat. 

What Cara does not know about this photo is why we started laughing, but she got really excited, because it made the shots look more natural. We were laughing because I have a thing where I always have to be on the right, so Jay was holding the “wrong” hand, and it was making me twitch. Jay was laughing at my twitching. 

After the Riverboat, we went over to the Tangled area and the Neverland wall. 

The Carousel of Progress wall was a little tricky, because there was a railing in the way, but I think we did all right.

Our next stop was the Purple Wall, which is really two walls in one now. Cara and Chris had never actually been to it, so it was kind of fun explaining how it was the wall that started the whole “Walls of Disney” thing. Since the first Purple Wall got so popular, Disney “enhanced” it. There was actually a group of three girls waiting for us to be done, so they could take photos too. 

The Hub grass wasn’t on my list, but it was on Cara’s, and I’m glad it was, because we got some of our cutest pictures there.

I voted to skip the balloons and the Mainstreet shops, since I was worried about time and they weren’t part of our “Wall” theme. We then decided to monorail to Epcot, so we wouldn’t have to worry about moving two sets of cars, and we could skip going through security a second time. 

We went straight to Spaceship Earth, so we could knock out the Bubblegum and Blueberry Walls.  

So, sometimes the internet is very helpful in finding the exact location of Disney Walls, and sometimes it’s not. The Galaxy Wall was “near Guardians construction”. Well, it took me ten minutes to figure out that it’s no longer there. Then we went looking for the Rose Gold Wall, “near Mission Space”. I’m not sure what we took pictures with was officially it, but it looks close enough to me. 

We went in the wrong side of the Seas first, and then walked over to the Coral Reef side to find the Toothpaste Wall. “Near the Seas”, hmph. Just say outside Coral Reef! But we found it! 

Our last Epcot stop was the Mosiac Wall outside the Land Pavillion. This was cool because there was so much wall to choose from. I let Jay pick which spot on the wall we used as our backdrop. 

We also grabbed lunch before we headed out of Epcot at the Electric Umbrella. I haven’t eaten there in a couple of years, but it was really good. 

Rather than taking the monorail back to the Ticket and Transportation Center to get our cars, we walked out the back entrance of Epcot to take the Skyliner over to Hollywood Studios. I had been on it before, but it was everyone else’s first time, including Duffy and Shellie May. 

Our stop in Galaxy’s Edge was for the Build-a-Droid Wall. We never did find the First Order Wall, but I have so many great pictures from Galaxy’s Edge previews, that I am perfectly okay with that. 

We did take our only Photopass Picture of the day, so we could get one with all of four us. Plus, this is one of the coolest Photopass Magic Shots there is. 

We stopped by the Chinese Theater to take a picture with the Runaway Railway Wall. It’s really more of a “coming soon” sign, but it’s cute either way. 

We wanted to take a picture with some of the cool textures on the Tower of Terror walls, but the sun had gotten so low there wasn’t really a good spot, and we were running out of time. So, we took some different pictures instead!

This was where our using Disney transportation plan fell apart. The monorails and the Skyliner had taken no time at all, and we’d barely waited for anything. We lost about twenty minutes waiting for the bus to Animal Kingdom, and we watched the sun sink closer and closer to the horizon. 

It was dark by the time we entered Animal Kingdom, but we didn’t let that stop us. I was determined to get the two Lion King Disney Walls and call it a day. There was just one little problem, the first Lion King Wall had been replaced! There was new art that matched most of the Christmas decorations. 

Honestly, it was really pretty, so I didn’t mind too much. 

Our last Wall was in Harambe Village and even though I had seen it during the Wine and Dine Half Marathon, it took me a minute to remember exactly where it was. We found it though, and Chris and Cara got to use their flash for the first time that day. 

I kept hearing drums while we were posing, but I kept telling myself a Cast Member would tell us to move before they tried to open the gates. Not two minutes after we were done, a band came strolling out, so I’m glad our timing worked out. 

We did stop for one more photo. I had forgotten we’d bought Jay new Lion King shoes, and I’d meant for us to get a detailed picture of them at some point, so we tried to get one. It kind of worked. 

Then, we were done! We had taken pictures in all four parks in one day! We headed back to the buses to take one to the Polynesian Resort, so we could walk back to the TTC, since a Magic Kingdom bus would make us need to take the monorail again. 

Things had almost gone according to plan. I’d had a change of outfits for both of us in my bag for variety, but there never seemed like a good moment to change. We got all the most important shots, and some I would have never thought of. Cara and Chris were amazing, and I can’t wait for them to launch their photography business. (I have already volunteered my web design services for them when they do.) Not many people would brave all of Walt Disney World in one day, but they did it, and we all had a blast. I think Jay has a new BFF. It was the first time he and Chris had really met, and they really hit it off. 

Please go check out Cara’s Instagram for when they finally get their photography business up and running!

I know a lot of people think the whole “Disney Walls” concept is silly, but I am completely in favor of Disney utilizing empty space in the parks and turning walls and gates into colorful backdrops for photos.