Tacky Tourist Photos

SUBMITTED BY: Ben Cole   LOCATION: Los Angeles, California (2012) Since 1984, UCLA athletes have won more gold medals at the Olympic Games than all but four countries. And this Bruins mascot has bitten more tourists than all other bear statues in America combined. We made up that last statistic, but the Olympics thing is [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Erik Paulsen   LOCATION: Times Square, New York City (2012) When posing for a Tacky Tourist Photo, it is usually customary to embrace the quirky statue or mascot as if you are best friends. Yet, there is something rather skeevy about getting intimate with a Naked Cowboy you just met. Enter the brilliance [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Ari G.   LOCATION: Boston, Massachusetts (2011) A more snooty mascot might have ignored the fans trapped behind home plate at Fenway Park — or at least have pretended not to hear anything through those thick furry ears. But not the Nutcracker Bear. He (or she) had time to spread some holiday cheer with [...]

  SUBMITTED BY: Noelle Boc and Isabelle    LOCATION: Orlando, Florida (2011) Just like Buzz Lightyear’s muscle flexing sessions, Peter Pan teaches Walt Disney World visitors how to be confident and sassy. The key is making a fist as you put your hands on your hips and stick your chest out. Captain Hook would be very [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Daryl Morey   LOCATION: Shanghai, China (2011) Our sources have spotted Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, meeting with a giant inflatable rabbit and his alien friend in the Chinese countryside. Given that our source is Daryl Morey, we believe that the reports are accurate. The creepy bunny with facial hair [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Brian Henderson   LOCATION: Houston, Texas (2011) The shiny mascot of Goode’s Armadillo Palace — a local BBQ and music joint — looks sweet and innocent by day. But after nightfall, it turns evil. Be forewarned! (Brian Henderson is a photojournalist with an appetite as huge as the Golden Gate Bridge.)

SUBMITTED BY: Bill Burke   LOCATION: Lake Buena Vista, Florida (2011) According to the Wookieepedia, the Gamorreans were “porcine humanoids from the lush jungle Outer Rim planet of Gamorr, where their technological level was equivalent to lower technology periods that human civilizations experienced more than 25,000 years before the battle of Yavin.” The piglike militants “also [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Eliza Truitt    LOCATION: Baltimore, Maryland (2011) Or to be more accurate, a woman-eating bird… Why is the Baltimore Oriole about to bite off the head off this innocent baseball fan? Maybe because she was outed as a die-hard Mariners fan! (Eliza Truitt is an enterprising wedding photographer who has been stalking Bigfoot [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Greg Constantine   LOCATION: Orlando, Florida (2009) Having absolutely no fear of public drinking fountains, holding subway poles or sticking his tongue on supermarket carts, Greg eagerly awaits his first taste of germ-covered pretend honey. H1N1 virus be damned! (Filmmaker Greg Constantine, founder and CEO of Galaxy Editing, refuses to vacation at destinations NOT [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Steve Mandich and Eliza Truitt LOCATION: British Columbia, Canada (2009) In all the mysterious Bigfoot sightings over the years, no one ever comes back with a sharp, vivid photo. Until now. Turns out that Sasquatch, or “Quatchi,” as his closest friends call him, has just been searching the wilderness for an old-fashioned hug. [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Darren Garnick   LOCATION: Orlando, Florida  (2008) Buzz Lightyear pulled a bait on switch on us, urging my son and I to flex our muscles and then pulling the Fonzie thumbs up pose (a timeless classic you can see duplicated here). Superman flexes his biceps. So does Popeye and the Incredible Hulk.  But since [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Betsy Hoffman   LOCATION: Barcelona, Spain (2009) Looks like a flamboyant gekko, but this costumed character is actually a touchy-feely dragon. It’s the Gaudi Dragon, Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi’s iconic mosiac fountain in Barcelona’s whimsical Parc Guell. According to Wikipedia, British author George Orwell reportedly hated Gaudi’s work — and what motivation could [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Laura Molta   LOCATION: Madrid, Spain (2009) The tentacles of the Disney legal department infamously have no boundaries, so it was shocking to see this rogue Winnie the Pooh operating so brazenly in the open. We respect the rights of mascots to have oxygen, but the extremely large eye holes (filled with emptiness) make [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Tacky Tourist Photos    LOCATION: Manchester, New Hampshire (2007) Not to go all Michael Moore on you, but there really isn’t that much difference between a child hugging a giant walking cell phone and a child cuddling with a giant walking rat at Disney. One caveat: All those conflicting medical studies warning us [...]