My trip report ALL DAYS 1 thru 6 - LOTS of pics [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

AndrewWG

11-28-2007, 06:51 PM

Ok, so I just returned from 6 days at WDW and wanted to post a report in words and pictures, so here it is! I'll start with day 1 and add days as I get photos processed, etc. Day 1 was just really point and click, so I didn't really bother post processing RAW files for it to make them look better.

Day 1:

Left Providence at 7:20 and arrived at Orlando at 10:00 or so. Disneys Magical Express worked perfectly for us. They were there to take us to Port Orleans French Quarter within 15 minutes of arrival and got our bags to our room before we even got in our rooms! Very pleased with this service.

Port Orleans French Quarter was great! I was very happy with my choice on that one. We had room 6321 (building 6, floor 3). It was a great location, not too far from the lobby at all (none of the buildings really are) and also just taking a quick shortcut through building 4 (I believe) got you to the bust stop.

Since we had 6 day expiring park hopper tickets we had decided to go somewhere everyday we were there. On day 1 we decided to just go to Magic Kingdom and do a ride or two. Since this was Thanksgiving day, we knew it would be busy so one or two rides was fine with us. We decided to take the train from the Main Street train station over to frontierland and ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad as my DD had been bribed by my sister with a gift if she went on that ride. She does not like fast rides, however she was a trooper and did it and got a stuffed Minnie doll for her bravery! Since it had started to rain a bit and we had dinner reservations at Concourse Steakhouse at 4pm, we just decided to walk through the park a bit and then walk over to the Contemporary from there. It was a nice relaxing walk and we were able to see my nephew's brick in the sidewalk on the way. It is still in perfect condition.

Thanksgiving dinner at the Concourse Steak House was AWFUL! I gave thanks that I was on the meal plan and having travelled all day (we had to get up at 3am), I could have eaten a shoe if it was prepared well enough. We were all starved. The wait staff was great, but the food (especially the turkey) was terrible. The turkey was that processed stuff, kind of like turkey SPAM. I don't know what I expected, but I had certainly hoped for better.

After that meal, we went back over to Magic Kingdom via the monorail and just walked around and rode the carousel, watched the lights light up on the castle and went back to the hotel for a much needed rest. It was at this point that I realized that I was going to have a real challenge on my hands taking photos AND enjoying family time. It is a real tough balance to do both effectively. I chose to leave the tripod behind after this and just hope for the best with my shots and enjoy the family time. I only took the tripod out two more times after this night and left it in the locker one of the nights until we left and never set it up the other night. Therefore, 99.99% of my pics were either handheld or assisted by railings, trash containers, etc.

By the way, my tripod measures 24" and it JUST fit in the locker on an angle top top left corner to bottom right corner. Also, if you plan on attending the Christmas Party, the lockers are free. You just pay $2 for the key which is refunded to you when you return the key.

That was about it for day 1. Here are some pics from that day:

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tiggerwannabe

11-28-2007, 07:14 PM

Very nice pictures Andy~

very nice reporting, I look forward to reading more.

What camera do you use?

LivingtheWDWdream

11-28-2007, 07:23 PM

Your photos are awesome!!!

Sounds like a full day Thank you for sharing it with us! I can't wait to read and see more!

AndrewWG

11-28-2007, 07:27 PM

Thanks! I use a Canon 30D with primarily the 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS lens but switched to the 50mm f1.8 quite a bit. In Animal Kingdom (later on in my report) I used the 70-200mm f2.8 with and without the 1.4x teleconverter.

DizneyNutz

11-28-2007, 07:33 PM

I REALLY appreciate the info on the lockers and the PREemptive look at the castle. Your photos are great!!!!! Thanks again for posting them and we look forward to our trip in a few days!:cool1:

AndrewWG

11-28-2007, 07:38 PM

I REALLY appreciate the info on the lockers and the PREemptive look at the castle. Your photos are great!!!!! Thanks again for posting them and we look forward to our trip in a few days!:cool1:

You're welcome. That was some info that I thought would be good to share. That's why I started doing my trip report before forgetting it all, even though the pics aren't all processed yet. I'm just using the jpg's (I shoot jpg+RAW) unless I think it could use some sprucing up in PSE.

Dismom+two

11-28-2007, 07:44 PM

DizneyNutz

11-28-2007, 07:46 PM

You're welcome. That was some info that I thought would be good to share. That's why I started doing my trip report before forgetting it all, even though the pics aren't all processed yet. I'm just using the jpg's (I shoot jpg+RAW) unless I think it could use some sprucing up in PSE.

I appreciate the info on the lockers, But most of all apreciate the pics of the castle so I can get prepared!:cool1: Thanks for posting. And glad you had a great trip.:cool1: We are leaving in a few days. Thanks again!

AndrewWG

11-28-2007, 08:02 PM

I appreciate the info on the lockers, But most of all apreciate the pics of the castle so I can get prepared!:cool1: Thanks for posting. And glad you had a great trip.:cool1: We are leaving in a few days. Thanks again!

A couple more quick tips before I forget:

1. The castle is lit up at 5:45 pm every night. There is a quick skit on stage before hand, then it is lit piece by piece. Kind of nice to watch that at least once.

2. The "snow" that is falling during the Christmas Party and over at the Osbourne lights is soap bubbles. This causes glass on your lens to be really gunked up quickly. I would bring a lens cleaning kit of some sort or wear a real soft t-shirt on those nights if you go. It WILL mess up pictures you take if it is not removed. Comes off kind of easily, but needs to come off just the same.

If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.

AndrewWG

11-28-2007, 08:06 PM

Hello Andy! Barbara told me you were going down to Disney! I'm happy to see your posting some great pictures! I LOVE the way the castle looks...I can only imagine how beautiful it must be in person!!

Looking forward to seeing more!!

Oh, it is GREAT to see in person, but tough to get a good photo of, I'll tell ya! With a proper setup (tripod, etc) it would be fine, but other than that it is tough to do. I learned that on the first night. You see 2 pics here but you don't see the 40 others that are overexposed, blurry and overall junky.

I do miss the snowflakes on the castle but this is really stunning to see.

ukcatfan

11-28-2007, 08:18 PM

Wishes2you

11-28-2007, 08:47 PM

AndrewWG

11-28-2007, 09:14 PM

Welcome back! I hope you had a nice time. We had a nice time on our trip. The teenage DD showed her teenage side a few times (nothing new there), but even she had a pretty nice trip. Sorry I never got the chance to meet up with you. We blew in and out of the EPCOT kennel on Friday afternoon and then never made it over to MGM on Saturday night. We got some bad info on the closing time and got there right when they closed, so we went to the MK for the rest of the evening. Sunday morning was just DTD then home.

If you go back on Thanksgiving another year, try The Trail's End at FW. We were very happy with the food and it was not really that busy. They do bump up all buffet prices over holidays though.

We brought home a microscopic hitchhiker. :sick: At least it did not hit us in the middle of our trip. The DW started feeling bad Saturday evening and then felt really bad all day Sunday. I started feeling bad Monday and had to call in sick yesterday, so no RAW processing for me yet. :headache: The oldest DD felt bad during school Monday then came home and slept from about 4:00 to 10:00. Luckily, the two youngest DDs have been fine. Hopefully this weekend I will get the time to do some processing. I took 899 shots over the four and a half days, so I have my work cut out for me.

Kevin

Kevin,

That's fine that we couldn't meet up. Would have been nice, but all of Saturday, my phone was at the hotel, so I couldn't call or recieve calls. I realized that when I was on the bus to MGM in the morning.

Funny, my DW has not been feeling so great since about Sunday. Not too bad, but a little sick feeling that has kept her down a bit. So far so good for DD and I though.

I hope to see your shots soon. I really didn't do as well as I had thought I would, but as I said, balancing family time and photo time is tough. On one hand I would love to return by myself for a photo trip, but on the other hand, I think it would be WAY too lonely there alone. There are just so many things to take photos of though!

I did end up meeting up with Kyle and Steve's Girl (Wendy) on Monday night for a bit, but that is later in my report...

I shot over 2000 photos! :scared1: I think I will be throwing out about 1000 of them right off the bat due to duplicates and out of focus shots and then picking and choosing from there. Of my 2000, I have bunches of like 20 shots in a row of Everest and MANY bad fireworks shots and many of the different birds in AK, etc, so it should be easy to pick my favorites and trash the rest. I can't even tell you how many I have of the castle! The trip was trial and error for me. I had a REAL hard time with metering. I was fighting that the whole trip and was getting a good handle of it by the time I left. My DD did better with my S2IS than I did at times. I have a bunch of those to show too. There was a thread a long time ago about photos taken by children. If anyone knows where it is, let me know. She did real well for herself.

Off to process a few more before bed...

AndrewWG

11-28-2007, 09:17 PM

Welcome home. I can't wait to read the rest of your trip report and see the pictures. They are wonderful. I love the castle. I'm having Disney Withdrawal again. So your sister bribed DD to ride Big Thunder Mountain. Tell her I said great job, You go girlie. :woohoo: Felicia had to get us to ride the big rides. We rode Expedition Everest and I thought I was going to pass out when I got off. The worse thing you can do is close your eyes and pray for it to end. :rolleyes2 Next time we go we have to take a friend for her to ride all those big rides with her. So DH and I don't have too.

Keep those pictures coming.

She only went on Big Thunder, but that was a step in the right direction. Actually she did go on Primeval Whirl (I think that is what it's called) in Dino-Land at AK. She didn't like that at all. It will be a LONG time before I convince her that it is fun on that one. :lmao:

We stayed off the big rides for the most part. I have done them all. DW doesn't like them and D is scared to death of them. We kept it slow and easy.

ukcatfan

11-28-2007, 09:36 PM

Actually she did go on Primeval Whirl (I think that is what it's called) in Dino-Land at AK. She didn't like that at all. It will be a LONG time before I convince her that it is fun on that one. :lmao:

My DW calls it Primeval Hurl! :rotfl2: The one and only time she rode it, you could probably hear her screams in the MK! :scared1: I love the thrill rides and am able to get the middle DD to ride all of them with me. The oldest sometimes is in the mood and the youngest is just starting to be old/tall enough.

I wish your DW well. What we have is some variety of the common cold. Sort of like a flu that only lasts for about two days. At least there is no nausea with it. Mainly just extreme exhaustion, sore throat, and runny nose.

Kevin

DVC Jen

11-28-2007, 10:00 PM

Hey! :goodvibes Welcome back!

I gotta tell you I was slack jawed when I saw the pics of the castle. It is beautiful and you did a great job of capturing that.

Looking forward to the rest of your report.

So how does it feel to be back in the "real world"?

Msslaydbug

11-28-2007, 11:38 PM

I love the pictures. I also shoot with a 30d - love it ! Although so far it hasn't made the trip to Disneyworld. I hate lugging all my camera equipment on vacation along with a toddler. My last trip with just my son and I - I didn't bring any camera except the one on my blackberry for my mobile blog ! <GASP!>

scottny

11-28-2007, 11:44 PM

your pics are really nice. I love the castle ones. Can't wait to see more.

MicMin

11-29-2007, 12:18 AM

Great pictures! Your castle shots are really beautiful.

donaldduck1967

11-29-2007, 05:00 AM

Great pics Andy Thanks for sharing

dcg0317

11-29-2007, 06:31 AM

Beautiful pictures Andy, the Castle picture is great, all of them are good, can't wait to see the rest of them. :thumbsup2

AndrewWG

11-29-2007, 06:12 PM

Thanks everyone for your comments! :)

Ok, here is Day 2:

Day 2: Got up a little late and let the kids (DD and her cousins) play in the pool for a bit. I walked around the hotel area nearby and shot some photos while they swam. They were all wanting to go on the slide which unfortunately didn't open until (I think) 10am. We were there at 9am. Oh well. We'll return later...

After some relaxing time in the pool, we headed out to Animal Kingdom. With all my lenses in my camera bag, this was quite a feat. I imagine the bag weighed approximately 10lbs and the bag just barely holds all my lenses. The strap wears into my neck over time. Mental note to me is to buy a new camera bag and make sure it is comfortable before trying this again!

First stop in Animal Kingdom was Bugs Life 3D movie. DD loves this movie and we see it everytime we go. Got some great photos of the tree of life which I won't bore you with here. From here we headed to Dino Land! Not my choice of supreme fun, but entertaining nonetheless. We rode Primeval Whirl (bad choice for DD) and played a bunch of the games. DD won two stuffed dinosaurs! That was great for her, bad for me. I carried two stuffed dinosaurs around for the rest of the day...

After we left DinoLand, we watched a street show of Smear, Splat and Dip. At least I think those are their names! These guys do some amazing juggling acts and other acts. Very talented group of people!

When leaving Dino Land we stopped at my favorite Everest photo spot behind Flame Tree Barbecue. Everytime I go there, the character boat goes by, so I tend to get a few shots of them as well.

The whole group of us wanted to do Kali River Rapids and when we got there, to our surprise we were met with a 0 minute wait time! Then we realized that it was shut down for some reason. As we were walking away, they yelled to us that it was back up and running so we hopped right on with no wait. Of course, me and DD ended up going down the big hill backwards so we were soaked.

After this we went on our separate ways with me, DW and DD going on the trail behind the Rapids. We got some great photos of bats, deer, tigers and other animals. On our way out, we caught a little bit of the parade but had to get to Epcot for dinner.

We then left and went to Epcot to have dinner at the San Angel Inn. Again, the food was TERRIBLE but this time we also had a TERRIBLE waiter as well. He even put a margarita in front of my 8 year old nephew! Wow. That was about all I could say. He had NO IDEA how to do the meal plan if everyone in the party didn't have the meal plan. 6 of us did and 6 of us didn't. I again was thankful that we were on the meal plan but was hoping to get a GOOD meal out of it eventually.

A little time in Epcot after dinner riding Living with the Land while DD and her cousins went on Nemo, then watching the fireworks (which I did not get ONE good shot of) and we were off to the hotel and a good nights rest. I didn't realize it at the time, but this was the last we would see of Epcot on this trip. I wanted to go back and do more, but we just never made it there. I've done it all before though so no real loss.

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DizneyNutz

11-29-2007, 06:35 PM

Can't wait to go back!:thumbsup2 Thanks for the great photos.:cool1:

Wishes2you

11-29-2007, 06:49 PM

Andy,

The pictures look great and I am enjoying the trip report. I love the picture of the water with the small water fall. That is the one I was talking about in my PM. I love how the water comes over and then it fans out in the wisps of white. It looks so nice.

LivingtheWDWdream

11-29-2007, 07:10 PM

That picture of the bird eating off the ground is awesome the colors came out so crisp!

more please

scottny

11-29-2007, 09:07 PM

great update, great pics.

i love the everest pic and the bird pic.

AndrewWG

11-30-2007, 09:51 AM

Thanks again everyone! I was hoping for better pics of that bird but that was the best I could get as it was running around. If I could have got it feom the side, the colors were awesome! I think that pic shows most of them quite well though.

Well, here is Day 3:

6 of our 12 people headed out to MGM for a 10am arrival. The others slept in for a bit. I wasn't expecting much from this park as it is my least favorite of all the parks. We rushed over to Rockin Rollercoaster to get in line. 30 minute wait time was bearable to us so we decided to ride it now and get fast passes for later to ride it again. As we waited and the line didn't move, the wait time switched to 100 minutes! This was unacceptable so we shot over and got the fast passes. Only 4 of us were going to ride it anyways, so why make the others wait for us that long. We picked up 6 fast passes (us 4 plus the two that weren't going on anyways). I eventually gave mine to my nephew for him to ride it twice. I've been on it already and did like the ride but not nearly as much as he does. When we got those fast passes, 6 fast passes for Lights Motors Action came out with them. The show time was in only 15 minutes so we decided to get there and check it out. Fast passes aren't really needed for this show, but we figured what the heck. We were all pleasantly surprised at how great that show is! Even DD was getting into the things that they were doing. If you get the chance to see it, it is pretty neat to see what they can do with those cars and motorcycles.

After the show, the rest of our party showed up so all 12 of us were there and 6 of them went on RnR with the fast passes we got earlier. The rest of us went on Voyage of the Little Mermaid and watched the High School Musical 2 show under the hat. One suggestion I would make is to NOT try to be the first one in to see shows like the Little Mermaid or any of the 3D movies as you will be forced to walk all the way down the aisle to the very end and your seats may not be all that great. This was especially true with the Little Mermaid show. If you want to take pics, you want to be towards the middle or in the back of the pack as most of the action is on the left side of the theatre and we were getting a bit of a blocked view at times. Also try to sit behind a child and not someone who is tall or has a big head! They
will certainly be in your photos. This is very low light and hard to photograph so if you don't have the equipment, just sit back and enjoy the show. My photos came out ok I guess but my seats were terrible and my photos aren't very sharp. Slightly blurry at best.

The High School Musical thing is ok I guess. DD loved it and got to go out and dance with the people there. They aren't the real actors from the movie of course but she loved it anyways.

There were a couple street performers, a policeman and a guy tap dancing and playing a ukelele. They were fun to watch. Quite funny.

We left MGM at around 2:30 and headed back to the hotel to take the boat to Downtown Disney. This is a cool feature that the Port Orleans hotels offer and we wanted to make sure we did it. The boat ride is about 12 minutes and takes you past the old Treehouse Villas that are now occupied by overseas students who work for WDW. They aren't used for hotel rooms anymore because the updates that needed to be done on them, including handicapped access, was not possible with the way the structures are made. At least they are putting them to good use.

After a little shopping, we took the bus back to the hotel then a bus back to MGM for dinner at the 50's Prime Time Cafe and viewing of the Osbourne Lights. I must say that dinner at 50's PTC was FANTASTIC! Finally, I got the meal I was looking for. Very tasty! Also, the waitresses are just too funny! They entertain you while you eat by pretending to be your Mom and yelling at you for elbows on the table and eating your vegetables but they do it in a funny way that isn't annoying. We enjoyed it very much and had a ton of laughs. I give it a two thumbs up if you get the opportunity to go in.

The Osbourne Lights are a must see. It is amazing to see the whole street lit up like that. It is a tough thing to shoot, I would suggest a "night" setting on your camera or have your ISO cranked up and your F-stop wide open. I did it all hand held at about ISO 1600 and f4 to 5.6 for about a 1/30 shutter at 17-24mm (+1.6x crop) for most of my shots. This worked out "ok" for most shots. I could have thrown on the 50mm 1.8 but I didn't feel like changing lenses. Too lazy I guess. A tripod would have been nice but also would have been a pain in the neck with so many people walking around with their heads up not watching where they are going. I saw one or two people set up tripods and they didn't seem to be having too hard a time of it, but I can't imagine that it was too fun to try to do. Another suggestion that I previously made is to bring some lens cleaner with you and a soft cloth of some sort. You will almost certainly get some "snow" on your lens and since it is soap bubbles, it can make the glass a mess after awhile. It cleans off just fine, but every once in awhile you should check your lens to see if it has any spots on it.

After viewing the lights, we headed back for a night itme swim in the pool and off to bed.

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dburg30

11-30-2007, 10:18 AM

OMG OMG OMG..... I cant wait for 8 more days!!!!!

LivingtheWDWdream

11-30-2007, 11:50 AM

Great Photos! Makes me miss WDW during the holiday timeframe

DVC Jen

11-30-2007, 12:22 PM

Great report and photos Andy - and I think your lil Mermaid photos turned out quite well.

scottny

11-30-2007, 01:21 PM

great pics once again. :thumbsup2

Pea-n-Me

11-30-2007, 02:35 PM

dizrazzi

11-30-2007, 05:02 PM

Great Photos!

KK

ukcatfan

11-30-2007, 05:22 PM

OMG OMG OMG..... I cant wait for 8 more days!!!!!

:confused3 If it were 8 more days, he would still be there. I believe that his whole trip was 6 days.

Kevin

garate55

11-30-2007, 05:32 PM

ukcatfan- I believe they were talking about their own trip to Disney.

Maybe they added the "ticker" after you read it;)

AndrewWG

11-30-2007, 05:33 PM

Nice report and beautiful pictures! :goodvibes I thought the color in the pictures was especially nice. I like that spot at Flame Tree too!

Now, some questions.

How would you say it compared in terms of "user friendliness" (for lack of a better term) using a DSLR vs your S2? Did you feel like you had a good handle on using your equipment, or were you feeling like a real newbie? LOL What will you do differently next time (besides the bag)?

You mentioned your camera bag was hurting your neck - what type will you buy instead? I think it is challenging trying to get the type of pictures you really want to get when you're with others who are waiting for you and you want to keep going, etc.

How did you like Port Orleans overall? Did you do the campfire or carriage ride at all? How were the buses - wait times ok? Crowded? Have read mixed reviews.

Looking forward to seeing more of your pictures. As I said before, I'm living vicariously through you, being on the fence about making the move to a DSLR myself. I feel like I won't know what I'm doing. :rolleyes1

Thanks! I love the camera and that spot behind Flame Tree!

Ok, to answer your questions:

User friendliness is not a term for DSLR's I don't think. I think it is learning curve after learning curve. I went into the trip thinking that I had a great handle on the camera and it's functions. I do know all the basic functions just fine, but I had a terribly hard time with metering. After day 2 I was completely frustrated actually. I was glad that I was shooting in JPG+RAW as I knew I would need the RAW files to PP the photos alot. That was not my intention. I had hoped that I had come far enough with my learning that I could actually get decent shots the first time. I was getting many dark subjects and light backgrounds. It was a constant problem. I learned alot about that while I was on the trip. I think I can hit a shot pretty good now knowing what I know. Fireworks? Forget it. I got basically nothing like the other DSLR users on this board. I got some nice ones, but I'll show them later and you will see that they just don't come close to comparing with the others. Of course, I have only had a DSLR for 4 months so I'll give myself that anyways.

I can tell you this for an example of the DSLR vs the S2IS: Me and DD8 were taking pics of a stork at AK. I took about 5 pics with the 30D and none of them came out good. She took one pic with the S2IS and it was fine. Here are the results:

Mine:

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_0498.jpg

Hers: Edit- now that I look at the EXIF, this was with the older A85 camera, not the S2. Still a p&s though.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_7357.jpg

Quite a difference.

I have no idea what camera bag to buy at this point. I am guessing the slingshot type but I am going to go and look at them before just purchasing online. The 2 main problems with the bag I have now are size (too small) and the strap is just too thin and has no padding.

The challenge of taking photos with family waiting is terrible. I needed much more time as with that time I am learning but they don't understand cameras so they don't understand how much goes into learning. Like I said, try to come up with specific times that you will be shooting photos and let them know about it well ahead of time. This will save alot of frustration in the end.

We liked Port Orleans very much. We were in the French Quarter. The Riverside part seems a bit large and could be tough on the bus schedule. The bus stops first at POFQ and then if it isn't full, it continues on to Riverside. If it is full, it goes right to the park. The wait times weren't all that bad. It seemed like we waited the most for the MK bus. The others were there somwhat quickly from what I could see. Many of the return trips from the parks were crowded and I found myself standing alot. Of course, I give up my seat to kids usually as most people should and generally do.

We didn't do any of the carriage rides at POFQ. I saw a few of them go by and it looked like fun. I never even got to the point that I found out the price for them.

Do let me know if you have any more questions. I will do my best to answer them for ya!

garate55

11-30-2007, 05:44 PM

I do agree about the shoot times and taking multiple photos with different settings to get the shot you want. I do have to say great photos by the way.

I will say some of the pictures I took my wife also got the same shot, some of hers turned out better than mine. (she was using our Canon A520)

My wife (even though she won't tell me she was) was getting annoyed with me cause I would stop and take pictures and she would stop and I would be nowhere in sight. So she had to wait for me to get the shot I wanted and I felt rushed so when I caught up I looked at the photo and got 5 pictures of nothing.

We were at Disneyland for 5 days and I took 2200 photos I have only had my Nikon D40 for only 2 months and wasn't really comfortable with it so I had a huge learning curve. I wish I had another 5 days to get the details of the park I missed or didn't get to cause I felt like I would be asking too much if I pulled my family around just to get that great photo.

AndrewWG

11-30-2007, 05:54 PM

I do agree about the shoot times and taking multiple photos with different settings to get the shot you want. I do have to say great photos by the way.

My wife (even though she won't tell me she was) was getting annoyed with me cause I would stop and take pictures and she would stop and I would be nowhere in sight. So she had to wait for me to get the shot I wanted and I felt rushed so when I caught up I looked at the photo and got 5 pictures of nothing.

We were at Disneyland for 5 days and I took 2200 photos I have only had my Nikon D40 for only 2 months and wasn't really comfortable with it so I had a huge learning curve. I wish I had another 5 days to get the details of the park I missed or didn't get to cause I felt like I would be asking too much if I pulled my family around just to get that great photo.

Yep. I agree with this totally. Sounds alot like my trip! I would say that if you are a single person with a new DSLR, there can't be a better place to learn how to use it than at WDW (or maybe even DL but I've never been there). I ended up using manual mode MUCH more than I ever have on this trip. What I ended up doing was putting the camera in Av mode, and seeing what it says for a shutter on the brightest part of my scene and what it says for shutter on the darkest part of the scene and shooting somewhere in between. For example, if the meter said 1/1000 for the sky and 1/400 for the subject at f8, I knew that I could not take the photo at f8 1/400 or the sky would be blown out and I couldn't take it at f8 1/1000 or the subject would be too dark. Therefore I switched to manual, set the f stop to f8 and the shutter to something like 1/640 or 1/800 and bracket it a bit to see what the best balance was. It worked like a charm! However, it takes more time to do and therefore DW gets annoyed a bit more....

DizneyNutz

11-30-2007, 06:06 PM

Fireworks? Forget it. I got basically nothing like the other DSLR users on this board. I got some nice ones, but I'll show them later and you will see that they just don't come close to comparing with the others. Of course, I have only had a DSLR for 4 months so I'll give myself that anyways.

O.K now you are making me nervous! I was really hoping this would be the TRIP to capture those fantastic fireworks, esp. with the new castle decorations.:scared1:

Wishes2you

11-30-2007, 07:17 PM

AndrewWG

11-30-2007, 07:26 PM

O.K now you are making me nervous! I was really hoping this would be the TRIP to capture those fantastic fireworks, esp. with the new castle decorations.:scared1:

Now please don't get me wrong here. Great fireworks shots are possible. But you must also remember that I am dealing with an impatient 8 yr old and an extended family of 12 that are all trying to do more than one thing at once. Here are my tips for fireworks. None of this is new to anyone who has been on here for awhile and read all the threads, but I am just reinforcing the knowledge. You MUST use a tripod. No questions on this one. Sure, you can get a good shot or two without it. I did get a couple good ones. Nothing great though. Also, you MUST stake out a spot before hand. You should expecially look for one that has NO street lights in front of you. These will be turned off during the show, but they will show up as a huge shadow in your pics. Not very nice to see. Those two key items were missing with my fireworks shots. I was forced to handhold the camera because I didn't stake out a spot early enough to set up the tripod and I had a street light in front of me that I didn't even realize was there. Of course the "cool" Dad that decided to pick his kid up on his shoulders half way through the show didn't help me much either, but there isn't much I could do about that. Another point would be that you have to be somehere right in front of the castle. I thought I had outsmarted the world one night when I went on a bridge between frontierland and adventureland. I had a good side view of the castle. I will get great fireworks shots right? :yay: NOPE! :sad1: The fireworks are set off too far back and they ended up being to the left of the side of the castle by a large distance. All my shots that night stunk. :mad:

I haven't even really started post processing the fireworks shots yet, but here is a quick peek at what I mean by my shots being "good" but certainly not "great". I handheld for 1 second. That is a recipe for disaster in and of itself.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1899.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1918.jpg

Notice that there is a tough balance of light between the relatively dark castle and the bright fireworks. If someone could tell me how to smooth that out in the future, that would be great. I didn't figure out the best setting there at all. I can't imagine a longer shutter than 1 second unless the aperture is much more closed than f8 or the fireworks would look all blown out. The castle would look better though. Am I missing something here? Also, there is the obvious out of focus castle due to my handheld 1 sec exposure.

AndrewWG

11-30-2007, 07:30 PM

I am enjoying your report. Tell DD that she did a great job with her picture. I would also like to see more of her pictures. Looks like you two will have to go out on a few photo shoots together. Start teaching her now. Just think of what she could do down the road.

Oh you will see more of her fantastic work. She got a few shots that I just said "wow" to. Looking through a kids eyes is VERY interesting. I will start a thread about it if I can't find the one that was started a few months ago. I forget who started it. I think it was either Gdad or Yekcim. Not sure though. That gave me the idea to give DD a camera to play with while we were there. Her main "problem" is that she likes to ZOOM in on everything almost as far as it can go. This was extremely creative at times and disaster at times. She learned alot about photography on this trip I think.

DizneyNutz

11-30-2007, 07:36 PM

You got some trails of the fireworks, esp. for handheld. Do they cut off the Ice lights on the castle during the fireworks? Thanks in advance!:thumbsup2

AndrewWG

11-30-2007, 07:41 PM

You got some trails of the fireworks, esp. for handheld. Do they cut off the Ice lights on the castle during the fireworks? Thanks in advance!:thumbsup2

Yes they do shut off the ice lights for the fireworks, although you will see in my day 5 report, that they do turn some on later in the show just before the end and the result would be spectacular if photographed correctly. I'm counting on handicap18 or Steve's Girl to come through for me on that one! :rotfl: I have only one that I think with a little post processing could be real nice.

AndrewWG

11-30-2007, 07:49 PM

Also, even handheld for 1 second, you can get trails. Here is the typical fireworks shot you see on here all the time. I just made 2 crucial mistakes. first it is handheld and second it is behind that street light. With a tripod in the center or as close to the edge of Main Street as possible, this shot would rock. Instead it just makes me plan my next trip... :rolleyes:

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1917.jpg

DizneyNutz

11-30-2007, 07:50 PM

Yes they do shut off the ice lights for the fireworks, although you will see in my day 5 report, that they do turn some on later in the show just before the end and the result would be spectacular if photographed correctly. I'm counting on handicap18 or Steve's Girl to come through for me on that one! :rotfl: I have only one that I think with a little post processing could be real nice.

it would be a shame to have to castle unlit during the whole show. Hopefullly I can stumble upon a decent photo op. and get a decent photo of them combined? :cool1:

poconoboatniks

11-30-2007, 08:00 PM

Great pix Andy! I wish that we had a trip planned.

Groucho

11-30-2007, 08:28 PM

Hey Andy, really good trip report and lots of good shots, especially as you were still getting used to your camera. I think I can help you with one thing - and definitely don't feel bad, I had exactly the same issue on my last WDW trip!

I can tell you this for an example of the DSLR vs the S2IS: Me and DD8 were taking pics of a stork at AK. I took about 5 pics with the 30D and none of them came out good. She took one pic with the S2IS and it was fine. Here are the results:

Mine:

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_0498.jpg

Hers: Edit- now that I look at the EXIF, this was with the older A85 camera, not the S2. Still a p&s though.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_7357.jpg

Quite a difference.
Looking at your exif data, you had your DSLR in spot metering mode, which means that it looks only at a very small spot to determine the proper exposure. In this case, it metered off the back of the white back of the bird, and you can see plenty of white feather detail there. Now, look at the back of the bird in the shot taken with the PnS - it's completely blown out, no white feather detail whatsoever.

This is a case of the camera doing what it's told rather than what you want it to do. (That's the thing about DSLRs, it's much harder to blame the camera itself!) You would have been much better off with center-weighted metering (or even having it meter the whole frame), this would pick up that most of the rest of the photo is much darker, and brighten up the exposure to match.

As I said, I had the same issue, I did many of my shots using spot metering last WDW trip and got a good number of surprisingly underexposed photos. I used center-weighted at DL and that went away, with nearly every photo having the exposure that I wanted, or at least pretty darn close.

AndrewWG

12-01-2007, 06:25 AM

Hey Andy, really good trip report and lots of good shots, especially as you were still getting used to your camera. I think I can help you with one thing - and definitely don't feel bad, I had exactly the same issue on my last WDW trip!

Looking at your exif data, you had your DSLR in spot metering mode, which means that it looks only at a very small spot to determine the proper exposure. In this case, it metered off the back of the white back of the bird, and you can see plenty of white feather detail there. Now, look at the back of the bird in the shot taken with the PnS - it's completely blown out, no white feather detail whatsoever.

This is a case of the camera doing what it's told rather than what you want it to do. (That's the thing about DSLRs, it's much harder to blame the camera itself!) You would have been much better off with center-weighted metering (or even having it meter the whole frame), this would pick up that most of the rest of the photo is much darker, and brighten up the exposure to match.

As I said, I had the same issue, I did many of my shots using spot metering last WDW trip and got a good number of surprisingly underexposed photos. I used center-weighted at DL and that went away, with nearly every photo having the exposure that I wanted, or at least pretty darn close.

Groucho,

Thanks! And thanks for the input on the metering. I had thought that the spot was metering off the birds white feathers. I changed it to partial and got just about the same result. I'm guessing that the area that it partially metered was also of the white feathers. Oh well, like I said, I learned ALOT about that on this trip and I should do better next time. That's what this is all about afterall. Getting better by trial and error. I take what I have learned and try to apply it. I didn't even notice how much better the birds white feathers looked in my photo versus DD's photo as hers just looks better overall. Good eye, Groucho! :thumbsup2

wkrider

12-01-2007, 08:46 AM

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_0665.jpg

This is a beautiful bird....great picture.

jann1033

12-01-2007, 10:37 AM

nice photos andy, especially like the stunt show shot with the car straight on, a composition i haven't seen before:thumbsup2

dburg30

12-01-2007, 11:48 AM

:confused3 If it were 8 more days, he would still be there. I believe that his whole trip was 6 days.

Kevin

ukcatfan- I believe they were talking about their own trip to Disney.

Maybe they added the "ticker" after you read it;)

Correct, I was talking about my own trip, seeing these pics getting me even more excited, if that was even possible! (and the ticker's been there for months now ;) )

AndrewWG

12-01-2007, 11:48 AM

Once again, thanks for the compliments. I tried so hard to do well on this trip. I really needed this trip for learning purposes and I think I came out of it with a much better understanding of how to take so many different styles of pics. I'm still not a pro, but I feel like a light is starting to go on in my head a bit at least!

Well, here is day 4's pics. The last bunch should be made into a flip book to see the castle lighting up. That would be cool. If I knew how to animate GIF's I'd convert them and do it. It might be cool. Anyways, here is the report.

Day 4:

Well by the time day 4 came around I don't know if anyone from our group wanted to hang out together! We all went our separate ways with me, DW and DD heading to AK once again. We wanted to do the trail behind Africa to see the gorillas and other animals. That was our main reason for going. No rides or anything. That trail is so cool to us tree hugger nature types. I focused my attention on many aspects of photography here. I started off with the 17-85mm lens but as soon as we crossed over into Africa, I changed to the 70-200mm. As I was going to primarily use this 70-200mm f2.8 lens, I knew that I wouldn't be taking too many shots of subjects that were closer to me. I must admit, that I was a bit surprised at how many opportunities I had even with this lens! So away I went shooting everything I saw once again, only this time I had much better light control since the lens is f2.8 throughout the range. Sure, some things were too close to photograph, but that was fine with me. For the most part, this adventure was going to be limited to birds and animals and water movement. I felt MUCH more in control of the camera at this point as I had worked out many of my errors of the past few days already. Although my shots weren't National Geographic by any means, I was pleased with most of my efforts.

After getting through the trail, we decided to eat at Rainforest Cafe for lunch. I've never given a glowing report of this restaurant, but it is "good" food with a cool atmosphere that DD really likes. No real complaints or compliments. I must say that the $100 bill was a bit surprising, but me and DW took the moment to endulge in a couple drinks which were way overpriced.

When we were done eating, we headed right over to MK for a stroll around and to wait for our Crystal Palace dinner with the rest of our group. As we were going to be in the park for the Christmas Party, we entered the park using our Christmas Party tickets and got our wristbands so we wouldn't have to do it later. That worked out great. Of course we had stuffed ourselves at Rainforest so this was a big mistake. The food was good, but we didn't make the most of the meal plan at this dinner. Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore visited us and all the kids got pictures taken with them, but they are getting a bit old to be doing that and it shows in the pics that their enthusiasm isn't there anymore. Oh well, it had to happen someday I guess.

After dinner, we went out to watch the castle get lit up. It is always fun to watch and I got some decent sequence shots of it happening. Almost as soon as the castle was lit, they did the Wishes fireworks so that the people not attending the Christmas Party would be able to see them. My pics were lousy and I won't even show them here (can't anyways as I deleted them).

Once Wishes was done, we went on a couple rides and headed over to watch the Christmas parade. This was cool, but with the 50mm lens, I was way too close to get great shots. I haven't even PP'd them yet as I know they are not great by any means. You really need wide and fast for these parades and 50mm isn't wide enough. I did get some "ok" shots but overall I was not so happy with them. You will want to stand somewhere near a source of light like a streetlight or a store front or something since the floats were kind of dark and getting the characters faces was a bit tough. This parade STARTS in frontierland I believe and works it's way back towards the front of the park. Totally backwards from what we are used to.

Once the parade ended, we went over to the bridge between Frontierland and Adventureland and set up my tripod for the fireworks. Not a good idea at all. In fact, it was awful. The fireworks were to the left since I was viewing the castle from the side and all my photos were wasted. So that is two missed fireworks shows in one night. DD was real beat at this point and wanted nothing more than to go back to the room and sleep. We agreed that it had been a long day and called it a night. So we really lost out on a few hours of park activities, but had a good time while we were there and didn't mind. The moral of this story is that if you go to the Christmas Party, keep the kids in a relaxed environment without much walking around during the day. They will need the energy at night and you will too.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1203.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1227.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1233.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1258.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1265.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1271.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1272.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1295.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1314.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1328.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1357.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1369.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1403.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1417.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1430.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1431.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1445.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1446.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1447.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1448.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1449.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1450.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1452.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1451.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/IMG_1453-2.jpg

dburg30

12-01-2007, 12:35 PM

AndrewWG

12-01-2007, 01:20 PM

Andy (may I call you that instead of Andrew? :) )

The thing that I really enjoy in your photos, and I dont know if you are doing it on purpose, or just happy accidents :) (I get those a lot) is your DOF (depth of focus).

The birds, the signs, the pond shot, all nice a deep, in focus from front to back.. But the little meerkat thing, the close up of the single bird, all have the nice bokeh. The subject nice and sharp, and the background nicely blurred. And the spider web, that was not face on, but angled, and in shadows, and you got it IMO pretty much dead on, nice focus from the front to the back of that, and it wouldve been easy to not hit that properly.. Very enjoyable shots to look at.

By all means call me Andy!

I would like to say that it is ALL skill that gets those shots to look like that. :sad2: However, I have to admit that in most cases it is most likely a happy accident. I do know that using the 70-200mm lens at f2.8 and having it stretched to the max 200mm will give nice bokeh on most occasions, but I didn't exactly shoot these shots with that in mind. Like I said earlier in my trip report, I had very little time to take shots. There was not many times that I had the time to think about my shots too much. It caused me to think on the fly which was kind of nice in a way as I really had to learn and learn how to do things fast.

Actually, if I were really thinking about it, I would have tried to make the background of the spider web with a nice soft bokeh. Instead I just shot it and ran. I like it, but it would be much nicer with a soft background.

Glad you like the shots though! I have some REAL nice shots of the yellow bird that I am not posting just yet as I need to really take some time to post process them and make them look as nice as possible. The one I posted is ever so slightly out of focus on the bird. The reason for this is (like a newbie) I left the camera on ISO 1600 and forgot about it. This caused the pics to be grainy and when I put them through noiseware, it softened the image more than I had hoped. In the end though, I think it is a perfectly acceptable shot for my level of expertise.

ukcatfan

12-01-2007, 02:43 PM

Correct, I was talking about my own trip, seeing these pics getting me even more excited, if that was even possible! (and the ticker's been there for months now ;) )

Gotcha. I thought you were complementing his photos with the OMGs. For what it is worth, I do not pay attention to anyone's stuff, like tickers, in the signature area. I just read the actual posts. Have a nice first trip. Be warned though. It is addictive. ;) I am past a point were I could even count. It is at least over 50, but couldn't tell you the exact number.

Kevin

wdwmom2

12-01-2007, 02:47 PM

Love all your pictures Andrew!!! The castle is beautiful, love the slower shutter speeds with the waterfalls, and the bird on day 2, I think it it is a Chinese pheasant. My BIL had one he found walking around his property. He caught it and built a nice enclosure for it. It probably escaped for the local livestock auction that is nearby. They auction some pretty unusual things sometimes!!

I am hoping for either a 30D or 40D within the next year!!!

scottny

12-01-2007, 03:02 PM

great shots as usual. :thumbsup2 I think i need to play with my camera before I go.

DebºoºS

12-01-2007, 03:10 PM

Really enjoying your pics. The castle series is my fav so far. AK you really captured the feel there. Thanks for sharing them and looking forward to seeing more.:cool1:

dburg30

12-01-2007, 03:18 PM

The reason for this is (like a newbie) I left the camera on ISO 1600 and forgot about it.

:lmao: Now, I for sure resemble that remark :) That or I've been wanting to use a wide open lens, and forgot to change it back, so the poor camera was shooting at the fastest shutter it could and just couldnt compensate for my dumb butt attack :D It's amazing how easily you get a total white out taking pictures of something in a bright sky at f/1.8 :headache: :rolleyes1

dburg30

12-01-2007, 03:22 PM

Gotcha. I thought you were complementing his photos with the OMGs. For what it is worth, I do not pay attention to anyone's stuff, like tickers, in the signature area. I just read the actual posts. Have a nice first trip. Be warned though. It is addictive. ;) I am past a point were I could even count. It is at least over 50, but couldn't tell you the exact number.

Kevin

As per my usual posting style, I had 2 things going on at once.. One was the OMG OMG for the pics being great AND them getting me excited about going in a few days.. :goodvibes

AndrewWG

12-01-2007, 03:51 PM

Ok everyone, I can say that days 5 and 6 (the last two days) will be added tonight. But for now, I just want everyone on here to know that I truly appreciate all the comments that have been made. I sometimes feel as though I don't have a clue what I am doing with photography and you have all made me feel quite a bit better about what I got for photos down there at WDW.

The puropse of this whole thread was two-fold. One was that I wanted to share the photos from my trip and give any advice I can about what I learned from the trip.

The big reason was that I wanted to show people that it takes alot of learning to do a perfect job with your photos at WDW. I'm no expert. As you can see in my photos, there are many flaws. I have tried to show only the best ones, but even they have flaws. Alot of times, you only see the perfect shots of WDW on this board. Like me, that may not be your level of photography yet. I wanted to show that even though they aren't perfect, you can get some fine shots and great memories on your trip. I nailed a couple shots, I give myself credit for that, but I also had to work hard to get some real mediocre ones as well. I say this to make sure that you, like I, don't think that a trip to WDW means that you will come back with Mark Barbieri (sp?) type photos. I use him as an example because I was inspired many times by his galleries and slideshows. There are many others on this board that are just as talented. The trick is to have fun with it. Learn from your mistakes. When all else fails, DON'T be afraid to throw the camera on AUTO and shoot away. I can tell you that the first day of my trip was MISERABLE because I wasn't getting perfect shots. After that, I came to the realization that I had only been doing this (DSLR) for a few months and I had alot to learn. After that, I had fun with it and saw it as more of a learning experience than a photo shoot. I can also tell you (as I have told others) that I was nervous about going to WDW this time. Why? Because I wanted to get good photos. Now, in retrospect, I see that my thinking was flawed. What I needed to do was relax, take it all in and just shoot away. Do yourselves a favor and be sure to enjoy your trip more than worrying about your hobby. I'm glad that I learned this within the first 24 hours of my trip or I would have had a miserable time. Instead I turned it into a few days of fun which is what a vacation is supposed to be, right? :)

Hopefully I have explained how I feel about this well.

Peace and Happy Holidays to you all.

Dismom+two

12-01-2007, 04:12 PM

LivingtheWDWdream

12-01-2007, 04:43 PM

Those photos are great! I appreciate you sharing them!

DizneyNutz

12-01-2007, 05:13 PM

For sharing and your wonderful insight!:thumbsup2 I am also facing my first trip with a camera far beyond my knowledge and (capabilities far exceeding mine.;) ) So I have been concerned with getting good photos, without holding up the show. It is a tremendous learning curve for someone introducing themselves to photography and I feel you have done an awesome job!:cool1:

AndrewWG

12-01-2007, 05:44 PM

Ok Andy, you brought a tear to my eye on those last set of pictures. The way you have the castle pictures...coming on one section at a time!! It makes my heart ache to be there!! :sad1:

Another thing I really like and someday I hope I can do the same thing is that it shows or at least it LOOKS as though you take your time strolling through the parks and seeing all the little things. Anytime I am there...we are rushing through...trying to get to this ride or that. I would LOVE to be able to take my time...and "stop to smell the roses" so to speak!!

As always...thanks for posting such beautiful pictures!!

Brenda

Brenda,

As you can probably tell from my posts here, we did not take full advantage of rides. That was what made this trip a bit different than usual. Although I wasn't taking my time to set up the perfect picture, I did have time to look around and see what I wanted to photograph. That made a big difference.

As you will see in my next set of days, Elizabeth (DD) and I did some commando style ride taking on Monday night. We stayed at MK until it closed at midnight (extra magic hours) and rode darned near everything she wanted to ride! Although my camera was put away most of the time and I did see stuff I wanted to photograph (but didn't), it was a VERY special night of laughs and good times with her. All I got on that night was photos of Spectro Magic, some fireworks and some of the castle. So I guess it is a tough balance between rides and photography, but if I could have every night be like Monday night, I would give up photography for good.

AndrewWG

12-01-2007, 06:00 PM

Ok, here it is, the GRAND FINALE! This is days 5 and 6. Hope you like them.

I'll put these two together as Day 6 was barely a half day as we headed home then.

Day 5: We took the boat to Downtown Disney again. DD wanted to really check out the Lego store and we had some minor things to buy. We spent about 2+ hours there and had a good time in the Lego "playground" and getting "spit" on by Stitch in front of the World of Disney store.

After returning to the hotel, DD played in the pool a bit while we did some laundry. I don't like to go home with a pile of stinky clothes!

At around 3:30 we boarded a bus to MK and hopped the monorail to the Grand Floridian to have dinner at 1900 Park Faire. Now this, I thought was another GREAT dinner. Although it is buffet style, the food is really good! We all had something good to say about it, so it must have been good. In this restaurant, Cinderella, Prince Charming, both of Cinderellas nasty sisters and her mother all meet and greet you at the table. One of the sisters, I think her name is Anastasia was even hitting on my nephew (13) and really embarrassing the heck out of him. It was funny for all of us anyways (not for him).

The Grand Floridian is a VERY nice hotel. Someday, we may try to stay there for a night or two. I imagine it would break the bank to spend a week there, but a couple nights would be heavenly. They have a huge Christmas Tree inside and the real Gingerbread house is something to see to believe! A CM even went inside it! I didn't realize that it was somewhat functional in that way. WOW!

After dinner, DD and I hopped back to MK and spent the night on Extra Magic Hours riding everything we could. DW went back to the hotel as she was very tired and not feeling very well. There were really no lines for anything. It was great. I even went on Snow Whites Scary Adventures and Peter Pan for the first time in many many years. Of course, It's a Small World and Pirates and Aladdins Magic Carpets and the Tea Cups were all part of our fun time out. We watched Spectro Magic and Wishes together. This is where I got some "acceptable" shots of Wishes, although nothing like I wanted to get. Next trip I will really try harder.

I met Kyle (handicap18) and Wendy (Steve's Girl) that night. Kyle got us to go on Buzz Lightyear, which we had never been on. DD really liked it. We were shooting our buns off when she suddenly reached over to the lever in the cneter and we started spinnning like crazy. I had no idea it did that. I think she was a bit shocked too. It was fun though. We laughed like crazy. I even bought the 8x10 of us on the ride afterwards.

It was great to meet someone form on here that I had never met before. Steve's Girl and I talked our way from Space Mountain to Crystal Palace before she had to leave.

DD and I closed the place down and were exhausted by the end of the night. We both nodded off on the bus back to the hotel.

One thing to note: When I was trying to get a shot of the castle with the reflection in the water over near Crystal Palace, my DD knew what I was trying to do. She even "saw" the shot at about the same time I did. That was cool. What wasn't cool is that 2 ducks came splashing in just before I took the shot and messed up the reflection! DD laughed her buttocks off about this for a LONG time. I eventually got a shot but it isn't anything like it was before the water got rippled.

Day 6: Packing our stuff and going home. "But first, one quick trip to MK, please Dad?" We had 6 day expiring passes so I figured we may as well use them up. Since Magical Express wasn't picking us up until 3pm, we hopped over once again to MK and rode a few more rides and did some last minute shopping. No pictures. At all.

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dburg30

12-01-2007, 06:16 PM

NICE!!!

Got you some really good FW shots..

Wishes2you

12-01-2007, 06:54 PM

Andy,

You did a wonderful job on all of your pictures and trip report. Yes, you were very nervous before going on you trip. As I told you then, "You truly enjoy taking picture and sharing with others what you know and your pictures. Your love of photography shows in your pictures. So go have a good time and take pictures." Now see like I said it shows. Everyone here has enjoyed your pictures. I can't wait to go again after seeing your pictures. When I went for the first time last year at Thanksgiving I had only had my camera for 1 1/2 mo. before going and I hadn't found this board which has taught me so much. Again, Thanks.

scottny

12-01-2007, 07:00 PM

great shots.

jann1033

12-01-2007, 07:25 PM

especially love the spider web with the rainbow lighting:thumbsup2 and i gasped when i saw the queen butterfly( think that is the right name) since i took one like it on merritt island then remembered both are in fl:rolleyes1 :blush: so guess that's not so unusual:rotfl2:

MicMin

12-01-2007, 10:09 PM

I have enjoyed reading your trip reports and seeing all of the wonderful pictures that you have posted.

donaldduck1967

12-02-2007, 06:43 AM

Really nice shots Andrew. Thanks for posting them.

jns

12-02-2007, 09:35 AM

Thanks for sharing
great photos ,

boBQuincy

12-02-2007, 02:42 PM

AndrewWG

12-02-2007, 04:01 PM

Wow, a lot of really good photos!!! Thanks for sharing!
Sounds like a good trip, except for the meal of "particle turkey". ;)

I used the lockers at MK in February to stash my tripod for the day and saw they are pretty small. My choice of new tripod was based in part on the locker sizes, no point in getting one that doesn't fit because I don't want to carry it all day!
Three section tripods are sturdier than four section models but three section ones won't go in the lockers (and thus won't go to the parks).

Bob,

Yeah, the one I just recently picked up is 4 section as well. I just now realized that though! I have not used it much as it arrived just before my trip and I only took it out once while I was there. I only opened 2 of the leg sections when I used it though. Didn't realize there was a third section that could open up as well (plus the top section of course). :rolleyes: Shows how much I looked at that as a buying requirement! I was more concerned with weight of the tripod and weight that it could hold. This baby holds much more than I need and is only about 3.5 lbs or so. With the ball head, it is 24" but I could take that off and get it down to just over 21" if I needed to. Fit just perfectly in the lockers though so no problems. Actually the woman CM who sold me the locker said "that will just fit" without measuring it or anything and she was 100% right on that one! That was impressive!

Amy

12-04-2007, 11:51 AM

Hi Andy! Just finished going thru your trip report - great photos!

We just got back late last night. I got my photos downloaded to the computer (and I "only" took 1,378 shots in 4.5 days:eek: ), but I still need to look at them, delete the bad ones, and run all my night shots thru Noiseware. For some reason, I can only get decent night/fireworks/show photos using the Sports setting on my S3.

Hopefully I'll post some of my shots tomorrow.....our boys are coming home tonight, so I'll be doing laundry all day tomorrow, then back to work on Thursday. Our DS15 was sick before the trip (what a horrible start to the trip for him - you don't want all the sordid details, but he was "this" close to NOT going on the bus with the rest of the band and us paying thru the nose for a plane ticket for him to come down with us the next day), and of course I was sick during the whole trip - nothing like running out of kleenexes and having to use napkins - sore nose!!!

Got to meet Kyle REAL quick Sun. night @ MGM - we're talking maybe 5 minutes. We did the early Fantasmic then headed to the Osborne Lights where Kyle and his family were, and they were heading to the late Fantasmic.

Anyway, I'm off to take a nap and get some rest so I can get rid of this horrible sinus thing!!!

Thanks for the great shots Andy! You did a great job with your new SLR!

AndrewWG

12-04-2007, 12:11 PM

Thanks Amy! I hope you are feeling better soon. Get some rest. I think we all met up with Kyle for a few minutes here and there. :lmao: Wish I had been there to say hi to ya too but maybe next time. I'm "secretly" trying to figure out when I will be able to go again. :cool2: Probably not in 2008 unless we just can't take this Northeast weather or something and need a quick break. Never know when that will happen! Probably not until 2009 though. Ugh. That is just too long.

Welcome Back!

handicap18

12-04-2007, 06:37 PM

AndrewWG

12-04-2007, 06:40 PM

Great report Andy and great job on the pictures. Love your AK photos. I have a shot of you and DD on Buzz. Its not the greatest pic, but when I get a chance I'll email it to you. To bad you guys couldn't have gotten in the car right behind us I would have been able to get some nice ones.

We had a great time that night at MK, it was our first night and we got a lot of rides in.

Once again, great job!!!

Thanks! I didn't know you got a shot of us on Buzz! I was too busy shooting my way through the ride. :rotfl: I didn't even know it spun around until DD pushed that lever half way through the ride! That was SO funny. I didn't know what was happening. We did a ton of rides that night. She caught a second wind and we just rode everything she wanted to. It was great!

handicap18

12-04-2007, 06:47 PM

Thanks! I didn't know you got a shot of us on Buzz! I was too busy shooting my way through the ride. :rotfl: I didn't even know it spun around until DD pushed that lever half way through the ride! That was SO funny. I didn't know what was happening. We did a ton of rides that night. She caught a second wind and we just rode everything she wanted to. It was great!

Yeah, we love the Buzz ride. We did it twice that night. Then went back the next day and we did it again with the whole group. Then my sis and her hubby did it 2 more times. Thomas loves that ride but only wanted to do it twice. For some reason after that he said it was to scary. I think my Dsis spun it around to many times for him. Personally I love spinning it around. I ended up doing it again later in the week without the camera. I wanted to try and get a high score, but the first gun I was using wasn't doing anything, so I switch and did better, but not as good as I would have liked. Only got like around 110,000 points.

I'm guessing Steve's Girl told you about our chance meeting. We were coming around the corner walking toward Buzz, then toward the bridge and all of a sudden some woman starts calling my name. I'm like what? huh? Then she tells me who she is, OOOHHH COOOL!! WAZZZZUP. She recoginzed me from a few of the pics I've posted here, not that I post a lot of myself, but I was carrying around my camera (yeah, just like every other 6' 290lb guy). Funny things happen sometimes.

:thumbsup2