PRINCESS Palooza 2011! 5/26 Update: Girls Morning in the MK

[mom2rtk]

OK, since last year's trip report sort of morphed into a pre-trip report for 2011, I decided maybe I should get this under way before it became this year's trip report too!

I'll start this one off the same way as the last one....... with a picture of our favorite Fairy Godmother. If you didn't read along on last year's trip report, take a moment to check it out:

December 2010: Don't Read this TRIP REPORT If You're a Princess Hater! (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=40081628#post40081628)

I detail our history with the best Fairy Godmother ever. And we were lucky enough to find her again this time:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7157/6588738523_ff2025344d_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6588738523/)
Homecoming (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6588738523/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

I am Janet and that's my daughter Katie, age 11.

Like every other trip we take, we didn't just make a plan and go with it. Anybody who has known me for long knows that's just not the way we do things here. No, there were schedule changes and cast changes along the way. But I was really happy with the final plan. My husband came along for the first 4 days, then Katie and I had 3 days to ourselves, and we met our best girlfriends for the final 2 days. It really was the best of all worlds.

We also have boys age 16 and 18 who (:scared1:) shall we say.... don't care for Disney the same way we do.......... so they stayed home. OK, I'll say it. They're Disney haters. :sad: The 16 year old still had a week of school, including finals and an ACT to take in our absence. The 18 year old finished his first semester of college the day we left.

[mom2rtk]

CHAPTER LINKS:

12/8: On Our Way! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43564727&postcount=22)
12/9: Man, They REALLY Want Us to Take This Dang Luggage! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43607135&postcount=94)
12/9: FINALLY into the park! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43620030&postcount=121)
12/9: On to FANTASYLAND! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43647775&postcount=154)
12/9: Our First Trip Through the WASH and SPIN Cycles (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43701083&postcount=212)
12/9: Haunting the Mansion (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43733307&postcount=245)
12/9: Time for Adventure (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43780861&postcount=278)
12/9: Castle Gazing (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43852409&postcount=323)
12/9: Dinner With The Mouse (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43927759&postcount=364)

12/10: Indiana Jones (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44068820&postcount=426)
12/10: More DHS (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44068870&postcount=427)
12/10: Osborne Lights (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44069179&postcount=428)

12/11: Animal Kingdom (Where's the tripod?????) (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44133036&postcount=471)
12/11: Safari time (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44195056&postcount=510)
12/11: Pangani Trail (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44195234&postcount=511)
12/11: Everest/Dinosaur (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44206327&postcount=527)
12/11: Flights of Wonder (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44206900&postcount=530)
12/11: CRT (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44271336&postcount=557)
12/11: MVMCP (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44336125&postcount=581)
12/11: A Very Magical Parade (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44339626&postcount=589)

12/12: Pop Century Tour (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44436593&postcount=638)
12/12: Akershus Breakfast (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44488681&postcount=657)
12/12: Pick A Pearl (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44488760&postcount=658)
12/12: Teppan Edo (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44488760&postcount=658)

12/13: GIRLS Day in the MK! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44573629&postcount=685)
12/13: In search of our Fairy Godmother (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44573779&postcount=686)
12/13: More Princess Fun (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44573876&postcount=687)
12/13: Heigh Ho Heigh Ho.... off to the Party We go! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44684645&postcount=766)
12/13: Special Messengers to Flynn (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44684777&postcount=767)
12/13: Fun in Pixie Hollow (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44684840&postcount=768)

12/14: Back to DHS (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44800138&postcount=854)
12/14: Does Lightning Strike Twice? (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44807629&postcount=863)
12/14: DIS Magic Comes Through! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44812936&postcount=873)
12/14: More BATB (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44812967&postcount=874)
12/14: He Really IS The Size of a Barge! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44813015&postcount=875)
12/14: More Fun At DHS (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44821703&postcount=888)

12/15: Back to the MK (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44917406&postcount=910)
12/15: A Practically Perfect Morning (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44920825&postcount=917)
12/15: Stepsister Overload (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44926554&postcount=926)
12/15: We TOTALLY Ditched Our ADR! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44995372&postcount=979)
12/15: Back to the Pop (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44995397&postcount=980)

[mom2rtk]

Saved for chapter links.

[KCmike]

I've got my tickets for the PRINCESS Palooza 2011!

[mom2rtk]

I've got my tickets for the PRINCESS Palooza 2011!

LOL! I hope you didn't pay over face value for the tickets.......:rolleyes1

And I'm loving your new signature BTW. You been out running that 60D through the paces yet?

[KCmike]

LOL! I hope you didn't pay over face value for the tickets.......:rolleyes1

And I'm loving your new signature BTW. You been out running that 60D through the paces yet?

A few shots here and there. Some of the kids concerts and my oldest getting an award for National Honors Society (more parents being proud of their kids talk!!!). I am thinking of going to the Union Station to shoot tomorrow. I am off all week and have been taking the kids around using up some gift cards. There is a thread over at a Canon site where we are taking pictures of our hometown.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1124960

Some of them have invited me to go out shooting with them but I haven't had a chance yet. If you have any shots you would like to share you should come on over to the site. They also have a Disney thread under the Urban Life and Travel. Scott is over there (SrisonS) and some others that are contributors here.

[marDgreen88]

I'm here and can't wait to read about all your adventures! I was at Disney some of the same days yall were, but never ran into you. Anyways, glad to be here from the beginning this time!

[mom2rtk]

A few shots here and there. Some of the kids concerts and my oldest getting an award for National Honors Society (more parents being proud of their kids talk!!!). I am thinking of going to the Union Station to shoot tomorrow. I am off all week and have been taking the kids around using up some gift cards. There is a thread over at a Canon site where we are taking pictures of our hometown.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1124960

Some of them have invited me to go out shooting with them but I haven't had a chance yet. If you have any shots you would like to share you should come on over to the site. They also have a Disney thread under the Urban Life and Travel. Scott is over there (SrisonS) and some others that are contributors here.

Ooh... thanks for that link Mike! I need some inspiration for some hometown shooting! And your shots looked great in there too! :cool1:

[jenseib]

Glad I checked your thread...I am here! :cool1:

[mom2rtk]

I'm here and can't wait to read about all your adventures! I was at Disney some of the same days yall were, but never ran into you. Anyways, glad to be here from the beginning this time!

Too bad we didn't run into you. I loved meeting fellow DIS'ers on our trip and would have loved to meet you too.

I'm glad you're on board for this TR!

[mom2rtk]

Glad I checked your thread...I am here! :cool1:

Hey Jen! :wave: Glad you made it over!

I had really hoped to have a complete trip journal done by now. I like to come home and get it all down while the details are fresh. But the computer issues really threw me for a loop. I'm happy to report I now have the first day done....... woo hoo! You kow, the airplane ride????? :lmao: Man, I better get my fingers moving..........

[Yzerbear19]

YAY! Looking forward to reading more and seeing more photos. :)

[jenseib]

Hey Jen! :wave: Glad you made it over!

I had really hoped to have a complete trip journal done by now. I like to come home and get it all down while the details are fresh. But the computer issues really threw me for a loop. I'm happy to report I now have the first day done....... woo hoo! You kow, the airplane ride????? :lmao: Man, I better get my fingers moving..........

I know about that journeling. I try to write notes each day, but the last two trips I couldn't keep up. I think I wrote day 1 and maybe started day 2 and then the rest of the trip waited til lI got home and took a week or so to finish up. Heck this last trip, I don't think I ever finished up. LOL

[mom2rtk]

YAY! Looking forward to reading more and seeing more photos. :)

Welcome aboard! I'm glad you found us!

I know about that journeling. I try to write notes each day, but the last two trips I couldn't keep up. I think I wrote day 1 and maybe started day 2 and then the rest of the trip waited til lI got home and took a week or so to finish up. Heck this last trip, I don't think I ever finished up. LOL

For one trip, I had journaled nonstop for a couple days, but made the mistake of not saving it. Oops. Guess I won't do that again. I lost ALL of it when I had to shut the computer down with some problem. I don't think I ever got that one done. But I LOVE having that journaling done later when I start scrapbooking the trip.

I tried hard to keep notes. Every trip I say I'm going to. I think I have notes from ONE day of this 10 day trip. Oops. Time to go journal some more. Oh, and to save the file again!

[babynala]

Glad I found your new trip report. Can't wait to see more pictures from your trip.

[jc040404]

Signing on to remain a somewhat loyal lurker again! I love the dresses you make for your daughter and all the fun character meets you do. Can't wait to follow along! :thumbsup2

[mom2rtk]

Glad I found your new trip report. Can't wait to see more pictures from your trip.

Thanks! I'm glade you made it! :cool1:

Signing on to remain a somewhat loyal lurker again! I love the dresses you make for your daughter and all the fun character meets you do. Can't wait to follow along! :thumbsup2

No need to lurk. Jump on in, the water's fine! We don't bite....... well, not too hard anyway. :) I'm glad you spoke up this time!

[JessicaKnits]

Joining in! Can't wait to read more!

[mom2rtk]

Joining in! Can't wait to read more!

Hi Jessica! Glad you're along for the ride! :car:




Let's kick this trip report off with a little interactive fun.

I added a 32GB memory card to my growing collection before this trip. I do shoot RAW, so many of my files take around 23MB. But I had a bunch of other memory cards too. I didn't bring a computer to dump any files onto, so I needed enough cards to do the trick. In the end, I filled every card, then had to delete some less than stellar shots to make room for our last day at AK. I ended up putting 30 shots here, 50 shots there, 70 shots there. But I got the job done. Whew! Maybe one more 32 GB card next time just for good measure?????

Anyway.......... I started the trip on frame 3413. Anyone want to guess what frame number I ended the trip on?

[rndmr2]

I was glad to see that you started your new TR! Can't wait to hear all about it! :banana:

I was pretty good this time about the notes, during the trip I took time each night to write a quick note about what we did, not real detailed but it got the basics down.

[mom2rtk]

I was glad to see that you started your new TR! Can't wait to hear all about it! :banana:

I was pretty good this time about the notes, during the trip I took time each night to write a quick note about what we did, not real detailed but it got the basics down.

Hi! Glad you found us. I hope to get things under way soon!

[mom2rtk]

FINALLY ON OUR WAY!

This trip probably classifies as the one with the most plan/date changes yet! Those of you who followed along on last year's trip report lived through most of the changes right along with me.

First we were going in October. Had the reservation made, ADR's done and I was planning costumes for the Halloween party! (I had great ideas too. I guess there's always next year, right?????) I made those plans in April, 180 days out. I was going to squeeze it in between potential Saturday Cross Country meets for Timmy. But as time went on, and we started thinking more about the logistics of Robbie commuting. I just liked the idea of a fairly new driver having someone at home who could help in the event of an emergency. Once we got the Rockhurst calendar and saw when finals would be done, the plans fell in place. I felt SO much better about the trip knowing Robbie would be done, or nearly done, with finals when we left town.

Through most of the planning, I wasn't sure if my husband Drew was coming. (He loves Disney, but shall we say........ not as intensely as Katie and I do.......) Additionally I knew Kim (my best friend and Disney buddy and mother of Katie's best friend McKenna) and her family were going to Disney the following week and we had kicked around the idea of overlapping a couple days. We had overlapped trips in December 08 and it really was special to be there with friends.

That all left too many unknowns to have a firm plan until fairly late in the game. In the meantime, I watched the Disboards for news of a December discount. And I waited. And I waited. They didn't announce the discounts until the very end of August. Once they did, Drew committed to going for a few days, but had to be home by Tuesday night for work. So we added a couple room only days to the beginning of the trip and our plan took form.

Soon after, Kim committed to flying in on the 15th with McKenna so we could have a couple days in the Magic Kingdom and a night at MVMCP with them.
FINALLY! A plan! I had to wiggle some things around, but it was totally worth it to get to spend time in the Magic Kingdom with girlfriends!

The original plan had been to leave Saturday the 10th. When Drew decided to come, we added 2 nights on ahead of that. We would get to visit each park one day with him concentrating on rides before he left. We would then switch to character mode and do our girly stuff. It really made for a nice balance.

THURSDAY 12/8:

Katie went to school. Since she was already missing 6 days of school, the goal was to have her stay late enough that she wouldn't be counted absent. So she needed to be there until around 2:45. We were on the 5:20 flight, so that should have been enough time. But honestly, the closer we got to that date, the more I wavered on that timeline. We're a solid half hour from the airport. But I travel with a lot of bags (shocking, huh?) and with Drew coming along, we needed time to park and get the shuttle to the terminal.

Since Katie hadn't missed any school yet this fall, I ended up caving and picking her up around 2. What's one more day? She had been on a field trip to see "A Christmas Carol" and probably wouldn't be doing much the rest of the day anyway. We waited around a bit to see if Robbie might make it home before we left, but then I recalled he had to turn in his books after his last exam and would be home later than usual. So off we went.

It had been a long time since we actually parked at the airport. I seemed to recall that the turnoff to the lot was poorly marked, so I turned and crossed my fingers. Thankfully our travel angel was looking over my shoulder and we were in the right place. She kept looking over my shoulder when we pulled down an aisle to park, and the bus was waiting right there for us. No fuss, no muss.

We did curbside check-in and went in search of a bite to eat. I knew they woudln't feed us on the plane, so we'd need to eat enough to get us by until we got to the POP after 10 that night. The security line was longer than I had ever seen at KCI, but we usually fly out on a Saturday morning, and this was on a weekday. While we waited, I took my camera out to play, and lucky Katie pulled out some of the homework her teacher was kind enough to send along! :lmao:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/6594204041_8bdb1979ec_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594204041/)
IMG_3420 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594204041/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6594204199_a03534d40b_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594204199/)
IMG_3422 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594204199/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

The flight took off on time and everything went off without a hitch. I had paid for early check-in on the return trip, but didn't do it for the outbound flight. I figured I would have easy computer access the day before and could easily take care of it. HAH! Around 7:30 that night it dawned on me that I needed to check in and we ended up in the B seating group. When we boarded, the only row of 3 left open was the very back of the plane. Thankfully we got to sit together. I mean, it's not like we were going to be in a hurry getting of in Orlando, right? OK, so maybe we were. But at least we all got to sit together.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7175/6594204297_7318a1f7c9_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594204297/)
IMG_3426 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594204297/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7005/6594204479_311f143dcf_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594204479/)
IMG_3434 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594204479/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7173/6594204775_4eff0ebcaf_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594204775/)
IMG_3438 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594204775/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr


I had hoped to sleep a little on the plane ride. I hadn't been sleeping well leading up to the trip, but hey.... I was on my way to Disney. Sleep would have to wait. We landed early and made our way through the airport.

Katie raced down the stairs while Mom and Dad took the escalator:

What'cha waiting on guys? Come on, we're going to Disney!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7153/6594205223_d2e9ba186f_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594205223/)
IMG_3448 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594205223/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

It was pretty disappointing to see the Earport closed, but we did quickly grab some of our tradional shots out front before moving along. There was no line for the Magical Express, and we were waved onto the bus that seemed to be just sitting there waiting just for us. It seemed our travel angel was looking out for us again.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7023/6594204911_34fcf01219_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594204911/)
IMG_3444 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594204911/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6594205059_75089dd474_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594205059/)
IMG_3447 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594205059/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6594205359_0cdaa7753f_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594205359/)
IMG_3446 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6594205359/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

We checked into the POP without issue and were on our way to our room. I had made my standard room request, building 5, ground floor, facing the pool. They did honor the request, but the location wasn't as great as I hoped, probably because we were so late checking in. We were in 5110, which is the back building near the Generation Gap bridge. So not quite as close as I had hoped, but still fairly convenient and certainly quiet.

It felt awesome to head back up to the food court and get a bit of food. For dessert, we shared....... my first ever piece of tiep-dye cheesecake! I always thought it was just cheesecake with color swirls, but that layer of cake just MADE it. My first "first" of this trip!

Can you believe I didn't take a single photo at the POP that night? Not even a shot of the tie-dye cheesecake????? :scared1: Gee, you'd think I was tired or something! Still, everything had gone as smoothly as we could hope. We were off to a great start!

[Caretames1]

Wait!! I'm here! UGH, I go away for one day......:lmao:


Kadence was happy to see that Katie posed with the airport Goofy, just like she did!

[fairestoneofall]

yay! i'm in!

[mom2rtk]

Wait!! I'm here! UGH, I go away for one day......:lmao:

Wait....... you knew I was back. And you knew I was going to start a trip report SOMETIME in tne near future.......... and you didn't just sit at home by your computer???????????? :scared1:

Better late than never, right????? :teeth:

[Caretames1]

Wait....... you knew I was back. And you knew I was going to start a trip report SOMETIME in tne near future.......... and you didn't just sit at home by your computer???????????? :scared1:

Better late than never, right????? :teeth:

Next Christmas, I will just have to pass on the family gathering and wait patiently for a new TR link!:rotfl2:

Now that it's over, it might have been a good idea to be here....the night included me fixing some baseboards at my sisters house before her (idiot) hubby saw what one of the nephews did on accident. Good thing he was at work, and I have 5 years of shop classes under my belt!

I edited my first post to include Kadence's comments!

[mom2rtk]

yay! i'm in!

Glad you made it!

I have.... shall we say..... one or two Drizella pictures to share later on..... :rolleyes1

[mom2rtk]

Next Christmas, I will just have to pass on the family gathering and wait patiently for a new TR link!:rotfl2:

Now that it's over, it might have been a good idea to be here....the night included me fixing some baseboards at my sisters house before her (idiot) hubby saw what one of the nephews did on accident. Good thing he was at work, and I have 5 years of shop classes under my belt!

I edited my first post to include Kadence's comments!

LOL! I hear you though. Nice of you to put on your tool belt to save your nephews! :scared1:

Tell Kadence that if we had missed those photos at the Earport I would have had to turn around and go back! :lmao: My husband totally didn't get it. Why on Earth were we taking pictures in front of a closed store? :rotfl: I guess I just need to give up hope there.........

[fairestoneofall]

Glad you made it!

I have.... shall we say..... one or two Drizella pictures to share later on..... :rolleyes1

those are my favorite kind!

i can't wait to hear about your trip and see your pictures. and i'll admit i tried to recreate your Dumbo picture, but my Dumbo didn't cooperate (he went all the way up and would NOT come back down part way). i did get a good image though. :) i said i HAD to get one before it moved! i also told my kids that if they didn't cooperate and i didn't get the image i wanted, they'd have to stand in line and ride it again! ha!

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

:banana::banana::banana:

What no shot of the cake? :headache:

So sad, Jenn was supposed to eat that in our trip in Oct in 10' but since she moved over to the CBR last minute I had to cut that item form our scavenger hunt. I guess since it has cake in it I shall never get to partake in all its glory.

Off to a great start!

can't wait to read more. I wonder when Jenn will start ours? Or if we will even have one? I suppose I have to send her photos for her to start? oops ::hide sin corner::

[juliebug1997]

Subbing in.

It looks like we'll be able to go to MNSSHP this year--DH has a possible conference in Oct!!!!! So excited!!!!!!

[jc040404]

I didn't realize when your trip dates were! We checked into Pop the very next day. Sounds like you're off to nice, if tiring, start! :thumbsup2

[Glennie5]

So excited you started your TR! Looking forward to seeing Katie's dresses. I kick myself for not getting a picture of you and Katie while waiting in line for the Dwarfs.

[PolkaDotLuggage]

Subbing! we're leaving in less than 3 weeks and now that i have step-daughters, we HAVE to see the princesses!! Can't wait to show them pics from here!

[mesaboy2]

mesa subbing in. :thumbsup2

[mom2rtk]

those are my favorite kind!

i can't wait to hear about your trip and see your pictures. and i'll admit i tried to recreate your Dumbo picture, but my Dumbo didn't cooperate (he went all the way up and would NOT come back down part way). i did get a good image though. :) i said i HAD to get one before it moved! i also told my kids that if they didn't cooperate and i didn't get the image i wanted, they'd have to stand in line and ride it again! ha!

Well, I didn't feel like I did that great on Dumbo this trip either. I guess partly because the Fantasyland reconstruction really had everything looking....... shall we say......... not as pretty as I like. For me it was the scrims on the carousel. I was looking forward to seeing over the construction wall, but thought I might get a couple pretty pictures of the view from Dumbo facing the castle. But those scrims foiled my attempts. It will definitely be interesting to try Dumbo from its new location next year!

:banana::banana::banana:

What no shot of the cake? :headache:

So sad, Jenn was supposed to eat that in our trip in Oct in 10' but since she moved over to the CBR last minute I had to cut that item form our scavenger hunt. I guess since it has cake in it I shall never get to partake in all its glory.

Off to a great start!

can't wait to read more. I wonder when Jenn will start ours? Or if we will even have one? I suppose I have to send her photos for her to start? oops ::hide sin corner::

I just have to say......... I'm terrible about taking food photos. I just never think to do it. Maybe I'm just in too big a hurry to dig in! :lmao:

I do hope you guys decide to do a trip report. I would really enjoy comparing our park experiences. Not to mention seeing the photography from both of you! Which cameras did you end up traveling with?

Subbing in.

It looks like we'll be able to go to MNSSHP this year--DH has a possible conference in Oct!!!!! So excited!!!!!!

That would be so cool. I really do want to get back to MNSSHP, but doubt it will happen this year. I don't know if Timmy will be running Cross Country, but if he is, I can't take a chance on missing any of his last season. And I suppose if we're going back I'd like to improve my odds of seeing the new Fantasyland. I hope they release some more definitive dates soon.

I didn't realize when your trip dates were! We checked into Pop the very next day. Sounds like you're off to nice, if tiring, start! :thumbsup2

So what building were you in? How long did you stay?

So excited you started your TR! Looking forward to seeing Katie's dresses. I kick myself for not getting a picture of you and Katie while waiting in line for the Dwarfs.

:wave: Thanks for joining in! :dance3:

Subbing! we're leaving in less than 3 weeks and now that i have step-daughters, we HAVE to see the princesses!! Can't wait to show them pics from here!

Hmmm.... not sure if I'll get to much princess action in 3 weeks. Remember, my husband was along the first few days. He's not a big character hunter so we tried to keep that for after he left. I'll do my best though!

I'm glad you're here! :goodvibes

mesa subbing in. :thumbsup2

Howdy! I'm glad you found us. But you have to promise not to rub in my face just how many trips you have coming up with those annual passes. You haven't been in at least a few weeks, so aren't you overdue????? :p

[KCmike]

Good first entry! What made your Husband decide to come along?

[mom2rtk]

Good first entry! What made your Husband decide to come along?

Thanks Mike! Drew likes Disney. He likes it a lot. He just doesn't get as fanatical about it as Katie and I do. I don't think he understands why anyone would stay for more than 3 or 4 days. And he doesn't care to hunt characters and watch parades and fireworks they way Katie and I do. We like rides but love the magical show parts of Disney. Drew loves the rides and is ok with fireworks and shows, but would rather be doing more rides. I think he really enjoyed his visit there this year. Well, except for the blisters on his feet.........

[msmith1026]

I'm in! I love reading about your trips and my daughter loves looking at the photos of your daughter in her beautiful dresses with the princesses. She also commented today that she likes Katie's shoes she was wearing at the airport. Can't wait to follow along!

[mchhp]

I think some of our dates overlapped. can't wait to see your photos.

[vamassey1]

Hello Janet!

I'm hoping to do a better job of keeping up this time around.

Great start so far. DH doesn't like to hunt character either and now he has Danielle on his side.:sad2: We're bring my niece in Feb and she's never been, I'm hoping DH will be a little more flexible since it's her first trip.

[erikawolf2004]

I'm subbing in also.

For our first trip with DD in 2009 you made her an Ariel dress....which inspired me to break out my dusty machine and now I make her outfits for everyday of the trip and then some:). Can't wait to see what you made for this trip. I'm in the planning stages for our trip in June.

Erika

[KAA1972]

Oh, I'm so happy you have another trip report! I followed along on your last report but then stopped reading when you finished your trip. Now, I'm so bummed to realize that it morphed into a pre-trip report and I missed it. But, at least this report will all be new news to me.

I do have to tell you that after reading your last report that you totally inspired me to make my first dress for my daughter. I made her an Alice dress. It was my first piece of clothing ever! She wore it to 1900 Park Fare in Sept and we are breaking it out next week for our first trip to Disneyland. I will try to find a picture to post. It is not even close to your beautiful masterpieces but I was thrilled to be able to make something for my daughter. Thank you for the inspiration! I might try a Belle dress next....maybe..... But, after entertaining our daughter for 8 weekends straight while I made the Alice dress, my husband has encouraged me to visit you on eBay. :rotfl:

[KCmike]

Thanks Mike! Drew likes Disney. He likes it a lot. He just doesn't get as fanatical about it as Katie and I do. I don't think he understands why anyone would stay for more than 3 or 4 days. And he doesn't care to hunt characters and watch parades and fireworks they way Katie and I do. We like rides but love the magical show parts of Disney. Drew loves the rides and is ok with fireworks and shows, but would rather be doing more rides. I think he really enjoyed his visit there this year. Well, except for the blisters on his feet.........

What's his favorite ride?

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Yay! I'm so glad you are doing another TR! I know this is going to be good.

I'm so glad to hear that your husband could make it for part of the trip. Even if he doesn't love Disney, he'll be glad he had that time with Katie when she is all grown up. Sorry your boys don't like it though. Maybe they will come to their senses one day when they are older! :laughing:

I can't believe Katie's school requires her to be there until 2:45 to be counted present?!?! :eek: Our schools around here allow you to check out at 11:30. 2:45 seems really late! What time does she normally get out of school? Around here the school day ends at 2:30. :confused:

I can't wait to see all your gorgeous pictures from this trip!!! :woohoo:

[jenseib]

Great first update....and I am disgusted...even your airport shots are fantastic!
I love tiedye cheesecake, but I don't like red velvet cake, so I clean it off to the crust and leave that for the birds...well actually the trash can. LOL!

[fairestoneofall]

Well, I didn't feel like I did that great on Dumbo this trip either. I guess partly because the Fantasyland reconstruction really had everything looking....... shall we say......... not as pretty as I like. For me it was the scrims on the carousel. I was looking forward to seeing over the construction wall, but thought I might get a couple pretty pictures of the view from Dumbo facing the castle. But those scrims foiled my attempts. It will definitely be interesting to try Dumbo from its new location next year!



Those scrims on the carrousel were terrible. Those were up at the beginning of our trip, but down on our last day. Our last day was when I made them ride Dumbo. I only carried the P&S that day (I had my six-month old in a carrier most of that day). It's a good P&S, but still isn't the same as setting up a shot with the DSLR with a wide aperture. My two favorite shots don't have the castle in the background, but that's okay. And I agree with you on the construction. I had several shots with that in the background and it was just... ugly.

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

I do hope you guys decide to do a trip report. I would really enjoy comparing our park experiences. Not to mention seeing the photography from both of you! Which cameras did you end up traveling with?



Jenn's life is pretty hectic now, plus having no high speed internet at home or work sorta kills it for her, so I'm not sure if she plans to do one or not and I am way to busy to think about one either. Maube after I find a job... who knows.

Jenn brought her Nikon D300 (3000), though I don't recall her really photographing much :confused3 I on the other hand brought my G12 and from Dec. 7th - Dec. 17 took 1,449 with out blinking and I.... seriously the entire time I kept thinking to myself "man, I really haven't' been taking very many pictures this trip" :rotfl: Add to that the 350 photopass shots, plus Jenn's 500 pictures, we barely "broke the horse" this trip.

If I had to guess how many pictures you took I'm going to say 2,567

[jc040404]

So what building were you in? How long did you stay?



We were over in the 90's building. We drive so it's my favorite place to stay at Pop. :thumbsup2 Our trip was only for the weekend, so I doubt we ever crossed paths though.

[kmrein]

Yay, another trip filled with fabulous dresses! I hope you had a fantastic time and I can't wait to read about it. Happy New Year!

[mom2rtk]

I'm in! I love reading about your trips and my daughter loves looking at the photos of your daughter in her beautiful dresses with the princesses. She also commented today that she likes Katie's shoes she was wearing at the airport. Can't wait to follow along!

Welcome! Thanks for the kind comments. And I'll tell Katie your daughter liked her shoes! We've done Disney with her in flats the last couple of trips, but she did have a little trouble with these. We ended up springing for a pair of Mickey flip flops to swap in and out of when the shoes were rubbing her feet.

I think some of our dates overlapped. can't wait to see your photos.

Thanks! I'm glad you found us!

Hello Janet!

I'm hoping to do a better job of keeping up this time around.

Great start so far. DH doesn't like to hunt character either and now he has Danielle on his side.:sad2: We're bring my niece in Feb and she's never been, I'm hoping DH will be a little more flexible since it's her first trip.

Hey Vanessa! :wave:

I'm glad you found us! Your trip is just around the corner. I can't wait to hear all about it. I always feel like your experiences with Danielle short of pre-shadow what's coming for us. The good, the bad (like not wanting to character hunt :sad:) and the ugly. Well, I'm pretty sure there's nothing ugly at Disney, but it sounds good, right?

YEAH! For bringing your niece along in Feb. How old is she? I hope it gives you a reason to do a little character hunting. If not, just make them all wait while YOU get your photos with the characters. I'm pretty sure that's what I'll be doing one day!

I'm subbing in also.

For our first trip with DD in 2009 you made her an Ariel dress....which inspired me to break out my dusty machine and now I make her outfits for everyday of the trip and then some:). Can't wait to see what you made for this trip. I'm in the planning stages for our trip in June.

Erika

Hi Erika! I'm glad you found us. And I'm glad you said something. I remember your name! I'm so glad you dug out your machine. Feel free to share pics here of what you made. I'd love to see!! :banana:

Oh, I'm so happy you have another trip report! I followed along on your last report but then stopped reading when you finished your trip. Now, I'm so bummed to realize that it morphed into a pre-trip report and I missed it. But, at least this report will all be new news to me.

I do have to tell you that after reading your last report that you totally inspired me to make my first dress for my daughter. I made her an Alice dress. It was my first piece of clothing ever! She wore it to 1900 Park Fare in Sept and we are breaking it out next week for our first trip to Disneyland. I will try to find a picture to post. It is not even close to your beautiful masterpieces but I was thrilled to be able to make something for my daughter. Thank you for the inspiration! I might try a Belle dress next....maybe..... But, after entertaining our daughter for 8 weekends straight while I made the Alice dress, my husband has encouraged me to visit you on eBay. :rotfl:

LOL! However it works out will be just grand! :lmao: You really have to love the process of making the costumes and dresses or it really does become quite toiling. And there really is just a lot of satisfaction from seeing your little girl enjoy something you made for her. :goodvibes

Have a great time at Disneyland! I have my moments where I think I like it best. But we'll still probably head back to WDW next time to see the new Fantasyland. Then all bets are off. We live right in the middle of the country, so neither is close.

What's his favorite ride?

I'll ask him later. But I'm pretty sure he'd say Splash Mountain. We managed to ride it twice on our first day and once at the party. Thunder Mountain would be a close second. But Test Track is in there somewhere too. I need to ask him to rank them anyway for my traditional "trip favorites" scrapbook page.

His alltime favorite Disney ride is probably Indy at DL though.

Yay! I'm so glad you are doing another TR! I know this is going to be good.

I'm so glad to hear that your husband could make it for part of the trip. Even if he doesn't love Disney, he'll be glad he had that time with Katie when she is all grown up. Sorry your boys don't like it though. Maybe they will come to their senses one day when they are older! :laughing:

I can't believe Katie's school requires her to be there until 2:45 to be counted present?!?! :eek: Our schools around here allow you to check out at 11:30. 2:45 seems really late! What time does she normally get out of school? Around here the school day ends at 2:30. :confused:

I can't wait to see all your gorgeous pictures from this trip!!! :woohoo:

Nah, all hope is lost with the boys and Disney. :sad: My oldest thinks it's all too fake and commercial. AND???????? LOL! Of course it is! But it's my escape from reality, so I have to keep going. I remember one time he photoshopped a photo of Mickey overseeing the workers in a sweatshop and set it as the backdrop on our computer. Ahhh.... the memories! :lmao:

School here doesn't get out until 3:45. If they miss more than an hour they are counted absent for the day.

I'm glad you're following along. I'm enjoying your TR as well! :cool1:

[mom2rtk]

Great first update....and I am disgusted...even your airport shots are fantastic!
I love tiedye cheesecake, but I don't like red velvet cake, so I clean it off to the crust and leave that for the birds...well actually the trash can. LOL!

You don't like the CAKE part? You THREW it OUT?

OK, guess we can't be friends any more. :sad:

And thanks for your disgust. I think.

:lmao:

Those scrims on the carrousel were terrible. Those were up at the beginning of our trip, but down on our last day. Our last day was when I made them ride Dumbo. I only carried the P&S that day (I had my six-month old in a carrier most of that day). It's a good P&S, but still isn't the same as setting up a shot with the DSLR with a wide aperture. My two favorite shots don't have the castle in the background, but that's okay. And I agree with you on the construction. I had several shots with that in the background and it was just... ugly.

What day did you see the carousel without scrims? I"m pretty sure they were up through our last MK day. But I guess it's possible I missed it. I was pretty wiped out by the end! :rotfl:

I hope you'll post your favorite Dumbo shot for us to see!

Jenn's life is pretty hectic now, plus having no high speed internet at home or work sorta kills it for her, so I'm not sure if she plans to do one or not and I am way to busy to think about one either. Maube after I find a job... who knows.

Jenn brought her Nikon D300 (3000), though I don't recall her really photographing much :confused3 I on the other hand brought my G12 and from Dec. 7th - Dec. 17 took 1,449 with out blinking and I.... seriously the entire time I kept thinking to myself "man, I really haven't' been taking very many pictures this trip" :rotfl: Add to that the 350 photopass shots, plus Jenn's 500 pictures, we barely "broke the horse" this trip.

If I had to guess how many pictures you took I'm going to say 2,567

I keep forgetting about Jen not having high speed internet. That would certainly be a road block.

Sounds like you guys were slackers in the photo-taking department. :rolleyes1 If that gives you any idea........:cool2: Your estimate on my shutter count is a little low. I like having lots of options when I get back home and review my shots. Memory is cheap, right? :teeth:

We were over in the 90's building. We drive so it's my favorite place to stay at Pop. :thumbsup2 Our trip was only for the weekend, so I doubt we ever crossed paths though.

We're never at the resort much so our odds of crossing paths were pretty low.

So were you there for that pouring rain on Sunday?

Yay, another trip filled with fabulous dresses! I hope you had a fantastic time and I can't wait to read about it. Happy New Year!

Awww... thanks! I'm glad you're following along.

Happy New Year to you as well! :wizard:

[jenseib]

My guess is 5,051! :thumbsup2

[mom2rtk]

My guess is 5,051! :thumbsup2

Hmmmm......

So let's take a vote. How many of you would think I was completely out of my mind if the number were......... higher? :rolleyes1

[juliebug1997]

Hmmmm......

So let's take a vote. How many of you would think I was completely out of my mind if the number were......... higher? :rolleyes1

I would expect nothing less.

[mom2rtk]

I would expect nothing less.

Always happy when I can exceed expectations. :rolleyes1

[Caretames1]

My guess is 8,132!:rotfl2:

[jenseib]

Hmmmm......

So let's take a vote. How many of you would think I was completely out of my mind if the number were......... higher? :rolleyes1

I hope so! I'm trying to remember how many I took in Aug. It was somewhere around 2 or 3 thousand...and you were there longer, so I guess at least 6000 should be in there...plus you had to delete some :scared1:

[mom2rtk]

My guess is 8,132!:rotfl2:

LOL! I'm pretty sure it's less! :lmao: But I love your thinking!
I hope so! I'm trying to remember how many I took in Aug. It was somewhere around 2 or 3 thousand...and you were there longer, so I guess at least 6000 should be in there...plus you had to delete some :scared1:

I don't need to count the deleted ones since I'm just computing based on the shutter clicks.

6K is pretty close..... But I'm embarrassed to say it's a little bit more.

I honestly didn't pay one whit of attention. I didn't consider my pace at all until I started running short of cards. Then of course I might have noticed when my file numbers started over at 0 again....... :scared1:

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

:thumbsup2

my vote is in I vote crazy!! :laughing:

[mom2rtk]

:thumbsup2

my vote is in I vote crazy!! :laughing:

Well, I'm sure you won't be alone in your vote! :lmao:

In my defense, I will point out that I love to shoot in burst mode on the rides. Put me in BTMRR with a wide angle lens and I'll shoot most of the way around (you know, when I'm not holding on for dear life!) I'll have a few keepers out of that but will delete the rest.

My big challenge this year was trying to get a good shot while going down the big drop on Splash. I'm not sure if I got "the shot", but I learned a lot about my approach each time we went down.

Try 1: Don't sit behind strangers. I don't care that much about having their big heads in my photos

Try 2: Go wide angle for a better shot at getting the critical elements in

Try 3: Don't sit in front. Too much water! :lmao:

Try 4: Hold the camera up over your head for the best angle. Hold tight! :rotfl2:

Try 5: Don't fill your buffer getting the settings right going UP the hill. You need to shoot farther down on the hill.

Last but not least........Buy more camera rain covers..........

I haven't even looked closely at the last set yet. They looked....... interesting........ on the LCD screen, but that doesn't hold up well in bigger views sometimes. Stay tuned.........

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

Rock on can't wait to see your stuff... one of these days I think I should do a solo trip to WDW and bring my good camera.

I have this thing where I am either in scrapbook book photography mode, where I am telling a story and documenting the trip or...

I am in in gallery mode and all I do is artsy fartsy stuff I have no middle ground. But really though. I just need a new camera my D2X sucks, my color looks like crap and well it weighs a ton so I never shoot with it any more. I will try to post some of my favs from this last trip for you to see. I am sure you are interested in the dif in the cameras pro point and shoot vs. SLR, I know I am

[chattadisser]

I'm joining in! I've been lurking on last year's trip so now I'm hopping over heres. I love the dresses that you make for Katie, they are so good! I'm a big picture taker on our trips too. Right now I am trying to get all the pictures and momentos together from our last trip to start the scrapbook. As a Disney scarpbooker, where to you find has the best selection of Disney scrapbook supplies? We're mostly limited to Michael's and Hobby Lobby here, which has been OK but is basically limited to stickers.

We were also there from 12/10-12/13! It was a little more rainy that I would have liked but a rainey Disney day sure beats no Disney day!

Christine

[Caretames1]

http://www.picgifs.com/glitter-graphics/glitter-graphics/happy-new-year/glitter-graphics-happy-new-year-875443.gif (http://www.picgifs.com/glitter-graphics/)

[mom2rtk]

Rock on can't wait to see your stuff... one of these days I think I should do a solo trip to WDW and bring my good camera.

I have this thing where I am either in scrapbook book photography mode, where I am telling a story and documenting the trip or...

I am in in gallery mode and all I do is artsy fartsy stuff I have no middle ground. But really though. I just need a new camera my D2X sucks, my color looks like crap and well it weighs a ton so I never shoot with it any more. I will try to post some of my favs from this last trip for you to see. I am sure you are interested in the dif in the cameras pro point and shoot vs. SLR, I know I am

I know exactly how you feel! I long to take a trip where I can really focus on photography. But as long as I'm in mom mode, my focus will be documenting the trip for my scrapbook pages later. I know I won't get these days back and the parks will still be waiting for me to be there one day in real creative photographer's mode. Until then, I just keep trying to sneak in a few creative shots here and there.

And yes, I'd love to see your shots. I keep thinking one day I'd like a nice quality P&S and I've heard the G12 is quite good, even better in the hands of someone like you who knows what they're doing.

I'm joining in! I've been lurking on last year's trip so now I'm hopping over heres. I love the dresses that you make for Katie, they are so good! I'm a big picture taker on our trips too. Right now I am trying to get all the pictures and momentos together from our last trip to start the scrapbook. As a Disney scarpbooker, where to you find has the best selection of Disney scrapbook supplies? We're mostly limited to Michael's and Hobby Lobby here, which has been OK but is basically limited to stickers.

We were also there from 12/10-12/13! It was a little more rainy that I would have liked but a rainey Disney day sure beats no Disney day!

Christine

:welcome:

I'm so glad you stepped out of lurker mode and decided to say hi! You somehow managed to hit that only 2 rainy days of our 10 night trip! But at least it wasn't bitter cold like last year. Yeah, that probably doesn't help, does it? We got completely soaked at the MVMCP on 12/11!

I LOVE to scrapbook and love to buy Disney scrapbook supplies! I've seen it all, and to be honest, it's all been out there some time. I have most of what I like in any of the lines available. So I'm now always looking for inspiration on new ways to scrap Disney without the licensed products. I joined a Yahoo group for Disney scrapping and have been happily inspired there for some time. If you'd like a link, let me know and I'll post it. Vanessa who posted here recently on my TR is also in the group. They have monthly challenges and swaps and is full of very talented ladies. I get inspired there on a routine basis.

I don't think there's a real "best" place for the licensed Disney stuff. I find some stuff at HL, some at JOAnn's, some online, some at a local scrapbook shop. Any time new stuff comes out, someone on our Yahoo group will usually let us know so we can hunt it down. They also let us know when non-Disney stuff comes out that would work well for Disney pages.

http://www.picgifs.com/glitter-graphics/glitter-graphics/happy-new-year/glitter-graphics-happy-new-year-875443.gif (http://www.picgifs.com/glitter-graphics/)


Thanks Carey! Happy New Year right back at you! And everyone else too :party:

We're celebrating in our traditional fashion with a special family dinner out at the Hibachi restaurant on the plaza here in KC. It's a Japanese steak house. We did eat at Teppan Edo this trip, which was a lot of fun, but we all like the food here better. The presentation is better at TE, but the food here is better. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

[KCmike]

6k shots? Were you shooting on continous mode?:lmao:
Seriously that is a lot of shots. I think the most I came home with was 3k. My kids will start getting mad at me when I hit high numbers. I need to work to get to your level. Another 2012 New Year's Resolution for me!

[francis6306]

:cheer2::cheer2::cheer2:
YAY! I found it!!
:cheer2::cheer2::cheer2:

Glad to see that you saw your FGM again!! Living through you… waiting on Disney to call and tell me that I won one of these vacations that they are giving away…. :cloud9:

[dara00]

subbing! :)

[mom2rtk]

6k shots? Were you shooting on continous mode?:lmao:
Seriously that is a lot of shots. I think the most I came home with was 3k. My kids will start getting mad at me when I hit high numbers. I need to work to get to your level. Another 2012 New Year's Resolution for me!
Well, I didn't shoot continuous all the time, but did a lot of the time on the rides. I got some cool series of shots on BTMRR and on Splash. I can't wait to put them together as scrapbook pages.

I don't feel like I'm always shooting, but when I do, I take lots of shots. I really get in a zone with it when I'm watching parades, shows or fireworks. I really enjoy shooting those.

I wouldn't worry too much about the numbers. Just get out there with that new camera and have FUN! It just so happens for me that fun turns out to be a large number of frames.........

When I'm at home, life is usually too crazy to get out and shoot creatively very often. Disney is my chance to stretch my wings with the camera, so who cares if I fill all the cards! :lmao:


subbing! :)

Hi! :welcome:

Glad you found us neighbor! Feel free to ask as many questions as you like as you prepare for your trip. I'm quicker to reply here since my PM box gets full a lot.



:cheer2::cheer2::cheer2:
YAY! I found it!!
:cheer2::cheer2::cheer2:

Glad to see that you saw your FGM again!! Living through you… waiting on Disney to call and tell me that I won one of these vacations that they are giving away…. :cloud9:

Hey Francis! :wave: glad you found us! :cool1: How's that new baby.... ok, maybe not so new any more..... but how is she?

And LOL on waiting for that phone to ring! I'll let you know when I get MY call. :lmao:

Anyone want to meet me at the MK for 24 hours of fun on the 29th???? :rotfl2:

That would SO not be my style. As much as I go, go, go at Disney....... I'm one who needs those 8 hours of sleep. Although I'm sure I would love to be there to see the sunrise......... I still could never last.

[dara00]

Hi! :welcome:

Glad you found us neighbor! Feel free to ask as many questions as you like as you prepare for your trip. I'm quicker to reply here since my PM box gets full a lot.


thanks! I guess I'm just looking for ideas on a super magical experience. we are going on mlk day to mk for just the day but plan to be there allll day. then we'll be in tampa for a few days and then we may be able to get a partial day at dhs in. it'll be my dh and i, and our 6 yr old dd, 4 yr old ds, and 17 mos old ds (his first trip!). we will do a lot of character greets and some rides.

is there anywhere on these boards where people sell their too small outfits? :)

[mom2rtk]

thanks! I guess I'm just looking for ideas on a super magical experience. we are going on mlk day to mk for just the day but plan to be there allll day. then we'll be in tampa for a few days and then we may be able to get a partial day at dhs in. it'll be my dh and i, and our 6 yr old dd, 4 yr old ds, and 17 mos old ds (his first trip!). we will do a lot of character greets and some rides.

is there anywhere on these boards where people sell their too small outfits? :)

First, you're doing the right thing by hanging out here on the DIS. Are you well-versed on how to maximize fastpass? This is critical since you have only one day and will want to try out as much as you can.

Be there before rope drop. Feel brave and want to get to the park 90 minutes before opening? Maybe you could be chosen to open the park! OK, so maybe not too, but you DO have a good size family to be chosen. Regardless, be there BEFORE rope drop so you can get some things done (and fastpasses accumulated) before the crowds build.

Are you aware Dumbo will be closed? Don't want to be the bearer of bad tidings, but would hate for you to be chatting it up with the kids if you can't ride.

You're going on a holiday, but it's a Monday and I would expect most to be heading home by Monday from a long weekend, so it probably won't be too bad.

Read as many character threads here on the DIS as you can find. Look for the link to Kenny the Pirate's thread on characters. It's very detailed and up to date.

The princesses and Mickey/Minnie are on FP. DON"T miss getting these FP's. Get one for Mickey on the way in. That won't delay you getting a FP to another ride. If you choose to get one for the princesses (you should at some point as the line does get long-ish sometimes) do know it will delay you getting another FP for an hour. We got Mickey FP's every day and stopped to see him on our way out of the park. It was great fun especially knowing we waited 45 minutes to see him our first time in the MK in 1999.

Have you considered having your daughter wear a favorite Princess costume in the parks? It makes for great photos, and she's at a great age for it.

Let me know if you have other questions or a certain character you're looking for! :banana:

[mom2rtk]

I wish I could really get going with the trip report, but am busy working on the Photopass pics so I can get that on its way. With Christmas right after getting home, my 30 days seems to be FLYING by! :scared1:

[dara00]

I certainly don't want to clog up your thread with stuff about my trip but...

I do have a plan for approaching the day which I got with help over at easywdw. I don't know if posting it here will just confuse me, as I'm sure you and others might have different advice, but the basics are to right away start collecting fast passes but start off with character greets in the morning. then add in rides later on. I don't have getting mickey and princess fast passes scheduled until 11:30 am, but hopefully that will be ok. I was planning on my kids all wearing toy story t-shirts, but bringing along our sleeping beauty dress for princess meets. I don't think we're going to make it early enough to get chosen for the family that opens the park, though that would be awesome!

yes both dumbo and btmr are closed when we are there. we are sad but will be ok!

I wish we had time to hang out and be leisurely about finding characters, etc, but with just one day we have to hope it all works out! if you want to see the actual time plan I can copy it over here. :)

[katt789]

Yay!! I opened the TR at random without really realizing that it was yours! But yay! I'm excited to read along with your trip!! We would be the ones that kinda ran into you in the shops on Main St at the end of MVMCP on the 16th! :yay:

[vamassey1]

My niece is 19 but she has never been. She wants to meet Aladdin and Peter Pan so far. I have a feeling she will be adding to the list. We only have 1 day in each park so we have to maximize out time. I'm very excited the part of the new Fantasyland will be open while we are there.

I wanted to ask since you just went, are the CMs sticking to the FP return times? I was hoping to collect as many fps as possible and return when we could. I know we can't return early, but I'm hoping we can return late.

[marDgreen88]

Even your airport pictures are great, I mean really, hahaha.

It looks like Katie and Snow White almost have the same shoes. :goodvibes

I'm already really enjoying this TR and you've only barely checked in to Pop! Excited to read more!

We would be the ones that kinda ran into you in the shops on Main St at the end of MVMCP on the 16th! :yay:

I was at MVMCP that night too! So funny, I wonder if I ran into you at all.

[mom2rtk]

I certainly don't want to clog up your thread with stuff about my trip but...

I do have a plan for approaching the day which I got with help over at easywdw. I don't know if posting it here will just confuse me, as I'm sure you and others might have different advice, but the basics are to right away start collecting fast passes but start off with character greets in the morning. then add in rides later on. I don't have getting mickey and princess fast passes scheduled until 11:30 am, but hopefully that will be ok. I was planning on my kids all wearing toy story t-shirts, but bringing along our sleeping beauty dress for princess meets. I don't think we're going to make it early enough to get chosen for the family that opens the park, though that would be awesome!

yes both dumbo and btmr are closed when we are there. we are sad but will be ok!

I wish we had time to hang out and be leisurely about finding characters, etc, but with just one day we have to hope it all works out! if you want to see the actual time plan I can copy it over here. :)

Well, PM me again if you want to email me your list. But I don't mind discussing your trip a big here while everyone is waiting for me to get going.

I have always been a big Disney planner. Heck, it's my favorite past-time in the long months between Disney trips. But mostly I just make a loose plan, like which park on which day, which ADR's, and a loose order of rides I want to do. I have never used a detailed timeline of what I expect to do when. So honestly even if you posted it, I probably wouldn't have a lot of feedback. How things work out depend SO much on the conditions and crowds that day to be able to map them out with much detail.

First, KUDOS for planning and doing your homework. But second, I do urge you to be flexible and stop to smell some roses along the way. I just finished journaling our first day in the MK on this trip. We really got a lot done, but there wasn't much time to stop and smell any roses. Mostly that's because my husband is very ride-centered and this was his only real MK Day, while Katie and I would have many other days still in the MK to go at a slower pace (you know,if we wanted to!)

It sounds like you have a good plan. Just go with it but keep flexible. In the mean time, I'll post the link to Kenny the Pirate's character times guide when I find it again. Nothing wrong with at least having a printout of character times to consult if you choose to.

In the meantime, let us all know what other questions you have.

Yay!! I opened the TR at random without really realizing that it was yours! But yay! I'm excited to read along with your trip!! We would be the ones that kinda ran into you in the shops on Main St at the end of MVMCP on the 16th! :yay:

Well, we definitely were there that night so it could have easily been us. And we were there in the shop pretty late, so the odds were pretty good! I'm glad you found us here! :welcome:



My niece is 19 but she has never been. She wants to meet Aladdin and Peter Pan so far. I have a feeling she will be adding to the list. We only have 1 day in each park so we have to maximize out time. I'm very excited the part of the new Fantasyland will be open while we are there.

I wanted to ask since you just went, are the CMs sticking to the FP return times? I was hoping to collect as many fps as possible and return when we could. I know we can't return early, but I'm hoping we can return late.

Just keep working on her Vanessa. Surely you can talk her into a couple dozen more characters????????? :teeth:

How cool that you'll get to see the first part of Fantasyland open again! I'm hoping to catch even more next fall or winter. Still not sure when though.

Not to worry on the FP front. We used a LOT of fastpasses on this trip, and I don't think we used a single one on time! And nobody so much as batted an eyeball at us. We had 4 or 5 sets of RnR fastpasses we used one after another one day at RnR late in the evening, all late. Not so much as a second look. We collected them all morning and used them when we went back that evening.

So plan away. Change could still happen one day, but I don't think it's happening soon.

[mom2rtk]

Even your airport pictures are great, I mean really, hahaha.

It looks like Katie and Snow White almost have the same shoes. :goodvibes

I'm already really enjoying this TR and you've only barely checked in to Pop! Excited to read more!



I was at MVMCP that night too! So funny, I wonder if I ran into you at all.

Man, you guys are good to me. I'm glad you like the airport pictures! I always love to get my camera out at the airport because THAT is when it feels like the trip has officially begun! :banana:

I love your enthusiasm! I hope the TR does not disappoint! Sorry for the slow start. I edited a TON of photopass pics today and got my journal done for the first 2 days. And boy are my fingers tired! :lmao: I need to get the journal done before I forget it all, then I'll start posting parts here with pictures. I'm just now finally looking at the photos myself for the first time. It's amazing to me how long ago it all seems already. :sad:

The 16th was pretty crazy at the party, wasn't it? The weather was great though, so that helped.

[dara00]

Thanks - I am actually thinking of starting my own thread. I'll let you know when it's ready! I definitely know we'll have to be flexible, and I do want to stop for rose smelling too, so hopefully that will happen!

[mom2rtk]

Thanks - I am actually thinking of starting my own thread. I'll let you know when it's ready! I definitely know we'll have to be flexible, and I do want to stop for rose smelling too, so hopefully that will happen!

That sounds like a great idea. You'll get lots of great suggestions I'm sure.

Do you plan to watch any shows or parades?

[dara00]

That sounds like a great idea. You'll get lots of great suggestions I'm sure.

Do you plan to watch any shows or parades?

I sure do! I think ... all of them! :) I'll start typing up my new thread and leave you in suspense till then. :) I'm hoping sitting for some shows / parades will be good down time for my kids, since I'm wondering if my 4 yr old esp. will end up crashing!

[mom2rtk]

I sure do! I think ... all of them! :) I'll start typing up my new thread and leave you in suspense till then. :) I'm hoping sitting for some shows / parades will be good down time for my kids, since I'm wondering if my 4 yr old esp. will end up crashing!

I can't believe how many people think the shows/parades are a waste of time. I think they provide great balance to the time you're on the go. It's nice to get there a little early and chat about what else you still want to do, what your favorites are so far, that sort of thing. Oh, and to have a Mickey bar. :goodvibes I'm sure the 4 year old will crash at some point, but with only one day, maybe just a short power nap will suffice!

[dara00]

I totally agree about the shows/parades - plus they're great to see the characters!

Here's the thread I just started:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=43599386

[Yzerbear19]

You said you scrapbook . . . do you do paper scrapping or digital scrapping? And do you post your pages online anywhere? I started with paper scrapping, but mostly just do digital now. It's so much easier. Way less messy! LOL Since I started scrapbooking it really changed what I take pictures of on vacation. I take way more photos now and try to get in them more. I took hardly any pictures on our 2005 trip to WDW and was in very few of the pictures.

[kwitcherkicken99]

I'm here. Late as usual, but I'm here.

Trying to get my TR started, and well, at least there are a few things in the computer.

We'll see how it goes! :wave2:

[PlutosRHM55]

I lurked a little on your last TR, so I thought it was time to join up on this one. :) Can't wait to read all about your trip! :mickeyjum

[dara00]

here's a question for you - is Minnie w Mickey at the MK? and do Woody and Jessie do dance parties regularly or is that just holiday times? thanks!

[mom2rtk]

I totally agree about the shows/parades - plus they're great to see the characters!

Here's the thread I just started:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=43599386

I'll pop over and take a look!

You said you scrapbook . . . do you do paper scrapping or digital scrapping? And do you post your pages online anywhere? I started with paper scrapping, but mostly just do digital now. It's so much easier. Way less messy! LOL Since I started scrapbooking it really changed what I take pictures of on vacation. I take way more photos now and try to get in them more. I took hardly any pictures on our 2005 trip to WDW and was in very few of the pictures.

So far I'm a paper scrapper. But unless I plan to build onto the house to store all the books, I'm probably going to have to consider digital scrapping at some point. There's just something about playing with paper, ribbon, rhinestones and the like though that I'd miss if I went digital. Maybe a hybrid one day? Who knows.

I don't post my layouts online except in the albums in my group. Here's a link, but you do have to join the group to access the albums. If you love to scrapbook Disney though, you'd love this group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scrappiestdisneyswapping/

I've been scrapbooking since the infancy of the hobby back into the 90's. I used wavy edge scissors with the best of them! :lmao: Thankfully I've updated my style through the years and I now find myself wanting to go back and redo some of the early stuff.

Being a scrapbooker really does change the way you use photography. I look at it as a storytelling venture and like to capture all the details, both small and large.

I'm here. Late as usual, but I'm here.

Trying to get my TR started, and well, at least there are a few things in the computer.

We'll see how it goes! :wave2:

Howdy stranger! :wave: Glad you found us! And YEAH to getting your own TR started! I would love to hear how your trip went and think it would be fun to compare our experiences in the parks.

I'm almost ready to actually start. I have 4 of 11 days of journaling done (including travel days). My poor fingers are tired though so I'll probably have to take a break and maybe edit some photos. So maybe another installment later today!

I hope you had a great Christmas and that Santa found you! :santa:

I lurked a little on your last TR, so I thought it was time to join up on this one. :) Can't wait to read all about your trip! :mickeyjum

No need for lurking! Come on in.... the water's fine! :beach:

Glad you found us!

here's a question for you - is Minnie w Mickey at the MK? and do Woody and Jessie do dance parties regularly or is that just holiday times? thanks!

We went through the Mickey meet 3 times while we were there (I think). I want to say Mickey had Minnie with him 2 of 3 times. The one time Minnie was absent was in the last hour of park time. It was sort of fun. We started the princess line for the party around 5:45 on the 16th. While we were waiting, I gave Katie and her friend a photopass card and just sent them into the Mickey line while we sat there. It was fun to see those photos on photopass when I was working on them yesterday. It was like finding a little forgotten gift under the tree the day after Christmas! :goodvibes

[mesaboy2]

here's a question for you - is Minnie w Mickey at the MK? and do Woody and Jessie do dance parties regularly or is that just holiday times? thanks!

I believe the Woody/Jessie/Bullseye dance parties are only during the Halloween and Christmas parties at MK.

[mom2rtk]

I believe the Woody/Jessie/Bullseye dance parties are only during the Halloween and Christmas parties at MK.

Thanks for catching that. I completely stopped after the first question. But I think I spelled it all properly. :lmao:

Dara, I just posted some feedback on your plan over on your thread.

[OllieDannyandMe]

Just found your new trip report! Yay! I am so excited to start reading. In fact, I am thinking about reserving a room for our vacation this summer either tonight or tomorrow. I am in a Disney state of mind!

I haven't read anything yet, but THANK YOU for doing this Janet! I cannot wait to start reading!

Amy

[OllieDannyandMe]

Nah, all hope is lost with the boys and Disney. :sad: My oldest thinks it's all too fake and commercial. AND???????? LOL! Of course it is! But it's my escape from reality, so I have to keep going. I remember one time he photoshopped a photo of Mickey overseeing the workers in a sweatshop and set it as the backdrop on our computer. Ahhh.... the memories! :lmao:

Don't give up hope! I know someone who felt the EXACT same way as your oldest feels, until he had a daughter, and then, everything changed. So things can change...at least sometimes they can!

I love the picture of Katie at the bottom of the escalator. She is beautiful! So excited to read your next update!

[Lucys2200]

Yay Im so excited you started another trip report :woohoo. :cheer2:
I enjoyed the last one very much. Can't wait to read more and Katie keeps getting even more beautiful.

[mom2rtk]

FRIDAY 12/9/11:



Ever since the end of daylight savings time, I had trouble sleeping. It might have just been my mind's preoccupation with the trip and everything I wanted to do before leaving , or maybe I just never adjusted to the new time. But it wasn't any better by the time we left for Disney. So I wasn't surprised when I woke up early the next morning around 6:15. That's about 5:15 central time, the same time I'd been waking up for weeks. Yuck.

This was our 5th time staying at the Pop Century. Every time I go home regretting not getting a better look around the resort and taking pictures. Since I was up early and didn't want to wake Drew and Katie, I grabbed my camera and ducked outside. My first sight was of the window a couple rooms down from ours. It was taunting me......

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7010/6623869229_0817a8c429_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623869229/)
IMG_3451 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623869229/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

I had things along to decorate our own window, but it was in the suitcases we didn't have yet. This displaly didn't photograph well, but it sure looked cool. They had taken their room table and put it in under the curtains. Their tree was on that table and was topped with a holiday Belle. I had my work cut out for me! :lmao:

I decided it would be a great time to tour the grounds and take some photos. It was pitch dark of course, and I didn't have my tripod yet, so I'd have to go for some high ISO shots. I wandered down to the Generation Gap bridge, but without my tripod, I as pretty limited in what I could do.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/6623869941_d361fef94e_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623869941/)
IMG_3457 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623869941/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7028/6623869503_e2ced09a5c_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623869503/)
IMG_3454 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623869503/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6623869757_4a0b495319_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623869757/)
IMG_3455 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623869757/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7163/6623870117_99c8d526a2_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623870117/)
IMG_3474 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623870117/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6623871159_c4e9cb20b3_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623871159/)
IMG_3483 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623871159/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7142/6623870915_583cab30e6_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623870915/)
IMG_3482 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623870915/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6623870555_72ca474728_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623870555/)
IMG_3480 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623870555/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6623870391_c9ed16b43d_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623870391/)
IMG_3478 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623870391/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7034/6623870783_ec5a1d0d75_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623870783/)
IMG_3481 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623870783/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7160/6623871451_8af7fc3bd5_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623871451/)
IMG_3485 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623871451/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

Closer to 7 AM, I decided to wander up toward Bell Services and check on our luggage from the Magical Express. I had called down the night before and asked for it to be held until morning so they didn't wake us in the night. Well, somewhere in the wee morning hours the phone rang. I was pretty sure it was about the luggage so I just took it off the hook and went back to sleep. I'm SO glad I called so they wouldn't wake us.........:lmao:

When I got closer to Bell Services, I saw someone pushing a cart full of luggage our way and recognized it as ours. So much for letting Drew and Katie sleep. I led them back to the room to deliver the luggage.

We were heading for the Magic Kingdom that day. While I knew we'd be tired and hadn't planned to make rope drop, once we were up we decided to go ahead and go. There were a lot of last minute park hour changes to some of our days, and somewhere along the line I got it in my mind it opened at 8 that day. Really I knew better, but I was tired too. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :rotfl2: A newbie mistake to be sure.

Anyway, we left our room around 7:35 and headed for the bus stop. The plan was to get a bite to eat at the Main Street Bakery, so we didn't even stop in the food court. We headed straight for the bus stop.

Soon enough we had this in our sights:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6623871831_9dd57d8f79_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623871831/)
IMG_3491 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6623871831/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

[OllieDannyandMe]

Just read the latest update. Beautiful pictures of Pop! You are such a good storyteller, Janet! Both with pictures and words.

I really need to do a trip report for our trip in August. I will have to go back through my pictures and see if I have enough in the way of notes to make it happen.

[mom2rtk]

Just found your new trip report! Yay! I am so excited to start reading. In fact, I am thinking about reserving a room for our vacation this summer either tonight or tomorrow. I am in a Disney state of mind!

I haven't read anything yet, but THANK YOU for doing this Janet! I cannot wait to start reading!

Amy

Don't give up hope! I know someone who felt the EXACT same way as your oldest feels, until he had a daughter, and then, everything changed. So things can change...at least sometimes they can!

I love the picture of Katie at the bottom of the escalator. She is beautiful! So excited to read your next update!

Hey Amy! :wave:

So glad to see you here!

Do it. Book your room. You know you want to! You can fine tune things later. It just feels great to have something to be planning for, doesn't it?

Thank you so much for the nice comment about Katie. I marvel every day over how grown up she's getting.

She really did enjoy showing us up by running down the stairs at the end of a long day....... while we rode slowly down on the escalator! :lmao:

Yay Im so excited you started another trip report :woohoo. :cheer2:
I enjoyed the last one very much. Can't wait to read more and Katie keeps getting even more beautiful.

Many thanks to you too for the kind comment. :goodvibes

You guys all did a great job making the last trip report a lot of fun, so how could I pass?????

Remember the one poster early in the TR last year who tried to derail it? Should I send them a link???????? :rotfl:

[mom2rtk]

Just read the latest update. Beautiful pictures of Pop! You are such a good storyteller, Janet! Both with pictures and words.

I really need to do a trip report for our trip in August. I will have to go back through my pictures and see if I have enough in the way of notes to make it happen.

Awww.... thanks Amy. :flower3:

I really hope you can put together a trip report. I'd love to read along with you and Evie one one of your trips!

I try really hard after every trip to journal the entire thing right after getting home while the details are fresh. I like to hide that journaling in my scrapbook pages, so that eventually it's like a book I can read cover to cover. Of course I didn't finish last year's scrapbook, but the journaling is done and the photos are there so I can finish it whenever I like. You know.... when I have time! :lmao:

It's hard to do that after these December trips because I walk in the door to a list of things to do a mile long. Life is finally settling down again and I'm working on the journaling from this trip.

[PlutosRHM55]

Oh, that's such a cute little window display. Those people REALLY went all out. I wonder if they are DISers :confused3 And I love all your pictures around POP, it looks like such a cool resort. I especially love all the big icons and toys like the Yo-Yo, Disney never fails to amaze me :goodvibes

Sorry to hear about having to bring the luggage to your room earlier than expected and wake up your fellow trip partners. But at least you guys got up in time to make an early Magic Kingdom arrival :) Love your picture of the sign, so very pretty... if only I was there now :cloud9:

Can't wait to read more! :mickeyjum

[mom2rtk]

Oh, that's such a cute little window display. Those people REALLY went all out. I wonder if they are DISers :confused3 And I love all your pictures around POP, it looks like such a cool resort. I especially love all the big icons and toys like the Yo-Yo, Disney never fails to amaze me :goodvibes

Sorry to hear about having to bring the luggage to your room earlier than expected and wake up your fellow trip partners. But at least you guys got up in time to make an early Magic Kingdom arrival :) Love your picture of the sign, so very pretty... if only I was there now :cloud9:

Can't wait to read more! :mickeyjum

Thanks! I was a little irritated with bell services for calling in the night (2:15 maybe????) They apparently REALLY wanted us to get that luggage! Of course, maybe it's becuase I had so much they needed to clear out more space for others! :lmao: And it WAS nice to have our toiletries to get ready with that morning.

The POP is still our preferred place to stay. I keep thinking it's time to branch out and try something new. But to be honest, we hardly ever waited for a bus. It seemed to work like clockwork. One morning we waited 10-15 minutes, but on a 10 day trip, that's pretty impressive. So I keep going back because of the bus service.

Still, not that I've photographed most of the icons around there, it WOULD be nice to have some new material to work with. But then it really does seem like home when we get there. I wonder if DVC would let me buy into the POP? :rotfl:

There really is no better feeling than driving under the MK sign for the first time each trip, is there?

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

Janet,

remind me again what camera you use. Your color and sharpness never cease to amaze me.

Can't wait to get to the MK, the buses there always take forever :rotfl:

[mom2rtk]

Janet,

remind me again what camera you use. Your color and sharpness never cease to amaze me.

Can't wait to get to the MK, the buses there always take forever :rotfl:

Thanks for the kind words! I use the Canon T2i and process in lightroom 3....... which I have to say is a far more enjoyable experience on my new computer! When I got the old computer I hadn't even gone digital yet, and that was a long time ago........ in 04.

It really DOES take forever to get to the MK from the POP. But is there anything better than the anticipation of your first park day ......... in the MK?

[2kids2luv]

Joining in too. :surfweb: How lucky that you get to go during Christmas. We went last year in early Dec. and the kids and I missed going this year. Can't wait to hear about all the fun. :goodvibes

[joy13]

Here and caught up - I can't wait to read all about your trip and see the beautiful pictures and gowns!!!!

[katt789]

I'm caught up so far! That display looks awesome! It's always something that I've wanted to do, but have never had the motivation to do with my own window.
Man, does your camera take awesome photos! Those around Pop are amazing!!

[Scraps-of-heaven]

I'm along for the ride. :0) Can't wait for the next batch of pics.

[KCmike]

Thanks for the kind words! I use the Canon T2i and process in lightroom 3....... which I have to say is a far more enjoyable experience on my new computer! When I got the old computer I hadn't even gone digital yet, and that was a long time ago........ in 04.

It really DOES take forever to get to the MK from the POP. But is there anything better than the anticipation of your first park day ......... in the MK?

How difficult is LR3 to use for a beginner?

[mom2rtk]

Joining in too. :surfweb: How lucky that you get to go during Christmas. We went last year in early Dec. and the kids and I missed going this year. Can't wait to hear about all the fun. :goodvibes

Hi there and :welcome:

As much as I want to go back during Halloween again, Christmas time wins for me. And if you were there last December, you really SHOULD have been there this December. The weather really made up for last year!

Here and caught up - I can't wait to read all about your trip and see the beautiful pictures and gowns!!!!

Thanks Joy! We won't get to the first gown until Sunday night at the party. The days my husband was along were more ride-centered.

I'm caught up so far! That display looks awesome! It's always something that I've wanted to do, but have never had the motivation to do with my own window.
Man, does your camera take awesome photos! Those around Pop are amazing!!

It was funny too. Drew knew I wanted to decorate our window, so I think he enjoyed pointing out our "neighbor's" window. They set the bar pretty high.

Thanks for the kind comments on the photos. It was nice to get to wander around and see some more of the POP icons this trip. I kept trying to let them sleep a little later, but it just never seemed to work out that way.

I'm along for the ride. :0) Can't wait for the next batch of pics.

Hey stranger! Glad you found us! I LOVED the capri sets you did the appliques for. :love: Sadly though, I'm thinking this was it for the applique sets. Maybe I'll start doing some for myself!

[jenseib]

I love that rooms little tree, how cute. I wonder if it is a Diser?
You got some great morning pictures. I know all about getting up at the crack of dawn at Disney!

[mom2rtk]

How difficult is LR3 to use for a beginner?

I use it. No need for additional comment..... :rotfl:

Seriously, you can use it a little or a lot. You can grow into it over time. I still have not scratched the surface of what it can do. But the noise reduction alone is makes it worth the price. It's just a slider bar.

I also love the exposure adjustments. I wasn't sold on the whole deal with shooting RAW and spending time with each photo until someone posted 2 shots side by side. One was the RAW massively underexposed shot straight out of the camera (almost completely black) and their rescued shot after using LR3. It was amazing. I bought it shortly after that and started shooting RAW.

The program is what I would consider VERY user friendly. Just a series of slider bars. Use as many or as few as you like. For each shot, I usually adjust 1) white balance (if needed) 2) exposure 3) contrast 4) sharpness and 5) noise reduction if needed.

The first time you slide that noise reduction bar over and see the difference, you'll be sold. They have a trial version online that you can dowload. If you decide to buy it, all you have to do is fill in the product key.

I love that rooms little tree, how cute. I wonder if it is a Diser?
You got some great morning pictures. I know all about getting up at the crack of dawn at Disney!

Well, thankfully..... I mean sadly..... the competition ..... I mean the neighbors..... moved out after a couple days so I'll never know. I liked their idea, but doubt we would want to give up our table. I didn't bring the tree back this year, partly because I could only find 2 of its 3 feet, and partly because I didnt' like giving up our table for it.

Maybe the owners will see it here and claim it!

I always get up at (or before) the crack of dawn. Where I start running into trouble is when I have late nights too. I STILL can't sleep late no matter how hard I try.

[Caretames1]

YAY, an update! Beautiful night shots! LR3 huh? may have to check it out!


If I got a phone call at 2:15 am, I would have shoved the phone up their nose and called it!

My favorite shot... the Tye Dye 60's. It's awesome!

[mom2rtk]

YAY, an update! Beautiful night shots! LR3 huh? may have to check it out!


If I got a phone call at 2:15 am, I would have shoved the phone up their nose and called it!

My favorite shot... the Tye Dye 60's. It's awesome!

Thanks Carey!

I was pretty tempted to give them a piece of my mind when the phone rang. But I NEEDED to get back to sleep and didn't want to wake myself any more.

Of course when I got up in the morning it dawned on me the with the boys at home alone, taking the phone off the hook probably wasn't the best plan, especially since our cell phones got no reception n the room.

Do you guys get reception on your cell phones in your resort rooms?

Not that it matters. We got those phones the night before leaving and we're committed for 2 years now. And honestly, after finally finishing up changing carriers, I don't want to change again any time soon!

I hope to get another installment posted tonight. I feel like I at LEAST need to get you guys into the park! :cool1:

[Caretames1]

Thanks Carey!

I was pretty tempted to give them a piece of my mind when the phone rang. But I NEEDED to get back to sleep and didn't want to wake myself any more.

Of course when I got up in the morning it dawned on me the with the boys at home alone, taking the phone off the hook probably wasn't the best plan, especially since our cell phones got no reception n the room.

Do you guys get reception on your cell phones in your resort rooms?

Not that it matters. We got those phones the night before leaving and we're committed for 2 years now. And honestly, after finally finishing up changing carriers, I don't want to change again any time soon!

I hope to get another installment posted tonight. I feel like I at LEAST need to get you guys into the park! :cool1:

I did get reception on my phone, but John didn't. We have tracfones, so it was surprising how varied our coverage was. I got full bars in the parks and internet as well, and he struggled everywhere except for DTD.:confused3


I wanna be in the park, I wanna be in the PARK!

[mom2rtk]

I did get reception on my phone, but John didn't. We have tracfones, so it was surprising how varied our coverage was. I got full bars in the parks and internet as well, and he struggled everywhere except for DTD.:confused3


I wanna be in the park, I wanna be in the PARK!

LOL! I promise we'll get there tonight! I know I'm ready!

Can I stop for a muffin first?

[Caretames1]

LOL! I promise we'll get there tonight! I know I'm ready!

Can I stop for a muffin first?

I'd rather have a cupcake!:lmao: Darn, there goes my New Years diet already!

[mom2rtk]

I'd rather have a cupcake!:lmao: Darn, there goes my New Years diet already!

Never fear. These don't have calories. They're virtual pastries! :banana:

And you definitely should try the trial of Lightroom 3. It's a lot of fun to play with. Try shooting a couple photos in RAW and playing with what you can do.

When I first started to learn what I was doing, I thought only the really good photographers shot in RAW. I was shooting Jpeg. Now that I've started to figure some of this out, I can see that RAW is the best format for those of us who aspire to be really good, but aren't quite there yet. That's because it gives the most latitude of fixing things on the computer I didn't get right in the camera.

Now I aspire to be good enough to go BACK to Jpeg one day..... so the files won't take up as much space! I figure the photographers who really know what they're doing get it right in the camera as a Jpeg from the start! :lmao:

[jenseib]

Mine phone is spotty at Pop. In the rooms it's hit or miss, but usually outside no problem. I have nextel/sprint. I used to have alltel and it was not good at all

[jenseib]

Can you edit jpegs in LR3? I shoot jpeg, but edit in camera raw on photoshop. I have only scratched the surface in there though. I need to read up more on it.

[mom2rtk]

Mine phone is spotty at Pop. In the rooms it's hit or miss, but usually outside no problem. I have nextel/sprint. I used to have alltel and it was not good at all

We just switched to T-mobile. We didn't have phone or internet reception in the room and it's 4G. I had to go outside every time I needed to make a call. At least it wasn't as cold outside this year!

[mom2rtk]

Can you edit jpegs in LR3? I shoot jpeg, but edit in camera raw on photoshop. I have only scratched the surface in there though. I need to read up more on it.

Yes you can. But there's a lot less you can do with the file. A RAW file just captures more date, which is why the dang things take so much memory. My T2i is an 18MP camera, but the RAW files are over 23.

I'm pretty lost in photoshop. I have a really old elements that came with my first digital camera. I haven't put it on the new computer since I use it less and less since I got LR3. I'm thinking of getting one of the newer Elements programs, but am not sure what I really want to do with it. There's a lot TO do with it, but I'd probably need a class or something.

[joy13]

I did get reception on my phone, but John didn't. We have tracfones, so it was surprising how varied our coverage was. I got full bars in the parks and internet as well, and he struggled everywhere except for DTD.:confused3


I wanna be in the park, I wanna be in the PARK!

I have a Tracfone too and I had good reception everywhere. I also was using a ZTE Peel mobile hotspot through Virgin Mobile (uses Sprints network) for my iPod Touch to get internet and I had a good signal for that the whole trip as well.

[mom2rtk]

FRIDAY 12/9: Continued

We passed through the gates of the Magic Kingdom at 8:05. Yet when we got to the entrance of the park, there seemed to be a lot of people standing around considering that the park just opened..... Hmmmm....... Oops! That's when I realized my mistake and knew Drew and Katie weren't going to be too thrilled with standing around for 45 minutes! Oh well, can you think of a prettier place to have to kill 45 minutes in the morning? It looked like we had time for a few photos and would indeed make rope drop.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7165/6631854807_f796413509_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631854807/)
IMG_3493 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631854807/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6631855021_7a3a1885da_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631855021/)
IMG_3495 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631855021/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7021/6631855323_27ba3f966e_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631855323/)
IMG_3496 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631855323/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6631855547_233c24b13c_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631855547/)
IMG_3498 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631855547/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6631855799_1355bcb5f9_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631855799/)
IMG_3500 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631855799/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

I let Drew and Katie decide if they wanted to wait far enough back to see the welcome show, or stand up by the rope to be one of the first in the park. They chose the rope. I did step back to do some field reconnaissance....... and sure enough......... the family of the day was a Mom, Dad and 2 kids. Hmmm....... Not encouraging for our odds as a 2 person group later in the trip.

Katie and I had several more days in the Magic Kingdom ahead of us. But aside from the party Sunday night, this was it for Drew. So the plan was to do pretty much what he wanted. And that was RIDES! When the rope dropped we headed for Tomorrowland. I wasn't paying much attention to the time and didn't realize we'd be stopping at a rope there too. Once that rope was down, we headed for Space Mountain where we got some fastpasses and got into the standby line. I've read a lot of complaints on the DIS from people saying it's a really rough ride, and for the first time, I really felt that. Maybe I was just comparing it with the DL version, which is much smoother. It was fun, but I did feel it!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7029/6631855997_d313589fc8_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631855997/)
IMG_3502 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631855997/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6631856127_518b739fac_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631856127/)
IMG_3503 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631856127/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr


On our way out,we made what would be our only Stitch sighting of the entire trip. We didn't stop to see him, but watched for a bit. He was having fun playing with one of the Muppet hats at a kiosk. I really wish they would do more of this sort of thing, with the characters "playing" out around the park. I'm sure they don't because when it's busy they would never be able to escape all the people.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7005/6631856269_cfbd1e6b3c_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631856269/)
IMG_3512 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631856269/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

Next we headed for Buzz Lightyear. Drew loves this ride, so I knew we'd be riding it at least a couple times. I enjoy it, but like the one at Disneyland better since you can pick up those guns.

At the entrance, a CM spotted the pins on Katie's lanyard. We have never pin traded before. But as Katie gets older and we start to drop some things she has outgrown, I've been looking for new things to add. I bought lanyards and a big batch of pins ahead of the trip but really wasn't sure what to expect. I had visions of me wanting to make my morning run to Dumbo and Katie wanting to trade with every single CM along Main Street! LOL! But I decided to throw caution to the wind and jump in. None of us had even thought about the pins, but we stopped and she made her very first trade ever. It was the start of a LOT of fun and enjoyment for her.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7155/6631856525_743466429e_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631856525/)
IMG_3514 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631856525/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

So into Buzz Lightyear we went, where I'm sure I beat everyone quite handily. OK, maybe not. But in my defense, I give Katie control of the spinner, and most of the time I'm trying to take pictures.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6631856743_fae0935273_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631856743/)
IMG_3517 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631856743/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7158/6631856897_4b764b032f_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631856897/)
IMG_3518 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631856897/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/6631857057_983f4a2e4e_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631857057/)
IMG_3520 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631857057/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6631857195_88cf6b4c3f_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631857195/)
IMG_3522 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631857195/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6631857485_e66af16b9a_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631857485/)
IMG_3525 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631857485/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

We left Buzz at 9:35 having done 2 rides and picked up our first set of fastpasses. Not a bad start, but I needed something to eat!

Anyone else need a virtual pastry?

[dara00]

ooh, great buzz ride photos!

ok, this is random, but do they sell the kermit muppet hats at mk? I really want one!

I know I've got too much packed into a short trip already, but I would love to start pin trading. On our last trip we got a pin with our package and I traded mine for a kermit with mickey ears pin, which I love. dd traded hers for a princess pin (and I remember I spoke for her because she's pretty shy and the cm said she had to ask for the one she wanted!) but she's since lost it.

[OllieDannyandMe]

Anyone else need a virtual pastry?

I need a virtual pastry! :yay:

[mom2rtk]

ooh, great buzz ride photos!

ok, this is random, but do they sell the kermit muppet hats at mk? I really want one!

I know I've got too much packed into a short trip already, but I would love to start pin trading. On our last trip we got a pin with our package and I traded mine for a kermit with mickey ears pin, which I love. dd traded hers for a princess pin (and I remember I spoke for her because she's pretty shy and the cm said she had to ask for the one she wanted!) but she's since lost it.

Thanks Dara!

That muppets hat was for sale at the kiosk. I didn't look to see if they had kermit, but I can't imagine they'd have them and NOT have Kermit.

The pin trading really turned out to be Katie's favorite part of this trip. I don't know if I'd do it on a one day trip where you have so much planned already, but one day when you have more time, I'm sure you would all love it a lot. Beware though that it's very addictive. I had planned to trade some myself and ended up just letting Katie trade them all herself. She had a ball, and I loved watching her go up to so many cast members to initiate conversations.

[mom2rtk]

I need a virtual pastry! :yay:

Well, I opted to have chocolate croissants, but you can have the muffins if you want!

Do any of you remember me leaving my chocolate croissants lay at the airport on the way last time? Well, I'm happy to report that I made up for lost time this year! I even managed to get a couple of them home with me! :cool1:

[vamassey1]

Fabulous pictures! I felt like I was there with you at POP.

I'm glad Katie has gotten into pin trading. Danielle has a blast doing this in 2009. She says she wants to do it again next month(I love being able to say next month). Where did you find you pins? I need to get some before we go.

[rndmr2]

Great start to your 1st MK day! The pics of the resort are great, I love that Generation Gap Bridge, it looks so pretty lit up. We were near there when we stayed there in 2004.

That's great that Katie got so into the pin trading, I have heard it can be fun.

[joy13]

Love your space mountain and Buzz pictures! Maddie has lanyards from each of our last 2 trips full of pins we bought, but we have never done trading. The pins we buy, we buy for significance (time of year, favorite ride that trip etc.) so I don't want to trade those. So I guess I would have to buy some pins just for trading then huh? Did you get yours on Ebay?

[mom2rtk]

Fabulous pictures! I felt like I was there with you at POP.

I'm glad Katie has gotten into pin trading. Danielle has a blast doing this in 2009. She says she wants to do it again next month(I love being able to say next month). Where did you find you pins? I need to get some before we go.

Thanks Vanessa!

So where are you staying in February? Are you going to be there for the 24 hour day?

Told you I need to pay close attention to what Danielle is up to. She always seems to give us a glimpse into what we need to try next!

I bought a couple lots of pins on Ebay before going. Not sure how many, but it seemed like TONS of pins. But then I gave our friends each a lanyard with a set to start, and once you start trading, it just never seems like enough.

I might as well buy a bunch now for our next trip because I'm sure we'll need them.

On our last day in the MK, a CM told us they keep a pin book in guest relations. Apparently you can go in and trade 2 each day. Who KNEW? We didn't get to take advantage of that, but Katie definitely wants to next time.

So are you guys trying anything else new this time? I need to know what Danielle's doing next! :cool1:

Great start to your 1st MK day! The pics of the resort are great, I love that Generation Gap Bridge, it looks so pretty lit up. We were near there when we stayed there in 2004.

That's great that Katie got so into the pin trading, I have heard it can be fun.

Thanks! We were a lot closer to the Generation Gap bridge than I cared to be! It was nice and quiet, but I really just want to be as close to the food court and bus stops as possible.

Love your space mountain and Buzz pictures! Maddie has lanyards from each of our last 2 trips full of pins we bought, but we have never done trading. The pins we buy, we buy for significance (time of year, favorite ride that trip etc.) so I don't want to trade those. So I guess I would have to buy some pins just for trading then huh? Did you get yours on Ebay?

To have fun with pin trading you definitely have to start with a bunch of pins you DON'T want to keep.That's the hard part. You buy a lot, but then when it comes, there are a bunch of them you want to keep! Katie changed her mind fast though when she was out in the parks and found a couple series she wanted to hunt for. It was sort of like a game. First it was anything with Chip & Dale. Then it was the nerd pins. Then it was the pirate pins. It was fun to help her look.

[mom2rtk]

Anyone care to guess what was my favorite photo in the last batch?

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

Per Muppets Hats... The have Beaker and Animal. I now because I received Beaker as a Christmas gift from Jenn this year ( go ahead and ask her about it LOL). No Kermy. On another sad note they may not have any more the sold out of Animal while I was there and soon Beaker followed :sad1:

Per the Buzz Pics... WOW!!! can I see a side by side of those so I can see what your camera is shooting and what you are doing in LR3?

[mom2rtk]

Per Muppets Hats... The have Beaker and Animal. I now because I received Beaker as a Christmas gift from Jenn this year ( go ahead and ask her about it LOL). No Kermy. On another sad note they may not have any more the sold out of Animal while I was there and soon Beaker followed :sad1:

Per the Buzz Pics... WOW!!! can I see a side by side of those so I can see what your camera is shooting and what you are doing in LR3?

Thanks for the recon on the Muppets hat. I can't believe they wouldn't have Kermit. Maybe they had him earlier and sold out????

And thanks for the kind comments on the photos. I do love the challenge of a good dark ride. Nothing like trying to take photos in the dark from a moving vehicle! :rotfl2:

I do like my camera a lot, but give a lot of credit for the color and sharpness to my Canon 17-55 f/2.8 lens. It's known for its sharpenss and never disappoints. It's on my camera 95% of the time. I did occasionally swap out for my Sigma 30mm f/1.4 but I'm just not a fan of primes. I like having a little zoom, so it's usually worth giving up the wider aperture to me.

Here's a side by side. Sort of. Since I couldn't get them side by side. :lmao: The top one is post LR3. Bottom one is straight out of camera.

My understanding is that when you shoot Jpeg, the camera applies some basic adjustments to your image. When you shoot RAW, that doesn't happen.

I'm not a processing whiz by any means (not even close), so mine tend to just get minimal adjusting. I do sometimes purposely underexpose the dark ride photos so I can get my shutter speed up. Better to have a dark photo that's sharp than a properly exposed photo that's blurry.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6631857485_e66af16b9a_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631857485/)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7159/6635321549_1bb3ff4a6f_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6635321549/)

[katt789]

Oh no for getting the time of opening wrong, but on the bright side, you guys were early, not late! :cool1: That's a pretty awesome amount of stuff to have gotten done in the first half hour of being there! Space is still a ride that I have yet to do, but with the flashing lights, I'm not sure if I can :confused3 And yes, I am very in need of a virtual pastry!!

[mom2rtk]

Oh no for getting the time of opening wrong, but on the bright side, you guys were early, not late! :cool1: That's a pretty awesome amount of stuff to have gotten done in the first half hour of being there! Space is still a ride that I have yet to do, but with the flashing lights, I'm not sure if I can :confused3 And yes, I am very in need of a virtual pastry!!

I actually enjoyed a little time out in front of the gates that morning to take some photos and anticipate the day (and trip!) to come.

I'm sorry to say I ate the last of the virtual chocolate croissants this morning. But there's a chocolate muffin and a cherry turnover left!

Man, I worked hard to lose a few pounds last year, and I'm pretty sure I put them back on during the trip. Good thing these virtual pastries are so low in calories! :cool1:

[mesaboy2]

Sorry if I helped you feel the bumpiness of SM this time--I know you saw my complaint in my journey a couple months ago.

For a Buzz Lightyear scoring spoiler or two, highlight the below text regarding the orange robot and the Zurg spider that you have pictured above.


The Z target on the robot's left palm is worth 100,000, and I think can be hit multiple times. I'm less sure about this one, but I think the Z target at the very bottom of Zurg's spider (below "PITIFUL") also scores big points.


You have a real knack for photography, by the way. I wish I could take shots like those.

[dara00]

Per Muppets Hats... The have Beaker and Animal. I now because I received Beaker as a Christmas gift from Jenn this year ( go ahead and ask her about it LOL). No Kermy. On another sad note they may not have any more the sold out of Animal while I was there and soon Beaker followed :sad1:

Per the Buzz Pics... WOW!!! can I see a side by side of those so I can see what your camera is shooting and what you are doing in LR3?

but they do have kermit at dhs(haha I just put mgm and had to change it!), right? I saw a picture in someone's tr...anyone know if you can find that hat anywhere else or at all?

[mom2rtk]

Sorry if I helped you feel the bumpiness of SM this time--I know you saw my complaint in my journey a couple months ago.

For a Buzz Lightyear scoring spoiler or two, highlight the below text regarding the orange robot and the Zurg spider that you have pictured above.


The Z target on the robot's left palm is worth 100,000, and I think can be hit multiple times. I'm less sure about this one, but I think the Z target at the very bottom of Zurg's spider (below "PITIFUL") also scores big points.


You have a real knack for photography, by the way. I wish I could take shots like those.

I completely forgot about your recent experience on Space! Well, not about the "6 parks in one day" thing (cough cough...showoff!) ;) but about the Space experience. So is it possible the ride has changed? Cuz I'd sure hate to have to blame it on the encroaching hands of father time........

And thanks for the trick. I used to kid the boys all the time (you know....... before they passed the point of no return as Disney haters :sad:) that I was going to go online and get all those trick. But I never did. And now I just always forget to check before leaving! Maybe I should email that post to my phone and leave it there for next time!

And thanks for the kind words on the photos. I've had a DSLR since 04, but never knew how to use it until the last couple years. I kept trying to read the dang manuals and just didn't "get it". The light bulbs :idea: didn't start going off until I started hanging out here in the DIS photography forum. They will answer even the dumbest questions (yep, I had my share) without making one feel like an idiot. RIGHT up my alley!

I really had a lot of fun with on-ride photography this trip! :cool1: It's one of the many things I love about Disney.

[mesaboy2]

I completely forgot about your recent experience on Space! Well, not about the "6 parks in one day" thing (cough cough...showoff!) ;) but about the Space experience. So is it possible the ride has changed? Cuz I'd sure hate to have to blame it on the encroaching hands of father time........
And thanks for the trick. I used to kid the boys all the time (you know....... before they passed the point of no return as Disney haters :sad:) that I was going to go online and get all those trick. But I never did. And now I just always forget to check before leaving! Maybe I should email that post to my phone and leave it there for next time!

And thanks for the kind words on the photos. I've had a DSLR since 04, but never knew how to use it until the last couple years. I kept trying to read the dang manuals and just didn't "get it". The light bulbs :idea: didn't start going off until I started hanging out here in the DIS photography forum. They will answer even the dumbest questions (yep, I had my share) without making one feel like an idiot. RIGHT up my alley!

I really had a lot of fun with on-ride photography this trip! :cool1: It's one of the many things I love about Disney.

It's probably just me getting older. Just me, not you of course. That said, there was the refurb a couple of years ago that may have done something to it. But I honestly don't remember enough about it before that to make a comparison.

I'd definitely agree you know how to use the DSLR now.

And, I sent you an OT PM.

ETA: And now your PM message cache is full, I can't respond.... :)

[mom2rtk]

It's probably just me getting older. Just me, not you of course. That said, there was the refurb a couple of years ago that may have done something to it. But I honestly don't remember enough about it before that to make a comparison.

I'd definitely agree you know how to use the DSLR now.

And, I sent you an OT PM.

LOL! Yeah.... we'll go with that. Tell your wife I said she trained you well! :rotfl:

I wondered about the refurb too. I was disappointed that I had missed riding it at all in 08. Katie wasn't doing thrill rides yet. But I could have gone when our friends got there late in the trip, but never did. It was right after that when they announced the refurb, so we missed it in 09.

I do recall riding it last year a couple times, but not really feeling it. I will say though that we did FAR more thrill rides this time. Maybe it all just caught up with me by the end of the trip.

And many thanks for the vote of confidence in my photography!

[PlutosRHM55]

YAY, you've arrived! I'm sorry to hear you got your times mixed up though, but still you made it to rope drop :thumbsup2 Always a fun start to a trip, rope drop at Magic Kingdom :goodvibes Love all your pictures by the way, it's always refreshing to see some quality pictures of the World :teeth: Too bad the nice DSLR's can't be cheaper :cloud9:

Big :thumbsup2 up to Space Mountain as your first ride! Always smart to get some FPs before the standby line. :) And it's funny how I never noticed the bumpiness on Space Mountain. I always thought it was just the fact you can't see anything and it adds to the experience. Maybe the day I end up going on the SM in DL, my opinion will change... :confused3

Awwww... Stitch... that's so rare a person can catch a moment like that, so glad you caught it on camera. I wish they would let characters play around more too, but the parks do get crowded. Maybe one day when they have enough CMs to regulate the crowds around them ::yes::

That's awesome you guys started pin trading on this day. It really is a lot more fun than people make it cut out to be. And I gotta say you have some pretty nice looking lanyards. :thumbsup2

Oh, those are some great pictures of Buzz! I've never seen people try to get pictures on that ride and those are really good. I think I may have to take you up on that offer of a virtual pastry hehe ;)

Can't wait to read more! :mickeyjum

[Glennie5]

I have always been so busy ogling Katie's dresses that I hadn't noticed what an amazing photographer you are!
Love mesaboy's spoiler for Buzz! Hope I can remember for our next trip, I would love to beat hubby and son's score.

[mom2rtk]

YAY, you've arrived! I'm sorry to hear you got your times mixed up though, but still you made it to rope drop :thumbsup2 Always a fun start to a trip, rope drop at Magic Kingdom :goodvibes Love all your pictures by the way, it's always refreshing to see some quality pictures of the World :teeth: Too bad the nice DSLR's can't be cheaper :cloud9:

I really enjoyed being out in front of the MK gates for a bit. I'm usually in such a hurry getting through there!

Thanks for the kind words. :goodvibes

DSLR's aren't cheap by any means, but at least you get a whole lot more these days for actually a lot less than even a few short years ago. The first one I got back in 04 was vastly different from this one (in features) yet far more expensive.

Big :thumbsup2 up to Space Mountain as your first ride! Always smart to get some FPs before the standby line. :) And it's funny how I never noticed the bumpiness on Space Mountain. I always thought it was just the fact you can't see anything and it adds to the experience. Maybe the day I end up going on the SM in DL, my opinion will change... :confused3

We really worked the fastpasses that day. I can't tell you how many we ended up using. Of course, it helps immensely that it was a pretty low crowd day. There was a party that night so crowds were down. I think the crowd calendar had it at 1.5 or some such thing. I did warn Drew it wouldn't be a ghost town by any means, but it was a breath of fresh air even compared to our days there last year.... even the COLD days!

I actually was thinking the reason it seems so rough is that you can't see the turns coming. Heck, even in Rock 'n Rollercoaster you can see which way you're going next.

Everyone should do the DL Space once in life. It has all the feel of the WDW version without all the bumps. I compare the DL version more to RnR and the WDW version more to BRMRR in the dark.

Awwww... Stitch... that's so rare a person can catch a moment like that, so glad you caught it on camera. I wish they would let characters play around more too, but the parks do get crowded. Maybe one day when they have enough CMs to regulate the crowds around them ::yes::

Stitch WAS pretty funny! I'm glad we caught him.

That's awesome you guys started pin trading on this day. It really is a lot more fun than people make it cut out to be. And I gotta say you have some pretty nice looking lanyards. :thumbsup2

Thanks! I ordered lanyards on Ebay before leaving so we were ready to go when we got there. I did have to fight with Katie about keeping her ticket in her lanyard. We'll get to that shortly.

The pin trading was a great addition to this trip. I wonder what we'll add next time?

Oh, those are some great pictures of Buzz! I've never seen people try to get pictures on that ride and those are really good. I think I may have to take you up on that offer of a virtual pastry hehe ;)

Can't wait to read more! :mickeyjum

Thank you! Buzz really isn't one of the most challenging of the dark rides though. Peter Pan is the holy grail of dark ride photography, followed closely by Haunted Mansion. The targets are pretty well lit, making it easier than some. Still, it's not likely to happen without a DSLR.

SOMEONE PASS THE PASTRY PLATE!


Replies in red.



I have always been so busy ogling Katie's dresses that I hadn't noticed what an amazing photographer you are!
Love mesaboy's spoiler for Buzz! Hope I can remember for our next trip, I would love to beat hubby and son's score.



What a sweetie. :flower3:Thanks!

[vamassey1]

Our trip dates are Feb 17-22. Very short trip since we're crashing Danielle's school trip. She will be doing classes at MK, DHS and AK before going into the actual parks. So now Katie needs to go with her school group and get to do cool classes that we won't get to do.

Our first night is going to be at Hotel Royal Plaza near DTD. We check into POR on Saturday and we have free dining! I've never stayed there so I'm excited. I added Michelle and my niece Chelsea to our reservation today.

As far as getting there early I think your subconscious was shooting for being the family of the day so you got there extra early.:thumbsup2

The year Danielle was into pin trading we spent the week looking for the cutie pins especially the princess ones.

[jenseib]

I love pictures...of course. I will have to try my hand at some buzz pictures now. I'm usually trying to win. LOL!
I rode Space in Aug, the first time I have ridden it since it's refurbed...it was jerky/bumpy but it still seemed much better than what it was before the refurb. I have heard the DL's version is much better.

[marDgreen88]

So, you should probably expect every comment I leave on this TR to start with 'YOUR PHOTOS ARE INCREDIBLE.' You have been warned. :laughing: Really though!

Katie is so cute, she looks so excited to be there. I bet pin trading is fun! So far I've just bought pins that apply to me to collect, though, so I think it might be hard for me to trade!

Excited to read more!

[mom2rtk]

Our trip dates are Feb 17-22. Very short trip since we're crashing Danielle's school trip. She will be doing classes at MK, DHS and AK before going into the actual parks. So now Katie needs to go with her school group and get to do cool classes that we won't get to do.

Our first night is going to be at Hotel Royal Plaza near DTD. We check into POR on Saturday and we have free dining! I've never stayed there so I'm excited. I added Michelle and my niece Chelsea to our reservation today.

As far as getting there early I think your subconscious was shooting for being the family of the day so you got there extra early.:thumbsup2

The year Danielle was into pin trading we spent the week looking for the cutie pins especially the princess ones.


Well, I'm thinking the odds of a school trip for Katie are pretty low.... so we'll probably have to come up with something new on our own! Her trip sounds pretty awesome though. How cool that you get to go as well. :goodvibes

Katie did collect some cutie pins, just not the princesses. I don't remember seeing any of the princess cuties.

I hope you do a trip report when you get back. I really enjoy your trip reports and I'd love to hear how it all goes!

And of course I KNOW I'll get to see some of your scrapbook pages later. Don't tell Danielle, but the ones you've been doing lately with tiny Danielle are my favorites though!



I love pictures...of course. I will have to try my hand at some buzz pictures now. I'm usually trying to win. LOL!
I rode Space in Aug, the first time I have ridden it since it's refurbed...it was jerky/bumpy but it still seemed much better than what it was before the refurb. I have heard the DL's version is much better.

Well, the ONE requirement for photographing Buzz is that you can't be super competitive..... because your score WILL suffer. I tend to shoot a little with the camera, then with the ride gun, then the camera, then the guide gun. Of course, now I know exactly WHEN to put the camera down and score my 100K a few times! :cool1:

So, you should probably expect every comment I leave on this TR to start with 'YOUR PHOTOS ARE INCREDIBLE.' You have been warned. :laughing: Really though!

Katie is so cute, she looks so excited to be there. I bet pin trading is fun! So far I've just bought pins that apply to me to collect, though, so I think it might be hard for me to trade!

Excited to read more!

LOL! I guess if you MUST start each comment that way, I suppose I could live with it.... :rotfl: Thanks for saying that. :goodvibes

If you're the sort to buy pins in the parks but want to try trading, I'd say just keep those completely separate. I bought a bunch of pins on this trip but didn't even put them on my lanyard. I didn't want to trade one by mistake! I actually cut the back off of my pins and add them to my scrapbook pages. I love having my journaling, photos and pins all integrated together to tell the story of the trip.

I actually had one on my lanyard I was pretty fond of. I wasn't actively trading so I didn't even think about it. Then as we were sitting on the curb waiting for the Chrismtas parade, the cutest little 3 year old came up and asked me to trade. How could I resist? It was her first day trading and it's now a very fond memory of mine from the trip. She was just thrilled to bits.

[Caretames1]

My favorite picture is of Katie in Buzz, Her look of concentration.

I'm gonna try to shoot in the RAW (on my camera, not sans clothing!) this weekend.... we'll see how it goes since I've never done it before.

Anything I should know before hand (simple things for simple minds please!)

[mom2rtk]

My favorite picture is of Katie in Buzz, Her look of concentration.

I'm gonna try to shoot in the RAW (on my camera, not sans clothing!) this weekend.... we'll see how it goes since I've never done it before.

Anything I should know before hand (simple things for simple minds please!)

Thanks Carey. Katie does take her game seriously. She's not very good, but she sure tries hard. Oops.... did I say that out loud? :cool2:

Not much you need to know shooting RAW. Just don't do it IN the RAW. Oops, sorry..... that's your joke! :rotfl:

Just know that it will take more memory. Other than that the real difference comes when you download and process it. The file will retain more information on the shot so you have more latitude to "fix" things. If your software doesn't do what you want with the RAW file, then download the LR3 trial version. Just know that you only have 30 days once you download it before it turns into a pumpkin. :wizard:

It really does add a greater hassle factor to dealing with your photos in that you have to process the file then convert to Jpeg before you can do much with it. But the first time you're able to save some critical photos because ou thought to shoot in RAW, you'll be sold.

The other option is to shoot in RAW + Jpeg. This is ideal because it saves the file in both formats. The down side of course is that it takes a huge amount of memory space. I did this on one trip, but it filled the cards so fast I had to change plans. But for select shoots, it can be an ideal answer.

One thing I know. There are many shots from when the kids were little that I really wish I had the RAW files. Some are underexposed and I would love to lighten them up more, but have just been unhappy with my results so far.

[AprilRenee]

Yay!! A new TR! I loved reading your last one!

[mom2rtk]

Yay!! A new TR! I loved reading your last one!

YEAH! I'm glad you found us. You're just in time. We just arrived in the Magic Kingdom! :cool1: And I got a great score on Buzz Lightyear. You'll notice I didn't report the actual number here though. I didn't want to make everyone feel bad. :rolleyes1

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

Janet...

As a little teaser to our "hopefully to be soon TR", Jenn became a galactic Hero on this trip. So be sure to ask her for tips for Katie :woohoo:

[jenseib]

Happy Anniversary!!!!!

:dance3: :dance3: :dance3: :dance3: :grouphug:

[mom2rtk]

Janet...

As a little teaser to our "hopefully to be soon TR", Jenn became a galactic Hero on this trip. So be sure to ask her for tips for Katie :woohoo:


That is AWESOME!

Forget Katie..... I'm taking notes and beating them ALL next time!

Happy Anniversary!!!!!

:dance3: :dance3: :dance3: :dance3: :grouphug:


Thanks Jen! You must have good sources. ;)

[mom2rtk]

12/9: CONTINUED: On To FANTASYLAND!

By now I was really starting to get hungry. I'm one who has to eat breakfast and it was mid-morning. I really wanted one of those big pastries from the Bakery on Main Street so we backtracked. The park wasn't crazy busy, but the line to the bakery was out the door and down the sidewalk. Apparently they were going to make me WORK for my breakfast. After a moment we noticed a party getting up to leave their table outside so Drew sat down and saved a primo spot for us.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/6631857645_0b3a23bccc_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631857645/)
IMG_3541 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631857645/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

In the end, I passed on all those gorgeous yummy looking pastries in favor of something that would keep me full longer. Drew and I each had a ham and cheese croissant and Katie had cereal. Drew loved his, but mine was less than good. The scrambled egg patty was runny and I just didn't have it in me to go back in.

Once I was done eating, I let them sit for a minute while I ran back for Mickey fastpasses. Of course, Katie had insisted on carrying her own ticket in her lanyard, and when I got there I was a ticket short. So back I went again and finally did get the fastpasses. It was fun to snap some photos of Main Street all decked out for Christmas along the way.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7143/6631857925_515cf0bb95_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631857925/)
IMG_3542 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631857925/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7005/6631858077_f49579eb20_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631858077/)
IMG_3543 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631858077/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7035/6631858395_18af0cf64e_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631858395/)
IMG_3545 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631858395/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6631858583_514730e103_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631858583/)
IMG_3547 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631858583/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr


Our next goal was a quick spin on Dumbo. That's how we used to start nearly every day in the Magic Kingdom. But now that Katie loves Space Mountain, that has become the first stop of choice, and poor Dumbo had to take a back seat. :sad: In our haste to get to Tomorrowland that morning we hadn't gotten a picture in front of the castle yet, so we did that on our way to Fantasyland. I can't believe it was this empty around the hub mid-morning!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/6631858791_7b25221cde_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631858791/)
IMG_3550 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631858791/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

So we were finally on our way to Fantasyland! I knew about the construction walls. Heck, it had been pretty torn up on our last trip. But once we got to Fantasyland, I was a still disappointed. What I wasn't ready for was having the carousel wrapped in scrims. I was really looking forward to one last shot at photographing Dumbo with the castle in the background..... but that just wasn't meant to be. It was a nice ride, but for me, Dumbo has always been about the view, not the ride itself. I'm not sure if much in the Fantasyland Expansion will be that exciting, but after a couple years of Fantasyland being torn up, I'm just ready to have it back to looking pretty again.

We can't pass that sword without giving it a try..... Katie's pretty convinced it just doesn't move. I'd love to just be watching one day when someone pulls it out!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7034/6631859063_c45d5dc103_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631859063/)
IMG_3552 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631859063/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7150/6631859231_242e35a327_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631859231/)
IMG_3555 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631859231/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6631859603_14dce24889_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631859603/)
IMG_3560 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631859603/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6631859403_70454509c8_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631859403/)
IMG_3563 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631859403/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7173/6631859841_af32730ea4_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631859841/)
IMG_3568 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631859841/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7030/6631860037_1d58b105d1_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631860037/)
IMG_3569 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631860037/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

We had grabbed Peter Pan fastpasses on our way into Fantasyland but it wouldn't be long before we could get more. We took a ride on Small World (I was surprised Drew wanted to ride this, but he considers it a classic part of any trip to Disney).
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6631860179_eb966f1ee6_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631860179/)
IMG_3582 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631860179/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6631860373_5338647abc_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631860373/)
IMG_3588 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631860373/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7023/6631860559_9d6863e662_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631860559/)
IMG_3591 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631860559/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

In retrospect, I LOVE the way our day was structured. Yes, we had to get one of the headliners out of the way at rope drop. But coming back and spending some time on Main Street to soak it all in......... was just perfect.

Of course, when we get back next year, the Fantasyland Expansion might be open, so there might not be time for dallying mid-morning while the crowds build.

[fairestoneofall]

love your Small World pictures--so beautiful!!!

darn that scrim! it was pretty ugly around the beautiful carrousel. i was glad it was down by the end of our trip. Dumbo will never be the same. :(

i also told DH that sometimes the sword does come out. he was intent on pulling it out, but he had no luck.

BTW, i think the volcano is another high-scoring spot on Buzz. all i know is that we were stopped for a little bit and my sister kept hitting that spot. her score was 999,999. i couldn't get to it, but had a 10k spot. my score was high, but not nearly as high as hers. it's funny because my kids were telling each of us to stop shooting because the ride was stopped. um. no. i'm still scoring points here!

[babynala]

Your pictures are beautiful. Love the ones from Pop and the ones along Main Street and the Small World ones are amazing. The picture of the 3 of you in front of the castle is very nice, I can't believe how empty the area was. What a great place to have breakfast.

[vamassey1]

Beautiful pictures!

I'm trying to convince DH to stop for breakfast on Main Street, since we have never done it but so far it's a no go. We enter the park, head to back and don't see Main Street until we're walking out. I truly want to see the Trolly parade. I tried tempting him with huge cinnamon rolls, but it didn't work:sad2:.

I've never ridden Dumbo, cause I don't do round and round and now I'm sorry I didn't. I'm looking forward to seeing the new Dumbo next month. Don't think I'll ride it, but I will ride the Goofy ride.

I don't know if I'll do a trip report, I'm waiting to see if Michelle and Chelsea give me some good stuff for the report. We worked on photos we want to get yesterday.

I love the old pictures of Danielle at Disney too.

[mom2rtk]

love your Small World pictures--so beautiful!!!

darn that scrim! it was pretty ugly around the beautiful carrousel. i was glad it was down by the end of our trip. Dumbo will never be the same. :(

i also told DH that sometimes the sword does come out. he was intent on pulling it out, but he had no luck.

BTW, i think the volcano is another high-scoring spot on Buzz. all i know is that we were stopped for a little bit and my sister kept hitting that spot. her score was 999,999. i couldn't get to it, but had a 10k spot. my score was high, but not nearly as high as hers. it's funny because my kids were telling each of us to stop shooting because the ride was stopped. um. no. i'm still scoring points here!

Thanks! I'll have more Small World photos later in the trip.

I'm glad you got to see Fantasyland without the Carousel scrims. That would have been nice, but we rode Dumbo again on Friday the next week and I'm pretty sure it was there then.

Thaks for the tip! Maybe next time I'll take one trip through without the camera and beat everyone!

I did have one trip through buzz at DL a few years ago where I got 800K or so. The boys were along and got really ticked off. I'm sure it was the SCORE they were unhappy with and not my.... shall we say..... excitement over the score....... :lmao: No tricks though, just pure luck. We got stopped just after I stumbled across a high point target.

I really DO like Buzz at DL more than WDW though. The guns come off to hold, and it makes a HUGE difference.

Your pictures are beautiful. Love the ones from Pop and the ones along Main Street and the Small World ones are amazing. The picture of the 3 of you in front of the castle is very nice, I can't believe how empty the area was. What a great place to have breakfast.

Thanks! I also feel like we need to go, go, go in the mornings at Disney. but morning is the BEST time to be on Main Street with the trolley, double decker and such.

The only down side of the Main Street Bakery is the really limited seating. But I'd probably take my stuff out and sit on the curb just to have that view again. It was't our only trip in there this trip. We ate there twice with our friends later in the week and absolutely loved it.

Beautiful pictures!

I'm trying to convince DH to stop for breakfast on Main Street, since we have never done it but so far it's a no go. We enter the park, head to back and don't see Main Street until we're walking out. I truly want to see the Trolly parade. I tried tempting him with huge cinnamon rolls, but it didn't work:sad2:.

I've never ridden Dumbo, cause I don't do round and round and now I'm sorry I didn't. I'm looking forward to seeing the new Dumbo next month. Don't think I'll ride it, but I will ride the Goofy ride.

I don't know if I'll do a trip report, I'm waiting to see if Michelle and Chelsea give me some good stuff for the report. We worked on photos we want to get yesterday.

I love the old pictures of Danielle at Disney too.

Thanks Vanessa! We had our first Main Street bakery cinnamon roll this trip too. OH my, what I wouldn't give for one of those right now! Bring me one back from your trip, will you? And none of this low cal "virtrual pastry" stuff. I want the REAL DEAL!

I'm less than excited about the new Dumbo. For me, it's always been about the view FROM Dumbo, which will definitely be changing. Katie will love the Great Goofini though. She finally rode it for the first time last December, only to have it closed this year.

I hope you get some great photos on your trip and have LOADS of fun so you'll definitely be tempted to do a new trip report! :cool1:

[jenseib]

I just love all your shots! You got such bright photos of Small World.
I went to the bakery this last trip too and bought for the first time, but I went at night. I got one of those big cinnamon rolls. I wasn't hungry, but wanted to save it for morning. And it was too gooey and big to hassle with more than a bite on the move. I am sad to say that by morning it wasn't as wonderful. It was a little dry and it needed to be warmed up. Plus I was on my way to breakfast with the group, so I just kind ate some here and there. I wasn't going to waste it. :laughing:
Those scrims are ugly. Are they doing something to the carousel or is it to protect it from construction near by?

[mom2rtk]

I just love all your shots! You got such bright photos of Small World.
I went to the bakery this last trip too and bought for the first time, but I went at night. I got one of those big cinnamon rolls. I wasn't hungry, but wanted to save it for morning. And it was too gooey and big to hassle with more than a bite on the move. I am sad to say that by morning it wasn't as wonderful. It was a little dry and it needed to be warmed up. Plus I was on my way to breakfast with the group, so I just kind ate some here and there. I wasn't going to waste it. :laughing:
Those scrims are ugly. Are they doing something to the carousel or is it to protect it from construction near by?

Thanks Jen! What a disappointment your cinnamon roll must have been. Some quality time in a microwave probably would have made a big difference. Too bad you didn't have one!

Speaking of ugly scrims.... and speaking of Main Street Bakery.......... I came across this today:

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43651701&postcount=1

Maybe I should stop complaining!

I think the ones up around the carousel were for some sort of work on the carousel. There wasn't any other construction around close.

I guess from here on out, I'll just have to remember Dumbo the way it was in the summer of 09 in one of my favorite Disney shots ever:

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3310/3615656926_facd4c2d11_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/3615656926/)
Dumbo DELIGHT! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/3615656926/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

[jenseib]

Wow, they didn't even try to make that look pretty! :scared1:

[mom2rtk]

Wow, they didn't even try to make that look pretty! :scared1:

I know! Isn't it AWFUL! I feel bad for even complaining about the Carousel Scrims now!

[francis6306]

I'm glad we went last year now!!! At least we got to see a lot of the Magical parts in their glory!! And isn't Dumbo going to be "Under the big top" in the new Fantasyland???

[Caretames1]

OMG! I would be so mad if I was at Disney right now and I had that UGLY box in my view of the Castle!


And What are they doing to the carasaol?


Your IASW pics are excellent! I tried getting those dolls....FAIL!

[mom2rtk]

I'm glad we went last year now!!! At least we got to see a lot of the Magical parts in their glory!! And isn't Dumbo going to be "Under the big top" in the new Fantasyland???

I've never seen anything as ugly as the Main Street Bakery in that photo! They really are slipping.

I dont' think Dumbo will be under anything. I think the bigtop is over the interactive queue area. I'm guessing you'll be able to see the castle over the treetops, but it won't be even close to the same.

Those wanting the old view will just have to caravan to Disneyland with me!

OMG! I would be so mad if I was at Disney right now and I had that UGLY box in my view of the Castle!


And What are they doing to the carasaol?


Your IASW pics are excellent! I tried getting those dolls....FAIL!

Thanks Carey! I shot Small World with a 2.8 lens at 1600 ISO. I used shutter priority at 1/40 so sometimes it was at 2.8, sometimes 3.2. But you definitely need a high ISO and/or a fast lens.

I have no idea what they did with the carousel, but apparently the scrims came down right after we left!

[francis6306]

Those wanting the old view will just have to caravan to Disneyland with me!




If I win one of these trips that they are giving away, I'm planning on going to DL. I figure the resorts and airfare would make the trip something I wouldn't be willing to pay for, so I'll take a free trip! Plus, the next time I go to WDW, I want more than 5 days in the park. ;) Like my daydreaming?!?!?! :rolleyes1

[mom2rtk]

If I win one of these trips that they are giving away, I'm planning on going to DL. I figure the resorts and airfare would make the trip something I wouldn't be willing to pay for, so I'll take a free trip! Plus, the next time I go to WDW, I want more than 5 days in the park. ;) Like my daydreaming?!?!?! :rolleyes1

I toil over this decision every year. I love Disneyland. But I love staying on Disney property and being fully immersed in the Disney experience. And the combination of a value resort with free dining is the ticket that does it for me. There are no Disney value resorts at DLR. So we'd have to stay far fewer days for the same money. I know they have "good neighbor" hotels, but it's just not the same as being on property. Still, we'll find a way to get there again. Just probably not this year since we'll want to try and catch the Fantasyland expansion.

We live right in the middle of the country, but I'd probably take DLR if we won the contest. But then, I'd be pretty tempted to hit WDW and stay at the Grand Floridian. We've stayed at the Grand Californian and the Disneyland Hotel on short trips before. But I don't see us staying at the GF without a win of some sort.

[jc040404]

So enjoying all of your pictures. You make me wish I was more of a camera person sometimes. They're great!

I love that you all went back for breakfast after catching a couple of rides. Those lines have always been enough to scare me away from the idea.

We're the same way with that silly sword, too. My oldest believes that it only moves for television now. We keep trying anyway. I'd love to see anyone pull it up!

[francis6306]

I toil over this decision every year. I love Disneyland. But I love staying on Disney property and being fully immersed in the Disney experience. And the combination of a value resort with free dining is the ticket that does it for me. There are no Disney value resorts at DLR. So we'd have to stay far fewer days for the same money. I know they have "good neighbor" hotels, but it's just not the same as being on property. Still, we'll find a way to get there again. Just probably not this year since we'll want to try and catch the Fantasyland expansion.

We live right in the middle of the country, but I'd probably take DLR if we won the contest. But then, I'd be pretty tempted to hit WDW and stay at the Grand Floridian. We've stayed at the Grand Californian and the Disneyland Hotel on short trips before. But I don't see us staying at the GF without a win of some sort.

I agree, I want to stay on property! It just wouldn't be the same for me!! Luckily, my husband totally agrees. :woohoo: I think I can be happy staying at Pop or another value at WDW and pay for it on my own, but I wouldn't be able to afford a DLR along with flight and such. Although, I think 5 days would be too much for just 2 parks. We'll see. No need starting a PTR until they start calling us on the 11th, right?? :rotfl:

[jenseib]

I agree, I want to stay on property! It just wouldn't be the same for me!! Luckily, my husband totally agrees. :woohoo: I think I can be happy staying at Pop or another value at WDW and pay for it on my own, but I wouldn't be able to afford a DLR along with flight and such. Although, I think 5 days would be too much for just 2 parks. We'll see. No need starting a PTR until they start calling us on the 11th, right?? :rotfl:

You could have a resort day and relax, explore DTD...or rent a car for the day and go exploring.

[mom2rtk]

So enjoying all of your pictures. You make me wish I was more of a camera person sometimes. They're great!

I love that you all went back for breakfast after catching a couple of rides. Those lines have always been enough to scare me away from the idea.

We're the same way with that silly sword, too. My oldest believes that it only moves for television now. We keep trying anyway. I'd love to see anyone pull it up!

Thanks for the kind comments! :goodvibes I have moments where I think how nice it would be to carry a camera that fits in my pocket, but then I come to my senses! :lmao: I just can't imagine being in one of the most visual places on earth.... and not having my good camera along. I almost always have it out.

I agree, I want to stay on property! It just wouldn't be the same for me!! Luckily, my husband totally agrees. :woohoo: I think I can be happy staying at Pop or another value at WDW and pay for it on my own, but I wouldn't be able to afford a DLR along with flight and such. Although, I think 5 days would be too much for just 2 parks. We'll see. No need starting a PTR until they start calling us on the 11th, right?? :rotfl:

LOL! Maybe we'll do a joint PTR when you win on the 11th and I win on the 12th.......... which reminds me......... better go enter for today! :idea:

I could easily do 5 days in the 2 parks though. We did 5 MK days this trip, plus a hop over one of our party nights. I love being able to do the MK in the morning, then playing in the afternoon, followed by a character meal and/or fireworks at night.

You could have a resort day and relax, explore DTD...or rent a car for the day and go exploring.

LOTS of folks end up doing other southern CA stuff while at DL. But I'd spend all 5 days at DL. Heck, maybe I'd finally see Fantasmic there! They say people lay out blankets HOURS in advance there. I just never want to give up that much time.

[francis6306]

You could have a resort day and relax, explore DTD...or rent a car for the day and go exploring.
Yeah, I actually have some friends in the LA area, so I will be seeing them for SURE! :goodvibes


LOL! Maybe we'll do a joint PTR when you win on the 11th and I win on the 12th.......... which reminds me......... better go enter for today! :idea:

That sounds good! And you could make my girls princess dresses, since I won't have to pay for the trip I can afford some beautiful custom dresses! :love:

[mom2rtk]

Yeah, I actually have some friends in the LA area, so I will be seeing them for SURE! :goodvibes


That sounds good! And you could make my girls princess dresses, since I won't have to pay for the trip I can afford some beautiful custom dresses! :love:

LOL! We'd have a grand time with all those girls. Katie LOVES little princess watching at the parks. We had fun ooh'ing and aah'ing over cute little princesses around us. I know she'd love to travel with a couple!

[francis6306]

LOL! We'd have a grand time with all those girls. Katie LOVES little princess watching at the parks. We had fun ooh'ing and aah'ing over cute little princesses around us. I know she'd love to travel with a couple!

Well that settles it. Hopefully we'll start our PTR sometime later this month on our joint trip to the Land! :rotfl: You let me know what works for you and Katie, since mine aren't in school! :lmao:

[marDgreen88]

:rotfl: I love Katie's look of sheer determination at the Sword in the Stone. She just WANTS IT! So funny.

I didn't understand what the big tent on the carousel was about either! It was so weird looking.

[Yzerbear19]

I toil over this decision every year. I love Disneyland. But I love staying on Disney property and being fully immersed in the Disney experience. And the combination of a value resort with free dining is the ticket that does it for me. There are no Disney value resorts at DLR. So we'd have to stay far fewer days for the same money. I know they have "good neighbor" hotels, but it's just not the same as being on property.

I totally agree!!!

My sister and I are leaving for Disneyland on the 11th and staying at one of the good neighbor hotels, but it's just not the same as staying at a Disney hotel. I prefer WDW, but it's my sister's birthday trip and she picked DL. I was kind of hoping she would have picked WDW, but oh well. I wish they would add a value hotel to DL. Also the dining at DL isn't as good as at WDW. We have reservations for Ariel's grotto to have breakfast with the princesses, the Plaza Inn, Cafe Oreleans, and Storyteller's character breakfast. Looking forward to breakfast at Ariel's and the Plaza. We had great character interaction at both the last time we went to DL in 2008.

That reminds me that I need to get packing! LOL

[fairestoneofall]

Thanks Jen! What a disappointment your cinnamon roll must have been. Some quality time in a microwave probably would have made a big difference. Too bad you didn't have one!

Speaking of ugly scrims.... and speaking of Main Street Bakery.......... I came across this today:

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43651701&postcount=1


(I clipped, but you know i love that Dumbo shot.)

but the bakery!!! :scared1::scared1::scared1:

that is the worst ever! i wonder what they're doing that they couldn't use the printed scrims they normally use.

[petals]

Woo so joining this trip report. I love all the dresses you make for you DD can't wait to see all your pics and luvin the pics so far!

[mom2rtk]

Well that settles it. Hopefully we'll start our PTR sometime later this month on our joint trip to the Land! :rotfl: You let me know what works for you and Katie, since mine aren't in school! :lmao:

I'll PM you on the 12th! :thumbsup2

:rotfl: I love Katie's look of sheer determination at the Sword in the Stone. She just WANTS IT! So funny.

I didn't understand what the big tent on the carousel was about either! It was so weird looking.

I'm wondering if the big tent is to block your view of the backstage area when you're up on the ride. Now the current Dumbo allows you to see over the construction wall, but I'm pretty sure they'll never allow a view of the "outside" when the new one is done. It will also give some a/c relief (I think) while waiting in the virtual queue.

I've told Katie that every now and then that sword comes out. I probably shoudlnt' have. She's nothing if not determined!

I totally agree!!!

My sister and I are leaving for Disneyland on the 11th and staying at one of the good neighbor hotels, but it's just not the same as staying at a Disney hotel. I prefer WDW, but it's my sister's birthday trip and she picked DL. I was kind of hoping she would have picked WDW, but oh well. I wish they would add a value hotel to DL. Also the dining at DL isn't as good as at WDW. We have reservations for Ariel's grotto to have breakfast with the princesses, the Plaza Inn, Cafe Oreleans, and Storyteller's character breakfast. Looking forward to breakfast at Ariel's and the Plaza. We had great character interaction at both the last time we went to DL in 2008.

That reminds me that I need to get packing! LOL

We love DL and have enjoyed the character meals there as well. I reall like Goofy's Kitchen since the characters are sort of a surprise. You never know who might be there. We haven't done the Plaza in some time, but plan to next time we get out there. And Katie and I had a lovely lunch at Ariel's Grotto on our Summer 2010 trip. I just wish there were more character meals there. We really enjoy staying in a Disney resort, playing in the parks, and eating with the characters. For us, it truly is ALL immersive (is that a word????)

One time we ate at Goofy's Kitchen, there were NINE characters that came to our table that night!

(I clipped, but you know i love that Dumbo shot.)

but the bakery!!! :scared1::scared1::scared1:

that is the worst ever! i wonder what they're doing that they couldn't use the printed scrims they normally use.

Thanks!

And I don't have a clue what they were thinking with that Main Street Bakery nonsense. I'm guessing it's something quick or they would have put more time into the cover. Hopefully?

[mom2rtk]

Woo so joining this trip report. I love all the dresses you make for you DD can't wait to see all your pics and luvin the pics so far!

Many thanks! :flower3: I'm glad you found us.

We'll get to some gowns, I promise. But the first few days had less character/costume fun so we could concentrate on rides while my husband was there. The girly fun comes later! :cool1:

[Yzerbear19]

We love DL and have enjoyed the character meals there as well. I reall like Goofy's Kitchen since the characters are sort of a surprise. You never know who might be there. We haven't done the Plaza in some time, but plan to next time we get out there. And Katie and I had a lovely lunch at Ariel's Grotto on our Summer 2010 trip. I just wish there were more character meals there. We really enjoy staying in a Disney resort, playing in the parks, and eating with the characters. For us, it truly is ALL immersive (is that a word????)

One time we ate at Goofy's Kitchen, there were NINE characters that came to our table that night!

The last time we went in April 2008 I think we had like 9-10 characters that stopped by our table at the Plaza Inn including the Fairy Godmother. :) It was awesome. We did Goofy's Kitchen last time and didn't really care for the food. It had been for dinner, but we decided to skip it this time. The characters were fun though. I think we saw like 6-7 characters there.

[mom2rtk]

The last time we went in April 2008 I think we had like 9-10 characters that stopped by our table at the Plaza Inn including the Fairy Godmother. :) It was awesome. We did Goofy's Kitchen last time and didn't really care for the food. It had been for dinner, but we decided to skip it this time. The characters were fun though. I think we saw like 6-7 characters there.

Of course, I'm sorry to tell you that wasn't the REAL Fairy Godmother. ;) Because you now she's just at WDW, right? :goodvibes I really want to do the Plaza Inn. Do they have ADR times before park opening? I never did figure that out before our last trip and we never ate there.

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Sorry Janet! I got a couple of updates behind. Life's been busy!

As usual, all your pictures are wonderful! That picture of the reflection in the bakery window on Main Street... :worship: AWESOME! You have a real talent. I know I tell you that over and over, but you really do. I loved all the MK pictures though. Looks like a wonderful morning you guys had.

I'd like to know the mystery of the family of the day too. It does always seem to be that perfect family of four. I want to know what you have to do to get picked. There must be some secret to it.

Your morning pics of Pop are great too. I did some of that early morning sneaking out for pics also and am so glad I did. It's a great time to get some nice shots without people in them.

[babynala]

Hmmm, I never really thought about how the view from Dumbo would change when they moved it to the new Fantasyland. I was just thinking that with 2 the line would be shorter and that would be a good thing. We were there in October but there were some scrims up near Dumbo and the construction made the view less then stellar. My DH did enjoy getting a peak at what was going on in the construction area. That is a great shot of Fantasyland in the dark from Dumbo.

[francis6306]

I'll PM you on the 12th! :thumbsup2



One time we ate at Goofy's Kitchen, there were NINE characters that came to our table that night!


Sounds good!! And NINE characters? Wow! That is so cool! I wonder how Cortlyn would do with Characters now… The girl LOVES her some fireworks after watching Illuminations at EPCOT. :cheer2:

[mom2rtk]

Sorry Janet! I got a couple of updates behind. Life's been busy!

As usual, all your pictures are wonderful! That picture of the reflection in the bakery window on Main Street... :worship: AWESOME! You have a real talent. I know I tell you that over and over, but you really do. I loved all the MK pictures though. Looks like a wonderful morning you guys had.

I'd like to know the mystery of the family of the day too. It does always seem to be that perfect family of four. I want to know what you have to do to get picked. There must be some secret to it.

Your morning pics of Pop are great too. I did some of that early morning sneaking out for pics also and am so glad I did. It's a great time to get some nice shots without people in them.

What a sweetie. Thanks for the kind words. :flower3: It really was a great morning. One of the best mornings I've had in a long time. 09 it was ugly hot, last year bitter cold every day. This was probably my first "just right" MK morning since 08. Absolutely heavenly! It did warm up close to 80 that afternoon, which slides it into the "hot" category in MY book....... but not bad at all.

I do read stories occasionally about them choosing someone other than a mom, dad and 2 or 3 kids, but not very often. I watched reports all last year on the DIS.... you know...... to prepare for this trip.......... :rolleyes1

Hmmm, I never really thought about how the view from Dumbo would change when they moved it to the new Fantasyland. I was just thinking that with 2 the line would be shorter and that would be a good thing. We were there in October but there were some scrims up near Dumbo and the construction made the view less then stellar. My DH did enjoy getting a peak at what was going on in the construction area. That is a great shot of Fantasyland in the dark from Dumbo.

Thanks for the kind comment. That's one of my favorite photos ever, and I pretty much just got lucky. We were trying to be ON Dumbo during Wishes, and I was ticked we had just missed. I'm glad now we did.

I'll try Dumbo out when we go back, but I'm not holding out too much hope. I do think the view will be too different for me. But we'll see. Maybe the view of the finished new Fantasyland will surprise me.

Sounds good!! And NINE characters? Wow! That is so cool! I wonder how Cortlyn would do with Characters now… The girl LOVES her some fireworks after watching Illuminations at EPCOT. :cheer2:

Well, if you guys want to hang with us, she's going to have to be over her character phobia. I'm guessing it was just her age. Tell her she has to set a good example for her sister! They all do go through something at that age though don't they?

Yeah for loving Illuminations! Tell her she's seen it more than I have now! :lmao:

Yep........ I did it again.......... completely shortchanged Epcot.

[Scraps-of-heaven]

More please.... Reading your report is like a mini trip to Disney and I really need an escape from these kids who have been home on Christmas break for WAY too long. :lmao:

[francis6306]

Well, if you guys want to hang with us, she's going to have to be over her character phobia. I'm guessing it was just her age. Tell her she has to set a good example for her sister! They all do go through something at that age though don't they?

Yeah for loving Illuminations! Tell her she's seen it more than I have now! :lmao:

Yep........ I did it again.......... completely shortchanged Epcot.

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!? :scared1:

Okay, well, now I want to make you camp out at EPCOT to make sure you see it!!!! Scrap that DL trip!!!

She was so weird about the characters. I think she needed to see Daisy and Minnie to be okay with the rest of them, because the LAST day (after ALL THOSE CHARACTER MEALS!!!!!!!) we were parked over at Camp Minnie-Mickey and met every single character there was! :sad2: I plan on showing her all the fun, smiling character pictures over and over again before our next trip! I'm sure she will be fine!

[mom2rtk]

More please.... Reading your report is like a mini trip to Disney and I really need an escape from these kids who have been home on Christmas break for WAY too long. :lmao:

LOL! So you're saying I shouldn't have sat around eating bon bons all day today?? :lmao: Of course, Gretchen is the only one here who knows I spent 6 hours finishing an Aurora gown early today, then a few more hours cleaning 20 years of ...... unmentionables........ from under our old fridge so the new one can be delivered tomorrow. :faint:

Your break is coming....... tomorrow if I'm not mistaken. When you can sit around and eat a few bon bons of your own! ;) I have to say..... getting 2 of 3 kids out the door to school last week DID help my frame of mind. :teeth: I never wanted to be the mom who celebrated when the kids went back to school..... but man..... that was a long break........

Alas, I think it will be a couple more days until I get get another update posted. We'll see......

[mom2rtk]

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!? :scared1:

Okay, well, now I want to make you camp out at EPCOT to make sure you see it!!!! Scrap that DL trip!!!

She was so weird about the characters. I think she needed to see Daisy and Minnie to be okay with the rest of them, because the LAST day (after ALL THOSE CHARACTER MEALS!!!!!!!) we were parked over at Camp Minnie-Mickey and met every single character there was! :sad2: I plan on showing her all the fun, smiling character pictures over and over again before our next trip! I'm sure she will be fine!

I know.... I know......... but will you still be my friend?????? :teeth: We had one day planned at Epcot and it rained all day so we really shortchanged it again. Of course, it doesn't help that we keep going to late night parties at the MK on our trips, so I never want to be out late at another park.

I remember reading about the character issues in your TR. Man, she was just taunting you on that last day. I bet she'll be ready to roll on this next trip. Stock up on autograph books!

We did Camp Minnie-Mickey the day we left this time, and got to see tons of characters too. Did she "get" the autograph thing?

[Scraps-of-heaven]

LOL! So you're saying I shouldn't have sat around eating bon bons all day today?? :lmao: Of course, Gretchen is the only one here who knows I spent 6 hours finishing an Aurora gown early today, then a few more hours cleaning 20 years of ...... unmentionables........ from under our old fridge so the new one can be delivered tomorrow. :faint:

Your break is coming....... tomorrow if I'm not mistaken. When you can sit around and eat a few bon bons of your own! ;) I have to say..... getting 2 of 3 kids out the door to school last week DID help my frame of mind. :teeth: I never wanted to be the mom who celebrated when the kids went back to school..... but man..... that was a long break........

Alas, I think it will be a couple more days until I get get another update posted. We'll see......

Okay, I guess I can hold off a couple more days. :0) My Bon Bons will have to be eaten while I create 25 custom club Valentine outfits tomorrow though. No rest for the working Mama's.

I'll definitely take my Valentine customs over cleaning under the fridge though! :rotfl:

[mom2rtk]

Okay, I guess I can hold off a couple more days. :0) My Bon Bons will have to be eaten while I create 25 custom club Valentine outfits tomorrow though. No rest for the working Mama's.

I'll definitely take my Valentine customs over cleaning under the fridge though! :rotfl:

Your instincts are good, especially considering that you didn't even SEE under that fridge. :eek:

[dara00]

hey Janet, speaking of that family of the day thing...so I think I might stay for one more day at the MK with just the kids. (brave, I know). this will entail taking dh to the car care center at 6 am so he can get a car to go to tampa. which means I can be at mk very very early. any chance of a mom w 3 kids being the family of the day? also, is there anything to eat for breakfast outside the park at that hour?

[mom2rtk]

hey Janet, speaking of that family of the day thing...so I think I might stay for one more day at the MK with just the kids. (brave, I know). this will entail taking dh to the car care center at 6 am so he can get a car to go to tampa. which means I can be at mk very very early. any chance of a mom w 3 kids being the family of the day? also, is there anything to eat for breakfast outside the park at that hour?

You know, I think as long as you can take your time and plan which rides you can do with the 3 kids, you'll be just fine. You'll probably have a grand time. Heck, do the rides while DH is along, and spend the day alone with the kids character huntin and watching the shows and parades. I think that's a great plan and would make your day with DH a lot less rushed. That's really not vastly different from what we did on this trip. That first day with my husband along we did rides, then the characters and stuff when it was girls only.

Sadly enough, I think you stand a better chance at FOTD if you have your DH along. Which is hard I know, because mine would never want to get there early enough for that.

And prepare in advance. There is nothing right outside the park to eat. So put some snacks in your bag and you'll be good to go!

[dara00]

well I guess we could just go back to the hotel to get ready after we leave him then! and eat there. (we're staying at the country inn & suites).

and yes, I plan to not worry so much about missing stuff that first day and then on the 2nd we'll do what the kids want, plus whatever priorities we might have missed!

[francis6306]

I know.... I know......... but will you still be my friend?????? :teeth: We had one day planned at Epcot and it rained all day so we really shortchanged it again. Of course, it doesn't help that we keep going to late night parties at the MK on our trips, so I never want to be out late at another park.

I remember reading about the character issues in your TR. Man, she was just taunting you on that last day. I bet she'll be ready to roll on this next trip. Stock up on autograph books!

We did Camp Minnie-Mickey the day we left this time, and got to see tons of characters too. Did she "get" the autograph thing?

I'll let it slide… this time. But by golly, if you go to WDW again and miss it then we will have to have a serious discussion! :mad::lmao:

We didn't bother with the autograph thing and honestly, I'm not 100% I'd be willing to do it with another toddler in tow.:confused: I'll probably see if Cortlyn wants to do it. I was already carrying so much and with her flipflopping on the characters… it wasn't worth it yet. If she wants to do it, then we will let HER carry it in a backpack or something. :rotfl2: who am I kidding?!?!

[jenseib]

I'll let it slide… this time. But by golly, if you go to WDW again and miss it then we will have to have a serious discussion! :mad::lmao:

We didn't bother with the autograph thing and honestly, I'm not 100% I'd be willing to do it with another toddler in tow.:confused: I'll probably see if Cortlyn wants to do it. I was already carrying so much and with her flipflopping on the characters… it wasn't worth it yet. If she wants to do it, then we will let HER carry it in a backpack or something. :rotfl2: who am I kidding?!?!

Claire was 4 before we did the autograph books. Now she likes them, but before that, she really didn't know any different. But She knew by the time we went when she was 4 and it was a big thrill for her. I already have one bought for our upcoming cruise, though I guess we coul've probably reused the last one. I don't think we got "that many" signatures in it yet.

[scrapbookersdis]

That's a real contest-winner! :worship:

I guess from here on out, I'll just have to remember Dumbo the way it was in the summer of 09 in one of my favorite Disney shots ever:

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3310/3615656926_facd4c2d11_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/3615656926/)
Dumbo DELIGHT! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/3615656926/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

[francis6306]

Claire was 4 before we did the autograph books. Now she likes them, but before that, she really didn't know any different. But She knew by the time we went when she was 4 and it was a big thrill for her. I already have one bought for our upcoming cruise, though I guess we coul've probably reused the last one. I don't think we got "that many" signatures in it yet.

Well, that makes sense. I think she would have wanted to sit down and color with the characters if she had a book at 2.5… ;)

[joy13]

I'm late on reading your update. Those scrims weren't up around the carosel when we were there. Wonder what they were doing? Sounds like you had a very nice morning!

[mom2rtk]

Sorry guys! I'm busy catching up on some work so haven't had any fun time in a few days. Soon!


well I guess we could just go back to the hotel to get ready after we leave him then! and eat there. (we're staying at the country inn & suites).

and yes, I plan to not worry so much about missing stuff that first day and then on the 2nd we'll do what the kids want, plus whatever priorities we might have missed!

One of my Disney dreams is to be family of the day or Grand Marshalls in the MK parade. But even I would possibly consider taking the kids back to the hotel. I just don't know if your odds are good enough alone with the kids. Or maybe that would HELP your odds! Who knows....... I guess I'd probably go into it with that in my mind, and if I felt really ambitious, I'd give it a go. If I hadn't slept well, or if the kids seemed cranky, I'd go back to the room.

I'll let it slide… this time. But by golly, if you go to WDW again and miss it then we will have to have a serious discussion! :mad::lmao:

We didn't bother with the autograph thing and honestly, I'm not 100% I'd be willing to do it with another toddler in tow.:confused: I'll probably see if Cortlyn wants to do it. I was already carrying so much and with her flipflopping on the characters… it wasn't worth it yet. If she wants to do it, then we will let HER carry it in a backpack or something. :rotfl2: who am I kidding?!?!


I know, I know......... maybe next time???? It's one of my deep dark Disney secrets! :rotfl:

We used to not bother with the autograph books. But early on I decided it helped prolong the visit to our table a bit. It seemed like without the autograph book, you had to have a great line to start the interaction or risk having the character just pose for a photo and move on to the next kid. Don't get me wrong, SOME characters were great at initiating something, but others...... meh........ not so much. It sort of gave Katie a moment to warm up to them and interact a bit.

Claire was 4 before we did the autograph books. Now she likes them, but before that, she really didn't know any different. But She knew by the time we went when she was 4 and it was a big thrill for her. I already have one bought for our upcoming cruise, though I guess we coul've probably reused the last one. I don't think we got "that many" signatures in it yet.

I'm considering starting a new autograph book of some sort. I'm tired of collecting the same old ones every trip. I want one that we take back each trip. I've considered buying one of the character encyclopedias, but I don't want anything too big. Once they sign, we won't get signatures from that character again. I think it will help us really want to pursue different characters (not that there are many left for us!)

That's a real contest-winner! :worship:

Thank you so much. I'll miss that view a lot.

Well, that makes sense. I think she would have wanted to sit down and color with the characters if she had a book at 2.5… ;)

LOL! Maybe find a good coloring book and have the characters sign that!

I'm late on reading your update. Those scrims weren't up around the carosel when we were there. Wonder what they were doing? Sounds like you had a very nice morning!

I have no idea what they were doing. Maybe routine maintenance????

[francis6306]

I know, I know......... maybe next time???? It's one of my deep dark Disney secrets! :rotfl:

We used to not bother with the autograph books. But early on I decided it helped prolong the visit to our table a bit. It seemed like without the autograph book, you had to have a great line to start the interaction or risk having the character just pose for a photo and move on to the next kid. Don't get me wrong, SOME characters were great at initiating something, but others...... meh........ not so much. It sort of gave Katie a moment to warm up to them and interact a bit.


LOL! Maybe find a good coloring book and have the characters sign that!


I have no idea what they were doing. Maybe routine maintenance????

Okay, well that makes sense. Maybe the signing would have helped her then.:confused3 I will say that the Stepmother/Stepsisters were the BEST characters we saw at MK. They were SOOOO funny. I think if I remember right you saw them last year- am I remembering correctly? And a coloring book would be a good idea for my Cortlyn…

I wonder if the carousel is getting a new theme?

[mom2rtk]

Okay, well that makes sense. Maybe the signing would have helped her then.:confused3 I will say that the Stepmother/Stepsisters were the BEST characters we saw at MK. They were SOOOO funny. I think if I remember right you saw them last year- am I remembering correctly? And a coloring book would be a good idea for my Cortlyn…

I wonder if the carousel is getting a new theme?

We ALWAYS see the stepsisters! We had ton of fun with them on this trip. We saw them.... let's see...... six times! LOL!

I do think maybe the autograph book would help Cortlyn. It would give her something to focus on to get things going. It sort of gives her a script to start with "Could you sign my book?" Or get her a pillowcase for signatures. We brought one this time you'll see later in the TR. Just don't use the sharpies we bought. Get some fabric markers. Our bag got a little wet one night and a couple started to bleed a little, making me wonder if I'll ever be safe washing it.

[Goldeelox9]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your pictures. I am intested in shooting in Raw, but worried I won't know what I am doing.

[katt789]

I have to agree, Fantasyland looks a little disheiveled (sp?) now a days, the walls were ok with me, but the scrim around the carosel was a little much :guilty: I love the update!

[disbeachprincess]

I'm LOVING the updates. I check every day to see if you've added more. I was there during the same time, so it feels like I'm reliving my own trip. However, we were three adults that went, so we only saw a couple characters. This also gives me a different perspective of WDW! :) I can't wait to see your daughter's dresses this year!

[RyansMommy1]

I had no clue you had another trip- I think I must have been in la-la land because your last TR was one of the first I ever read!

Excited to follow along with this one!

[francis6306]

We ALWAYS see the stepsisters! We had ton of fun with them on this trip. We saw them.... let's see...... six times! LOL!

I do think maybe the autograph book would help Cortlyn. It would give her something to focus on to get things going. It sort of gives her a script to start with "Could you sign my book?" Or get her a pillowcase for signatures. We brought one this time you'll see later in the TR. Just don't use the sharpies we bought. Get some fabric markers. Our bag got a little wet one night and a couple started to bleed a little, making me wonder if I'll ever be safe washing it.

Were they the same set as last year? I'm fairly certain we had the same group in pictures… SOOO funny. I loved them.

Good idea about not using sharpies!! Aren't they suppose to be permanent?!!?! Had Cortlyn colored on your walls they wouldn't have ran!!!:rotfl:

[mom2rtk]

Were they the same set as last year? I'm fairly certain we had the same group in pictures… SOOO funny. I loved them.

Good idea about not using sharpies!! Aren't they suppose to be permanent?!!?! Had Cortlyn colored on your walls they wouldn't have ran!!!:rotfl:

Some of them were the same as last year! :lmao: And one of our Drizellas showed up as Snow White the next night at MVMCP! She asked the girls if they had enjoyed their dinner the night before. I was trying to figure it out as we walked away when Katie matter of factly told me she was Drizella. I guess the magic is gone! :sad: LOL! I'm so slow!

I hear you on the Sharpies. Only permanent when you don't want them to be! I'll probably write on some fabric with the markers and wash it to see what happens. I'm guessing it won't do much more, but I'd like to know for sure.

[mom2rtk]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your pictures. I am intested in shooting in Raw, but worried I won't know what I am doing.

Well, it's not at all complicated to shoot in RAW. You just need to know what to do with the file when you get home in front of your computer. With Lightroom3, you can adjust lighting, colors, white balance and the like then export it as a JPEG and use it then in whatever way you like.

I have to agree, Fantasyland looks a little disheiveled (sp?) now a days, the walls were ok with me, but the scrim around the carosel was a little much :guilty: I love the update!

Yeah, the Carousel was my jumping off point. I was all ready for the Great Wall of Fantasyland. I wasn't ready for my last great view from Dumbo to be ...... well...... that.

I'm LOVING the updates. I check every day to see if you've added more. I was there during the same time, so it feels like I'm reliving my own trip. However, we were three adults that went, so we only saw a couple characters. This also gives me a different perspective of WDW! :) I can't wait to see your daughter's dresses this year!

Thanks for following along and :welcome: to the DiS! I have a long way to go with this, so hang in there. We'll get to lots of character fun!

I had no clue you had another trip- I think I must have been in la-la land because your last TR was one of the first I ever read!

Excited to follow along with this one!

Hi! I'm glad you found us! :goodvibes We're just getting warmed up.

[mom2rtk]

oops.... accidentally hit enter too soon. Update coming in a bit!

[mom2rtk]

12/9: Our First Trip Through the WASH and SPIN Cycles!


Next we headed for Frontierland. Around 11 AM the standby times for Splash and BTMRR were both under 10 minutes. Really. What a treat! We got fastpasses for BTMRR and headed for Splash, where we barely waited at all. I really looked forward to riding Splash on this trip and intended to make up for lost time. We never rode it at all last December because of the cold. It had been over 2 years and we were long overdue!

Uh oh....... what will she back out???????

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6631860801_d817c8b141_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631860801/)
IMG_3594 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631860801/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

Nah........ no backing out on this trip. Katie was in complete thrill ride junkie mode!


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6631861035_e12d2f09b0_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631861035/)
IMG_3599 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631861035/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6631861215_3c96759f89_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631861215/)
IMG_3604 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631861215/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7001/6631861361_bc98054746_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631861361/)
IMG_3607 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631861361/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6631861579_33da5794a7_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631861579/)
IMG_3616 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631861579/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7010/6631861781_afbd102f18_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631861781/)
IMG_3618 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631861781/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7145/6631861921_84691a588d_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631861921/)
IMG_3619 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631861921/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6631862117_670727087f_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631862117/)
IMG_3620 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631862117/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6631862325_964cc009a3_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631862325/)
IMG_3641 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631862325/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7155/6631862505_93e719b3f5_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631862505/)
IMG_3647 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631862505/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6631862665_0c84372c01_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631862665/)
IMG_3649 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631862665/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

Not sure why I didn't buy this ride photo, but I should have. I really like it now.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7159/6631862805_b2aacac2ac_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631862805/)
IMG_3652 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631862805/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7021/6631863089_2c04dd1221_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631863089/)
IMG_3655 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631863089/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

We somehow escaped getting drenched then headed for BTMRR. We enjoyed joking about the Stacy video they play in the resort rooms about Splash being the "wash cycle" and BTMRR being the "spin cycle".

Ready to go........

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6631863233_3e5848bb73_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631863233/)
IMG_3661 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631863233/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

I love this series of photos and will probably do a scrapbook page of them. I'll spare you posting ALL of them. I was on burst mode and racking up the frames....... FAST!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6631863383_e3d141690c_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631863383/)
IMG_3683 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631863383/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7144/6631863643_66cdb81c31_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631863643/)
IMG_3684 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631863643/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6631863759_6baca14ffd_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631863759/)
IMG_3694 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631863759/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6631863917_71a9e9ed87_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631863917/)
IMG_3695 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631863917/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6631864089_3102e282d3_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631864089/)
IMG_3698 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631864089/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

After the ride we grabbed fastpasses for Splash and headed back toward Liberty Square. My daughter, being the proper young lady she is....... can never walk past the gun toys without playing.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7032/6631864209_d164abaaa7_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631864209/)
Taking Aim (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631864209/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

But alas, the autorities must have caught up with her becuase this is where I found her next.......

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6631864459_375a05b0a8_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631864459/)
IMG_3711 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631864459/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6631864685_8c1cb422b6_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631864685/)
IMG_3713 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631864685/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

I was ready for lunch. I had woken up with a sore throat and a lot of sinus drainage and wanted to keep something in my stomach. We ate at Columbia Harbor House. I thought I'd be getting a tuna sandwich but opted for the shrimp instead so I could have the broccoli as a side. It had been a busy morning and it felt good just to sit down for a bit.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7029/6631864819_ffd0a4dd3c_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631864819/)
IMG_3714 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631864819/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7173/6631865055_7e46a7ab04_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631865055/)
IMG_3717 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631865055/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

[mesaboy2]

Nice work as always, Janet. I enjoy reading these--you are a good storyteller!

I know the view from your third photo (with the other log going down the drop) very well. This is exactly where I got stuck for 45 minutes on Thanksgiving Day. Disnerd that I am, I loved it.

[vamassey1]

Love the pictures from BTMR. Dennis like to "smoosh" the kids on rides too. I'm really going to miss BTMR this trip it will be closed. :sad1:

[katt789]

I love that idea of Splash & BTMRR being the wash & spin cycle! (I actually havent seen that until now haha)

Those pics from BTMRR are incredible! One of my goals after my May trip last year was to take more pictures on rides, but I'm usually worried about it getting wet on Splash, and then, thanks to having a little point & shoot, non-flash pics don't turn out great.. :sad2:

Somehow, I've never seen those statues of Brer Fox, Bear & Rabbit! How have I missed those every time!? :confused3

And this part's really random, but HOW does Katie do the parks in flats?! I could handle the evening of the Halloween party & that's it! She's tougher than I am!

[mom2rtk]

Nice work as always, Janet. I enjoy reading these--you are a good storyteller!

I know the view from your third photo (with the other log going down the drop) very well. This is exactly where I got stuck for 45 minutes on Thanksgiving Day. Disnerd that I am, I loved it.

LOL! I'd love it too! I wouldn't mind sitting there a bit, but the view would be decidedly less interesting with everyone sitting still and no logs to watch! I sat there the whole time with the camera up hoping for a log to come down. I'd like another shot at that one with a slightly slower shutter speed to show a little more movement.

Love the pictures from BTMR. Dennis like to "smoosh" the kids on rides too. I'm really going to miss BTMR this trip it will be closed. :sad1:

Thanks Vanessa! I'd sure miss BTMRR too. I seriously lost count of how many times we rode it. I will say that after missing Splash last year, we enjoyed getting back to it all the more this year. Apparently absence DOES make the heart grow fonder.

Better check out those bounceback deals while you're there...... :rolleyes1

I love that idea of Splash & BTMRR being the wash & spin cycle! (I actually havent seen that until now haha)

Those pics from BTMRR are incredible! One of my goals after my May trip last year was to take more pictures on rides, but I'm usually worried about it getting wet on Splash, and then, thanks to having a little point & shoot, non-flash pics don't turn out great.. :sad2:

Somehow, I've never seen those statues of Brer Fox, Bear & Rabbit! How have I missed those every time!? :confused3

And this part's really random, but HOW does Katie do the parks in flats?! I could handle the evening of the Halloween party & that's it! She's tougher than I am!

Thanks! I can't wait to put those BTMRR shots together in a scrapbook page. I love the expression on their faces and how they all line up in a series. I also like the clouds in the sky.

I can see how you'd miss the Brer statues. It's a crazy busy area. Fortunately this day it wasn't hard to get my shot. A week later I wanted that same shot with Katie and her girlfriend....... the one wearing a boot for her broken foot..... I got my shot, but it was like a giant game of frogger fighting the crowds to get what I wanted. :lmao:

Katie has done well in flats on all of our past trips. But for some reason these didn't work out very well. By day's end we had bought some Micey flip-flops and she swapped off the rest of the trip. My favorite shot is her pulling up her skirt of her gown at CRT to show Cinderella her special Mickey fllip-flop slippers!

[dara00]

did you take those photos facing backwards on the ride??

[mom2rtk]

did you take those photos facing backwards on the ride??

Yeah.... I like to keep the rides intersting! :rotfl2:

[dara00]

Yeah.... I like to keep the rides intersting! :rotfl2:

haha, my friend got yelled at multiple times for facing backwards on dumbo to take photos of me! but I'd think that would be a lot easier to do on a slower ride like dumbo!

[mom2rtk]

haha, my friend got yelled at multiple times for facing backwards on dumbo to take photos of me! but I'd think that would be a lot easier to do on a slower ride like dumbo!

LOL! Yeah, I think Dumbo would be easier. I always do that one backwards too, but nobody has said anything.

[babynala]

12/9: Our First Trip Through the WASH and SPIN Cycles!


Next we headed for Frontierland. Around 11 AM the standby times for Splash and BTMRR were both under 10 minutes. Really. What a treat! We got fastpasses for BTMRR and headed for Splash, where we barely waited at all. I really looked forward to riding Splash on this trip and intended to make up for lost time. We never rode it at all last December because of the cold. It had been over 2 years and we were long overdue!


We somehow escaped getting drenched then headed for BTMRR. We enjoyed joking about the Stacy video they play in the resort rooms about Splash being the "wash cycle" and BTMRR being the "spin cycle".

Ready to go........


I love this series of photos and will probably do a scrapbook page of them. I'll spare you posting ALL of them. I was on burst mode and racking up the frames....... FAST!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6631863917_71a9e9ed87_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631863917/)
IMG_3695 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631863917/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

After the ride we grabbed fastpasses for Splash and headed back toward Liberty Square. My daughter, being the proper young lady she is....... can never walk past the gun toys without playing.

But alas, the autorities must have caught up with her becuase this is where I found her next.......


I was ready for lunch. I had woken up with a sore throat and a lot of sinus drainage and wanted to keep something in my stomach. We ate at Columbia Harbor House. I thought I'd be getting a tuna sandwich but opted for the shrimp instead so I could have the broccoli as a side. It had been a busy morning and it felt good just to sit down for a bit.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7029/6631864819_ffd0a4dd3c_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631864819/)
IMG_3714 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631864819/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7173/6631865055_7e46a7ab04_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631865055/)
IMG_3717 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631865055/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

So many great pictures. This entire update shows both parts of Disney World - the excitement of the rides and the chance to take it easy.

[mom2rtk]

So many great pictures. This entire update shows both parts of Disney World - the excitement of the rides and the chance to take it easy.

Thanks! I'm trying hard to find those little relaxing moments more and more often. And while I am utterly driven to mark all the "must do's" off my list, its the little moments that make me stop and smile when I look back on a trip.

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

YEAH an Update!!

So we missed on Splash this... what is your opinion of the boards many voices that is had gone down hill and is in need of loving care?

[jc040404]

Those BTMRR shots are great! Love 'em!

This isn't the wash & spin cycles though! I think I've seen the "Must Do" list a few toooo many times. :laughing: Those are at AK, but it made me giggle because the same idea fits perfectly for these two. :thumbsup2

Very cute that Katie stops to play with the guns, too! :goodvibes

[mom2rtk]

YEAH an Update!!

So we missed on Splash this... what is your opinion of the boards many voices that is had gone down hill and is in need of loving care?

I'm probably the last person to ask. I hadn't been on it since 09. And I was fiddling with the camera so much that some of the details could have easily been lost on me. But nothing really jumped out at me.

Now Soarin'........... that one's in need of some TLC.

Those BTMRR shots are great! Love 'em!

This isn't the wash & spin cycles though! I think I've seen the "Must Do" list a few toooo many times. :laughing: Those are at AK, but it made me giggle because the same idea fits perfectly for these two. :thumbsup2

Very cute that Katie stops to play with the guns, too! :goodvibes

LOL! I wondered if anyone would catch that. Katie decided to take some creative license with that so long ago I almost forgot. I think the original was Kali River Rapids and Primevil Whirl.

You'll see later in our trip where the "spin cycle" gets a little mixed up and becomes our very own "wash cycle".

[Caretames1]

First thing I noticed this time was, Is Katie growing her bangs out? The reason I ask is, Kadence is and she is loving the barret in the bangs look! My child is so talented that she stabbed herself in the forehead with a clip last week!:sad2:

LOVE the pictures, it looks like she's having a blast with Dad! Your Splash picture is awesome! Did your DH pose like that on purpose? Nice faces ladies!:lmao:

[mom2rtk]

First thing I noticed this time was, Is Katie growing her bangs out? The reason I ask is, Kadence is and she is loving the barret in the bangs look! My child is so talented that she stabbed herself in the forehead with a clip last week!:sad2:

LOVE the pictures, it looks like she's having a blast with Dad! Your Splash picture is awesome! Did your DH pose like that on purpose? Nice faces ladies!:lmao:

Yeah, I think she's growing them out. I hate that messy in-between stage, but for some reason I think that makes her want it all the more!

And poor Kadence. Momma's telling all her deep dark secrets! At least she didn't poke her eye out!

Yes, Drew is posing. He works hard at coming up with new stuff for the ride photos. I can't remember if it was this trip or the one in 09 where he pretended to be asleep on one of the photos. He was talking in his cell phone in another.

I orchestrated my favorite ride photo..... on Test Track. If I get the CD before doing my Epcot day I'll post it. Otherwise someone feel free to ask me about it later.

[fairestoneofall]

love the update! :thumbsup2

i can't believe you turn around. i don't know that i could handle that! i do sometimes shoot over my head and just get whatever comes out. lol!

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

You got some great pictures on Splash! I have to know how do you get such crisp pictures on moving rides. I don't care how steady I hold my camera on rides, I almost always have some blur from the shaking. I had the same problem on the ship. There was always some movement so lots of my pictures just aren't as clear as I'd like.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the pictures from BTMRR! Those are really great! I love that ride!

[mom2rtk]

love the update! :thumbsup2

i can't believe you turn around. i don't know that i could handle that! i do sometimes shoot over my head and just get whatever comes out. lol!

Well, I don't turn around for LONG..... just long enough to snap a few frames, then back again to hold on! I do shoot over my head on Splash. But that's for a better perspective. You know..... to get over the heads.

You got some great pictures on Splash! I have to know how do you get such crisp pictures on moving rides. I don't care how steady I hold my camera on rides, I almost always have some blur from the shaking. I had the same problem on the ship. There was always some movement so lots of my pictures just aren't as clear as I'd like.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the pictures from BTMRR! Those are really great! I love that ride!

For most of my Splash photos, I shot shutter priority with a speed of 1/50. The camera chose my widest aperture of 2.8 and ISO of 6400. So it was really pushing the camera's ability to shoot low light. The key part is to have a shutter speed fast enough avoid any blur. The boats move, but don't move THAT much or very fast. The lens has image stabilization too, so I'm sure that helps. But it's mostly about the shutter speed. If you just shoot on auto, it might choose something much slower, which nobody can handhold from a moving boat.

We certainly got a great dose of Splash and BTMRR this trip. I don't remember if we even rode BTMRR last year because of the cold. It was great to make up for lost time!

[Moodyzblu]

Joining in !! Will be back to catch up .. :banana:

[joy13]

Looks like a fun sequence!!! I'm waiting for Maddie's thrill ride junkie to kick in, she's not really into thrill rides, I'm not sure if that will change or not??

Love the splash photo! I wish they'd make all ride photos available for photopass like TT is.

[katt789]

Buh!! I can't wait to hear the story about the new sig picture!!

[jenseib]

I love how you turn around for shots. I would be flying off.

And their faces are hilarious...like the wind is blowing their mouths out.
I like the guy on Splash behind you guys too. He has the blown out mouth going.
I'm glad you've been busy, because once again I am very behind on Dis. I am trying edit pictures whe nI get on the computer and leaving less time for reading.

[mesaboy2]

Buh!! I can't wait to hear the story about the new sig picture!!

I just noticed that myself. I think I know, but I wouldn't dream of stealing from the OP's fun. Too bad the sig pic doesn't have any color in it.

[mom2rtk]

Joining in !! Will be back to catch up .. :banana:

We're just getting started! :welcome:

Looks like a fun sequence!!! I'm waiting for Maddie's thrill ride junkie to kick in, she's not really into thrill rides, I'm not sure if that will change or not??

Love the splash photo! I wish they'd make all ride photos available for photopass like TT is.

Me too! I'm kicking myself for not buying more ride photos. I think I only came home with one, a download from Space Mountain. And now I can't find the card!

The biggest problem I had was that Katie kept telling me not to buy this or that photo. I guess she was waiting for the perfect one???



I love how you turn around for shots. I would be flying off.

And their faces are hilarious...like the wind is blowing their mouths out.
I like the guy on Splash behind you guys too. He has the blown out mouth going.
I'm glad you've been busy, because once again I am very behind on Dis. I am trying edit pictures whe nI get on the computer and leaving less time for reading.

Like I said, I had a lot of fun with the on-ride photography this time. You guys will probably be sick of it by the time I'm done! :lmao:

Now get editing some more. I want to see more of that ship!

Buh!! I can't wait to hear the story about the new sig picture!!

I just noticed that myself. I think I know, but I wouldn't dream of stealing from the OP's fun. Too bad the sig pic doesn't have any color in it.

LOL! I really was just ready for something new to look at. There's not as much story behind it as you might expect. Not a magical moment. It was the result of a not-so-magical start to our first night at MVMCP.

And yes, that photo really could use a little more color, no? :rotfl: Maybe I should go back to Lightroom and bump up the color saturation a bit? :rotfl2:

[mom2rtk]

I'm waiting for Maddie's thrill ride junkie to kick in, she's not really into thrill rides, I'm not sure if that will change or not??



I missed commenting on this. Give her a little time. Katie didn't really get into the thrill rides until last year at age 10. Even then, if you'll recall, she wanted to chicken out on RnR. I very wisely (:lmao:) pushed her into the car at the last moment with all my fingers and toes crossed. She liked that ride, but didn't want to go again. THIS year....... I lost track of how many RnR rides we had....... probably 7 or 8 total! :cool1:

[Caretames1]

I want to hear the story behind your new siggy pic!!


Okay, I know. Wait for it... :rolleyes1

[marDgreen88]

Oh my goodness, on a ride like Big Thunder, I think I would have gotten sick being turned around. RESPECT! :thumbsup2

The faces they're both making are hilarious. So awesome.

[pld5]

I read through your TR last year when I was just starting to plan mine.

So glad to find this report now. Having a DS, I'm hoping to live vicariously through your Princesspalooza. :laughing:

[rndmr2]

Great last couple of updates! You really do get some great pics, I love the ones on BTMRR and Splash!

[mom2rtk]

I want to hear the story behind your new siggy pic!!


Okay, I know. Wait for it... :rolleyes1

LOL! I'm tempted to just tell the story..... because if I wait too long and give it too much build-up, you'll all be disappointed! Let's just say it's nothing like the story of my previous signature picture..........

But still, it's fun to keep everyone guessing..... and it WAS early in the trip........ so it won't be too long......

Oh my goodness, on a ride like Big Thunder, I think I would have gotten sick being turned around. RESPECT! :thumbsup2

The faces they're both making are hilarious. So awesome.

I actually turn around on rides all the time looking for a different perspective to shoot..... but only if someone from my group is behind me or if I'm in the back seat. I took some shots at DL a while back facing backwards in the back seat. I guess I'm just weird that way...... :lmao:

I read through your TR last year when I was just starting to plan mine.

So glad to find this report now. Having a DS, I'm hoping to live vicariously through your Princesspalooza. :laughing:

:welcome: Glad you found us again! Feel free to join in the princess fun!

Great last couple of updates! You really do get some great pics, I love the ones on BTMRR and Splash!

Thank you! :cool1:

[marDgreen88]

I actually turn around on rides all the time looking for a different perspective to shoot..... but only if someone from my group is behind me or if I'm in the back seat. I took some shots at DL a while back facing backwards in the back seat. I guess I'm just weird that way...... :lmao:


Not weird, it's awesome! It would make me sick! Of course, lots of stuff makes me sick... but if I could do that without getting sick, I definitely would!

[mom2rtk]

Not weird, it's awesome! It would make me sick! Of course, lots of stuff makes me sick... but if I could do that without getting sick, I definitely would!

I really fortunate not to suffer from any sort of motion sickness. All I need is the neck strength to withstand the g-forces turning around! :lmao:

More on ride shots coming up..... only at a slower speed this time!

[mom2rtk]

12/9 Continued: Haunting the Mansion


After lunch we headed for the Haunted Mansion. The line was growing , but it was still a pretty short wait at around 10 minutes. It seemed like a great time to check out the new queue I had heard so much about.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6631865249_69f19367b4_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631865249/)
IMG_3718 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631865249/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7172/6631865397_5b542329fc_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631865397/)
IMG_3720 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631865397/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7035/6631865675_37077a7764_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631865675/)
IMG_3721 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631865675/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7173/6631865783_a89e6c5c98_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631865783/)
IMG_3722 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631865783/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6631865927_d8cc81beea_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631865927/)
IMG_3723 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631865927/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6631866111_1ab21ef8b1_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631866111/)
IMG_3729 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631866111/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

Time to play with my depth of field a little. As you might guess, Drew and Katie were already well ahead of me and wanting to know what was holding me up.......

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6631866239_4e912d7c33_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631866239/)
IMG_3731 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631866239/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6631866463_448f922a8e_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631866463/)
IMG_3732 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631866463/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7145/6631866625_0936fd3fb8_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631866625/)
IMG_3733 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631866625/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

In the stretching room, I wanted to take pictures of all the pictures on the wall. I managed to get one done when Katie dropped the back off one of her pins. Yikes! It was one of our locking backs, so I really wanted to find it. I ended up using my phone for a tiny light source and luckily found it as everyone was walking out around us.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7034/6631867047_a0fae9f694_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631867047/)
IMG_3740 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631867047/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

In the ride itself, I have always been able to get the same 2 or 3 shots. They tend to be the ones with more illumination of course.... Madame Leota, the bride, the talkind heads. While not spectacular, I managed to add a few this time, so I did feel like I was breaking some new ground:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7172/6631867369_fffa3df5a1_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631867369/)
IMG_3754 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631867369/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6631867525_bb2d18f65e_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631867525/)
IMG_3764 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631867525/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7026/6631867867_5a469b75db_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631867867/)
IMG_3766 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631867867/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7159/6631868121_75ec228640_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631868121/)
IMG_3777 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631868121/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7010/6631868311_eb328a010a_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631868311/)
IMG_3780 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631868311/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7157/6631868427_a4b497cf99_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631868427/)
IMG_3783 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28159731@N02/6631868427/) by mom2rtk (http://www.flickr.com/people/28159731@N02/), on Flickr

Can you believe we would be there for over another week, including MANY days in the Magic Kingdom......... and I never made it back through the Haunted Mansion?

[NLD]

Ummmmmmm..... You got the piano! (Organ?)

1/8 shutter speed? Hand-held?

Complete, total awe.

[mom2rtk]

Ummmmmmm..... You got the piano! (Organ?)

1/8 shutter speed? Hand-held?

Complete, total awe.

LOL! I suppose you won't believe me if I say I brought my tripod on the ride???? :teeth:

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you..... It IS the Haunted Mansion, so I'm sure you'd fit right in......

OK, fine........... make me spill my super secret on-ride photography trick..........

The ride actually stopped there for a little bit! And don't think for a moment I wasn't thrilled to BITS!

I had the camera on burst with an ISO of 6400 and set for aperture priority at 1.4. The camera chose 1/8. I would never have been brave enough to go that low on my own. It helped a lot that I had it on burst. I deleted....... shall we say..... a few that didn't turn out as well.

[jenseib]

awesome shots. I know what you mena, practically impossible to get shots on that ride...and then if I'm not in manul focus, my came4ra can't find a focus spot..and for me manual focus is too hard for me to think that fast. ;)

[mom2rtk]

awesome shots. I know what you mena, practically impossible to get shots on that ride...and then if I'm not in manul focus, my came4ra can't find a focus spot..and for me manual focus is too hard for me to think that fast. ;)

Yep. It's Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan that have me wanting to use manual focus more than anything. Yet, since I never practice, I never want to try it on the ride. And yes, the camera does struggle to find it's focus spot. I always try to find a tiny bit of light to focus on, then recompose. Since I'm at 1.4 for most of these shots, I'm still amazed that the depth of field didn't mess me up more.

[PlutosRHM55]

Oh wow... I'm behind already... GEEZ! Alright, well only time to catch up is now :thumbsup2

That's so strange how the line to get into the Main Street Bakery was so long. From your pictures it looks like the crowd levels were fairly low. Oh well... you'll always have to wait in Disney... though I'm not sure they should've left you with a runny egg because of it. :sad2:

Love all your pictures of all the Christmas decorations on Main Street and the Streetmosphere performers, they are so entertaining. But that's annoying you had to take two trips to get FPs, but at least it was still safely secure in Katie's lanyard. ::yes::

:thumbsup2 to your picture in front of the class, always a must and great shot! :) I'm sorry though you didn't get to get some last good shots on Dumbo with the Castle in the background. DARN YOU SCRIMS! The day there are NO scrims left up in Disney I will be one happy person. But at least they show they are actually working and you still got some great pictures on Dumbo :)

I totally agree with your husband. A Disney trip isn't complete without Small World. No matter how terrifyingly annoying that song can possibly get (hasn't happened yet for me anyways) you have to ride the Happiest Cruise that ever sailed :goodvibes

Can't wait to read more! :mickeyjum