NEWS FLASH: You must be 4YO to go to Disney! Oct '11 PTR, 10/24 WE'RE BACK! p 18

[Disneychix]

For your mom! That is great news!!

Nice score on the Park Hoppers too!

 

[Pixiedust530]

Yesterday I was spending a little time catching up on the DIS and my subscribed threads. The first thing I discovered was that I have WAY TOO MANY threads I am subscribed to! However, I was over on the Official October 2011 thread and stumbled upon the link to these:

The Wolfs Dance Orlando

The Wolfs Dance DisneyWorld 2011

I am sure many of you have seen the video... as the Wolf family are DisBoard and Disney Commercial celebrities! Anyway, I was thoroughly impressed and thought this was such a cool way to preserve family memories.

In my experience, most families take "home movies" and then never watch them again. With the age of the internet I guess some people upload video clips to Facebook and YouTube to share with family and friends, but aside from that I think most "home movies" are never watched again. This is one of the biggest reasons that I have never owned a video camera. Of course, my phone and my digital cameras have video capability, but I don't have a "camcorder" dedicated to video. OK....that's not entirely true. I did pick up a Sony Bloggie video camera a few months back specifically for our Disney trip. I haven't really even used it yet though, except to try it out. LOL

Well.....after watching the Wolf Family videos (they have 6 or 7 on their YouTube Channel....ALL GREAT) I decided that I wanted to do something like this when we go to Disney! It is my new planning obsession! As if I needed another one! I already have a few song ideas in my head, I have shown the Wolf Family videos to Wayne and my mom and they are on board. My grandparents just don't have a choice! Bwahahaha! Once I decided I wanted to do this I realized I was going to need some pretty awesome video editing software AND I was going to have to learn how to use it!

The very first Wolf Family video (Wolfs Dance Orlando) was edited using iMovie '09 which I already have! However, their most recent video (Wolfs Dance DisneyWorld 2011) was edited with Final Cut Pro which is a $300 program. Ahhhhhhh!!!! I don't have $300 to spend on video editing software. Last night I started experimenting with iMovie '09 with the few video clips I had of Caden on my computer. (Most of the clips came from camera phones or low end point and shoot cameras so the video quality isn't great.) However, I just wanted to see how steep the learning curve was. Well...it's not steep AT ALL!! I created a basic video with some still photos and video clips and added music to it. It's NOTHING like the Wolf Family videos, but that is my ULTIMATE goal!!!

Here is the link to my video on YouTube!

Caden Growing Up...Too Fast!

I'm not sure what will end up coming of it, but my goal is to have a finished product similar to this after we return from Disney! You'll all have to keep your eyes peeled when i start writing my TR!

 

[Parla]

You did a great job! I would like to do something like that but I'm totally clueless and wouldn't know where to start. The last time I even tried to upload a video from my Sony video camera (uses the mini DVDs) I couldn't even successfully upload it. Then I tried just putting the DVD in the computer and found that my DVD drive was broken. Just figured I wasn't meant to mess with DVDs. I do plan on having us watch all the video we took from our first trip in 2006 before our trip this year. I wonder how many hours I have of that?

 

[mousescrapper]

very cute


when the twins were little Matt and I made this great video of them from birth through age 1) and they would watch it all the time...even the little girls would watch the "baby" video ...but yes since then and two old and non functioning video camera's later most of our videos sit collecting dust or can't even be viewed


I love watching the Wolf videos too they are AWESOME! I just watched the most recent one too...I have been inspired by them ...we took a TON of video borrowing my brother's camera in Nov. and my WONDERFUL DH finally finished converting the video and made 1 compile to a great song...it needs to be cleaned up just a tad and I plan to upload it to Youtube to share...


good luck w/ your video experiementing!

 

[Pixiedust530]

You did a great job! I would like to do something like that but I'm totally clueless and wouldn't know where to start. The last time I even tried to upload a video from my Sony video camera (uses the mini DVDs) I couldn't even successfully upload it. Then I tried just putting the DVD in the computer and found that my DVD drive was broken. Just figured I wasn't meant to mess with DVDs. I do plan on having us watch all the video we took from our first trip in 2006 before our trip this year. I wonder how many hours I have of that?

I am lucky to have a boyfriend who is a computer programmer, so if there's ever anything I can't figure out on my own he's there to help me! However...I am a "do it myself" kind of girl, so while I do ask for his help I do NOT want him to just take over and do it for me.

very cute

when the twins were little Matt and I made this great video of them from birth through age 1) and they would watch it all the time...even the little girls would watch the "baby" video ...but yes since then and two old and non functioning video camera's later most of our videos sit collecting dust or can't even be viewed

I love watching the Wolf videos too they are AWESOME! I just watched the most recent one too...I have been inspired by them ...we took a TON of video borrowing my brother's camera in Nov. and my WONDERFUL DH finally finished converting the video and made 1 compile to a great song...it needs to be cleaned up just a tad and I plan to upload it to Youtube to share...

good luck w/ your video experiementing!

I have considered borrowing a video camera from someone to use while on the trip...or I may just stick with my Bloggie camera and see what I get. Either way I REALLY want to try and follow through on my plans. I think a video would be SO COOL!

Once you and Matt get your video finished I hope you will share with everyone here!

 

[momabbate]

Thats wonderfull about your mom. Hope you can take some time to celebrate this with her on the trip. I don't know how she would feel about getting a button to wear. This will truly be a magical time for you all. Cant wait to read about it.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

LOVE the video! I think you did a great job! The Wolf's Dance is amazing, but it's almost like a professional video and I like home videos better. I did one for our trip, and I don't even remember how I did it now. I'll have to look into the program you are using. Oh and I totally know what you mean about having ideas for songs! I would always think about it when the radio was on and try to find songs that would work well! If you are interested, here's ours:

Orozco's Do Disney 2009

 

[stephielela]

I am so so happy for you that your mom is not only going to be able to go, but will be there clean and sober. That is awesome! What a magical addition!

 

[Pixiedust530]

Thats wonderfull about your mom. Hope you can take some time to celebrate this with her on the trip. I don't know how she would feel about getting a button to wear. This will truly be a magical time for you all. Cant wait to read about it.

It really is great knowing that she is doing this ALL on her own because she wants to. I'm not sure how she'd feel about wearing a button, but who knows. She's pretty open about most things so she might!

LOVE the video! I think you did a great job! The Wolf's Dance is amazing, but it's almost like a professional video and I like home videos better. I did one for our trip, and I don't even remember how I did it now. I'll have to look into the program you are using. Oh and I totally know what you mean about having ideas for songs! I would always think about it when the radio was on and try to find songs that would work well! If you are interested, here's ours:

Orozco's Do Disney 2009

Thank you! I know what you mean about "home" video vs. "professional". I'm one of those people that tend to go over the top and overdo it sometimes, so while our video will probably be nowhere wear the level of the Wolfs, that is what I aspire to. LOL

WOW! Spectacular! Your family video is SOOOOO adorable. I love the way some of the picture changes are to the beat of the music. Just awesome! Thank you for sharing!

I am so so happy for you that your mom is not only going to be able to go, but will be there clean and sober. That is awesome! What a magical addition!

We are all really excited...mostly for her! Caden of course is too young to understand the problems she has, but if she couldn't go he would certainly ask about her and miss her. I am thankful that she will be joining us....especially in the right mindset!

 

[exwdwcm]

Thanks to google images a lot of PTR pictures look familiar.

Do you save the images to your computer and use a hosting service? I wish there was a way to post the pic without saving it first. I may be really ignorant and missing an easy step here.

if you are using google images, once on the image, you can right click, then select "copy image location" and just use that snippet of code to paste the image in like you would if you had it saved in your own photobucket etc. Still use the etc. and then paste in. saves a little time.

Love the updates! so glad your mom got some help! what amazing timing too! i hope everything comes together perfectly and you guys get to build some wonderful memories with her clean and sober! yeah for the 5 day hoppers now too!

 

[exwdwcm]

oh and your video turned out so well! I've actually created a channel for my videos of William. You can create a channel on youtube and make it private or only provide the link to those you want to have it, or you can make it public, just like the videos.

I've seen all the Wolf videos and LOVE them too. I am going to do the same thing this time with the video. We don't even have a video camera, but i have a nice Canon camera that does HD video and my iphone 4 too. I figure I'll just capture small 30 second or less clips to put together later. Heck, i don't even have a mac or nice software to edit, but there are tons of great free programs out there you can use and I've used in the past. I do have a 3 man video editing team here at work (marketing- we use them for video testimonials and tons of web videos), so they can always help me too. They do a ton of editing. so after our trips, let's be sure and share videos!!!

 

[Pixiedust530]

Love the updates! so glad your mom got some help! what amazing timing too! i hope everything comes together perfectly and you guys get to build some wonderful memories with her clean and sober! yeah for the 5 day hoppers now too!

My mom is doing REALLY well and she is so excited about the trip. She keeps asking me to tell her everything we are doing over and over again. Of course...I secretly love it because I get to relive my planning all over again!

oh and your video turned out so well! I've actually created a channel for my videos of William. You can create a channel on youtube and make it private or only provide the link to those you want to have it, or you can make it public, just like the videos.

I've seen all the Wolf videos and LOVE them too. I am going to do the same thing this time with the video. We don't even have a video camera, but i have a nice Canon camera that does HD video and my iphone 4 too. I figure I'll just capture small 30 second or less clips to put together later. Heck, i don't even have a mac or nice software to edit, but there are tons of great free programs out there you can use and I've used in the past. I do have a 3 man video editing team here at work (marketing- we use them for video testimonials and tons of web videos), so they can always help me too. They do a ton of editing. so after our trips, let's be sure and share videos!!!

I am super excited about the video. That's really cool thats you are doing one too. We will DEFINITELY share videos. I have high hopes for my video....I'm a little scared that my video editing skills aren't up to par with my hopes though! I guess I will be spending many hours reading and watching tutorials on the net!

 

[oboedm]

Just started your PTR today, so I am a bit behind. You asked several months ago about the jedi training academy.

I have had experience with a 4 year old at the Jedi Training Academy. It was hilarious, to say the least. Here is a link to the video. Amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxPOLe72vMI

 

[mousescrapper]

LOVE the video! I think you did a great job! The Wolf's Dance is amazing, but it's almost like a professional video and I like home videos better. I did one for our trip, and I don't even remember how I did it now. I'll have to look into the program you are using. Oh and I totally know what you mean about having ideas for songs! I would always think about it when the radio was on and try to find songs that would work well! If you are interested, here's ours:

Orozco's Do Disney 2009

hey Karen I looked at your video from 09 and it is very fun...love all the pixs and snipets of video included too...I don't think i have heard that version of the song before either...FUN!

Once you and Matt get your video finished I hope you will share with everyone here!

yes definetly

 

[exwdwcm]

here is the video i did from our December trip, it's nothing fancy by any means! But it was all i could manage with the software i was using (onetruemedia.com). Hoping to focus on getting more video clips on this trip to insert. I think a mix of video and stills is so much better!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVQNzvq92l8

 

[Pixiedust530]

Just started your PTR today, so I am a bit behind. You asked several months ago about the jedi training academy.

I have had experience with a 4 year old at the Jedi Training Academy. It was hilarious, to say the least. Here is a link to the video. Amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxPOLe72vMI

Sorry for the delay in welcoming you to my PTR. You may be a bit behind but so am I!

That video was so cute. The look on his face was so sad. I hope my 4YO doesn't do this, but if he does it will all be on video to share with the world. Thanks for sharing.

here is the video i did from our December trip, it's nothing fancy by any means! But it was all i could manage with the software i was using (onetruemedia.com). Hoping to focus on getting more video clips on this trip to insert. I think a mix of video and stills is so much better!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVQNzvq92l8

Wow Michelle! That is so cute! I love the special transition effects. Great job. I agree that a mix of stills and video is better! I can't wait to see what you come up with.

 

[Pixiedust530]

I’m SO SORRY for my absence the past few weeks. School started back which means I am back to work full-time and Caden started Pre-K so it’s been a BIG adjustment around here the past few weeks. I am going to try and knock out the last few days of our daily plans and move on to some more FUN stuff.

Day 6 – Animal Kingdom - Thursday, October 20

If you’ve been following along, I guess it’s a no brainer that the last park on the list is Animal Kingdom. I saved this park until toward the end of the week for a couple reasons. First of all, I think we will be a little tired by this time and I think we can get the park done in about half a day. Plus, Animal Kingdom is my least favorite park. I have only been one time, but it just doesn’t do it for me.

Anyway…on to our daily plans. Our day at AK will start early. The park doesn’t open until 9am but we have an ADR for Donald’s Safari Breakfast at Tusker House at 8:00am. I have heard nothing but wonderful reviews on Tusker House and I am so excited to eat here.

I love the fact too that we will already be in the back of the park near the safari when we finish eating. I am hoping to be finished eating close to 9am and be one of the first on Kilimanjaro Safaris.

After the Safari, we’ll head over to one of my all time favorite rides at Disney... Expedition Everest!!!

The brave ones of the bunch will ride (me, Wayne and my Mom) while my grandparents take Caden over to The Boneyard to play for a bit. If the wait is too long at Everest then we’ll get Fastpasses and come back later. I’m hoping that it won’t be too bad though.

Once we finish Everest and meet back up with Caden and my grandparents we will probably ride TriceraTop Spin and then Dinosaur. I know Dinosaur can be a little scary for young ones, but I think Caden is prepared. We have watched YouTube Videos so he knows what to expect. After we finish up in DinoLand we will head over to the Tree of Life and It’s Tough To Be A Bug.

If it’s lunch time and we’re hungry we will go ahead and snag some lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. This is another one that I have been dying to try. After lunch (or before if we’re not hungry yet) we are going to try and catch a showing of Finding Nemo: The Musical. I have never seen it but I have heard great things and I think Caden will really enjoy it.

That’s really pretty much it for AK. Depending on how long all of that takes us, we may try to see The Festival of the Lion King also and/or stroll through the character greeting trails. If it’s super hot, still a little early, and we feel up to it, we MIGHT ride Kali River Rapids right before we leave. My plan is for us to be out of the park by 3pm at the latest…preferably a little earlier. We’ll see what happens.

Once we leave AK we’ll be heading back to the resort for a little R&R before we head out for our dinner ADR. We have a 6:30 ADR at T-Rex in Downtown Disney.

Since T-Rex isn’t on the dining plan we will be paying OOP. I think we will probably skip dessert and try to make a stop in the Ghirardelli Ice Cream Shop. Mmmmmm……YUMMY!!!

 

[Parla]

Yeah! I AK! I think part of it is because I love AKL so much and because you can easily do this park in one day and not feel pressured to go back. We were there the week they officially opened EE and it will always hold a special place in our hearts. It also made a good argument that sometimes Park Hoppers are necessary. You never knew when EE was running that week so we hopped over a couple of times when the rumors were flying. I think we'll be okay riding it just one day this time. We'll try to ride it as many times as possible though and I'm looking forward to taking my time going through the regular line at least once. I read an article once about the pictures of actual mountain climbers and things that are in there. It almost sounds like a museum dedicated to Mount Everest.

FTBB is awesome but it's been five years since we've been there so don't hold me to it.

Finding Nemo is one of my favorite WDW shows. I cried when we watched it. It's in my list of top five things I'm looking forward to doing again this trip.

 

[stephielela]

Your plan is perfect!! We did the 8 am Tusker House ADR too and it worked beautifully! We asked for the check about 10 minutes into the meal so we would be all ready to go. It was perfect!! I think that will be my plan for every trip from now on! You must be getting so excited!!!!

 

[mousescrapper]

Sounds like a great day planned for AK and day 6) The pre-park bfasts are the best and have you ready to go come park opening I love EE too, but won't be riding this trip since my DH isn't a thrill rider...so scream/laugh extra loud for me