A Solo Trip 28 Years in the Making-Oct 16-17th, 2012

[DaveinFallsChurch]

As you can see on my touring plans for day 2 at Disneyland Park, I have carved out an hour just for Main Street (3:10-4:10pm). I'll have a chance to sit and eat lunch by the Main Street Piano Player/Refreshment Corner and try to catch the Mad Hatter run musical chairs earlier in the day. So here's what I'm hoping to see, hear, and do during my hour in Main Street!

Dapper Dans: Looking at the entertainment schedule, I'll probably have to move up the start time of my Main St tour to 2:50pm to catch the Dans. Which part of Main Street do I look for them?

The Disney Gallery: Heard some good things about the gallery. Not sure how long it'll take me to look through the area.

Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe: A quick stop to grab a mid-afternoon snack! The real challenge is going to be trying to pick just one or two snacks out of their selection.

The Emporium: Some browsing to pick out some souvenirs for myself and gifts for DW and the kids.

A Ride on a Main Street Vehicle: Will end the Main Street tour with a ride on one of the vehicles. I think I may have read that these vehicles do not run all day. Is this true?

Hmmm, looking at the list, now I'm not so sure if I have enough time for all of them. May have to watch the Dans for a shorter period of time for this to work.

 

[khertz]

The Disney Gallery is nice, but it should not take too long to walk through, it's pretty small. I remember seeing Vehicles out most of the day, but I could be wrong. Main Street in DL is MUCH busier with vehicles than WDW!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

The Disney Gallery is nice, but it should not take too long to walk through, it's pretty small. I remember seeing Vehicles out most of the day, but I could be wrong. Main Street in DL is MUCH busier with vehicles than WDW!

Thank you for the info! I feel better about my chances of trying out all of the things I had listed within the hour!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

18 more days to go!!

Here's my camera gear that I plan on taking with me in my backpack as I tour the Parks. As I mentioned before, I'm a newbie with my DSLR which I've had for just a few months.

Camera is a Canon EOS T2i. Have a BlackRapid Curve cross-shoulder strap which is so convenient. The camera body usually rests up against my right hip and leaves both of my hands free when walking about - very nice when traveling with two young children.

I still use my kit lens Canon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 as my walkabout lens since I'm still in the process of saving up for my wishlist walkabout lens.

I also have a Canon 85mm f 1.8. The only situation I can see myself using this one is when taking portraits of face characters in the Parks.

I just bought the Canon 50mm f1.8. It was a relatively cheap lens and I'm hoping to use this one for the dark rides since my kit lens will not cut it for the low lightings. Only concern I have is that it might be a little tight at this focal length.

Also will bring my Gorillapod and remote shutter for possibly a few nighttime shots of the parks.

I also have these to help me with LIVE report on DIS as well as provide help with my touring plans!

Yup, just got my first iphone ever and it's an iphone5! Ordered an Otterbox Defender case and it feels very well protected. With the nice camera on the iphone, I'll be able to take some of the pics when I'm on the fly and my DSLR is tucked away in my backpack. Also will take pictures with the iPhone for my LIVE report on DIS so I can update on my thread as often as I can during the two days of touring. I downloaded the DIS app and the Photobucket app so I can upload my iphone pics to my thread very easily! Finally, I have Lines and MouseWait apps on the phone to help me with wait times.

My trusty ol iPad will keep me company in the airport and on the plane if I want to kill some time watching movies etc. I don't think I'll be using too much of it while touring in the Parks. But, I will be using it to upload any nice pictures from my DSLR at the end of each day to my DIS live report. That little white square you see in the picture is the USB adapter for the iPad which means I can download pictures from my DSLR to my iPad then onto DIS through Photobucket.

Okee, I think I feel officially all geeked out about this trip now!

 

[204charity]

Awesome toys Dave! You know what I want for my ipad? A keyboard. Badly. So when we go to DW, I can actually type a live TR with ease.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Awesome toys Dave! You know what I want for my ipad? A keyboard. Badly. So when we go to DW, I can actually type a live TR with ease.

Thanks Charity! I'm now trying to get used to typing in my iphone. My fingers feel so stubby when I'm doing that

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Two weeks from now, hope to be sitting at the airport gate waiting to board my on-time flight to California!!

 

[Zuzu03]

Two weeks from now, hope to be sitting at the airport gate waiting to board my on-time flight to California!!

Yay!!!!!!

Do you love the IPhone 5? I just got my first smart phone and I LOVE it! It's an LG Spectrum and now I can't imagine how I lived without one!

You look like you are ready to go with all of your electronic gadgets!!!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Yay!!!!!!

Do you love the IPhone 5? I just got my first smart phone and I LOVE it! It's an LG Spectrum and now I can't imagine how I lived without one!

You look like you are ready to go with all of your electronic gadgets!!!

Absolutely LOVE my new iPhone!!

I've been downloading apps like crazy the past few days. Here are the apps I downloaded in anticipation of this trip to DLR/San Diego, and next WDW trip in January:

Disboards (of course )
Photobucket
Disney Mobile Magic
My Disney Experience
Lines (by Touring Plans)
Mousewait
Amtrak
Open Table
Starbucks (I already used my iPhone to pay for my coffee this morning!)
Trip Advisor
Southwest Air

 

[solana131]

Yay! Less than 2 weeks is so exciting! Can't comment on the camera (I use a point n shoot) and can't really comment on the iPhone because I still use a "dumb phone". I did borrow my sister's StraightTalk smartphone (Galaxy Precedent) to use when I went to Disney in July and I will have a good one before the next time I go....but probably not an iPhone. StraightTalk works great for me and it is soooo cheap!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Yay! Less than 2 weeks is so exciting! Can't comment on the camera (I use a point n shoot) and can't really comment on the iPhone because I still use a "dumb phone". I did borrow my sister's StraightTalk smartphone (Galaxy Precedent) to use when I went to Disney in July and I will have a good one before the next time I go....but probably not an iPhone. StraightTalk works great for me and it is soooo cheap!

I'm getting excited! Next week at work will be very busy with long hours including the weekend but that'll probably also make the time go faster and before I know it, will be on the plane to SD/DLR!!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

This is probably going to be the last diversion for this PTR before I head out next week for my trip. DW was working today so I took the kids over to Glen Echo Park for the morning. This was the first time we visited and absolutely loved it. Just north of DC, this used to be an amusement park beginning in the early 1900s and all the way to 1968. National Park Services has been managing the park since the 70s - with the Art Deco architecture, the park has a lot of character. The kids loved the playground and the Puppet Co. theater where we saw a short 30 minute show designed for toddlers. The rest of the park houses art and cultural organizations, galleries and studios. Here are some pictures from today's visit.

 

[solana131]

Was the park closed?? Or is it just an off time of year?

And for 1 week! Can't wait to see all your gorgeous DL pictures!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Was the park closed?? Or is it just an off time of year?

And for 1 week! Can't wait to see all your gorgeous DL pictures!

We got there about an hour before the buildings opened so it looks empty. It was great for the kids since they had the playground pretty much all to themselves.

Can't believe I'm only a week out from my trip! Work has been keeping me very busy but the Disney light at the end of the tunnel has made things more tolerable

 

[khertz]

One week to go, how exciting!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

One week to go, how exciting!

Getting more and more excited! 5 days and counting!

Your trip is getting so close too!

 

[204charity]

So excited for you Dave! I can't wait to read your TR and see your pictures. It's getting close!!!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

So excited for you Dave! I can't wait to read your TR and see your pictures. It's getting close!!!

Thanks Charity!!

I'll be doing my best to post some live pics and updates on here while I'm there.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

One more meeting to attend at noon today, and then I will be getting ready for my trip tomorrow! I always end up packing the night before.

High temperature forecasts for Anaheim for Tuesday and Wednesday are 90 and 95! Was NOT expecting that.

Will start posting pics and updates LIVE tomorrow morning from the airport so hope some of you can tune in

 

[solana131]

Yay! Can't wait Yikes those are some hot temps....hope it's just a passing heat wave Have fun Dave!