DaveinFallsChurch
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2011
Hello and welcome! To my DIS friends who have followed my PTR and other TRs to this current edition: Thanks for coming back again! And to all of my new friends: Welcome and let me bring you up to speed about the trip I just completed. This one came to be thanks to a major conference that was taking place in Orlando and just like any dutiful DISer I jumped on the opportunity to visit Mickey and friends
ahem, I mean
to continue to work on my professional development through the conference.
Normally Disney World is a family affair for me. But since we already had our annual trip planned for upcoming January and since DW nearly ran out of vacation time for this year thanks to a 2 week vacation to South Korea (which you can read all about in my PTR) I made this my very first solo trip to WDW!
So how did my first solo trip turn out? Well thats what this TR is all about and I cant wait to share my experiences with you! The shorter answer is that I completely rediscovered Disney. Through an adult centered experience that was a lot less ride-centric and more on atmosphere AND by looking at Disney through the lens of my camera, it was as if I was visiting WDW for the first time all over again.
It meant no strollers! It meant walking as fast as I want or as I needed to make that FP+ time window! It meant not having to make mandatory restroom pit stops before getting in line for an attraction! It meant not spending 90 minutes at the Dinosaur Boneyard! All kidding aside I did miss having my family with me especially when I was spending time in MK and I cant wait to take them back again in January. At the same time, there were many experiences that I just would not have been able to have with the kids. I am proud to report that I did rack up a decent number of learning credits at the conference. Seriously, I dont think the conference planners had the best educational interests in mind when they decided to hold it so close to Disney. After spending the day time hours here and there at the Orange County Convention Center, I would head into the parks in the late afternoon and evening for some late night wholesome Disney fun. This also meant sleeping an average of 5 hours a night which wasnt a problem thanks to a heavy dose of Disney magic and gallons and gallons of caffeinated beverages.
I think this is a good spot to talk about photography and what it means to me. I absolutely love it and I have Disney to thank for that as well. It all began about a year and a half ago we came back from a wonderful and a magical Disney vacay at the Poly. When we returned home I went through 800 pictures and found only about 200 of them usable. Lots of blurry and dark images which may have worked great for a modern art exhibition but not so much for a family vacation album. I ended up chucking the point and shoot and bought myself an entry level DSLR just so I could get better pictures of the kids. Things really snowballed from there. After lots of reading on the internet coupled with practicing every chance I got and a fairly massive upgrade in camera/lens, my DW can attest (with a slight rolling of the eyes) to the fact that I had become an addict to photography as I continue to learn and improve my skills.
Naturally as plans for this trip began to take place , I looked at this as an opportunity to merge two of my obsessions into one geektastic experience which I unimaginatively called Photo Safari of Disney. My PTR was mostly about putting together a photo safari list with the help of my DIS friends. I did my best to try to get as much as I could so stay tuned to find out which ones I was able to capture.
My trip revolved around photographing Disney. So I thought it would be best if I put together this trip report with a similar structure. I am ditching the tried and true chronological approach of describin the trip since my visit involved a good number of hours at the Convention Center. I know some of you are dying to hear about the time I spent 90 minutes in the Dermatologic Pediatric Fungal Infections and if you want I can email you the play by play or should I say, slide by slide account of this experience.
Instead, Ill try to tell the story behind each group of pictures, the behind the scenes, and what they meant to me during this trip. Honestly thanks to my severely sleep deprived but high on Pixie Dust state of mind, I dont think I could put together a coherent chronologic timeline so this gives me a highfalutin excuse.
So sit back! I hope you enjoy this overblown slide show and Ill try to do my best to make it worth your time! Or at least Ill try to make it a little more interesting than Aunt Betsys vacation slide show of the Grand Canyon. And as a final attempt of shameless promotion Im putting up a handful of photos from this trip as a teaser!
IMG_0266 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr
IMG_0116 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr
IMG_8874 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr
IMG_1894-2 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr
IMG_1587-2 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr
IMG_1037 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr
IMG_1275 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr
Normally Disney World is a family affair for me. But since we already had our annual trip planned for upcoming January and since DW nearly ran out of vacation time for this year thanks to a 2 week vacation to South Korea (which you can read all about in my PTR) I made this my very first solo trip to WDW!
So how did my first solo trip turn out? Well thats what this TR is all about and I cant wait to share my experiences with you! The shorter answer is that I completely rediscovered Disney. Through an adult centered experience that was a lot less ride-centric and more on atmosphere AND by looking at Disney through the lens of my camera, it was as if I was visiting WDW for the first time all over again.
It meant no strollers! It meant walking as fast as I want or as I needed to make that FP+ time window! It meant not having to make mandatory restroom pit stops before getting in line for an attraction! It meant not spending 90 minutes at the Dinosaur Boneyard! All kidding aside I did miss having my family with me especially when I was spending time in MK and I cant wait to take them back again in January. At the same time, there were many experiences that I just would not have been able to have with the kids. I am proud to report that I did rack up a decent number of learning credits at the conference. Seriously, I dont think the conference planners had the best educational interests in mind when they decided to hold it so close to Disney. After spending the day time hours here and there at the Orange County Convention Center, I would head into the parks in the late afternoon and evening for some late night wholesome Disney fun. This also meant sleeping an average of 5 hours a night which wasnt a problem thanks to a heavy dose of Disney magic and gallons and gallons of caffeinated beverages.
I think this is a good spot to talk about photography and what it means to me. I absolutely love it and I have Disney to thank for that as well. It all began about a year and a half ago we came back from a wonderful and a magical Disney vacay at the Poly. When we returned home I went through 800 pictures and found only about 200 of them usable. Lots of blurry and dark images which may have worked great for a modern art exhibition but not so much for a family vacation album. I ended up chucking the point and shoot and bought myself an entry level DSLR just so I could get better pictures of the kids. Things really snowballed from there. After lots of reading on the internet coupled with practicing every chance I got and a fairly massive upgrade in camera/lens, my DW can attest (with a slight rolling of the eyes) to the fact that I had become an addict to photography as I continue to learn and improve my skills.
Naturally as plans for this trip began to take place , I looked at this as an opportunity to merge two of my obsessions into one geektastic experience which I unimaginatively called Photo Safari of Disney. My PTR was mostly about putting together a photo safari list with the help of my DIS friends. I did my best to try to get as much as I could so stay tuned to find out which ones I was able to capture.
My trip revolved around photographing Disney. So I thought it would be best if I put together this trip report with a similar structure. I am ditching the tried and true chronological approach of describin the trip since my visit involved a good number of hours at the Convention Center. I know some of you are dying to hear about the time I spent 90 minutes in the Dermatologic Pediatric Fungal Infections and if you want I can email you the play by play or should I say, slide by slide account of this experience.
Instead, Ill try to tell the story behind each group of pictures, the behind the scenes, and what they meant to me during this trip. Honestly thanks to my severely sleep deprived but high on Pixie Dust state of mind, I dont think I could put together a coherent chronologic timeline so this gives me a highfalutin excuse.
So sit back! I hope you enjoy this overblown slide show and Ill try to do my best to make it worth your time! Or at least Ill try to make it a little more interesting than Aunt Betsys vacation slide show of the Grand Canyon. And as a final attempt of shameless promotion Im putting up a handful of photos from this trip as a teaser!
IMG_0266 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr
IMG_0116 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr
IMG_8874 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr
IMG_1894-2 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr
IMG_1587-2 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr
IMG_1037 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr
IMG_1275 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr
)
Fantastic pics!!!
