Sharing the Disney Magic with Family & Friends-DL Diamond Anniversary-DCA F&W Fest Kiosks & The End!

[jedijill]

Hope your nephew is doing ok!

You got some great pics! Like Jenny said, I'm looking forward to our Disney day too!

Jill in CO

 

[dolphingirl47]

I really liked all the photos. They have come out great. I hope your nephew is OK.

Corinna

 

[franandaj]

I loved our outing with the large group! And those are some fantastic pictures of the three of us! I need to get those files from you somehow!

It was a lot of fun. I can either email them to you one at a time, or if you have a dropbox account I could send them to you that way.

Oh, I am so happy that you got a picture of the menu. I totally failed in that regard. Not sure why, I guess I was overwhelmed by how wonderful everything was!

No problem, I can send that one too if you like!

Yes, I ordered that. It was quite wonderful! I hope you get another chance to try it some time!

I want to go back for lunch, they don't have that on the dinner menu and I'd like to try it, provided it is still on the menu.

This is my drink. It was a Gin Fizz. It was supposed to be made with egg white, but they had run out of egg white and I got it without. It had gin, lemon and cream. And something sweet. And it was quite tasty!

Thanks for solving that mystery!

Before the trip I had emailed with you about which foods I liked for that other big meal that we had together and I remember that I told you that I did not like soups that much. So, it was really funny that I ended up being the only person ordering the soup. But it did even convince the not so much a soup lover! But I love fresh peas, so I had high hopes which were not disappointed!

It's funny after all the figuring on the dinner (later to come). I had completely forgotten about all the various preferences, I forgot you weren't a soup person, but I'm glad you enjoyed it. Peas are on my "don't eat" list.

It was really impressive with the whole table having domes on their plates! And it is funny how in your picture you can see everyone taking pictures at the same time! I am holding my camera and your neighbor is holding a camera as well!

I didn't notice all the cameras! How funny!

Our server highly recommended it and I was just intrigued by the idea of sweet corn in a dessert. It was such a fantastic combination!

That's another one that I need to go back and try!

The drinks in the lounge were a fantastic way to end that meal! We also got some spicy nuts with our drinks (not that we were hungry...). I was so happy that everyone seemed to get along so well!

It was a nice way to end a great meal. It was a fun and relaxing way to end lunch. However, everyone was keen to get changed and run off to do more rides!

I'm sorry to hear about your nephew and hope he is doing alright.

You did quite a lot of rides that afternoon. The pictures turned out nice during your experience. The one that I liked was the Talking Skull. Sorry to hear that you are having problems when taking shots in the dark parts of the ride. Even though the 50mm f/1.8 is a nice lens but it doesn't have that extra wide angle like the 35mm which does make a difference when going on rides.

The nephew is doing OK as far as I know. They never found anything, so hopefully it doesn't happen again.

I definitely want the 35mm. Fran says she has ordered it, so we'll see when it arrives!

I'll text it right now.

That picture of Darla made me jump. Hahaha!!!!

How's your nephew doing? Seizures are scary things. I was with Chloe during many of hers. Press frightening. I hope they figure it out soon.

As I said to Bret, I guess he's OK, Further tests showed nothing, so I guess we go with that.

I know you have lots of fun things before December but I am really looking forward to our Disney day with Jill. We'll be there a full week so hopefully we can go to dinner too.

Maybe this would be the week to plan a trip to 555.

Oh no! I hope your nephew is okay!

I guess he's OK, further tests have been inconclusive.

I like a lot of your pictures in the HM, Pirates and the submarine. I'm guessing it wasn't wide enough for you.

Yes, not wide enough. Denise had the same complaint, she kept saying she wanted to take a "picture wider than an eyeball."

 

[mvf-m11c]

I definitely want the 35mm. Fran says she has ordered it, so we'll see when it arrives!

That is good news to read that Fran ordered the 35mm lens. I just got the f/4 in today which I am happy with.

It should be fun for Jenny and Jill to have a nice Disney day. Interesting that your trips as well as mine will cross each other in December. I will have to try 55 one day but that is during the weekend of the CP.

 

[franandaj]

Hope your nephew is doing ok!

As they say no news is good news.

You got some great pics! Like Jenny said, I'm looking forward to our Disney day too!

I'm thinking Wednesday for our Disney day. We should plan a cool dinner out as well. I have two bottles of wine burning a hole in my cellar from what we didn't finish at my birthday party. They kind of demand a steakhouse!

I really liked all the photos. They have come out great. I hope your nephew is OK.

Corinna

Thanks. As far as I know there have been no further incidents.

That is good news to read that Fran ordered the 35mm lens. I just got the f/4 in today which I am happy with.

It should be fun for Jenny and Jill to have a nice Disney day. Interesting that your trips as well as mine will cross each other in December. I will have to try 55 one day but that is during the weekend of the CP.

I hope I like the new lens. I don't know when you will arrive, but I suspect it will be after we have our day in the park.

 

[jedijill]

I'm thinking Wednesday for our Disney day. We should plan a cool dinner out as well. I have two bottles of wine burning a hole in my cellar from what we didn't finish at my birthday party. They kind of demand a steakhouse!

Works for me...I love steak. Can't wait to see you guys again! If you or Fran want anything from F&W in WDW let me know!

Jill in CO

 

[dhorner233]

You are right about my lens. It was great for pictures of food and flowers but, on the dark rides I got pictures like this:





Which are great but, I wanted to zoom out too. Now I guess I want a 1.4 35mm lens. I learned a lot from you Alison and your friend Jennifer

Only 2 weeks now until your cruise!

 

[rentayenta]

Love the 555 idea.

Wednesday sounds great for our Disney day. It looks like Michael will fly in Mon/Tues and then out Friday so I'm happy he won't miss it. Poor fella misses out on lots.

 

[franandaj]

That is good news to read that Fran ordered the 35mm lens. I just got the f/4 in today which I am happy with.

I'm glad you are happy with your new lens!

It should be fun for Jenny and Jill to have a nice Disney day. Interesting that your trips as well as mine will cross each other in December. I will have to try 55 one day but that is during the weekend of the CP.

Do you arrive on Friday? We leave Sunday morning, so I imagine by then I will be panicking and frantically packing!

Your post here makes me chuckle. You definitely need to try steakhouse 55 someday, but now I realize how confusing all these numbers can be. We were talking about the 555 steakhouse in Long Beach where Jenny's daughter's BF works! All these numbered steakhouses get confusing!

Works for me...I love steak. Can't wait to see you guys again! If you or Fran want anything from F&W in WDW let me know!

Jill in CO

You would definitely like this place we are talking about. Funny, Fran already sent Corinna with a gift card to pick up items at F&W! Glad to know we have two personal shoppers. I would like one of those molten chocolate cakes from Ireland, but you'll also have to eat it for me because it won't survive the trip back!

You are right about my lens. It was great for pictures of food and flowers but, on the dark rides I got pictures like this:

Those are great pictures!

Which are great but, I wanted to zoom out too. Now I guess I want a 1.4 35mm lens. I learned a lot from you Alison and your friend Jennifer

You're right though, it's nicer to have a wider focal point.

Only 2 weeks now until your cruise!

I know I can't wait!!!!!

Love the 555 idea.

Wednesday sounds great for our Disney day. It looks like Michael will fly in Mon/Tues and then out Friday so I'm happy he won't miss it. Poor fella misses out on lots.

Maybe Wednesday Disney, Thursday Steak? We wouldn't want Michael to miss out!

 

[franandaj]

So it’s two weeks until we set sail on our cruise! I can’t even begin to tell you how excited that I am to be going on a vacation, and one where we do nothing but be pampered and eat and drink. For me exploring is rather overrated right now, I would love to just sleep in, lay back with a drink in my hand, waiting for my massage! I’m almost packed for the trip and yesterday Fran and I packed up our Fish Extender gifts. They aren’t anything special, but it’s fun to participate in and I hope that the other families like their gifts!

As far as the December trip, it’s almost time to make our FP+. I made one change to ADRs. On the Sunday instead of going to Trail’s End at Fort Wilderness for lunch, we are having Brunch at Narcoosee’s. It’s something new that they started and I’m looking forward to that. I’m also really thinking about making a reservation at the Boathouse in Disney Springs, but we’ll see.

For the April/May trip, I was able to modify our reservation for four nights at the VWL in a 2 bedroom lock off Villa, and now we have three nights in a THV. However, tomorrow I am going to wake up at 6AM and call Member Services to see if I can get that switched over to a Bungalow at the Poly! I’ve been checking every day and the accessible Bungalow is still available for our three nights! Keep your fingers crossed!

Nothing has changed for our Mississippi River trip, and I still have another 47 days until I can book our F&W 2016 trip. On other exciting news we are looking into 2017 for our trip to DLP. It was going to be last month, but the whole moving thing sort of threw a wrench into that plan. We are hoping that by spring of 2017 we will be all moved out of the old place and it will be rented out and everything. How are we progressing on that one? Well, we’re at about the same place we were the last time you asked! I guess we better get cracking on that one. We have been making progress on the current house. For those of you not following along on the house thread, I just posted an update over there of how we are doing with decorating, we’re finally getting some of the pictures that have been in storage for many years up on the walls for us to admire. Feel free to check it out:

http://www.disboards.com/threads/th...-its-about-time.3151682/page-64#post-54491482

Back to your regular trip report!

We quickly found ourselves a place to view the parade a fireworks and planted ourselves there firmly for the evening. We didn’t have any real plans for dinner, I skipped it entirely, one of the folks in our group got a child’s togo plate from the Plaza Inn, Magdalene and Michael shared some snacks, and I’m not sure what Michael’s brother did, but no one starved. Soon the parade started, and here I was taking pictures from yet another vantage point.

























I hope I’m not boring you with all these parade pictures.





































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[franandaj]

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http://s915.photobucket.com/user/franandaj/media/2015/Random Disney/IMG_6222.jpg.html

Wow! That was a lot of pictures!

So after the parade, we just waited a few more minutes for the fireworks to start. We had a pretty good view, but compared to my previous views and the fact that I didn’t have a tripod, I only took a few pictures before putting away the camera and just sitting back to enjoy the show.

http://s915.photobucket.com/user/franandaj/media/2015/Random Disney/IMG_6222.jpg.html







http://s915.photobucket.com/user/franandaj/media/2015/Random Disney/IMG_6222.jpg.html

After a long and very fun day, we said our goodbyes, but only temporarily as we had more plans for the week!

 

[jedijill]

So happy you guys are back in vacation mode! The cruise is just what the doctor ordered! You have a lot of great trips in the pipeline!

Your parade pics turned out awesome! ETA Your fireworks pictures are great too.

Jill in CO

 

[rentayenta]

Love your parade pics!

Sounds like a plan. Michael likes his steak and wine for sure.

I'm caught up on the house thread.

I'm SO happy you're getting to cruise and you're going to just relax! It's well earned that's for sure.

Guinness is all set for the kennel in Oct and Dec!

 

[mvf-m11c]

I hope I like the new lens. I don't know when you will arrive, but I suspect it will be after we have our day in the park.

I don't know how good the Canon lens is since I use Nikon but I will look forward to your pics.

I'm glad you are happy with your new lens!

Do you arrive on Friday? We leave Sunday morning, so I imagine by then I will be panicking and frantically packing!

Your post here makes me chuckle. You definitely need to try steakhouse 55 someday, but now I realize how confusing all these numbers can be. We were talking about the 555 steakhouse in Long Beach where Jenny's daughter's BF works! All these numbered steakhouses get confusing!

I have rented the f/4 and I like it where it will be nice to have my own telephoto lens.

Yes, I will arrive at the DLR on Friday the 4th around 8am. I will be coming along with DAW (not DAF that you have met) which we will be flying on SWA. If you are in the park that day, that will be nice but if you can't, i understand since you have your trip coming up.

I will eat at Steakhouse 55 one day but I got to convince DAF to go there one day. She was considering it for the Nov trip but she would rather eat at the EDPN Zone. When I saw 555 is that correct or is it from another restaurant in SoCal. I was going to ask you the same thing if you wanted something from the F&W festival when I leave in a few weeks.

That is good that you get to go on a cruise for relaxation.

Very nice pics from PtN parade as well at DF.

 

[rentayenta]

Since I haven't kept up with my trip report but plan to resume at some point.....Michael will arrive Nov 30 and fly out Dec 4 so our plans of Disney day on Wed and 555 on Thursday look great!

 

[ACDSNY]

I managed to catch up again. Nice pics.

I can understand wanting to be pampered on your cruise. I've only had my patient for 3 weeks and I'm already tired since we're up every 2 hours at night.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I hope I’m not boring you with all these parade pictures.

You're kidding, right?????

I definitely want the 35mm. Fran says she has ordered it, so we'll see when it arrives!

The Canon 35mm, f/1.4? That's a GREAT lens. I wonder if you got the original or the new one? I'm totally envious.



Love the pictures of PtN and the fireworks. Wish I were there!

 

[dhorner233]

Nice shots of the parade! Especially Ariel and Sully! They were hard to get with the lighting.

Thank you for the link to your house thread! Loved seeing all your Disney art displayed!

 

[afwdwfan]

Remember when I told you to pay attention because there would be a test later?

Uh oh...

Notice how much better this shot of the pirate came out than my picture from weeks before.

Whew, that one was easy! Nicely done!

This is the first time I have captured the pirate ship on film (or whatever you call it these days).

Film... pixels floating in some tiny space... whatever.

Once it synced back up with the cell towers and services, it went kind of crazy, a jillion text messages came in. Mostly from Fran, most of them things like “Are you there?” “Why aren’t you answering?” “hello….” “Have you lost your phone?”

Sucks when that happens, doesn't it?

It turns out that my nephew (who was staying with my parents) had suffered a seizure and was taken to the hospital by the paramedics.

Oh no!! Sorry to hear! I hope everything turns out well!

So it’s two weeks until we set sail on our cruise! I can’t even begin to tell you how excited that I am to be going on a vacation, and one where we do nothing but be pampered and eat and drink.

I know you'll enjoy every minute of it!

After a long and very fun day, we said our goodbyes, but only temporarily as we had more plans for the week!

Looks like it was definitely a lot of fun. And thanks for all the parade and fireworks pictures!

 

[franandaj]

So happy you guys are back in vacation mode! The cruise is just what the doctor ordered! You have a lot of great trips in the pipeline!

Your parade pics turned out awesome! ETA Your fireworks pictures are great too.

Jill in CO

I feel like it has been so long since we've had one. Wait! It's been almost a year! I can't wait to take more pictures once the new lens arrives!

Love your parade pics!

Sounds like a plan. Michael likes his steak and wine for sure.

Thanks! We'll keep that in the plan!

I'm caught up on the house thread.

I'm SO happy you're getting to cruise and you're going to just relax! It's well earned that's for sure.

Guinness is all set for the kennel in Oct and Dec!

Glad you have everything under control! I just hope the cruise comes through!

I don't know how good the Canon lens is since I use Nikon but I will look forward to your pics.

Actually, I decided against the Canon lens. I wish the new one would get here!

I have rented the f/4 and I like it where it will be nice to have my own telephoto lens.

I definitely like our telephoto, it just doesn't work well enough for dark rides.

Yes, I will arrive at the DLR on Friday the 4th around 8am. I will be coming along with DAW (not DAF that you have met) which we will be flying on SWA. If you are in the park that day, that will be nice but if you can't, i understand since you have your trip coming up.

I will probably miss you on that trip, but who knows we might be by in November. Who I am kidding? Marathon weekend. Probably going to avoid the place like the plague. We didn't even sign up to play there that weekend. I think it was our last choice.

I will eat at Steakhouse 55 one day but I got to convince DAF to go there one day. She was considering it for the Nov trip but she would rather eat at the EDPN Zone. When I saw 555 is that correct or is it from another restaurant in SoCal. I was going to ask you the same thing if you wanted something from the F&W festival when I leave in a few weeks.

555 is a steakhouse in Long Beach. You should convince DAF to go there, although as I remember she doesn't eat red meat. They did have these Vegan Ratatouille meatballs that many people at my party really liked.

That is good that you get to go on a cruise for relaxation.

Very nice pics from PtN parade as well at DF.

I sure hope we get some relaxation on the cruise!

Since I haven't kept up with my trip report but plan to resume at some point.....Michael will arrive Nov 30 and fly out Dec 4 so our plans of Disney day on Wed and 555 on Thursday look great!

I managed to catch up again. Nice pics.

I can understand wanting to be pampered on your cruise. I've only had my patient for 3 weeks and I'm already tired since we're up every 2 hours at night.

Ugh, yes I remember the being up, well not every two hours, but close. I'm so glad Fran can take care of herself when she needs to. Not that I wouldn't do it if she needed it, my life is less complicated having to worry about two people!

You're kidding, right?????

Well, I wasn't sure. By this time I was getting a little tired of the parade, having seen it what five times already.....

The Canon 35mm, f/1.4? That's a GREAT lens. I wonder if you got the original or the new one? I'm totally envious.



Love the pictures of PtN and the fireworks. Wish I were there!

Actually not the Canon, I was leaning towards the new one, but when I read a couple reviews of the Sigma at half the price and some even said that they had both the Canon and the Sigma, and that the Sigma blew circles around the Canon, that cemented it in my mind. Now I'm checking the front doorstep five times a day waiting for it to arrive!

Nice shots of the parade! Especially Ariel and Sully! They were hard to get with the lighting.

Thanks! But once you know about the ISO and can change that on the fly, the pictures come out a lot better!

Thank you for the link to your house thread! Loved seeing all your Disney art displayed!

You're welcome!

Uh oh...

Whew, that one was easy! Nicely done!

See, I wouldn't make it a hard quiz, I'd lose all my readers!

Sucks when that happens, doesn't it?

Yeah, I think you know about that!

Oh no!! Sorry to hear! I hope everything turns out well!

Well, I haven't heard any more other than they couldn't find anything wrong with him once he got home, so I guess that's good news.

I know you'll enjoy every minute of it!

I sure hope so! I am so ready for that first Drink of the Day!

Looks like it was definitely a lot of fun. And thanks for all the parade and fireworks pictures!

You're welcome