12 days, a 5 and 1-year-old, kid's races, AKL Kidani... and 6,735 pics! (on day 4!)

[Groucho]

So, I loaded up with some "night shooting" gear and visited MK.

Here's a leftover Christmas sign that came down a couple days later... it makes Christmas seem so far away!



The Christmas tree lasted a few days longer but was also gone by the time we left.



...as were many of the other Christmas decorations.





Tomorrowland is always a fun place to set up the tripod and take some long-exposure shots. I usually get a few PeopleMover and palm tree photos.







While there, I used a leftover Space Mountain fastpass that we had. Riding Space Mountain while carrying a tripod is... interesting! It actually wasn't too bad, but a little weird - I had it tucked next to me but had to keep a tight grip on it, just in case. After that, I moved through Fantasyland...





...and stopped to ride Haunted Mansion again. I didn't get a lot of good shots on the ride but this one turned out well; in fact, at high enough resolution, you can easily see the individual pixels on the display.



It was getting late (early, actually; past midnight) so I stopped into the hub for one or two quick photos. Of all the shots I took, I don't think I took any that were specifically of the castle, just ones where it is the background.



Of course, I had to stop into the bakery and pick up a cinnamon roll... high demand means that they're always fresh, and I ate half of it there before heading back to our room and eating the other half while emptying my memory card.



The ankole cattle were hanging out by our balcony as usual. They weren't quite asleep but were slow enough to be able to get a reasonably sharp photo even with an 8-second exposure at 1:35am...



With my pictures backed up to the laptop and an external drive, it was finally time to end our first full day...

Next up, Epcot!

 

[PrincessInOz]

There is nothing else to say except......BRILLIANT! You must be really happy with your shots and the new camera....although I do know that it isn't the camera but your great photography skills! That lensbaby worked a treat. I've only just started reading up on lensbabies and would like to thank you for the demonstration.

And you have a lens that shots at f/1.2? Now I'm jealous (and Epcot is coming up next...I might be resorting to uncontrollable teeth gnashing soon).

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

Awesome pictures! The one of Mickey and Minnie smooching is now my desktop background! So cute.

 

[Groucho]

Awesome pictures! The one of Mickey and Minnie smooching is now my desktop background! So cute.

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it.

There is nothing else to say except......BRILLIANT! You must be really happy with your shots and the new camera....although I do know that it isn't the camera but your great photography skills! That lensbaby worked a treat. I've only just started reading up on lensbabies and would like to thank you for the demonstration.

And you have a lens that shots at f/1.2? Now I'm jealous (and Epcot is coming up next...I might be resorting to uncontrollable teeth gnashing soon).

The LensBaby is fun but can be pretty frustrating. I'm actually not unlike F1.2 in that it can be a real challenge to get the shot you want, but when you do, there's nothing like it. The LensBaby is actually very good when used on a tripod with the camera in liveview mode, so you can zoom in and clearly see where the focus is and make sure everything is like you want it. As for F1.2, most lenses that fast out there are manual focus (unless you drop a lot of money), and the depth of field is paper thin so it's tricky to get things in focus like you want them.

I didn't go into the technical side of things too much in this thread, but there is some more on the tech side in my various live TRs (see links in my signature) - in this case, to sum up, it's a Pentax K-5, a LensBaby Composer, and a Pentax-A 50mm F1.2. Of course, I brought somewhere around a dozen lenses, so those are just a couple of them. (The non-family pictures all link to Flickr, where I have the lens used listed as a tag.)

OK, day 3 (though it felt like day 2 after the travel debacle of the first day)... we got up and as usual, it took a bit of work to finally get the kids to stop watching TV (Disney Junior in this case, as you can see in the reflection) and get out the door to the parks...

Finally, we got going and took a bus to Epcot.



First stop was The Land to grab breakfast at Sunshine Seasons. On the way there, we happened to arrive at the beginning of a Jammitors show, so we stopped and watched that.



We then grabbed some fastpasses for Soarin' and sat down for breakfast. I am a sucker for baked goods so along with your basic scrambled eggs, I grabbed this interesting-looking thing, which was some sort of caramel apple conconction. It was unbelievably dense; the fork could barely penetrate it and it took some sawing to cut a piece off. (It wasn't hard, just dense!) It would probably be nirvana for some people but I probably wouldn't get it again.





Since we were right there, we took a ride on "Living With the Land". It's kind of a shame that they don't have live cast members any more. Still, at least it's a lot more fun than "Circle of Life" - we have missed that for several years now and somehow, I don't feel like we're missing out.





There was even a Christmas tree with a small hidden Mickey ornament!



At this point, we decided to run over to MouseGear, because we'd gotten a few receipts with had a coupon for 20% off at a few of the big stores in WDW, including MouseGear, which expired this day at noon. Plus, it's one of my preferred stores because of the little details here and there. The Mickey wingnuts in particular always inspire me...









This poor one looks like it's seen better days!



One thing I hadn't seen before was a Pluto pillow pet. We bought Jack a crocodile one a few years ago before we'd seen them anywhere else, and Leila has a ladybug one, so we didn't need another, but this is definitely a cute one!



So, one Perry the platypus plush for Jack, one purple & orange Mickey for Leila, one Minnie jacket, and one vintage-style Epcot shirt for me, and we were out of there just past noon. Our next stop was Test Track, or "the fast car ride" as Jack calls it.

More coming soon! Thanks for the comments; knowing that someone is out there reading this helps me soldier on.

 

[PrincessInOz]

You know...I've NEVER noticed the Mickey WingNuts before; much less the hidden Mickey in that meter shot! Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

I've always liked the Living with the Land ride. Especially when the pomelo's are in fruit. I was born in SE Asia and the pomelo used to be my favourite fruit.

And I LOVE food porn...please sir...can I have some more?

 

[OThopeful35]

Your pictures are absolutely beautiful! I cannot wait to see more

 

[MImommy]

Still reading!

 

[Groucho]

Your pictures are absolutely beautiful! I cannot wait to see more

Still reading!

Thank you!

You know...I've NEVER noticed the Mickey WingNuts before; much less the hidden Mickey in that meter shot! Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

I've always liked the Living with the Land ride. Especially when the pomelo's are in fruit. I was born in SE Asia and the pomelo used to be my favourite fruit.

And I LOVE food porn...please sir...can I have some more?

There's lots of cool little details in MouseGear; certainly more than I posted here. It's always fun to stop in the various shops and look around; chances are there are lots of things that you haven't seen before! I'm certainly always finding new things.

As for food porn... yes, there is definitely on the way; in fact in going through the photos, I just did a LensBaby food porn shot.

Back to the TR. After MouseGear, we went over to Test Track and Jack and I got into the standby line, while Mrs Groucho and Leila went to ride Spaceship Earth. The line was moving particularly slowly; I think the ride was down or at least paused when we started. Finally it started moving and it was about 45-60 minutes before we got on. Fortunately, Jack is an old hand at Disney queues and tends to do pretty well in them.

This is a good time to talk about a few "line" things that bothered me this trip. First up, the cell phone and videogaming while waiting in line is really astonishing. One family a couple ahead of me had the adults on cell phones, one kid on a PSP, and one kid on a DS. Cell and DS use was everywhere. You're in WDW, and probably paid a lot of money to come, and you're playing a DS? Or busy playing with your phone? I don't get it. Disney works hard to make the queues interesting. Should they just rip it all out and put in cell repeaters and wifi hotspots?

Second - the line cutting was really crazy this trip. When we were in line for Splash Mountain the day before, there must have been over five groups of people barging their way through the line. Some had probably at least 6 people in them. It's disappointing that some people have so little empathy for others and only care about themselves, and can't see how unfair it is to cut in the line - often pretty deep in - to "meet" someone up ahead. Oh well...

Anyway, back to Test Track...







Speaking of easy-to-miss hidden Mickeys...



We got a car with the dirtiest windshield ever; in fact, someone wrote "wash me" on it!









Afterwards, Mrs Groucho and Jack went on with a child swap fastpass, and I wandered around with Leila, taking photos again...











I experimented a little with a shot that I've been meaning to try, which is shooting through a handheld lens...

They came off the ride and we stopped over to Universe of Energy.





A triple self-portrait here!



More to come!

 

[princessjv]

One word... AMAZING!

Are you a professional Photographer? I'd like you to give some tips on taking such amazing shots!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Whilst I don't get it either - just remember...on a busy day with long queues at the World, without the DS and the smart phones to occupy idle minds, we might well all have to listen to more w(h)ine than we want. I don't know about you...but I don't speak nor understand whine language well at all!

That shot of Jack with the full fisheye of the outside test track is just gorgeous. I love the inner circle of parked cars. I've seen them there when I go for a spin but I've never seen them in a photograph like yours.

And someday on another sub-forum, you should start a thread about that hand held lens. I'd like to know more about it....I always knew hanging out on that sub-forum was EXPENSIVE!

BTW - I looked hard at the triple self-portrait. I sure hope you have another self-portrait picture planned (and yes, I did notice you in the wing nuts as well). In the end, I gave up. Far too many tiny mirrors for this old fogie to peer at.

 

[Groucho]

One word... AMAZING!

Are you a professional Photographer? I'd like you to give some tips on taking such amazing shots!

Nope, just an amateur... I actually wouldn't want to be professional, I think it would be too limited. I like having fun with fisheyes, LensBabies, manual focus, and other oddball things.

Whilst I don't get it either - just remember...on a busy day with long queues at the World, without the DS and the smart phones to occupy idle minds, we might well all have to listen to more w(h)ine than we want. I don't know about you...but I don't speak nor understand whine language well at all!

That shot of Jack with the full fisheye of the outside test track is just gorgeous. I love the inner circle of parked cars. I've seen them there when I go for a spin but I've never seen them in a photograph like yours.

And someday on another sub-forum, you should start a thread about that hand held lens. I'd like to know more about it....I always knew hanging out on that sub-forum was EXPENSIVE!

BTW - I looked hard at the triple self-portrait. I sure hope you have another self-portrait picture planned (and yes, I did notice you in the wing nuts as well). In the end, I gave up. Far too many tiny mirrors for this old fogie to peer at.

I agree about the whine language. We hear that too and I remind Jack that he's in his favorite place in the world, how can he be unhappy? It doesn't always work, but I try.

The handheld lens wasn't anything too tricky, just holding the lens up and shooting through it. It usually took a few tries to get the shot I was after. Both photos have been rotated 180' so that the image in the lens is right-side up and the background is upside-down. One of the other pictures posted here was modified too; I'm not sure if anyone has noticed...

I don't remember if there are any other self-portraits. Quite possibly not. One way you can tell me in Disney photos is that I usually wear a blue bucket hat when I'm there - it's good for there as it doesn't get in the way when taking photos (unlike a baseball hat) and I can easily take it off and wad it up into my jacket pocket on a ride like Test Track. The UofE shot actually has me holding Leila at the same time, too! Actually, here's another shot where you can see me a bit better.

 

[Groucho]

Overdue for another update!

When we last left the report, we were at Universe of Energy - a ride where you really want to make sure that the kids have gone potty beforehand! In our case, the kids were getting hungry so we took a granola bar break and let them burn off some energy running around.





It may be just nostalgia, but I definitely preferred the original version of this attraction - especially the opening movie with its rotating-triangles screen. The original music was better, too! At least they kept the dinosaurs, even if they threw a less-than-convincing Ellen in there. (No good pics of her as I was on the wrong ride of the ride vehicle!)





Really, though, it still doesn't bother me that much. It's still moderately enjoyable and certainly not the worst pavilion in Future World. After this, we crossed to the other side and visited The Seas pavilion...



This is one of the better recent overhauls of an older pavilion. It's nowhere near as good as the Nemo submarines in Disneyland, and I miss the "hydrolators", but it's still decent enough, on a B or C-ticket level.





After the ride, Jack surprising didn't feel like going to Turtle Talk, so we stopped into the shark play area, where Jack rampaged for a while along with all the other kids.



We watched the went up top to look at some fish, but Leila was getting very cranky and hungry, so my wife actually took her outside to calm her down, while Jack ran from window to window to follow the turtles and rays. We caught the end of a dolphin show, by which point were were rejoined by the women.

Everyone was getting a bit tired and hungry by now, and we had Soarin' fastpasses to use, so it was back to The Land to eat at Sunshine Seasons again. I had a pretty decent but not extraordinary pork chop, then watched the kids run in circles around the waiting area at the exit of Soarin' (by the fastpass machines, which were long closed by this point) while Mrs Groucho rode it. (For some reason, Jack had decided that he didn't want to ride it!) I handed them off to her when she returned, and I zipped into the fastpass line.





While waiting, I struck up a conversation with a woman and her older kids; she'd never ridden it and had no idea what to expect. She was a little worried that it was a rollercoaster and/or would go upside down! I always get a kick out of talking to the firsttimers, and seeing their reactions after they do ride. (She loved it!)

Now, for whatever reason, Soarin' has never really connected with me. It's "ok" but that's about it for me. I don't understand the love that many people have for it, especially the occasional proclamation that it's the best ride at Disney, or at least some people's favorite ride. That being said, I may be warming up to it - I probably enjoyed it more than time than before, for whatever reason, but I still would not be broken-hearted if I missed it one trip.

Apparently others find it imperfect, too, or at least can't be bothered to pay attention... check out what was going on next to me!



This goes back to some of my earlier comments about the rampant smartphone usage. If you're going to play with your phone while you're on a ride, why bother coming?

Next up... the saddest pavilion in Future World!

 

[PrincessInOz]

You know - great as your shots are in the low light rides - the ones I really love include the expressions on your kids faces.

And your shots of Soarin' in the passages: ridiculous!

That's a very sad picture of an overused smartphone.

 

[Groucho]

You know - great as your shots are in the low light rides - the ones I really love include the expressions on your kids faces.

Thanks, they are my favorite subject!

After Soarin', we headed over to the Imagination pavilion - which is kind of the "red-headed stepchild" of Future World. It's a shame, I liked it quite a bit in the early days, but a couple ill-advised rehabs and general aging have left it rather unsatisfying. Having no interest in Captain Eo doesn't help, either. (We never did see it - we might have if the timing worked out, but it didn't - it was already closed by this point.) Jack enjoys the ride... but I can't stand when they pump gross smells at you. (This has kept me off the Stitch ride for a few trips, too!) The rest of the ride is pretty uninspired, too; although it has a kind of neat ride system, which I think is slightly different than anything else on property. Poor Eric Idle!

In case it wasn't worn enough, Kodak has now pulled its sponsorship... which means the post-show area is almost all construction walls!



The only things left are the interactive music displays (one where you stick your arm through, the other where kids run around and it turns out instrument sounds), and of course the gift shop, which features nostalgic Dreamfinder shirts, so you'll remember the good old days!

The saving feature of Imagination is the still-great leaping fountains. Like all kids, Jack loves them and has a blast chasing them around.







I hadn't had a chance to ride Spaceship Earth yet, so we finished out Future World with a quick ride on that.





It was a little past 7:30, so time to head for World Showcase. The Christmas tree and topiaries were still up...





We made our way to Mexico, since Jack loves the Gran Fiesta Tour ride. We hopped on and wandered around for a little while until it was time to get a spot for Illuminations.



We found a pretty decent spot (it never hurts to ask if there's room for you!), then my wife realized that a necklace with the kids' names had fallen apart and she was missing some parts. She started wandering back and forth, retracing her steps, and found one or two pieces but was still missing one. Eventually, she glumly gave up...

Meanwhile, I set up my usual Illuminations gear: tripod, remote shutter release, and a couple of lenses at the ready. I love Illuminations, and I love the inferno barge, and I've been working on getting good shots of it. Unfortunately, I had one of the other barges partially blocking it, but I think these are the best I've gotten yet.



Note the firework shooting off on the right here...



You can see some of the propane jets on the left here, shooting upwards.













The kids were beat by now (one asleep, one almost) so we pretty much went straight out along with everyone else. Like so many other kids, they were both asleep on the bus ride back to our room and did the usual groggy half-awake walk off the bus then right in the stroller as soon as it's unfolded. We put them to bed and I took a few pictures off our balcony... we had the usual three ankole cattle as well as a few zebras and a couple giraffes. This one seemed to be looking into someone else's room...



That's it for day 3... next up, Hollywood Studios, more of the hotel, and Downtown Disney! As always, thanks for reading and comments are appreciated.

 

[PrincessInOz]

As always - your shots are wonderful.

Love the Illuminations ones and I was intrigued to read that the Imagination pavillion has got even sadder. I did not think that was possible!

 

[RachelNinja]

Hi Groucho! Don't know if you remember, but I followed one of your other trip reports in the past. That was the time that my boyfriend wanted to get a DSLR camera. Now he's my fiancé, he has a Canon DSLR (I think Rebel? Haha, all I know is I got his point and shoot when he got his new one), and we're heading to Disney next Saturday! I immediately sent him the link to this TR so he could be inspired. Although he's had it for almost a year, he doesn't really use it often.

Anyway, I can't believe that Jack and Leila have gotten so big! Looking forward to more stories and pictures, of course!

 

[Groucho]

As always - your shots are wonderful.

Love the Illuminations ones and I was intrigued to read that the Imagination pavillion has got even sadder. I did not think that was possible!

Yup - hopefully it won't go the way of Wonders of Life (which I barely even remember!) , but it could really use an overhaul. Maybe if they can pick up a new sponsor who'll put some money into updating it... or, they can have a hard time picking a sponsor and it will continue to deteriorate.

Hi Groucho! Don't know if you remember, but I followed one of your other trip reports in the past. That was the time that my boyfriend wanted to get a DSLR camera. Now he's my fiancé, he has a Canon DSLR (I think Rebel? Haha, all I know is I got his point and shoot when he got his new one), and we're heading to Disney next Saturday! I immediately sent him the link to this TR so he could be inspired. Although he's had it for almost a year, he doesn't really use it often.

Anyway, I can't believe that Jack and Leila have gotten so big! Looking forward to more stories and pictures, of course!

Hey there, RachelNinja! I do remember you, thanks for checking in! Enjoy your trip, I think I'm ready to go back already. (My bank account isn't, though!)

I can't believe how big the kids are getting, either... especially as it means that I'm getting older and older, too!

Another update coming probably tomorrow... I'm up too late already!

 

[Groucho]

Day four was a typical (for the past few trips, at least) morning for us - it's tough to get everyone moving, and it was almost 10 by the time we finally were on our way to Hollywood Studios! In fact, by the time we grabbed breakfast at Starring Rolls, it was 10:45! We had stopped over to Toy Story first but of course, the fastpasses were already for late in the afternoon - and we would not be there all day. Sigh!

Starring Rolls is a pretty solid bakery (it's no Main St Bakery, but what is?) and I happily grabbed an apple turnover and a muffin to share. The lines were long enough (and the design of the shop poor enough) that we had to take turns getting breakfast - there was no way to handle taking the two kids through the lines. They could definitely use a redesign; the traffic flow inside is confusing at best and the lines just spill out the door.

We made our way back to Toy Story Midway Mania and killed a few minutes while Leila got a diaper change...





Finally we got in line... it was marked at 60 minutes; the actual wait was probably 45-50. Fortunately, the kids managed it pretty well - Jack is pretty understanding of lines by now, plus there's a lot to look at; and we just handed Leila back and forth to keep her happy!



I'm not sure if this was my best game ever, but it's probably pretty close. I'm sure I could have done better... for this shot, I just put the 3D glasses in front of a fisheye lens.





By now, it was already time for our reservation at 50s Prime Time Cafe! I love this place; it's one of my absolute favorite table service restaurants at WDW. It's always fun seeing other diners getting "in trouble"... fortunately for me, I think the worst I've ever gotten was a scolding for putting my elbows on the table.



I'm a "meat and potatoes" guy so it's always hard making a choice here, but I keep coming back to the pot roast. It's sooooo yummy!





We decided to go over to Playhouse Disney Live on Stage. Now, this has usually been something that Mr Groucho goes to with Jack while I ride Tower of Terror, so I'd never seen it. Going in with low expectations helps... the adults are obviously not the target audience, but it wasn't too painful.





The host, Casey, is ridiculously cute-n-perky - how can a person smile so much?



Now, the weather forecast showed that this might be the warmest day of our trip (~79' or so) so this was to be the day that we'd go back and do some swimming. We hopped on the bus and by the time we got back to our room, Leila was crashing pretty hard from a lack of napping, so Mrs Groucho curled up with her and they took a nap while Jack and I got ready to head to the pool.

There were a decent number of animals visible from our room, too; giraffes...





...and a few ostriches.



Thanks for reading! Next update, the pool and play area (maybe the best water play area in WDW?) and Downtown Disney!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Now Groucho....were you in the Blue corner (with 57,100) or the Red corner (with 191,700)?

That shot of Jack concentrating on taking a picture is just gorgeous. I bet he's gonna be so embarassed on his 21st birthday when you pull it out. Are his shots as good as yours?

And I think I see a shot that I recognise from that thread for Pea n Me....BUT it just might be me....

Those Mr and Ms G Raffe sure look fantastic. Must have been great to have that view.



ps. *sigh* No Starring Roles food porn?????

 

[JLR]

I'm loving your TR! What wonderful pictures. I'll look forward to following along.

The one thing I regret about my trip is that I had purchased an inexpensive waterproof point and shoot that could not take beautiful photos. It was good not to be anxious about the equipment, but I do feel photograph envy!