3000 miles, 3 kids, and too many photos to count! FINAL UPDATE 7/11

[mom2rtk]

Really enjoyed your trip report and all the beautiful photos!

Jo

Thanks Jo! It's nice to see you here. I can't wait to scrapbook some of the photos!

Leaving from Michigan - headed to Yellowstone. Plenty of opportunities for photos! Two weeks traveling in the car with three kids.....hmmmmm. That could be another story. Are we there yet?

Well, I guarantee Yellowstone will be just as other-worldly. We went in 06 following our first trip to red rock country in 05 and I was worried I'd be disappointed. FAR from it! I was blown away! I can't wait to see what you come back with. The variety of types of scenery there is mind-boggling.

And 3 kids in the car for 2 weeks? Courage. Nah... just kidding. Like I said, for us the hard part was when the car STOPPED, not when it was going. It's too easy to entertain them IN the car any more..... well that and the fact that with the boys at 15 and 17, it's the same car, but we have to fit in a lot more LEG!

I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time.

 

[mom2rtk]

Ok, on to Disneyland! It was amazing to step out of the Grand Californian and be so close to the front gates. The summer discounts on room rates were just too good this year to pass up the chance to stay so close to the center of action.

I normally have a detailed plan of action for any Disney trip, but our plans changed so often it made my head spin! The boys are not huge Disney fans, so I didn't know who was coming to the park with us on which day. Finally we talked Robbie (17) into coming for most of the first day, and Timmy (15) would come the first day, and part of the second. It makes it hard to plan attractions when you don't know who will be along.

We got to the gates fairly early that morning. The park was scheduled to open at 8, and we got the ticket window around 7:30. We had to redeem the Give a Day vouchers for the boys, and Katie's voucher for fastpasses. The attendant at the window gave us the cards to use to get fastpasses, but didn't seem to know much about them. I had a fairly good idea that there was a list of "Donald" attractions and "Daisy" attractions, but couldn't remember what was on each list. She didn't know either. We went on our way and figured we'd ask an attendant at one of the machines later in the day.

Around 7:45 they opened the turnstyles and let everyone filter up Main Street almost to the Partners statue. It was not a very pretty morning. It was overcast. On the up side, it was fairly cool (try finding THAT in Orlando in the summer!) but on the down side, pictures don't look very pretty on an overcast day. And while we were there early, there was still a good number of people ahead of us to block most of my shots. The boys headed for the Matterhorn while Katie and I got in line for Peter Pan, along with a couple hundred of our closest friends.........

Now, I have gotten much better at dark ride photography, but Peter Pan remains the hardest of the dark rides. I don't beat myself up too much. I doubt I'll get ANYTHING inside this ride with my current camera body which only goes up to 1600 ISO. I have better low light lenses now, but I doubt even that will conquer this ride. I started with the wide angle and do like the couple of shots I took before we got into the dark. As soon as we got inside I switched to the Sigma 30mm f1.4, the fastest lens I have. I didn't even get close to a decent shot!

From there we hurried on to Katie's and my favorite Disneyland ride.... Alice. We're both huge fans of the ride and the movie and I was anxious to try some more dark ride photos. I thought I did better but did come away with one sharp shot:

The photo is noisy as all getout..... but it's fairly sharp, so it represents a step up with me. When I finally get going with Lightroom, I hope to improve this shot enough to be a keeper. Anyone care to tell me what step they would follow in LR3 with a photo like this?

Next up was the Storybook Canal. We really wanted to be sure we didn't miss the rides that they don't have at Disney World. I think the Canal ride is quaint and charming. It's easy to imagine it there in the early days right after the park opened. But man that line moves slow!

Katie and I did a quick spin on Dumbo, where I tried to get a good shot of Fantasyland. It was still overcast, so the result was less than stellar.

After that brief taste of Fantasyland, the boys showed back up and it was time to head for Tomorrowland. Since Robbie would only be with us that first day, we decided to focus on the things he would like the rest of the day.

I had hoped to get some interesting shots on Autopia with my wide angle lens, but actually go my own legs in most of them! I tried to get a shot in that colorful tunnel on Space Mountain, but failed miserably. I do know I need an even longer exposure than I thought for that one. The boys decided spur of the moment that we should see Captain EO. The boys are mildly amused by Michael Jackson. We also did Star Tours. My boys grew up as huge Star Wars fans, but they were less than impressed by the ride now at 15 and 17.

Then we headed for Buzz Lightyear, another place I thought I could get some interesting shots. I loved the wide angle shot from that ride that Tom posted, and wanted to see what I could accomplish. I ended up with a few that might work, but like my other dark ride shots, they need more work in Lightroom. First rule of dark ride photography..... when the ride vehicle has a control stick, don't ride with a 9 year old! Every time I was about to take a picture, the ride would spin around again! One might even think she was doing it on purpose!

With the help of our Give a Day fastpasses, we had done Tomorrowland in pretty short order, so we decided to hoof it on over to Adventureland!

You will notice there is finally a little bit of blue in the sky! The haze had burned off, but it was also warming up quite a bit. But no one cared.... we were on a mission headed for Indiana Jones! We had actually rescheduled the trip when we found it it would be closed for refurbishment the week before, so it ranks pretty high at our house. It was awesome to use the Give a Day fastpasses and just walk up and get immediate fp's for our entire group!

 

[mom2rtk]

I did keep my camera out on Indy, but quickly gave up. The ride is very similar to Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom, and it's just to hard to hold the camera still enough. Anyone out there have any shots from Indy?

The ride did not disappoint and we loved riding it for the first time since 2007. Katie was a real trooper. She had never ridden before, and wasn't the least bit bothered by the snakes. She took a huge step up in the ride department this trip. She also did Space Mountain for the first time. She had never been a coaster fan. She had said she would try Space, but then started to chicken out in line. After YEARS of doing kid swaps, I was dying for the entire family to just get on and do the ride together. So yes.... I resorted to bribery. She had been eyeing a new warm-up suit for her Build-a-Bear dog...... and we knew just the moment to cave. She did the ride, loved it and rode several more times before the trip was over. We had a coaster junkie on our hands! YEAH!!! FINALLY!!!!

Now back to Adventureland. We found one more thing the family loves: Bengel Barbeque. It's rare to find something we all like, and this definitely did the trick. Man I wish I was there now......... Drooling over.... time to move on.....

The line at Jungle Cruise was pretty long, so we passed and headed on to Frontierland. We did the canoes for the first time in 07 and really enjoyed it. So we hopped on for a nice ride around the Rivers of America. I have to fess up, I didn't pull my weight..... I was having too much fun with the camera. I did enjoy getting this shot of the Mark Twain:

Next it was time for Splash and BTMRR to use some more instant fastpasses. I had been asking all the fastpass attendants what attractions were in what group, but they just looked at me like I was from another planet. They didn't have a clue what they were! So we just kept using them, figuring the machine would let us know when we were done.

I had brought a ziploc bag for my camera to use on Splash Mountain. I wanted to try for a shot going down the big drop. OK, so MAYBE that was ill-conceived when I somehow ended up in the very front....... Luckily I had a bag from one of the gift shops with me too. I got pretty wet early in the ride, and decided to keep that backup bag handy. I did get a couple shots off on the ride down, but they were overexposed and out of focus. Guess I need more practice........ I got MASSIVELY drenched, but fortunately the camera stayed dry, aside from a few strap drips. I probably wouldn't have done this if the camera wasn't covered for accidental damage......... Oh well.... I tried.

Thunder Mountain is obviously much easier to photograph. But I really did enjoy the wide angle and burst shooting here. This is actually one of my favorite photos from the trip. I love the way the train circles into the frame:

As we left Frontierland, I did request one family photo in front of the castle. I knew Robbie wouldn't be back the next day, and the sky was now blue, so it was now or never. I was surprised that no one really complained very loudly. Gosh, it was almost like they expected it or something.... So we had the photopass photographer take our shot, and back we went to Adventureland. (I thought about taking a few moments to take some castle only pictures, but decided not to push my luck. Now I wish I had since I never DID get good castle pictures with a pretty blue sky.)

We then made a quick return trip to Tomorrowland to repeat Buzz and Space. That's the REAL benefit of the Give a Day fastpasses: You can also collect regular fastpasses at the same time, allowing you to double up on the headliners.

By now it was dawning on everyone that we hadn't ordered enough lunch. So since our family motto is that if you love something, you should do it to death....... we went back and spent more of the family fortunes at the Bengal Barbeque!

By now it was really toasty out and the sun had been beating down on us for a while. When we left that morning, it was cool and cloudy, so I hadn't put sunscreen on any of us. Three of us are painfully pale, and very susceptible to burns, so I was getting nervous. I knew we needed to do one or two more things then high tail it back to the room to escape the rest of the days strongest sun.

For some reason, there was almost no line for the Jungle Cruise this time, so we hopped on. Fortunately one of my kids likes to pose for me every now and then:

I really like the way the wide angle lens lets you capture the feeling of sitting on the ride again.

I wonder if this duck had any fear of that deadly Jungle Cruise tiger and crocodile lurking in the background.......... I really have enjoyed playing with the DOF on these 2.8 lenses. This is another of my favorites from the trip:

There were still a couple things we wanted to do at DCA, so we fought the throngs gathered for the parade and made our way to the front of the park. Soarin and Grizzly River Run are right near the entrance to the hotel, so the plan was to do those and head back for a bit.

Our first snag with the GAD fastpasses happened at the Soarin FP Kiosk. Come to find out, we had used our 3 attractions already from that group. No biggie, but it would have been nice if someone along the way could have answered that question for us. It's not like we didn't ask.

So off to Grizzly River Run we went. I didn't think Katie would go, and once I got drenched on Splash, I was pretty sure I would pass. Besides, I wanted to photograph everyone ELSE getting drenched! Just before the ride, we practically stumbled across aviator Minnie posing by her plane. I didn't even know Minnie appeared this way. Perfect.... Katie and I would stop for photos while they got in line for GRR. I'm glad we didn't come back for her. We got in line, got our photos, and less than 5 minutes later she was gone!

There was still plenty of time for some action shots of my crew getting drenched:

Come to find out, they had gotten their instant fastpasses for Grizzly River Run just in time too. There were cast members at the FP kiosks messing around, so I asked what they were doing. They were switching them over to give out World of Color FP's for the Cast Member preview that night.

We ducked back into the hotel to get off our feet and let the wet ones dry off. The boys all considered themselves done for the day at that point. I had planned for some time to see if all my time here on this forum could help improve my fireworks photography. It had been crazy busy in the parks that day, and I wanted to sit right up by the castle for the fireworks, so that meant I needed to be there early.

 

[mom2rtk]

Katie and I enjoyed walking back into Disneyland by ourselves to stake out a spot for the fireworks. We have seen fireworks at DL only once before, and that was from the back of a throng of people half way down Main Street. I dragged my tripod around all day in 07, but there was no show, probably because of the wind. So when we talked about going to DL this year, one of the things I looked forward to was fireworks pictures over Sleeping Beauty Castle.

I know the castle at DL is much shorter, so I figured it was more important than ever to be right up close. So we entered the park around 6:30, grabbed a sandwich, and headed for the hub. I really was surprised to find very little curb space left right up front. But we squeezed in, and settled in for the long wait.

A gentleman beside us had the same camera I have, and we chatted back and forth quite a bit. He showed me how to use the live view function, which worked out wonderfully for shooting fireworks. I've had this camera for over a year and never used that function before!

It might not have as commanding a presence as Cindy's digs in Orlando, but I love how pretty Aurora's home is at night:

I went full manual for this: Aperture at 8, ISO 100, bulb mode for exposure. I tended to use between 4 and 5 seconds. Not being really experienced at this, I didn't want to take a chance on blowing anything out.

I took some fairly decent fireworks pictures at DW a few years back. I used Program mode with ISO of 1600 I think. I got some nice bursts, but I wanted to do better and include some longer exposures. So I read up ahead of time and went manual last fall. And the pictures stunk. I shot Hallowishes and came away with almost nothing I was really happy with. I was determined to do better. I really thought about last fall and think I just didn't keep the shutter open long enough. Too many short trails, not enough bursts. This time I got more bursts. And while I hope to do better still, I really was happy with a number of the shots:

And my 2 favorites:

I'm sure there's more I can do in PP to make the photos better, maybe make the sky darker, but at least I've made progress.

We dragged ourselves back to the hotel knowing we were planning to be there for early opening at 7 AM the next day. I would have LOVED to wander around the park for more night photography, but Katie was tired, and my feet just couldn't take any more.

 

[disneygolfgirl]

J-
Loving your trip report and also your amazing fireworks shots. I'm such a novice and would be thrilled to have one half as good!

Jo

 

[mom2rtk]

J-
Loving your trip report and also your amazing fireworks shots. I'm such a novice and would be thrilled to have one half as good!

Jo

Thanks Jo! Most cameras can actually take fairly decent fireworks photos. The single greatest thing you can do is use a tripod! I'm looking forward to practicing some more on the 4th here at home. I'm hoping to do even better on our trip to the World in December.

 

[mom2rtk]

One more shot from the end of day 1, right before leaving for the night. We actually waited quite a while up by the rope in front of the castle. The park was open until midnight, and they needed to give clearance to Fantasyland following the fireworks before letting down the rope. All I wanted was a Photopass picture in front of the castle. I finally gave up after about 15-20 minutes. Then I looked down at my camera and tripod and said... duh.... let's just do this ourselves! We moved back by the Partners statue and did our own. I really don't like the light towers where they are. They really clutter up the shot!

 

[mom2rtk]

My internal time clock stays set to central time, regardless of what time zone I'm in. So I woke up every morning way ahead of everyone else. So Tuesday when I woke up, I decided to make the most of it. I grabbed the camera and tripod and headed for the California sign in the Plaza between the 2 parks. I thought I could get some cool shots with no one in them. Well, I did have the area to myself, (except for the sweeper machine), but I didn't really care for the results. It was too light to get night shots, but not light enough for day shots. And let's face it.... I was just guessing at my settings.

I went with the aperture completely stopped down. I wanted a longer exposure to see if that would intensify the colors. The results didn't grab me. If I was doing it again, I'd just go with a mid range f-stop, maybe f-8 or f-10. Anyone have thoughts on what I might have done here? I increased the saturation of the colors a bit, but it still seems to need something. Maybe it just needed a different time of day??? Of course, it didn't help that the day started overcast again.

Regardless, it was awesome to be out there as the day was dawning, just me, my camera and my tripod.

 

[mom2rtk]

On the way back, I took advantage of the early hour to get some shots of the hotel lobby:

 

[mom2rtk]

Today we were starting the day in Fantasyland. The boys were sleeping in. Robbie was spending the day in the room, and we were meeting Timmy in the afternoon and planned to use our second Give A Day voucher for fastpasses.

Once again, we made it there for rope drop. This day was tougher since it was Magic Morning and it started at 7. Our first destination was the Nemo Subs. We had purposely scheduled to just miss the grand opening in 07, so it was high time to give it a try. I wasn't that excited about it really, since we've done the Nemo ride at Epcot several times. But I actually found this to be a lot better, and am glad we didn't miss it.

I had a love/hate relationship with the weather at Disneyland. Every morning we were there was overcast. I loved wearing a jacket at Disney in June, but would have loved a blue sky over those Nemo subs!

I hadn't done the Matterhorn the day before and didn't want to miss it, so we headed that way next. I like the ride, but I really wanted a shot at that dang snowmonster. Someone on the Disneyland board had gotten a great shot, and I was crazy enough to think I might too.... Hah! I went fairly wide at 17mm since I wanted a lot of frame available to catch him. I went wide open at f2.8. In retrospect, my Sigma 30mm f1.4 might have been better, but that might have been a little tight for composing on a jerky coaster. I didn't do great, but I did catch him in the corner of one of my shots. This has been cropped. Of course, I'll try not to be too hard on myself on this one. It would be a lot easier if I were a Disneyland regular and could ride the ride a few times and could anticipate him.

I wanted to be sure not to miss Small World, so we headed over there next. I know many diehards are not fond of the addition of the Disney characters into the ride, but I found it charming and really enjoyed the updated version. I also just enjoyed the chance to do the ride with more lens options than on our last trip.

We finished our morning stop in Fantasyland with a ride on Casey's Circus Train. All I remember from riding it years ago was having to squeeze into a cage. Thankfully no squeezing required this time! What I had forgotten was what a lovely complement it was to the Storybook Canal. It was nice to ride around and see the miniature buildings again.

One of the things I really wanted to do that day was to find Princess Tiana, so we headed across the park to New Orleans Square to scope things out. Her small song and dance show was supposed to be at 10:30.

 

[mom2rtk]

We still had time to do a couple of rides before Tiana came out. So we did Haunted Mansion and POTC. I'm doing better still on these dark rides, and came away with a couple more sharp shots. I really found it helpful to shoot in continuous mode. It really increased my odds of getting a sharp shot. They still need some work with PP, which I hope to work on when I get my computer issues ironed out.

Any tips on what I want to do in post with these would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to get LR3 loaded onto my computer, but hit some snags and hope to have it worked out soon.

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

I love the fact that you were able to get some lowlight ride images. I have yet to be real successful with that. Nice job! What lens and settings did you use?

 

[mom2rtk]

I love the fact that you were able to get some lowlight ride images. I have yet to be real successful with that. Nice job! What lens and settings did you use?

Thank you! I've been enjoying your character and show photos over on your thread! I felt for you lugging around equipment in the heat. Your nice show close-ups are tempting me to still bring my long lens into the MK on our next trip. At least since it's going to be December, I won't have the heat issue to work with....

I bought my Sigma 30mm f1.4 before our trip last fall, but didn't feel the least bit successful with it on that trip. I think I went aperture priority of 1.4 on that trip. But this time I went shutter priority of 1/30 which I thought would the lower limit of what I could hand hold. It also helped a lot to use the continuous exposure mode so I had a lot to work with , and I didn't have to constantly refocus.

Thanks for reading along! Can't wait to see more from your trip!

 

[mom2rtk]

I had seen a banner up the day before where they do Tiana's little show, but it wasn't out yet this day. So we headed back into New Orleans Square and asked around. We found the staircase I've seen in so many photos, and confirmed from a couple of people that's where she woud come down. Katie changed into the Tiana gown and we hung out right there. I took some photos of her on the steps then we had a snack.

I'm glad I reviewed my photos while we were waiting. I had forgotten to change my camera settings after POTC! I had it set on shutter priority of 1/30 but had added the flash. Oops.......... I took some more. Still not great, but much better. I think the lighting in that area was just really tricky. It's a small two story area open to the sky at the top, so most of the daylight comes from straight above. Any thoughts on the best way to tackle a situation like this? Maybe I should have used a bit of extra flash exposure compensation? Her face just seems a little too dark.

These are the photos I seem to have lost the RAW files on, so I won't have as much flexibility to work with.

The dancers showed up first and were really tickled to see Katie's costume. It's the reaction from CM's like this that brings us the greatest enjoyment on our trip. They were absolutely as sweet as can be!

Tiana came down the staircase and they headed out for their show:

Tiana wasn't scheduled to do a meet & greet after the show, so I asked her handler right before the show if there was any way to get a quick photo after. She caught me near the end of the show and told me to follow them. They stopped near the staircase and let me get my shots.

 

[mom2rtk]

Once the show was over, Drew headed back to the hotel. He was going to have lunch with the boys while Katie and I headed to DCA for an additional dose of princess fun at Ariel's Grotto. I had made a green Ariel gown for our December trip, but made sure to bring it along since I knew Ariel would be greeting us in her green at her restaurant. Ariel's reaction was priceless, but I missed that shot because we were walking down the staircase. She doesn't see many little girls in her gown.

We were seated at a table inside but next to the open doors to the patio area. There was a cool breeze coming in and I loved the chance for some extra lighting. Soon we were visiting with old friends.

And one of my favorite shots....... Katie's face is slightly out of focus, but I love it nonetheless........

It was then time to head back to the hotel. I was exhausted and we were taking a short break before heading back with everyone but Robbie. Time for some thrill rides again!

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

Thank you! I've been enjoying your character and show photos over on your thread! I felt for you lugging around equipment in the heat. Your nice show close-ups are tempting me to still bring my long lens into the MK on our next trip. At least since it's going to be December, I won't have the heat issue to work with....

I bought my Sigma 30mm f1.4 before our trip last fall, but didn't feel the least bit successful with it on that trip. I think I went aperture priority of 1.4 on that trip. But this time I went shutter priority of 1/30 which I thought would the lower limit of what I could hand hold. I big improvement also came with using the continuous exposure mode so I had a lot to work with , and I didn't have to constantly refocus.

Thanks for reading along! Can't wait to see more from your trip!

That is the lens I wanted to get before we left but the budget wouldn't allow for it. I love the matching costumes, great job. Your photos make me want to go back to DL. I used to live 10 minutes away and go all the time, but that was 40 years ago! I first visited there as a kid in 1958.

 

[mom2rtk]

That is the lens I wanted to get before we left but the budget wouldn't allow for it. I love the matching costumes, great job. Your photos make me want to go back to DL. I used to live 10 minutes away and go all the time, but that was 40 years ago! I first visited there as a kid in 1958.

Thank you! My daughter still enjoys all the costume fun, mostly because she's used to getting to "play" a little extra with the cast members because of it. I know that will end soon enough, but I'm taking my cues from her. I do think that once she's done with it, we'll probably just start going during Halloween when we can both dress up.

And living so close to DL would be a dream come true for me! I can't even imagine how cool that would be!

It was somewhat different going this time than on our past trips though. The crowds were huge. I knew ahead of time to choose days that were blocked to AP's, but after rescheduling around WOC crowds, and the Indy closure, we just picked what worked best and made the most of it. Without our GAD fastpasses, it would have really been bad.

You should go back soon though (you know.... on a blocked AP day!). It still has so much that WDW does not. And once Fantasyland in the MK changes, DL will seem even more nostalgic. I can't wait for the new FL in the MK, it should be awesome. But I'll miss the old one too!

As for the lens, I really do like mine. I did try a couple of dark rides with one of the 2.8 lenses I already had on my camera, but it just didn't do the trick. But keep in mind my ISO only goes to 1600. The Sigma is really a great lens. I like the focal length too. I also have the canon 50mm f1.8, but just don't find myself using it much. 50mm just always seems too long or too short, hardly ever just right for me.

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

We did the Halloween Party in 05 with everyone dressed in the Disney deluxe costumes. My DGD (the Gianna in Gianna'sPapa) picked out all the costumes. we had a great fun. My oldest daughter (Gianna's Mom) was dressed as Cinderella and was told by security not to sign any autographs and to advise anyone who asked that she wasn't the real Cinderella.

I'm in the same boat with the ISO. We have two K10D's with a max of 1600.

 

[mom2rtk]

We did the Halloween Party in 05 with everyone dressed in the Disney deluxe costumes. My DGD (the Gianna in Gianna'sPapa) picked out all the costumes. we had a great fun. My oldest daughter (Gianna's Mom) was dressed as Cinderella and was told by security not to sign any autographs and to advise anyone who asked that she wasn't the real Cinderella.

I'm in the same boat with the ISO. We have two K10D's with a max of 1600.

Now that I'm in good shape with lenses, a body with higher ISO is the last piece of what I really want. That's not happening any time soon though, so I just need to make friends with my 1600 ISO! Maybe I can just learn more about PP and give up on Peter Pan!

We did the Halloween party at WDW last year. We dressed up, but they set records for heat the week we were there. The costumes didn't last long. They even set heat records on Halloween night last year, so you can never do Orlando for Halloween and know it will be manageable.

I'm leaning toward DL for Halloween sometime. They are moving their party to DL this year, which is a big help. DCA for Halloween just did nothing for me.

I'd love to see photos of your group from Halloween that year! I'm a costume junkie......

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

Now that I'm in good shape with lenses, a body with higher ISO is the last piece of what I really want. That's not happening any time soon though, so I just need to make friends with my 1600 ISO! Maybe I can just learn more about PP and give up on Peter Pan!

We did the Halloween party at WDW last year. We dressed up, but they set records for heat the week we were there. The costumes didn't last long. They even set heat records on Halloween night last year, so you can never do Orlando for Halloween and know it will be manageable.

I'm leaning toward DL for Halloween sometime. They are moving their party to DL this year, which is a big help. DCA for Halloween just did nothing for me.

I'd love to see photos of your group from Halloween that year! I'm a costume junkie......

These are from 05 and are pre-DSLR. The two Cruella's are the actual character and the DW (right). The character saw the DW standing in line for a photo, left her handler and walked into the crowd. There, she coached the DW and they put on a show surrounded by the crowd. It was great!