4 gigs of pics, 3 blisters, 2 pairs of new shoes, 1 bleeding toe = our great trip!

Great pics! Really enjoying the TR so far---can't wait to read more.

I've got a quick question---for the last set of shots of SE, did you use a CP filter, adjust the color of the sky in PP or is that the color straight out of the camera?
 
Really love those last 2 pics.

I can't believe how bright and vivid your pictures are. Awesome!

Also....are your daughters into pin trading? If so, any particular thing they like to collect?

They just started pin trading on this trip. Gabriella is pretty much into anything. Angelina seems to be trading for mostly Stitch. They both traded with CMs all along the way. One time Gabriella traded with an adult and she got swindled (for lack of a better word) with her trade. After that DH and I laid down the rule that they only trade with children or CMs. You'll read all about that sadness on our next EP day.

Your pictures are very good. You might have already mentioned but what camera are you shooting with and what type of fish eye lens are you using.

Thanks for the great trip report!

:thumbsup2:thumbsup2:thumbsup2

I'm shooting with a Canon 50D. The fisheye is a (rented) Tokina 10-17mm lens :thumbsup2. I was LOVING that lens. I have it on a very short wish list for equipment to buy. I can see using a lens like that all the time.

Great pics! Really enjoying the TR so far---can't wait to read more.

Thanks! Will try to add the morning at MK later on this evening, have the photos uploaded to my photobucket account, just need the time to write it all out.
 
Tennessee is my favorite part of our drive from Missouri to WDW. Freewayjim has some outstanding videos of driving on I-24. I wish we could go as fast as he does.

Is Tennessee your favorite state because you're through it so quick because it's so narrow :lmao:? Georgia seems to take a million years to get through. We break it up into chunks.....

Chattanooga to Atl = 2 hrs.
Atl to Macon = 1.5 hours
Macon to Valdosta = 2 hours
Valdosta to the state line = 1.5 hours

That's the only way we can make it seem shorter while driving through!
 
Very cool shot!! :thumbsup2

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They do look very similar. I like it.

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I know I can't last this long if I only have 4 hours of sleep 2 nights in a row. Yet, you can go swimming and do laundry. Incredible!! I am not sure if I can even find the energy to eat.

Glad you are finally able to go to sleep early and maybe the "pokey" foot might goes away too.
 

Great report so far :thumbsup2 Your pictures are amazing - I think my favourite so far is the train station at night, it's beautiful!
 
Very cool shot!! :thumbsup2

They do look very similar. I like it.

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I know I can't last this long if I only have 4 hours of sleep 2 nights in a row. Yet, you can go swimming and do laundry. Incredible!! I am not sure if I can even find the energy to eat.

Glad you are finally able to go to sleep early and maybe the "pokey" foot might goes away too.

Peter, that is just the shot I was talking about :thumbsup2. I know it is just the crosswalk, Abby Road was just the thought that popped into my head when I saw it.

Keep in mind, the girls did sleep a bit in the van on the way down. It wasn't good sleep, ovbiously being in the car, but it was sleep nonetheless. We got a good 10 hours sleep that night. Was nice.....didn't even hear any noise coming from being in a corner room that night :lmao:.

Great report so far :thumbsup2 Your pictures are amazing - I think my favourite so far is the train station at night, it's beautiful!

Thank you :goodvibes. Really looking forward to sharing the next nights photos, that is when I got the tripod set up right and had my shutter release along for the ride :rolleyes:.
 
WOW, we got a great night's sleep last night. Opening at MK is 9:00 today which means :excited: no EMH's to wake up for. I was up around 7:00 and girls up by 7:30. Everyone showered, bags packed.....we're OFF! Another beautiful sunny day on the horizon.....although there is chatter about a tropical depression to the West of the state that has the potential to bring several inches of rain. Not today though :goodvibes.

Have the girls grab a pop tart and water bottle (breakfast of champions :rotfl:) before leaving the room. Drive again so Angelina can ride her beloved tram. Was hoping to make rope drop and see the opening ceremony.

Am a pro at making my way to the MK now. No more u-turns on this trip. Park at the parking lot in the Pluto section and hop on the tram. Girls and I decided since we rode the monorail last time that we would ride the:

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Threw our trash:

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The girls had an alterior motive to riding the ferry also. They are collecting the transportation trading cards (that are free). Last year they got the monorail set and that was all they could find. Gabriella musters up some courage (by having Angelina tag along) and asks one of the ferry CMs if they have any cards. Turns out they did :yay:. One more set down - busses to go. We have tried and tried to get bus cards but the drivers are always out. Either way.....what a great start to the day!

Looking on the horizion we know we're almost there:

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Grab our gear and pile off the bus straining to see if we've made it for the opening ceremony. We just missed it, the gates are open and people are flooding in. Gabriella apologizes to me for us missing it because, 'I know how much you like the singing'....isn't she sweet :flower3:.

No worries we're going to race over to Astro Orbiter and beat the line. That is one of G's favorite rides. On the way down Main St. we see:

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Who tells me he 'lost his phone number can he have mine,' :lmao: he's one funny guy.

Quickly cut through Tomorrowland Noodle Station (because you get to be in some outside a/c AND becaues more people go all the way to the castle to hang a right to TL). Snap off a few pics:

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I don't think you can ever have too many pictures of the castle.

OK - so get to AO...by now Gabriella is skipping and doing a little jig. Basically no line. The first time we rode this was last summer. Gabriella has always had to ride alone because Angelina is terrified of going all the way up. We made a compromise and all 3 squeezed in:

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and rode it together so we could take the rocket all the way up so that Angelina wouldn't be afraid to ride it alone and I could ride with G for the first time. When I say we squeezed in, BOTH girls had to help me get out because I was so crammed in with camera bag and carry along bags, etc.

Anyway - rode it, was a great success. Elevator down.....back in line....wait 3 minutes....elevator right back up. This time I got to ride with Gabriella and Angelina rode alone:

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One more from up high:

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Off A.O. and worked our way back to:

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Rode Stitch again and did BL as well:

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Coming off BL saw this bit of magic for the tiny ones going on:

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Now the girls are getting a bit hungry so, after reading rave reviews about the Main St. Bakery we head that way. There are two little cafe tables out front. About 30 seconds after we got in line, a family that was sitting at one of the tables was leaving. I turn to G and tell her to beat feet to that table so we can sit outside!!!! She hauls the mail and makes it. Had a lady behind me laughing at me because I was so determined to get that table. Sent Angelina outside a few minutes later and let them call daddy while we have a few down minutes. Use our snack credits and get:

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A cinnamon roll and a blueberry muffin. Was going to get each girl a cinnamon roll until I saw that they were bigger than my head. Decided they could split it and save a snack credit.

Sat outside and snapped one more quick photo because the sky was looking like a fairie tale again:

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It was so awesome to lounge on Main St knowing we had already successfully completed TL while there were people still doing that power Disney walk to get to their first ride.

All done with breakfast, we give our table up to another family of 5 so they could enjoy the view for a bit. Girls wanted to go to the HM and have another whirl on the doom buggy and catch a hitch-hiker.

While cutting through in front of CP, my sunglasses broke. Angelina had fun wearing them saying she was a pirate:

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While we were cutting through, I asked a CM if we were close to the Christmas store. Wanted to pick up our ornament of the year. Turns out we were standing right next to it....how embarassing.

So we went in to shop.........

Coming up - I photograph almost every inch of the Christmas shoppe and finally have some success photographing inside the HM.
 
Wow. I love that photo looking out towards Monster's Inc. and stuff from AO! Good thing you got there early to do that..that line gets ridiculous since there's really no where to go but stand there waiting for the next elevator up!
 
Would love to hear more about this Transportation cards.

What are they and how do you get them?
 

Love all of them, but these two are my faves. The cinnamon roll looks soooo good, can't wait to get one in a few months! :woohoo:

Your DD is so cute. I enjoy seeing the shots of families having fun and being kids again (although your DD is a kid, but you know what I mean) almost as much as the shots of Main St., etc.

Keep up the good work. Looking forward to another post already. :rolleyes1 Nothing like knowing many anxious readers are awaiting the next installment to keep you motivated to process all of those photos! :rotfl:
 
great TR and fantastic pics - you are inspiring me to buy the new camera I want before the trip !!!
 
What a fantastic TR! I just love the picture of Pirate Angelina...too cute.

You and your girls look like you are having so much fun in every picture, such a nice thing to see. Happy, smiling families at WDW are the best.

Your pictures are so great. My BF is a photographer and I love the few shots he has taken with the fisheye lens. Such a cool look to the photos. When they get older (or maybe they already do), your girls are really going to appreciate all the great pictures you're taking. It is so nice to have happy memories captured.

Can't wait for the next installment...I am officially addicted :thumbsup2
 
Love the TR so far!! Pictures are great and I think I'm going to follow your lead and head to AO on our trip (have never been on it!!). By the way, my favorite pic is the one of your dd on AO by herself - is there any special trick to capturing that photo or just focus on the person only?
 
Loving your TR!!!! Fellow photo nut so I simply must follow along with all those amazing pics!!! I have to know WHERE you found a place to rent a lens? I would love to do that.
 
Wow. I love that photo looking out towards Monster's Inc. and stuff from AO! Good thing you got there early to do that..that line gets ridiculous since there's really no where to go but stand there waiting for the next elevator up!

We typically save that ride for EMH's. The big issue was that Angelina wanted to ride it in the daytime alone before doing it at night.

Love your report! Can't wait to read more!

:goodvibes Will try to add more in a bit.

Would love to hear more about this Transportation cards.

What are they and how do you get them?

There are 3 series to make a complete set. They are about the size of a baseball card, maybe slightly smaller. There is a monorail set that is 1 card per train, there are water craft ones and then the bus ones. There is random Disney trivia on them, or hints to find hidden Mickey's etc. They're a great little souviner to bring home.

Love all of them, but these two are my faves. The cinnamon roll looks soooo good, can't wait to get one in a few months! :woohoo:

Keep up the good work. Looking forward to another post already. :rolleyes1 Nothing like knowing many anxious readers are awaiting the next installment to keep you motivated to process all of those photos! :rotfl:

That was our first cinnamon roll. I'd read so many good things, thought we'd try it out. I couldn't believe how large in size they were!!

Anxious people reading my report is exactly what is helping me process the photos. I have sooooo many more to go!



I just love the picture of Angelina on AO with that brief glimpse of the castle in the background. :thumbsup2

Thank you!! I took a few different ones, that photo was the one that came out the best, just luck that the castle made a brief appearance.

Sounds like a great morning so far. :thumbsup2

It truely was!!!

great TR and fantastic pics - you are inspiring me to buy the new camera I want before the trip !!!

Make sure, if you do, that you get it in time to learn all of the new advantages the camera might have.

What a fantastic TR! I just love the picture of Pirate Angelina...too cute.

You and your girls look like you are having so much fun in every picture, such a nice thing to see. Happy, smiling families at WDW are the best.

Your pictures are so great. My BF is a photographer and I love the few shots he has taken with the fisheye lens. Such a cool look to the photos. When they get older (or maybe they already do), your girls are really going to appreciate all the great pictures you're taking. It is so nice to have happy memories captured.

Can't wait for the next installment...I am officially addicted :thumbsup2

Thank you, we really did have a good time. There were some moments I was just ready to pack it in but that's what happens when you go on little or no sleep sometimes. I truely hope the girls look back on these photos with happy memories. I try to capture them all.

Love the TR so far!! Pictures are great and I think I'm going to follow your lead and head to AO on our trip (have never been on it!!). By the way, my favorite pic is the one of your dd on AO by herself - is there any special trick to capturing that photo or just focus on the person only?

No tricks, just made sure that the camera showed Angelina was focused. I had the camera in Av mode, definately didn't slow down the shutter (purposedly at least) think the ride was just going to fast that it looked like I was panning.

Loving your TR!!!! Fellow photo nut so I simply must follow along with all those amazing pics!!! I have to know WHERE you found a place to rent a lens? I would love to do that.

I rented from www.borrowlenses.com. You can rent ANYTHING photography based (bodies, tripods, etc.) from here. Definately the cheaper route to go until I can afford to buy it to own.
 
What's AV mode? automatic? Also, I forgot to ask before where you got the girls' shirts? They're so cute and I don't see them on the Disney Store site.
 
What's AV mode? automatic? Also, I forgot to ask before where you got the girls' shirts? They're so cute and I don't see them on the Disney Store site.

Av mode is aperature priority mode. I set the ISO, white balance and f-stop, the camera did the rest. As for the shirts, I bought them off of the disney shopping site. I got them on clearance a few months ago for $5 each. There were TONS of kids wearing them. Gabriella continued to point them out every time she saw them....which was quite often :laughing:. I think she thought it was pretty cool.
 











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