Anyone Game? 2 Castles and a Road Trip TR! Last Day and TR Wrap Up! #2796; 10/01

[WanderlustNZ]

Great photopass pic of you and your family in front of the castle.

 

[Meriweather]

Princess.....just caught up. (Been busy with company, etc.), but have tried to keep up most of the time.
Love all the pictures. Add me to loving MSEP.....

Your pictures make me very anxious to get back.....DD and I have a trip May 31-June 7

 

[Leshaface]

Wonderful updates! Amazing photos of the dining room in the HM. Of course, mine never come out.

I absolutely love the in-focus shot of the Mickey pumpkin head with the castle a little blurry in the background

 

[ACDSNY]

Awesome photos of the HM and Halloween time. I'm totally amazed at some of those inside the HM, your timing was spot on.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Here's some pics from the Fastpass + area.

They aren't as lovely and clear as yours. But I did have some fun playing around with composition as the floats passed directly between us and the castle.











P.S. I always feel a bit funny hijacking other people's TRs with my own pics. Say the word and I'll delete them

 

[PrincessInOz]

It was fantastic. We were directly in front of the castle, were sitting at the front of viewing area, and we had heaps of space. It was my best use of Fastpass + the whole trip. I'll look through my pics to see if there's one that gives of a good perception of where we were sitting.

Meanwhile, the Wishes viewing spot in the Rose Gardens was my worst use of the Fastpass +. I really wish we had just stayed at our MSEP spot and watched the fireworks from there.

I only contemplated using FP+ for MSEP. I had checked out the maps and info on the Dis and figured that the reserved position for MSEP would be great viewing.

Here's some pics from the Fastpass + area.

They aren't as lovely and clear as yours. But I did have some fun playing around with composition as the floats passed directly between us and the castle.











P.S. I always feel a bit funny hijacking other people's TRs with my own pics. Say the word and I'll delete them

Lovely pictures, Wanderlust. Nice to see what the view and the photo opportunities would have been like from that spot.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[dhorner233]

(Continued from Previous Post)

That one of you and your family is so nice!!

I love your angles on the pumpkin people in Town Square! I need to go back and do that!

I had to go back and look, I have pictures of the blue ghost bride but she does not have the hatchet in hand. I have this one from DL and you can see the ax.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I was, I was!

Thanks for the words! Never knew them!

Nice shots!



Jud

I was singing so badly off-key, I didn't hear you!

Beautiful photos! Thanks so much for sharing them!

Thanks Brandi.

Very nice night at the MK. The IASW and HM pictures are very nice.

I was pretty happy with HM. And it was interesting to see what the wide angle lens could do in IaSW.

I enjoyed all the photos. Unfortunately when I was at Walt Disney World, It's A Small World was closed. So it was nice to relieve it through your photos.

Corinna

Glad to help you relive IaSM. Hope it's open for your next visit.
Thanks.

Nope sorry I was NOT singing along with you on IASW In fact I am holding my head to the side and smacking my ear to shake it out of my head Just can NOT get into that ride and that song is the song that haunts me
First heard it at the NY Worlds Fair when I was 10 didn't like it then almost 50 yrs later still don't like it...but YOU sounded great

WOW WOW WOW spectacular HM photos as we have all come to expect

Next time, we have to go on some rides together.

Wow! That was all one day! No wonder I can't keep up with you!

By then we were tucked in our bed with visions of Mickey plums dancing in our heads! Well we were probably close, with an 8:30 dinner reservation we might have been still heading back to the resort.

Now that I see your pictures of IASW, I'm not sure I've ever been on WDW's version. I can't imagine indoor loading of the boats, so I must have missed it. My list of "to do's" for the next trip is getting big!

Your HM pictures are GREAT! I'm not going to steal any more, but you have reminded me of more figures that we have for the room!

Looking forward to hearing about your next day. I don't think I know anything about what you did that day!

Thanks Alison. From memory, you headed to TPC with Ruthie on the next day and then lunch off-site on Apopka Vineland. I suspect that we might find that we were somewhere similar on that night.

Great photopass pic of you and your family in front of the castle.

That was my favourite PP from the day.

Princess.....just caught up. (Been busy with company, etc.), but have tried to keep up most of the time.
Love all the pictures. Add me to loving MSEP.....

Your pictures make me very anxious to get back.....DD and I have a trip May 31-June 7

YAY for having a trip booked. Looks like a lovely mother daughter memory time.

Wonderful updates! Amazing photos of the dining room in the HM. Of course, mine never come out.

I absolutely love the in-focus shot of the Mickey pumpkin head with the castle a little blurry in the background

Thanks.

Awesome photos of the HM and Halloween time. I'm totally amazed at some of those inside the HM, your timing was spot on.

I was pretty pleased with my timing on that ride as well.

 

[PrincessInOz]

That one of you and your family is so nice!!

I love your angles on the pumpkin people in Town Square! I need to go back and do that!

I had to go back and look, I have pictures of the blue ghost bride but she does not have the hatchet in hand. I have this one from DL and you can see the ax.

Thanks Denise.

That's a great picture of the blue ghost. Which lens were you using for this?

 

[Pinkocto]

Gorgeous fireworks pictures as usual. I watched from behind the castle on my last trip as well and loved it. It almost felt like I was 'inside' the show. We've also watched in front of Dumbo and that was great too.

 

[rentayenta]

I'm singing.....now I need to catch up. IASW is also on my funeral list.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Gorgeous fireworks pictures as usual. I watched from behind the castle on my last trip as well and loved it. It almost felt like I was 'inside' the show. We've also watched in front of Dumbo and that was great too.

I think I might have viewed fireworks from behind the castle before the new Fantasyland was constructed. I think it's better with the new area. I'd like to try it from that Dumbo area if there ever is a next time.

I'm singing.....now I need to catch up. IASW is also on my funeral list.

It's on mine too.

 

[LegoMom3]

Ok, caught up again!! Great photos as usual. You should go into it professionally! Love your MK photopass pic, too. Nice shot of you all.

.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Ok, caught up again!! Great photos as usual. You should go into it professionally! Love your MK photopass pic, too. Nice shot of you all.

.

Thanks.

The photography is just a hobby. Otherwise, it'll seem too much like hard w-o-r-k!

 

[PrincessInOz]

WDW Epcot 01 October 2013



Wake Up! Wake Up! Anyone??





Wake up! Wake up! Anyone???



Day 19 of this vacay and my boys completely lost it this morning. The pace that we had cracked on this vacay got the better of them and neither of them felt like getting out of bed early. I knew better than to wake sleeping boys so I didn't even try and get them out of bed. Afterall, grumpy boys make for a grumpy day all round.


Me? It was early entry at Epcot and I was still running on Disney adrenalin.







I hadn't picked staying at an Epcot resort for nothing. You bet that I was going to make the most of our proximity to this park.







With promises from the boys to catch up with me, I headed out of the room. I made it just in time for the on-site guests to be let in.






I loved seeing this board. It was an absolute reminder of what I planned to do later in the day.








I was just soaking in the atmosphere and truly enjoying the lack of crowds here.













My first view of the Epcot Golf Ball! There’s nowhere else in the World quite like this.







There was only one destination I was heading to this morning. The need for speed was a very strong pull for me this morning; even if I was travelling in the slow lane. I decided to hit the single rider line and I don't even know why they were handing these out first thing in the morning! Mind you....the wait time was set at 5 minutes.







The car of my dreams! Only....I would be after a red version.






The ride had been re-vamped since 2010 and I hadn't yet experienced the design stations before. I was rather looking forward to the new experience. Sadly, the design stations I encountered at the single rider side didn't exactly set my world on fire. I was rather disappointed with them after reading all the hype about how fun it was to design your own car!
It wasn't until a little bit later that I was to find out that if you take the single rider side, you end up with a watered-down version of the car design process. So, the feeling of disappointment lingered for a bit.
At least stopping here meant that the 5 minute wait time was spot-on.







After I'd picked my car design, I headed on in.







No crowds here either.







The redesigned Test Track seemed to come straight out of Tron.







But the outside track....was exactly as I remembered it.





As slot-car attraction went, this used to be my favourite ride. And I know comparisons are totally unfair....but I think Radiator Spring Racer in DLR has become my favourite slot car ride now.







The end of ride experience was pretty similar. Lots of pretty cars to enjoy!













Once was definitely NOT enough for me for this ride. So I went round again.








This time, I made a point of checking out some of the internal changes in a bit more detail.













On my second round, I realised I had a goal to achieve. Getting a decent shot of this parking lot was my aim.








Efficiency is the key!








Yes. I did go round a third time.







It was turning out to be the perfect morning.....







.....for experiencing wind in my hair. With the wind in my hair, all I needed was a scarf and sunglasses to achieve the perfect Audrey Hepburn look....in my dreams! I did claim all 3 PP+ pictures on this ride; but this is the only one where I didn't have hair blowing everywhere from the set.









(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


Meeting up with Everyone at Epcot




Somewhere on my 3rd test of the track, I got a text from DH. The boys had headed into the park and we found a great place to meet up. We even rounded up some friends to join us. (BTW - This was walk-in at about 9 am in the morning. There was absolutely no wait!)






DS even remembered to bring that autograph book along this morning.






Is Goofy tall or are we just a vertically challenged family or what???






DS is certainly showing signs of know what's what in life.







Such characters!







Somewhere along the way, we lost one set of Photopass pictures from this Character Spot. When I came home to download the pictures, I found Mickey.







And Goofy.






But no Minnie in the set. Just as well we had the ones from my camera. I did wonder how often this happens. Have any of you lost PP pictures this way as well?

 

[mvf-m11c]

Very nice morning at EPCOT. I like your shots of the UK when you entered the park.

That is so neat that you were able to ride The new version of Test Track. I enjoyed your ride pictures. I am looking forward to riding the new version of TT when I come back to WDW. The new TT is nice but I will choose RSR over TT.

That was a nice meet up with DH and DS with thee charters. You all looked so lively with the characters that morning.

Great update.

 

[zanzibar138]

Looks like it was worth getting up early to beat the crowds! I'm really surprised to see it so empty. I was under the impression that WDW is ALWAYS crowded!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Hey I recognise the UK there! Nice to get in early while the lads sleep. TT looks good looking forward to trying that!

Great photos shame Minnie went AWOL. I am sure that must occur all the time. Once we had other folks on ours lol. I expect your smiley faces appear on somebody else's!

Looking forward to a bit of food porn perhaps next..

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Great update. Is this our Dismeet day?

I felt a bit let down by Test Track to be honest, and hugely let down by Soarin. My surprise favourite ride at Epcot turned out to be that Mission to Space ride (the chicken green option). I think it was a case of listening too much to the hype and going in with unrealistic expectations.