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

[SunDial]

All of your pictures from the MK that night were great. That was neat that you and Ed were to stay at the park late that night and were able to take a lot of great pictures. I don't think I can stay up that late but I will have to try it one day when I am at the parks and to be able to set up my tripod for the long exposure shots with no people in the picture. We might be able to do that in October if I can stay up that late.

When in October will you be coming here Bret? I will be back up there for the 10 mile Tower of Terror run during the first weekend of October and will be there for 3 days. I only live 2 1/2 hours south of Disney so I can drive up there another weekend too and help you get escorted out That is as long as everything in my background works out.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Greats pic PIO.

Some how I un subscribed to this thread.

I agree with everything you said about shooting these types of photos. Tripod is an absolute must. I always shoot in manual mode and most of the time it
will be in RAW. The settings will be according on what the long exposure I am shooting is and how I want it to look.

I also have seen some very amazing photos on here and other sites, then you find out how much time and what is done in post processing to make them look that way. I do not have the time for post processing so I set up to get it right in the camera in the first place.

Tonight I set the ISO to 400 and aperture to 7.1 for all of these pictures. The only difference was the length of the shutter opening. Yes we did have some company and they were very nice. Yes there was also no problem with Disney Transportation. We had the bus all to our selves

Every trip up there I try to get different pics of the empty parks.


I have to put this one in here. This from the second parade while I was with Alison and Fran.

Totally agree, Ed. I wish I had time to do more post-processing but it's all I can do to unpack and do a simple auto-fix. But then, it's just hobby photography that I indulge in anyway so it's probably best that way for me.

Great pictures....but that one of the Headless Horseman is just spectacular. I saw it on your camera on that night and was silently cussing at the workings of a teenage mind. Oh well.....next time.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Very nice pictures Ed. The DISBoards have made me want to do more long exposure shots at the parks at night where I wasn't that interested in that much like the firework trails.

When in October will you be coming here Bret? I will be back up there for the 10 mile Tower of Terror run during the first weekend of October and will be there for 3 days. I only live 2 1/2 hours south of Disney so I can drive up there another weekend too and help you get escorted out That is as long as everything in my background works out.

I'm sorry Ed for not writing it correctly. I am actually going to be at the DLR when PiO will be down there in SoCal in October. We will be attending Mickey's Halloween Party at DL on the 14th. I will tell you one day when I go back to WDW. It will be very nice to meet you in person one day.

 

[scottny]

Very nice pics of the castle projection and Wishes.
Villain show looked like fun.
Sundial those are great pics. I will never be able to get pics like that.
Fun PP pics.
Great parade pics.
Nice IASW pics.
Nice Mermaid shots.
I agree about keeping the picture true to how it was. Me too.
Love the nighttime pics. The entrance pics are my favorites.
Again SUNDIAL those pics are gorgeous. I will be there in September 2015 please stop by and teach me. LOL.
All caught up again.

 

[PrincessInOz]

All of your pictures from the MK that night were great. That was neat that you and Ed were to stay at the park late that night and were able to take a lot of great pictures. I don't think I can stay up that late but I will have to try it one day when I am at the parks and to be able to set up my tripod for the long exposure shots with no people in the picture. We might be able to do that in October if I can stay up that late.

Thanks.

I don't know how long DLR will let us stay in for. Every time I've closed out the park, there seems to be CM urging us out.

Great shots! I was expecting something a little different, but I definitely enjoyed these!

So for the long exposure shots, you want f11 or f16? That must be where I am going wrong. I haven't tried it with a tripod, but I was looking over some shots that I took at Epcot as we were leaving from dinner (next update in the works) and many of my shots were overexposed, even though I was shooting at night. Makes sense now.

I might try to some night time shots out at the DL Hotel when we're having dinner there in a couple of weeks. I don't have many plans for DL other than when you are coming in October. I'm sure we'll get out there, but not like we were last month. We need to focus on the tasks at hand.

I love the fact that you were "gently" escorted out of the park, and that the security guards were interested in your pictures. That's cool. Once we get a little more settled in the new house, I'm going to go out there and do a photo session, maybe just on my own. You're inspiring me!

If you're shooting handheld, then you want a high ISO and as wide an aperture setting as you can get to.

I'd be interested to wander into LB and take some night shots. We don't have to stay out too late, if you're interested.

The photos are amazing and how nice that you got to take photos in a completely empty park.

Corinna

Thanks. It was one of my must-do's for this trip.

Wow! Those pics are amazing! Thank goodness security was so accommodating!

Yes. I was glad security was accommodating.

A very different experience having the park to yourselves isn't it ? I wish I had stayed.

Sure is. Wish you had stayed too.

I kept chuckling as the number of security guards grew and grew but sounds like they were very nice and professional, definitely could have gone differently. LOVE the shots in Tomorrowland. All of them are beautiful but I love the way the buildings are and the colors of the lights.

I do not ever need to ride IASW again. If I ever feel the need I'll just pull up these pictures and be good to go

And that is very cool there were still buses, I was wondering how you would get back.

Ed and I had a good laugh about the security guards on the way home. I have to admit that I did wander about how we were going to get back as well. If all else fails, I think Ed and I talked about walking to CR and catching a taxi.

Those pictures were worth the escort out of MK! You guys got some fantastic shots!

Jill in CO

Thanks!

I love that you got escorted out of the park, and managed to get in a full couple of hours after it officially closed! Well done you

Very nice pics of the castle projection and Wishes.
Villain show looked like fun.
Sundial those are great pics. I will never be able to get pics like that.
Fun PP pics.
Great parade pics.
Nice IASW pics.
Nice Mermaid shots.
I agree about keeping the picture true to how it was. Me too.
Love the nighttime pics. The entrance pics are my favorites.
Again SUNDIAL those pics are gorgeous. I will be there in September 2015 please stop by and teach me. LOL.
All caught up again.

Thanks for catching up again, Scott.

 

[skier_pete]

Great pictures. I think I would've scurried out when the guards approached. I suppose being your last night you didn't have to worry about them stripping your ticket.

Did you get to see the kiss goodnight? I'm not sure they do it on Halloween party nights.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Great pictures. I think I would've scurried out when the guards approached. I suppose being your last night you didn't have to worry about them stripping your ticket.

Did you get to see the kiss goodnight? I'm not sure they do it on Halloween party nights.

I think we were in the back of the castle and I'm not sure they did the kiss goodnight. If they did, we missed it.


You know.....I never even thought about them stripping my ticket.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Universal Orlando – Universal Studios 07 October 2013


Early Changeover to Royal Pacific Hotel



Our bags were packed and we checked out early. We were up and about by 7.30 am. It is always sad to leave the Disney bubblewrap but with only about 3 or 4 days left of this vacation, I needed to turn my thoughts back towards the reality of life.

But before we got there, we had the Dark Side to go visit. In retrospect, I'm really glad we left Universal till after we’d stayed at Disney. If nothing else, it made the transition back and re-entry to real life easier.


We caught a taxi from the Beach Club to our new home. It took about 30 minutes to get there and it had already felt like a completely different Universe. Selecting the on-site resort to stay in Universal had not been an easy decision for me. At various points in time, I had decided on staying at any one of the 3 resorts at Universal but in the end, I decided on the Royal Pacific Resort simply because we didn't plan on spending a lot of time in the room and it was the cheapest of the 3.

In planning this changeover, I had expected to check-in and leave our bags at Concierge. However, to my surprise, when we got to the Front Desk, we were advised that our room was ready and we could head up. For those who like this kind of record keeping, we were allocated a room in building 1. As I didn't have anything to compare it, I can't tell whether it was good, bad or indifferent. But the location and proximity to the parks worked out great for us.


The theming in our room was nice enough. DS was particularly pleased to see the two beds. He had been comfortable on the sofa bed at BCV but I think he liked the proper mattress bed better at RPR.






It was quite a decent sized room.






I found the beds really comfortable; in fact, I think they were more comfortable than the beds at the BCV.






The facilities were clean and in very good working order.












And the Keurig was a welcomed extra. It was to be well used over the 2 nights, 3 days we were here for. In fact, we started it up almost immediately. With the late night, I needed a caffeine hit to get me going.






Breakfast was a very scrappy affair. DH had grabbed some croissants from the Orchid Court lounge.






Although we did unpack and grab breakfast in the room, we rushed out in unseemly haste after that. We had organised our Front of Line Pass after we checked in but before we got into the room so we were all set to go.


(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


First Foray into Universal Studios



It is a very pleasant walk along the waterway from RPR to the Universal Parks. In all, it took us about 12 minutes to make the walk. Bag check occurs along this pathway, just as you hit the main Universal complex.






You could catch one of the complimentary water taxi that runs from the resort to the dock here. It takes about 10 minutes for the boat ride; so there's not much in it if you time it right with the boats.






We had missed early entry and rope drop.






So there was time to stop, enjoy and grab our happy snappy's.






DH and I figured that our time was best spent heading into Universal Studios proper this morning.






We stopped long enough for me to redeem my Star Card package at the PhotoConnect store. I had been provided with a voucher that I needed to redeem for the Star Card. The Star Card package is Universal's version of the Photopass and I had jumped on an on-line special earlier in the year that sold the service at $40 instead of $50. For the price, I got unlimited access to digital copies of all in-park and ride photos, a free lanyard to carry my Star Card and a photo print of one of my pictures.


Star Card in hand, we moved into the Universal area. I have to say, on first impressions I found US to be Mayhem!






Stand-by time might have been 55 minutes but with the FotL privilege, it took us about 5 minutes to get inside here.






The theming is definitely nowhere near the Disney standard but it's not bad.






We even managed to snag ourselves a Minion after the ride.






My Mayhem?

Turns out that Universal's policy on photography is very different. Cameras are not welcomed inside rides. I might have been disappointed at the time, but I do understand the policy. Universal rides are definitely more extreme that Disney rides and there is no way I would want my camera being flung around on some of these rides anyway. It was just as well that I had pre-purchased the Star Card package! Still....a little part of me wished it was different.


In any case, there was plenty of street entertainment to capture. I have no idea what this is meant to be and I hope someone can enlighten me?







(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


Mel's Drive-In



Mel's Drive-In was not my choice for lunch.






Guess who wanted fries for lunch?






We did get burgers to go with the fries.






I didn't even bother to argue once DH worked out there was a vegie burger on the menu.






The ambience in here was definitely Americana Diner.






It was definitely busy!






The food wasn't bad....but it wasn't good either. Let's just say that it wasn't my choice for lunch and after the taste test, it remained that way.



(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


It's Transforming Weather



When we got out, there was one very inescapable fact that we couldn't ignore. It was a lot darker and menancing outside than before we entered the Drive-In.






We cast one eye at the weather and decided to chance it. There was a major drawcard within lightning's reach and there was no way DH and I were missing out on it. That FotL pass was working out a treat and it was definitely worth the extra money to stay on-site. We bypassed the stand-by queue, which was out to 75 minutes when we walked in.






I really did try to keep the photography going.






But the line theming really wasn't anywhere near the quality of Disney. And with the black ban on photographs inside the ride, I think I gave it up inside rides altogether after this.






Transformer: The Ride was opened at Universal Studios in 2012 and is a motion simulator 3-D ride based on the Transformers franchise. If the line theme left a little to be desired, the ride does not. It is one of the best rides I have ever been on and we all LOVED it.

Whilst we could withstand the visual pressures of the merchandise in the store at the exit, there was one pressure that DH could not.






We did get in line but it was becoming more evident that the skies was about to open up. If it weren't for the fact that even Optimus Prime hightailed it out of the area, I think DH would have stayed to wait.

One of the Universal CM told us that the rain was about 10 minutes away. DS and I came to the conclusion that the best place for us was back at the hotel and DH followed. We made our move and pretty much walked/half-ran back to the resort. It turned out to be a good decision and in the nick of time. The heavens did open and it absolutely poured just as we got back to the resort.


I made a remarkable discovery whilst we were waiting for the weather to transform again. Whilst in our room, I looked out the window to check out the view.







Do you see what I saw?




Yup. We had a water view!






We waited in the room until the rain stopped.

 

[Luvchefmic]

Even though your time is up at WDW and we won't see each other for quite awhile, I am looking forward to this part of your report. I really know NOTHING about Universal. The last time we were there the daughters were 7 & 9 I think they are now 38 & 39 ( 40 in Oct )

If we ever go this will give us some insight. I try to plan but the website and the 2 parks, maybe 3 just gets me confused. I hear Universal I think Harry Potter, ET, and Yogi Bear teach me will you ??
So far I've learned definitely FOTL pass and your hotel looks perfect. I am taking notes.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Cool! I haven't been to Universal for a few years but love to try the Transformer ride! Love the movies! The room looks nice glad the beds were comfy! Oh dear the rain is coming..

Hope you did The Simpsons ride I loved that one...

 

[mvf-m11c]

I have not been a fan of Universal Studios every time I go there from Orlando or Hollywood. It is nice but it doesn't have that feel like Disney. If I ever go back to Universal Orlando is to see the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter Diagon Alley which just opened this summer.

The room on-site looks very nice. Just like you said that Universal has a restriction of photographing on there rides. There are a few rides and shows that Disney doesn't allow photographing which I can understand. Good thing that you got the FotL passes or you would have to wait in those long lines. At least there was a benefit of staying on-site. I did enjoy the Transformer ride when I rode it in Universal.

 

[dgbg100106]

Sorry to see the time end at WDW, but it was an amazing trip from the photo evidence. Congrats on your 1 AM departure.

Your photos are amazing and I love them all

Your first part of the day at the Dark Side looks like it is going good until the rain.

 

[rentayenta]

Fun update and nice room view. I'll show DH this update as he knows he'll never get me to Universal as long as Disney is an option.

Lunch looks good but I'm sorry it wasn't fab.

Looks like rain!

 

[dhorner233]

I've never been to Universal. Never had a desire. Nothing I've seen here has changed my mind. And you can't take pictures on the rides!?!?!?!?!? I would hate that!

 

[franandaj]

You guys must have got there pretty early to get all that in! Great that the room was ready. I like that hotel. We have stayed there twice and for being the cheapest of the three, I don't notice it in the rooms or service. It also doesn't hurt that they have Emeril's restaurant there. We like to eat there when we stay.

I didn't realize that you couldn't take photographs in the rides at Universal. I guess that they are just too intense for me to even think about it.

I'm not a fan of the REAL Mel's diner and I've eaten there a few times. I had an ex who lived down the street and just loved the place. Me, eh, take it or leave it.

The transformers ride sounds pretty cool. I'll have to try it someday. Optimus Prime? I would wait in line for a picture with him too!

Yes, I do remember that rain. We had just eaten our last yummy molten chocolate cake from Ireland and we said, "Hmmm, I think it might start raining. Shall we start heading back?" We spent at least 20 minutes in the gift shop and the Intl Gateway before breaking down and buying yet another set of ponchos (our OL was packed up with Bell Services and the others were in our luggage enroute to the airport via DME).

Anyone reading my current TR, knows how frustrated we were to purchase yet another poncho just last May due to poor planning!

 

[dolphingirl47]

The hotel room looks really nice and the Front of Line access sounds like a great perk. We have been to Universal Studios once and to Islands of Adventure once and it is just not our thing. Neither of us is into the big rides. The photo package sounds like a fantastic deal, but what a shame that you are not allowed to take photos inside the rides. I wonder if it will be that way at Disney at some point in the future, too, as people keep ignoring requests not to use flash.

Corinna

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Enjoying your insight into Universal which will be different from several others I have read. Also love your report and pics on closing MK. My DH would have been getting twitchy saying we gotta go, he is such a "do the right thing" guy and wouldn't have let me dawdle like that (and these days he really is the picture taker), especially once security guards appeared!