Back to the West 2014

[DisneyFreak06]

Thanks Tina!

The camera is a little larger and heavier than the T2i I carried for a long time. Here's the comparison:

T2i: 525 grams
6D: 770 grams
5Dii: 810 grams
5Diii: 860 grams

Maybe you want to consider one of the mirrorless cameras as your next option? It's pretty tempting. But then I look at what the 6D puts out and I'm not tempted any more.

I forget..... are you using the kit lens or did I convert you to the 17-55 f/2.8 lens?

It really did love that spot for the parade. If you're visiting when it's still hot out, I wouldn't recommend FP for this parade. That area has no shade and is at the end of the parade route, so you have to stand in the sun for a while before it even starts.

Heavy, but not AS heavy. I may look into that next year. Wait until I pay off a loan and then get myself a treat! Maybe. LOL For some reason I don't want mirrorless, I keep saying if I need interchangeable lenses I'll stick with DSLR, since I love them. I really do, but I'm just lazy sometimes. LOL I have been looking into getting a second camera, especially if I walk the Camino de Santiago in a few years. I'm picky with that too because I would need to control certain things. For some odd reason the Fuji FX100 (whichever version I would decide to get when/if I actually pull the trigger on that) seems to be calling to me. No zoom, but capable of lots.

I didn't buy the kit lens with my camera, but you converted me to the 17-55 f/2.8 a few years back! LOL, I also have a wide sigma, the 30 mm 1.4 sigma and the Canon 70-200 f/4L. I would technically be able to keep all of them except the 2.8, which would be the hardest to lose!

Good point to the parade FP, I may try to switch that out. I'll have a chat with my friend first.

Thanks again for all the photography chats, I so enjoy them, especially your advice and seeing all your beautiful work!

 

[carissa1970]

We watched Paint the Night last night, the 8:50 showing. It was crowded, but I've seen worse. One of the CMs told me that the second showing has about half the people, so easier to get a good spot. I can't stay up that late, though! Lol.

I plan to do some shopiing over the next couple of days. I will keep an eye out for 60th Anniversary scrapbooks. Just to be sure, though, since I don't scrapbook, are these like photo albums that you just place the photos into?

 

[mom2rtk]

Heavy, but not AS heavy. I may look into that next year. Wait until I pay off a loan and then get myself a treat! Maybe. LOL For some reason I don't want mirrorless, I keep saying if I need interchangeable lenses I'll stick with DSLR, since I love them. I really do, but I'm just lazy sometimes. LOL I have been looking into getting a second camera, especially if I walk the Camino de Santiago in a few years. I'm picky with that too because I would need to control certain things. For some odd reason the Fuji FX100 (whichever version I would decide to get when/if I actually pull the trigger on that) seems to be calling to me. No zoom, but capable of lots.

I didn't buy the kit lens with my camera, but you converted me to the 17-55 f/2.8 a few years back! LOL, I also have a wide sigma, the 30 mm 1.4 sigma and the Canon 70-200 f/4L. I would technically be able to keep all of them except the 2.8, which would be the hardest to lose!

Good point to the parade FP, I may try to switch that out. I'll have a chat with my friend first.

Thanks again for all the photography chats, I so enjoy them, especially your advice and seeing all your beautiful work!

Thanks Tina. I enjoy the friendly photograph chats as well. You have a nice selection of glass. Do you have a cross body strap (like a Black Rapid)? I really found that strap made the most difference for me.

All the talk about mirrorless makes me glaze over sometimes. I do know that I would need one with an optical viewfinder. It drives me nuts to be out in the sun trying to shoot on a screen. But the lighter weight would sure be tempting. I have no interest in swapping to anything that requires new glass though. I'm all in at this point with what I have. Have you looked at the Sony Rx100 models? I've heard great things about those. If I ever decide on a lightweight pocket camera, that's probably where I would go. Is the Fuji you're considering something along the same line (a high quality p&s)?

We watched Paint the Night last night, the 8:50 showing. It was crowded, but I've seen worse. One of the CMs told me that the second showing has about half the people, so easier to get a good spot. I can't stay up that late, though! Lol.

I plan to do some shopiing over the next couple of days. I will keep an eye out for 60th Anniversary scrapbooks. Just to be sure, though, since I don't scrapbook, are these like photo albums that you just place the photos into?

Thanks for the feedback on that! I'd love to stay for the later parade, but just don't know if I'll have it in me. We tend to be there at rope drop and stay all day. If we get there and it's too wild, I might have to consider it though.

The scrapbooks are different from the photo albums. They will actually be called a scrapbook. They are typically 12" square, so usually a little larger than the photo albums. If you see one, I'd love to know where so I can hunt one down later. I have a hunch Disney is backing away from selling scrapbooks though, much to my dismay.

Thanks for looking if you're there!

 

[mom2rtk]

Saturday June 6, 2015 Continued:

As the parade finished, we followed the end and bore left up through Liberty Square and into Fantasyland. We had a 3:50 appointment, but we were a bit ahead of schedule since the parade had started early. As we passed Small World, Drew commented on how we couldn't visit Disney and not do Small World. Really? Cuz I was totally ready to do just that. LOL. The posted wait time was around 30 minutes. It was the longest line we have ever gotten into for Small World. Well, except for the holiday version at DL, but that one doesn't count because it's totally worth a long wait. But it had been some time since we did the traditional version, so I agreed to give it a go. I'm a little bored with photographing Small World, so don't have a lot to offer here.

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It took every bit of that half hour to get through the line there, and we ended up a little rushed to make our 3:50 reservation. We were heading to one of the few things the Magic Kingdom offers that we can't do at Disneyland: the chance to eat in the castle. Yep, it was a 2 castle day. And this was the reason I only wanted soup for lunch. I was saving room for dinner at Cindy's place. I hadn't been there since 2012 and was looking forward to dining in my favorite place. In thinking back, this is probably the first time we have eaten there that Katie was not in costume. It was really hard to find a menu online that was up to date. I thought I had one but apparently I didn't. But outside of the appetizer choices, I liked the choices better that day more than what I had seen online ahead of time. Katie and I had the steak and shrimp. I think Drew had the pork. We all had the Stroke of Midnight dessert. We loved the food. I have to admit though that I was a bit disappointed that they have replaced those signature blue goblets with boring clear ones. I wish I had a set of those blue goblets to use at home. It was quite awesome to get out of the heat and off our feet and regroup for the long evening ahead of us


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Since I was wearing my Evil Queen shirt, I decided I needed a photo with Snow White too:

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As we exited the restaurant, I looked over the railing to see Cinderella getting ready to entertain her next group of guests. She spotted my camera and struck a pose. Too bad I had the wide angle lens left from shooting around the inside of the restaurant. Still an interesting shot though.

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It was almost 5:30 when we left and scurried over to Haunted Mansion for our 5:20 fastpass.


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[mom2rtk]

Saturday June 6, 2015 Continued:

Haunted Mansion was great. Just like Small World, we had not done the traditional (non holiday) version since 2012. As we headed back into Fantasyland, I stopped briefly for a couple shots of the Tangled restroom area. I'm still disappointed that such a beautiful area is merely a restroom, but I guess a beautiful bathroom is better than an ugly bathroom.

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We didn't have much time to dally though as we had a 5:25 fastpass to keep for the 7 Dwarf Mine Train. I had heard so much about it the last few years, it was about time I got on it for myself. At the suggestion of many posters on the DIS, I lowered my expectations and headed in.

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My impression when it was over was not much different than it was before. I knew it was cute but short, and that was pretty much my reaction when it was over. Still, I was glad I had finally gotten to ride after all this time. Mark one more thing off my list of things I can't do when we visit DL.

No time to dally though. We had a 5:45 fastpass for Dumbo! No trip to the MK is complete with a turn on Dumbo.

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We had a few minutes to kill before our next fastpass, but it wasn't enough to actually do anything. So we stopped into the shop across from the Mine Train and picked up a 7DMT pin. Drew and I each like to collect pins, so we got his and hers. Mine will probably end up in my scrapbook (when I get around to it).

We were in line ready for our second FP on the 7DMT a few minutes before the window opened at 7:10. This time I requested a back seat thinking my photos would be more interesting with more of the train in front of me. The up side to that turned out to be that they did not fill the odd seat next to me this time.

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I tried on both trips through to get a good shot of the old hag witch, but failed miserably both times. I could have used a couple more trips through the mine to perfect my photography approach to the ride, but I was very lucky to have the 2 that I did.

 

[KCmike]

Kind of like you I thought 7 Dwarves was way too short but cute. It just makes me think what could have been. We rode first car and last car the times we went. Glad I didn't wait in line for it. Have you rode Big thunder at DL since they redone the track? I was really shocked on how much it has changed the ride for the better. It is so smooth and the final explosion scene is really pretty cool.

Great photos as usual.

 

[mom2rtk]

Kind of like you I thought 7 Dwarves was way too short but cute. It just makes me think what could have been. We rode first car and last car the times we went. Glad I didn't wait in line for it. Have you rode Big thunder at DL since they redone the track? I was really shocked on how much it has changed the ride for the better. It is so smooth and the final explosion scene is really pretty cool.

Great photos as usual.

Cute ride, and I like the way it looks sitting in the middle of Fantasyland. But I wouldn't wait more than about 20 minutes to ride it again. More than the ride itself, I enjoyed being in Fantasyland and not having walls and cranes up all around.

We did ride BTMRR at DL, but honestly I couldn't tell you how it changed over our last ride before that since that would have been in 2010. It was still closed when we were there in 2013. It's an awesome ride though!

 

[missangelalexis]

Love all of Katie's pictures with the princesses! And that shot you got of Cinderella is very cool!

You got some GREAT pics on the mine train! Glad you finally got to experience it for yourself.

It's nice that you spent time going on some of the classic rides.

Just curious how you got 2 sets of FP for mine train?

 

[ArwenMarie]

A two-castle day, hooray! Great picture there with Cindy!

I haven't been to CRT in so long, I must get back there. My DD is at that in-between stage where she thinks princesses are babyish but she's not old enough to just go with it, know what I mean?

Mine Train is a great little ride, emphasis on little It is well done though...just one more lift hill and show scene would have been nice.

 

[mom2rtk]

Love all of Katie's pictures with the princesses! And that shot you got of Cinderella is very cool!

You got some GREAT pics on the mine train! Glad you finally got to experience it for yourself.

It's nice that you spent time going on some of the classic rides.

Just curious how you got 2 sets of FP for mine train?

Thanks so much! I'd love one more trip on the mine train to shoot with a wide angle lens. After doing it a couple times, I think I have a better idea of the sort of shots I'd like to have. That could be a while though.

We'll just call the extra fastpass a bit of Disney magic.

 

[mom2rtk]

A two-castle day, hooray! Great picture there with Cindy!

I haven't been to CRT in so long, I must get back there. My DD is at that in-between stage where she thinks princesses are babyish but she's not old enough to just go with it, know what I mean?

Mine Train is a great little ride, emphasis on little It is well done though...just one more lift hill and show scene would have been nice.

I wasn't sure about taking up so much of our one day at the MK with ADRs, but then I thought about it and decided it would probably take longer to wait through the line at a counter service restaurant. And I love CRT so knew I was giving time up for that regardless.

And I think it's common for girls to hit an age where they are embarrassed to be doing anything princess, but then they hit a point again where it's sort of a cool retro thing to do.

I agree ...... one more hill and one more dark scene would have really made the ride. What's there is cute. I can accept that it's a little kid ride. Heck, there are plenty of little kid rides I look forward to at Disney. But there just needed to be more of it.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Cinderella's Royal Table looks very interesting and those are very nice pictures of Katie with the Princesses. It is a very expensive sit down restaurant and maybe it would nice to try it one day.

Very nice pics from the 7DMT. I will be definitely be going on that ride when I go in a couple of months. But I have heard from others that it is a short ride and it isn't worth waiting over an hour. So FP+ will have to come in which will cut down the wait time.

BTMRR at DL when it was refurbished last year is great. Just like you said Mike that it is more smoother to ride and the dynamite room is very great experience as well. Even though it is nice with all those new enhancements, I do miss the old version.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Another great set of pictures. Looks like you had a great time on the 7DMT. It's going to be while before I get to experience it; but it looks lovely in your pictures.

 

[ArwenMarie]

And I think it's common for girls to hit an age where they are embarrassed to be doing anything princess, but then they hit a point again where it's sort of a cool retro thing to do.

I hope so! How am I going to eat at Akershus and CRT again if she is rolling her eyes LOL!

Looking back, I'm so glad I splurged on the Princess Tea at the Grand Floridian last summer. It was so well-done and now I see it was the last time she would be into the princess thing as a little girl.

 

[petals]

Love the pictures from the mine train. We haven't seen the New Fantasyland at all yet. Toontown was still open on our last visit to Florida. I think we need to go back next year though because they have new Harry Potter Stuff in Universal as well!

 

[carissa1970]

Okay, I checked almost every shop and had an in depth conversation with a CM...they had the 2015 scrapbooks, which sold out a while ago, and never had any for the 60th anniversary. He said they are hard to come by when they do come out because most people are going digital for their scrapbooking now. He seemed to think there won't be anymore this year. All I saw in the shops were photo albums and autograph books. Sorry!

 

[mom2rtk]

Cinderella's Royal Table looks very interesting and those are very nice pictures of Katie with the Princesses. It is a very expensive sit down restaurant and maybe it would nice to try it one day.

Very nice pics from the 7DMT. I will be definitely be going on that ride when I go in a couple of months. But I have heard from others that it is a short ride and it isn't worth waiting over an hour. So FP+ will have to come in which will cut down the wait time.

BTMRR at DL when it was refurbished last year is great. Just like you said Mike that it is more smoother to ride and the dynamite room is very great experience as well. Even though it is nice with all those new enhancements, I do miss the old version.

Everyone should try it at least once. Breakfast is a little less expensive, and a great way to start a day in the park. Nothing better than sitting there overlooking Fantasyland getting the royal treatment.

I would have waited standby line for ne ride on 7DMT if I didn't have a FP. I would not have waited again after that. I was sort of "meh" when it was over. I imagine it might really grow on me though once the hype dies down and I can ride it a few more times with less hassle.

Another great set of pictures. Looks like you had a great time on the 7DMT. It's going to be while before I get to experience it; but it looks lovely in your pictures.

I hope you get to try it one day. Maybe after all that hype dies down.

I hope so! How am I going to eat at Akershus and CRT again if she is rolling her eyes LOL!

Looking back, I'm so glad I splurged on the Princess Tea at the Grand Floridian last summer. It was so well-done and now I see it was the last time she would be into the princess thing as a little girl.

Just go anyway. Tell her sometimes you go places mom wants to go.

I was really glad we did that tea as well. It's tucked away as a very fond memory now.

Love the pictures from the mine train. We haven't seen the New Fantasyland at all yet. Toontown was still open on our last visit to Florida. I think we need to go back next year though because they have new Harry Potter Stuff in Universal as well!

Thanks! After all these years of having our beloved Fantasyland torn up, it's finally a cohesive finished product. And it's definitely worth seeing. I hope you can get back and see it next year!

Okay, I checked almost every shop and had an in depth conversation with a CM...they had the 2015 scrapbooks, which sold out a while ago, and never had any for the 60th anniversary. He said they are hard to come by when they do come out because most people are going digital for their scrapbooking now. He seemed to think there won't be anymore this year. All I saw in the shops were photo albums and autograph books. Sorry!

A big THANK YOU for taking your own valuable time to check on that for me. Not the answer I was hoping for, but exactly the answer I thought it would be. It will save me some time and effort hunting down something that doesn't exist.

Never mind me while I a bit though....... I've scrapbooked all of my Disney trips for the last 11 years in Disney Parks scrapbooks. Sigh.

It does help to know that now instead of keeping my hopes up.

 

[mom2rtk]

Saturday June 6, 2015 Continued:

Our next fastpass was at 7 PM for Pirates, followed by one at 8 for Jungle Cruise. I probably would have skipped Adventureland on a brief stop like this, but Drew is a die hard fan of both of these rides. The idea was to hit POTC at the end of its window so we could just step over and do JC immediately following. It actually worked out pretty well. I just wish we had more time to enjoy the area before needing to rush off.

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Initially POTC was supposed to be down during our trip, but the schedule worked out in our favor and we were lucky to get to experience the WDW version again. This is one ride at DLR that I wish did have FP. For some reason, we never caught it with a short line there.

So our fastpass returns were lined up perfectly and all we had to do was step over to JC and take our ride, right? That was the plan anyway..... until we saw this:

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And no, that line did not just clear through right away. That's the longest we've waited in a fastpass return line in some time. I never saw any indication of why that was the case either.

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Twilight was a great time of day to do Jungle Cruise, so it turned out to be worth the wait. From there we were off to spend an inordinate amount of time (for a single day stop) setting up for Wishes. I love photographing fireworks. I wish I could be one of those people who happily enjoys short ride lines while others invest way too much time watching fireworks. We had fastpasses, but I'm pretty particular about where I want to set up my shot, and decided we would be ready to get off my feet and rest for a while. Drew is not as big on enjoying the parks after dark as Katie and I are, so he decided to head back to the room. Katie walked with him to the front of the park and grabbed my tripod then met me back in the fastpass area. We both have come to love those down times gazing at the castle, chatting about our day in the park. This was no different. And I never miss the chance to see the Celebrate the Magic show.

We had a nice spot about 2/3 of the way back in the FP area. Nobody stood immediately in front of me, although there was a crazy tall man a few feet up (You'll see his head in a number of my shots). Not much he could do about that. But a number of people were quite unhappy with one person who showed up right before it started and stood about half way back and put his kid up on his shoulders. After a number of people shouted him down, he put the child down to about hip level.

Finally it was show time.

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[DisneyFreak06]

Wow. I have a FP+ for Wishes on one of my Universal days, and now I for sure don't want to miss it. If you got in line for Jungle Cruise around 8, and then waited... you were in the FP area by around 9? I am just curious. I think I would love the sitting down on the 'grass' and just resting in there. Hopefully it won't be too crowded.

BEAUTIFUL, and as usual, I'll add my usual "as usual"! LOL

 

[mom2rtk]

Saturday June 6, 2015 Continued:

Wishes really is my favorite fireworks show to photograph. I love watching the show at DL, but the castle is a big part of the show for me, and Cinderella's Castle just adds so much.

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We had done a pretty good job of navigating the crowds up to that point. But I had to get creative finding a time to schedule meeting the head cheese. I didn't want to have to trek across the park again later, so I chose a time right after the end of Wishes (10:20). OK, so maybe not my best choice. LOL. We had to fight the crowds trying to exit just to get down to Town Square. It was worth it though for our first chance to meet talking Mickey for the first time. We were last in our group, but enjoyed seeing him interact with everyone ahead of us. No wonder it's such a slow moving line! Thankfully our fastpass got us in very quickly once we got there. He admired Katie's ears and tested them out from across the room to make sure she could hear with them.

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We were in a hurry with Mickey because we had 10:00 fastpasses to meet Cinderella and Rapunzel. I really only scheduled it so we could see Fairytale Hall for the first time. We probably should have just waited and gone standby later since we didn't really get to see much of it anyway. With fastpass we were in and out within just a few minutes. Like so many other character meeting spots, I thought the lighting in there was awful. I'm not a huge fan of the window backdrop either. I mean, I don't have a castle and I have windows. I like the backdrop at DLR better.

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By then it had been hours since dinner and we were ready for a snack. Katie wanted to sit upstairs in Pinocchio Haus and watch the Small World boats go by, but it was already closed. We settled for a snack in Gaston's Tavern instead. I'm not above having a massive cinnamon roll at 11:15 at night. I mean, it's Disney..... and calories don't count, right? I was disappointed not to see any in the display case out front, but the CM assured me they still had some in back. We were the only people there, and chatted quite a bit. She asked me about my gold ears. I told her I was pretty sure they came from DL (I bought them on Ebay) and we chatted a bit about DLR. Then she rang me up but only charged me for the drinks and not the 2 massive cinnamon rolls. I asked her and she said not to worry about it, they were on the house. It was just a nice little bit of pixiedust after a long day. Katie and I sat and chatted with the Tavern all to ourselves before heading out again.

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