Braved the Sept humidity in WDW - We're back! (new pics added 12/2/09)

[jordanyosh]

words are just not adequate.

 

[All7OfUs]

Stunning! pictures!! Seriously, that one of the jewels is very beautiful! Love the tiki shot too!

So, you missed the movie. Bummer! Sounds like you all really needed some down time anyway, so maybe all was good. Can't believe you're already talking about finishing up the TR- that went too fast.

 

[oregondaddyof2]

That stinks. We haven't been to O'hana, but I know a lot of people love it there. I would have thought for sure you'd get an opening, but maybe better luck next time.

Did you guys ask for the front, or just get lucky? I was thinking about making specific seat location requests this trip (like front on Pirates, Splash and Small World), but I think that'll depend on how long the lines are.

We ate at Ohana for a Breeakfast this year, as well as a Dinner.... I must say, the dinner is AMAZING! Next time you go Todd, you have to book there... Hopefully you can get lucky and get a ressie when you call... The food was top notch

There was a lot of rides that I did ask for specific seats on... They accommodated me on all of them... Even if there was a line, they just moved me to the side and filled the rest of the boat or car and then put my group in the front of the next one... Pirates is awesome to be in the front for... Not only for pictures, but just because... SM of course is the best in front! If you don't mind waiting a little extra time, you should ask Anne... Never hurts anyone to ask The only one I didn't ask on, and I regret not asking, is RnRC at DHS... I bet it would be awesome being in the front when you start foing the loop and corkscrew, but oh well, that ride rocks anyways

 

[clearskies]

Todd, I followed a link from the Photoboard over to here and I am so glad I did. Spectacular photos. I am a fellow 5DM2 shooter but I don't have a fast lens as nice at the 35mm f/1.4 that you used for a lot of your photos. Unfortunately you are now making me think more seriously about shelling out bucks for a better low light lens since I am green with envy. I especially like the photos of your family on rides. I wish I had taken more of the same myself. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Sleepingbooty]

I picked up the FP's and then met Ali and the kids back over in Dinoland where Ali proceeded to tell me she just saw Joe Rohde talking to some people on the bridge over to Dinoland. We looked for him again, but never saw him.

Wow, cool Dis-celeb sighting! He's definitely one person who would stand out in a crowd!

Day 4 at Epcot was a loooooong day for us because we didn't stick to our original plan to head back to the resort early for a midday break and then come back to Epcot for our 7:50 ADR at Teppan Edo. We were honestly having too much fun in Epcot and the kids were doing so well, so we ended up staying all day.

We made that mistake once. But boy did we pay for it later - our kids just could not handle the heat and by about 5:30, they were shot. After our dinner we just ended up going back to the hotel and missing Illuminations. From then on, we've pretty much always taken a midday break. Well, not so much this May, when it rained constantly, but nothing about that trip was normal.

After lunch, Caroline wanted to go back to Mission Space to do the orange side. We checked the wait times on the iPhone... only 10 minutes, so we headed back that way.

I so want an iPhone, if for no other reason. Did you find the wait times it posted to be pretty accurate?

I can't believe you are almost done with your TR - I got a little behind this week, but I'm really enjoying catching up

 

[LilAnn]

Hi! I just stumbled across your PTR/TR and had to sub after seeing your amazing pictures! I agree with some of the posters that your photos are evoking some wonderful emotions - all Disney related! I think I'd have to say that my fave photo so far is of your daughter in her leopard ears waiting for the monorail. i just love it! i can't wait to see all the rest of your photos!

 

[princess&her4princes]

words are just not adequate.

I have to just quote this.....unreal! You are sooo talented!!!

 

[Todd_H]

Hi everyone. Sorry it's been a while since I've updated the TR, but Ali and I just got back from our 10 year wedding anniversary trip to Costa Rica. We had an absolute blast. We had perfect weather (given it is the rainy season down there right now) and everything about the trip was just amazing! I didn't come back with any stellar photography (since the trip wasn't about that at all), but I did learn a lot about the two and three toed sloth. This lucky guy gets to sleep about 18 or 20 hours a day

Anyway, I plan to finish up the TR in the next couple of days as soon as I can get caught up with other things. Thanks for hanging in there!

Did you guys ask for the front, or just get lucky? I was thinking about making specific seat location requests this trip (like front on Pirates, Splash and Small World), but I think that'll depend on how long the lines are.

Hey, Ann. Sorry I missed this post before you left. You have probably figured out that you can request seat locations in most situations, especially during the slower times.

LOVE it. This is one of my favorite WDW shots, even though the normal person wouldn't know it was even taken in WDW. I have to admit that I may steal this idea next week. Not even try to make it my own---just steal it.

Thanks! Feel free to steal it.

beautiful Pirate shots! Love your perspective on all the photos

Thanks!

words are just not adequate.

Thanks!

Stunning! pictures!! Seriously, that one of the jewels is very beautiful! Love the tiki shot too!

So, you missed the movie. Bummer! Sounds like you all really needed some down time anyway, so maybe all was good. Can't believe you're already talking about finishing up the TR- that went too fast.

Thanks! It did go by quick, huh?

Todd, I followed a link from the Photoboard over to here and I am so glad I did. Spectacular photos. I am a fellow 5DM2 shooter but I don't have a fast lens as nice at the 35mm f/1.4 that you used for a lot of your photos. Unfortunately you are now making me think more seriously about shelling out bucks for a better low light lens since I am green with envy. I especially like the photos of your family on rides. I wish I had taken more of the same myself. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks and welcome! I would recommend the 35mm f/1.4L for a purchase, but only if you have a lot of time before a trip (or commercial event) to practice with it extensively. I rented this copy for the trip, but I really could have used a lot more practice before I took it down there.

Wow, cool Dis-celeb sighting! He's definitely one person who would stand out in a crowd!

I wish we could have caught up with him. I would love to have a conversation with Joe. He seems like such a cool guy.

I so want an iPhone, if for no other reason. Did you find the wait times it posted to be pretty accurate?

It was incredibly accurate (within 5 minutes every time). Since it appears that more and more people are using iphones now, there are more people constantly updating the wait times, so it really is a useful app in the parks. I highly recommend it.

Hi! I just stumbled across your PTR/TR and had to sub after seeing your amazing pictures! I agree with some of the posters that your photos are evoking some wonderful emotions - all Disney related! I think I'd have to say that my fave photo so far is of your daughter in her leopard ears waiting for the monorail. i just love it! i can't wait to see all the rest of your photos!

Thank you and welcome! I really like that one too. I played with the colors to try to give it a little bit of a dream-like quality.

I have to just quote this.....unreal! You are sooo talented!!!

Aw, thanks!

 

[Todd_H]

Sorry for the delay in finishing up this TR. I’ve had a pretty hectic week trying to catch up from being gone all last week.

So where did we leave off... oh yeah, our last day.

One thing that I forgot to mention on my last update was that I completely missed Wishes again Thursday night. My window of opportunity for photographing any of the great WDW fireworks shows this year was rapidly closing. I wasn’t too concerned about it though because I knew we’d see Hallowishes during MNSSHP on our last night.

After getting everyone to bed relatively early Thursday night, everyone was ready to go on Friday morning. Since our breakfast ADR at Boma wasn’t until 10:50, we had plenty of time to pack up our stuff and stroll around the WL. But did we do that? Nope. I honestly don’t know what we did that morning. We must have slept in again?

We finally got moving and headed over to the AK Lodge for breakfast. We took our swimsuits so we could take advantage of some pool hopping while we were there. The Boma breakfast buffet was awesome (and I’m not a buffet person at all)! After breakfast, we got changed into our swimsuits and played in the AK pool until about 3:00 pm. We then made our way back to the VWL and got ready for MNSSHP.

We were changed and waiting for the boat to the MK by 5:20 pm

pondering the plundering

We waded through the crowd and picked up our wristbands. This was our “rock 'n roll album cover” pose for the trip

Another thing I forgot to mention was that when we picked up Leighton’s Captain Hook costume earlier in the week, he had been playing with the sword that came with it. Somehow (probably from him chewing on it), the blade of the sword separated from itself and was just dangling around like a half-peeled banana. It was pretty sad looking. Ali had this great idea that the wonderful ladies in the first aid station by the Crystal Palace might be willing/able to help us fix it! You know what? She was right. Now if that doesn't qualify for a Magic Kingdom emergency, I don't know what does!

Here’s the sword on the operating table

After about 20 minutes, Leighton’s sword was almost as good as new and we were ready to finally start enjoying the party.

First stop was the Magic Carpets of Aladdin which we promised both Leighton and Caroline we would ride sometime during the week (as if there isn't enough of these kind of rides in WDW). Caroline wanted to ride it because of the chance to get spit on by the camel.

The sun was starting to set and we made our way over to PotC where the real Captain Hook and Mr Smee were hanging out. This is where my amateur photography skills caught up with me. I made the mistake of not taking my flash with me that night because I didn’t think I would need it (and by this point in the week, I wasn’t carrying around ANY extra gear). Boy was I wrong. The lighting of MNSSHP is really harsh because they mount those lights on top of buildings and they shine directly down on you creating some really bad shadows. A flash is an absolute necessity at one of these parties if you’re going to get any good character pictures. At any rate, our Captain Hook challenged the real Captain Hook to a sword/hook fight. This should have been the photographic highlight of the week, but I kind of dropped the ball. Here’s what I did get

After the epic duel of the dual Hooks, we rode PotC. This was hysterically funny as we sat in the front again and Leighton proceeded to talk smack to all the other pirates on the ride (he was completely in character for the entire ride). I wish I had videotaped it.

After PotC, we made our way over to Toontown to ride the barnstormer and then to Fantasyland to ride PPF.

Peter’s shadow on the wall in the nursery

A little photographic side-note: I got a pretty cool series of shots of the London Skyline scene in PPF this time (something I had wanted to get during this trip). This is probably my favorite scene in all of the Disney dark rides.

Stay tuned, we’re almost there!

 

[oregondaddyof2]

I totally understand the flash Todd... luckily, mine was attached at all times... The lighting was not good... Absolutely stunning pics of PPF! I tried to get that scene, but was not successful at all... You can't even tell what it was when i was done with it... Your camera and camera skills are top notch! I wanna see the firework shots!

 

[annnewjerz]

Great update, Todd. Your DS's costume is great!

I hope you got some great shots of HalloWishes to share. Mine are going to be crap (or close to), since I made my second mistake of the trip and left the ISO on 1000 while shooting the fireworks.

After spending about 15 minutes getting the tripod set up, setting the lens to manual focus, taking test shots with my cable release and I completely forgot to even check the ISO. Better luck in December, perhaps.

 

[princess&her4princes]

What a great update, as usual, Todd. LOVE the pics you took of Leighton and Capt Hook and Mr. Smee! That are adorable, even though I know they didn't turn out how you would have hoped, they are wonderful and truly capture what Disney is all about!!! Looking forward to more....

 

[All7OfUs]

Love that first aid was able to come to the rescue!!! Very cool Disney magic!

HA! Talking smack to the other pirates!! Too funny.

I love your photos of PFF. They all look great to me. Bummer you didn't have your flash, though. I suppose you can't think of everything, but I'd say you did pretty well, for missing something you needed!

 

[jordanyosh]

The emergency surgery is just one of those Disney moments.....

The pictures still came out great so far.

You mentioned it's your last day...I'm sure you have many pix from the previous days that you didn't post...I'm sure people wouldn't mind seeing those as well...just saying that you take awesome pix!

 

[Todd_H]

Again, sorry about the delay with the TR. I'll try to post some more pix in the next day or so.

I totally understand the flash Todd... luckily, mine was attached at all times... The lighting was not good... Absolutely stunning pics of PPF! I tried to get that scene, but was not successful at all... You can't even tell what it was when i was done with it... Your camera and camera skills are top notch!

Thanks!

I wanna see the firework shots!

I hope you got some great shots of HalloWishes to share.

I'm getting a little ahead of my trip report, but even after lugging all my gear AND my tripod around that night, I never set up to photograph HalloWishes. Long story short, when the time came, I didn't feel like staking out a place 45 minutes before the show to set up... I didn't want to do that to the family and plus I wanted to enjoy the party. Therefore, I got one "run and gun" shot of one fireworks burst and that was it. Not impressive at all.

What a great update, as usual, Todd. LOVE the pics you took of Leighton and Capt Hook and Mr. Smee! That are adorable, even though I know they didn't turn out how you would have hoped, they are wonderful and truly capture what Disney is all about!!! Looking forward to more....

Thanks very much!

Love that first aid was able to come to the rescue!!! Very cool Disney magic!

HA! Talking smack to the other pirates!! Too funny.

I love your photos of PFF. They all look great to me. Bummer you didn't have your flash, though. I suppose you can't think of everything, but I'd say you did pretty well, for missing something you needed!

Thanks! If first aid fixing a toy sword isn't Disney magic, then I don't know what is!

The emergency surgery is just one of those Disney moments.....

The pictures still came out great so far.

You mentioned it's your last day...I'm sure you have many pix from the previous days that you didn't post...I'm sure people wouldn't mind seeing those as well...just saying that you take awesome pix!

Thanks! I'll probably continue to update the thread with pictures as I process them.

 

[clearskies]

Todd,

Great pictures from the Peter Pan sequence. I love that scene as well. I am also admiring your Peter Pan pictures from the PTR section as well.

If you don't mind me asking, what is your strategy for focusing on this ride. Do you use manual focus or auto focus? I had issues locking in autofocus with the 5DM2 and 50mm 1.8 and figured too late I might be better served with manual focus but I am not that quick on the uptake and this ride moves around so quickly it is a definitely a challenge to use manual focus.

 

[Todd_H]

Todd,

Great pictures from the Peter Pan sequence. I love that scene as well. I am also admiring your Peter Pan pictures from the PTR section as well.

If you don't mind me asking, what is your strategy for focusing on this ride. Do you use manual focus or auto focus? I had issues locking in autofocus with the 5DM2 and 50mm 1.8 and figured too late I might be better served with manual focus but I am not that quick on the uptake and this ride moves around so quickly it is a definitely a challenge to use manual focus.

Thanks! As far as focusing on PPF (and most dark rides for that matter), I have to use manual focus. Even with the 1.4 aperture, the 5DM2's AF system can't lock onto hardly anything in PPF. From what I have read and discussed with other photographers, the Nikons' AF systems perform much better than the Canons' under low light conditions (although we'll have to see the reviews on the new Canon 1D-Mark IV since the AF system appears to have been overhauled).

That's pretty much it... manual focus and a prayer.

 

[Todd_H]

After PPF, it was getting close to parade time, so we started making our way over to Frontierland which, for some reason, has become our regular parade watching grounds. Not sure why, other than the fact that there seems to be fewer people watching from there. Frontierland doesn't make the best background for photographing the parade though and I think we will move our normal spot back to Main Street or at least in the hub for our next trip.

I love the projections they put up for the party

We staked out our spot about 30 minutes before the parade with no problems.

Heeeeeeere's Headless!

Applauding Headless

After the parade, we decided to finally head over to Tomorrowland to ride the Astro-Orbiter at night. On the way, we passed by the Mansion, but decided to ride it as our very last ride of our trip (becoming a tradition).

The party lights on the Mansion are really harsh, IMO and make it very difficult to photograph.

Finally made it to the Astro-Obiter. I haven't ridden this thing in years and forgot how fast it goes (it's a far cry from Dumbo, Aladdin, or the Triceratops Spin). I think it shook Ali up a bit.

It was then time to claim a spot for Hallowishes. As I mentioned earlier, I had planned to photograph it and had been lugging my tripod around all night. However, I didn't feel like spending 45 minutes staking out a place and guarding it just for that, so I opted to skip the pictures and just enjoy the show. As usual, it was awesome. I love when they shoot the fireworks all around you.

Ready to call it a night?

After that, the kids were starting to really run out of gas (especially Leighton), plus it was about 11:45pm so we only had time for one more ride. How fitting that we chose the HM to be our last ride of the night (and the trip). I snapped a few shots inside the Mansion that I won't post here, but if you're interested, I've been putting together a gallery of HM shots on my smugmug site where I'm attempting to get a decent picture of every scene in the HM. It's a work in process and can be seen here http://thh.smugmug.com/Walt-Disney-...unted-Mansion/8154148_Ajyv5/1/535102622_KLZX2. There are a few that I'm missing and several that I need to do a better job on... goals for future trips!

We said our goodbyes to the MK and made our way to the exit to catch the boat back to WL. By this point, Leighton had come out of his Captain Hook costume (except for the boots!).

Me and Caroline (who really hung in there like a champ the entire week).

We made it back to our room about 12:30am and got the kids to bed. Ali and I then STARTED to pack and got to bed about 1:30am. Next morning, we finished packing and, with heavy hearts, checked out and hit the road about 11:00am headed for home.

Well that pretty much wraps up my TR. This was a fantastic trip and we all had a blast, but I think Ali and I collectively decided that we need to start doing a 10 day trip and take a couple of day breaks from the parks for our future trips. I think we're also going to venture out from the VWL and possible look to stay at the Beach Club, the AK Lodge, or Bay Lake Towers... we'll see.

I'll try to post some more pictures to this thread as I process them.

Thank you all for reading along! I really appreciate your comments!

 

[annnewjerz]

Nooooooo I can't believe it's over! Great shot of the "projections"----the one on the water is one I meant to get, but completely missed.

The picture of your DS wearing the boots with his normal clothes is classic, definitely one to bring out when he eventually brings home his first girlfriend.

Great TR and I really enjoyed reading it. I'm on break from processing pictures from Boo to You and then it's time to start with HalloWishes. Definitely add more pictures if you process anymore.

 

[scoot241]

Great Astro Orbiter shots! We never seem to get up there either.

Had a blast reading your trip report!