Breaking All the Rules: Pirates, Pixie Dust, and Pictures... a January 2012 Report

[Victoriasmom98]

I am really loving your trip report but am sooooooooooooo sorry about the Asian bird poop (ok, after I laughed for a bit ) At least flip flops are an easy clean up! You took a really nice picture of Pete. He looks very friendly. I'm glad Sunshine was ok with the disposable. My Victoria has a nice point and shoot, but a lot of times her pics with her DSi come out just as nice! She would rather have me take all of the pics as she's always "busy"! Looking forward to more updates!!!

 

[NLD]

Dinoland

After the Jungle Trek, Sunshine and I talked about Everest. Did she want to try it?


20120131-DSC_0470 by nicole_lynn_, on Flickr

Long story short... no. She asked a lot of questions about what it was like, but ultimately decided not this trip. She was worried that I was disappointed, since we already had the FPs, but I told her I'd already gotten to ride, and it was fine if she didn't want to.

By this time it was late afternoon. We had skipped lunch, after our massive (and late) breakfast at Tusker House. But now a little ice cream was needed.


20120131-DSC_0477 by nicole_lynn_, on Flickr

With one last glance at Everest...


20120131-DSC_0482 by nicole_lynn_, on Flickr

We took our ice cream to Dinoland. We had just enough time to squeeze in a few final rides.

Along the way, we passed the Nemo theater, where people were just entering for the last show. I checked, but no one was interested. So we proceeded to Dinoland.

First up:


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Carole and Deb decided to enjoy their ice cream on a bench nearby and wait for us. So Sunshine and I joined the queue and waited our turn.


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After the ride, Sunshine spotted...


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She wanted to try it.


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After checking her height (just to be sure!), we boarded.


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She loved it! Another ride just her speed. But it was now 5:00, and the queue had closed, so we couldn't get one more ride in. Alas... it was time to leave Animal Kingdom.


20120131-DSC_0518 by nicole_lynn_, on Flickr

On the way out, we paused for a few final pictures.


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And then we exited, and headed back to Wilderness Lodge. After a shaky start (with Sunshine's camera), we'd had a fabulous day at Animal Kingdom!

That night we had dinner at Roaring Fork and simply hung out at the hotel, watching Wishes from our balcony. Eventually we fell asleep, so we'd be ready to take on Epcot the next day!

 

[NLD]

Hi Janet and Ann!

Thanks anyway, but I'll pass on that job. I consider that journaling a necessary evil for any trip we take. I've been doing it for years, but wish I had started it years earlier. I write a small novel when I get home, but it allows me to then scrapbook in great detail later. It's almost like reliving the trip, which I really appreciate later.

I'm so sorry your day started on such a bad note with Sunshine's camera. It looks like she forgave you and got on with having some fun though. What a trooper! Have you replaced it yet now that you got home? Katie sort of "adopted" my little point and shoot, but didn't carry it much at Disney. You've reminded me to foster that in her. I hope we can enjoy photography together as she gets older.

Lovely shots on the safari. You really do such a lovely job with depth of field. I shoot shutter priority a lot. I really need to do more work with depth of field and try more aperture priority.

We haven't replaced her camera yet. Honestly it was only a $80 point-and-shoot, so not a huge loss. We do still need to check that the pictures on it are intact, though. Have to dig up the SD card reader. Pretty sure they'll be fine.

Plus we need to get her disposable developed.

Then we'll worry about replacing the camera!

Your trip notes sound AWESOME. I always mean to take extensive notes, and then don't. But... heck we're almost through the TR, so this should be good enough.

So do you digital scrapbook or do it old-style?

I am really loving your trip report but am sooooooooooooo sorry about the Asian bird poop (ok, after I laughed for a bit ) At least flip flops are an easy clean up! You took a really nice picture of Pete. He looks very friendly. I'm glad Sunshine was ok with the disposable. My Victoria has a nice point and shoot, but a lot of times her pics with her DSi come out just as nice! She would rather have me take all of the pics as she's always "busy"! Looking forward to more updates!!!

The bird poop, ahhh, the bird poop! At first it seemed to be just on my shoes, and then Deb discovered some in my hair and on my shoulder. Fortunately just a tiny bit and it came right off.

Sunshine thought it was quite funny. And well-deserved, too, considering there was one summer she got pooped on THREE times, just at random places around home, back when she was a toddler. She still remembers that and it took it personally. So it might have been therapeutic for her, to see it happen to someone else.

It's nice to know the Dsi pics come out well! We've never gotten any of those made into prints for Sunshine. Might have to try it sometime.

Does your dd take many pics just around the house?

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Yes, my DD is constantly taking pictures around the house. My least favorites are the ones of me she then edits on her "fatbooth" app on her ipod. I dislike that very much.

I do the same thing as Mom2rtk--- I keep a huge journal going throughout the trip just to scrapbook later. I'm the old time paper scrapper. I just don't like doing it digitally. I like the feeling of creating with paper..

 

[mom2rtk]

Hi Janet and Ann!



We haven't replaced her camera yet. Honestly it was only a $80 point-and-shoot, so not a huge loss. We do still need to check that the pictures on it are intact, though. Have to dig up the SD card reader. Pretty sure they'll be fine.

Plus we need to get her disposable developed.

Then we'll worry about replacing the camera!

Your trip notes sound AWESOME. I always mean to take extensive notes, and then don't. But... heck we're almost through the TR, so this should be good enough.

So do you digital scrapbook or do it old-style?

I always have good intentions about taking notes as we go, but I never end up with anything past day 1. So when I get home, I look at each day's myriad of photos to refresh my memory and write my journal from there. I always block out the first day or 2 after a trip to do that. This time I was really hampered by my computer dying a couple days after getting back.

I'm not computer-savvy enough to do digital scrapbooking. Although I know just enough to be dangerous, and use the computer in most of what I do. I journal and print, I print the photos, I frequently use photo collage templates, and I use a program to cut titles and embellishments on my Cricut. But honestly, I love digging out the paper, ribbon and flowers and putting it all together. Even if I knew how, I'd probably never go all digital.

LOL on the bird poop (sorry to laugh at your expense though!). That happened to my best friend at Epcot a couple years back. And I remember getting hit on my first day on campus in college. It was on the shores of Lake Michigan. I still tell that story and it's been.... shall we say..... a few years. I bet Sunshine IS a big believer in karma now though!

I do the same thing as Mom2rtk--- I keep a huge journal going throughout the trip just to scrapbook later. I'm the old time paper scrapper. I just don't like doing it digitally. I like the feeling of creating with paper.

Nothing better than sitting down with a stack of paper, some photos, some ribbon, ..... there's nothing better. It's what drove me to learn more about my camera.

 

[ajf1007]

I loved the updates! I'm back from Vegas and couldn't wait to get on here to catch myself up! Unfortunately, I thought (silly me...it was a work trip) I'd be able to keep caught up while I was there and I couldn't. Sooo I couldn't wait to get up and logged on!

Sunshine was so impressive with how well she handled the camera situation! What a sweet girl! I can't say that many would have handled that as well as she did! Me included! Its so wonderful to see how happy she is and how much she is really enjoying this trip! What a great Mom you are!

I also wanted to say how much your making me look forward to seeing the Animal Kingdom park again! I don't feel like I've given it a fair shake and even seen a quarter of what you posted so my goal on our next trip is to spend some nice quality time there. It always felt like this was the last park we'd see and by the time we got there I was always hot and alittle cranky too. So, I'm moving it up in our agenda for our trip in September so it can actually be enjoyed! Thanks for that!

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Just got all caught up. You were giving me anxiety when I read about the camera incident. At first I thought that section was going to be about dropping the D700 Poor Sunshine! Has she gotten a new one yet?
You're updates are killing me over here. I'm so ready for a vacation and I didn't hit the stinking $300 mil lottery this weekend so I still don't have a trip planned

Thanks for keeping the EXIF data available for us to check out. Don't know if I mentioned it before or not but I've been checking out shot after shot to see what settings you used for different things

Keep up the great work! Can't wait for the next update!!!

 

[NLD]

Following the Sheep


Wednesday, February 1. Morning dawned. We took our time getting ready and to the bus stop.

A couple cast members were mingling with guests at the bus stop. So while we waited, we talked with one. Carole asked him whether the economic downturn impacted Disney World. His response was, "Not at all." He talked about the advertising in South America and a number of guest coming from Europe.

I mentioned to him that the crowds seemed larger than in September, and he agreed with that assessment. Of course I have no way of knowing what he actually knew... but even if it was only his perception, at least it matched with mine!

We also asked about the expansion in Animal Kingdom. He said ground would break in 2015. He had heard rumors about an interactive area for guests to "explore" Pandora.

He asked where we were headed that day, and we told him Epcot. His response was to look at our feet and shake his head when we saw us all wearing flip-flops!

Eventually our bus came, and after a short ride, we arrived. We got to the gates just before 11:00 a.m.


20120201-DSC_0578 by nicole_lynn_, on Flickr


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Now inside the park, we once again decided to.... start our touring in the least efficient manner possible! Sunshine had determined that her first ride at Epcot must be Spaceship Earth.


20120201-DSC_0588 by nicole_lynn_, on Flickr

So once again, we waited in line for an attraction that has only ever been walk-in in my previous experience:


20120201-DSC_0589 by nicole_lynn_, on Flickr

But again, the line moved quickly.


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While waiting, I overheard a conversation between two other guests. One said to the other, "This one must always have a line, huh?" His companion responded, "Well it's the first thing people come to, inside the park."



Right... exactly! It's the first thing people see... and it was late morning (when everyone arrives)! Which means... no, Spaceship Earth doesn't always have a line. Come back later, it will be better!

But given that we had followed all the people behaving like sheep, wandering into the queue for the first attraction we came to... I figured I had no room to say anything.

At last we boarded.


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Sunshine's favorite part of this ride is the end... when you get to build your future, and they paste your head onto the cartoon characters. She giggles herself silly!


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Everyone enjoyed Spaceship Earth. And now that we'd honored Sunshine's first-ride request, I was back in charge in terms of leading us. And I knew just what we needed next...

 

[NateNLogansDad]

 

[Lidian]

Sometimes it's fun to be a sheep.

DD and I always wear flip flops in the parks.

Patiently waiting for more!

 

[Natalie's Mommy]

i just read this whole thing (sick kid sleeping on me) and now i wanna go back soo bad

 

[mom2rtk]

Nice shots on SSE. I've only done this ride twice, both on the same trip. And my shots weren't very good. I'd like to give it a try again.

It's hard touring with those who don't know the strategic advantages of a certain approach and order. But it looks like you did a great balancing job!

 

[jecskc]

Loving your TR !!! Your photos are amazing. Looking forward to more ...

 

[NLD]

Good morning, everyone! Sorry to be so quiet lately....

Yes, my DD is constantly taking pictures around the house. My least favorites are the ones of me she then edits on her "fatbooth" app on her ipod. I dislike that very much.

I do the same thing as Mom2rtk--- I keep a huge journal going throughout the trip just to scrapbook later. I'm the old time paper scrapper. I just don't like doing it digitally. I like the feeling of creating with paper..

My dd does the same thing with her DSi! Takes these ridiculously unflattering pictures and then makes them even more so with the apps!

I always have good intentions about taking notes as we go, but I never end up with anything past day 1. So when I get home, I look at each day's myriad of photos to refresh my memory and write my journal from there. I always block out the first day or 2 after a trip to do that. This time I was really hampered by my computer dying a couple days after getting back.

I'm not computer-savvy enough to do digital scrapbooking. Although I know just enough to be dangerous, and use the computer in most of what I do. I journal and print, I print the photos, I frequently use photo collage templates, and I use a program to cut titles and embellishments on my Cricut. But honestly, I love digging out the paper, ribbon and flowers and putting it all together. Even if I knew how, I'd probably never go all digital.

LOL on the bird poop (sorry to laugh at your expense though!). That happened to my best friend at Epcot a couple years back. And I remember getting hit on my first day on campus in college. It was on the shores of Lake Michigan. I still tell that story and it's been.... shall we say..... a few years. I bet Sunshine IS a big believer in karma now though!



Nothing better than sitting down with a stack of paper, some photos, some ribbon, ..... there's nothing better. It's what drove me to learn more about my camera.

Yep, that's what I get, right? Break her camera, get pooped on! LOL!

And I can see why you like paper scrapping. There's something more physical and "involved" probably. I've never done it but every once in a while I still paint... you know, acrylics and paintbrushes and a canvas... and it's so different from photography. Just a whole different medium, something really therapeutic about physically manipulating the materials you're working with.

I loved the updates! I'm back from Vegas and couldn't wait to get on here to catch myself up! Unfortunately, I thought (silly me...it was a work trip) I'd be able to keep caught up while I was there and I couldn't. Sooo I couldn't wait to get up and logged on!

Sunshine was so impressive with how well she handled the camera situation! What a sweet girl! I can't say that many would have handled that as well as she did! Me included! Its so wonderful to see how happy she is and how much she is really enjoying this trip! What a great Mom you are!

I also wanted to say how much your making me look forward to seeing the Animal Kingdom park again! I don't feel like I've given it a fair shake and even seen a quarter of what you posted so my goal on our next trip is to spend some nice quality time there. It always felt like this was the last park we'd see and by the time we got there I was always hot and alittle cranky too. So, I'm moving it up in our agenda for our trip in September so it can actually be enjoyed! Thanks for that!

Sunshine is a good kid. She's got her faults (like all of us do!) but her heart is good. So yeah, she handled the camera incident well.

Regarding AK... it's not going to be everyone's favorite park and that's okay. But it certainly has its own unique flavor. All the details in that park are just astounding. I think making it less about the attractions and more about slowing down to look helps. In MK it would probably drive me a little batty to just hang out that long for a phone call... in AK it was great, because it gave us a chance to watch the monkeys swinging, take pictures on the bicycles, watch the ducks... you get the idea!

Just got all caught up. You were giving me anxiety when I read about the camera incident. At first I thought that section was going to be about dropping the D700 Poor Sunshine! Has she gotten a new one yet?
You're updates are killing me over here. I'm so ready for a vacation and I didn't hit the stinking $300 mil lottery this weekend so I still don't have a trip planned

Thanks for keeping the EXIF data available for us to check out. Don't know if I mentioned it before or not but I've been checking out shot after shot to see what settings you used for different things

Keep up the great work! Can't wait for the next update!!!

Sure thing on the exif! I check out other people's exif too a lot. Just keep in mind that sometimes they were not ideal settings! But you know enough to notice that... 1/8000 shutter speed means ISO could be lowered, LOL!

 

[NLD]

Update coming, promise! Thanks for sticking in!

Sometimes it's fun to be a sheep.

DD and I always wear flip flops in the parks.

Patiently waiting for more!

Sometimes flip-flops are just needed! Especially if all the other shoes have been rubbing... they may not have much support, but at least there's less area to rub, with a flip-flop!

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Sure thing on the exif! I check out other people's exif too a lot. Just keep in mind that sometimes they were not ideal settings! But you know enough to notice that... 1/8000 shutter speed means ISO could be lowered, LOL!

Unless you're taking pictures of a hummingbird

 

[NLD]

i just read this whole thing (sick kid sleeping on me) and now i wanna go back soo bad

So sorry about the sick little one! Feeling better yet?

And we want to go back too! A couple nights ago a Disney commercial came on and Sunshine actually got teary and started sniffling saying she missed it.

Nice shots on SSE. I've only done this ride twice, both on the same trip. And my shots weren't very good. I'd like to give it a try again.

It's hard touring with those who don't know the strategic advantages of a certain approach and order. But it looks like you did a great balancing job!

Thanks... and as far as touring with people who don't know the ropes, yeah, but you know, it was okay. If it were peak season it would be really hard, but even though it was more crowded than expected while we were there, it was still manageable. Fortunately we still got to hit all the must-dos at Epcot!

And I went into the trip with the mindset that it was Sunshine's trip, so if certain things got skipped, or she wanted particular rides immediatley, that was okay.

Loving your TR !!! Your photos are amazing. Looking forward to more ...

Thanks jecskc, next update coming!

 

[NLD]

Unless you're taking pictures of a hummingbird

Ha! True.

Hey do they have hummingbirds in Orlando?

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Update coming, promise! Thanks for sticking in!

Back to work? It really interferes with the trip reporting doesn't it???

 

[NLD]

Back to work? It really interferes with the trip reporting doesn't it???

Honestly! Why doesn't someone pay us for trip-reporting?