Discovering A Whole New World of Disney-An October 2013 Photo Safari **Updated 2/20

[chattadisser]

I don't suppose I could get a Canon 5D Mark III? Or how about that awesome Mac Pro with Retina Display that I could use to process my photos? I can dream.

Any of these would be awesome! I don't think I've been been good enough for either of these but they would be great dream presents! I guess they are right when they say the older the kids get the more expensive their toys are!

Christine

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

After watching the rope drop crowd file in and all of the excitement and energy that comes with it I embarked for another first time experience. Instead of walking straight through the castle to reach Fantasyland or turning right on the Tomorrowland bridge I made a left turn at the Hub and headed straight for these guys. Yes, I was going to spend some precious rope drop hours in Frontierland and Adventureland!


IMG_1605 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_1606 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

It was pretty clear that 99% of the crowd were in Fantasyland or Tomorrowland as Adventureland and Frontierland looked deserted. Which was awesome! It was as if the park hadnt opened yet! I could have gone on the Magic Carpet Ride about 10 times in a row if I wanted to because there were ZERO people in the queue. I wonder if I could have gone on it with me being the only guest on the entire carousel? I had my mind set on another ride though so I kept on with my stroll.

But not before taking some pictures of these misting Tiki Statues. I dont think Ive ever seen this area completely empty like this without a single child running around and through the mist.


IMG_1610 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_1614 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

After dodging a few camel spits I made my way through the bend around Peco Bills to enter into Frontierland and was greeted by Brer Rabbit. I think this picture makes up for completely missing his statue in the Hub.


IMG_1619-2 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

Not to worry my fellow Adventureland fans. I didnt skip out on this land of pirates, corny puns and jokes, and a massive tree house. Just took a mere detour because I had to catch a runaway train.

Yes, it was time for the fastest ride in the west. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!


IMG_1738 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

During our last visit in January, I convinced DD to try this one. She had been tall enough for awhile but had been hesitant and worried about the prospects of going through the dark mines. She took a giant gulp and decided to go for it and I whisked her on it before she could change her mind. She LOVED it! In fact we went on it three times in a row. She squealed and screamed (in joy) the whole time and bounced out of the exit only to ask to go on it again. Now its one of her fav rides and she cant wait to go on it again in a couple of months.

Just like the rest of Frontierland there was practically no one at this attraction. Not only was I able to walk on the coaster each time but I was able to grab the last row because half of the rows were empty for most of the rides. Why the last row? Was it because I was looking for some extra speed? Nope, because its the best seat for pictures and Ill show you in a minute why. I didnt call this my photo safari for nothin. I had plans to take some on-ride pictures for this. It goes at a much more manageable speed than other coasters so holding up my camera with one hand is not so much of a challenge without worrying about bumping my precious third child into the seats. It still took some trial and error to get my camera settings and shutter speed just right and get a better sense of when certain scenes pop up and what I wanted to capture on the camera. So how many times in a row did I go on this? Four. Four back to back to back to back. At what point does a CM go from thinking Boy, this grown-man really loves this ride to Thats just sad. Id like to think for the CM who clearly recognized my face by the fourth go, that point would have been the 10th time.

The first ride I was all over the place. I mean that figuratively and literally. I keep forgetting that when one is riding solo on the Railroad one should sit on either end of the box car and not in the center. Because when you do sit in the center like I did, you end up spending the first half of the ride sliding left and right with each sharp turn and bruising your elbows and bodies as they bang against the walls. That was the first lesson learned. The second lesson I learned is that you should always add a few stops to the shutter speed that you THINK is going to work to catch the fast moving objects that you want to capture. The third lesson was to not just aim for the scenes and objects coming from the front but to turn around and look for shots looking backwards. This is what led me to grab the last row on all my subsequent rides because I happened to look backwards after one of the dips and found something I really wanted to capture and I didnt want the heads of other folks sitting behind me blocking the view. And lastly, ignore those snide comments by folks sitting behind you about what they perceive to be ill-conceived and useless attempts at taking pictures during the ride. Which is another reason I started looking for the last row. Ok enough yapping. Here are the pictures I grabbed on my third and fourth go throughs.

I think those mountain goats are trying to tell us something.

IMG_1625 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

Some really cool landscapes. Just please dont get me and my camera wet.

IMG_1634 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

So heres one shot that I finally was able to get by sitting in the last row. Fans of BTMRR will recognize these possums hanging by a tree that the train zips under. I have many many pictures where I attempted this shot but failed miserably mainly because I happen to ride the train earlier in the morning when the sun always seem to be placed directly behind these creatures which leads to horrible backlighting and lens flares. This day was no different so the third ride I decided to wait until we were right underneath them and then start snapping away twisting my body and looking backwards at it.


IMG_1645 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

I think those birds circling in the sky is a nice added touch. Do you think those are animatronics?

Cant remember if this is the second or third ascent. I think its the third but I noticed this poor little bobcat(?) stuck on top of a cactus. Too funny. Almost makes you want to call the fire department to get it down from there.


IMG_1648 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

One of many abandoned wagons. Hmmm, I'm usually not a fan of purposefully tilted shots. I'm going to say this was taken while I was sliding a bit and getting banged into the walls.

IMG_1662 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

The giant dinosaur head is always a favorite subject of mine. I think I need to let the local Smithsonian Natural History Museum know about this find.

IMG_1694 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

Finally, here are two shots of the scenes that really made me sit in the last row. I have to say after riding this ride so many times I was kind of shocked that I hadnt noticed this scene before but it was because I rarely looked backwards. You cant see the little dude dumping water out if youre just looking straight forward because hes completely hidden by his wagon. I guess I was a novice on this ride since there were so many things I was still discovering.


IMG_1671-2 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_1679-3 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

Seeing this picture prompted me to look up the backstory of BTMRR because it looked like there was a flood. I went to Wikipedia because its never wrong . Each park has slightly differing versions but the story goes that the gold miners set up camp and mined in sacred Native American land. The settlers were subsequently cursed and the mining town suffered flash flood (MK version, in DL its an earthquake) and the town along with the railroad was abandoned. Later when people returned to the mountains they found the locomotives racing around the mountain on their own without crews or engineers. So essentially this is a haunted train ride! So cool. I need to keep reading up on these backstories for some of these rides.

After the fourth ride my body had enough. I decided to call it quits and head back over to Adventureland. But before I did, I stood near the exit and took pictures of the runaway train circling the iconic mountain.


IMG_1716 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

I guess they are right when they say the older the kids get the more expensive their toys are!

Christine

So true!

 

[mecllap]

Big thank you for the BTMRR pics -- they are wonderful. I still haven't gotten over missing the original Mine Tunnel (Rainbow Caverns) train ride -- it was always one of my favorites in the early days and I'm not good with roller coasters. I did manage to go on it last Spring one more time, and ended up in the first row and tried some video with odd results. Now I may have to gird up again and ride in the back to see that angle.

And the lights photos are superb -- love botanic gardens at any time, and always holiday lights. You have me eyeing a better camera, except I already have way too many photos from over the decades that are just going to be a problem for other people at some point. I have a lot of my uncle's photos from various trips -- and it's hard to just toss them, but a few dozen slide carousels take up a lot of storage space! At least that's not an issue in this digital age (so far I only have two backup "passport" drives in my safe deposit box -- I do hope you are backing all yours up in "off-site" storage [I have no confidence in relying on the "cloud" or internet sites]).

Thank you for continuing to add to this thread with your marvelous photos.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Wow, just went through all your photos, gorgeous, I am very jealous. Love your Halloween Parade pictures with the Castle in the background, just fabulous!

 

[wiigirl]

Great update!

 

[afwdwfan]

Dave, that is one of my favorite rides. You did a great job capturing it and helping me get away for a few minutes on this cold, icy, snowy day. Great job. And I really like those last 2 shots as well.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Big thank you for the BTMRR pics -- they are wonderful. I still haven't gotten over missing the original Mine Tunnel train ride -- it was always one of my favorites in the early days and I'm not good with roller coasters. I did manage to go on it last Spring one more time, and ended up in the first row and tried some video with odd results. Now I may have to gird up again and ride in the back to see that angle.

And the lights photos are superb -- love botanic gardens at any time, and always holiday lights. You have me eyeing a better camera, except I already have way too many photos from over the decades that are just going to be a problem for other people at some point. I have a lot of my uncle's photos from various trips -- and it's hard to just toss them, but a few dozen slide carousels take up a lot of storage space! At least that's not an issue in this digital age (so far I only have two backup "passport" drives in my safe deposit box -- I do hope you are backing all yours up in "off-site" storage [I have no confidence in relying on the "cloud" or internet sites]).

Thank you for continuing to add to this thread with your marvelous photos.

And Thank You for following!

Yes, I'm kind of a Type A when it comes to photo storage especially those of our kids. Ok, I'm a Type A in pretty much everything I do. In addition to uploading them on to Flickr, I have the pictures stored both on my laptop's internal hard drive and backed up on an external Passport drive as well.

Wow, just went through all your photos, gorgeous, I am very jealous. Love your Halloween Parade pictures with the Castle in the background, just fabulous!

Thank you! And welcome!! So good to have you on-board!
Those Boo To You pictures with the castle in the background are also some of my favorites that I keep going back to look at.

I've bookmarked your TR so will have to head over there to catch up tomorrow.

Great update!

Thank you!

Dave, that is one of my favorite rides. You did a great job capturing it and helping me get away for a few minutes on this cold, icy, snowy day. Great job. And I really like those last 2 shots as well.

Thank you! I think we're about to get the cold icy and possibly snowy weather system that passed through your area on Sunday. The weather folks are freaking out about it so must be a potential doozy. I'll have to remember to pull up the Big Thunder Mountain pictures to warm me up a bit.

 

[MEK]

Well, you've done it again. You have photographed some views I didn't even know existed. I absolutely love the last two shots on BTMMR. I have tried to take pictures on that ride, but usually end up with random shots. Note to self - back row.

And you have proved, without a doubt, that BTMMR really does have some of the best, if not the best, theming of any Disney ride. Well done! And all that accomplished as a single rider being thrown from side to side. Nice.

And the misting tikis are pretty cool too. I know what you mean about kids ALWAYS being there.

 

[teekathepony]

I am totally in love with that very first picture of the Adventureland dude! And all the Adventureland dudes! Awesome shots of the tikis.
And I'm loving the best photo tour I've ever seen of the wildest ride in the wilderness! Awesome shots! I've never turned backwards so I've never seen the guy pouring water. Guess I'm still a BTMRR amateur!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[khaleesi]

I've always understood the hidden pickle to be a German tradition. It's not something we did growing up, but I definitely knew why it was in the German store. Although, they didn't look very hidden Guess that means we all get good luck!

Those Christmas lights are awesome! They do something similar here at our fairgrounds. I actually bought an admission ticket a couple weeks ago and need to figure out when to go.

LOVE the pics from BTMRR. That was always my brother's favorite ride and it's one of the few coasters I'll willingly go on. Definitely not brave enough to try to take pictures while on it, though!!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Well, you've done it again. You have photographed some views I didn't even know existed. I absolutely love the last two shots on BTMMR. I have tried to take pictures on that ride, but usually end up with random shots. Note to self - back row.

And you have proved, without a doubt, that BTMMR really does have some of the best, if not the best, theming of any Disney ride. Well done! And all that accomplished as a single rider being thrown from side to side. Nice.

And the misting tikis are pretty cool too. I know what you mean about kids ALWAYS being there.

One of the theming I didn't get to look into in detail was the stuff lining the standby queue. I guess the downside of not wanting to wait too long for the rides but as I zipped through the queue and walking on the coaster I caught some glimpses of some interesting writings and props there.

I am totally in love with that very first picture of the Adventureland dude! And all the Adventureland dudes! Awesome shots of the tikis.
And I'm loving the best photo tour I've ever seen of the wildest ride in the wilderness! Awesome shots! I've never turned backwards so I've never seen the guy pouring water. Guess I'm still a BTMRR amateur!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Thanks Wendy! There's so much going on that makes up the entrance to Adventureland from the Hub! And since I didn't have to worry about a crowd following behind me I had all the time in the world to stand there and take some shots.

The real question is why that little dude is still there with his wagon while the rest of the town has been abandoned. Hmmmm, suspicious.

I've always understood the hidden pickle to be a German tradition. It's not something we did growing up, but I definitely knew why it was in the German store. Although, they didn't look very hidden Guess that means we all get good luck!

Those Christmas lights are awesome! They do something similar here at our fairgrounds. I actually bought an admission ticket a couple weeks ago and need to figure out when to go.

LOVE the pics from BTMRR. That was always my brother's favorite ride and it's one of the few coasters I'll willingly go on. Definitely not brave enough to try to take pictures while on it, though!!

BTMRR was my first introduction to a roller coaster. And it was such a nice entry level one that my brother and I used to go on it over and over again.

Hope you enjoy the lights at the fairgrounds! This is such a great time of the year! I love making all these plans to take advantage of the holiday festivities. Next week I'm taking DD to see Elf the Musical!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

A quick "life update"

DW and I were out for a dinner and a movie last night thanks to my parents who are still visiting us from Korea. We went and saw Catching Fire but before we did had a little time to visit the Disney Store located in the same mall.

Aaaaaaaand I spotted these two.


Untitled by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

So you know of course I had to get'em. I actually wanted to get Kristoff and Anna too to complete the set at home since DD already has Elsa. But DW didn't seem to excited about getting all of them.

DW: "I don't think the kids would really be interested in Kristoff."
Me: "Whaaaaat?? But he's a good guy!"
DW: "Just say it, you want it for yourself"
Me: "Yes. Yes I do."

Since I wasn't going to bring home the entire gang I stood there and reenacted one of my favorite scenes from the movie for DW's rolling of the eyes enjoyment. (Spoiler alert - if you haven't seen the movie and don't want to see this part please stop reading! Although it's really not a major spoiler. Just an amusing funny scene) For the rest of you please scroll alllll the way down and imagine a grown middle aged man doing this in the middle of the store with some subpar impersonation of the voices.















































Olaf: "And who is this funky looking donkey?"
Anna: "That's Sven."
Olaf: "Uh huh. And who's the reindeer?"
Anna: "......Sven"

I think I may be in love with this movie a bit too much. Especially Olaf.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

We put up our Christmas tree today. With the kids getting a bit older we found it a lot easier to put the decorations up! They had a great time!

For the past 4 years I've been buying new ornaments for the kids each year to add to our tree and naturally most of them have been Disney ornaments. This year was no different. Here's what what we added to our tree this year to the delight of DD and DS!


IMG_4107 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_4108 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_4111 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

Also today we took the kids to the mall for some new shoes and I took the opportunity to stop by the Disney store again. I can proudly announce that we have now completed the Frozen family today with the addition of Anna and Kristoff to our collection!

DS posed these two together like this. So proud

IMG_4115 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

Anna and Olaf found a cozy spot on our mantle.

IMG_4091 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

We're gearing up for some snow and ice beginning tomorrow morning. I've got some inside the house fun for the kids planned tomorrow including some water painting and introducing to the kids a small independent movie to the called Star Wars. Episode 4. I'm still pretending Episodes 1-3 never happened.

 

[SAT887]

I love that you were able to skip the crowds!! I understand heading straight to a Fantasyland, but I enjoy tomorrowland far more at night.... To me it's prettier

I love all the pics! I think BTMRR really pictures so nicely when you have the bright blue sky and orange bedrock. People actually said stuff about you taking pictures? Boo to them!!

This update made me excited for our Jan trip because riding with our kiddo is such a good time! Also I second picking a side... That ride really throws you back and forth (I was over paranoid Zoey would fall out!)

Also love the Xmas tree pics! Did you cut that down yourself?? I really like the Jack Skellington ornament - I need to find some new ones for this year...

And hehehehe on the frozen plushes....

 

[teekathepony]

DH and I buy toys for ourselves too. We say it's good in case we ever have kids, but who are we kidding? I totally get that.
Haven't seen Frozen yet. We were going to see it tonight but I want to see Catching Fire... Don't know what to do!
I saw the tree decorating pics on Facebook, they're awesome. I love this years ornaments. Especially Repunzel.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[khaleesi]

Hope you enjoy the lights at the fairgrounds! This is such a great time of the year! I love making all these plans to take advantage of the holiday festivities. Next week I'm taking DD to see Elf the Musical!

Thanks!! Hopefully I'll get some cool pictures. I absolutely love this time of year. It just makes me happy. Elf the Musical sounds like an awful lot of fun!! Enjoy

Olaf: "And who is this funky looking donkey?"
Anna: "That's Sven."
Olaf: "Uh huh. And who's the reindeer?"
Anna: "......Sven"

LOVE it. So jealous of people who still have Disney Stores nearby! I'm on a mission to find a Frozen coloring book today. You know. In case a random child shows up on my doorstep and wants to color. Yeah. That's why.

We're gearing up for some snow and ice beginning tomorrow morning. I've got some inside the house fun for the kids planned tomorrow including some water painting and introducing to the kids a small independent movie to the called Star Wars. Episode 4. I'm still pretending Episodes 1-3 never happened.

That's just good parenting. Although, I do have a soft spot for the prequels, too. I just can't help it.

 

[lovethattink]

I just had to pop over here to see the Frozen plushies. They are great! I've seen some at Epcot as you leave the M&G, but they are nothing like those! The Disney Store actually has better ones!

No Olaf M&G at Epcot. But I was looking at mousesteps video of Olaf at DLR. He's on the roof of their Anna and Elsa M&G!! They have a talking animatronic!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It4Vh8H9BJ4&feature=youtu.be

 

[momabbate]

Caught up again, if no other reason then to get behind. Sorry you weren't able to see VOL. It is a great show. Thanks for the pics of the opening show. My Daughter and I love it so much we made excuse to be at rope drop a few times just to see it. Love the light show. I need to take more time and see what all is in my area. (Just not this year.) I am happy to see that we are not the only ones that use toys to decorate house. Even my husband moves them around.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

I love that you were able to skip the crowds!! I understand heading straight to a Fantasyland, but I enjoy tomorrowland far more at night.... To me it's prettier

Definitely agree that Tomorrowland looks really good at night!

Also love the Xmas tree pics! Did you cut that down yourself?? I really like the Jack Skellington ornament - I need to find some new ones for this year...

I went through the annual tradition of digging the tree out......buried in the clutter and mess of our garage.

DH and I buy toys for ourselves too. We say it's good in case we ever have kids, but who are we kidding? I totally get that.
Haven't seen Frozen yet. We were going to see it tonight but I want to see Catching Fire... Don't know what to do!
I saw the tree decorating pics on Facebook, they're awesome. I love this years ornaments. Especially Repunzel.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Hmmm if I had to choose one between Frozen and Catching Fire (having seen both) I would pick Frozen! They're both pretty good but the tie always go to a Disney film!

Thanks!! Hopefully I'll get some cool pictures. I absolutely love this time of year. It just makes me happy. Elf the Musical sounds like an awful lot of fun!! Enjoy

DD and I are anxiously waiting to find out if the famous Buddy's 1 minute burp made it in to the musical. "Did you HEAR that??"

LOVE it. So jealous of people who still have Disney Stores nearby! I'm on a mission to find a Frozen coloring book today. You know. In case a random child shows up on my doorstep and wants to color. Yeah. That's why.

Let me know if you find a good Frozen coloring book. If it has stickers even better! DD's been asking for one.

That's just good parenting. Although, I do have a soft spot for the prequels, too. I just can't help it.

I really wish Lucas had delegated the directing and screenwriting gigs to someone else while keeping his story treatments for the prequels. There were a lot of good story ideas in there - just wasn't executed to the full potential it had. I'm so happy that he finally let go of some of the control. I read that the next three are still based on his story treatments but they're using a couple of writers for the screenplay and of course JJ taking over as director. Sooooo psyched!

I just had to pop over here to see the Frozen plushies. They are great! I've seen some at Epcot as you leave the M&G, but they are nothing like those! The Disney Store actually has better ones!

No Olaf M&G at Epcot. But I was looking at mousesteps video of Olaf at DLR. He's on the roof of their Anna and Elsa M&G!! They have a talking animatronic!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It4Vh8H9BJ4&feature=youtu.be

Thank you for the video!! Maybe WDW will eventually create Olaf on the roof soon too!

Caught up again, if no other reason then to get behind. Sorry you weren't able to see VOL. It is a great show. Thanks for the pics of the opening show. My Daughter and I love it so much we made excuse to be at rope drop a few times just to see it. Love the light show. I need to take more time and see what all is in my area. (Just not this year.) I am happy to see that we are not the only ones that use toys to decorate house. Even my husband moves them around.

I started doing "Olaf on the Shelf". You know, instead of Elf on the Shelf? This morning the kids found him sitting on our Christmas tree.