Does anyone NOT take a video camera to WDW?

[whogirl'smom]

I hate our old video camera (5 years old)--it's so heavy and bulky! Will I regret it if I don't lug it around? This is DD5's 1st Disney trip and I thought I would just take it to lunch at CRT and maybe to AK for Kilimanjaro Safari. We did just get a new digital camera, a Canon S2IS, that I am still learning all the bells and whistles. What should I do?

 

[GEM]

We don't and never have. I hate experiencing things from behind a video camera, so we just leave it at home. We do have a very tiny digital camera that is great. It takes short (up to 90 second) digital vides. We find that is PERFECT for us. It lets us capture magical moments - our little guys first glimpse of the castle, a meeting with Mickey, etc. without lugging around a separate video camera or being stuck behind the camera all the time.

 

[Brian Noble]

We don't bring our video camera, and don't really miss it, but then again we find we don't use it for much anywhere else, either. Even the things we have taped, we've never gone back to watch again.

We *do* bring a digital camera--it is quite small.

 

[Hannathy]

We haven't the last 3 trips. I hate lugging it around and whoever gets stuck taping isn't having the same fun looking thru a view fiinder. We take our camera and enjoy looking at those pictures because most things aren't pictures you need action to tell the story. We did take it 1 time and that trip we picked 1 day to take it so we didn't have to carry it the others. I don't think we have ever watched that tape after the fact. If you do take it please remember not to hold it up in front of others view and don't expect the world to stop so you can get endless moments of your little darling "looking cute". I'll wait for a quick picture but I'm not stopping my life for people to tape everything.

Ps if I hold a spot for an hour at illuminations guess what I'm standing up when it starts and I really don't care that you "are taping!" and walked up 10 minutes before it started and thought you could tape leaning over me!

 

[Hoopfamily]

We did last time, but never again. Too much stuff to carry as is and I always worried about the condition of it on rides etc.

 

[beattyfamily]

Well, we do but its my DH who videotapes. We've been so many times and I can't stand videotaping so when I go without DH, I do not bring the video camera.

I do appreciate when my DH videotapes new things like new parades or fireworks but I just can't be bothered.

Good luck!

 

[FourBoysMom]

...we have a very small, light Sony DVD cam....don't use it all that much, but enough to make it worth it. ie: baby's first haircut at MK, boys taken out into parade. And yes, we do watch the DVD's often.....

I'm not sure I would with a big, heavy one though...


Trixie

 

[atisikitabasket]

We take our one day only at the MK only and usually just part of the day. Other than that I use photos. I only get a little bit so when DS is older he knows what size and stuff and how he looked at Disney adn so he can see how excited he was and stuff. I usually do it the one day I know we are spending most of the time at Fantasyland. Also it is small and we have a small bag that holds it and our digital camera but I agree it doesn't become a drag carry it.

 

[ampc3]

We have a VERY old video (huge) remember the OLD cell phones, well like that but video! My husband would have had a fit if I said I wanted to bring "that" too to MK, I tend to take a ton of pictures so didn't really miss it, I did bring it out the first day at the hotel, but that was it. AND ONLY b/c we drove. If we where flying there is noway!... I am not sure why we have it, he hates it and NEVER uses it! I tend to only use it for holidays etc.. And if your camera has the video function, then I would definitly say no way!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We don't take ours anywhere (wow--we bought it 9 years ago).

we have a digital camera and a monster size capacity memory stick. So any magical moments, we can capture on our regular digital camera. I wouldn't be sad though if we didn't have that capability.

 

[my2tinkerbells]

We've never taken ours, too much too carry around. We just take tons of pictures.

 

[mecllap]

Well, I would go ahead and take it. Is it VHS-C? If it's a big, full-size VHS one, I probably wouldn't, but the VHS-C is doable (we're still using ours). Esp for first trip with a 5-yr-old, it will be fun to have some of the character encounters, and to capture her reactions after various experiences -- ask her questions and try to get them on tape; also do an adult "journal" about what you all liked during the day. Don't bother much with taping the rides (you can buy other people's DVDs of those, that will be better). You won't want to take it every day, but it will be fun to have some video record of the trip. I don't watch our tapes very often, but enjoy them when I do, esp. just before the next trip.
K. Safari is pretty bumpy and doesn't videotape very well.
Remember the battery charger and charge up each night, and a few extra tapes (one a day is more than enough, if VHS-C, for just some highlights). I wish we had more footage of the exteriors and walkways, rather than the inside of rides and parades.
We've even left ours inobtrusively in the stroller and it's been fine (you will want to have a stroller with a 5 yo). Of course, if it gets swiped (unlikely), you'll have an excuse to get a new one!!!
Rather than regret not having it along, it's better to take it and try it a couple of days, then just leave it in room if it's not working out for you. But, for 5 yo first visit, I don't think you'll regret having it along.

 

[monorailsilver]

Mine is about 10 years old & uses the small Hi-8 tapes.

It is still big but I do bring it but I barely use it. I think I video'd about 10 minutes last year.

I use my digital camera to take some clips here & there if I need to but I do want a nice tiny video camera too but not yet $$$$$.

 

[wrldpossibility]

We don't take one either. I hate lugging it around (it's an old one though). I'm a scrapbooker, and would rather have the pics. We have a nice digital camera, and take 2-minute videos with it. Then we convert those to DVD at home, and watch them on the TV or computer. I like to do that better...and maybe it's just me, but I never want to more than 2 minutes of any one activity anyway!

 

[Deesknee]

I didn't bring it on one trip and regret it.

Our rule is ONE day of our trip we bring the video camara. Sometimes we'll rent a locker, put it in there for awhile then maybe tape again later.

We also have an old one. We purchased it 4 years ago and it is large in comparison to the ones out there today. However the one we had before that we had for atleast 10 yrs and you had to use your shoulder to support it it was so heavy.

I only responded, I didn't read the other posts. Sorry if I reiterated what someone else had said.

 

[Lauralee131]

We didn't bring ours last year - only because we had so much stuff it seemed like a hassle to add one more thing...we have a really small palm video camera so in reality it wasn't that big, but I have a Kodak Z740 camera that takes video and I took quite a bit of video with it - brought a separate 1GB card just for video...

I'm on the fence for this upcoming trip...can't decide myself...wish that someone (namely DH, hint hint honey! ) would just decide for me!!

 

[tigerdragon]

We don't bring our videocamera, but we definately bring the digital camera. Fortunately we can use it like a videocamera and have recorded up to 16 minutes at a time with it (depending on the size of the memory card). I tend to look at pictures a lot more than the videos that we have recorded.

 

[stczt]

We just take our digital camera, we bought 3 memory cards for disney, 1GB, 512 & 256. We were able to record the whole beauty and the beast show @ mgm and a little extra on the 1gb and the show is 20-30ish min. We never ran out of space, every night we loaded everything in to my computer.

 

[whogirl'smom]

Thank you all so much for your replies! It's getting down to the wire (7days ) and I was getting antsy about the details.

Our digital camera does have video mode and I am planning to try it out this weekend. We have a 2 GB card so that sounds like plenty to video DD with the princesses at CRT and still have enough memory for the rest of the day at MK. I am planning to take the card to Walgreens to put on CD while we're there every couple of days, as we do not have a laptop or portable hard drive to download to. I guess I'm just an old fashioned photo gal, but my DD5 loves to watch old videos of herself growing up, so the video is really for her.

Has anyone used Walgreen's or CVS, etc. near the parks to transfer their pictures to CD and did they turn out fine?

 

[eeyoregon]

Nope we have never taken a video camera (don't own one) to Disneyland or Disney World. Digital camera and photopass were great for us. Plus I give the kids each a disposable camera so they can take pictures of things important to them.