Drop Everything and Go to WDW Trip Report

[Suburbanmom]

A couple weeks ago, my DH and I literally dropped everything and went to WDW for 2 days.

My in-laws had planned a surprise trip to WDW for my kids. With the kids gone for the weekend, my hubby and I had planned to go north for a few days and enjoy Lake Erie. The weather in Ohio turned foul, however, and rather than mope around at home, we decided that there was no reason that we couldn't go to Florida too.

In under 4 hours, we made a reservation at All-Star Movies; 2 dining ressies at Tokyo Dining and Cape May Cafe; packed the car; and took off. We drove straight through-15 hours. Left home at 6pm, checked in at 9am. We didn't even realize it was the Food & Wine Festival until somewhere in KY around 9pm.

Once we had decided to go, I quickly threw my photography stuff together and made quick decisions about what would go and what would stay. I made an error in that I accidentally left the 50mm f/1.8 at home. What I did take was:

Nikon D300
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
Nikon 70-200 f/2.8
Tokina UWA 11-16mm f/2.8
18gb in CF cards
2 batteries
Trusty but Crappy Tripod

I estimate that I used the Tokina 99% of the time. This is the newest lens in my bag and I wanted to give it a real workout. I didn't use the 70-200 at all at WDW, but did use it on some shots of the Smokey Mts. on the way home. I did not carry the 70-200 into the parks at all. We didn't go to Animal Kingdom this time, spent limited amount of time at the Studios, and concentrated on enjoying Epcot and Magic Kingdom the most.

Even though our kids (2 boys, ages 12 & 14) were also at WDW with their grandparents at the same time, we avoided them at all costs and they didn't even know we were had been there until we all arrived home again on Sunday.

What I found is that driving 15 hours through the night and accumulating only 4 hours of sleep, does have an effect on my photography. I was wiped out the first day, and walked around Epcot in somewhat of a daze. Here are some of my shots by park, not necessarily in the order they were taken. Some of the details are a blur.

 

[Suburbanmom]

Magic Kingdom:

Important to note here...I pulled the now classic blunder of not checking your ISO. All of these morning shots are set to ISO 1600...sigh

Obligatory shot of the Train Station. I was surprised to see the Halloween decor...like I said earlier, I had done no planning at all.

Main Street

My DH met the mayor

I thought the f/2.8 did a pretty good job in Buzz Lightyear

One thing that continued to impress me was how close I can get to things when using the Tokina UWA. I'd set up for the shot, then realized I needed to be about 50 feet closer. Set up...repeat...

Blew out the President's faces, but was happy with the rest of the theater

Borrowed this set-up from others on the board. I really like those palm trees

From the TTA...Space Mountain under rehab

Probably my favorite shot and conversion. My DH patiently waited while I took pictures in the Confectionary for almost 45 minutes. When I wasn't looking, he bought me a new coffee mug.

I've already posted too many, but you can view all of the MK pictures here: Magic Kingdom Photos

 

[Suburbanmom]

Hollywood Studios:

We went to Hollywood Studios mostly for Toy Story Mania. I beat Mark pretty badly last year and he needed a Grudge Match. He won. I'm not bitter.

Toy Story Mania

ISO is set to 2500. A pass through Noiseware probably wouldn't hurt

I also forgot my GorillaPod and took about 30 shots while waiting for the Muppets. This was the only keeper...I balanced my camera on one of props/old trunk.

A CP filter would have helped with the blown sky. Whether it works or not, the tilt was intentional

I handheld these and held my breath.

You can view all of my DHS pictures here: DHS Photos

 

[Suburbanmom]

Epcot

Like I mentioned earlier, this trip was so unplanned it didn't even occur to me until we had been driving for several hours that the Food & Wine Festival was in full swing. The level of excitement only rose with that epiphany.

Not great photography, but this is the best crab cake I have ever had.

Off-Kilter totally rocked (although my DH kept calling them the "Twisted Kilts"). This is the only time I longed for the 70-200mm. I did switch to the 24-70mm, but didn't have guts to wander to the front of the show. I wish I had.

What's the rule on photographing Soarin'? I listened as close as I could and never heard "No photography." I admit that I was still a little woozy from the all night drive, but I really tried to pay attention. I confess that I used my camera, but I won't post the image here, in case it really is a no-no.

We had a late dinner at Tokyo Dining and requested and received a window seat. We watched Illuminations from the table and I took photos through the glass. I don't think they are all that good, but it's a different perspective.
Self Portrait in the glass

I did have my tripod with me, and took a long slow walk out of the park.

You can view all of my Epcot pictures here: Epcot Photos

 

[Suburbanmom]

All-Star Movies & Beach Club

We stayed at the All-Star Movies. Other than our very fast check-in, we didn't visit any of the resort. We were placed in the Love Bug section (3rd floor), so I only photographed our own courtyard. We had our car, so did not use the bussing.

Morning view

Night view

Courtyard

We had dinner at the Beach Club at the Cape May Cafe. It was our first time eating there and we enjoyed it.

We walked around the Beach Club afterwards because we had never been there before. I didn't have my tripod with me, but I balanced the camera on various things. There were 2 people photographing the Lighthouse for about an hour. I gave up on them leaving, put my camera on the ground and shot from there. If I'm feeling truly ambitious, I will try to clone them out.

Well, thanks for sticking around if you have made it to the conclusion. I wasn't as focused on photography as I could have been. If was just so fast, and I wanted to fit in as much fun as possible for both of us while we were there. My husband is wonderful with carrying my equipment and waiting while I compose different shots, but I didn't want to overdo it either. I still haven't had an opportunity to photograph Spectromagic. We missed it last year and it wasn't running either night we were there. We passed on the MNSSHP in favor of hopper passes, which I think was the right decision. We also skipped Fantasmic in favor of dinner at the Cape May Cafe. Mark confessed that Fantasmic is his least favorite night time show. I love them all, but didn't care enough to fight it out. Thanks again!

 

[Marlton Mom]

Quote: "Even though our kids (2 boys, ages 12 & 14) were also at WDW with their grandparents at the same time, we avoided them at all costs and they didn't even know we were had been there until we all arrived home again on Sunday."

I LIKE this!!!

What would you have said to them if you had been "caught"?

If it had been me I would have said "The Bat Signal went off and Alfred said you needed clean undies."


Marlton Mom

 

[spinetnglr]

Great mini TR Amy. Love the idea of a spontaneous couple of days like that in the World. I'd do it in a heartbeat too!! Sounds and looks like you and hubby had a great trip.

 

[jennyleettu]

Love the spontanous trip!! Great pictures, makes me even more excited to go.

 

[Evad]

Very nice Amy!!

 

[KCmike]

How did you work the driving situation? Did one sleep while the other drove? I have always wanted to drive straight through but we're too many hours away. We always feel exhausted by the time we reach Atlanta.

 

[My2Girls66]

Wow! Talk about last minute planning! Very cool
Nice photos btw I love the lighthouse taken from the ground.

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

Great pictures!
I love the one of Spaceship Earth and I licked the screen when I saw those peel-n-eat shrimp.

 

[Suburbanmom]

What would you have said to them if you had been "caught"?

If it had been me I would have said "The Bat Signal went off and Alfred said you needed clean undies."

I was kinda hoping for some surveillance photography I would like to have come home with some shots of them that they didn't know I took. I like the clean undies comment, though. This would have given the 14-year-old an opportunity to roll his eyes.

Great mini TR Amy. Love the idea of a spontaneous couple of days like that in the World. I'd do it in a heartbeat too!! Sounds and looks like you and hubby had a great trip.

Love the spontanous trip!! Great pictures, makes me even more excited to go.

Very nice Amy!!

Wow! Talk about last minute planning! Very cool
Nice photos btw I love the lighthouse taken from the ground.

Great pictures!
I love the one of Spaceship Earth and I licked the screen when I saw those peel-n-eat shrimp.

We had a fantastic time! Thanks for all the kind words I love the Lighthouse shot from the ground too...I really need to clone those people out of there. The peel-n-eat shrimp was fantastic! And the best part was you could eat as much as you want.

How did you work the driving situation? Did one sleep while the other drove? I have always wanted to drive straight through but we're too many hours away. We always feel exhausted by the time we reach Atlanta.

We left Dayton around 6pm and ate dinner while we drove. I fell asleep around 11pm and woke up every hour or so to check on Mark. We hit Atlanta around 2am and there was hardly any traffic at all...and the city was lit up and beautiful! I've heard horrible stories about the Atlanta traffic, so being there in the middle of the night is the way to go. I took over driving around 3am and Mark slept until 7-ish. I woke him up because I was really feeling fatigued and the morning rush was starting. We checked into ASMovies around 9:30 and were so happy that our room was ready. Got showered and changed clothes and hit the park. I was really tired, but the excitement of actually being there kept me going, I think.

 

[WillowBelle]

I love how in the MK series you comment that you shot in the confectionary shoppe for about 45 minutes, then you end the TR saying you didn't want to push-it with DH, photography wise . I love shooting inside of that store and think the coffee cans picture is great!

Don'tcha hate it when people linger while you're trying to get a picture!

Thanks for sharing - they're gorgeous. How lucky you are to have a DH that will drop everything and go. My DH thinks we give way too much money to WDW with planned trips, let alone a spontaneous one!

 

[Suburbanmom]

I love how in the MK series you comment that you shot in the confectionary shoppe for about 45 minutes, then you end the TR saying you didn't want to push-it with DH, photography wise .

I thought I WAS being reasonable! I could have hung out there for at least an hour.

 

[handicap18]

Excellent photo's Amy! Thanks for sharing. Love the fact that you guys did it super extra last minute. Excellent!!

 

[Ju Ju Bean]

I loved the photos! We are going this weekend for a surprise trip for my son's b-day and now I'm inspired after reading this!

 

[BorisMD]

Wonderful trip report Amy. I really enjoyed your photos, especially the night time Epcot ones and the Rock N Roller coaster ones ... and the Beach club ones (we are BCV owners, and I just get a little homesick from them).

That's awesome that you snuck away on the trip like that. I guess that's one advantage of living so much closer to WDW than MN.

As for ditching the kids and not seeing them, one year my family and I went for a spontaneous long weekend. We didn't tell anyone we were going, and as we waited for the hotel bus at MK, my Mom and sister showed up. Talk about its a small world!

Regards,

Boris