Groucho? 11 days? Beach Club? 4-year & 8-month-old? Tons of pics? Yes! (finally done)

[Groucho]

Next we hopped over to Fantasmic... last trip, we got there 45 minutes early and it was standing room only and I was miserable. We got there about an hour early this time and managed to get a seat to the left side almost right at the front. Two great seats in a row! As for the actual show - I enjoy it a lot but I'm always frustrated with most any photos I take during it - I seem to have real difficulty getting anything that I'm happy with. I'm also still working on getting a decent fisheye shot of the crowd.

If only there was a faster shutter speed on this one... too much motion blur!

The park was open for a little bit longer, so I zipped over to Tower of Terror while my wife look the kids to the Playhouse Disney dance party.

While waiting in the library, the CM started whispering to a couple near me that he'd like to sneak up behind a couple of girls who were there because they looked like "screamers", and there were fastpasses in it for them if they did - and he gave me one too since I had obviously heard it. Sure enough, he got a good shriek out of them - always fun for everyone else. I came around and went back in and didn't need the fastpass at all - there was literally no wait whatsoever; there were only maybe 3-6 of us the library, and we got to pick our own seats for the ride.

I looked at my watch and suddenly realized that the park was closing in maybe 5-10 minutes and we still had to use our Toy Story fastpasses! I called my wife as I hustled back to the main drag, then we hightailed it over there... only to find that, sure enough, they weren't letting anyone else on. I felt bad as my son loves the ride, so I decided that we'd stop there first thing in the morning for a ride before moving on to Epcot.

We dragged our tired butts back to the boat dock and got back to our room to catch the tail end of Illuminations from our balcony.

That's it for day six... day seven was my lightest day for photography, quantity-wise... the good news is that they are mostly Lensbaby and fisheye shots!

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

Great pics as always! How did your little one do with Fantasmic and being out so late? We've never seen it and are considering it during our next trip. I know my boys would love it but I'm wondering how a 16-month-old will do??

 

[Groucho]

Great pics as always! How did your little one do with Fantasmic and being out so late? We've never seen it and are considering it during our next trip. I know my boys would love it but I'm wondering how a 16-month-old will do??

We watched the 6:30 show so it wasn't all that late.

There was also an 8:00 show that night. We had the kids out fairly late most nights without any real problems - usually they'd just konk out when they got too tired. Leila is not a great sleeper though (until she's out for the night); she would get a bit cranky sometimes, but usually she was OK as long as she had food and a reasonably clean diaper.

I would think a 16-month-old would be fine. There's enough bright lights and colors and movement to keep the real youngsters interested. The hard part might be keeping them occupied during the hour before the show - and you pretty much have to get there at least an hour early!

 

[cinderella crazy]

Great update! I'm loving the ToT pics! It's my favorite ride. I wish I could have seen the CM scare those girls. I like it when they get into their roles!

 

[DznyFan]

did you have a great day at the Studios or what?? Wow, you lucked out on everything it seems!

 

[cdotla]

Loving your report, and especially the photos!

 

[RachelNinja]

Oh wow, I love that pic of the apple turnover! The flaky parts of it look so tempting! No doubt about it, I am getting one of those this trip. Even if I'm stuffed and not hungry, I have to get one to go!

Your Sci-Fi Dine-In shots are great! It really captures the mood of the place. Plus, I love that you got the ceiling in the shots too.

 

[Groucho]

Great update! I'm loving the ToT pics! It's my favorite ride. I wish I could have seen the CM scare those girls. I like it when they get into their roles!

I've seen them do that trick a few times in the Haunted Mansion stretching room; it's always a treat.

did you have a great day at the Studios or what?? Wow, you lucked out on everything it seems!

Well... except for not making it to Toy Story Mania before closing time... That's the advantage of a long trip; it was not a big deal to stop back in the morning just for that ride.

Loving your report, and especially the photos!

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying!

Oh wow, I love that pic of the apple turnover! The flaky parts of it look so tempting! No doubt about it, I am getting one of those this trip. Even if I'm stuffed and not hungry, I have to get one to go!

Your Sci-Fi Dine-In shots are great! It really captures the mood of the place. Plus, I love that you got the ceiling in the shots too.

The turnovers are great but the cherry ones might be even better. Of course, having only one kind makes it easier to choose... otherwise I'd probably have to buy both.

Since I haven't had a chance to get much done on Day 7 (I've tagged the photos but haven't processed any yet), I'll give you another SFDI photo.

 

[RachelNinja]

I have such a fascination with the Sci-Fi Dine-In because of the whole drive-in thing after seeing Grease when I was a kid and because of Virtual Magic Kingdom! Hope you don't mind my posting a pic here.

 

[Groucho]

I have such a fascination with the Sci-Fi Dine-In because of the whole drive-in thing after seeing Grease when I was a kid and because of Virtual Magic Kingdom! Hope you don't mind my posting a pic here.

Not at all!

On to day seven...

After some more good stuff bought from Main St Bakery a couple nights earlier, we started the day with a quick visit to DHS so that we could get in the Toy Story Mania ride that we missed the night before. The crowds weren't too awful as Jack and I headed into the standby line... this time with my fisheye mounted on the camera.

This part of the queue seems like some sort of demented trip into circus hell to me...

Jack had a great time as usual; it's quickly become one of the his favorite rides.

I managed to get 200,500 - a decent score, I think - and Jack got 42,800, which was better than I would have expected. Next stop was the Tatooine Traders store at Star Tours so that Jack could get his "big toy" from the trip, a build-your-own lightsaber. Naturally, he chose purple, his "best color"!

We stopped and took a few photos on our way out the park...

Jack loves pulling the rope...

We hopped on a boat and went to Epcot and quickly picked up a Kimmunicator so that Jack could finish going through the countries. The problem with this is that he likes riding in the stroller so that he can concentrate on that instead of actually walking! That means Leila needs to be carried, which is exhausting. We are planning on picking up one of those strollers that has room for an older child to stand on the back of it for next trip... Anyway, we wandered World Showcase for a while, looking at the countries and playing the Kim Possible game. You'll never guess what lens I used primarily.

I'm not sure if we ever noticed the tangerines before!

We split up for lunch... unfortunately, I'm just not an adventurous enough eater I guess; most of the World Showcase counter service restaurants don't appeal to me. (I often like the sit-downs, though.) We split up and my wife and Leila ate at Yakitori in Japan while Jack and I went to the Liberty Inn at the American Adventure. At least I didn't get a burger.

continued...

 

[Groucho]

I enjoy keeping at eye on the trainer at the Chinese acrobats show... this one was not as serious-looking at the last one I saw.

We stopped for snacks from the Kringla Bakery in Norway (can you tell that I love bakeries?) to tide us over until dinner, then continued on through WS including a stop on the "cheeseball" ride that Jack really enjoys now!

We stopped into Sunshine Seasons in The Land for dinner, and got out as Illuminations was just about to begin. We decided to try to scoot past and get to the Int'l Gateway before it was over to avoid the crowds - it's hard to walk past Illuminations without watching a little though! One thing of note - just before it, I saw a guy on his knees giving a girl something and as we walked by, I heard her saw "yes"... I couldn't resist stopping for a second and applauding! I said "congratulations" then got back to moving - you can't linger when Illuminations is about to start!

We were pretty exhausted and pretty much just crashed in our room... and that was the end of day seven.

On to day eight - Magic Kingdom, where many more photos were taken!

 

[cdotla]

What a treat to come home tonite to another great update. I love looking at WDW through your lens!

Can't wait for more, especially since the next update is Magic Kingdom!

 

[Groucho]

Thanks! I'm so glad that you're enjoying it!

I promise a few shots from MK like you've never seen before. Anyone who also followed the live TR - note that we are past any of the photos that were also posted in that thread! No more repeats.

 

[RachelNinja]

I love that you got more of the background of Mr. Potato Head with the fisheye. I didn't know they had the foam alphabet mats on the left, spirograph on the right, and the puzzle on the floor! Love those extra details!

 

[Groucho]

I love that you got more of the background of Mr. Potato Head with the fisheye. I didn't know they had the foam alphabet mats on the left, spirograph on the right, and the puzzle on the floor! Love those extra details!

Yup! Here's another shot showing some more of the extra detailing.

 

[WillowBelle]

Great job with the LB in EP. I really like the American Adventure pics. Something about the bright colors. You did a fantastic job of focus with the 1st of the 2 shots. That is such a delicate lens to use!

 

[Groucho]

Great job with the LB in EP. I really like the American Adventure pics. Something about the bright colors. You did a fantastic job of focus with the 1st of the 2 shots. That is such a delicate lens to use!

Thanks! I think I have an advantage since I have the Composer, I would assume that makes focusing quite a bit easier than the basic one. There are some more shots from that series of American Adventure pics here.

I'm almost done with day eight - lots of Lensbaby shots for the evening hours! Not so much earlier in the day due to rain...

 

[Groucho]

We're in the home stretch now... here's day eight! Only two more full days to go!

We got our usual late start and took a bus to MK. First stop - yes, again, Main St Bakery. One cherry danish and half a cinnamon roll later, I was ready to go! We took a left and went through Adventureland, stopping for a quick ride on Magic Carpets of Aladdin...

...and caught the tail end of the pirate training show. It was sprinking a little and the crowds were light, so the Captain Jack's helper tried to give Jack one of the scrolls that you get if you go up on stage, but he got shy and didn't take it. How long before he kicks himself for turning down something like that?

Next step, Pirates of the Caribbean, then on to Big Thunder. My wife and Jack went on first while I wandered around the Splash Mt area (which was closed for refurbishment.)

Soon it was my turn to ride with Jack.

After that, another Small World ride... the trip was starting to catch up to me and I was dozing a little during this one.

It was about lunchtime so we decided to stop in at Pinocchio Village Haus. I don't care for pizza so we hadn't stopped there before, but I decided to try some chicken. Now, I have memories of getting great chicken nuggets from some counter service places at Disney before (including last trip at Old Key West's food counter)... but the ones I got from here weren't great. Not terrible, but nothing that I'd go out of my way to get again.

By the time we left, it was starting to rain pretty good and we made our way to Toontown - after all, it won't be there much longer!

We didn't do any character meals this trip and didn't really stand in any lines to see any characters (we started to this morning for Chip & Dale, then it started raining), so I wasn't sure how Jack would do with the characters - usually he's shy at the beginning of the trip and is fine after a couple character meals. He did fine this time seeing Mickey & Minnie though!

Now for the less cute, more disturbing pictures of Jack!

Continued...

 

[Groucho]

Jack and I rode Goofy's Barnstormer, then we left Toontown and took a quick ride on Winnie the Pooh.

Next stop - back to the bakery, but this time for an ice cream sandwich. This are a great deal BTW - two cookies and three scoops of ice cream for $4! That's ours being assembled in the background. So much yumminess in one photo!

We caught a little bit of the parade...

...then wandered around the Emporium looking for something small for Jack to bring back for his daycare friends, then decided to stake out spots for SpectroMagic.

Leila loved SpectroMagic!

Next stop... another Buzz Lightyear ride. This time I figured out a few "tricks" and got by far my best score ever - 359,600! Even better, I shattered that score the next day.

As we left, Wishes was beginning. I tried a few shots from the area by the exit of the ride; a few handheld then I hastily clamped the camera to a nearby light pole and used that along with my remote shutter release. The only downside is that to get the "Lensbaby effect", you need a large aperture, and that means that firework trails usually get blown out... oh well, it was an interesting experiment and I thing there were still some decent shots that came from it!

Next, I went for another ride on Space Mountain. Here's a shot of the new ride vehicles... still only one person wide, and missing the iconic red nosecone!

They had just opened up the video camera section of the postshow... this had been walled up until now, including when I rode it a few days earlier. This was a quick manual focus shot at F1.2 so forgive the blurriness please! The theory with this updated section is that now they put various space backdrops behind you, as you can see here.

Finally, Jack and I went for a ride on Astro Orbitor. I had forgotten how many g-forces there are! This is so much cooler than Dumbo or Aladdin, especially at night.

Continued...

 

[Groucho]

The park was closing now, so we went back to our hotel and decided to grab some dinner at Beaches & Cream - where they have a much better burger than at the counter service locations! While we were there, not one but two families ordered a Kitchen Sink.

My wife got some ice cream...

...and we went to our room and slept like rocks.

Almost done... coming up on day nine, a little Epcot and more Magic Kingdom!