How much film to take?

[mylilnikita]

Hi. I am taking my 5 year old to Disney World in November of this year. I am wondering how much film to take for my 35 mm. Any advice? Thanks. Oh, I will be staying for 4 days.

 

[Wenlitz]

Well we plan on a roll a day but a parade a lone can take a roll of film. Plan on 2 rolls a day and if you dont use it all you can use it later. Film is expensive in the parks and resorts. We went to walmart twice during our last trip for film. Have a great trip!

 

[bananiem]

I always take a bunch because I figure I'll use it everntually. On the other hand I scrapbook so I probably go overbaord!
I had 20 (24 exp.) or so rolls for a 9 day trip, so I'd say the 2 per day rule is pretty good.

 

[Cebhfhionn]

If you have access to it, go to Costco, Sam's Club, BJ's, any of those places to buy film. You can get it in huge packs and save alot of money.

I'll have to agree with the 2 roll idea!

Have a great time!

 

[bunnyfoo]

You'll probably need a lot more than you think I agree with Wenlitz, things like the Safari and Parades can really eat up the film ... and there are things that you'll want to take two or three pictures of like characters with your children or characters with your family

I tend to take quite a few pictures since I'm a scrapbooker too and I have a digital camera

 

[mm6mm6]

I brought 12 rolls for our trip with our DD5 and I love taking pics! I did okay. My advice would be to shop around and watch the newspaper ads for sales. My best price was Dominicks Food store for 24 exp Kodak 400asa four packs at $7.99 each. So that was $2 a roll. If you're into it, go to www.ebay.com and search Kodak 400 and you can get some great deals on film. But 24 rolls and you'll use it eventually. Just be sure it is sealed film and not expired or too soon to be expired!

 

[LUVDVC]

The time I planned one roll per day, I ended up running out and buying more at whatever price they charged. I now go by the two-roll-a-day rule and throw in a few extras, just in case.

 

[kilee]

Defintely go with at least 2 rolls a day. Also, bring an extra camera battery. I found that I had a newer battery in my camera last trip. I took so many pics, and left it on often, catching those spontaneous photos that my battery went low 1/2 way into our trip. I ended up paying almost 3x as much as the battery would of cost me at Walmart.

 

[kayeandjim00]

I take about 5 more rolls than I think I will need. Last time on a 5 day trip I took about 12 rolls but I take TONS of pictures so that may be "above average." Definitely take more than you think you'll need because there are always "kodak moments" at Disney and it's better to have too much than not enough!

 

[mickeysaver]

We took film that I bought off of eBay for a steal! The film was all in date and without any flaws. I think we had 16 rolls of 40 exposures of the Kodak APS 400 film. The deal came to just over a dollar a roll when you added in shipping charges. We used it all in the 5 days we where in the parks. I scrapbook and this was our first big WDW vacation, so we took pictures of just about everything. We also took our video camera. We were lucky enough to buy some VHC tapes at a yard sale that were brand new for $0.50!!! Needless to say, we love a bargain! lol Mickey

 

[momof2OH]

On our first trip last year...we took about 40 rolls of film. There were 4 of us taking pictures. We were in WDW and US/IOA for 8 days. We got all of our film at our local grocery store (Giant Eagle) when they would have it on sale, Buy 1 Get 2 Free. They periodicly have it on sale like that, so if you happen to have a Giant Eagle near you...keep an eye out for it. It's a GREAT DEAL!!

 

[TreeOfLife]

Nothing beats an investment in a digital camera.

Depending on the type of memory card, you can store anywhere from 50 to hundreds of photos. Better yet, if your memory card is filled, you can bring along a little gizmo called a digital wallet (iOmega and Mindsatwork make them). It is portable, weighs about as much as the camera or less, fits in the camera bag and replaces a laptop for downloads! Empty your card into the digital wallet's hard drive and reuse. The downloads take minutes and you can do it even in the parks, while resting or at the restaurant. Don't worry about filling up your digital wallet, the smallest HDs will hold over 2,000 pictures!

And then at the end of the day you can selec what pictures you want to keep, if someone's butt got in your image you can delete it. The convenience is amazing! Prices of those items are currently going down.

I have a mini-dv which takes digital pictures and makes movies. Bought it at that time for about $700 but I have seen it for about $500 now. Good digital cameras can be purchased for even a little over $100. Worth the investment, when you consider the cost of film, developing, and everything else involved.

 

[catwho]

Our last trip was 5 days in the park (1 day at the resort) and between me and my 2 girls we took 22 rolls of film (I took 17, one dd took 3 and the other took 2) My mother was with us as well and she took probably another 7 rolls of film. I find that I need more film each time I go because I think of other things to take pictures of. here are some ideas that I have gotten from looking at other people's pics:

1. The CM's (in the various parts of the parks in the costumes)
2. The signs for the different attractions
3. Pictures of your resort room door
4. Pictures INSIDE your room
5. Pictures around the resort
6. Transportation around WDW (buses, monorails, streetcars, trains, etc.)
7. Pictures of food
8. Pictures of the signs for each of the WS countries and their flags
9. CM's from the different countries (and have them autgraph your books as well)
10. Characters interacting with your kids or others in your party not just the posed pictures.
11. Pictures of different details that makes Disney so Disney (like a street sign or lamp post that makes that portion of WDW blend in)
12. Hidden Mickey's
13. Pictures of the castle, tree, BUH, and SE from different angles not just the "fronts"

A few notes from our last trip:
1. I took a roll and a half of pictures just of the tree at AK. Pictures of individual animals as well as looking up at the tree as we passed around it and got closer to the base.

2. My ds' favorite ride is the Monorail. We realized we had not ONE picture of the monorail. How did we do that?????? We even rode up front several times

3. I have 3 favorite pictures from our last trip and they are of my children's faces. Close ups. YOu can barely make out that they are at WDW. There is just this wonderful glow as they stare off in amazement at something they are looking at.

4. I actually managed to be in 5 pictures (yes; out of 22 rolls of film) this year. (I was in ONE the year before last) So don't be the camera hog. Make someone else take some pics as well (but don't give the camera to my dh LOL!)

5. CM's are usually always happy to take your picture as long as they aren't busy with other guests. Utilize that information

6. Make PS's for pre-opening seatings at either CRT or CP and take advantage of the empty streets to get pictures of the castle. Last year Mickey and Minnie were in front of the castle posing prior to opening and there were several Disney photographers around to take your pictures. We love our pics of our family in front of the castle (and with M&M) with NO ONE behind us!

 

[katiemegcz]

2 rolls a day is a good guide, I agree. We went to Sam's club, and bought it in bulk, and saved a bunch. This year, I went digital, so we'll see what issues go along with that!

For camcorders, I anticipated needing a lot more than we did. You think, 10 day trip, 10 tapes (I know, I was new to camcorders!). I used 2 digital video tapes for 10 days, then edited it down to 25 minutes at home for showing.

One more tip-carry on your film!! I have heard more than one person, and DCL recommend this, as the airpor security for checked luggage could damage unexposed film. To be careful, we carried on both directions.

 

[Taddy]

2 per day is probably good. We had our digital camer on our last trip and we bought and extra memory card just for the trip!

We still ended up taking the equilvalent of 2 rolls a day on our digi cam.

If you dont' use it, you have film left over no biggie!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I agree on at least 2-3 rolls a day. I finally broke down and bought a memory card with enough memory to hold 2500, so I dont have to worry anymore!

A tip that I dont think anyone else has mentioned-- consider picking up one or two disposable cameras for your 5-year old! Kids love to be in on the picture taking action, and its so neat to see the World through a child's eyes and learn what they think is photo-worthy!

 

[ChesireSue]

A digital camera would be a good investment and you can find a decent one for between $200-400. Just make sure you get one that has optical zoom of 3x and over 2 megapixels. Just got one for my parents at Walmart for $190. It was a Toshiba still shot with 2.2 megapixels and 3x optical. We bought an additional 128mb card and it will hold about 900 "normal" pictures for them.

As for film, last trip I averaged 3 rolls a day. I'm a picture-a-holic

Good luck!

 

[denman007]

I took 16 rolls for an 8 day stay. Sometimes you might want to take a few pics of the same thing to make sure you get a good shot. I still prefer 35mm over digital. Here's a link to some of my pics I scanned. These are fairly old pictures...one day I'll update them from my last trip.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/dman8/Disney/Disney.htm

Anyone have some links to their pics?

D

 

[Big Disney Fan]

I agree with approx. 2 rolls per day too.

I've just returned after two weeks and had 12 rolls to develop.

 

[jmminarik]

On previous trips, we averaged 2 rolls/day 24 exposure. Our last trip we went digital...what we wound up with after 5 days of active park touring was somewhere around 1250 photos (not counting the ones I deleted immediately). Out of the 1300, we widdled the pile down to around 650 'acceptable' and probably 100 or so 'great' photos....and the ratio of 1/13th of the photos being great is probably abnormally high....so the moral is to shoot lots of film.

-Joe