Inching My Way Closer to the Castle Final thoughts/future trips 4/2p90 The End 4/4p92

[glennbo123]

Love your EE pictures! I've never been in the front row....I thought it was the luck of the draw, I didn't realize you could wait for them. I'll definitely have to do that next time.

 

[MEK]

Great EE ride pics! I've never been brave enough to get the camera out on that one - I'm always hanging on for dear life!

That is exactly how I feel, but I made myself take pictures during the second ride, which I really need to post. It wasn't too bad, but I was really afraid of hurting my baby while on the ride.

Very, very cool pictures of my favorite AK thing to do. All very clear for moving so fast too, I might add!! I got front row too, and LOVED it!! You see so much more when you're up there!

Front row on EE is a must. There are some rides where I could never do the front row - like those coasters that drop 200 ft at a 90 degree angle, but there are others than just beg to be ridden front row and EE is all that!

Glad you like the pics. More are coming.

Ok- I am all caught up! What AMAZING photos you both take!! I loved the Wishes ones, and the EE ones- and you both went all out on your AK pics! Love the refecting in the water ones- so blue and still!!

I have so many more AK pictures and I plan to post most of them. I just love AK pictures more than any others so I can't hold back.

Jen, I am so sorry about your dog- we have a golden retriever named Summer who we love to pieces- can't imagine life without her now.

Ahhh....that's such a cute name for a dog. Losing an animal is the pits. It's so so sad.

ALso glad you liked the Wave- I have never been, and Kevin on the podcast just gave it a pretty awful review, so I am glad to hear from you both that you liked it that much. I was hoping to go next May, but now we are staying at the BWV instead of BLT (I KNEW we were going to get screwed by that 2 day closure/enhancement!!). But we scored BW View, and we were all so happy with that that I canceled the WL for BLT the same day. So we may save The Wave for another time.

Ok...so...on with the show!

I heard the Wave got a bad review, but I gotta tell you my meals have been good there all three times I've dined there. The dessert portions are small, but the rest of the meal was very, very good.

for BW view! Do you think the BW is ready for you ladies?????? Watch out! You'll be hanging out on the balcony every night.

I am totally surprised that you could get BWview but not BLT. I figured with it being the flower and garden festival the BC and BW would be more in demand. Don't you just love DVC???? I have gotten every room I've wanted so far and I love sampling them all.

Great EE pictures!!!! I love being in the front row on that ride and on RnRC!

That front row rocks, that's for sure!!!!! glad you liked the pics!

EE is on of my favorite rides.....Love the front
Hang time.....just ask MEK about my hang time on that hill

OMG.....I still think of you every time I go up that lift hill. Yikes! I would have been petrified. So yeah, you sure did have some hang time!

EE
Love all of your special effects. You aren't going to make us start wearing 3D glasses next are you?

Tracy

hmmmmmmm.....now there's a thought!!!!!

Love the EE pics cause that is the closest I will ever get to that ride Love the earlier AK pics.

Oh NO....don't say that! Do you really think you will never ride EE? Well, I'm glad you enjoyed your virtual ride and you'll get a kick out of one of the next pictures I am going to post!

Love your EE pictures! I've never been in the front row....I thought it was the luck of the draw, I didn't realize you could wait for them. I'll definitely have to do that next time.

Oh Yeah Baby....there is a front row queue! If you are willing to wait through a few trains, the front row can be yours too!!!!! If you've never done it, you must, cause it is cool!

 

[jenjolt]

WOW!! What a great EE pictures!!! When I ride I'm usually a bit scared so I don't take out of my camera!! So I'm going to leave it to the real pros!! Those are some great shots!

 

[Ducky4Disney]

Originally Posted by manntra
EE is on of my favorite rides.....Love the front
Hang time.....just ask MEK about my hang time on that hill


OMG.....I still think of you every time I go up that lift hill. Yikes! I would have been petrified. So yeah, you sure did have some hang time!

Oh yeah! You were mentioning that on the way up! I think I said you'd have to just leave me there until it was fixed.

WOW!! What a great EE pictures!!! When I ride I'm usually a bit scared so I don't take out of my camera!! So I'm going to leave it to the real pros!! Those are some great shots!

Glad you like the shots! I could never have done that with my DSLR, it's too heavy and I'm sure I would've bonked myself in the head with it!

D4D

 

[Ducky4Disney]

Time to wander back to over to the safari and take some pics along the way.

Not sure which I like better:

or

What do you think?

"They've brought a flag"

"Dash cunning of them!"

Got a chance to force some depth of field.

I wish I had taken more pics of the carts in Asia. They have such great detail on them.

Here's a place I haven't tried yet!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Great pictures on EE...I felt the same way about the real Yeti...if you didn't know where he was supposed to be you would totally miss him!

 

[Ducky4Disney]

Great pictures on EE...I felt the same way about the real Yeti...if you didn't know where he was supposed to be you would totally miss him!

Exactly! That is not how it was when it opened, was it? I know rides go down for refurb
and I think Space Mountain got better after refurb, as did HM, but this did not.

D4D

 

[KatMark]

More great pictures.

We went to Yak & Yeti in 2008 during our 25th anniversary trip. We really liked it a lot and plan to go back next year (we've just not been able to fit it in the last two years).

 

[MEK]

Well, I keep getting behind on my own trip report, but I will definitely post tonight. I tried last night, but I fell asleep with the computer in my lap. I think Jen's pictures are more than making up for mine. There are some real beauties there. There's pictures there which I have no idea where they were taken and I'm usually pretty good at location.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Loved the ride on EE! I haven't ever taken my camera on yet since we do the baby swap still. I'm so nervous about having our pricey camera out on it too - gotta get me a simple one that I won't be heartbroken over if I drop it! Though, then I'd loose my pics...so I guess I would still be heartbroken!

I wish the Yeti still worked, he was much cooler when his arm swept over the moving train car. Now he's just a big hairy dude standing there with a strobe light. It feels like you don't get to see as much of him now to me too.

You two have truly captured the beauty of AK! Enjoying it all!!!!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Jen - I am absolutely amazed that you got some of those photos with a point & shoot!

 

[MEK]

More great pictures.

We went to Yak & Yeti in 2008 during our 25th anniversary trip. We really liked it a lot and plan to go back next year (we've just not been able to fit it in the last two years).

We had Yak & Yeti scheduled for this trip for Day 5, but we'll tell you how that went. So I can't make any comments at the present time!

Loved the ride on EE! I haven't ever taken my camera on yet since we do the baby swap still. I'm so nervous about having our pricey camera out on it too - gotta get me a simple one that I won't be heartbroken over if I drop it! Though, then I'd loose my pics...so I guess I would still be heartbroken!

I will say that it is probably much easier to take pics with a small camera then my camera. I held onto it for dear life when I finally did work up the nerve for pics.

I wish the Yeti still worked, he was much cooler when his arm swept over the moving train car. Now he's just a big hairy dude standing there with a strobe light. It feels like you don't get to see as much of him now to me too.

I agree. I don't fully understand why the yeti stopped working the way he was originally designed. I think there is an A and a B mode, if I'm not mistaken. I guess B being the back up mode, which he is permanently in.
It's a bummer.

You two have truly captured the beauty of AK! Enjoying it all!!!!

I have to say that the last set of pictures Jen posted really blew me away.

Jen - I am absolutely amazed that you got some of those photos with a point & shoot!

See above. I couldn't agree more!

 

[MEK]

Since Jen has posted her EE front row mojo pictures, I think its my turn. sorry I have been a slacker for the last couple days. Two soccer games this week and a Halloween parade last night. Plus I just ate, so now I feel exhausted. But I am gonna get these EE pictures posted, darn it. ( Edited to say that I actually typed that last night, but I feel asleep with my computer in my lap, so now it is one day later.)

After Jen took those fab pictures her first ride, I decided I was going to "man-up" and take my own Front Row pics. I figured "how hard can it be?". If I just put my camera strap around my neck and held onto my camera for dear life, I should be fine. What could possibly go wrong? Right?

So I grabbed my camera and held onto it with both hands and I boarded the ride. No hands in the air for me.

So let's see what I got........

Lift Hill......

Lift Hill Near where Tracy got stuck and had to disembark.......

A look to the right.......

Getting Higher.......

Almost rounding the bend.......

Wow....Front row mojo....Wait....I zoomed in way too much........

Hey, What's this?........

Now that's better.......

A Shaky Yeti......

And for the rest of the ride I was hanging on the my camera for dear life. I had the lens cupped in my hands so it wouldn't hit the safety bar on the coaster. This was especially tricky when we did the big drop. But after a few hairy moments when I was certain I would be buying a new lens, we came to the end of the ride. Phew!

And Ride pics.....well I only took it during one of the rides. I do dislike the dslr for that. It's hard to pull that camera out and snap a couple of quick pictures. It's far too obvious what you are doing and it makes me feel a little uncomfortable.

Once outside I occupied myself with taking a few more pictures of the actual ride.

Can you say, "last one down is a rotten egg?"

I think the trees back here are super cool and very well themed.

There are some cool statues back there......

I think prayer flags are pretty cool.....

I remember reading that when Disney designed the prayer flags they had to make sure they had no religious connotations. So these prayer flags essentially mean absolutely nothing.

This next picture isn't actually near EE, but I posted it early because its cool....and educational!

Continued in Next post

 

[MEK]

I love this next picture because it represents one of those magical moments at Disney. We had just exited the ride, and I honestly can't remember if it was our first or our second ride, but there was this little boy outside with his mom. They were waiting for the rest of the family to come off the ride. His mom said he didn't want to go on. Well Jen whipped out her camera and said, "Do you want to see the ride?" "Watch this" She proceeded to show him her pictures. It was so neat and a special moment. Go Jen!

I took a few more pictures while Jen was showing off hers......

Before long it was time to trek back to the Safari. Getting the FP for Safari worked really well for us. What I usually do is get a FP for EE, ride it, and then go back. But this worked much better because usually my Safari FP ends up being for lunch time.

As you have already seen, there were plenty of picture opportunities on the way to the safari......

We stopped at that altar which faces Everest. Usually there is a photopass photographer taking pictures there. But perhaps because it was September, and still fairly early in the day, there was no one there. This worked to our advantage because it allowed us to get some pics without anyone in the way.

Like I said, this was the first time I was ever able to get that close to the altar because there is always someone there taking pictures. Its pretty cool to actually observe what's there.

After we walked a little further I realized there was something I really wanted to try. I heard Brooke rave about this drink and this trip was about trying new things. So I ordered my first frozen chai tea.....

Oh yeah....Having that Disney gift card was so fabulous. cha - ching!

So what did I think of it????? It was OK. I liked it and I do like regular chai tea, but believe it or not, it actually felt heavy. Maybe I sucked it down too fast because of the heat, but I got full fast and I gave the rest to Jen. Next time I will stick with a small. I ended up pairing it with a jalapeno pretzel and that may have been too much for 10:30 in the am. lol!

On the way over to the Safari I did not forget to take a picture of some of our old favorites......

How's this for depth of field.....

lol......sorry.....I am not even completely sure if I know what depth of field is, but I intend to find out so I will be ready for the May trip.

To be continued.........

 

[Scampi]

Thanks for the great pics!! I love EE! I can't wait to get back to AK and ride it again.

 

[MEK]

Thanks for the great pics!! I love EE! I can't wait to get back to AK and ride it again.

Scampi! Thanks for joining in! we both had a blast on EE! It definitely one of my faves!

 

[MEK]

So here's some good news. Denny agreed to go back to Disney in November of 2011 right after Thanksgiving and before Christmas! He said he will be ready to go back by then. lol! I pitched my idea of the one night premium or platinum package and I thinks he's in. So 2 nights regular resort (he actually requested POR - go figure, but yeah!) and 3 nights DVC. I am super psyched cause I got the may trip with the East meet West girls, then sept/early October with the soccer moms (we may go to HH and savannah instead of Disney), and then November with the Denster! Can you say super WOOT? I can and I can say it more than once. WOOT! WOOT! WOOT!

 

[KatMark]

WOOT WOOT WOOT WOOT WOOT

Way to go, Dennis.

 

[Ducky4Disney]

More great pictures.

We went to Yak & Yeti in 2008 during our 25th anniversary trip. We really liked it a lot and plan to go back next year (we've just not been able to fit it in the last two years).

I know about not being able to fit things in. With every trip I think there's more and more I *don't* get to do; which means I need more trips!

Loved the ride on EE! I haven't ever taken my camera on yet since we do the baby swap still. I'm so nervous about having our pricey camera out on it too - gotta get me a simple one that I won't be heartbroken over if I drop it! Though, then I'd loose my pics...so I guess I would still be heartbroken!

I wish the Yeti still worked, he was much cooler when his arm swept over the moving train car. Now he's just a big hairy dude standing there with a strobe light. It feels like you don't get to see as much of him now to me too.

You two have truly captured the beauty of AK! Enjoying it all!!!!

I guess I'm just not that scared of hurting my camera; maybe I should be? Then again, I don't generaly hang on for roller coasters anyway, so a camera in hand doesn't bother me. I also agree with the Yeti comment; it's broken. I've a few more AK pics left to post!

Jen - I am absolutely amazed that you got some of those photos with a point & shoot!

Thanks! I love taking pics. My friend Heahter is a true photog, I love love her pics. She has a great eye and composes her pictures so well. I look at something one way, take a pic, and think "Wait, that's not what I saw!" I'm slowly getting better. One of these days I'll seriously start trying to do some HDR work. I think those are AMAZING

I have to say that the last set of pictures Jen posted really blew me away.

Thanks Mary Ellen Don't go sellin' yourself short on the pics, there's quite a few of yours I want to steal!

D4D

 

[Ducky4Disney]

So here's some good news. Denny agreed to go back to Disney in November of 2011 right after Thanksgiving and before Christmas! He said he will be ready to go back by then. lol! I pitched my idea of the one night premium or platinum package and I thinks he's in. So 2 nights regular resort (he actually requested POR - go figure, but yeah!) and 3 nights DVC. I am super psyched cause I got the may trip with the East meet West girls, then sept/early October with the soccer moms (we may go to HH and savannah instead of Disney), and then November with the Denster! Can you say super WOOT? I can and I can say it more than once. WOOT! WOOT! WOOT!

Can you say: SUPER JEALOUS?!?!?!?!?

Hmm... if I can swing a trip in May for Mechanisms... and then I'll be starting school in the fall, so I might need one last trip - again. Are you in? You need more tickers!

D4D