Just back....many new firsts

[Planogirl]

BCMM, that's really cool.

 

[PinkJade]

BCMM -

Thanks for the tips! Hoping ours will work out similarly. I know they will be slower. They are also late risers, so I am mostly worried about them being upset that we are doing our own thing. Hopefully they are like your in-laws!

 

[mel&me]

Great Pictures. I am drawing a blank here, pic #12. I can't figure out where that is.

 

[BCMM]

#12 is at Epcot in Canada right outside of Le Cellier...my husband and I were waiting on our dinner reservations.

 

[mel&me]

#12 is at Epcot in Canada right outside of Le Cellier...my husband and I were waiting on our dinner reservations.

Thanks, that was annoying me. I knew it had to be in Epcot, Just could not place it. The little cottage should have been a give away.

 

[jblrn2b]

Your photos are stunning!!!!!!! Your kids are so cute - enjoy them someday they become teenagers -. I am glad you all had a good trip. You are getting me even more psyched for our trip at the end of the month!

 

[edk35]

Thank you!!!

PinkJade--The best thing about the in-laws was having separate condos!!! No, it really wasn't that bad. They were Disney clueless so they just went wherever we took them. It was very nice to have them keep the kids so DH and I could have a night out alone at Epcot. It was also nice to be able to ride the rides with my DS7 while they watched DD2.

As they are super slow movers (and smokers) we started off the week waiting on them to walk or waiting on them to take a smoke break....but we all soon realized that wasn't working with 2 kids (and me) that were anxious to move on. So we just told them where we would be and they were able to move at their own pace and meet back up with us.

My DH was also great as a fastpass runner. We were able to use their tickets for fastpasses on the rides they didn't want to go on. We did make sure to include indoor rides for breaks from the heat. Our strategy was early morning breakfasts in the parks or rope drop....that was really nice. We got so much accomplished before the huge crowds and it was not quite as hot (still hot, but not as bad as the afternoons).

Some other random tips that helped us out:
--collect fastpasses in the morning and use them when you go back in the evening (this was awesome at DHS...all the fastpasses for several rides were out by the time we returned and we were even able to ride TSM 4 times that day)
--Be prepared for CS locations at the MK....you have to have your food before you sit down (it really wasn't that bad or too big of a deal) We saw several people actually fussing and screaming at Cast Members
--If you want to see the Fairies at MK get to toontown early! We got there at 9:45 and only had to wait 20 minutes.
--If you have a young one, utilize the rider switch on rides with height restriction...this allowed DS7 to ride these rides twice in a row! He loved it!


I hope you have a wonderful trip!!!!

What do you mean you have to have your food before you sit down at CS locations?? Is this new??? We usually split up...a couple of us get the food while the other 3 grab tables.

 

[mel&me]

What do you mean you have to have your food before you sit down at CS locations?? Is this new??? We usually split up...a couple of us get the food while the other 3 grab tables.

there was a thread a while back about it.Can't seem to find it. Not new,enforced more during busy times.

 

[edk35]

there was a thread a while back about it.Can't seem to find it. Not new,enforced more during busy times.

WOW didn't know this. Thanks

 

[missenmickey]

Great Pictures!!! What kind of post-processing do you use?

 

[BCMM]

@edk35--the CS issue wasn't that bad. It was nice that I had heard about it on the DIS before going...it wasn't a shock. One of us got in line and the others just waited and then we all walked together to find a table. We never had a problem finding one so I guess the plan is working.

@missenmickey--Thank you! I use Adobe Lightroom....I've gotten fairly comfortable using it and it seems to do everything that I need.

 

[DisneyNDecember]

Wow, amazing photos!!! I feel like I am there !!

You stated "Toy Story Mania 4 times in one day! longest wait was 35 minutes"- where were all the people???

We go every December & the fast passes are sold out by 11:30 & the wait times are over 50 minutes. And that is all day, either the 1st thru 3rd week of December & you just got back from a busy season, I wonder where everyone was at?

 

[BCMM]

Thanks DisneyNDecember! Our TSM plan that worked out very well went as follows: Rope Drop...husband went ahead to get FP, then we met up and got in Standby Line (took about 25 minutes). As soon as our time opened up I went and got a second set of FP for that evening. They were all gone by 11:30 or so. We rode using our first FP and then left for the afternoon.

We came back about 6:00 or so and rode using the 2nd set of FP's. We finished touring the park...it started raining and we decided to skip Fantasmic 9:00 show. My son was BEGGING to ride TSM again...standby line was listed as 50 minutes. I agreed to wait in line with him...it moved rather quickly and I think part of that was due to the fact that there was no one in the fastpass line. I timed it b/c I was curious as to actually how long it would take. It only took us 35 minutes to be on the ride! (I didn't look at the posted time when we left to see if it had come down?)

Needless to say, we LOVE that ride! My favorite experience with it was in December....week between Christmas and New Year's. We got there for EMH that started at 7am....we walked straight to get fastpasses (no line for them either!!) and then did standby twice in a row without too long of a wait!

 

[Fam of 4]

Beautiful pictures! makes me want to be there right now.

 

[thunderbug548]

@edk35--the CS issue wasn't that bad. It was nice that I had heard about it on the DIS before going...it wasn't a shock. One of us got in line and the others just waited and then we all walked together to find a table. We never had a problem finding one so I guess the plan is working.

@missenmickey--Thank you! I use Adobe Lightroom....I've gotten fairly comfortable using it and it seems to do everything that I need.

Your photos are beautiful! I'm not a pro (far from it!!) but I do have Lightroom 2 on my PC and I can never get my photos to look like that. And if they do look good in LR, they look terrible when I share them on Facebook. Do you use any particular Presets?

 

[DisneyNDecember]

Thanks DisneyNDecember! Our TSM plan that worked out very well went as follows: Rope Drop...husband went ahead to get FP, then we met up and got in Standby Line (took about 25 minutes). As soon as our time opened up I went and got a second set of FP for that evening. They were all gone by 11:30 or so. We rode using our first FP and then left for the afternoon.

We came back about 6:00 or so and rode using the 2nd set of FP's. We finished touring the park...it started raining and we decided to skip Fantasmic 9:00 show. My son was BEGGING to ride TSM again...standby line was listed as 50 minutes. I agreed to wait in line with him...it moved rather quickly and I think part of that was due to the fact that there was no one in the fastpass line. I timed it b/c I was curious as to actually how long it would take. It only took us 35 minutes to be on the ride! (I didn't look at the posted time when we left to see if it had come down?)

Needless to say, we LOVE that ride! My favorite experience with it was in December....week between Christmas and New Year's. We got there for EMH that started at 7am....we walked straight to get fastpasses (no line for them either!!) and then did standby twice in a row without too long of a wait!

That is the key then, ropedrop !! We have done a few ropedrops, but not a lot, just too hard to get up that early when on vacation.

We stood standby in December thinking it would not take the full 50 minutes, but it DID !!! We never stand in line for anything that long, we always utilize FP, but since they were out by the time we made it to DHS that day, we stood stand by line. It was not too bad since we had never actually seen the que line before & that was pretty cool, you don't get to see that in the FP line.

I really need to work on the rope drop tactic.

Once again, your photos are truly amazing !!!!

 

[wendydarling826]

Your photos are just beautiful! I don't know what kind of camera you use, but I'm jealous!

 

[mickyzzzzz05]

I really enjoyed your pictures! Thank you for sharing them.

 

[ebird08]

wow! those are wonderful! and it looks to me like pic #39 has a hidden mickey in the clouds!!!

 

[BCMM]

Thank you wendydarling826 and mickyzzzzz05! I have many more and I hope to get them edited and uploaded this week. BTW, my camera is a Nikon D200 and I have to say that I LOVE Nikon's. I've had several and am looking to upgrade as soon as I make a little more money!