Only one more day to go - trip report now complete

[fitzperry]

Looks like you're having fun! We haven't been to WDW since 11/06 and have no trips planned for the foreseeable future as we're taking a couple of other big trips this summer. Your live report is making me wish I were there though!

 

[handicap18]

I was trying to decide if a really need my 30mm during the day or would my 18-135mm be enough.

Bring both. The 30mm is great for the indoor rides. Great aperture and excellent focal length. Unless of course you don't plan on riding any indoor rides, or do play on riding, but don't want to take pictures.




Groucho, love the updates. I'm certainly wishing I was going down sometime soon. For now I'll live vicariously though the other photoboard regulars who go down. Have fun!

 

[Groucho]

Thanks everyone! We're on a mid-day break and so far it's been 233 pics/2.92 gb since yesterday. My son's rolling around with his blankets, trying to decide if he's going to nap or not.

Nice pictures!

I'm sure I'll bring my 30mm with me in the day. The only problem is that when were going it's going to be 98 degrees out and that sometimes influences my decisions when I'm in Disney. I get very lazy in the heat.

Yeah, I almost forgot how rough the heat can be. Our last three trips (and the only ones my wife has done since she was a child) were in early January and late November. Even 85' seems brutal! I can't imagine being here in July with 95' temps and high humidity. Gack!

You mentioned the crowds... the crowd calendar I see shows crowd levels of mostly 5-6 (and one 7) over the next few days. Would you say that is accurate?

Well, as I said before, it's been a while since I've been during anything but a very quiet time. The wait times don't seem too unreasonable. The big-wait rides (thrill rides, popular Fantasyland ones) are 40-60 minutes. I did the single rider line in Everest today in about 20 minutes, the standby was 60. But it feels a little more crowded, though not as bad today at AK as it did yesterday at MK.

Continuing the mini-trip report: Well, today's been a little wonky. We slept in a little, ate our cinnamon rolls, and I tried calling lost & found about Jack's lost hat. Well, after being on hold for about 30 minutes, I finally gave up and we headed to AK. Well, tried to - it took around 45 minutes for a bus to arrive, and in that time, no less than four Magic Kingdom buses came through!

Anyway, we finally got there and as with yesterday, took it pretty easy. First stop was Expedition Everest, where I hopped onto the single rider line and enjoyed the ride. (It seems to be running better than my last trip, where it was broken more than running.) While I did this, Jack and mommy played at the boneyard. By now, it was lunch time and we went to Flame Tree BBQ - very good, though a long line. I do kind of miss the old Tusker House counter service though.

Next up was Who Wants to Be a Bug and the Maharajah Jungle Trek. At this point, Jack was wanting to play in the water play areas so we decided to head back to the hotel and go swimming since everyone says how great Stormalong Bay is. This time, a bus was waiting for us - much nicer! So now the plan is a little swimming, then Downtown Disney, dinner somewhere there, and back here to see Illuminations from our balcony - or if I have time, I'll go in myself and do night photos for a while. (Epcot is open until midnight tonight.) Should be fun!

Since we were discussing it in another thread, here's the DSLR report so far: Canons outnumber everything else, then Nikons. Saw one other Pentax and maybe one Sony? (It had a thick light blue ring around the lens, I'm not sure who uses that color.)

More later!

 

[wkrider]

Groucho...you are the man. I see some familiar glass in there, I see three of my lenses. We leave next Thursday for WDW but my pile of stuff is not near that large. Thanks for the trip reports...great reads.

 

[gokenin]

Groucho you are sure making my suffer from the desire to upgrade those are stunning shots with the K20. I have almost finished my fixed lens collection and will have to start saving the money for the upgrade of the body next. have fun and keep taking thos pictures

 

[MassJester]

On my way there tomorrow. (Most) everything is packed and I'm ready to go.

I realize that "the guy in the Disney shirt" might not have been enough to pick me out, so to help you narrow it down, I'll have my camera too

Have a magical day down there and save some of the good shots for me!

 

[PixieDust32]

WOW! You got some cool stuff there. Nice.

 

[PixieDust32]

No wonder your pics are amazing, well the photographer counts of course
I'm still learning with the 2 I have. One digital no big lens and I have a 35mm with a couple lenses.

I love your pics byw.

 

[Gdad]

Enjoying your trip report and still hoping to see you in Epcot tomorrow- but I have to say- the weather has been great the last few days. You are right to avoid July if this week is bothering you.

 

[Groucho]

Thanks again everyone! It's a bit late now so no big details. More trip report and pictures probably tomorrow? Really short version: Stormalong Bay, Downtown Disney, no Epcot.

On my way there tomorrow. (Most) everything is packed and I'm ready to go.

I realize that "the guy in the Disney shirt" might not have been enough to pick me out, so to help you narrow it down, I'll have my camera too

OK, that should help. I'll holler if I see anyone like that!

Enjoying your trip report and still hoping to see you in Epcot tomorrow- but I have to say- the weather has been great the last few days. You are right to avoid July if this week is bothering you.

Well, c'mon, you're a local! Your blood is probably thinner than water. I hail from the land of the rusty cars, salt trucks, and long frigid winters. I look forward to catching up with you. If you don't get an answer on the phone, just leave a message - it's hard to say if/when you're available to answer the phone in WDW.

 

[DebºoºS]

Really enjoying your trip report and pics. Great view from your room. Looking forward to all the time lapse pics. Yikes, that's a lot of stuff. Where's the pic of your WDW sherpa? Do you carry all that on the plane in one bag? The heat and crowds dampen my already limited creative spirits. Next week sounds like it'll be hotter and more crowded and I won't have a sherpa, stroller or ECV to haul my stuff so it's important I pack smart. Last months trip and August trip I used the P3, 50 1.8,18-200 with the D200 in one bag. I'm adding this trip a tripod maybe a 20mm, 50 1.2 and a film body. Should I skip the film setup again? Hope you found the hat or at least a cool replacement. Maybe matching WDW bucket hats are in order.
Are you going to still be there the May 4-8th?

 

[Groucho]

Really enjoying your trip report and pics. Great view from your room. Looking forward to all the time lapse pics. Yikes, that's a lot of stuff. Where's the pic of your WDW sherpa? Do you carry all that on the plane in one bag? The heat and crowds dampen my already limited creative spirits. Next week sounds like it'll be hotter and more crowded and I won't have a sherpa, stroller or ECV to haul my stuff so it's important I pack smart. Last months trip and August trip I used the P3, 50 1.8,18-200 with the D200 in one bag. I'm adding this trip a tripod maybe a 20mm, 50 1.2 and a film body. Should I skip the film setup again? Hope you found the hat or at least a cool replacement. Maybe matching WDW bucket hats are in order.
Are you going to still be there the May 4-8th?

No sherpa, but you should have seen me walking back to my room tonight after the wife and son went back earlier. I had the camera bag slung across one shoulder, camera across the front, tripod on the back, straps everywhere - it's quite a sight.

As for film or not - only you can really answer that. If you're happy with your D200 shots, and you're already carrying a lot of gear, that film setup has to be giving you something unique and desirable to warranty its inclusion, though, IMHO. And we will be gone before May 4th - our last WDW day is Wednesday.

To continue... we did go swimming and had a good time. It really is quite a pool, my only gripe would be that there are too many shallow (3.5-4') sections, and there are spots where the sandy bottom has gone away, and if you're on your knees or whatnot, it's suddenly rather sharp and painful. Ow!

Anyway, we packed up and headed to Downtown Disney for dinner and shopping. We ate at Earl of Sandwich, where there was a pretty lengthy line and they got my order wrong, but it was close enough so I stuck with it. We wandered the stores long enough that it was just too late for a late-night Epcot trip - which was fine, since I had time to do that tonight.

Today, we got up at a reasonable time and walked over to Epcot - which is an astonishingly short walk from Beach Club. If you're on that side of World Showcase, the hotel is closer than the main entrance. We visited the butterfly garden and I went to take Jack onto Test Track. I was surprised on our first day when he came up short to ride Big Thunder Mt Railroad, which is a 40" restriction. Test Track is the same but we checked anyway, and he made it comfortably so I guess there's a little variance in their height checkers.

We got in line and TT promptly shut down for a few hours, so we grabbed fastpasses and did Universe of Energy. Next to an early lunch at Sunshine Seasons inside The Land. While holding Jack while we checked out, I found one drawback to the Op/Tech straps when Jack proceeded to grab the quick-release buckle and open it before I had a chance to stop him. I guess that's why they call it quick-release! Fortunately it came out slow, but regardless - down the K20D went. No damage done, it landed pretty gently and the screw-on metal hood on the 105mm macro was the first to land, and seems to have retrieved no damage. But man! Wouldn't that stink if he broke the camera like that!

Moving on, we had a pretty decent lunch and since TT was still down, we made our way through a few countries in WS until it was getting later in the afternoon. Back to FW and and to check TT - fortunately it was running now and Jack and I got on in pretty short order. This was Jack's first 40" height-restriction ride and he was too short to see over the seat in front of him! Poor kid. Anyway, he was a little unsure during the dark areas, but of course as soon as it went out on the banked turns, he was all smiles! The first thing he said after it was over was "want to do it again". Maybe in a couple days...

Next, I gave Gdad and call and we ended up meeting in Mouse Gear (nice meeting you, Jeff!) Then on to dinner at Garden Grill (quite good but not quite extraordinary), The Seas (which was a walk-on), and Spaceship Earth (short queue). Then it was time to stake out a spot for Illuminations. Unfortunately my desired location (opposite American Adventure pavilion) was crammed, so we ended up a ways down, but still a pretty good location. Then I started having remote shutter release problems - deja vu, the same issues cropped up last WDW trip. This is the peril of building your own device. I had fixed the button side once and for all a while ago, now I need to fix the plug end so it'll be rock-solid and sturdy. Plus, the K20D has what is hopefully just a big in the firmware that means thats "auto" and "on" are the only choices for long exposure noise reduction. "Off" is not listed - so no matter what, if you're doing long exposures (like you do in bulb mode) was then busying the camera for longer - basically, it takes 20 seconds to take a 10-second photo. I think most DSLRs are like this out of the box but it should be fine to skip. Anyway, this and that I was actually busy swapping lenses, zooming in and out, adjusting ball head, etc while the show was going on meant that I was 1) frustrated and 2) not really having a chance to enjoy the show properly.

But, I survived and I think I probably got some cool shots anyway. At this point, I walked the wife and Jack to the International Gateway, and I stayed behind and took tripod photos. After a while, I wandered back to our resort and took some tripod photos there, and then back to the room and now you're all caught up!

Today's DSLR update: Today, Canon still won but there were a higher percentage of Nikons than before. I saw a Pentax in the morning, an Olympus near lunch, and a Sony near dinner. So all five companies are represented. Overall though, I'm not seeing quite as many as I may have expected, but they are far from uncommon.

 

[Groucho]

And now, some more photos!

Here's yesterday's breakfast, then some other shots from yesterday.

 

[oogieboogieman]

Groucho- you give me stress! After reading about the K20 going down, I had to get another cup of coffee. The pictures are awesome, I would say it appears the camera is okay! Have a good day.

 

[handicap18]

Your K20D going down sounds very smilar to my D50 going down, though mine hit hard (very hard) on a tile floor and my lens hood was on in reverse (so no protection for the lens). Initially no visable damage, but then 4 days later the front element on the lens fell off. I certainly hope you have nothing like that happen. It definately sucked. Doesn't sound like it will.

Great report thus far. Very nice to read. Thanks again for sharing.

 

[LMarge]

Groucho,
Hope the camera continues to do well - makes me cringe and shiver just thinking about it! I LOVE the photos of EE!! I found myself actually leaning in my chair as I looked at them - then when I showed them to my dd, she did the same thing!!! Yes, we're a tad goofy.... we don't just view photos, we experience them!! Keep the fun coming!
Blessings,
Marge

 

[Gdad]

Very nice to meet you as well Groucho- you never mentioned the whole camera hitting the ground incident- very scary. I gave up on shooting Illuminations- the crowds were just crazy.

BTW- I really like the 3rd shot- the one going over the span on Everest. One interesting detail I noticed in a similar shot I took was the guard rail- or lack thereof. I thought it was kind of interesting it looks like it only deploys as needed. I would not want to climb down those steps if that did not work somehow.

 

[wdwensel]

Those EE shots are increadible!

I haven't had any of the cinnimon rolls you're having for breakfast everyday, maybe on my next trip. And I'd be remiss if I didn't give you props for your breakfast reading as well.

 

[Groucho]

Thanks everyone! Glad that you're enjoying things. Just a very quick update as it's now around 2:30am and we have a Crystal Palace reservation for 8:05 tomorrow morning! I headed to MK and stayed until closing doing night shots and such. I think I got some keepers. I'm just up long enough to finish unloading the cards. (Today was definitely a record for me - just under 800 photos and I am feeling a lot better now than day one about quality.)

Your K20D going down sounds very smilar to my D50 going down, though mine hit hard (very hard) on a tile floor and my lens hood was on in reverse (so no protection for the lens). Initially no visable damage, but then 4 days later the front element on the lens fell off. I certainly hope you have nothing like that happen. It definately sucked. Doesn't sound like it will.

Yeah, it was a pretty mild hit, and it was a metal lens hood on an "old school" all-metal macro lens, so it's probably more likely to damage the floor than the lens. Today Jack did the same thing to my wife while she was holding him, fortunately she got the strap before her K100D fell. That darn kid! It's a good thing he's so cute.

Very nice to meet you as well Groucho- you never mentioned the whole camera hitting the ground incident- very scary. I gave up on shooting Illuminations- the crowds were just crazy.

BTW- I really like the 3rd shot- the one going over the span on Everest. One interesting detail I noticed in a similar shot I took was the guard rail- or lack thereof. I thought it was kind of interesting it looks like it only deploys as needed. I would not want to climb down those steps if that did not work somehow.

You're right, we really didn't talk camera stories. I would have liked to compare "war stories" maybe or taken a closer look at the D300, maybe see it side by side with the K20D, compare AF, etc. But with big crowds and both of us having families demanding our attention, such a thing was not meant to be.

We actually got a pretty good Illuminations spot all things considered - I just walked and walked until we found something. Then I was distracted between switching lenses during it then the remote shutter release acting up (I since found that the ground wire broke - I fixed it by just jamming it in there, but I need a better stress relief design for the plug than what you get from the basic Radio Shack one.)

My sister-in-laws were on the very top of Everest when it died last trip - they had to walk down 14 stories or so. They did say that it was a pretty cool view though.

I haven't had any of the cinnimon rolls you're having for breakfast everyday, maybe on my next trip. And I'd be remiss if I didn't give you props for your breakfast reading as well.

You must-must-must try them. Don't get fooled by the cinnamon rolls elsewhere in the park (totally different, OK, a little dry) or in Disneyland (similar look but different bread and cake-like icing). Accept no substitutes!

Well, the memory card is still emptying so I'll write a little more. We started today by walking (very round-aboutly thanks to my bad navigation) to the Boardwalk and grabbed some quick breakfast at Boardwalk Bakery. We skipped the Friendship boat and just walked the path all the way to MGM, err, Hollywood Studios. Much longer than Epcot from Beach Club, but not too terrible - the walk from Downtown Disney to our room at Saratoga was probably not much different (maybe a little shorter, but not much.)

Tower of Terror is my favorite Disney thrill ride so that was my first stop - one ride plus grabbed a fastpass for later and two fastpasses for RnRC, since no one else was going to ride them today.

OK, card's finished copying, time to start the next and go to bed, I'll write more at another time!

 

[Groucho]