Pandamonium, Pixie Dust, and Paraphenalia!... What was I thinking! updated 2/1!!

[ILuvCrush]

YAY for Allison!! Big Congrats to her!!!!!!!! That is fantastic I'm glad she did so well!!!!!!!

That picture is just gorgeous you can see the happiness on her face!!!!! I can't wait to see the rest of your photopass pics!!!!! And to find out who she was so excited to see!!!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving P!!!!!

Thanks Jen!! Happy Thanksgiving to you too!!

Love the pic Paula!

Congrats to Allison!!!!

Thanks Katie!! Overall I'm not usually all that impressed with photopass... but I got some amazing CANDID shots this time by them

That is such a pretty picture!

Congrats Allison!! No pictures of the meet?

Thanks LL!! unfortunately, no pics.... but I have video!! I'll get it uploaded soon to youtube and post the link

What a great Photopass pic, Paula!!!

Congrats to Alison! She did awesome!

Thanks Jackie!!

Way to go Allison!

Thanks Wigd!! She was pretty pleased with herself

 

[2xcited2sleep]

What a great photopass picture! It definitely captures the magic! Way to go at the meet, Allison!!

 

[ILuvCrush]

FINALLY!! An update!! Are you excited??? I'm excited!!

We last left off with a grand tour of our wonderful Villa!! It was dark by the time we got in, so there's no view pics... but no worries, i took WAY too many as the week went on, so you'll get to enjoy them soon!

We were situated by about 6ish. I had the plan to head to MK. I have a really hard time NOT going to MK on my arrival day....I NEED that MAGIC! Since it was only about 6, we had plenty of time to get there for Spectro at 8 and Wishes at 9.

After Jen had a bit of a 'fight' with Wyatt, who wanted to carry his own KTTW card... we made a pit stop in Johari, the Kidani gift shop, to buy one of those clear plastic card holders that hook on your lanyard. problem (and arguement) over!!

We caught the bus, after a bit of a wait. We must have missed a bus while in Johari We finally got to MK at about 15min til 7. Unfortunately, I hit a snafu, cause my AP wouldn't work So I waited on the outside, while everyone else waited inside, while they had a new AP printed for me. I must have gotten against something and demagnetized it. While I was waiting, the Spectro music started!!! Ahhhhhh!!! it's 7pm! I was WRONG on the time We missed the 1st 10minutes... so by the time we got inside... the fishies were swimming past. I only know that cause I could see the tops of their little fishy heads over the throng of people
no way we were gonna see anything. Boooo! not the start to the 'perfect trip' and its ALL MY FAULT!!!

I was planning on dinner at Caseys.... but there was no getting arcoss the street.... this was definately a time that I was SOOOO glad that i'm a WDW geek! There was no getting thru the sidewalk, or up the street.... so I led the way thru the shops and around the plaza, thru the noodle station into Tomarrowland!! We had a nearly empty Cosmic Rays available for dinner!

We enjoyed a round of.... you guessed it!...Chicken nuggets and fries! The girls couldn't eat their whole meals, but not to worry... none went to waste! The 'garbage disposals' took care of that!

the food was yummy...and really helped to revive us! We were finished about 7:45...time for WISHES!! We left Sonny and made our way back to Main Street. Wow the people!! The CMs wouldn't let anyone stand in the street.... they were trying to keep the walkway clear. Eventually, they let people stand in HALF of main street...but even when Wishes started, they still 'maintained' half the street as a walkway. I've never seen that before We staked out a spot just up toward the hub from Caseys. It was a PERFECT spot.... other than the 6ft tall dads who decided to put their children on their shoulders in front of us......grrrrr. I can understand little kids... but there were kids ALLISON's age up on shoulders! Thats a bit ridiculous!

Continued in next post!

Click HERE for next post!!

 

[MEK]

Paula -

I love that picture of Allison. It is beautiful. And congratulations to her for doing so well in her meet and for making regionals. That is so awesome!

I love the start to your vacation. How great it must be to finally be in the MK soaking it all in. But boo to the 6ft tall men with big kids on their shoulders. Not cool at all!

 

[Lady Lallie]

Stupid AP snafu! I'm glad you were able to get a spot for Wishes. No trip is perfect...you just have to roll with it!

 

[ILuvCrush]

Wyatt and Allison managed to wiggle around and see fine, in the end!

For you viewing pleasure

Everyone LOVED it!! And really, who DOESN'T??? "Spectacular! was Warren's word for it! Wyatt and Allison thought I didn't like Wishes, cause I was standing there crying I ALWAYS cry during Wishes LOL!! I was so happy standing there with my 2 best girls at my happy place...I could have exploded with happiness!!! Poor Wyatt couldn't understand thatI was 'happy' crying and that even though I've seen Wishes AT LEAST a dozen times....I always cry!

After Wishes... we had almost 2 hours til the park closed! So we swam upstream like salmon and headed here....

The Haunted Mansion!!!!

(Sorry, the pic is from MNSSHP...I thought I had one from that night...but I can't find it)

There was about a 10 minute wait, then we were off to the stretching room!!
Allison thinks HMis scary, and really doesn't care to ride it (especially at night!). So to make it better for her, I showed the the 2 hidden Donalds and the 2 hidden Mickeys that Jenjolt showed me in September! it made it much more fun for her!

After we got off, I was excited to find out what Jen and the boys thought of their VERY FIRST WDW ATTRACTION!!!

Jen... that was 'neat'
Warren... that was 'really cool'
Wyatt... that was 'boring'

OMG! now what!! I never heard of ANYONE thinking HM was BORING!!! It's a classic!! I wasn't really sure what to do next I could have cried! So I punted! Since Allison did HM inthe dark.... she got the reward of picking where we went next. She chose Splash Mountain! OK,that's a suprise So off we went. We avoided the crowds by taking the riverwalk all the way to Splash!

As soon as Wyatt saw the drop.... he was like "NO WAY!!" I told him it looked worse than it was(which is true!). But what won him over??? Allison! She told him how fun it was and that it wasn't scary. I think he was more afraid to look like a chicken in front of Allison, than the was of 'dying' as he put it So into the 5min queue for a little briar patch love!!

yay for not chickening out!!! Wyatt LOVED splash! He and Allison wanted to get right back on! But, Ellie had gotten pretty wet, so we didn't. Wyatt was stoked to try something else now.... BTMRR was an obvious choice, but with a 40min wait... I vetoed that. We'll have plenty of chances to ride with little or no wait later this week! It was 9:20 at this point and Jen and i were BEAT!! So we headed toward the front of the park. As we walked thru Adventureland.... we saw this guy looking for us.....

Pirates was a walk on...so walk on we did!!

look!! its JACK!!

Can you get Swine Flu by drinking in the pigpen???

After a yo ho ho sailing... Again, I was excited to hear what the 'Newbies' thought about this Classic!
The verdict??
Jen..."OK"
Warren..."pretty neat...liked the cannonfire part'
Wyatt... "that was stupid"

Oy I could feel this whole week going up in smoke!! How can I help them to 'get it'??? CAN I help them 'get it'???

We caught our bus backto Kidani. Allison had forgotten to bring a 'stuffy' to sleep with (apparently I'm not stuffy enough). So we stopped at Johari and pickedup a cute little stuffed Pluto and 2 refillable mugs. We got back to the room, and while the kids watched a little TV, I wandered out onto the balcony. What did I see?? A FAMILY of giraffes!! 2 adults and 2 babies we having a midnite snack. There were also a few antelopes! I was so excited that I could have jumped the railing! THIS is why I bought AKV... so I could have GIRAFFES outside my room!

Eventually my sweeties wandered off and I hopped on the DIS andFacebook to say hi. Before, going to bed, I took another stroll outside and found zebras hanging out!

Tomarrow would be our first full day.... will it go better than tonite??? Was everyone just a littletoo tired??? Will the boys find AK exciting enough??? Will Wyatt be BORED again??? What will our view look like in the morning when it's light out??? All this and more coming up! Staytuned!!

Paula

 

[wigdoutdismom]

What's up with this boring business???
So very cool that you had the night time visit from the Kidani animals!
Can't wait to see your view and am very anxious to hear if the boys were impressed by AK!

Oh and Wishes does the same thing to me, in fact just seeing the castle makes me cry....

 

[brookelizabeth]

Ahhhh, all caught up and loving your report! Your Kidani pictures got me literally dancing in my chair.

BEAUTIFUL Wishes pics!!! Do you recall what settings you used?

I hope "BORING" is no longer a response from here on out!!!

 

[ILuvCrush]

Paula -

I love that picture of Allison. It is beautiful. And congratulations to her for doing so well in her meet and for making regionals. That is so awesome!

I love the start to your vacation. How great it must be to finally be in the MK soaking it all in. But boo to the 6ft tall men with big kids on their shoulders. Not cool at all!

Thanks MEK!! I thought that pic was the sweetest ever!
Don't missthe 2nd part of the update (above).... You were postingwhile iwas writing lol!!

Stupid AP snafu! I'm glad you were able to get a spot for Wishes. No trip is perfect...you just have to roll with it!

nope..no trip is perfect..and I did do reasonably well rolling with the punches this time I'm getting better at that in general LOL!!
be sure to catch the 2nd part of the update (above) you were posting while i was still writing too!!

What's up with this boring business???
So very cool that you had the night time visit from the Kidani animals!
Can't wait to see your view and am very anxious to hear if the boys were impressed by AK!

Oh and Wishes does the same thing to me, in fact just seeing the castle makes me cry....

boring!! I couldn't believe it!! I expected the 15yo to be cynical (cause thats what they do LOL!!).... but it was the 10yo that was not impressed!!

Shocked, I was!!

Ahhhh, all caught up and loving your report! Your Kidani pictures got me literally dancing in my chair.

BEAUTIFUL Wishes pics!!! Do you recall what settings you used?

I hope "BORING" is no longer a response from here on out!!!

You will love love love our home!!! Allison said she never wants to stay anywhere else LOL!!

OK..I don't remember my exact settings... because I will change them while shooting based on what result I'm getting. But the rule of thumb is that you want to see the light.... and keep the dark background. So even though it's dark outside, you use bright daytime settings!! I have full manual control with my camera. So, I start with a tripod...with a remote shutter release. I usually set my camera at f/12 and shutter speed at about 3 seconds. I also use ISO of 200. The idea is you want to keep the shutter open long enough to get the 'trails' of the fireworks. I've had decent handheld results with f/11 shutter at 5/100sec, the trails aren't as pretty... but the pics are not bad.

The same concept applies to shooting pics of the moon. The moon is reflecting sunlight, so you figure your settings for daylight, even though it seems opposite of what you would think you'd do.

Mind you...this was not taken with a tripod, cause I was practicing..so it's not nearly as sharp as it should be

I have learned TONS just by reading the photography boards here onthe DIS.... thats where I learned about the moon shotsand I got some GREAT advice about the FW photos there too! Check them out if you get a chance

Paula

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Boring and stupid!! UGH!!!!! Your heart must have been breaking!

Your Wishes pictures are phenomenal!!!! Holy cow!!! WOW!!

 

[praisehisname]

Love this pic!

Oy I could feel this whole week going up in smoke!! How can I help them to 'get it'??? CAN I help them 'get it'???

No, no you can't. Hopefully they'll be feeling the magic by the end of the week!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Gorgeous pictures-- as always!! I am troubled by the reactions - neat? ok? boring???

 

[jenjolt]

Great Great Update!!! LOVE the Wishes pics!!! Don't worry I get it!!!!! I'm going to pretend I didn't hear someone call my beloved HM boring...but to each their own I guess LOL!!!!!!

Giraffes...YAY!!! Yes that is why you bought AKV and I can't wait to hear more!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

[Lady Lallie]

Your Wishes pictures are spectacular. They are so beautiful.

Haunted Mansion boring? Do we have to go make sure Jenjolt is okay?

 

[norybell]

Amazing Wishes pics!

It's funny, that a teenage boy would be enjoying WDW rides more than a 10-year-old one! (Or maybe he's just old enough to be nice about it? )

 

[wigdoutdismom]

You have probably already mentioned this but could you please tell me what kind of camera you use?
I just read my DH your camera settings, and he knew what you were talking about!
He is in the market for a new camera....
I want firework pictures like yours!

 

[KatMark]

LOVE the Wishes pictures, and a great update.

 

[ILuvCrush]

Love this pic!
No, no you can't. Hopefully they'll be feeling the magic by the end of the week!

I know you can't make a believer out of everyone... but I would love EVERYONE to have as much fun and joy there as I do

Gorgeous pictures-- as always!! I am troubled by the reactions - neat? ok? boring???

yeah...the attraction reactions were a total shock to me!! But were even MORE of a shock to my girls! I remember Ellie looking at Wyatt at one point and saying..."boring?? You're nuts!!"

Thanks for the compliments It's fun to take the 'same' pics each trip and see how much my 'eye' is improving

Great Great Update!!! LOVE the Wishes pics!!! Don't worry I get it!!!!! I'm going to pretend I didn't hear someone call my beloved HM boring...but to each their own I guess LOL!!!!!!

Giraffes...YAY!!! Yes that is why you bought AKV and I can't wait to hear more!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Thanks Jen!! I was a bit worried at your reaction...I was concerned about heart palpitations

I bought a new tripod today Now my FW pics will get even better!! My old one was a bit wobbly, and in Nov one of the latches broke but I found a great $50 off pre-black friday deal I COULDN'T pass up!

Your Wishes pictures are spectacular. They are so beautiful.

Haunted Mansion boring? Do we have to go make sure Jenjolt is okay?

Since we have heard from Jen, I suppose we don't need to be worried that she's in need of paramedics for now,at least Thanks for the compliments too

Amazing Wishes pics!

It's funny, that a teenage boy would be enjoying WDW rides more than a 10-year-old one! (Or maybe he's just old enough to be nice about it? )

Thanks norybell!! Actually, Warren (15yo) was amazing all week!! He was game for everything we did.... no matter if it was a ride, show, character line...anything! I really expected him to be all phooy LOL(like MY teenage boy,who won't even GO to WDW!!)!! I was very pleasantly suprised at how much he enjoyed it.

You have probably already mentioned this but could you please tell me what kind of camera you use?
I just read my DH your camera settings, and he knew what you were talking about!
He is in the market for a new camera....
I want firework pictures like yours!

yay another photog junkie!! Thanks for the compliments too

I probably didn't mention it here anywhere I have a Sony Alpha-100 DSLR. When I bought my 1st digital, I went with the Sony because it was compatible with my Minolta SLR lenses.

The A100 isn't available anymore... but the A350 is almost exactly the same except you can use either the LCD screen to frame your shots, or the eyepiece... mine I can only use the eyepiece.

If I were to buy one from scratch now, I'd go with a Nikon DSLR. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my Sony.... but there are many more types of lenses available for Nikon. It wasn't a big deal before (and may not be for your DH either), but now that I'm taking my photography classes, I want to expand into areas that Sony isn't really ideal. I have two different telephoto lenses and a 50mm f/1.8 fixed lens... but other than that, there aren't many others available for it. I found a used Fisheye on ebay that i'm bidding on... but those are pretty few and far between.

hope that helps

LOVE the Wishes pictures, and a great update.

hi Kat!! Thanks so much!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Now you have me curious....
What sort of photography classes are you taking?

 

[kschafer]

WOW! your pictures of wishes are AMAZING!!!!!!

Neat...OK...boring

Generally I would say to each his own, not everyone is going to "get it" but for your sake I sure hope this gets better!