PRINCESS Palooza 2011! 9/9 Update: Departure Day

[mom2rtk]

I saw that, and I'm a hoping!

It makes sense though. You just don't open things. You see how the crowds flow, how the rides run, any bugs can then be fixed.

I'm so eager to see how I could find out if a soft opening crops up, that we've downloaded the Touring Plans app, the Dis boards app, and FB app on Kadence's b-day present that she won't get until the day we leave on the trip! A new ipod Touch from Gramma!
My MIL gave us the money back in April, because John knows all about that stuff. He got it and has been setting it up with Disney apps and movies for the flights.
She may have to share it with me for important updates about important openings!

Man, you...... I mean Kadence.......... is really gonna love that!

My fingers are still crossed for you. But I'd wager you'll get to experience at least pieces of it. In the overhead shots posted just recently, they already have walls behind the walls to block off the mine coaster work.

 

[Caretames1]

Man, you...... I mean Kadence.......... is really gonna love that!

We are wondering how she'll feel about share her new toy Maybe DIsney magic will ensue and she offer it up for the cause!

My fingers are still crossed for you. But I'd wager you'll get to experience at least pieces of it. In the overhead shots posted just recently, they already have walls behind the walls to block off the mine coaster work.

So jump one set of walls, not 2?

 

[mom2rtk]

I love their BBB hairstyles!!

I have a question about your tripod and I have no idea where to start.
I thought you could give me advice on what you use.
The legs are separate from the mounting thing correct? Does it matter what kind of mounting thing I get? Do I only need the legs and the mounting thing or do I have to buy something else for my camera?

Thanks for your help!!!

Thanks! I didn't really so much "love" the BBB hairstyles. But I have to say I did love the girls' enthusiasm for the hairstyles. So how could lI resist?

Now, on tripods...... many come with something to attach your camera to it. I use a ball head on mine. Some have a pan/tilt head. Some have a joystick. The higher end tripods I think come just as a set of legs and you buy the head you want separately. Anything that's not high end probably comes with a head of some sort. Whether it's the head you want is another matter.

I have the Velbon Luxi-L. It's not high end by any means, but it's not the same as you'd find at Wal-Mart or Best Buy either. Most people start with something cheap then end up buying something else once they get a better idea of what they value in a tripod.

Here's the deal with tripods. It's all a tradeoff. Most people want something strudy, light and cheap. Generally you can only have 2 of those 3 things. You will have to decide what you will give on. Mine is light and "fairly" cheap. But it's not quite as sturdy as I'd like. But it's a travel tripod, something I bought with Disney in mind. It's pretty lightweight and folds down compactly (easy enough to carry around if I don't want to get a locker) but extends nice and tall. But I don't put my camera on it without holding onto the strap. I just don't want to take a chance.

I hope that helps. Let me know if you have other questions.

Well, if what you read is right, then I might have a better chance! I guess I need to go back and do some research on how they handled things at Via Napoli… Lisa said something like that on my PTR as well, so I'm getting a little hopeful again!

Do you have your calendar marked for 8/28? It really sounds like you'll get a chance at BOG since you'll be there after the 19th.

We are wondering how she'll feel about share her new toy Maybe DIsney magic will ensue and she offer it up for the cause!




So jump one set of walls, not 2?

Yeah...... good luck with that Disney magic! Send some my way if it pans out........

 

[francis6306]

Do you have your calendar marked for 8/28? It really sounds like you'll get a chance at BOG since you'll be there after the 19th.

I have my TA alerted to watch for the announcement! Typically this would be something I would love to do, but my job/life is just keeping me completely overwhelmed. I'm hoping for the best, and I mentioned this on my PTR, but now I'm concerned that we're going to be all messed up, as Nov 19th was my first MK day…

 

[mom2rtk]

I have my TA alerted to watch for the announcement! Typically this would be something I would love to do, but my job/life is just keeping me completely overwhelmed. I'm hoping for the best, and I mentioned this on my PTR, but now I'm concerned that we're going to be all messed up, as Nov 19th was my first MK day…

Well, I totally understand. They say women can now "have it all" but they didn't tell you how tired you would be did they? I'm pretty sure the ones urging us all to "have it all" had maids or something. Cuz I've never been convinced it's possible to have it all at once and still have time to sleep.

Good thing you have a stellar TA on the case for you!

 

[mom2rtk]

12/16 Continued:

OK, so when I left off....... shall we say........ a WHILE ago....... we had just finished off our morning at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and met some princess friends........

We were close to the locker so we stopped there and let the girls change out over their camisoles and shorts. They put on their Christmas skirt sets over the red tutu's Kim had bought them.

Dinner was going to be early, and we didn't eat breakfast, so first things first......and time to honor our new tradition of a mid-morning stop at the Main Street Bakery! It was pretty busy, but not as bad as the other day. The girls snagged a table while Kim and I got in line. We had planned on breakfast, but right before our eyes........ they started putting out the most amazing massive ham and turkey sandwiches. SOLD! We changed plans on the spot and got lunch. Katie and I split a turkey sandwich and a cinammon roll. It was positively perfect! Katie loved it too.

We were heading for Adventureland next, but couldn't cross Main Street because of the Move It Shake It parade. So we stopped and watched it go by.


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When we got to Adventureland, I suggested stopping at Aladdin's Magic Carpets. We completely missed that last December, and Katie and I were fast running out of time to do it this trip. The line there has always seemed to go pretty fast. Not so this time. They had extended the queue out to the side and it seemed to move as slow as molasses. Or maybe I was just in a hurry to go have some fun with friends and hated sitting still. I rode with the girls and Kim watched.


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Next up was Pirates. We had done this once with Drew, but I wanted to ride it through with my telephoto on. And of course the girls just wanted to ride anything as long as they were together.



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From there we headed to Frontierland for another go at the "wash and spin" cycle. I had an absolute BALL photographing the girls on Splash and Thunder Mountain with that colorful hair flying!


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And finally ...... what turned out to be my favorite shot of the trip.......


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Right before getting in line for BTMRR the first time, Erika saw us and came up to say hi. When we were waiting in the handicap line on the loading platform, I looked over and saw her and Jenn about to board. Too bad we couldn't work out riding together. That would have been a ball. I did manage to snap a photo of them together on the ride though.


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[mom2rtk]

12/16 Continued:





Next we decided to let each of the 4 of us pick an attraction. Not surprisingly, Katie and McKenna chose Splash and BTMRR. Kim wanted to do Haunted Mansion and I wanted to do Peter Pan. Before leaving the area, we stopped for Mickey bars with friends. Does it get any better?



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Haunted Mansion had a 50 minute wait, so Kim had to be disappointed. We just didn't have time for that long to wait. So we went on to Peter Pan.


I'm posting this photo, not becuase it's technically great, but because it's the first time I've ever gotten a shot of that dang clock tower on the Peter Pan ride. I try. Every time. But I can't even get the camera to lock focus. This one is soft, but it's a step forward. Maybe next time...........



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After a quick spin on Dumbo, we headed back toward the front of the park. It was close to 3:00. We had to still get back to the locker and get the girls into their red Belle gowns before dinner at the castle at 4. And shockingly........ we stopped for a few photos along the way......



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Sadly, (not!) the girls decided to take out the multi-color extension part of their hair-do's. On our way back up Main Street, we caught the Dapper Dans. Of course I couldn't resist some updated Belle pics along the way.



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Dinner at the castle with friends was really nice. But our server was pretty slow and pretty soon I started to worry about our timeline. The party was a sell-out. Sunday and Tuesday had seemed really crowded, and they weren't sell outs. And this was my last shot at photographing Holiday Wishes.


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[mom2rtk]

12/16 Continued:


I wanted to start the princess line around 5:30 so we could be out shortly after 7. Once dinner was over, we got our wristbands in Tomorrowland and headed for Town Square Theater. Thankfully nobody was in line, so we started it. Mickey had no wait, so Kim and I sat in line while the girls went in to see Mickey. While we waited, we swapped them into their Rapunzel costumes.




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As we were finishing up with Snow White, she mentioned something about our dinner with Anastasia and Drizella the night before. I was so focused on taking the photos that it took a bit for that to sink in. DUH. Snow was apparently also friends with Drizella!


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Our new favorite Flynn was back, and he did not disappoint. When he saw our Pascal, he grabbed him, then had to use some of the Purell on my backpack to get rid of the chameleon germs. He grabbed the crown off of Katie's head, and we managed to drop off the second big stone off the front of it. (I had noticed when I took it out of the suitcase that it was missing the first one.) I tried to make a case for him giving us the one in his pouch since he "broke" ours, but alas, he did not take us up on the offer.



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[mom2rtk]

12/16 Continued:


We had 2 other big goals for the night. We had to meet Belle and the Beast and I had to photograph the Magic, Memories and You and Holiday Wishes. After our long day on our feet, Kim was ready to sit and stake out a spot for us in the hub. So we found a spot, and she stayed while I took the girls to get in line at Fairytale Garden. It was nice seeing Belle and the Beast in Belle's old home.


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It was really nice to just go sit for a while and chat and wait for the fireworks. We had a great spot for MMY and fireworks, but it wasn't a great spot for the parade. I do wish we had been able to see the parade again. I had plenty of time to get my tripod set up and adjust my camera settings. After 2 tries and 2 fizzles at getting any fireworks and Magic, Memories and You shots....... I finally had a good shot at it.


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[mom2rtk]

12/16 Continued:


It had been a really long day and we were all pretty tired, but we still had one more photo we really wanted to get. We didn't get our big group photo with the Tremaines at 1900 Park Fare, but since they were there for group photos at the party, we could get our chance there. We were all a little hungry so we tried to find somewhere to get a bite to eat. Everything seemed to be closed, but the cookies and cocoa station was open at Pinocchio Haus, so we stopped in there. We had cookies, cocoa, apple juice and apple slices and tried to regroup. The girls decided they had it in them to do one more thing, then we would call it a night.......

The line was shorter than I thought it would be for a sold out party. They did take a break during the parade, but it really wasn't long. Before long, they were back and Anastasia and Drizella serenaded us all before getting started.

Katie and McKenna remembered how the stepsisters taught them to hold their skirts and walk the night before. Someone mentioned our dinner at 1900 PF the night before (the character handler maybe?). Since none of the CM's were the same, I asked the character handler if there was some sort of Anastasia/Drizella conference every morning. Word sure got around. But that's half the fun.

We stopped for photos in front of the castle on our way out of the park, hobbled to the bus and called it a night. What an awesome day.




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One last stop to retrieve our things from the locker before leaving....... and I just couldn't resist this shot....


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[kwitcherkicken99]

You're making me miss WDW at Christmas!

Maybe SOMEDAY I'll get back.

I really DO need to get to work on clothes for DD for next year, even though I've got a sinking feeling our trip next May/June may not work out.

Is there a tutorial for the patchwork skirts somewhere? I'm pretty sure I can enlist my quilting aunt to help me piece some together before turning it into a skirt/sundress. Do you line the skirt?

PS - that last shot of Katie is hilarious! I love it!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

OH! And I almost forgot...

Do you play around with neutral density filters at all?

Tom Bricker recently did a series of fireworks shot using an ND filter (can't remember which one though). They turned out really good!

 

[mom2rtk]

You're making me miss WDW at Christmas!

Maybe SOMEDAY I'll get back.

I really DO need to get to work on clothes for DD for next year, even though I've got a sinking feeling our trip next May/June may not work out.

Is there a tutorial for the patchwork skirts somewhere? I'm pretty sure I can enlist my quilting aunt to help me piece some together before turning it into a skirt/sundress. Do you line the skirt?

PS - that last shot of Katie is hilarious! I love it!

I sure hope you do get back for Christmas one day. But first I want your trip next May/June stays on track! Yikes! Fingers and toes crossed her for you.

There's no tutorial for the skirt. Just a lot of whacking things into pieces and guessing. But there really is no "wrong", so there's a lot of room for "error". And no lining. They wear it over bicycle shorts or leggings so there's no point in adding any extra bulk and weight.

You know what though...... there could be a tutorial for something very similar over on the Disboutiquer thread. There's a lot of tutorials linked in that first page.

OH! And I almost forgot...

Do you play around with neutral density filters at all?

Tom Bricker recently did a series of fireworks shot using an ND filter (can't remember which one though). They turned out really good!

I have a neutral density filter, but not a great one. Those really can be sort of pricey. But I haven't used it at Disney. I tried it at our local fireworks a year ago and didn't care for it. But that's probably because of the show. Basically what it does is allow for the shutter to remain open longer, so you can capture more bursts. I think my shots just ended up looking cluttered and messy. I think there were just too many bursts in the same area. I'm sure that wouldn't be the case at Disney, but it has me afraid to waste a limited opportunity on it. Bottom line, I'm afraid to experiment with it, but I really need to. I probably need to get a better one (with more stops of density) to really give it a try.

 

[francis6306]

Look at you knocking out the updates!!!!

How do you take all those dresses and make them NOT look like they have been crammed in a locker?!

 

[mom2rtk]

Look at you knocking out the updates!!!!

How do you take all those dresses and make them NOT look like they have been crammed in a locker?!

Believe it or not, they actually get crammed into space bags too. But then maybe that actually keeps them from getting worse. But we certainly have our share of wrinkles too. When we're done they get crammed back into the space bags and deposited back in the locker again.

 

[Woth2982]

I am so impressed with the photos from the fireworks and the MMY show! I feel like I was there! I wish I had the patience to learn how to use a camera. Looks like you all had an amazing day! I cannot believe how much you all got done!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

There's no tutorial for the skirt. Just a lot of whacking things into pieces and guessing. But there really is no "wrong", so there's a lot of room for "error". And no lining. They wear it over bicycle shorts or leggings so there's no point in adding any extra bulk and weight.

You know what though...... there could be a tutorial for something very similar over on the Disboutiquer thread. There's a lot of tutorials linked in that first page.

I'll have to take a look. I think I really need to do one whether we travel or not.

 

[mom2rtk]

I am so impressed with the photos from the fireworks and the MMY show! I feel like I was there! I wish I had the patience to learn how to use a camera. Looks like you all had an amazing day! I cannot believe how much you all got done!

Thanks so much. It really was a very full day. One of my favorite all time Disney days ever!

And if you ever want to learn more about photographing fireworks and such at Disney, just pop in and ask. It's not as hard as it seems.

I'll have to take a look. I think I really need to do one whether we travel or not.

You know, the nice thing about those skirts is that with that elastic waist they can fit for years. So........??????? Feel free to get started!

 

[vamassey1]

Wow what a fabulous day! I'm worn out just reading about it. The dresses are all just fabulous. The photos you got are sooo great. It's really neat that the character know you as well as the handlers. The character interaction is so much fun. I hope Katie never tires of meeting the characters.

 

[DisneyFreak06]

oh my goodness! Great shots! I never took my tripod out of my suitcase the last trip, and I haven't taken it into a park since 2007. I really need to try again. You're definitely making me want to with your awesome shots.