Shooting Fantasmic!

[Master Mason]

Awsome, thanks for sharing

How often do you visit the parks?

I went a lot in the last year, 31 days in the parks in the last 12 months But my AP expires today, so next time I go down I'll have to pony up again. I am 5 hours away, so it is a pretty easy getaway for me and the kid. The best part is most of the trips have been at his request, including last weekend. We got home from his game friday night and he said, "man I wish we could go to Disney this weekend", so a couple of phone calls later to the hotels and we were in the car heading down at 2am. Very very hard to say no to a 15 year old that wants to spend a weekend somewhere with you, because you know those days are fading fast.

Great shots!! What lens did you use!?

Thanks I was using a 70-200 f/2.8 this time, and I actually posted up pretty early (for us) to get down close on the Rivers of America

 

[Pea-n-Me]

The best part is most of the trips have been at his request, including last weekend. We got home from his game friday night and he said, "man I wish we could go to Disney this weekend", so a couple of phone calls later to the hotels and we were in the car heading down at 2am. Very very hard to say no to a 15 year old that wants to spend a weekend somewhere with you, because you know those days are fading fast.

That's awesome. Great shots.

 

[NostalgicDad]

Nice shots, Gregg. I looked through your gallery and all of your Fantasmic shots turned out really well. I know you were using ISO3200 and f/2.8 but I also noticed a really fast shutter with several around 1/2000-1/3200 and at least one of them even being 1/5000. Were you also perhaps using Spot Metering?

 

[Master Mason]

Nice shots, Gregg. I looked through your gallery and all of your Fantasmic shots turned out really well. I know you were using ISO3200 and f/2.8 but I also noticed a really fast shutter with several around 1/2000-1/3200 and at least one of them even being 1/5000. Were you also perhaps using Spot Metering?

Yes I use spot metering for Fantasmic, to me it works better. With the spotlights being so bright, and the rest of the shot being so dark, the spot metering keeps me from blowing out faces and some of the brighter costumes.

 

[Mischa]

Fantastic pictures - thank you for sharing!

 

[kaypee]

Those are really great. I'm impressed.

 

[Mckymousefn]

Very nice.. thanks for sharing!!!

 

[Todd_H]

Very, very nice shots!

Did you do any post-processing to cut down on the noise, or are they coming out of your 40D looking that good at ISO 3200?

 

[Master Mason]

Very, very nice shots!

Did you do any post-processing to cut down on the noise, or are they coming out of your 40D looking that good at ISO 3200?

No noise reduction, I cropped them and I have a standard bump the contrast by 10 and the saturation by 15 in Lightroom that I do to all of my shots.

 

[geetey]

Excellent shots, Gregg! I love the ones you were able to capture of Steamboat Willie. He's one of my favs. I have major lens envy!!

We are visiting DL for the first time ever soon. Any great hotel recommendations? I find it is harder to plan for DL versus WDW!

 

[Master Mason]

Excellent shots, Gregg! I love the ones you were able to capture of Steamboat Willie. He's one of my favs. I have major lens envy!!

We are visiting DL for the first time ever soon. Any great hotel recommendations? I find it is harder to plan for DL versus WDW!

I have been going to DL for almost 43 years now, and I have yet to stay at any of the Disney Hotels. It is a very different place than WDW with respect to the hotels.

All things being equal, I would say your best choice is the HOJO. You can get some really good rates, sometimes as low as $59 a night with the entertainment rate. Big clean rooms and they just put in a Pirates theamed pool. It is .5 miles from the gate, so a very easy walk.

Of the 3 Disney Hotels, the Grand Californian is the best and most expensive, then the DL Hotel, and then the Paradise Pier.

At WDW part of the experience is the Hotel and the amenities there, at DL, the Hotel is really just where you sleep shower, and possibly play in the pool for a bit.

If you haven't already, go to the DL boards and look at the stickys there are a few that would be a great read for someone that is a WDW vet but never been to DL.

Feel free to ask me what ever you need as well.

 

[geetey]

Thanks! We are currently holding reservations at HoJo's and Camelot - leaning more towards HoJo because of the excellent Entertainment rate. We have 6 in our party which has made planning tricky.

I have been over to the DL boards; they just don't get as much traffic as most of the DIS. I may have to pm you some questions! Thanks for the offer.

 

[PoohJen]

Great pictures Gregg! Fantasmic is such an excellent show! Mind if I share a few? I was much more satisfied with this last trip's Fantasmic! pics than before, since this time I brought a monopod! These were taken from way back in the arena...

I was most pleased with the relative clarity of this one...

 

[Groucho]

On our last DL trip (August 07), we spent the first night at the HoJo's and the next three nights at the DL Hotel. I agree with MM, the Hojo's appears to be the best bet for "off-site" accomodations, we had a terrific view of the Matterhorn from our room and a good view of the fireworks, too. (I have pics if you're interested.)

The DL Hotel was quite nice but I probably wouldn't have stayed there except that we used DVC points as it is pretty expensive. But it was fun, and the character breakfast was good. Of course, it is further away from the park itself than the HoJo's but probably slightly closer to the actual entrance, but not by much. You are fairly close to the Downtown Disney monorail station - but the DL monorail kind of pales compared to the WDW one, if you're used to that. It does do a nice run through the park, but it's not as comfortable and I don't think that it's as efficient in terms of pure transportation.

I didn't really consider the Grand Californian as the decor really doesn't do a lot for me (I feel the same way about the Wilderness Lodge in WDW - nice and all, but not my cup of tea), but that's purely a taste thing. I imagine that in future trips, we will stay on the upcoming DVC section of GC though, since it'll almost certainly be the best use of DVC points. I have zero interest in staying at Paradise Pier, and I think many others agree as it seems to consistently rate at the bottom of the three. Perhaps the CA Adventure view will be more compelling once the big makeover is done, especially if you'll be able to see the new water show from your room.

 

[geetey]

Groucho, I would love to see any pictures from there!

 

[Groucho]

Groucho, I would love to see any pictures from there!

I have some pictures from our HJ room here, on page one and two. If you go in the "Other DLR areas" gallery that's the first thing on that page, you'll find some photos of the Disneyland Hotel near the end. I don't want to put them in this thread as this is MM's Fantasmic thread and I don't want to hijack it too much.

Let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks!

 

[Master Mason]

I don't want to put them in this thread as this is MM's Fantasmic thread and I don't want to hijack it too much.

Personally I don't care about "hijacked" threads, infact I find most often I learn the most from the tangents that various threads often take. JMHO.

 

[Groucho]

In that case...

This was our view from our HoJo's room:

...which gave us good views of the fireworks.

Here's the DL Hotel as seen from Downtown Disney.

It has three buildings with a themed pool in the center. Our room's view was nothing particularly exciting so I don't have any photos from it online. The room itself was fine, with some cute DL theming like Mickey hands holding the lights in the bathroom and early drawings of DL on the headboard and various attractions on the comforter.

 

[WDWFreak07]

Those are some awesome shots!

 

[JR6ooo4]

Sounds like my uncle, well just the five hour away part. He is in Monterey. We are trying to find a week we can hook up with him at DL.

Thanks for sharing the shots, it is the closest I have ever been to fantasmic.

Mikeee