Ten days of Groucho at SSR, lotsa pics

[Groucho]

I related some of this over on the Photo board as I was there, but I'm beginning to get a few of the (2,400+) pictures organized and online - enough for the first day or so of the trip report.

Participants: Me, my wife, my two sisters-in-law, and my 21-month-old son Jack (second trip, he was with us last January as well.) Arrived New Year's Eve, left January 9th. Stayed the first night in a studio at Saratoga Springs, the rest in a one-bedroom.

The first day didn't exactly go as plan. I had planned to bring a monopod as a carry-on in order to use it to help videotape the fireworks at MGM on New Year's Eve... but the head of security frowned upon my carrying what amount to a big aluminum stick. So much for that idea! Into checked luggage it went.

The flight itself was fine, a direct from Rochester to Orlando... gotta love non-stop flights.

Things are looking good as we land... a bus is ready and waiting for us.

We head over and check into our studio - unfortunately, it was in The Paddock, which is a bit of a walk. It also didn't face Downtown Disney. While we checked in, my son immediately hopped into one of the seats to watch old Disney cartoons (and wasn't happy when we dragged him away!)

Now, did I mention that I'd started to feel sick a day or two before we left? I'd been downing generic NyQuil just to sleep soundly, but sure enough, I was sick at WDW.

We headed to MGM and split up for dinner - the sisters-in-law to Mama Melrose and the rest of to Hollywood & Vine (nothing at MM appealed to me.) Thanks to feeling lousy, I could barely taste the food and was feeling pretty iffy. Afterwards, we met by the Osborne Lights.

We had hoped to ride Rock 'n' Rollercoaster as it was going down for rehab in a couple days... but the wait was just a bit much!

We decided to head for one of the Fantasmic showings and got a decent seat, waaaaay to the left. As usual, the crowd started doing the wave, and it was a riot seeing my son start to get into it, throwing his arms up and "whoo"ing.

The show was terrific as usual but by the time it was over, I was feeling pretty miserable. We decided to call it a night early (9:30!) and head back to SSR, rather than push myself and maybe get sicker, ruining the whole trip. We headed back, I took my medicine, and conked out fairly early. I was half-away around midnight and heard the Downtown Disney fireworks going off - they sounded impressive, at least!

The next morning, we checked out of our studio and left our luggage with Bell Services. I noticed a minivan owned by a serious fan... note the license plate!

Our plan for the morning was breakfast at Chef Mickey's. That meant taking the bus to the Magic Kingdom then the monorail to the Contemporary. We actually got a nice early start and had a chance to watch the rope drop, which I hadn't seen before.

Most all the Christmas decorations were still up, of course.

Anyway, on to the monorail...

And into the Contemporary.

We were still early, so I used the tip of going out to the stairwell to get a good view of the Magic Kingdom. I headed out of the NE corner, 10th floor (happily, a NYE reveler had stuck a noisemaker in the corner so the door didn't latch - otherwise you have to walk all the way back down) and climbed a couple more floors.

As a DVC member, I took a keen interest in the North Wing... currently "in rehab", heavily rumored to be torn down to build a new DVC location.

On to breakfast... more soon!

 

[eugeniuss]

nice start... great to see your DL getting awesome shots...

 

[Patio]

I can't wait to read more!!

 

[kahluacream]

Your pictures are amazing! Thanks so much for sharing.

 

[laura001]

Awesome so far, keep it coming!!!!

 

[Groucho]

nice start... great to see your DL getting awesome shots...

Thanks... you can see the beginnings of the dust spots in the upper right of the first two shots of MK from the Contemporary... there's more where those came from.

BTW, larger versions (up to 1280x1024) of all the photos are online at my site, if anyone wants more detail. There's also more photos that I haven't put here, for the sake of not overloading it TOO badly!

Continuing...

After my picture-taking from the 12th floor, we met by the gift shops on the 4th floor.

And headed over to Chef Mickey's for our first character breakfast.

My son had seemed to enjoy the characters when he was 9 months. At 21 months, he had big smiles seeing them walk around, but when they came over to visit, he would get very shy and just bend over, burying his face in the side of his chair! He looked like an ostrich with its head in the sand! After they'd leave, he'd shyly stare at them with a grin on his face and his tongue sticking out a little. It was really, really cute. Unfortunately, I wasn't really able to get any good photos of this, partially because most of the pictures just have his back, and they usually have my wife, too, and I try not to post pictures of her very often to avoid getting in trouble with her.

I was still pretty sick but enjoyed the meal as much as I could have under the circumstances. I'm sure that if I felt better, I would have loved it.

Once we finished, we headed over to the Grand Floridian.

Our main goal was to see the gingerbread house, which we did.

Unfortunately, it was closed for the season, so no chance to buy any gingerbread. My stuffed nose also meant that I could barely even smell it! It was also a little bit worse the wear, with bits missing here and there.

Maybe someone couldn't resist and had to take a little sample? Wasn't me... Maybe if I was healthier, though.

Next stop, Magic Kingdom. First order of business, my son's first haircut, to tame his overgrown and curling mane!

More later...

 

[ukcatfan]

Hey Groucho,

Nice start. We can't wait to see more. My wife had seen a pic or your son before and then saw the one of him sitting watching the cartoons. She said, "I thought he was young. He looks huge in that chair!" I then let her know that they were kid size chairs. Both of us were

Kevin

 

[ukcatfan]

Unfortunately, I wasn't really able to get any good photos of this, partially because most of the pictures just have his back, and they usually have my wife, too, and I try not to post pictures of her very often to avoid getting in trouble with her.

Same here. I think the closest I have to a pic of her that has been posted here is one of her tattoos. I almost never even get her in a shot for that matter.

Kevin

 

[Tickla]

Groucho, your son is SO precious!!! He reminds me of my 3 sons at that age-especially with his "binky" in his mouth. At least thats what we called it! Ah--to go back to having kids that young & innocent--now my oldest has his drivers permit & thinks that means he can take the car whenever he wants--WITHOUT a parent-AAAGGHH!! But great pictures & love the report!

 

[Groucho]

I realized that I didn't speak much of the crowds and so on. New Year's Eve at MGM actually wasn't too terrible - quite crowded but not uncomfortably so. We never got hats or noisemakers but my sisters-in-law did at Mama Melrose's. They were handing out paper "Ugly Betty" masks at the entrance, which meant that you saw "ugly Betty" faces everywhere you turned in MGM. Very creepy!

Back to Jan 1st... I came across a half-way decent shot of Jack with Pluto at Chef Mickey's, being very shy...

On the way to the Magic Kingdom, you can see the Electrical Water Pageant barges from the monorail.

And then to MK!

But back to where I left off... the haircut!

Before: (boy, did he need one!)

During: (they plied him with stickers and he was perfectly behaved, never complaining at all - which was a relief!)

After!

It was a good time for a ride... we ended up at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, always a favorite.

I took a ton of on-ride photos, here's a few of the better ones:

Splash Mountain was closing the next day, so we had to head over there.

Again I took onride photos, but the changing light and the use of a fully manual lens meant that I had a hard time getting good exposures. The lens was the same that had good results on BTMRR, so it was just a settings problem.

By now, Jack was awake again and we watched a little bit of a marching band parade.

That's enough photos for one message... I'll add more when we get to page two of this thread.

 

[mlill]

Hey! It's nice to see another DVC member from the Official December List that I kept updating all last year! And the very last name on the list, too!

Great start to your TR! The pictures are amazing! And your son! Too cute for words! I can't wait to read/see more!

-Michelle

 

[Kay7979]

Your pictures are absolutely fantastic! I especially like the shot looking straight down before the drop on Splash Mountain. I always have my eyes shut at that point so I never have seen this view!

Our last trip in November was Rochester to MCO non-stop, our first non-stop flight. It was great.

Thanks again for the enjoyable pics.

 

[ukcatfan]

How did you keep the camera dry on that drop in Splash Mountain? I don't remember a waterproof bag in your kit. I always get soaked on that drop.

Kevin

 

[Groucho]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

How did you keep the camera dry on that drop in Splash Mountain? I don't remember a waterproof bag in your kit. I always get soaked on that drop.

Kevin

No waterproofing... The picture before the big drop is just after one of the earlier drops and there wasn't too much water (there's a pretty decent shot of the actual descent on my web site) and I took a series of photos on the big drop... right at the bottom, I tucked the camera inside the unbuttoned overshirt I was wearing, and didn't get too wet. (I've found that the front row is really not too bad in terms of water.)

Unfortunately, Splash closed on Jan 2nd and due to being sick, we only had a chance to ride it once that day, so I only had those photos (I do have a couple later of it closed.) I used the 16mm fisheye Zenitar lens, which can be great for onride photos due to the wide view plus the fact that when focused to infinity, pretty much everything past 2.3 feet away is in focus! The downside is that you have to meter manually, and coming up to the big drop in Splash, I realized that I was going to have a hard time getting a proper reading as you're looking right into the blue sky. I hit the AE-L button as late as I could but it still metered too much for the sky rather than the ride itself, hence the big splash pictures being a bit overexposed. I did hold the camera up and shot off five pictures (using JPG rather than RAW, due to the DL's small buffer) during the descent.

Hopefully next time, I'll have the water-resistant K10D with its unlimited continuous shooting and will just leave the camera out during the big drop, getting photos all the way down including during the splash! Gotta pay off a bit more of this trip, first, and wait for prices to drop a little on that camera...

 

[Becky521]

Groucho, great pictures of the Grand Floridian tree and Gingerbread house. We have them from our trip, but not nearly as nice.

Hey, we are from right outside of Saratoga Springs (the real one) and my daughter attends college in Pittsford, NY. That info has nothing to do with your trip report but I thought it was interesting.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

 

[disney-super-mom]

WOW - I'm totally enjoying your trip report and the photos are wonderful!

I can't wait to read and see more! Love the pics of your little one - he's adorable! I have 2 little guys myself, ages 7 and 3.

DH and I are taking a long over due "adults only" trip (our little guys will be staying at home with their Nana) for 4 nights starting January 21st, and we'll be going to WDW for the very first time .......AND.......we're staying at your DVC "home" - SSR!

 

[krismom]

you are officially the best photographer I've seen around here! Just WOW!
and your son is precious.

 

[Groucho]

Becky, we visited Saratoga Springs (the "real" one) in November, my wife had a conference there. It was my first time and I'm sure it's a bit more lively in the summer!

I started a thread about it here and there are more pictures of the trip (and Howe Caverns) on my site.

Thanks for the kind words!

 

[Groucho]

DH and I are taking a long over due "adults only" trip (our little guys will be staying at home with their Nana) for 4 nights starting January 21st, and we'll be going to WDW for the very first time .......AND.......we're staying at your DVC "home" - SSR!

Ahhh, I remember the adults-only trips, before the little one came along. Actually, our Disneyland trip in August 05 was adult-only, just the wife and I. We'll probably be back to Disneyland some time later this year or next year but I'm sure the son will join us.

Enjoy your WDW trip! It's a very different experience than Disneyland ("immersive" is probably one of the best words - it's absolutely massive), and SSR is a beautiful place to stay and relax after a long day in the parks!

 

[Groucho]

Page two means more photos!

MK was pretty crowded on this day (Jan 1st) so we really didn't get a chance to take in too many rides. We did wander over to Tom Sawyer's Island...

...if for no other reason than for historical purposes, if the rumors of it being switched over to a pirates-themed island hold true. I can understand why - Tom & Huck are hardly big names with kids nowadays, and the subject matter of the books is one that would require some careful parental explanation! Still, the "Song of the South"-based Splash Mt is a huge hit, so who knows. Either way, the island is still a lot of fun, although I admit that it'd been quite a long time since I'd visited it myself.

You do get a nice view of Liberty Square from it:

...and Jack had fun playing in some of the island's areas.

We hit Pecos Bill for a late lunch, and although I'd heard stories about it being the best burger on property, it seemed like any other counter-service WDW burger. Better than you'd get at a non-Disney theme park but hardly great. I'm sure that it didn't help that I still felt lousy.

Now, my original plan was to hang around the park until closing - 2am - as I just love doing "commando mode" late at night in an empty Magic Kingdom, with nearly every ride a walk-on. Unfortunately, again, I was feeling pretty under the weather so we ended up leaving the park closer to midnight, which was still not bad IMHO.

But before leaving, we watched SpectroMagic (which was missing the Chernabog float? apparently that got yanked at some point since last year). Here's a cast member working the crowd beforehand.

And some actual floats. I did a bit of experimenting and photographing SpectoMagic is very difficult! The combination of low lighting, constant movement, and the contrast between the glowing lights and the shadowy performers makes it quite difficult to get a truly pleasing shot. I tried several variations and found the best results at 1600ISO with a 50mm 1.4 lens with exposure compensation up about 1-1.5 stops.

This first one was taken with the default exposure and turned out fairly good as the performers are pretty well lit (especially the lighted faces):

But these turned out fairly well, IMHO, because of the +1.50 exposure compensation, bringing out some detail in the faces and costumes.

I had a fair number of throwaway shots, too, from different experimenting I did. I also found that it's fairly difficult to do a good "motion blur" shot as it moves too slowly for that! I also tried some panning shots but just couldn't make any of them work.

Next up... Wishes!