The Tweet Repeat: Live Twitter Trip Report Recap - Lots of Photos (Part 31 11/1/09)

I'll get into this more, but I think I would have done better with my full tripod.

The 30mm served me well the entire trip. I only used my 18-55 for two days. Getting some UWA Wishes shots should be very interesting! Getting in the hub would probably be good but I wonder if you might get too close. I'm sure someone would know better than I do though.
 
Not long after Spectromagic passed, I reset my camera on the Gorillapod and set it up on the trash can we've been standing next to. Now, I bought the SLR-Zoom Gorillapod, so I'm thinking this thing should be pretty sturdy. Well, it is until you start trying to bend it to meet your needs. After lots of bending and maneuvering, I finally got it into a stable position. Problem solved, right? Wrong!

After Spectromagic, everyone moved into the street (there were tape lines in the street to mark where everyone could stand). So now the crowd shifts and here's what it looks like to the camera:



Needless to say, after all this camping and setting up and the Gorillapod issues, I'm fairly aggravated. :mad: Especially with Captain Bald Spot and his video camera who are taking up 1/3 of the frame.

I was also fighting not setting the camera correctly to take the pictures. So between the settings and the tripod, most the frustration was my own fault.

It wasn't a complete waste, however:









After Wishes, everyone went back to the buses except for my sister and I. Instead, we took advantage of EMH to ride the big rides.

9/6/2009 10:31 PM EDT Sister and I are taking advantage of EMH. Shot Spectro and Wishes; very frustrated with how Wishes went.

I handed my camera to my wife to take back to the room (so no pictures for the rest of this post), and we headed straight for Frontierland. Splash had a standby time of 20 minutes, and BTMRR had a standby time of 30 minutes. We chose Splash first, and it probably took us 5 minutes to get through the queue and then we almost immediately boarded our log. 20 minutes was a severe overestimate.

Splash was great as always; we didn't get very wet. The wettest part for us was when we got caught by the spray shot off when a log goes down the last drop. The people in front of us got most of the big drop's splash I believe. After singing "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Da", we came out, tried to find our picture but never saw it and headed toward BTMRR.

9/6/2009 10:54 PM Did splash. BTMRR is supposedly 40 minutes but I don't think so.

As we're winding through the queue of BTMRR, the people in front of us decide to start taking down the chains that keep people walking back and forth. Now I admit that having those chains up wasn't necessary, but have a little respect people. We followed them only because everyone else would probably start passing us up if we chose to keep winding through the queue.

Needless to say, we probably walked through the queue longer than we waited when we actually got to the line.

9/6/2009 11:21 PM The wildest ride in the wilderness http://twitpic.com/gt1rk

9/6/2001 11:22 PM BTMRR was much shorter than 40 minutes. Now taking a spin with Buzz.

Those are only a minute apart because I couldn't get the post with the picture to upload in the loading area.

That's right, after doing the two big Frontierland attractions, I wasn't quite ready to go yet. My sister and I walked across the entire park to Buzz. Wait time was 20 minutes, and that was probably about right.

While in the queue...

9/6/2009 11:26 PM DD batteries. Disney, can you really tell me there's no double meaning here? http://twitpic.com/gt2g1

You can all tell where my mind was at that point... :rotfl:

After Buzz, we looked around near the Space Mountain construction. Little did we know we would get a much better look at the end of the week.

Finally done for the night, we headed back to the buses. Did I mention that Pop's buses were at #18? All the way at the end of the bus stop.

Even without my camera, I was still thinking about taking pictures:

9/7/2009 12:00 AM Mickey balloon stickers on all the transportation make it difficult to take pics out the windows.

Back at Pop, everyone else was already in bed. It wasn't long before we joined them.

Coming up: A morning at EPCOT
 
Wow I missed a few updates while I was away! :)

Amazing shots of Spectro!! And Wishes even with baldy in your way. Heading to your flickr soon to check out the EXIF data on those spectro shots. And I'm sooooo itching for that 30mm... :D My 50mm works and I do enjoy it but 30mm? That would be awesome!
 
Wow I missed a few updates while I was away! :)

Amazing shots of Spectro!! And Wishes even with baldy in your way. Heading to your flickr soon to check out the EXIF data on those spectro shots. And I'm sooooo itching for that 30mm... :D My 50mm works and I do enjoy it but 30mm? That would be awesome!

Glad to see you back! I was checking out some of your flickr photos and it looked like you had a good time despite the nasty weather.

I have to say that I really like the 30mm. The one complaint I have against it is that it will hunt for focus in very low light. But I guess any lens will hunt if it can't catch a spot to focus on. I got a pretty good deal on it on eBay; it wasn't brand new but the guy took some test shots and decided not to keep it. I still paid about $300, but that's better than what B&H wanted.

I believe my Spectro shots were ISO 800, Tv mode set to 1/50 of a second.

Honestly, it was while waiting for Spectro and Wishes that we encountered most of the rude guests that we saw during the trip. And I hate to say it but they were all foreigners. I hate even writing that because it sounds like I'm just generalizing but it's the truth.

Anyway, I think I'm taking a break from writing tonight (so you can catch up ;)). I'll probably write another one tomorrow.
 

Wow those are some really good pictures. What kind of camera do you have and where did you get it? After looking at your specromagic pictures I realized how bad our camera is -

Hi! I somehow skipped right over your post!

I have the Canon Digital Rebel XSi, which is a somewhat entry level digital SLR (the true entry level is the XS). I bought it at Best Buy of all places because they were offering 18 months no interest.

I also bought another lens for the camera: the Sigma 30mm f/1.4. This lens has a wider aperture than the "kit lens" (lens included with the camera). The wider aperture allows more light into the camera and makes night shots and other low-light situations easier.

On this trip, I actually felt limited by the XSi for the first time. The XSi has a maximum ISO of 1600, and you need more than that combined with a large aperture lens in order to get decent shots in the Haunted Mansion. The next level up would be the 50D; someone else would have to comment on whether that camera's ISO capabilities are sufficient for a very dark ride like the Haunted Mansion.

I'm definitely still learning how to use the camera (and how to take good photos in general), but I absolutely love the pictures it takes. When something is wrong, it's usually something I did rather than the camera.

annnewjerz said:
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

Sorry Ann, you'll just have to wait until tomorrow! :)
 
Hi Scott,

I haven't had a chance to read your report yet, but I wanted to check in and subscribe! Your daughter is gorgeous! Can't wait to read the report and see your pics!
 
OK why am I a spaz and can't figure out how to direct link to my flickr photos? I've copied and pasted the code from flickr but it's not working :(
 
OK why am I a spaz and can't figure out how to direct link to my flickr photos? I've copied and pasted the code from flickr but it's not working :(

You have to do it manually. DIS doesn't allow HTML.

Put your picture in with the IMG tag, then highlight the whole thing (from IMG to /IMG) and then click the globe with the chain link above. Paste the link to the Flickr page into the box that pops up and it will wrap the image code with URL tags which will make the image a link.
 
Speaking of pictures, it looks like I need to post a bunch when I get home because the report has caught up with my Flickr. Looks like I have some work to do tonight.
 
Scott,

Great TR. Came over from my PTR. I have you as a flickr contact. I have
been enjoying your images. I will have to look at a smaller camera as my
Canon 1Ds mkIII will not be making this trip. I may pick up a 5D to play with at
Disney. Lovin the report and the photos!.

Gene
 
Scott,

Great TR. Came over from my PTR. I have you as a flickr contact. I have
been enjoying your images. I will have to look at a smaller camera as my
Canon 1Ds mkIII will not be making this trip. I may pick up a 5D to play with at
Disney. Lovin the report and the photos!.

Gene

Thanks!

Have you seen the Photography Board yet? That's actually how I found these boards.

I think a 5D would serve you very well in WDW. Of course, I think the 1Ds mkIII would also, but it's probably a bit large for vacation purposes.
 
9/7/2009 8:09 AM Good morning! Getting ready to go to EPCOT.

I was already up for a half-hour or so by this point. In fact, Hailey heard us moving in bed and told us to get up. After waking up Mommy and I, she knocked on the connecting door until the rest of the family was up. Just because they were up doesn't mean they were moving though.

After getting dressed I went outside and took a few pictures in the 50s area of Pop.







After coming back to the room, surprise surprise, we're still not ready to go.

9/7/2009 9:09 AM My family is sooooo slow in the morning.

After finally pushing them out the door, we're to the bus stop and on our way to EPCOT. (Note that we haven't eaten yet.)

At this point I'd like to present the dedication plaque; one of the few places the park is still referred to as EPCOT Center (and one of two places that I know of where the original logo is still present).



I took some pictures of what Wikipedia refers to as a pentakis dodecahedron.



Of course, we also stopped for some PhotoPass pictures. Here's one the photographer took from my camera. Again I was asked "where's the zoom?"



Naturally, our first ride of the day was right behind us!



I absolutely adore this mural. It's one of my favorite pieces of art in all of Disney World.



The ascent is even better than ever thanks to the refurbishment.









The new scenes are nice; I haven't seen too many pictures of the Steve Jobs scene:



And finally, Hailey's favorite part of the ride. She talked about it for the rest of the week.



The decent, to me, was disappointing. While the program on the screen is somewhat amusing, all that space during the descent except for the first few feet with the lights (which looks great, by the way) is nothing but black curtains. Couldn't they at least have run the lights all the way down if nothing else?

Coming up: a search for breakfast
 
Just stumbled upon your TR. I wish I had know about it while you were there so I could have followed it live, but it's great that you're incorporating your tweets in here. Great pictures!
 
An aside...

Yesterday after I got home from work, we were sitting around and I had the urge to turn on a video of the original Journey to Imagination (there's a guy named Martin Smith online who does tributes of old WDW attractions; they're very well done). Even though the video was obviously from a VHS camcorder (probably one of those big ones that you had to hold on your shoulder in the 80s), it was easy to see that the original Imagination was much better than the current one, although some parts of it were a bit outdated. Hailey really got excited when she saw the rainbow tunnel. She started talking about how she wanted to go through the rainbow tunnel next time she was there. I told her the rainbow tunnel wasn't there anymore, and she was a bit disappointed and still kept saying she wanted to go through the rainbow tunnel. Why in the world did they ever shut that down? It still looks cool even today. Some of the other stuff was getting outdated, but a lot of it is essentially the same stuff that's there now. The lights where you step on the light and it makes a sound is now where you step on kids with instruments and it makes an instrument sound. An updated version of the conducting thing is still there too.

Watching that video after freshly going through the current Imagination ride really made me realize how much they butchered the pavillion.

Anyway, back to your normally scheduled programming tonight (probably).

ETA: I noticed the Photography Board contest for this week is "Kids of the World". I definitely have something up my sleeve for it (no, you haven't seen it yet).
 
it's sad what they did to the whole Journey pavilion. I really think all of my Epcot memories are from there. Loved the rainbow tunnel, and all the interactive games they had at the end. I can remember trying to paint Figment on the screen and I kept running out of time because I was trying to get it perfect. lol

I also have all of the old rides on VHS tapes from when my dad used to lug his huge camera around on his shoulder. i'm slowly starting to convert them to DVD but it's taking a lot longer than I had planned!
 
it's sad what they did to the whole Journey pavilion. I really think all of my Epcot memories are from there. Loved the rainbow tunnel, and all the interactive games they had at the end. I can remember trying to paint Figment on the screen and I kept running out of time because I was trying to get it perfect. lol

I also have all of the old rides on VHS tapes from when my dad used to lug his huge camera around on his shoulder. i'm slowly starting to convert them to DVD but it's taking a lot longer than I had planned!

I have a lot of old tapes that I should convert too, but they're all in New Orleans. My dad lugged a huge VHS camera you had to hold on your shoulder too. It was like carrying a VCR with a lens.

I'm listening to the Inside the Magic podcast, and the audio from the Parks & Resorts presentation at D23 is playing. It's pretty good listening to the announcements instead of just reading them.
 












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