What a disaster!!

[Hollywoodhaha]

Excuse me .. but, May I use your photo of the magic kingdom as my MySpace background ?

 

[GoofyFairie]

As always another great post topdog! I am on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens next! You writing is just like readign a novel, I find myself right there with you. I love the pics, you are capturing all the little details that I am missing. My kids are young and they do not want to slow down and let mom look around and take it all in. I do hope the camera arrives in one piece after what you have went through to get it to WDW and the amount of money it cost! So, what happens next?!

 

[GeminiAngel]

Wonderful story telling! I love your report and I love your photos!
I hope your camera is OK.

 

[KeepSwimmingDory]

KSD, thank you for looking up about Richard Irvine. I knew there must be a story behind that name, very typical of Disney storytelling style.

I think I like that boat dock just as much as the WL lobby and entrance.

Glad you like the pictures. I did took quite a few pictures of those signs, lights and gift shop display. I never even realize how many different looking light fixtures in every park. When I finish this TR, I think I will create a gallery just for those odd pictures.

Nice picture of your DW. The boats at WDW are my favorite way to get around. My kids always considered them their first ride.

I would LOVE to see a gallery of your "odd" pictures.

Waiting for the next chapter of your adventure.

 

[topdog]

Excuse me .. but, May I use your photo of the magic kingdom as my MySpace background ?

Absolutely! You can use the one I posted here. If you want a different resolution one, PM me what you need and I will sent you another one.

 

[topdog]

As always another great post topdog! I am on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens next! You writing is just like readign a novel, I find myself right there with you. I love the pics, you are capturing all the little details that I am missing. My kids are young and they do not want to slow down and let mom look around and take it all in. I do hope the camera arrives in one piece after what you have went through to get it to WDW and the amount of money it cost! So, what happens next?!

Wonderful story telling! I love your report and I love your photos!
I hope your camera is OK.

Nice picture of your DW. The boats at WDW are my favorite way to get around. My kids always considered them their first ride.

I would LOVE to see a gallery of your "odd" pictures.

Waiting for the next chapter of your adventure.

Awww...thank you all for the compliment on my writing. You are making me blush.

I am so glad you all enjoy the adventure with me. DW just received the 40% discount code a couple of days ago. She's already trying to plan for another trip after Thanksgiving. If we do decide to go again, let's hope it will be a lot more relax this time.

 

[mommyintn]

What a great trip report!! Love the detail and the pictures are great, I love the food pictures too. Can't wait for more.

 

[BellaBaby]

Subscribing....I'm loving the TR and all the great pictures!! Keep them coming!!

 

[GoofyFairie]

You lucky dog! I hope you get a second trip with the 40% off!!!! Disney will surely work its magic for you the second time around!

 

[topdog]

Great pics - everything looks yummy!!

Can't wait for more.

Thank you for stopping by.

What a great trip report!! Love the detail and the pictures are great, I love the food pictures too. Can't wait for more.

Glad you like the food pictures. I have plenty more.

Subscribing....I'm loving the TR and all the great pictures!! Keep them coming!!

Thanks you for stopping by.

You lucky dog! I hope you get a second trip with the 40% off!!!! Disney will surely work its magic for you the second time around!

We are not 100% sure about the second trip yet. We talked about a few choices. One is the Disney cruise, super expensive. Second is the Adventures by Disney (either Alaska or Wyoming), also expensive. Third, Disney at Hong Kong, beyond super expensive but I get to show DW my home country where I was born and raise. WDW is by far the cheapest.

It's just a thought right now. It really depends how much we can save by this summer. If it work out, I just might have to write a PTR.

 

[MadiMouse]

Well, until your next trip, I am ready to hear more about this one!!

 

[LiteBrite]

Topdog, I'm really enjoying your TR.

My DH has always carried way more photography equipment than I think is necessary, but he can't compete with your camera bag! I can just imagine the stress levels he would be experiencing if he left it behind by accident. Add to the mix the fact that he's, how shall I say this - thrifty? cheap? miserly? and I wouldn't even want to be around him once he found out how much the shipping cost!

Still, you've gotten some beautiful shots with your wife's camera, and I can't wait to see what you can do once your real equipment arrives.

Also, I love love love breakfast at Kona Cafe! We have to do it at least once every trip. Glad you enjoyed it too.

 

[topdog]

Well, until your next trip, I am ready to hear more about this one!!

LOL...Yes. I will post soon.

Topdog, I'm really enjoying your TR.

My DH has always carried way more photography equipment than I think is necessary, but he can't compete with your camera bag! I can just imagine the stress levels he would be experiencing if he left it behind by accident. Add to the mix the fact that he's, how shall I say this - thrifty? cheap? miserly? and I wouldn't even want to be around him once he found out how much the shipping cost!

Still, you've gotten some beautiful shots with your wife's camera, and I can't wait to see what you can do once your real equipment arrives.

Also, I love love love breakfast at Kona Cafe! We have to do it at least once every trip. Glad you enjoyed it too.

I can certainly relate on how your DH feel. Trust me, I am not happy about the shipping cost either and I am sure I can be just as frugal as your DH also. But after spending all these time, effort and money for the trip and not able to use my equipment to capture those moment, I know I will regret even more if I don't pay the shipping cost.

Even if I choose not to make the effort to ship the camera bag, my wife's camera won't last through the whole trip either. After only shooting the camera for a day and half, battery already running low.

Kona Cafe is definitely the bomb. I had dinner there in 95 and 05. The amount of food I can eat there was incredible. I just can't get over how great the breakfast there either.

 

[LaurenMic]

Great update as usual! I'm glad to hear you liked Jiko because it's on our list for June. The oak grilled filet with mac n cheese looks amazing.

That is crazy about the UPS cost and your camera! That stinks, but you seem like you took it well considering what a bad situation it was. I hope it arrived in one piece. Either way, you got some great pics of the lights and the signs, cool idea to pick a theme for your pictures.

 

[topdog]

Great update as usual! I'm glad to hear you liked Jiko because it's on our list for June. The oak grilled filet with mac n cheese looks amazing.

That is crazy about the UPS cost and your camera! That stinks, but you seem like you took it well considering what a bad situation it was. I hope it arrived in one piece. Either way, you got some great pics of the lights and the signs, cool idea to pick a theme for your pictures.

Dinner at Jiko was an absolute joy. While we were having dinner there, there was a young couple who sat next to us. It must be the girlfriend's birthday that night. At the end of their meal, the CM brought in a portable tape recorder/player. It was a message from Mickey wishing the girl a happy birthday. I thought that was pretty nice.

 

[topdog]

Day #3 (Tuesday) Part 1

Needless to say, I slept very little. By 6am, I couldn't wait to get out of bed. I basically tip toe into the bathroom to take my morning shower and then got dress. Went out with my refillable mug for a morning coffee while DW was still sleeping.

After I got my coffee from Roaring Fork, I walked out to the pool area to take a fresh morning breath. Temperature was still cool, about low 50s. Coming from the single digit weather, this is like heat wave to me. After listening to the waterfall and some occasional quacking, I head back inside the building and went to the lobby for a stroll.

I then saw a man flip open his laptop and start surfing. I was thinking...could it be wifi available in WL?? I asked him point blank. "Sir, Are you surfing on a 3G network or is that wifi from the building?" He reply, "It's wifi but not sure if that was a fluke." He can connect to the network and surf but not sure if that's general available thing. He said he'll just keep using it until some one ask him to get off. I thought I just hit a gold mine since my little Sony UMPC has wireless also.

I hung around until 7am so the conciegra desk is open for business. I asked the CM, an older gentleman, to see if he can search my UPS tracking number and see where is the package. The CM looked up my tracking number and it has been confirm that the package has already arrived Orlando and out for delivery. The CM told me even when the package did indeed get deliver to the Disney complex, it might take another hour or so to route into WL. So at best, in reality, the package won't arrive WL until close to noon. I thought, I can live with that.

I then went back up stair to get DW because we have a breakfast ADR at Grand Floridian Cafe this morning. By the time I got into my room, DW was almost ready. I did say a word about my finding because I was afraid I might jinx it. We were out the door within minutes and go through our morning ritual, boat ride to CR and then monorail over to Grand Floridian Resort. Since ADR is not until 9:00am, we stop at the two gift shop at CR just browsing. Our mission now is to hunt for the Mickey Margarita glass we found in PR gift shop the day before. Unfortunately, there were none in the CR gift shop.

By the time we got to GF, we were way early so we have a lot of time to kill. We browse all we could at the gift shop. Fortunately unfortunately, nothing caught our eyes. So we head to the cafe and there were hardly any one in the restaurant. The CM took us in right away even we were half an hour early. These morning our breakfast is very unusual. (Well, at least mine was.)

First, I must have my Smoothies. A Raspberry one plus coffee. DW only got a coffee.

For main course, DW has a ham & cheese omelette.

As for me, I decide to have another heavy hitter, Lobster Eggs Benedict - Two poached eggs on Danish bread, lobster and citrus Hollandaise sauce.

Oh My Goodness, I never dream of having lobster for breakfast until I came to Disney. Wow! I don't think I can find another breakfast that can top this one. (Until day 6. You'll just have to wait.) Breakfast this morning was totally out of this world. That certainly took my mind off the camera bag.

We hung around as long as we can after breakfast since we knew we are not going to any park until I see the bag. So we left the cafe and headed back to WL. It was barely after 10:00am. We checked out the WL gift shop and walked around the lobby as long as we can. By 11:00am, even we probably strolled around for good 45 minutes, it really doesn't feel that long. I decided I have to asked the concierge desk to see if the package has arrived. This time, the CM is a tiny girl who stand barely 5 ft tall. To me, that's tiny since I am 6' 2" tall. I told her about the package and see if she can see has it arrived yet. She asked me how big the package was it. I said it about twice the size of a bowling bag and it's a camera bag. Did I also mention it's fairly heavy too? She said, "Let me check." and she went to the back to hunt for the package.

DW and I were waiting...and waiting...and waiting...for a very long long 5 minutes. I was waiting for her to come back and say "sorry, it's not hear yet. Please come back and check for it in an hour." So we wait...and wait...and wait... Finally, the door opened up and she came out with this giantic box that's about as big as her. (Okay! So I exaggerate about the box a little.) She was having a very hard time to lift the box over the counter.

I want to laugh but I stop. I know I probably have that stupid grin on my face though. Not sure is it because I am happy to see the package or watching how this poor girl struggling with such ridiculously large package. She was pretty good sports about it too and I think she probably sense what was in my mind too. Once I check the mailing label and identify that's my package, I thank her profusely and left with the package.

Once we got into the elevator, I thought my chest was going to explode. It was like seeing an old friend after a very long time. I don't even know how to describe it. As soon as we got into our room, I first check the box to see if there is any physical damages. NONE! That's a good start. The box even has this bright RED duct tape wrapped completely around it. I was so excited, I forgot to take picture of the box. That has got to be a major Kodak moment.

When I tried to open the box, I realize I didn't have a knife of any kind to cut it open. So I improvise and use a pen instead to poke a hole on the tape then just rip open the box. As soon as I open the box, I thought, "Bob" was the man. The box actually was only slightly large than the bag itself, so there were little gap between the bag and the box. Bob stuff all these gap with air bags. The kind you get when you buy things online. The air bags basically cushion the camera bag in the middle of the box. Bob sure did a fantastic job packaging the bag.

All the worry and stress literally vanished within seconds.

I took the camera bag out of the box and every thing seems to be fine. I open it up and took out the equipment one piece at a time. Suddenly, I feel like Christmas in February. I removed the lens cap and making sure none of the glass has any crack. Shutter works fine on the camera. It's like a rock suddenly lift off from my chest. While I was busy opening the box/bag and checking the equipment, DW already on the phone with our friend and gave her the status update. "The eagle has landed safely." Code word for package has been received and everything is fine. Silly us. LOL... Now, I owned our friend a big favor. DW promised our friend I will treat her and her DH dinner when we get back which is no big deal. However, it has to be a Mexican dinner. Oh joy! I am so NOT Mexican dinner kind a guy. But this favor is huge, I'll have to make an exception.

Anyway, I load up the camera with the memory card, put on the lens. Throw in a few lenses into my other medium size camera bag and off to DHS we go. As you can see, I am all suit up with camera in one hand with bag on my shoulder and ready to "SHOOT". Giddy Up!!!

I took about 20 shots before we even got onto the bus. Signs, back of a sign, bus stations, benches...I don't even care how they come out as long as I can hear the shutter.

I figure I will make all the adjustment I need when I get to DHS. That shutter sound is like music to my ears right now.

 

[Planning fanatic mom]

I am so happy that the camera got there in one piece.

You look so happy in that picture.

Thanks for the update.

 

[tiggrbaby]

Hooray! You got the cameras! And what chrisp pics! Can't wait to see more!

 

[msce2]

WOW!!!! I have NEVER seen such wonderful pics!!!! They are amazingly detailed! No wonder you were so anxious to have it with you! Can't wait to see what's coming up!

 

[topdog]

I am so happy that the camera got there in one piece.

You look so happy in that picture.

Thanks for the update.

Hooray! You got the cameras! And what chrisp pics! Can't wait to see more!

WOW!!!! I have NEVER seen such wonderful pics!!!! They are amazingly detailed! No wonder you were so anxious to have it with you! Can't wait to see what's coming up!

Thank you every one. The adventure is not over yet. This is just the beginning!!