What's in a title anyway? How about 1300 pictures? 4/15/11-> Bonus Section pt1 & 2

[NateNLogansDad]

THANKS FOR POSTING!!!
You've taken some amazing photos! What kind of camera do you have?
We were there the week during Christmas and New Years Day!
and I'll be honest... I've hijacked some of your photos and copied/pasted for myself. It looks exactly the same as when we were there with all the beautiful christmas decorations. I especially love your shots of soarin and it's a small world.
Thanks again...
I'll stay tuned for more!!

Debbie

See, now you're going to make my head swell up a few more sizes Thanks for the compliments and let me know if you'd like any of the original pictures for possibly printing larger formats later. Just right click on the picture and go to properties. The picture number starts with DSC and than a 4 digit #. I have no problem emailing them out.

My camera is a Nikon D5000 with a Sigma 18-250 lens. But really once you start playing around and learning what makes up a proper exposure, you'd be surprised at what you can get out of your every day camera anymore. When I first got this one, I was so disappointed with it because my old one that costs 1/3 the price was getting better pictures. Than the good people like Annnewjerz over on the photography boards set me strait saying the camera itself only plays a small part of taking photo's. It's really been a learning process and there's still so much to learn and more toys to buy, but it's been so much fun and I have so many memories that will last forever now.

Don't go doubting yourself! You are a great narrator with the right dose of humor and inclusion (I might second guess that second word for something else... but alas, my brain decided that inclusion was the key term...). You have great pictures to go along with your report and an adorable family. Keep em coming!

P.S. - thanks for today's theme song that will play on a continuous loop in my head...

Oh, you are just too good to me! I'm going to figure out a way to include the word inclusion into a conversation sometime in the next few days....I think it'll make me sounds smarter

It's funny because when I first read your post I was like "Theme song?" and than it popped back in my head and now it just won't go away I love it!

Joining In!

Your pictures are great! Can't wait to read more!

Thank you! You guys really are too nice! There will be more. So far we've only scratched the surface!

NO NO NO....post tons and tons....not one or two!!

OK....I just hope you know what you're getting into

 

[princessjv]

Your pictures bring me right back! What a nice CM for waiting and letting you finish.

I too have heard that about the HM and the plates. In fact I have been there a few times {years ago} that the plate were NOT looking too Mickey'ish. In recent years they always been there when I've been... whcih si far too little of times.

The shot of your wife holding your son and the other one grinning ear to ear is PRICELESS!

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Your pictures bring me right back! What a nice CM for waiting and letting you finish.

I too have heard that about the HM and the plates. In fact I have been there a few times {years ago} that the plate were NOT looking too Mickey'ish. In recent years they always been there when I've been... whcih si far too little of times.

The shot of your wife holding your son and the other one grinning ear to ear is PRICELESS!

I knew I wasn't crazy! Well, at least not as crazy as some people think!

Yea, I love those pictures. I took a bunch but those came out better than the others. I wish I had a faster lens, they would have been a bit sharper. For now, where I'm at, they look just fine.

I could take thousands of pictures of everything in all the parks, but pictures like those are two are what Disney really is to me.

 

[annnewjerz]

Great updates Rob! I've got to say, I'm jealous at how late you all managed to stay out...if we are up and at the parks by 9, I'm ready for bed by 9!! Unfortunately that means no park closing pics for me!

Nice work on Wishes and IASW, the shots of your DW and boys watching fireworks are precious.

So psyched for our trip, can't wait to see if I come back with anything worthwhile enough to do a TR with.

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Great updates Rob! I've got to say, I'm jealous at how late you all managed to stay out...if we are up and at the parks by 9, I'm ready for bed by 9!! Unfortunately that means no park closing pics for me!

Nice work on Wishes and IASW, the shots of your DW and boys watching fireworks are precious.

So psyched for our trip, can't wait to see if I come back with anything worthwhile enough to do a TR with.

Oh you are so full of crap Don't forget, I've seen your work before!!! That being said I will take you compliment with a big ol grin on my face. I know some of my better pictures would end up in your recycling bin The only reason I haven't told people to start looking for yours is because I'm afraid of loosing some subscribers

But seriously, thank you very much. I do appreciate it! One day I hope to get down there for a photo trip and get some right at (or before) rope drop and maybe an hr or two after the park closes. Maybe get a room with a view and do a tilt shift video while I nap in the afternoon. I did do one night at the beach club till around 3am which was AWESOME! But that's a story for another update......

 

[cyndiloveswalt]

I was at a Pine wood derby this weekend too. My DS7 actually placed 5th overall and now we get to go to divisions!!
Do you use Photobucket? and is there a way to cut and paste multiple pics or do you have to do it 1 at a time? I'm new at this. I also ordered a Sony DSLR this weekend, so I may need some of your contacts in the photography board here soon!
Can't wait for a new update!

 

[Disney_Jill]

Those pictures are AMAZING! I love the ones with the boys watching Wishes and sleeping. The sleeping picture brings back so many good memories of great days and nights at MK and being dog tired at the end of the night.
Those pictures really hit the spot while I am waiting for our trip next month for my ds's 16th b-day. It seems like just yesterday he was the tired kid sleeping in the stroller.

 

[NateNLogansDad]

I was at a Pine wood derby this weekend too. My DS7 actually placed 5th overall and now we get to go to divisions!!
Do you use Photobucket? and is there a way to cut and paste multiple pics or do you have to do it 1 at a time? I'm new at this. I also ordered a Sony DSLR this weekend, so I may need some of your contacts in the photography board here soon!
Can't wait for a new update!

Were you at the Springfield mall? If so, I may have you in some pictures!

Yes, I do use photobucket and there is a way to upload more than one.

Log onto photobucket and create a folder you want to upload to.

Go into that folder.

Click on the green "upload now" button.

On the next screen, underneath the green button that says "Select
Photos and videos" there's a link in blue that says "Bult Uploader" Click on that

On the next screen, choose the folder on your computer that has the pictures you want to upload

Click on each picture you want to upload or you can choose "select all"

After you choose all the pictures you want, click on the blue "Upload" button on the bottom right.

Good to go

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Those pictures are AMAZING! I love the ones with the boys watching Wishes and sleeping. The sleeping picture brings back so many good memories of great days and nights at MK and being dog tired at the end of the night.
Those pictures really hit the spot while I am waiting for our trip next month for my ds's 16th b-day. It seems like just yesterday he was the tired kid sleeping in the stroller.

You guys on the dis are just too good to me! I really love those pictures of them watching wishes. For a dad, they are the best firwork pictures I could have asked for

Awe...good for you taking a trip for his sweet 16!!! I hope all those memories come flying back to both of you! Just remember, when you start tearing up he might not get it, so don't embarrass him I hope one day when my boys are older, they will remember all this and take it to heart. Worse comes to worse, if they don't remember, I can always break out a few thousand pictures to refresh their minds

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Hey guys, just a heads up.......

I'm going to try to have an update done tonight but I can't promise it will be before you go to bed. My night doesn't end till 3am eastern time so maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow

We gotta start getting day 3 moving!!!!!

 

[Purpleblanket]

I'm staying tuned!!!

Debbie

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Sunday November 14th Day 3 of our happy place.

Last night was a late night so we slept in a little bit. I know I know, who sleeps in a Disney World?!?!? Well, apparently we all did. We skipped breakfast at the room this morning because….. well…..we slept through it We finally rolled out of bed around 11am and I’ll tell ya what, it was so nice! We all got showered and dressed and threw the kids in the stroller and headed out to lunch. A quick call over to my brother’s room confirmed that they were on the same page as they were still getting ready. Today we had early reservations to do lunch over at the Coral Reef. I figured get a large meal in early and work it off during the day and follow it up with a Quick Service meal later on.

We arrived right on time at 11:55. The hostess was a little perturbed that we all weren’t there and refused to seat us until Mommom Ginny and the rest of the crew showed up. A call to Brandon’s cell told me that they were through the International Gateway and would be there any minute. Nope, no dice. All here or no seats. *sigh*

We went in to have a seat

Our hostesses

Now, don’t go thinking that there were being rude. I tried giving them the benefit of the doubt. After all, we would be needing a larger booth to fit all 8 of us…..but on the other hand, the booth was empty the whole time, so…eh whatever.

Here’s another example of the Disney Details that are sometimes overlooked.
The light fixtures in the ceiling

Like seriously, who thinks to themselves “Let’s make the lights look like they are underwater also?” And yet, how many people stroll by them without ever bothering to look up? Gotta love those imagineers!

So 5 minutes later and the rest of the gang shows up. We were shown to our table and of course the kids run over to the fish tanks. For those who have never been here, the fish tanks aren’t small tanks just scattered around the room…….

See what I mean? Very cool indeed! The restaurant itself isn’t very big and every table has an excellent view of the tanks

Although, if you have a smaller party I’d definitely ask for a table right up front so you can get acquainted with one of the more popular employees of the reef

Well, I needed to put the camera down because our food came out pretty quickly. You know there’s not going to be any food porn here but I will tell you that there was chicken, salads, steaks, fish, lobster soup, and you know the deserts are more than most people can handle!

Moving right along! (Are your taste buds salivating? See, that’s why we need to keep this rated G!) So, after eating under the sea and enjoying every minute of it, where do you think we went next?

Yep, right back under water…..don’t want to get the bends!

For the next few shots, I wanted to make up my own story line. This one is for the fellas, so ladies feel free to skip right past the pictures.

Last night was one night Orville would never forget but can also only remember bits and pieces. It started out simple enough, he was going out after work with some of the birds he grew up with. One thing led to the next and somehow he woke up in some stranger’s bird feeder. Blinded by the sun and not knowing what time it was he staggered back to his rock hoping that his wife was still asleep. Suddenly he heard a noise…….

He knew he was in trouble and couldn’t get a word in edgewise

He tried to explain what happened last night but she wanted nothing to do with it

Sorry, got a little off track there. Gotta break it up a bit sometimes!!!

Where were we?

Oh yea, going diving under…..

So we strolled down the beach and past the lifeguard shack

And watched some small feeder fish do some synchronized swimming

Mommom Ginny took the boys so Tina and I could ride together. The boys said it was so we could have some romance…..so cute!

And Brandon, Tracy, and Austin got on the next car

Which left Tina and I. You’re going to have to believe me since no one took our picture *sigh*

Hey, before we go any further I want to pat myself on the back in front of any photography nuts. The 2 pics up there in the clam mobiles were taken at 1/15th and 1/10th of a second respectively……hand held….while moving on a conveyer belt! (So what, I thought it was cool……)

ANYWAYS…….I promise to have some pictures later on in the TR, but for this time, I put the camera down (which is NOT an easy thing for me to do!) and enjoyed the ride with my sweetheart. It was really nice and someday I hope to learn to do that more often. Looking through the lens makes it hard to steal a kiss in the dark ya know!

So I don’t want to leave anyone in suspense, I will tell you we found Nemo and he is absolutely fine in his Big Blue World. We strolled off of our clam mobiles and thought the world was a great place to be, when out of the clear blue…..

BRUCE!!!!!

I know it looked bad, but just ask Nathan and Logan and they will tell you that their daddy can beat up a shark! After narrowly escaping with all of our fingers and toes, we looked for safer waters to play in and came across

Mr. Ray is awesome but after watching animal planet, we decided to stay on this side of the glass.

We had so many questions we wanted to ask, but instead Mr. Ray pointed us in the direction of a friend of his named Crush. Crush is awesome and loved getting new questions from all the little dudes that stop down to see him. Right before he came out, this gentleman asked that all cameras be put away.

With a frown, I put my camera on the floor. I wasn’t going to hurt crushes eye with an underwater flash! Oh well, I guess Disney doesn’t want to take any chances……and who could blame them!

 

[NateNLogansDad]

We left Crush after a bit and headed back towards out hotel. No, we weren’t looking for a siesta, we were looking for transportation of the aquatic kind. I want to take a little sidebar for those ever looking to spurge a little (lots.) The Beach Club, Yacht Club, Swan & Dolphin, and Boardwalk are all awesome hotels. All very beautiful in their own way and all a little pricey. But, if you enjoy either Epcot, or Hollywood Studios (MGM,) they are all so worth it. There is nothing like walking out the back door and right into the parks. Please be prepared though, you will not want to stay anywhere else after that!

So we head back toward the infamous lighthouse at the Yacht/Beach Club. Instead of walking all the way over to Hollywood, we decided to take a ferry. Being there before I know that in the shallow water on the Beach Club side of the pier, small bass like to hang out so while we waited for the boat to arrive we threw in some crackers, and whata ya know?

Me and Nate

A friend came over to see what was going on

But he left hungry as we had just ran out. Sorry there Mr. Duck. We’re not supposed to feed you anyway!

I grabbed a few shots of the famous Pirate Ship Slide and along the beach of our hotel

The Yacht Club

The Boardwalk

And some things you may see just about every day on the pier

Our chariot arrived and we were off.

We made our way over to the Boardwalk

And before you knew it, our destination was within sight!

Make no mistake about it, those guys are real Captains. The ferries are free moving and they need to keep an eye out for smaller boats on the water. They are good at what they do and I hope they know that they are appreciated!

We made dry land in no time flat and were greeted by one of the biggest Christmas Trees I had ever seen.

It was just after 3pm and our day was just getting started. Little did we know that when we entered into that park, we would be heading back to our hotel with one more very cool kid………

………..but I guess you’ll need to stay tuned to hear all about that one! Muahahaha……




To Be Continued……….

 

[NateNLogansDad]

I'm staying tuned!!!

Debbie

So glad you could make it!

I'm hoping to have more up tonight

 

[blessedby3]

Great update and pictures. We have never eaten at the Coral Reef. It looks awsome. Cant wait to read more!

 

[eeyore7360nc]

When we had lunch at Coral Reef, we decided we would not like to sit directly in the turtle's line of sight. We would be afraid that we were eating one of his friends or relatives in front of him.

 

[MadilynnsMomma]

You tricky fox, how dare you hold us in suspense! Eh, I am sure we'll all get over it while we patiently wait for the next installment! Great update - Did Crush talk to your boys? Madi still gets upset that "she didn't get her turn."

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Great update and pictures. We have never eaten at the Coral Reef. It looks awsome. Cant wait to read more!

We liked it. The selection isn't quite what it used to be but it is a very cool place to eat. The food is pretty good, but the deserts.......

OK I'm ready to go back

 

[NateNLogansDad]

When we had lunch at Coral Reef, we decided we would not like to sit directly in the turtle's line of sight. We would be afraid that we were eating one of his friends or relatives in front of him.

I thought the same thing

 

[NateNLogansDad]

You tricky fox, how dare you hold us in suspense! Eh, I am sure we'll all get over it while we patiently wait for the next installment! Great update - Did Crush talk to your boys? Madi still gets upset that "she didn't get her turn."

No, they always try but to no avail. It just gives us another reason to go back right???

At least that's not the only show we tried to be a part of that day! <--hey look, more suspense!!!!

Tell Madi we said and to hang in there....hopefully one day she will get her turn!