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

[Antigua08]

Wow, that's a lot of pictures! Loving them all so far, especially the Soarin ones.
Looking forward to following along and seeing the rest

 

[Revan]

subscribing . . . I read your previous trip report and I have to say your photography has really improved - these photos are great! What are you using for lenses? Using Flash? Interested in whether you are stopping down of cranking the ISO - your night shots are really nice.

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Wow, that's a lot of pictures! Loving them all so far, especially the Soarin ones.
Looking forward to following along and seeing the rest

I'm pretty sure that's the least amt of pictures for a single day that I will post. The last day may be close but the other ones should have more.

 

[GiGiJoeysMom]

Hi
First, please tell Tina I said congrats. I have not been on the boards for awhile and lo and behold I come back and my favorite disney phanatic (like the play on spelling) is doing a trip report. I am so happy. I can live through your pictures thank you.

I pm'd you.

Kim

 

[NateNLogansDad]

subscribing . . . I read your previous trip report and I have to say your photography has really improved - these photos are great! What are you using for lenses? Using Flash? Interested in whether you are stopping down of cranking the ISO - your night shots are really nice.

First off, thank you! That really means a lot. I've been having so much fun with the new camera. It's a Nikon D5000. The lens I had on all week was a Sigma 18-250mm. I did take a 35mm 1.8 with me but I never once put it on. Looking back I really wish I did, especially on the darker rides. Oh well, guess we'll have to go back again soon!
I did tried to keep the ISO pretty low whenever I could. Whenever possible, I just kept the shutter open longer to compensate. I have to say, switching over to a DSLR and being able to shoot in RAW is awesome too! There's so many times that my post processing tweeks saved my butt!

Thanks for posting and I hope this one can live up to the bar I set for myself from my first TR!

Hopefully I'll have another update up tonight or tomorrow morning.

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Hi
First, please tell Tina I said congrats. I have not been on the boards for awhile and lo and behold I come back and my favorite disney phanatic (like the play on spelling) is doing a trip report. I am so happy. I can live through your pictures thank you.

I pm'd you.

Kim

Just sent you one back. You crack me up!!!

GO PHILLS!!!

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Saturday November 13th 2010. Day 2.

It’s the dawn of a new day, which for me started around 10ish. After about an 11 hour nap I was ready to go! We woke up and got everybody ready and packed up any little things that Tina and the boys had pulled out of the suitcases for the two nights they spend here and were ready to get moving. To where you might ask? Well, if you’ve read my other trip report, you already know where our home away from home is. That’s right, we are going back! For all you other new-comers who are lurking without posting (yea I see you) I’m going to leave you in suspense muahahaha.

We called down to Bell Services and in less than 10 minutes our suitcases disappeared and in the room was just us. Oh, but wait. Did I not show you our room? Unfortunately I wasn’t there when the boys first saw it, but I heard they loved every part of it!

Yep, we went with the pirate’s room! After almost booking the All Star Movies which we’ve been to before, Tina found this for about $50 more total for the 2 nights on Expedia.com.

The lights weren’t the brightest so bare with me a little bit. I’m not a fan at all of using a flash.

The first picture, I adjusted the white balance a little to give it a nicer look, here’s what the yellow lights make it look like at night.

Did I mention that Tina is awesome? Not only is she more than perfect for me, she’s also one great mother to these guys. She knows these boys like surprises and brought a new outfit for them.

The beds in here are modeled after pirate ships. Seriously, how cool is that?

In the shower, you set sail with the Flying Dutchman.

What pirate wouldn’t have wanted this set up on his ship?
Flat Screen TV, the crates have drawers for clothes gold or rum, The barrel hides a fridge, and a coffee maker!

The sheets are adorned with gold and jewels

The table is a compass that doesn’t work

And you always sail away at night with a sister ship!

We left our little room to begin our new adventure. We needed to watch our time because we had reservations to keep! Where you might ask? Well, I’ll give you a hint, it has nothing to do with eating!

Stay tuned!

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Feels like it's been forever since the last update but life is really getting in the way lately! Just wanted to stop by and say that one is in the works and will be up soon.

Anybody out there still reading this thing???

 

[NateNLogansDad]

So, just to recap, the last time we spoke (more me than you) my little family was leaving our oh-so-sweet pirate room at CBR. Our bags were packed and taken away by bell services, and we were watching the clock for plans that did not involve food. Any idea what we’re doing yet? Stick around!


So we head out of our room with our little pirates in full gear. We learned yesterday that the busses inside the resort get packed and, the view around CBR is just beautiful, so we hiked out of there by foot just taking it all in.

It’s just so nice and peaceful looking isn’t it? I wish I could just spend a week at a few resorts and never do a park. There’s just much that goes into these places to either keep you busy or prevent you from doing a gosh darn thing at all. Back home, we’re expecting yet ANOTHER wave of snow this week. One lucky powerball ticket and I’d be right here sound asleep.

So we headed over to

To catch a ride to a ride to one of the parks. I have a thing for fountains and this one was just calling to me

But, like I said, we had a schedule to keep so there would be no lollygagging!

The bus ride was uneventful and pretty much empty which made it seem more like a private limo. I guess it pays to sleep in sometimes. 20 minutes later and here we are!

Our first stop?

We needed to kill a few and the boys needed to burn some energy so we went for a climb

Remember how I mentioned that the boys were in full gear? I knew you would!

The boys loved the treehouse even though it’s not very interactive.

If you didn’t know we were at the treehouse, wouldn’t you say that this just fits?

It gets better……

So now our time is getting cut close when we heard this noise not like any ever heard at any of the parks except maybe over at Animal Kingdom. Several people stopped short and I think one lady pulled her baby from the stroller and ran for the exit.

That was my stomach growling….Rob was HUNGRY.

Knowing a full meal was out of the question, we grabbed some

And shared company with

By now it’s just before 1:00 and we headed off to…….

 

[NateNLogansDad]

THE PIRATES LEAGUE!!!

If you’ve never done the Pirates League, and have a little one at home that is into POTC, TRY IT OUT! We all had a blast with the whole thing.

First off, we went in and got the boys their new pirate names by spinning the treasure chest.

Than we were taken away to a secret room never seen by the eyes of the common town folk.

There are small reminders around that make you realize you’re not in Kansas anymore….this is serious pirate stuff!!!

East India Trading Company crates

Pirate Booty

Here’s our wench that be taken care of our fine young lad Logan

And next Nate was called over to start his transformation

We’re making progress….

Doesn’t he look pretty with his eyes all done?

Our little Panda Bear….

They grow up so fast don’t they?

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Before long, it was time for Nate to take his pirate oath

As did Logan

The end result……

The experience was worth it in my opinion and I’d love to go back and do it myself with the boys if possible. They were awarded a Pirate League sash and a brand new sword and taken back to a hidden chamber where no photography of any kind is permitted. I later purchased the documents and will share them towards the end of the report. )

We stepped outside to mingle with the mere mortals in the park, knowing that true pirates would be hard to come by……or so we thought!

So after that, what’s a pirate to do????

Yep, it had to be done!

I think we scared many people away because POTC was completely a walk on…..kinda
Moving quickly is great unless you are the one holding the camera and want to grab a few pictures. I did get a few….

These are my two ghostly pictures

Now, I want to share a little something with you and feel free to do your own research to back me up. Kids, please don’t read this next paragraph.

The Pirates of The Caribbean ride has a resident ghost. The ghost’s name is George. Please don’t freak out, I’m not making this up. Every night, the crew operating the ride says goodnight to George when they leave or the ride will have all sorts of problems the next morning. George isn’t mean, he’s just playful. HOWEVER, it’s pretty well known that if someone says George’s name 3 times loudly, the ride will break down. Again, not making this up. over the last 3 years, we have done this at least once on every trip. So far it has NEVER failed. So, what do you think I had Nate do? Like clockwork, after the third time he said it, the ride shuts down. My mistake was telling him to say if BEFORE we got on! Duh. Live and learn.

Here’s Nate after breaking the ride single handedly.

I was able to grab this pretty cool picture while standing in line. I have a feeling most people walk on by and never even notice it.

I could see the people in the operations room getting frustrated. They know someone said it.

So, almost 20 minutes later we are on our way.

Tina thinks I’ve learned my lesson. I guess I have…..next time wait till AFTER we get on!!! LOL
Remember……Dead men tell no tales.

So now it’s official. Pirates for life. So far this was turning out to be a pretty good day even though we hadn’t done all that much yet.

With grins on our faces we head toward the main gates. Some Bell Services guy has our luggage and we needed to track him down. Now what hotel were we supposed to go to from here………

Stay tuned! I’m hoping to have another update tonight but we’ll see how busy it gets at work )

 

[AlisaMom]

Great pictures and report , waiting for the update

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Great pictures and report , waiting for the update

Welcome aboard! Always nice to see a new face! Sorry I didn't post another update tonight. Do you believe they want me to do stuff while I'm at work I tried to tell them that I was getting another update together but they weren't very sympathetic

I hope by this time tomorrow I should have at least one more up. I have to get strict with this before the weather gets nice enough here to start fishing and crabbing! (plus there's a 50/50 chance of another Disney trip in the next 3 months )

 

[annnewjerz]

Just popping in to say I've been reading. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip. I head out in two weeks, barring any weird New Jersey weather situations...so I'll (hopefully) be starting a TR of my own soon!

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Hey Anne!!! So glad you stopped by!!! I'm so jealous you get to leave all this in February! In my opinion, it's the worst month of the year. It's just way to cold here. Hopefully all this snow will be out of the way before you leave. You know we're getting another 4 inches tonight don't cha?

I'm hoping to have a decent size update done tonight

 

[princessjv]

AMAZING SHOTS! You put me to shame. Shame. SHAME!

Your boys are adorable! I wish the pirates league was around when my DH was little~ He would of loved it!!

 

[cyndiloveswalt]

Hey! Just joining in and enjoying it very much. We went in Nov also (for Thanksgiving). Last year we did the Pirate's League, and it was a blast, but MAN trying to get that make-up off!!!!
Also just as a side note, the fast passes are good anytime after the time it says to come back (you don't have to use them in the hour)

 

[NMW]

Subscribing

 

[NateNLogansDad]

AMAZING SHOTS! You put me to shame. Shame. SHAME!

Your boys are adorable! I wish the pirates league was around when my DH was little~ He would of loved it!!

I'm sure he would have loved it, it really was awesome! We're planning a trip back in October and I'm thinking that this is a must do for us again, especially if we are going to do the MNSSHP.

As for the compliments about the pictures, thank you so much. I'm not nearly as good as some of the pros here on the boards but I think I've come a long way. But, at the same time, I have seen some of your pictures and I'm so going to try to mimic them I may be PM'ing you for some advice if you don't mind.

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Hey! Just joining in and enjoying it very much. We went in Nov also (for Thanksgiving). Last year we did the Pirate's League, and it was a blast, but MAN trying to get that make-up off!!!!
Also just as a side note, the fast passes are good anytime after the time it says to come back (you don't have to use them in the hour)

It took hours to get that stuff off back at our room Than another 15 minutes getting the ring around the tub clean


With the fast passes, we got there with 5-10 minutes left on the back end of the time frame. It was close but we made it