"What's the Catch - Do I Not Get Bacon?" - 11/27 - TR started!

[teekathepony]

Do you have the same awesome fall foliage we have in New England?

Oh yes, it's so beautiful that I planned my whole wedding around it!

Just popping my head in to say hi!
Hi! Good to see you again!

I've been MIA for a few months...mostly because I've been busy doing non-computer related stuff, but I'm all caught up on your PTR and I'm getting excited for you! I'm really sorry to hear about the sad news with your cousin, but hopefully the treatments work really well for him.
I know what that's like, I barely ever get free time anymore!
Thanks for your concern. I hope the treatments work too.

Your plans all sound great! I can't wait for you to see BOG...you're going to loose it. In a good way!
Oh man, I nearly lose it when I just see pictures! I feel like I should get some video of my reaction!

Those sandals look awesome! I may have to look into getting a pair in the future. I'm also glad all the wedding related events went well, and that you're now able to relax and focus on your own trip. I've really got get myself ready for work, but like I said, just wanted to say hi and see how things were going
I hope the sandals work out well for the trip but I have high expectations since they're the same brand I wore last year and those worked out great.

She was having fun learning herself too. But, since she is in college and has the opportunity to take the guitar class she figured that she might as well take advantage of it! Only 50 days until our trip - YAY!!!!

That makes a lot of sense, I would do that too. Ironically Johnny was doing some plumbing in a guy's house and found out he's one of the best guitar teachers around here!~ I told him he should swap services.

 

[disfanforlife]

Oh yes, it's so beautiful that I planned my whole wedding around it!




That makes a lot of sense, I would do that too. Ironically Johnny was doing some plumbing in a guy's house and found out he's one of the best guitar teachers around here!~ I told him he should swap services.

Why not? Sounds like a great opportunity to me!!! But, we have a musical family. My DH plays guitar and has been in a band since he was in high school. So, we always encourage anything musical with our kids.

 

[geckodani]

Helloooo! Sorry I've been MIA - we bought a house and my free time and brainpower basically went kablooey.

I'm so glad to hear that your cousin has found a doctor that is at least trying; that is SO important. He's still in my prayers!

You survived the bachelorette party! And the wedding! And the camping! And it's DONE! Hooray!

Your plans sounds awesome so far; I would love to do Boma, but as previously mentioned, it's such a pain to get to if you're not staying at AKL!

 

[teekathepony]

Why not? Sounds like a great opportunity to me!!! But, we have a musical family. My DH plays guitar and has been in a band since he was in high school. So, we always encourage anything musical with our kids.

I wish I had a musical family. The most I can boast is that my dad whistles.

Helloooo! Sorry I've been MIA - we bought a house and my free time and brainpower basically went kablooey.

I'm so glad to hear that your cousin has found a doctor that is at least trying; that is SO important. He's still in my prayers!

You survived the bachelorette party! And the wedding! And the camping! And it's DONE! Hooray!

Your plans sounds awesome so far; I would love to do Boma, but as previously mentioned, it's such a pain to get to if you're not staying at AKL!

I've been a little MIA myself, August was not kind to me and September has been all about winding down! But nothing nearly as hectic as buying a house, that I can say! And on that note, congratulations!
Thanks for your prayers for my cousin, they are much appreciated.
Yessss thank goodness I survived it all!
Boma is very hard to get to if you (A) don't have a car and (B) are not staying at AKL! We never have a car so it will be nice to just walk down.

 

[teekathepony]

It has been almost two weeks since my last post. Yikes!

I don't have time for an update now, but I'm off tomorrow so there should be one coming up... and here's a preview:

Happy Hump Day everyone!

 

[LB1122]

Magic Band fun... Very very exciting. Looking forward to hearing about them

 

[smile4stamps]

WE got our MB's last week and this week. Since we are doing a split stay we get 2 each! I choose Pink and Red for Myself and my Husband is getting Blue and Green. If they offer them in December I will get 2 more colors I love having variety! I can't wait to try them out!

 

[chattadisser]

Oh yea! Magic bands!

I can't wait to hear your thoughts on them.

Christine

 

[amazingact21]

When I saw that MagicBands had opened up for all the November dates, I was wondering if you'd mention them in your PTR. Very curious to see what you think about getting to use them on your trip.

 

[teekathepony]

Magic Band fun... Very very exciting. Looking forward to hearing about them

The post is on its way!

WE got our MB's last week and this week. Since we are doing a split stay we get 2 each! I choose Pink and Red for Myself and my Husband is getting Blue and Green. If they offer them in December I will get 2 more colors I love having variety! I can't wait to try them out!

Oh cool! I would love to have two choices! Hahaha It was too hard to pick just one colour!

Oh yea! Magic bands!

I can't wait to hear your thoughts on them.

Christine

All that I know so far is on its way!

When I saw that MagicBands had opened up for all the November dates, I was wondering if you'd mention them in your PTR. Very curious to see what you think about getting to use them on your trip.

I'm kind of excited, that post is coming right up!

 

[teekathepony]

Hello again! I'm back for a full update. I'm off today and it's a miserable, chilly, wet, rainy day and my house is already clean, I have nothing else that needs to get done, so I have (get this) spare time!

Spare time is an endangered species around here lately. I've been busy, but also very productive.

Tuesday evening we got word that others with November trips were getting Magic Band emails and availability! Johnny and I jumped on the computer, logged on to MDE and sure enough, the option was there!

For any of you who don't know how it works and are curious, I'll go through it.

When you go into the option to customize your bands, each member of your party shows up and you do one at a time.

Here's what it looks like:

You get the option to customize your name (9 characters max) and pick a colour. I was disappointed at the lack of purple, but chose orange. Johnny got a green one.

And that's it! If your shipping address is outside of the USA you need to pick up your bands at check in. No problem! I'd be nervous flying around with those anyway!

So the other thing that the MBs opened up for us was the fastpass+ system!

Last year we got to test the FP+ system when it was just rolling out. We could only use it on the last day of our trip and it really did not work well for us at all. In fact, when we came back home we gave it a really bad review.

So why the heck are we excited to try it this year??

Well, the major reason it didn't work for us last year was that it was only available on our last day, by which time all of our plans had changed. This year however it's open for our whole trip and we're going to use it for the first four days only. I hope to see the benefits this year.

So again, for anyone interested, here's the process to making FP+s! (And if you've already gone through this yourself, skip it! )

When you enter the FP+ part of the system you select your day. It shows you what other plans you have for the day too, and whether or not you already have FP+ for that day:

Select your party members:

Then the park. Here's one issue I can see -- I can't find a way to select more than one park if you plan to park hop.

Then you pick three attractions from the list:

It will give you four options for times. It looks a bit restrictive at first but you have the option to change each one individually later.

I have heard (please correct me if this is wrong!) that on days where you already have fp+ scheduled, you can't pull any regular fastpasses. That's not cool. This whole new system is going to take some getting used to.

We also have the option to get a Be Our Guest lunch but we can't seem to find a spot where it fits in easily so we're still re-working the schedule a little. I want to get into BOG as much as possible!

Other than those big bits of news, my countdown is at just 46 days to go! We have lists of things to do and things to get and it's all starting to come together. In fact, the day before yesterday we actually started packing!

It's getting too cold now for shorts and tank tops, so it was time to switch up the closet again. So we started with packing our vacation clothes in the suitcases!

 

[teekathepony]

Photography 101
Lesson 10: Fill Flash

Before I start, I just wanted to let you know that I re-did my links post on page 1 and the Photography 101 lessons are now very easy to find, all in one place!

Today's lesson is a quickie and more of a tip. Use fill flash!

Fill flash is different from just plain ole' flash. Flash is usually used to light up a subject in a dark place. Fill flash fills in shadows in a bright situation.

Have you ever wondered why the Disney Photopass Photographers have big flashes on their cameras in the middle of the bright Florida sun? It's to get rid of shadows caused by hats, cheeks, eye sockets, etc.

So how does it work? Luckily it's fairly simple and actually works best with the pop-up/built in flash!

If you're trying to take a picture of someone in the bright Florida sun, you have two options: Have them facing the sun (then they're in the harsh light, squinting and often uncomfortable) or with their back to the sun (then the sun is shining into your camera causing either the person's face to be too dark or the background to blow out and over expose.)

The best option? (if possible of course!) Sun at the subject's back and use some flash to fill in their face while leaving the camera exposed for the background.

Many cameras have a "Fill Flash" option in their flash options. Normally it's less than full power (1/4 or 1/8 power is common) Don't overdo it on the flash or things will quickly go the other way with the subject too bright and the background too dark! Most cameras' automatic flash options will work just fine in the bright sun to fill.

See here the detail through the window is not lost, but the cat's face is bright too.

You may not think to use flash on a bright sunny day, but just a little fill can really change the look of your pictures!

 

[abbybeth]

look at you with the exciting stuff happening! Magic bands, FP+ and BOG, oh my! (ugh, that was beyond cheesy)

Right now there isn't an option for park-hopping-FPs. You get to choose one park to have 3 FPs at. If they're going to limit it to 3, I'd at least like to see them allow 3 for the day and at a combination of parks should you so choose.

And you are so ahead of the game with packing - granted, if you change over your closets, then it just makes sense to put the summer clothes into the suitcase instead of storage and then suitcase.

I finally got serious about packing last night. Oy.

 

[smile4stamps]

Yeah for the MB!! As of right now I've heard you can use the MB for FP+ and then can use your KTTW card to pull regular FP's. Once the full system rolls out though that is probably not possible!

I'm not able to select FP+ yet as I don't want to try and link my UT tickets before we upgrade them in fear I will lose my discount!

 

[disfanforlife]

Yeah for the MB!! As of right now I've heard you can use the MB for FP+ and then can use your KTTW card to pull regular FP's. Once the full system rolls out though that is probably not possible!

I'm not able to select FP+ yet as I don't want to try and link my UT tickets before we upgrade them in fear I will lose my discount!

What? Really? I linked my UT tix and plan to upgrade to AP after we activate them in the park. I hope we don't lose our discount....

 

[IheartDDuck]

Awesome about the MagicBands.

I had a moment the other day, because we're AP holders, and since they haven't rolled MyMagic+ out in it's entirety yet, we won't be able to take advantage of anything until it's done. Boooooooo!!!!!! So no BOG FP for me for our January trip it looks like. Unless by some miracle the rollout is done.

What?! No purple?! Sacrilege.

You actually can't park hop with FP+. You actually have to use them all in one park. If you park hop, you're stuck in standby the whole time. I read that when I was doing the research on when we AP holders who book trips would be eligible to start using it.

Yay packing!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Hi Wendy!! Very jealous of your MBs!!

I've been reading the same thing: Guests with MBs/FP+ are also obtaining paper FPs in addition to their FP+ ressies. They have been asking for KTTW cards at check in. In fact, there are reports that old and expired KTTW cards from past trips are also now working at the FP kiosks. Some people are also claiming that they've been able to get FPs with their drivers license!! It's a madhouse I tell ya!

 

[SAT887]

Yay for no update in 2 weeks! Hehe... I've been face booking lately instead of Dis'ing..... Now I feel overwhelmed by all the catch up I must do....


Ooooo MAGIC BANDS!!

 

[SAT887]

I'm excited for FP+ - not having to do the dash for FP sounds ideal I can't wait to hear more reviews it seems to be rolling out well so far.

Also, I love fill flash

 

[chattadisser]

Thanks for the MB update. Boo to the fact that you can't PH with the FP+. I agree that you should have a set number of FP+ for the day and if you want to schedule one at each park, they should let you. I'm still not sure if I like all this FP+.

I like the MB's as it makes it easier with no KTTW cards, credit cards to pay, ect. but I feel like the FP+'s is a little planning overkill (and I love to plan!). I can't imagine if your not a planner how FP+ would work for you.

Thanks for another photography 101 lesson. I actually have them all in a binder so I can reference them.

Christine