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

[SAT887]

I GOT A BE OUR GUEST RESERVATION!!!!

6:20PM ON WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13TH!!!!

EXACTLY WHEN WE WANTED IT!!!

Yay!! That is awesome! It definitely deserved a banana!!


That D600 is so tempting too!! I decided that for now, it makes more sense for me to stick with DX, with potentially upgrading in the future to FX. Right now, most of my lenses would not be compatible and the cost too prohibitive because we have potential move(s) happening in 12-24 months..... Any future lens purchases I am going to keep FX in mind though. However, good news is, I got a pretty awesome mothers day present from DH!

 

[SoNotAPrincess]

Congrats on getting your BoG ADR!!

I'm in for photography tips, too!

 

[jedijill]

Congrats on the BOG ressie! I just ate there Saturday night and I want to go back! It was great.

I would love photo hints too. I haven't taken the plunge to a DSLR but its on my horizon at some point.

Jill in CO

 

[Pluto0809]

Yay! Glad you got your BOG reservation. I know how stressful that day can be.

Your photo tips idea sounds interesting. I've thought about upgrading to a better camera but I can't figure out my little point and shoot half the time so I have no idea how I would do with a fancier camera!

 

[teekathepony]

Yay!! That is awesome! It definitely deserved a banana!!


That D600 is so tempting too!! I decided that for now, it makes more sense for me to stick with DX, with potentially upgrading in the future to FX. Right now, most of my lenses would not be compatible and the cost too prohibitive because we have potential move(s) happening in 12-24 months..... Any future lens purchases I am going to keep FX in mind though. However, good news is, I got a pretty awesome mothers day present from DH!

YAY BANANA TIME! Hahaha
Yeah the worst part of an upgraded camera is the necessary lens upgrade with it. I have exactly one FX lens! hahaha
Oooh new mother's day pressie?? Whatcha get? D7100??

Congrats on getting your BoG ADR!!

I'm in for photography tips, too!

Thank you!! I'm so excited!
And thanks for your feedback, I'm thinking of doing post #1 tonight!

Congrats on the BOG ressie! I just ate there Saturday night and I want to go back! It was great.

I would love photo hints too. I haven't taken the plunge to a DSLR but its on my horizon at some point.

Jill in CO

Thanks! Wow, Saturday night, so cool! I'm glad to hear yet another good review
And thanks for your input on the Photography 101 idea. I am kind of excited for it!

Yay! Glad you got your BOG reservation. I know how stressful that day can be.

Your photo tips idea sounds interesting. I've thought about upgrading to a better camera but I can't figure out my little point and shoot half the time so I have no idea how I would do with a fancier camera!

Thank you!!
And thanks for your input with the photography tips, I'd like to do it in such a way that no matter your camera, you get some benefit.

 

[Lmartheleur]

I GOT A BE OUR GUEST RESERVATION!!!!

6:20PM ON WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13TH!!!!

EXACTLY WHEN WE WANTED IT!!!

That is so exciting!!!!!!!! way to go!! I can't wait to hear all about it

 

[MEK]

Congrats on BOG. I can't wait to go there one month from now!

 

[SAT887]

YAY BANANA TIME! Hahaha
Yeah the worst part of an upgraded camera is the necessary lens upgrade with it. I have exactly one FX lens! hahaha
Oooh new mother's day pressie?? Whatcha get? D7100??

I have the same problem. One macro lens that I could use... and a fisheye.... I know I could easily pick up 50mm 1.8. (Although I would want a 1.4!) but just replacing it all would be tough. So I figure when I look at a lens now I will take future compatibility into account And yes a d7100! Hopefully during my kids nap I can start playing with it today (I purposefully speed mowed my lawn yesterday trying to beat out the rain so I would have the time today!)

 

[partyof2]

Oh YAY!! Congrats on getting BOG. I'm so happy for you guys.

 

[danielle79]

Oh my gosh! So excited you got the BOG reservation and it's on my birthday!!!! November 13 is a great day, I should know!!! I would be very interested in a little photography 101, as you know I have already asked you questions! ( I did figure out why my pics on the computer were all messed up, not the formatting of the cards, it was my photo software on the computer) I would love a new lens for my camera before our next Disney trip! Something like yours, so I don't have to change lenses and get great castle pics and great character/kid pics!!!! I have a Canon Rebel XTi SLR and it's about 8 years old!

 

[teekathepony]

That is so exciting!!!!!!!! way to go!! I can't wait to hear all about it

Thanks!!

Congrats on BOG. I can't wait to go there one month from now!

Thanks MEK! I can't wait to read about your experience there!!

I have the same problem. One macro lens that I could use... and a fisheye.... I know I could easily pick up 50mm 1.8. (Although I would want a 1.4!) but just replacing it all would be tough. So I figure when I look at a lens now I will take future compatibility into account And yes a d7100! Hopefully during my kids nap I can start playing with it today (I purposefully speed mowed my lawn yesterday trying to beat out the rain so I would have the time today!)

Yes, I said that too. After I get my 18-250 I'm going to get all FX lenses, thinking for the future!
How wonderful that you got the d7100!! So exciting! My co-worker will be jealous Hope you get to play with it today! (It's heavy rain and miserable wind here, hope your weather is better!)

Oh YAY!! Congrats on getting BOG. I'm so happy for you guys.

Thank you!!!

Oh my gosh! So excited you got the BOG reservation and it's on my birthday!!!! November 13 is a great day, I should know!!! I would be very interested in a little photography 101, as you know I have already asked you questions! ( I did figure out why my pics on the computer were all messed up, not the formatting of the cards, it was my photo software on the computer) I would love a new lens for my camera before our next Disney trip! Something like yours, so I don't have to change lenses and get great castle pics and great character/kid pics!!!! I have a Canon Rebel XTi SLR and it's about 8 years old!

Thanks! Hahaha I'll have to toast to your birthday while I'm there!
Nothing wrong with an older SLR, I do still love my little XT! I'm excited for some camera talk, I love to talk cameras!

 

[disfanforlife]

Just found your PTR today and what a coincidence we are going the same dates as you! We are staying at Kidani our first two nights - then moving to BLT for the other 5 nights. LOVE your fur family. We do not have any pets, but do have three kids. Only our youngest is going on this trip with us - so we decided to invite his best friend along too. Then his best friends whole family decided to join us. We are DVC members so we changed our reservation from a one bedroom to a two bedroom to be able to bring everyone. We will have 5 new Disney fans with us! Can't wait to show them the world! I also really wanted BOG and could not get it. Maybe because our group is so big? I will keep trying - maybe breaking into two tables of 4 might help. If not, we are going again in March with our daughters and will try to get in then. Look forward to following your report. I have yet to write one myself....

 

[geckodani]

Yayness on your BOG reservation!!!

 

[teekathepony]

Just found your PTR today and what a coincidence we are going the same dates as you! We are staying at Kidani our first two nights - then moving to BLT for the other 5 nights. LOVE your fur family. We do not have any pets, but do have three kids. Only our youngest is going on this trip with us - so we decided to invite his best friend along too. Then his best friends whole family decided to join us. We are DVC members so we changed our reservation from a one bedroom to a two bedroom to be able to bring everyone. We will have 5 new Disney fans with us! Can't wait to show them the world! I also really wanted BOG and could not get it. Maybe because our group is so big? I will keep trying - maybe breaking into two tables of 4 might help. If not, we are going again in March with our daughters and will try to get in then. Look forward to following your report. I have yet to write one myself....

Glad you could come! How fun that we have the same dates! And that you're bringing a whole new family into the Disney world! I hope you can get your BOG reservation!

Yayness on your BOG reservation!!!

YAYness indeed!!!

 

[teekathepony]

Hello everyone! It's a rainy, miserable day today but there's no getting my spirits down (even if the Toronto Maple Leafs did utterly blow it last night... ) Yesterday was such a great day. I got my BOG reservation, new glasses, some books I ordered, and I ordered my new camera! I'm still riding the high!

So I bet you're wondering exactly what my ADRs look like!

Here they are:

Sunday, November 10 - Boma 7:30am



We have eaten here many times for breakfast and we love it. The only thing we didn't love was getting there from another resort. We figured since we're staying at AKL anyway, we'd better get our fill of Boma, and might as well make it an early reservation too! The food is delicious, lots of choices! And we've always loved the atmosphere. It's a great way to start our trip!

Monday, November 11 - Boma 4:45pm



Boma again!? Well while we love the place for breakfast, we've never done a dinner here! We want to make the most of staying at AKL, including getting the most of the restaurants! Call this a new experience, if not a new restaurant for us.

Tuesday, November 12 - Via Napoli 4:30pm



Er... apparently I don't have any photos of Disney's Italy, so here's a photo of the real Italy. Good enough right?

Via Napoli is a new one for us! I love Italian food and I love Italy so I'm excited for this experience. It looks wonderful in everyone's reviews.

Wednesday, November 13 - Kona 8:05am



We're going here for one thing and one thing only:



TONGA TOAST!

Last year we had the pleasure of trying this restaurant for the first time. The much-raved about Tonga Toast drew us in and we were not disappointed! We drool every time we think about it. We keep meaning to try it at home but haven't yet got around to it. We might end up paying for this little cheap breakfast oop and adding another meal, depending on our flights.

Wednesday, November 13 - Be Our Guest 6:20pm

**

As previously mentioned, I needed this restaurant. I am more excited to eat here than for any other aspect of my upcoming trip, INCLUDING staying at AKL!

**

It is so gorgeous and so like the movie coming to life! I love Beauty and the Beast so much.

**

I want a bear hug from this guy!!!

** pictures from Inside the Magic

Thursday, November 14 - T-Rex 5:00

... erm, hopefully not. More like:

Or just:

As you can see by my lack of photos of the place, this is another first for us! The menu looks awesome, and now that it's on the dining plan we decided to give it a go! We both love dinosaurs and I credit Jurassic Park with the spark in our relationship.

Friday, November 15 - Sci-Fi 4:45

Urgh. Last time I ate here was in 2007 with my parents. The atmosphere was definitely unbeatable, so fun! But the food was really.... unfortunate shall we say. Just plain not good. They have changed the menu since, and I'm hoping for good things. I just really need Johnny to see the inside of this place, and it was convenient to eat at DHS this day.

So there you have our plans!

Now.

I had a lot of interest in the photography tips, and I get a lot of PMs asking for advice. I just want to help the world to get better pictures, especially in Disney!

So without further ado, I present my Photo Tips! Starting at the beginning. Please feel free to ask questions!


Photography 101
Lesson 1: Aperture (f/stop)

Basically speaking, the aperture is the hole in your lens that lets the light into your camera. The size of the hole in the aperture is referred to by f-stops (i.e. f1.8, f8, f22, etc.) The larger hole will let in more light -- just like a huge window will let more light into your house than a tiny porthole. More light is good. We can leave it at that for now.

The larger the aperture, the smaller the f-number. So an f1.8 is a really big opening and will let lots of light in, whereas an f22 is fairly small and won't let much light in at all.

Small number = big hole

Big number = small hole

Small number (big hole) is used for dark situations (like say, Pirates of the Carribean, Spaceship Earth, Splash Mountain, etc.) because it lets as much light as possible into the camera. So when you're in a dark ride, use the biggest aperture (smallest number!) you have available to you. Most kit lenses that come with most SLRs have a maximum aperture of f3.5, and that's only when you're at your widest angle.

This is my store right now, with f22:

Same shot, same settings other than aperture, this is f8:

Same shot again, at f1.8:

Another fun thing that aperture does is changes your depth of field. That's how much of your photo is in focus. You've probably seen pictures of say, a statue up close where the background was really blurry, but the same picture where the background is sharp. Large aperture (small number) is a blurry background, small aperture (large number) is a sharp background. I'll get into detail a little more on that later, but for now check out this example of depth of field:

This shot at f8 (smaller hole), wide depth of field (i.e. more in focus)

This, same shot but with f1.8 (larger hole), very shallow depth of field (i.e. not much in focus)

So you can see there that I focused on the candle holder in the middle and everything in front of and behind it are blurry.

So that's it for today, I hope I made it a little easier to understand what aperture and f-stop are and seriously, ask if you have questions!

 

[disfanforlife]

Thanks! I am not too worried about it. I will be satisfied going for lunch if we can't get in for dinner. Your reservations look great!!!!! We are also going to BOMA our first night for dinner.

 

[IheartDDuck]

I'm here!!! Yay!!!

Okay, now I'm caught up. Awesome that you guys are staying at AKL! I love love love that resort. And you should definitely make sure that you take full advantage of the fact that you're staying there and eat at Boma. I don't judge! I hope you'll like dinner. It's one of my favorites.

Also, awesome that you got BOG. I didn't encounter any problems when I was booking it for July, so I was confident you weren't going to have any issues.

 

[MEK]

Girl - you rock! Not only for getting BOG and great ADRs, but for already writing your first photography lesson.

I love it! I love that you did great examples with it. I never change the f-stop. I only ever manipulate shutter speed. I am going to try these lessons now. Thank you. You did a perfect job explaining it!

 

[disneykiwi]

I have got a bit behind on your report

Congrats on your BOG reservation and actually all your meal plans are great.

I'd love as many tips as poss on the camera - your explanation of aperture etc made perfect sense and I am going to study it properly at the weekend and see if I can figure out how to do it with my oldish camera now.

Thanks heaps for doing that - my trip is only a few weeks away and hopefully i can take some much better photos instead of just point and hope.

 

[SAT887]

Great ADRs! We love Boma and have never hone to breakfast there.... I originally had it for our departure day but I think I want to go earlier in our trip.... Dinner is amazing! One of our favorite buffets in Disney. DH and I are not into the all you can eat part, but sampling so many different and well prepared foods. AKL and AK have some of my favorite food options I also want to go to Via Napoli, but decided for the Garden Grill instead (my traveling companions will enjoy it hehe) T Rex also looks like fun! And BOG... can't wait, I randomly saw one of this ADRs for our trip and I booked it - I was in shock and figured it was fate...

I have a question for you, in Disney, what mode do you tend to shoot in? I was playing around with my camera yesterday (and ummm I love it. Tell your co worker, the change from the D70 is incredible) However, I had my kids out, and I was thinking how it might prove challenging in WDW to take pictures, spend time with my family and also just do the things I need to do... However, I'm not a fan of Auto in most cases, I did take some pictures in auto, and to me they were OK.... You know I might ask you a lot of questions I hope you don't mind, if you do just tell me to shush!