Come on down guys - the weather's fine!

So Im not sure if anyone is reading this or not but Im having a good time reliving my trip and showing off pics from my first trip as a DSLR owner!

Monday we slept in and then wandered around the Boardwalk Area. Also a good opportunity to practice taking family portraits with the help of my tripod. Im still learning and want to do more "close-up" shots. It was also one of those days where there was no getting the sun behind you!




and checked out the Christmas decorations at Yacht and Beach and the Swan and Dolphin





and then... Bongos for lunch!


That night after DTD and Dinner at Pucks I went down to the lobby to take some pictures.










Next up: Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios!

 

Nope its always there - its how we keep him in line. Some people put the monkey backpack/leash things on their kids we put a pole on my Dad. J/K! Speaking of those backpacks I saw a lady and her young daughtr walking past Electric Umbrella at EPCOT. The daughter walked one way around a pole, mom walked the other way. No one got hurt but they were stuck for a moment!

 

I think I would definately try a different angle. Make the Dolphin more behind us like have us standing on the grass instead. Like I said these were just test shots (and it was that early morning time when the little golf carts are running everywhere!) Thanks for the advice guys!

 

Re: Come on down guys - the weather's fine! ** LOTS OF PICTURES**

Tuesday:

That morning we head off to Animal Kingdom.  First up: Kilaminjaro Safaris (I read in a magazine the other day its 1.5 miles from the front of AK to the Safari.  Its also 1.5 miles around World Showcase lagoon). I was SO excited about getting some great animal shots on the safari. I asked to sit up front and the CM putting people in line was really cool about it.  Next time, Im sitting in the back. I definately could see the animals the driver was seeing but it was hard to get good shots because the side mirrors were in my way!







Then we went on the walk (where are the gorillas and birds?)


(Keep in mind these next three were taken through glass)






and of course we had to ride Everest (Im not brave enough to take out my camera and take a picture of the view when you get to the top when you can see way out all the way to Swan and Dolphin...someday)

Later I wanted to see some shows to take some pictures. We walked past Flights of Wonder and saw the show was starting in about 5 minutes so we went in.








and then my 50mm and I went to Finding Nemo!






and later Lion King













IM taking a break - more later!

 

I REALLY like the giraffe pic - I love giraffes.

 

Ooops I made a boo-boo. Looking through my pictures I realized we did not go to DHS Tuesday night, we went back to EPCOT. The reason we did this was because we knew Tuesday night was going to beautiful, Wednesday night was a little questionable and of course we would be back at EPCOT on Saturday night. So anyway, once again I went back earlier than the folks to catch some of the storytellers.






Virginia Madsen was narrating Candleight Processional that night


(not to bad for standing and watching outside on the sidewalk huh?)


(Yes! My first successful night shot of SSE!)




La Befana at Italy





We wandered around and caught the Chinese acrobats


and dinner at Japan


its not Christmas without the EPCOT tree

 

Beautiful!

 

Wednesday

The news kept saying the weather was going to get pretty nasty Thursday so we switched our last park day to Wednesday (our feet were barking but we made it).  Dad was feeling the effects of Disney so he stayed back at Boardwalk and Mom and I headed off to Magic Kingdom.

. Mom and I wanted to get our picture taken on mainstreet with the castle behind us but I guess everyone else had the same idea and every single photopass photographer had a long wait so we put it off until later. On our way up the street, the trolley stopped and the performers put on a little show


It was early and what else do you do for breakfast on your last day in WDW? Mickey ice cream bar in Frontierland DUH! Check out this view (with a little post processing)


THen it was off to Haunted Mansion with my 50mm!
(Not perfect but my reaction was "cool it worked!")


This on the other hand...did not work.

Then off to Fantasyland and Small World












Then we went over to EPCOT to meet Dad for lunch


and ride Mexico

(hand held but Im very excited about it!)


then walked back to Boardwalk...for a nap. On the way out there were lots of characters out. Including my favorite - Mary Poppins



Home Sweet Home



P.S. Mom and I did get our photopass pics



Coming up next. M-G-Disney-Hollywood Studios-M!

 

hehe...that's cute

I'm liking your pictures! Keep posting girlfriend~

 

Okay. Here I am again - almost done guys, I promise!

So Wednesday evening we headed over to DHS. We dont usually spend a lot of time in this park because there arent that many attractions that we want to ride, and frankly, not that many attractions total. First stop, Mom and I headed to Tower of Terror. The most exciting part of this ride was ALMOST getting on an elevator loaded by TJ - the "please enjoy your stay" bellhop you see on all the Travel Channel specials. We were so close but we got routed to another line! Grr!

Later we got into Indiana Jones just as the show was starting. I bet its been about 5 years since Ive seen this show, but my camera and I wandered in anyway! I was pretty far away and wasnt sure I was going to get anythign even with my 55-200 mm lens on but I was pleasantly surprised! Unfortunately we got there after Indy almost gets rolled over by a rock.






(INDY AS THE FONZ?)






After this we did a couple of other things, checked the line for TSM (110 minutes) and then headed over to Muppet 3-D (my Dad's favorite - acutally he just likes Sam the Eagle). After Muppets it was time for Osborne Lights! I got quite a few good shots this year - Ill try to restrain myself LOL














AND Im happy to report we got some "people pictures" that turned out nice. I still havent found "slow syncro flash" on my Xti (but I did find it on my Dad's Canon Powershot P&S!) but I used 2nd curtain flash.


(Dad's trying to show that its snowing)



After the lights we headed out.


Mom soaking up a little bit of the magic


My first successful hat shot.

Were getting to the end folks. Next up resort Christmas decorations!

 

Very nice shots!

I am so happy your people pics turned out~

 

You've got some great shots! One of my favorites is Minnie's house with all the strollers parked outside. Tells a story, doesn't it?

 

So my New Year's resolution is to finish this trip report by the end of the year - or hopefully by the time we leave on February 7th! ;D

Thursday was our last day in Disney and we woke up to find that had probably made a wise decision switching our last park day to Wednesday since we were under a tornado watch!

So our plan for the day was to go to the other resorts and look at decorations. We had a nice leisurely morning and then headed over to Animal Kingdom Lodge


since we were planning on a big dinner at Kona that night we didn't want to eat a very big lunch so we checked out The Mara - AKL's food court area and were pleasantly surprised. They had everything from soups to sandwiches to rotisserie chicken and pizzas! For dessert we splurged and got zebra domes! Yum!

After lunch it was on to Wilderness Lodge



(I love this picture)


When we got to Boardwalk we were happy to find the tornado watch was over and the sky had brightened considerably for the first day of Mousefest!


Next up, decorations at Grand Floridian and Polynesian!

 

All great stuff - thanks for sharing!

 

For our last night in Disney we checked out the Christmas decorations at the monorail resorts (Grand Floridian and Polynesian...weve never found Contemporary's worthy of getting off the monorail) and then dinner at Kona.
Since we were having dinner at the Polynesian we parked there and then hoped the monorail over to GF.


This one I had been having trouble with. All of my pictures were getting this odd yellow cast. With some experimentation by setting my white balance off of the white walls, this is my best result.

It was a beautiful cool Florida night.



And my Dad thought he found a new job


And of course, whats a visit to the GF at Christmas without the Gingerbread House!


Then off to the Poly!


Now THIS is Christmas!

And always theres some interesting Gingerbread houses!



After dinner, Wishes on the Poly beach and then Dole Whips!

 

Conclusion

Friday we went to our house in Mt. Dora FL. A quiet day of roaming around town and left my camera at the house to give my neck/back/shoulders a little break (remember Im still new at this). That night we went to The Villages (where Mom and Dad are moving to...one of these days)



Usually at night they have musical acts in the town square but it was so cold (45 degrees -- hey they dont know cold!) so there was nothing going on.








The next evening was back to EPCOT for the TMIP meet. Many of you guys were there so Im just going to wrap this thing up with a few shots I fired off that night.






















This shot was supposed to be about Canada and how they are the inventors of the Christmas tree. Im not happy with the piece of wood highlighted by the pink light though!





THE. END.