My very long and photo-intensive Trip Report, Jan 24-28, 2009!

OK...latest trip is over, and I thought I'd share a little photo tour! Weather was beautiful, and the photo opportunities were abundant, with those amazing deep blue skies with not a cloud to be found on some days, and those party-cloudy sunny days on others. Not a drop of rain...cool the first two days, and a very pleasantly warm upper-70s to low 80s on the final two days.

Upon arrival in the early afternoon on Saturday, we checked in to the Boardwalk villa - didn't get my Boardwalk view room, but did score a lovely pool/river view corner room on the 4th floor, by the back quiet pool. The corner rooms have nice side windows looking out over the river, which was nice. Sorted out the unpacking, grabbed kitchen supplies, filled the ice bucket, and then headed out for dinner around sunset with just my little T100 compact (hadn't unpacked and charged the DSLR yet)...took the boat to Hollywood Studios, and was treated to that lovely golden glow light while at the Dolphin dock:



Got off the boat at Hollywood Studios, walked right over to the French Quarter bus, and hopped on for a ride to that resort. Walked through the resort grounds and over to their boat dock, where we hopped the boat to Marketplace (yep...you can tell I enjoy the boat rides, and like to make going to dinner an adventure!). Arriving in Marketplace, we grabbed the traditional first-night patio table at Rainforest for a crisp, cool nightly dinner. After dinner, we headed to the busses, and grabbed the bus to the Epcot Resort area...and exited the bus at Swan/Dolphin, where we walked across the way to Fantasia Gardens for some minigolf:



Ended the first night around midnight with the walk back to the Boardwalk from Fantasia Gardens.

Sunday morning, rise and shine with some coffee on the balcony at 9:30am, and our usual slow start to the day which had us ready to head into the parks around 11-ish. I noticed the beautiful light on the Dolphin and Swan out of my corner window, so I snapped the first DSLR shot of that view:



First day, decided to walk into Epcot - it was crisp blue clear skies and cool weather floating in the low 60s...absolutely gorgeous! Walking through the International Gateway, I hung a right and decided to circle World Showcase first. And the first lovely view that greeted me was the Eiffel Tower through the trees on the bridge to France:



I couldn't help but to try the shallower depth of field shot of a lamp on the bridge, with 'Paris' in the background:



Crowds were wonderfully light...after touring through France, I decided to stop in the Morocco cafe for a baklava and Moorish coffee (espresso with cinnamon and nutmeg) enjoyed on the empty patio:



The skies were really coming into their own in Morocco - walking through that beige desert architecture, I really noticed how beautiful the skies looked:



A rare sight - I walked through the usually bustling souk, and found it almost empty - a great chance to catch the light streaming through the wood roof beams:



Wandering next through Japan, I wanted to try a real landscape shot, without the theme park look...wandering down the path from the tea house past the waterfall and behind the pagoda, I looked back through the trees and found a view that made the little pavilion look like quite a vast Japanese village-scape:



Moving on to Italy next (I hopped past America the first round), the sparse crowds gave the rare opportunity to shoot the long halls of columns outside the shops with noone in the shot:



I passed through Germany and found a bit of a crowd there, being lunchtime...so not as many photo opportunities jumped out at me there. Moving on, I found Andrew Mutiso working away on his beautiful wood carvings:



By this point, I was due to meet up with some of my party around Test Track in about an hour, and later we would meet my mother at China...so I decided to hop past China for now knowing I'd be back later. That put me in Norway - I was going to take the obligatory walk through, when I noticed the line (or lack thereof) for Maelstrom. Well I realized I hadn't ridden that one for well over a year, and decided to hop on board. There was no wait...just the 2 minutes to walk in to the boats. When I got out, the light hitting the Norway houses was amazing, and the colors were jumping out, so I decided to take some street scenes:





More of the trip report to come in the next segment tomorrow!

 

Leaving Norway, I wandered into Mexico...but I'll skip over that for now since we'll be back later. I headed around the Odyssey walkway over the lake to get to the Test Track area to meet some of my party. On the way, the Monorail was coming, and I had to grab a shot of it as it went over the water:



OK...two shots:



I met my party, and we decided to head over to Lunching Pad for lunch...upon arriving we found out why the park was so empty - every living human being in the park was in that spot for lunch and the lines were unbelievable. So we elected to head over to The Land for lunch instead. It was not as bad, but the lunch crowd was still a little heavy, so we decided the perfect way to eat up 15 minutes or so was to jump on Living with the Land - since it had no more than 20 people on line. I tried a shot I've never had much luck with...still didn't (I didn't have the low light lens with me), but at least I could tell what it was this time - ISO3200 and wide open at F3.5:



I always found the scenes in Living with the Land to be some of the most beautifully lit and painted in all of Disney World - sorely overlooked by so many...I was just trying to capture a little of that ambiance in this farmhouse scene (I tried the awesome buffalo scene with the distant thunderstorm, but I needed the F1.7 lens to have any chance). Once off the ride, the lines had paired down, so we grabbed lunch (I had rotisserie chicken with carrots and rice...yummy!), then jumped on Soarin' which had only a 20 minute standby line.

After The Land, we wandered over to Living Seas...the dolphins were all out and active:



It was getting to be the time to go meet with mom at China...so I crossed behind Innoventions past the Cooling Station and down the Odyssey bridges over to Mexico, where I picked up a mango & strawberry margarita, then headed over to China to meet up with mom (who was already at our favorite shady benches behind the pond with her margarita). The light hitting China was gorgeous:



And in the reflecting pond was a visitor, who looked like it was set up there by Disney Imagineers...this guy had a whole squad of paparazzi surrounding him, and he seemed to relish the attention:



It was getting near sunset, and I decided to go ahead and take another lap of World Showcase lagoon both for sunset photos and for some night photos (alas without my tripod - story already heaped upon you all previously...so I visited every trash can along the way!). First around from China was Norway...the Stave church looked beautiful in the golden light:



As did the Mexico pyramid


As the sun was dropping, I decided to reverse my course to catch the light better over the lagoon, so I backtracked to China to the little overlook behind the rocks by the bridge. There I zoomed in for a snap of Canada across the way in some great sunset light:



There goes the sun, behind the American Adventure and the Swan:



A wide view of the lagoon after the sun dropped:



Then I went back on my course around the Showcase counter-clockwise...from Norway, I noticed the Eiffel Tower sticking up in the orange post-sunset glow:



By the time I made it around to Canada, it was getting darker, so I was able to start using slower shutter speeds (and start using garbage cans and fenceposts as tripods!). Back in the Rocky Mountain section, the water flowing over the waterfall looked beautiful against the wooden walkways and lightpost:



Even better, when I walked over to UK next, the light was that beautiful dark transition from the faint horizon glow giving way to deep blues and then blacks of night. Bumped up the ISO a bit and leaned on a lightpost for a handheld shot of Rose & Crown in that light:



Then leaned on the lightpost in the middle of that shot to take the opposite view using the same technique:



This was my last hand-holdable shot using lightposts to steady myself - a full 1-second shutter handheld at ISO200!:



After that, it was garbage can time...for a nice 6 second shutter of the streets of UK:



I snapped a few attempts in France...but the garbage can locations weren't any good, so I didn't bother to upload the results. Then I heard Mo Rockin' starting up a set, and headed over to their new stage to listen. The night show on the new stage is great - good lighting and good sight lines...I cranked up the ISO to 800 and hand-held a few snaps of the band:



Wandering through Morocco afterwards was beautiful with all of the soft, warm lights glowing in the empty adobe corridors:



Upon arriving in Japan, I found the beautifully lit pavilion highlighted by the Hollywood Studios spot bems in the background, which made for a can't miss shot (which required heading to the benches across from Kaki Gori on the lagoon-side and waiting for crowds to part...because it was the only level spot for my camera without the tripod!!):



Still...considering how hard it was without tripod to set up for some of these shots, I was thrilled with the results.

On passing American Adventure...I noticed the Aliens were still inhabiting the building. Following up on Tim's dutiful documenting of the Alien invasion, I snapped a shot of the Alien light beams too:



We sped up past Germany, China, and Norway to make our dinner res at Mexico, where we had a fantastic meal at San Angel Inn, along with the obligatory restaurant and pyramid shot (using the handrail down the stairs as a tripod):



We emptied out of dinner almost exactly at Illuminations. Having seen it many times, we decided not to bother fighting to the front of the crowd, and just sat along the back benches in a little smoking spot just past the Odyssey bridge (noone was there). The view from that spot of the backs of the crowds and lakeside lighting made for one of the more interesting fireworks shots I've ever taken - this was a handheld snap at ISO400 of Illuminations:



After the show, we hung out there for 30 minutes or so to let the crowds head for the exits - sipping some lovely cappucino from the nearby coffee cart. When we finally started back for our villas, the World Showcase was nearly empty and it was almost 11pm. Walking past Canada, I took a last shot for the night:



After that night, we were tired enough to call it a night - and headed back to our rooms around midnight to kick off the shoes, relax, and get ready to sleep.

Next post will be all about Monday...and Animal Kingdom!

 

My Trip Report, Part Three

Thanks Jeremy. I don't do it enough, but I agree...it does tend to add some interest to a shot. Several of my favorite shots have had silhouettes of people in them...I should think of it more often.

Mainstreet - Nice work...now you know I love that shot! I've snapped a few myself, but usually have to clone people out or just accept them in the background. I don't think I've tried a night one like yours...might have to add that to the shot list!

DAY 3 - Monday

One thing to mention on arriving back at the room Sunday night...DVC left us a nice little gift which we've never received before. It was a tray, with a large stand-up white-chocolate Mickey and 4 white-and-dark chocolate dipped strawberries done up like tuxedoes...and a note saying 'welcome home'. That was something new - I called the desk to inquire, and they said that sometimes they just do that. Cool...first time it's happened to me in many stays!

Anyway, next morning woke at around 9:30, spent an hour or so having coffee and relaxing around the villa. After shower, change, and getting the gear together, I was ready to head out around noon. Today would be Animal Kingdom day. I grabbed the car out of valet, and drove over to Animal Kingdom Lodge (there's a method to my madness...dinner later would be at Jiko in the lodge), then grabbed the bus to Animal Kingdom.

I always break left when I head in the gate...I don't really know why. It just feels normal for me to go that way, and I'm used to looking for my buddy the anteater. But this time, I decided to go to the right first, then cut through the little midway path between the two trails...I rarely walk this path, and I'm glad I did because I rarely take notice of the rainforest-looking waterfall behind the macaws:



I got to the Tree of Life, and decided to keep going against the grain, and stay to the right...I walked towards Dinoland, then veered down the path towards Everest and the 'Nepal' region...I love the architecture there and the way the building colors look in nice light:





And I also love hunting for great 'roller coaster face'...I snapped 4 or 5 cars coming down Everest, and was rewarded with another classic face...check out the sheer terror and displeasure on the face of the boy in the upper left, and contrast it with the mischievous pleasure of the guy on the bottom left:



On the way to Anandapur, I of course stopped for the obligatory 'shallow depth of field temple and mountain' shot:



Another place I've neglected to take scenic photos on (probably because I don't go anywhere near the ride when I have my DSLR on me!)...Kali River Rapids. This time, I decided I'd walk the ride line with my camera to take some shots of the lovely grounds and buildings along the way...I took the bailout gate at the end before boarding:





Now is the time to stop and note that: THIS IS JUST A QUEUE! Attention to detail, flair, whatever you call it...Disney trumps all others at it, and AK trumps all the other Disney parks at it. It almost makes me angry to see so many people ambling along in line NOT appreciating the awesome spectacle of decor and design lavished on just the queue areas!

I walked the Maharaja jungle trek...the Komodo stuck his tongue out at me, the tapir was hiding in the corner, the bats were hanging out, and the tigers were (surprise!) sleeping. Actually...one tiger was awake and licking himself:







I wandered back along the trail from Anandapur to Harambe (crossing continents for your pleasure!), where I met up with mom and we jumped on the Kilimanjaro Safari. The wait was...actually, there really wasn't one - we walked right in to row 2 of the second truck on the left. I got a few more of the usual shots I've already shared here...but I also got a first! The cheetahs were visible and had their eyes open (though still lying on the ground basically motionless...they need to upgrade to the gen 2 animatronics!). I needed all of my 375mm, ISO800, and a steady hand, but I finally got a decent shot of these cats for the first time:



The cheetahs are almost always lying in the shadows way at the back of their enclosure...so high ISO was just about the only way to get a fast enough shutter speed for the motion of the truck at full zoom. Unfortunately in my excitement, I forgot to set the ISO back down when I saw a lion sitting at the top of the hill, so my quick snap of him sitting in the shadow of a tree has alot more shadow noise than necessary:



I had plenty of time to remember to set the ISO down while we waited for the rhinos to step out of the way of the truck just past the lion enclosure...they had wandered all the way over to near the warthog area:



After exiting, we walked the Pangani Forest trail...I bypassed the Okapi, monkey, and meercats, and the hippos weren't on the tank side today, so the gorillas provided the entertainment. I love these guys...hard to keep your eyes off them as they are truly fascinating...and so expressive:



And sometimes, they can be downright goofy...like when this male decided to stick his water dish on his head and walk around playing 'king for a day':



It was getting near close of the park, so we jumped the Wildlife Express over to Rafiki's Planet watch so we'd be some of the later folks out of the park. It was there I saw this strange-looking frog, who really seemed to want to get out of there:



Catching the last train back from Rafiki's paid off, as when we got to the village of Harambe, the sun was setting and the village was nearly abandoned. That made for some lovely people-free shots of the buildings:













Once we got to Discovery Island, we hit a last few stragglers still at the stores (which stay open even after the rides close)...the setting sun sky was very pretty over Island Mercantile:



On exiting the park, we caught the bus to AK Lodge, and hung out there for an hour or so while we waited for our reservations. A lobby shot was in order:



I was too busy in Jiko eating the food to remember to take photos there...a bottle of Old Vine pinotage, apple chicken coffee bbq flatbread, tamarind braised shortribs in onion garlic sauce over potato, and french press of Kenya AA roast to top it all off. Oh. My. God. I did take a snap of Boma next door on the way out, while waiting for mom and Jen to go to the restroom:



From AK Lodge, we grabbed the car (see...the plan comes together!) and drove to Winter-Summerland minigolf, parking on the Blizzard Beach side (noone parks there...empty lot all to yourself)...and played a round of golf...wrapping up the night a little early, back to Boardwalk by around 11. Hey, why not a late night lobby shot:



Next post, we'll hit Tuesday at Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom!

 

Love those shots of Harambe!
and its been 6 monthes since I've been to Jiko. I really need a fix!

 

Thanks Craig. I'd skipped Jiko on my last two trips, so I was really hankering for it. My extended family wasn't up for it, but my mother loves the place and my friend Jen ate there for the first time, so I had two co-conspirators!

 

My Trip Report & Photos, Part 4

Day 4 - Tuesday

Today was a late start day - woke up around 10am as we decided there'd be no rush on our last day. The usual coffee at the villa, enjoying the morning, meant not getting out until 11am or so. I walked the Boardwalk a bit, then hopped the boat when it arrived to head off for Hollywood Studios (this time, I wouldn't just be using it for the bus stop!). The first pic of the day was when pulling into the Swan/Dolphin dock, and seeing the Dolphin lit up so nicely in the bright sun:



Upon arriving in Hollywood Studios, the crowds were light, so I enjoyed the stroll through the grounds. I broke left, past Prime Time Cafe, and don't think I ever paid attention to some of the little details there...like this entrance gate to the 'Echo Lake Apartments':



I worked my way past the scourge that is Star Tours (ha...I love taking little jabs at all you Star Wars fans, knowing full well I am in a very very tiny minority of people who don't like that franchise), and around the corner to the Streets of America, which I confess to not having seen since 2003 when it was New York Street. The obligatory shallow focus shot of the street sign with the blurred background had to be taken in the San Francisco section, which was new to me:



I also tried a New York version, but there were just too many people in the shot and it didn't have the same effect.

After wrapping there, I walked past the Commissary and over to the Great Movie Ride - finally with a DSLR in hand and a chance to get a few better shots in there (though not with my low light lens, so the F3.5-5.3 18-250mm had to do). ISO1600 was generally enough for these scenes, which are a little better lit than Pirates or Haunted. First up was Clint Eastwood...though I was stuck in the 3rd row center of the ride and had to shoot between two people's heads and crop:



Still, I've never even gotten anything usable with that one before. Even better was a nice, clean John Wayne for a change:



After the movie ride, I wandered over to the other side of the park, and headed over to grab lunch at Sunset Ranch Market. Coming up that street, the blue sky was beginning to get some puffy white clouds, which made for a nice wide shot of the street and the Hollywood Tower Hotel in the distance:



I had also brought the ND400 filter along in a pocket - even though I didn't have my tripod with me...I figured I might still get a chance to use it with a well-placed garbage can. I managed one on that same street after lunch:



The 20-second exposure almost made the park look empty, with most people blurring out of the shot...except the well placed family that decided to stand in my shot to discuss their itinerary.

That was about enough Hollywood Studios for me, as it was getting more crowded and it felt like a parade was coming on...so I departed for the busses to work my way to Magic Kingdom. My chosen route to MK was to hop the bus to Wilderness Lodge (it was going to be that one, or the Contemporary bus, whichever came first)...then walking through that beautiful hotel (I've already shot hundreds of photos there, so I actually didn't bother this time) to the boat docks, where I hopped the boat to Magic Kingdom. On passing Contemporary (oops...Bendele Towers), I noticed how complete the Bacon-Lettuce-Tomato building was coming along, and snapped a shot of the two together:



As you can see, it was getting partly cloudy...not bad - the sun was out 98% of the time, with just occasional shadows drifting past...there was no threat of rain. When I got to MK, I entered to moderate crowds...which I quickly realized wasn't because of the parks being crowded, but because the family fun day parade was starting soon. I managed a quick crouch in front of my boy Roy, to try a nice portrait shot of he and Minnie with a shallow DOF Main Street and castle behind:



I avoided the parade crowds by sneaking around Casey's Corner, past the First Aid towards Crystal Palace, where I stopped to grab a nice shot of the castle that I don't often see from that vantage point:



Following the path over the bridge to the Adventureland path, then over the next bridge to the Liberty Square path, I managed to catch the back of the parade coming out of Liberty Square, then crossed up the path beside the castle to Fantasyland. I love the Fantasyland lights around the castle, and wanted to try a looking-up shot of one of the lights and the castle spires:



And Sir Mickey's...which oddly enough I've never photographed in 738 trips:



Another first was the murals inside the castle...I saw someone else's shot, and realized I've never shot them myself. I've got them all now...here's one:



A little ND400 fun with the Carousel...again, I had to rely on a garbage can that was across the path from the ride, so hundreds of people crossed in front of the camera during the exposure:



Working my way around to Pirates, after backtracking down the castle path again by Sleepy Hollow and over to Adventureland, I found the ride nearly empty...as I walked in there was one couple in front of me walking through the corridors, and noone behind. I actually had time to stop and line up a high ISO shot of the chess players through the jail door - a 1 second exposure at ISO1600 handheld, leaning against the rail to steady myself:



And didn't get passed by anyone! When I made my way past the cannons, and down the walkway to the boat, it was a walk-right-on affair...row 6 by myself.

After Pirates, I did some wandering...through Frontierland, Liberty Square, and around to Fantasyland again (the lights were just coming on as it was getting dusky)...I found the old Skyway station looking so lonely and unused, with nothing but baby carriages parked out front:



I noticed this lovely light fixture on the facade of It's A Small World's exit:



For the first time in a few years, I rode Small World, and for the very first time, snapped a few pics inside:



I would like to point out that the boats for Small World have been shrunk in the dryer. Having just gotten off Pirates not too long before, it was almost shocking how low the seat was on these boats, and how very very little leg room there is (my knees were higher than my head!). When did this happen? I rode that as a kid all the time, and it never felt so small!

Coming back around Fantasyland, I realized I hadn't taken any nice shots of the back of the castle, and the light was still decent, so I snapped one this time:



I grabbed a coke, and chilled a while back at my Liberty Square backlot area as the sun set further and night came on. Walking out of there, I decided some handheld night shots would be a fun challenge - so I cranked up the ISO to 800, exhaled on the shutter snap, and got to work. First was trying to capture that post-dusk remnant light and feel on the bridge from Liberty Square to Adventureland...I liked the wood lanterns and bridge rails:



Crystal Palace looked cool because of that deep blue sky color against all the bright lights of the restaurant...I tried a wide shot under the entrance:



The failing light was getting increasingly challenging for handheld...on Main Street at ISO800 I was down to 1/15 shutter, so it took a steady hand:



In that light, the firehouse looked wonderful, so I waited for some break in the crowds and snagged a night snap of it in that blue night sky:



And City Hall next door for the same treatment:



That was it for MK...I headed out and decided to work my way slowly back to my resort. I went to catch the boat to Wilderness Lodge again, but it had just pulled out...so I walked over to the bus stop to get the Boardwalk bus, just as the Wilderness Lodge bus pulled up. Kismet! So I jumped on board. The bus was empty, so I enjoyed a chat with the driver about the crowds and lack thereof...then upon arriving at Wilderness Lodge, I transferred to the Hollywood Studios bus, which had just arrived to drop off all the folks leaving that park which had closed. I jumped on, of course the only one headed TO the closed park...had another lovely chat with the driver about Brazilians, then upon arrival walked over to the boat dock to catch one of the last boats back to Boardwalk. Exiting the boat, I picked up a pizza at Boardwalk Pizza, and brought it back up to the room where mom and Jen were waiting (they had spent the day at Epcot again). We had pizza in the villa, then packed some of our stuff, and went back out to the Boardwalk for a few hours at Jellyrolls, and a sports wrapup at ESPN.

The next day, woke at 10am, mostly packed already, had coffee, showered, called bell services to pick up the luggage and valet to bring the car around to the front, then loaded up and got on the road by 11:15am. Filled up the tank halfway home in Ft. Pierce and grabbed lunch, then made it back to the house by 2:45pm.

That's All Folks! Another Disney trip under the belt, another great set of photo opportunities, a few photo firsts, and another wonderful vacation. Gotta start planning the next trip!

Comments, questions, input, etc welcome. Hope it was informative or fun to follow along on my trip report!

 

Justin, in a few months I'll let you know how the Small World 2.0 boats feel. (Considering I've actually gotten *stuck* inside there once.......)

 

Rog...I can see how that's possible. Getting out of the boat would have been more of a challenge if I wasn't the only one in the row...I was able to turn sideways and go on my knees to get up, which made it easier! Looking forward to hearing of improvements for 2.0.

Mainstreet - Boardwalk Pizza I find pretty good. Caveat: It ain't New York...but what else is? I actually have a very hard time with pizza at Disney, and usually avoid it...but Boardwalk is the only place so far I will get it from. While not real NY style pizza, it is thinner, with a better tasting crust than the other resorts' delivery pizzas or the stuff at the counter-service places. I think when you're having not-so-good pizza, the hint is to add soem toppings...so I usually go pepperoni & xtra cheese. It comes out pretty good at Boardwalk.

I was there during a fairly uncrowded time of year too, so service was quite quick...from time we placed the order to pick up was around 15 minutes for a full pie. The only place that was a little more crowded was the bakery in the mornings - it seems people were coming from other resorts just to eat on the Boardwalk. I only went down there one day early, and preferred to just have coffee back at the room and wait for lunch to eat.

 

And wait, they didn't have the new Kim Possible fireworks inside Mexico? (or was no one there to do that....)

 

Rog...no Kim Possible fireworks while I was there at least. As a long-time World Showcase lover, I can't say I'm all that thrilled with the new addition, though I understand why they've done it since kids nowadays wouldn't have any interest in going through the World Showcase with all of that history, architecture, culture, and scenery...they need some whiz-bang attention-grabbing distraction! The downside for me is hearing those stupid cellphones on speaker blaring throughout the World Showcase area with inattentive kids staring at the video screens while running around the countries. But, Disney needs to keep the interest up at Epcot, so I guess I can't blame them.

Thank you WDWmemories!

 

Thank you. Hopefully in a good way - it makes you want to head back as soon as possible, so you book that next trip!

 

Thank you all!