First night tradition when I head to Disney is checking into the hotel, then heading to Downtown Disney area. ; Staying at Saratoga Springs makes it even easier, because it's just a simple walk over to Marketplace. The most common tradition is having dinner that first night on the patio deck of Rainforest Cafe, right around sunset...not only is it a nice casual meal and usually no wait for seating, but the view of the sunset over the lake as you munch on your meal is always stunning: [attachimg=1] Then a walk around the Marketplace area...I never took a pic of the serpent/dragon at the Lego place at night, and with Rainforest in the background, I thought it would be fun. ; I usually would bring my 30mm F1.4 lens along since all night shots would be handheld, but I had met up with my friends from out of town and walked straight over, so no time to head back to the room. ; Still, with the ISO cranked up, I could get by with my 18-250: [attachimg=2] We hung at Raglan Road, listened to a good singer, then when we were ready to head back, we jumped the boat to Saratoga from the new location (this will take some getting used to! The boats to Saratoga no longer stop at Marketplace, but at Pleasure Island's dock...it was very convenient in this case, but sometimes it could be less convenient coming back from Rainforest...then again, there's always walking. That meant while waiting for the Saratoga boat, we were right next to the Characters in Flight balloon...so I had the chance for a couple of high ISO handheld snaps of it, on the ground: [attachimg=3] And in the air: [attachimg=4] It's very pretty the way it's illuminated at night...nice addition to the night skyline! [attachments posted prior to 4/27/2010 have been deleted by admin. be sure to link images to make sure they don't get removed]
Thanks guys. ; Had a little delay in the gallery due to some technical problems, so I'm finally getting around to posting some shots from the trip last week.
Wonderful shots, Justin. ; The only other balloon like that in the country is just north of Indianapolis. ; I saw it last week while driving, and thought I was in Orlando!
Thanks all...next time I will probably bring the tripod and take some long exposures too - they always come out so nice. ; It was too hot and muggy to lug around the tripod, so I stuck to handheld shooting this trip. ; That balloon should be great from across the water at Saratoga with a nice 10 second exposure.
