Consider this a preport! I'll be heading down in about 7 hours, finally got finished packing. We'll be there for a week and plan on hitting each park at least twice. Last time I went down, I packed a Canon P&S with an extra memory card and pocket full of batteries. This time, its the Sony a300, with 2 tripods, two batteries, 2 flash cards, a 18-200 and a 50 mm 1.8 lens (which I'm already in love with), along with cables and filters stuffed in a Sling Pro. Instead of snapshots, I spent hours on the 3D Google Earth planning which spots to shoot at what times. Crazy what a difference 2 years can bring. If anyone is down in the World, look for my hat attached to my bag, because I'm hoping its the only one in the Parks. [attachment=1] [attachment=2] [attachment deleted by admin]
I'll look for you - if you'll be there a week, then we'll be overlapping on the weekend. I'm headed up Saturday morning on the 24th and staying through Wednesday the 28th at the Boardwalk. Saturday will likely be an Epcot day, since I'm getting there early afternoon and staying at Boardwalk, so I can walk right in. The rest of the trip will be fairly unplanned...so if you know you're going to be anywhere in particular on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, let me know and I'll write it down to look for you when I'm there. I'll be armed with my A300 too!
I can't remember what Sat is, I think its all-day at Epcot, and I know Sunday is all-day at the Magic Kingdom. We fly out super early on Monday, which is sad, but necessary. I'll check out my schedule when we arrive, because I made an obsessive compulsive one to help whittle down the days until...now.
Definitely let me know - are you bringing your computer to connect while there? If yes, let me know what your basic schedule looks like on Saturday - maybe at some point in the day if you've scheduled a rest stop or drink break or something, I could try to pop by that location around that time for a hello. My day is the opposite of yours - 100% unplanned and free of any schedule at all. I'll be mostly free-roaming - I've got some family with me, but I usually break from them to walk around the parks and meet up for dinner. My mother likes to walk, so sometimes she'll tag along, but she gets bored with all of my photo stops! My aunt and cousin aren't up for the long walks around the parks as much, so we tend to meet up in the evenings for a meal (they live up there, so they don't need to see the parks - my aunt WORKS at Disney)
Sounds good to me. I'll have my laptop, so I can check my schedule after I arrive. Everything is packed up right now. (thank goodness for my ipod touch).
You've got a great set of equipment to carry around! I can't wait to see some of hte pictures, and hope you have a terrific time!
Just got online access...tomorrow I'm headed to the Magic Kingdom for my final day, getting up early for the opening ceremony, and then going back in the evening for Wishes, and then running to DHS for extra magic hours. Took a ton of photos, attached is a draft of one of them. The last couple days the parks have been really busy, much more than I expected for this time of year. Skipped Toy Story Mania after seeing the 110 minute wait times. Weather has been wonderful, the first day was sunny with great clouds. The next couple days were pretty cold (for down here, not for PA) with unbroken blue skies. Great times down here! [attachment deleted by admin]
Jeremy the shot that you posted with the statue and the castle is a great one! I like the composition of it.
Thanks! I shot it using a 50mm lens with low aperture. The image is 9 images stitched together, then the contrast was tweaked (well, over tweaked).
And now for a report. This'll be scatter shot and bullet-pointed! Stayed at the Saratoga Springs Resort in a 2 bedroom villa, which was great inside, but I enjoyed the felling of Port Orleans French Quarter when walking around. SS is huge, I think there were 6 bus stops, and it does have the feeling of being a resort and not a hotel. Of course, when spending as little time as I could there (mainly for sleeping), I did not experience many of the resort amenities. The food was fine, usual breakfast fair and a lot of flatbread choices for lunch/dinner. We stayed at the Springs area, which was close to the restaurant. Used the Disney Dining Plan for Quick Service, which worked out great, giving us 2 meals and 3 snacks a day. Even if we didn't save money, it was still nice having that chunk of cash already budgeted out. Spent the majority of time in Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. Crowds were light early in the week, probably due to the MLK holiday ending and it being very cold. Well, very cold for Florida, which I found amusing since up here in PA we just endured near zero temps for a couple days. The crowds picked up towards the middle of the week, a lot of Brazilians were there, all identifiable thanks to their matching shirts. By the end of the week, even Mission: Space was boasting a half hour wait, and at one point, Midway Mania hit near 2 hours. Aside from the cold, the weather was magnificent. The first day gave me those amazing 3D clouds with a ton of definition, making for great backdrops. The remaining days gave me unbroken blue skies like I never see here at home. In the Magic Kingdom, there was a crane taking down the Castle lights the first day, but happily that was removed by the time we made it back. I was bummed Mickey's Philharmagic was closed, but everyting else was open. I enjoyed the enhancements to the Haunted Mansion, and I quickly gave up trying to take any photos, even my with new lens. Tomorrowland was torn up, thanks to the new stage in construction and the additional parking lot. The Monsters Inc Laugh Floor was a ton of fun. I was even picked to be Mike in the first skit. Caught wishes twice, once at the end of Main Street, and the second in front of Dumbo in Fantasyland. I challenge anyone who does not believe in Disney magic to watch kids ride Dumbo while fireworks explode overhead to not feel it by the end. Epcot was great, still by favorite park because of my great love for the classic World's Fairs that we may never see again. Skipped most Future World attractions except for Spaceship Earth. Enjoyed the new additions and was impressed by the goofy futures I could choose. Spent a long time walking the World Showcase loop, snapping pictures and experiencing the little things that make Epcot special. All the parks had a lot more activity than when we went in October 2006. Skipped the Kim Possible Adventure, though kids were having a lot of fun with it and it brought them further into World Showcase. At Animal Kingdom, I rode the usual attractions, and saw a lot of activity on the safari. Caught the Finding Nemo Musical, which was wonderful, and ate at the Yak and Yeti counter service, which was a nice change of pace from burgers, though nothing amazing. Disney's Hollywood Studios had the walls up around the hat, so that will lead to some cropping in my long exposure shots during extra magic hours. Not much else interesting. Shot almost 3500 pictures over the 7 days, a lot of handheld panoramas. Lugged my tripod around, since it was just too big for the lockers, but it was worth it for the firework and long exposure pictures. I loved using the SlingPro pack, even found a way to hook my tripod on a strap to avoid carrying it during the colder days. Both lens performed great, the 50mm allowed for some good shots on Pirates and a lot of fun snaps around the parks. I'm working on my photos now, pulling out the good ones for some panorama stitching and/or tone mapping. I know I did not get every shot I wanted, but that's okay because it gives me motivation for next time. The only downsides were folks using flashes on Pirates and other dark rides, which annoys me and ruins the mood. I kept telling myself that this may be their first and only time ever at the Parks. There was a little bit of cleaning around the parks and resort, but aside from a broken lamp cover in front of the room, nothing major. I witnessed a gull snatch a churro out a guy's hand while he was walking, and that was awesome. Overall, it was a great trip and I came home with hundreds (if not more) of photos to print, frame, and hang on the wall. It was such a different experience going with an eye for special pictures, rather than taking snapshots with a point and shoot. I did get shots of the four icons at night, which I always wanted, and a couple decent firework shots. I'll be posting photos frequently, though I also want to space them out because it might be a whie before we get back. I'll leave you with this one, and keep an eye on my Flickr feed for more. [attachment deleted by admin]
