Only one more day to go - trip report now complete

[Groucho]

I just have to get through one more day then it's off to WDW!

Since this is the photography forum and occasionally it's asked how much equipment people bring... here's my pile. With four "hidden Mickeys" no less. Pardon the less-than-stellar image quality, it was a single quick PnS shot, for documentation more than anything else.

I cut the lens collection down to only bringing six lenses. OK, plus two for the wife's DSLR. But she's carrying 'em.

Tamrac case with Op/Tech SOS strap... Slik 713 CF II tripod... a couple Zing lens pouches (probably will only use one at any given time) and Tamrac battery/memory card wallet on top... Lester A Dine 105mm F2.8 1:1 macro... Tamron 28-75mm F2.8... Pentax 50-200mm... Rocket Blower... Pentax 31mm F1.8 Limited ... Pentax 10-17mm fisheye... Pentax 50mm F1.4... Pentax K100D w/18-55mm & red Op/Tech Pro Loop strap & Mickey lens cloth pouch... Pentax K20D w/DA* 50-135mm F2.8 & Pentax AF-360FGZ flash & black Op/Tech Pro Loop strap & Spudz lens cloth pouch... Tamrac filter wallet... Clamperpod & cheapie Giottos ballhead... homemade "Tic-Tac Bold" remote shutter release... 5x 2g, 2x 4g, and 2x 8g SD cards... 2x circular polarizers, cross screen, and ND8 filter... spare battery for K20D... and Panasonic camcorder, which'll probably almost never get used.

I just found out that free high-speed internet for DVC owners doesn't start until just after we leave so I may be stuck with dial-up, but I will try to get high-speed anyway (without paying!) and either way will post some updates and photos.

Excelsior!

 

[YEKCIM]

Looks like you are ready for anything! And I thought I carried a lot of stuff to WDW. Hope you have a GREAT time in The World. Will be looking forward to your blow-by-blow reports and pix.

~Ed

 

[Code]

Wow, you're definitely prepared. Have a great time! Will there be a trip report when you return?

 

[ukcatfan]

Have a great time and be sure to drop me a line if you have some free time while in the Cape. I have some new numbers, so I will send you a PM.

Kevin

 

[MassJester]

Heh, got me beat by 1 filter, four lenses, a body and a camcorder

I'm there for a short trip Saturday through Tuesday. I'll be the guy in the Disney shirt.

 

[wdwmom2]

One thing is missing......the kitchen sink !!! JK, have a great time . Take plenty of sunscreen. Two of my co-workers just got back from Disney(two separate trips), both got alittle too much sun. And they were wearing sunscreen.

 

[senecabeach]

Groucho....

WOW !!!

I could never carry half that gear. BTW... Is that a "magic" tamrac bag that fits everything .. like a "magic" hat where you keep pulling the rabbit out ? How DO you carry it all ? Guessing you have a main and day bag.

Have a "Wonderful" trip and I'm certainly looking forward to your pics..especially the cool night and fisheye shots.

Enjoy !!

 

[DVC Jen]

Have fun - can't wait to see your pics when you get back. I especially enjoy your fish eye shots.

 

[oogieboogieman]

Looks like there's no room for the k1000. As of today for us it's 100 days till we leave. Have fun.

 

[Todd_H]

Nice hidden mickey with the filters ! (apparently i didn't see that you pointed out the HM's in your original post the first time)

Have a great trip!

 

[Groucho]

Thanks all! 14 hours and counting until the plane takes off... and less than three hours later, we're there. I loooove non-stop flights.

Now won't it just stink if all my pictures turn out terrible after carrying all this?

Wow, you're definitely prepared. Have a great time! Will there be a trip report when you return?

Definitely maybe. We'll see. I will probably do a basic live report while I'm there (especially if I can talk them into comp'ing me high-speed internet) and may do a longer one later when the pictures are all processed - but who knows how long that'll take. I'm thinking it's possible that I'll have 40-50 gigs of photos to process... maybe more?

Heh, got me beat by 1 filter, four lenses, a body and a camcorder

I'm there for a short trip Saturday through Tuesday. I'll be the guy in the Disney shirt.

OK, I'll keep my eyes peeled for the guy in Disney shirt.

One thing is missing......the kitchen sink !!! JK, have a great time . Take plenty of sunscreen. Two of my co-workers just got back from Disney(two separate trips), both got alittle too much sun. And they were wearing sunscreen.

Well, I will be wearing a bucket hat most of the time - I need something as somehow there's very little "natural" coverage up top any more, and what's left I cut very close. I like the bucket hat a lot as it doesn't get in the way of the camera like a baseball hat, and also covers your ears. We will be doing full SPF30 though.

Groucho....

WOW !!!

I could never carry half that gear. BTW... Is that a "magic" tamrac bag that fits everything .. like a "magic" hat where you keep pulling the rabbit out ? How DO you carry it all ? Guessing you have a main and day bag.

That's not far off - I'm still using that Tamrac bag (which is probably around 15 years old now) because I can't see how I can carry more in the new ones. I do use a Zing pouch to carry 1-2 lenses at any given time, and the 105mm F2.8 will probably only come to Epcot for the F&G Festival. The K100D and 50-200mm lens will go in the wife's bag. The tripod goes in the bottom of our stroller. The camcorder will also go in the wife's bag (and very well may be left behind a lot!) The battery/memory card and filter wallets go on my belt. Everything else fits into the Tamrac.

Looks like there's no room for the k1000. As of today for us it's 100 days till we leave. Have fun.

Yeah, I just can't justify bringing the K1000 since I know I'll rarely use it. That roll of b/w 3200 ISO keeps calling my name but I think it'll probably end up being used locally. Who knows though, I may change my mind at the last minute and toss it into the luggage. Probably not though.

 

[handicap18]

Grocho and MarkBarbieri: The Disboards Photography Board Special Unit team. All geared up with someplace to go!

 

[Groucho]

Well, day one is over - and how does 628 photos, taking up 8.98 gigs, sound for just the first day? Don't worry, there's a lot of junkers in there. And that was without the tripod (Magical Express hadn't delivered that bag until after we left for the Magic Kingdom) so I didn't even try any Wishes photos. I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with the battery life - even after all that, including a fair amount of LCD checking and some liveview use, the battery is still showing as full. Obviously it's not full but it's not about to die, either.

Another observation: my PQI 8gb class 6 SDHC card is wayyyy slower than my Transcend 8gb class 6 SDHC card.

Anyway, the day mostly went quite good. We got on our flight with no problem, and it was supposed to arrive at 10:50 but actually touched down closer to 10:05! Then our Magical Express bus was ready and waiting for us. We got checked in and managed to get a room on the top floor, facing Epcot. We have a nice view of Canada, The Land, and Spaceship Earth from our room - really cool! We hadn't really eaten yet, so we decided to do lunch at Beaches & Cream then maybe go swimming if our luggage had arrived. We had a great lunch and shared a No Way Jose, and saw a couple people get Kitchen Sinks.

Our luggage hadn't arrived so we decided to pack up and head for MK - and again, the bus was ready and waiting for us when we got there. Not bad! We got there and found that it was quite crowded. My wife, who's only really been there in early January and once around Thanksgiving, couldn't believe the crowds - or when I told her that these were only moderate crowds! Anyway, between the crowds and pushing the stroller and controlling my now-incredibly-hyper 3-year-old, it was hard to do some of the "artsy" shots that I'd like to have done. Yeah, I did still get plenty of photos taken though. It was also hot when we arrived!

Anyway, we took it pretty easy. The daytime parade was just starting as we arrived so we found a spot and watched that. Got Jungle Cruise fastpasses, did Pirates (the mist curtain wasn't working so that effect was rather wasted), went to take Jack (my son) on Big Thunder but turns out that he was just a hair too short - darn! But they let me go on with a "baby switch" pass anyway. I had fun taking fisheye photos on it but I think next time, I'll just enjoy the ride.

Next up was Haunted Mansion - some cool new effects, but it seems darker than ever! A real challenge to get onride photos. Next was Philharmagic - this was the first time Jack would wear the glasses and the effect really worked for him - he was reaching out a few times and really reacting to everything. Unfortunately the effect hasn't worked for me for a while - I wonder if my glasses/contacts prescription is out of whack?

Then it was time for dinner at Tony's Town Square - we'd never been there before and we both had an excellent beef & spinach cannelloni with granny smith apple sorbet for dessert. Then on to our Jungle Cruise fastpasses, then SpectroMagic (lotsa photos), and Wishes, then the battle to leave. I did get three cinnamon rolls for tomorrow morning but we did lose Jack's bucket hat, one of the only hats that he'd actually be happy to wear. That's a real bummer especially when it's difficult to find similar hats around WDW.

Oh, and they were willing to give me one or two days of high-speed internet for free but I didn't bother. I understand now how the system works a little better (you have a sign-on screen and you register there) - I thought it was a system where they turned the rooms on and off, so it makes sense now why it's harder to get it free earlier. So I'm on dial-up again, so probably won't have too many photos - but I'll try to get a few up.

I'll probably write more tomorrow night... maybe.

 

[senecabeach]

Groucho....
Thanks for sharing your trip report and I'll look forward to it as you find the time to write again.
Maybe try lost & found for Jack's hat?? Never know it might just be there!!
Was the Transcend card more expensive than the PQI?
Hey... I can smell those cinnamon buns now..

Have a "Magical Day" !!

 

[emmabelle]

Wow, do you bring all that into a park in a day?

I was trying to decide if a really need my 30mm during the day or would my 18-135mm be enough.

Have fun, looking forward to the pic's!

 

[Groucho]

Here I am eating a cinnamon roll and doing a quick once-over of my photos. I also checked out the results of my first intervalometer shots - I set my camera to start taking photos every 5 minutes for an hour or so, starting as shortly before sunrise, and left it on our balcony on a tripod pointing at Spaceship Earth. Interesting results but I think I need to start it earlier, to get the most interesting skies.

Anyways, here's some shots from day one. The first is the view from our room, the rest are self-explanatory. All are 100% unprocessed, just brought into LR and exported. (edit: replaced with processed shots)

Off to Animal Kingdom today!

 

[Groucho]

Wow, do you bring all that into a park in a day?

I was trying to decide if a really need my 30mm during the day or would my 18-135mm be enough.

Have fun, looking forward to the pic's!

I brought much of it. Actually, much of yesterday, I only had two lenses in the bag, plus two in the Zing pouch, and one on the camera. The macro I'm only bringing to Epcot. It really wasn't bad at all, only at the very end of the day did I bother hanging the camera bag on the stroller as we walked around.

During the day, you're still going in and out of stores, attractions, etc - and I suspect an 18-135mm would really struggle once you're inside. A fast prime is really handy, or at least an F2.8 zoom.

 

[Steve's Girl]

Thanks for the live updates, Groucho. Have a great trip!

 

[emmabelle]

During the day, you're still going in and out of stores, attractions, etc - and I suspect an 18-135mm would really struggle once you're inside. A fast prime is really handy, or at least an F2.8 zoom.

Nice pictures!

I'm sure I'll bring my 30mm with me in the day. The only problem is that when were going it's going to be 98 degrees out and that sometimes influences my decisions when I'm in Disney. I get very lazy in the heat.

 

[Todd_H]

Great shots so far, Groucho!

You mentioned the crowds... the crowd calendar I see shows crowd levels of mostly 5-6 (and one 7) over the next few days. Would you say that is accurate?

We're heading down the week of May 11-18 and the crowd level predictions are the same.