WDW time again... complete trip photos finally posted!

[Groucho]

Day 3 pics are all done now... this was an all-screw-mount-lens (with the exception of a few fisheye shots) day. Most shots were with an Auto Takumar 55mm F1.8, I also used a Takumar 35mm F3.5, Super Takumar 105mm F2.8, Takumar 135mm F3.5 preset, Zeiss 135mm F3.5, and Vivitar (Komine) 200mm F3.5. Lots of fun but definitely a challenge when doing for action shots!

Here's Jack making a rather silly face as we wait for the bus...

Showing off the pirate sweater than my mom made for Jack... never mind the little stain in the middle.

The best dining plan snack bargain on property! Two big cookies and three scoops of ice cream! It's darn close to a full meal.

Thanks for looking! I hope you enjoyed. Now to get started on day four...

 

[annnewjerz]

Some of them are coming up as the dreaded red X, but the ones I do see

The cookie icecream sandwich is on my short, but ever growing, list of things I want to try. Luckily, DH and I usually split everything so we can try 2X the variety of goodies. Mmmmmmmm

 

[Groucho]

Whooooooops! It's a rights thing on my site. Should be all fixed now. Sorry about that.

 

[oogieboogieman]

Continued...

After this, we wandered a little. I snuck in a Tower of Terror ride as the crowds had thinned (it was an Extra Magic Hours night)... I loooooove this ride, and this particular time might have had the best drop sequence I've ridden yet.

We wandered a bit more, took some photos, and headed back to our room. Two days down, eight to go...

This is also my favorite ride. Last trip I tried to get photo prior to the drop and held onto the camera for dear life. Next time on the ride stowed the camera and had hands up in the air for all the drops. That's fun!!! My son claims to have put his hands up but the picture they take showed him clinging to the bar. Very cool photos!!!

 

[Todd_H]

This is also my favorite ride. Last trip I tried to get photo prior to the drop and held onto the camera for dear life. Next time on the ride stowed the camera and had hands up in the air for all the drops. That's fun!!! My son claims to have put his hands up but the picture they take showed him clinging to the bar. Very cool photos!!!

My favorite thrill ride in WDW too. The best is if you are lucky enough to be riding a drop sequence where, after falling all the way to the bottom, the elevator car gets shot all the way to the top and then falls all the way back down . You can get some good air time at the top. Of all the times I've ridden TOT, this has only happened twice for me.

 

[Groucho]

This is also my favorite ride. Last trip I tried to get photo prior to the drop and held onto the camera for dear life. Next time on the ride stowed the camera and had hands up in the air for all the drops. That's fun!!! My son claims to have put his hands up but the picture they take showed him clinging to the bar. Very cool photos!!!

On the one time my wife rode it, she had a death grip on the handles by your hips! I tried to tell her afterwards that she should try it without handing on to anything and to just let herself float, but she refused to go on it again.

She also refuses to let my kid ride it yet, though he's tall enough. She thinks it's too hard on the body. I am pretty sure that Big Thunder is rougher on you than ToT but I didn't bother arguing it. The Matterhorn at DL is rougher than either one, and he's done that!

I'm looking forward to my kid getting slightly older so I'll have someone to ride ToT with.

 

[Groucho]

Day four photos completed... this was the last day with >300 shots taken.

On this day, we were at Animal Kingdom and had a very good day overall, taking it slow and enjoying our time. First stop was to Festival of the Lion King.

On the way back, I finally spotted the dragon rock fountain that's near Camp Minnie-Mickey... I never remember where it was and when I've looked for it, I haven't found it. This time I just glanced over and there it was! I won't bother posting my photo as it's not particularly interesting.

A little 13mm fisheye action...

Some playing with the old 200mm lens after a typically yummy lunch from Flame Tree BBQ.

We caught the Flights of Wonder show, which we haven't seen in quite a while.

We split up, my wife and Jack went to play in the dinosaur dig area and I went off to hit a couple thrill rides. Dinosaur was pretty much a walk-on, which was great.

A couple shots to fulfill your fishy needs!

EE was pretty quick in the single rider line.

I was really trying to get some serious DoF going here but F2.8 wasn't fast enough for the focal length and I couldn't get far enough away and keep the angle I wanted. Still, I like the somewhat bizarre angle of the shot.

We reunited and did the Maharajah Jungle Trek.

It was co-o-o-o-o-old but there were still a few diehards riding Kali River Rapids. This boat is reacting to being sprayed with water by the elephants near the bridge.

Jack fell asleep and we killed some time in the Trading Post gift shops... where you can find tripods for trading!

We ate dinner at the new buffet-style Tusker House, which was quite good. Disney buffets seem to be pretty reliable from my experience. I do miss the old Tusker House counter service, though...

It was Extra Magic Hours, so we hung around for a little while and took a few tripod photos. Here's your standard night EE shot.

I even snuck in a ride myself - it was a walk-on and I'd never gone through the full queue before or ridden at night, so I knocked those off my "to do" list.

One last tripod shot...

...then we made a short visit over to Downtown Disney. It was freezing so we didn't stay very long - just long enough to take a quick walk through Art of Disney. Here's a shot playing with some vignetting...

I always enjoy shooting some of the big figures they have in the Art stores.

We headed back to our room, getting there at maybe 9:30 or so, and called it a night.

Next up, day five... the virus begins!

 

[annnewjerz]

1. That fountain is a dragon??? I never would have guessed, I'd have thought a giraffe's head, but I guess I am just not that imaginative.

2. Whhhhhhaaaaaaat is that fuzzy while thing with the Mickey ears and where was it? Is it a mini version of the Yeti on EE? (I have only been to AK once, so I'm not familiar with all of this)

3. I love the shot of Jessica Rabbit. I remember watching Who Framed Roger Rabbit when I was younger and thinking Jessica Rabbit was borderline inappropriate for little children to be watching. I sort of still do...

Great shots. After seeing the shots you and Linda took on your trips and then thinking of how long it will take to sort and PP this, I'm almost not looking forward to bringing the dslr in December. Way too much work---seems like combining it with regular life and the holidays, I'll be lucky to have all of mine done by March.

 

[Groucho]

1. This fountain (I guess it's more of a waterfall) is supposed to be a dragon.

The one in the pic I posted in my earlier message, which I guess is a waterfall too, is part of the Tree of Life. If I remember my Animal Kingdom history correctly, the dragon waterfall is one of the only remnants of the original plan to have a separate land for "legendary" or "mythical" animals. That's why the AK logo has a dragon in it and the entrance has a dragon head along with an elephant and another head (lion?). Alas, it was not to be.

2. That is a little Yeti figure. There's a case with a bunch of them in the "full" EE queue and one near the end is wearing the Mickey hat.

3. Thanks! Yeah, Jessica is a bit borderline, but lots of things are in that movie. Then again, it was only a few years later than we had another adult-ish cartoon/live-action combo, Cool World... "Holli Would If She Could"! That one was definitely not for the kiddies!

Glad you liked the shots! And I don't know about Linda, but it takes me a long time just because it's so difficult to devote any time to actually doing it! I don't know how these families with lots of kids do it; one kid is plenty to make it very difficult to find time to do anything! Having both parents working certainly doesn't help, either.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Glad you liked the shots! And I don't know about Linda, but it takes me a long time just because it's so difficult to devote any time to actually doing it! I don't know how these families with lots of kids do it; one kid is plenty to make it very difficult to find time to do anything! Having both parents working certainly doesn't help, either.

Once again, great photos as always! Thanks for posting them!

 

[Todd_H]

1. This fountain (I guess it's more of a waterfall) is supposed to be a dragon.

Great shots as usual, Groucho. Is this the same dragon that used to breathe fire?

 

[annnewjerz]

On the way back, I finally spotted the dragon rock fountain that's near Camp Minnie-Mickey... I never remember where it was and when I've looked for it, I haven't found it. This time I just glanced over and there it was! I won't bother posting my photo as it's not particularly interesting.

A little 13mm fisheye action...

Sometimes I really wonder about myself. In my post above, I said I thought the fountain looked like a giraffe, not a dragon. Well DUH---its because it's a different fountain. I didn't read the part where you said you "won't bother posting it"....and because of that, I thought this fountain above was supposed to be the dragon. Ugh. I've been sick for the past few days, my brain isn't fully functional.

 

[PhotobearSam]

Amazing shots...You have a lot of creativity...When you can make a back scratcher look like art...Amazing. Loved them all. So envious but happy I was not there to get sick.

congrats on the pregnancy.

 

[DSDopey48]

Groucho your photos are amazing, thanks for posting.

 

[Groucho]

Thanks everyone!

Great shots as usual, Groucho. Is this the same dragon that used to breathe fire?

Hmm... geez, I don't know? I don't think it ever breathed fire but I could be mistaken. As far as I know, the only dragon breathing fire at Disney is in Fantasmic...?

 

[Todd_H]

Hmm... geez, I don't know? I don't think it ever breathed fire but I could be mistaken. As far as I know, the only dragon breathing fire at Disney is in Fantasmic...?

I read something in the past that made me think it was the dragon that breathed fire, but apparently the fire came from his (or her) cave nearby. Found this link to some DAK history and more info on the dragon/cave:
http://members.tripod.com/~SaitoNews/beastly.html

 

[Groucho]

Hmm, interesting. I was "out of the loop" Disney-wise when AK was going together so I missed most of that time period. I remembered Beastly Kingdom but not about the fire.

Day five shots done... we awoke to a frosty morning, literally. I took a shot of the frost-covered grass but it's a little dull.

We bundled up and headed out to Epcot, grabbing breakfast at Sunshine Seasons.

We rode Soarin' before the crowds got too crazy then headed over to Seas. I got a few shots of the hidden Mickey, much better than last time I tried.

I played a little with using off-camera flash for the fish.

We wandered up through World Showcase and to China for lunch. I was bummed that they no longer have the Mongolian Beef Sandwich, even though it's still on the outside menu! The beef noodle meal I got was pretty good, though.

We walked back to Innoventions to kill some time before the Test Track fastpasses for Jack and I became active. It was in here that we had the first hint that thinks were going to go sour, as Jack vomited while about to do the Waste Management game. He sat for a while and we debated doing the Kim Possible game (which began right by where we took a rest) but decided not to risk running about World Showcase. As it turns out, we never did get a chance to do it.

I did check out the new Stormstruck 3D movie, which is reported to be pretty intense. It was OK, not really anything that'll blow you away (no pun intended), but not too bad for an Innovention show.

I ran over and used my Test Track fastpass alone while Jack and wifey-poo relaxed a little longer.

We headed over to ride Spaceship Earth... and again, Jack threw up right as we were about to step on the conveyor before you get in the ride vehicle. We got him cleaned up again and decided to cancel our dinner plans at Tutto Italia and head back to the hotel. As I wrote earlier in the thread, I ended up eating at Olivia's at Old Key West and getting wife and Jack's dinners to go. (Not that Jack ate much...)

They went to bed early and I hopped on a bus to go back to Epcot for Illuminations. Then I quickly hopped off the bus, grabbed my camera (camera bag without camera is not very useful!), hopped back on another bus, and arrived. This shot is similar to one I posted earlier, but that was a fisheye and this is rectilinear.

I managed to find a pretty good spot facing American Adventure and got the tripod set up.

I then thoroughly enjoyed Illuminations!

I headed straight back to our hotel to try to catch up on some sleep. Day 6 would be our last day where everyone seemed to be feeling OK all day long. We were at DHS that day, more pics coming soon! Hope you're enjoying the updates!

 

[Disneyfreak92]

I am enjoying them thoroughly! Thanks for sharing Groucho. Great photos as usual! I love that Spaceship Earth photo.

 

[Groucho]

Thanks, Disneyfreak92!

I've gone back and updated the earlier photos in the thread to be current with the processed photos... the latest changes were day 3-6, starting on page three and going to half-way through page 5.

Day six was spent at Hollywood Studios. We'd already knocked off most of what we wanted to do on our first day there, so we were able to take it pretty easy. I started with a ride of Tower of Terror...

...then a ride on Rock 'n' Rollercoaster, where the CM gave me a hard time for taking pictures while waiting to take off.

We stopped back into One Man's Dream since my wife and Jack didn't get a chance to finish going through it.

We caught a performance of Beauty and the Beast...

One of my few self-portraits! As usual, Jack has a park map... those were one of his favorite parts of the trip!

We did another ride of Toy Story Mania... I got 185,400 which is, I think, not too shabby for my second try. Jack, riding with me, got 13,600.

We took a ride on The Great Movie Ride...

We wandered over and caught Muppetvision 3D again (on an unrelated note, I just got a Muppet Whatnot a week or so ago. Very cool!)

We hopped over and did a character meeting with Ka-chow, err, Lighning McQueen and Mater (not as good as back when they used to drive out, but better than nothing) then I took Jack on his first Star Tour ride, as he seemed to be doing pretty good. He seemed to sort-of enjoy it, though half-way through he said "I want to go back to Disney World" and when we went to the gift shop, he asked if we were still at Disney World.

We decided to head back to our hotel since this was the day we were switching from a one-bedroom to a studio. We stopped at the Hospitality House then decided to walk to our new room... which gave us a nice view of a lovely sunset.

We hopped on a bus to Downtown and went to Ragland Rd. We ended up right between the stage and the dancer's platform so it was loud! The music was fun but I am sorry to say that I didn't enjoy the shepherd's pie as much as last time I got it... it was good but just plain too salty! Jack didn't touch his dinner (which was a very yummy mac & cheese) and we were all fairly beat, so we just headed back to the room and got some rest. Next up... a fairly short day at AK and a solo trip to MK!

Just to catch up on Jack pics here's a couple, the first from Chef Mickeys from day three.

Jack making his happy face!

The rest of the days each have fewer and fewer photos so I will probably be all finished pretty soon. Thanks for looking and reading!

 

[annnewjerz]

The shots of Jack are so cute---I love that he got the pink sparkly hair again this year.

Also---very impressed with the self portrait. Out of all the self-portraits of yours that I have seen in hubcaps, Christmas ornaments, etc. this is the one that you get the clearest shot of you. It probably comes closest to actually qualifying as a real self portrait.