Trip Report The "we took a trip to Disney World just so we could write a trip report" trip report

Hello fellow Disney-folk! Early this year me (Scott) and my CDP (co-Disney-Phile) Lyn started hatching a spring trip to WDW. We've never done a real trip report before so we thought it would be fun. Lots of pictures too. Enjoy!

Our "incredible" vacation (er...long weekend, anyway) ended up during St Patrick's Day weekend. Planned in advance with reservations at Pop Century, snagging pretty decent rates too. Magic Bands customized, ordered, and received! Not really into planning things out very much but since FP+ was available, we used it (more on that later).

One day I got two(!) boxes in my mailbox from Davenport Florida. Magic Bands!

Click to enlarge...


Are we Disney-nerds? Yup. Hadn't done this before though: Mousekeeping tipping envelopes (available from WDW Prep School). This was kind of an experiment. Tipping at hotels has been a contentious point recently. Even though I travel quite a bit I'd never heard of leaving tips at hotels before reading about tipping "mousekeeping". I won't start a debate about the practice, but this was something we wanted to try in our (my?) own odd way.

More exciting news about that later on. Stay tuned!

Click to enlarge...
 

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day Two Continues... darkness descends, arrrrr

After all of the spooky jitters of Haunted Mansion we needed a..."break"...which was had just around the corner in Fantasyland. Under Rapunzel's tower is where you go to, um, go. We did. It's a popular area!

Click to enlarge...



Yes friends, this is a bathroom area. How awesome is that? Lots of details to be seen. Just look around.

Click to enlarge...



Hookhand tearing up the keyboard nightly. What a riot!

Click to enlarge...



Enjoying the cool evening air and warm glow of the magic-hour light. This is where CDP-Lyn started humming "It's a small world..." and jumping with delight to go on the ride.

Um, wait. No. That's right. Other way 'round. I was humming. Sigh. At least I admit it. Anyway, we skipped it this time :)

Click to enlarge...



Carousel? No. Skipped that one too.

Click to enlarge...
 

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Fastpasses

Click to enlarge...



Ah! PhilharMagic! To be fair we semi-planned to do this if it was convenient - and it was. I'm not sure we remembered until we saw the sign though. Haven't seen this show in ages! Still "presented by Kodak" too.

Click to enlarge...



Waiting for the show to start. Even without glasses everything is like, in 3D!

Click to enlarge...



Screaming Donald. I've seen pictures of this all over the place but had never seen the real thing. Tonight we found him! I took a picture to prove it.

Click to enlarge...
 

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The sun sets slowly over Liberty Square. Even with all those people everything is mostly neat and tidy.

Hey, here's a trivia: see the "bird house" on the left border of the frame (didn't take a close-up)? There's another one in the middle left-quarter of the frame in the distance too. They're speakers. I always get a kick out of those :)

Click to enlarge...



Liberty Tree Tavern, where we didn't eat. Lots of people waiting to though.

Click to enlarge...



The Diamond Horseshoe bathed in the final gasps of magic-hour light while we stroll from Liberty Square to Frontierland. Neat as a pin.

Does anybody know the real story on the pathway here? It looks like a meandering gravel path within a brick-red street. One book claims it's supposed to represent an "open sewer" (eww) as might have been the case in the 18th century. Somehow that just seems far-fetched to me but...hmm. Perhaps we ought-not walk in it. So we didn't.

Click to enlarge...



Trading Post! We're pin collectors. Lyn has a penchant for pretty pins. There was a particular pretty pin she particularly wanted to purchase. Pursuant to said purchase, I was persuaded to peruse the pin post in search of the pretty pin (without, I will admit, much effort). Once we peeked at the pretty pin (which was positively precious) it was purchased.

No, I didn't take a picture of it.

Oh, we only got one pin because...we're...ahem... pinching pennies :rolleyes:

Click to enlarge...


Click to enlarge...
 

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Adventureland! Getting darker and the air was terrific (and still is here in Florida, another month or so until hibernation - trip to Storybrooke - and hibernation again). Have to be careful around here, there are spitting camels roaming these parts.

Click to enlarge...



Sunshine Tree Terrace - visiting the Orange Bird for a Citrus Swirl and a quiet sit-down. It was quiet too. Not much happening in this little corner of MK for some reason.

Click to enlarge...



Enchanted Tiki Room - just because.

Click to enlarge...
 

LeCellier.Lover

Well-Known Member
Still loving every minute of this TR!
Sorry if this has been asked already, but what kind of camera do you have?
Can't wait to read and see more!
 

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Still loving every minute of this TR!
Sorry if this has been asked already, but what kind of camera do you have?
Can't wait to read and see more!

Thanks :) The mini-golf (and maybe a couple of others) are a Samsung Galaxy S3 cellphone, most of the rest with a Nikon D800

Glad I hitched a ride on your DME... so fun Day One and two and three , lost count... great fun to read!

Still just day two, working slowly up :)
 

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day two still continues....arrrrrrr


Our second FP+ ride of the night, Pirates of the Caribbean. Awesomely classic. Love it.

The Fastpass+ thing worked great. Absolutely no trouble at all here. I kind of miss having a piece of paper to remind me what time the reservation was for but checking our phones occasionally as a notepad was no big deal. Pretty stress-free, really.

Click to enlarge...



Hmmm 25 minutes -vs- "a few". Yeah. Fastpasses are good. Time to do the ride!

Click to enlarge...



Que the queue decor!

Click to enlarge...



Hmm. Our line wasn't so "empty" after all. Didn't take long and then we were first in line!

I was quickly warned not to use my flash...which I didn't, of course. The CM tending the line said they get complaints about people with flashes all the time. Yup - been there. Once there was a group of foreign visitors in the boat - and me. All of them were snapping away with their point-and-shoot cameras. Every single frame with a flash. It was like sitting there staring at a disco-ball. I get the "language barrier", but common sense? C'mon.

But, anyway... there we were...

Click to enlarge...



Suddenly Ian McShane is talking to us through the fog. Lyn said "wow, that picture is really...blurry!" Wow? Seriously? I thought it came out pretty well. One day I'll have a decent fast lens for this stuff. I'm happy with it. Besides, the foggy stuff is just motion blurred :D

Click to enlarge...
 

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Dead men tell no tales... tales... tales...

Somewhere in the water are supposedly mermaids. We couldn't see them. We've never seen them. We'll probably never see them. Just more reason to ride this over and over again, right?

"You can spend your life, your jolly life
Just sailing on the sea.
You can search the world for pretty girls
Til your eyes are weak and dim,
But don't go searching for a mermaid, son
If you don't know how to swim"


Click to enlarge...


There's a mermaid in the old boat here though. We saw that.

'Cause her hair was green as seaweed
Her skin was blue and pale
Her face it was a work of art,
I loved that girl with all my heart
But I only liked the upper part
I did not like the tail


Click to enlarge...



Here's where Lyn started chanting "we wants the redhead...we wants the redhead".

So embarassing.

Um wait, maybe that was me.

No no, it really was her too. :)

Click to enlarge...



Then there was dog with his human!

Thank you Phoenicians!

Dang, no, different ride...

Click to enlarge...



This guy has the weirdest looking feet... but he's always smiling.

B&W looks cool huh? That's what happens when you're sick of trying to make their deep orange lighting look semi-normal :D

Click to enlarge...
 

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
This guy has the best job. Sits there rocking all day, counting treasure.

Click to enlarge...



Then? Where do all the rides end? The gift shop! Here it is. Gift shop!

Click to enlarge...



More gift shop goodness.

Click to enlarge...



Now, I've never seen much at the Pirates gift shop that I wanted - until now. Right after we got off the ride there was a pirate chest full of flags! I knew just what I wanted to do with it. It now decorates the wall at work :D

Click to enlarge...
 

MMDVC

Active Member
I was just at WDW and think I am having more fun with your trip report...thanks again. So how many more days ,will keep checking don't want to miss any pics.
 

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Great report, love the pictures. Can you tell me what lens you are using for the night (dark) shots?

Thanks :)

Mostly I used a Nikkor 16-35/f4 but I also had a Nikkor 50/f1.8 for the Haunted Mansion and some parade pictures I haven't posted yet.
 

BostonJP

Active Member
Thanks :)

Mostly I used a Nikkor 16-35/f4 but I also had a Nikkor 50/f1.8 for the Haunted Mansion and some parade pictures I haven't posted yet.
:jawdrop: Those Haunted Mansion shots are stunning. Are you using a full frame camera?

I'm going next week and planning on trying to get by with just a 50 f/1.4 on my 5D.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom