Trip Report The "We Wrote a Trip Report just because we went to Disney World" trip report.

This year our big WDW vacation was in the spooky month of October when the weather finally cools off to at least tolerable temperatures (or so we hoped).

Our tale involves a cast of two: me (Tweedledum) and Lyn (Tweedledee). This is our story...

Magic bands arrive (actually...forgot to take pictures of them, these are from our last trip)
i-xNFDjTrLL-L.jpg
 
Click to expand...
DisneyFans4Life

DisneyFans4Life

Well-Known Member
I have got to learn how to use this LightRoom program you're talking about. Is it a program where you can just upload pictures and do an "auto" enhance? Your photos look amazing. I'm enjoying your TR...it's nice to look through while I'm at work and really want to be at Disney instead lol.
 
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DisneyFans4Life said:
I have got to learn how to use this LightRoom program you're talking about. Is it a program where you can just upload pictures and do an "auto" enhance? Your photos look amazing. I'm enjoying your TR...it's nice to look through while I'm at work and really want to be at Disney instead lol.
Click to expand...

Lightroom is kind of a watered-down version of Photoshop. You can do a lot of basic corrections like color, exposure, etc. If your camera has the capability of shooting "raw" images instead of JPG then you can use Lightroom to do a ton of corrections that the cameras try to do automatically.

A good example is taking pictures on Buzz Lightyear. The lighting in there is bizarre, as are the colors. Sometimes the little computer in the camera will interpret all that stuff just the way you'd like - but other times everything can be way, way off. Shooting "raw" then processing them in Lightroom lets you make the critical decisions about how the colors and contrasts look. Lightroom can do some of those chores automatically but it doesn't do a very good job (in my opinion), in fact the cameras are probably better in most cases.

Lightroom can do a lot more in the editing department too, but the other huge feature is being able to catalog your images. I usually take the time to add keywords to my images in the metadata using Lightroom (no need to know exactly what that is, Lightroom makes it easy). You can go back and find images really easily that way by searching for keywords like "EPCOT" or "MK", etc. Doesn't really take much time either once you get the hang of doing it.

Finally... there are "plugins" available that make uploading to Facebook, Smugmug, Flickr, etc - really easy...or at least easy once you figure out how it all works. It cuts out all the manual copying and uploading of .JPG images to a website.

It's not for everyone, obviously, but it's been a good program for me over the years.
 
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DisneyFans4Life said:
I actually have Photoshop on my computer...but I just use some of the auto functions like auto color, auto contrast, etc.
Click to expand...

Ok, LR is really similar in results but the layout is totally different - and it adds all the cataloging/uploading/printing features that aren't really in Photoshop. I use both almost every day, but at this point I'd be lost without LR.
 
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day two continues: the day ends, what will the night bring?

After the parade we eventually made our way to the buses and waited for our ride back to Pop Century. Lots of people everywhere. The bus was getting a little old for me, but as I kept reminding myself - it's still quicker than driving at MK (usually).

Back at Pop we grabbed something to eat. Tweedledee grabbed a Pot Pie and seemed to enjoy it
Click to enlarge...


They had other decent stuff in her line too. These sandwiches looked great!

Click to enlarge...


Have to be honest here, this isn't fine cuisine, and while sometimes the prices for "food court" food seems high they also have really decent food. Since we had plans I ate light and had one of the simple Turkey sandwiches from the coolers where the bottled water is kept (ie: old fashion "gas station" sandwiches). I had those a few times and every one was good and fresh, but be sure to check the dates on them. Sorry - no foodie pictures!

So what's next? Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party of course! Tweedledee and I had been talking about going to it for years but never had the chance. This was our chance! :)

Click to enlarge...


So...freshen up and back to the bus again to stand in line again. Lots of interesting costumes were to be seen. Seems like people have been doing that more and more every year...some guy was dressed up like a Turkey. Looked like he was going to make a TV ad or something. No pictures of that either by the way.

Back to MK to get our tickets zapped and get locked into our wristbands and trick-or-treating bags. Walked around a bit, went on the TTA/Peoplemover, then as the party officially started we saw our first Trick or Treat site! Oh boy! Free stuff! A few of those lines were really crazy long, we ended up hitting the lines that were pretty short. I think we did three of them, which was more than enough really.
Click to enlarge...
 
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Walked by "It's a Small World" where there was almost no wait at all. So we did it. Pretty sad that I took as many pictures on that ride as I did during the rest of the party (except the parade).
Click to enlarge...


Click to enlarge...


Click to enlarge...


Eventually we made it around to Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain, then wandered back over toward Liberty Square when we noticed an eerie mist coming from Tom Sawyer Island.

Click to enlarge...


Then time for the Haunted Mansion. Perfect. The additional of this very funny ghost was a lot of fun.
Click to enlarge...


Coming up next...we watch a parade, I make friends with a Donkey, and a dancer screams at me. Don't miss it!
 
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
prfctlyximprct said:
Your pictures capture the Disney world that resides in my imagination. The childhood hope and wonderment found in your photos expresses more than I ever could in words. Thanks for bringing us along.
Click to expand...

Thanks :)

MinnieM123 said:
Your Small World pictures are beautiful!
Click to expand...

Thanks too :)

slipperalwaysfits said:
There is a new ghost in the Haunted Mansion??
Click to expand...

No. During the Halloween Party she was sitting on the lawn behind the hearse doing a constant comedic monologue on the lines of what the "Citizens of Hollywood" sometimes do at Hollywood Studios. The costume and lighting was very effective.
 
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day two continues: we see a parade - and more!

We grabbed a funnel cake at Sleepy Hollow just before the fireworks, then picked at it while they blew up the sky. Great show. After that things worked out for us to the see the second parade of the night during Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. After walking half a day before, and all day this day I was about ready to sit down for a bit anyway. So we did. Sit. On a curb. Around the hub. Decent spot, really.

Then the Headless Horseman came by.

Spooky

Click to enlarge...


Then the parade (eventually) came by! I like this one. Still can't get the song out of my head

Click to enlarge...


Well now, I'm still fiddling with this new camera of mine. Not sure how grainy/noisy it will all look, how well it will focus, and so on. I decided to limit my ISO to 1250-1600. Sensor noise/grain is fairly bad in some of these. Focus was sometimes spotty too, depending on the subject. In a sense I wish I'd had a better camera, but then again this one was so convenient.

Anyway... Halloween Mice!
Click to enlarge...


Click to enlarge...


Pan & Pirate stuff

Click to enlarge...


Click to enlarge...


Click to enlarge...


Click to enlarge...


Click to enlarge...


i-dZ768v9XL-XL.jpg
 
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Pirates give way to the Haunted Mansion stuff
Click to enlarge...


The dancers...

Click to enlarge...


And this is...
Click to enlarge...


...where I...

Click to enlarge...


...get...

Click to enlarge...


...screamed at!

Click to enlarge...


Ok, so some of those aren't the best pictures in the world but they're fun. :)

Click to enlarge...
 
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
More villians - hovering in the air
Click to enlarge...


The end? Of the parade? Yeah. No more parade tonight.
Click to enlarge...


No more parade, tired, sore, we shopped around a little and found our way to the exit
Click to enlarge...


Bye MK!
Click to enlarge...


The late crowd from the party had thinner quite a bit but we still had standing-room only on the bus, plus the wait...made it back to Pop and nibbled on some of the MK treats from the night. Yum.

Also scored a couple new pins. Tweedledee's board of Disney pins is growing!

Click to enlarge...


Up next, we go somewhere else besides MK!
 
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day three! We go tweedling at the Epcot!

Day three. Epcot. My favorite. Food & Wine is underway. Crowd forecast is supposed to be decent. Weather looks great. Let's go! After two days of standing around waiting and having to stand, crammed in on the bus I opt to drive. We hop in the little green bus and go.

Click to enlarge...


Here's another snarky helpful hint from me: if you're going drive into to Epcot (and I guess the other parks too), drop your rush-hour commuter driving mentality and relax. Seriously. You're on vacation, not the final lap of the Daytona 500. Flooring it out of the parking tool-booth and racing everyone gets you farther away - not closer to the trams. Ok - occasionally that's not true, but usually is. I'm constantly amused when a minivan with a back-window plastered with a family of stick-figures goes racing to the parking area, while I turtle my way along and get several spots closer to the park. :D

So where was I? Oh yeah - in the little green bus tweedling our way into the park. Made it mid-morning in time for our fastpass for Mission Space where we managed to get shot across the solar system and returned almost completely unharmed.

What's this though? Our really nice morning suddenly turned into a really soggy afternoon. Welcome to the "sunshine state". Clouds and rain. The rainy season doesn't end until December... and here we are.

Click to enlarge...


Almost lunch time though, so we waited for the rain to let up a little, and...

Click to enlarge...


Wandered over to the Food & Wine "Festival Center", where it was quiet, cool, and dry

i-m7KR5VRXL-XL.jpg


Click to enlarge...


Click to enlarge...


Click to enlarge...


Been there several times and I seemed to remember there being food somewhere inside. So we looked at - yup - food at the Festival Center Cafe. Nice sandwich/salad cold stuff. I had a wrap. It was pretty good. No pictures.

The Cafe is in the background on the right side. It's lunch time and only two people sitting at a table in here. Can't beat that for relaxing.
Click to enlarge...
 
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Dried off and fed we did some tweedleshopping in the festival center while the rain slowly moved away, finally making our way out to do some serious walking...starting with a walk across Future World toward the land. Our first stop was to visit my favorite trees in the park, the Silk Floss trees.

Click to enlarge...


Story about the trees
These trees are native to parts of South America but are found in parts of Florida and the southern USA as decorative and shade trees. Typically they have very thorny trunks but some (including some hybrids) may have smooth trunks. While leaves on trees in the northern climates are turning bright colors, the silk floss tree starts producing large red/pink/yellow flowers.

Click to enlarge...


At it's peak the tree will still be covered with leaves and lots of flowers, resembling sort of a giant rose bush.

Here's a closeup (disclaimer - this is from last year):
Click to enlarge...


I first noticed these trees during the early spring a couple of years ago. On a windy spring day I noticed a white foam all over the water features around "The Land" and "The Seas With Nemo". Eventually I realized the "foam" was something coming off these trees... well, it was the "silk floss"! In the fall - along with the flowers - the trees also produce seed pods that eventually burst open in the spring. The elongated pods are stuffed with a white cottony/silky floss that is embedded with seeds. The wind catches the floss blowing it - and the seeds - all over the place.

For the past two years I've been trying to grow my own Epcot silk floss trees here at home. Last year's really didn't work out very well. I attribute most of that to me not having much of a green thumb. This year though? This year I got a handful of seeds really early in the season from the two trees closest to the walkway leading to "The Land". The seeds are supposed to take weeks (or longer) to germinate, but these two started growing within a week of planting. They're both getting too big for their pots, next spring I'll have to find a permanent spot for them.

My Epcot trees - in April:

Click to enlarge...


Today:
i-TVcc3MrXL-XL.jpg


i-LCm8gFhXL-XL.jpg


Also unrelated to the TR, my Epcot forest is rounded out with a Plumeria I got as a "stick" during the F&G two seasons ago.
i-VSRcLdDL-L.jpg
 

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

Back
Top Bottom