WHO: None other than myself, and of course the wife.
WHAT: Celebrating our 1st Wedding Anniversary, well just shy of it.
WHERE: Walter Elias Disney World - POP Century Resort - Yacht Club Resort
WHEN: June 16 - 21st, 2013.
So, to preface this Trip Report a few details are needed. This will really be my first trip report, I believe I attempted another one but it was pretty weak sauce if you ask me. I will attempt to be more thorough with my reporting, thoughts, and opinions on experiences etc etc etc.
In July of 2012 we Disneymooned for a whopping 12 days, which was epic on many levels. Considering the length of stay we decided that an annual pass simply made sense. We then followed up our July trip with a weeklong stay at the Swan in March of 2013 with our best friends. We shared a room to save some money and it was overall a fun trip, despite their newbieness and my unfortunate roll of tour guide and historian.
So this brings us to THIS trip report. My wife and I can get pretty impulsive but normally something along the line keeps us in check... that is normally Expedia or Disney themselves. What I mean by that is we'll often share a few drinks then start with the "we should go to Disney next month" spiel but almost always we'll check Expedia or Kayak and we're faced with a 400 dollar flight on late notice. That is an instant trip killer for us. UNTIL this past month! We're hanging around the house after a long day of work, popped a few cold ones, threw on Pinocchio and 2 hours later we were booked for another stay at Disney. The stars simply alligned, flights were cheap at less than 250 a person (roundtrip, flying direct at good times via Jet Blue) and we were on Facebook chatting with my usual KK agent. We went back and forth with the idea of where to stay and we were acting under the guise of being economically sound in our decision making process. We almost instantly eliminated our normal Beach Club stay, with the reality of a wicked high rack rate and almost no availability in such short notice. We then downgraded to POFQ and started to discuss the impact of the bussing, size of room for the value of your dollar, etc etc etc and ultimately came down to the old "lets save some bucks" mentality... choosing The Pop Century Resort as our final stay.
I would be a liar if I didn't say I was a little nervous about the downgrade from Deluxe to Value. But at the end of the day it all comes down to your perceptions and what you value in a resort. For my wife and I we value access, not necessarily theming and resort accommodations. We enjoy the Beach / Yacht because it allows us to walk to two gates and a great collection of entertainment at the Boardwalk resort, plus a wicked nice pool eh? Be it as it may, we simply use the room as a place to crash since we're early risers and usually end our days in the parks.
EDIT: As many of you know, or may not know, I am a photographer. I now describe myself as a photography enthusiast, I now refuse to do any more paid projects. I now focus 100% on myself and my own personal life.
When it comes to photographing Disney there are many, many options to consider. Size and weight is certainly the biggest one that crosses my mind. I have had quite a few DSLR bodies from the cheapest entry levels to Nikon FX bodies. Chase Jarvis likes to say that the best camera is the one you have with you. I'm just not a huge fan of the digital world but it's certainly more convenient. I wanted something that would give me some quality while not weighing a brick. That's where this camera came into play, the Fuji X-Pro1. A hell of a lot cheaper than a Leica M9, same size, but after a week of use and reviewing the cameras files this one is going back to B&H. The camera IQ and image quality is second to none, literally it's THAT good. But there is one caveat with this camera. The autofocus sucks, period. So without going into a huge review or something I'm returning her... which makes me sad because I really wanted to like her. Every image in this TR was taken with the Fuji X-Pro1 strapped with a Fujinon 35mm f1.4. Everything will be in black and white, because that's just what I like.
WHAT: Celebrating our 1st Wedding Anniversary, well just shy of it.
WHERE: Walter Elias Disney World - POP Century Resort - Yacht Club Resort
WHEN: June 16 - 21st, 2013.
So, to preface this Trip Report a few details are needed. This will really be my first trip report, I believe I attempted another one but it was pretty weak sauce if you ask me. I will attempt to be more thorough with my reporting, thoughts, and opinions on experiences etc etc etc.
In July of 2012 we Disneymooned for a whopping 12 days, which was epic on many levels. Considering the length of stay we decided that an annual pass simply made sense. We then followed up our July trip with a weeklong stay at the Swan in March of 2013 with our best friends. We shared a room to save some money and it was overall a fun trip, despite their newbieness and my unfortunate roll of tour guide and historian.
So this brings us to THIS trip report. My wife and I can get pretty impulsive but normally something along the line keeps us in check... that is normally Expedia or Disney themselves. What I mean by that is we'll often share a few drinks then start with the "we should go to Disney next month" spiel but almost always we'll check Expedia or Kayak and we're faced with a 400 dollar flight on late notice. That is an instant trip killer for us. UNTIL this past month! We're hanging around the house after a long day of work, popped a few cold ones, threw on Pinocchio and 2 hours later we were booked for another stay at Disney. The stars simply alligned, flights were cheap at less than 250 a person (roundtrip, flying direct at good times via Jet Blue) and we were on Facebook chatting with my usual KK agent. We went back and forth with the idea of where to stay and we were acting under the guise of being economically sound in our decision making process. We almost instantly eliminated our normal Beach Club stay, with the reality of a wicked high rack rate and almost no availability in such short notice. We then downgraded to POFQ and started to discuss the impact of the bussing, size of room for the value of your dollar, etc etc etc and ultimately came down to the old "lets save some bucks" mentality... choosing The Pop Century Resort as our final stay.
I would be a liar if I didn't say I was a little nervous about the downgrade from Deluxe to Value. But at the end of the day it all comes down to your perceptions and what you value in a resort. For my wife and I we value access, not necessarily theming and resort accommodations. We enjoy the Beach / Yacht because it allows us to walk to two gates and a great collection of entertainment at the Boardwalk resort, plus a wicked nice pool eh? Be it as it may, we simply use the room as a place to crash since we're early risers and usually end our days in the parks.
EDIT: As many of you know, or may not know, I am a photographer. I now describe myself as a photography enthusiast, I now refuse to do any more paid projects. I now focus 100% on myself and my own personal life.
When it comes to photographing Disney there are many, many options to consider. Size and weight is certainly the biggest one that crosses my mind. I have had quite a few DSLR bodies from the cheapest entry levels to Nikon FX bodies. Chase Jarvis likes to say that the best camera is the one you have with you. I'm just not a huge fan of the digital world but it's certainly more convenient. I wanted something that would give me some quality while not weighing a brick. That's where this camera came into play, the Fuji X-Pro1. A hell of a lot cheaper than a Leica M9, same size, but after a week of use and reviewing the cameras files this one is going back to B&H. The camera IQ and image quality is second to none, literally it's THAT good. But there is one caveat with this camera. The autofocus sucks, period. So without going into a huge review or something I'm returning her... which makes me sad because I really wanted to like her. Every image in this TR was taken with the Fuji X-Pro1 strapped with a Fujinon 35mm f1.4. Everything will be in black and white, because that's just what I like.
