Ben's Trip Report (Dec. 11 to 18)

So, here it is. The stuff that Disney fans enjoy reading about and living vicariously through when they themselves cannot make it down to Disney. I'll be staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. And of course, as anybody would want to do at the AKL, I have reserved a Savannah View room. I am very happy for that fact.

As some may know, this trip has been about a year in the making thus far. Since then, I've changed jobs, and all my friends who said they would be going with me have had to drop out from one reason or another. In fact, I'll be taking one of them (now an ex-friend) to small claims court to collect the deposit money I so nicely put down for him. However, my parents know how much this trip has meant to me and my mother will be coming down with me instead.

As for food, there have been some changes to the dining reservations recently as some of my mother didn't like some of the restaurants, and others I had only made so I could see how other people reacted (ie the 50's Prime Time Cafe). So, as I mentioned before, I will be down from the 11th to the 18th, and I will be eating well. Here is my list, lunch listed first, dinner second, starting with the day we fly down.

The Mara - Hollywood Brown Derby
Liberty Tree Tavern - Jiko: The Cooking Place
Yak and Yeti - California Grill
Coral Reef Restaurant - Via Napoli
Kona Cafe - Restaurant Marrakesh
Tony's Town Square - Rose and Crown
[in the air] - Yachtsman Steakhouse

Of course, I have a full schedule set up to maximize EMH and see all the shows and fireworks that I want to. Coming down with me, in terms of media recording will be my Nikon D60 with an 18-55mm VR lens, 55-200mm VR lens and a 10.5mm fisheye lens (which I will be renting). Also making the trip will be my GoPro HERO Wide with wrist strap for video on rides, and an iPhone 4 that I have yet to purchase. This trip, one way or another, will be well documented. In addition to updating my blog (hopefully I'll be able to find myself some Internet so I can), I'll be posting plenty of pictures on Twitter, much (I'm sure) to the jealousy of the coworkers who follow my Twitter account. I have already had requests to take pictures of the food back on WDWMagic, and so most of those will be on the iPhone (as I'm not Tom and don't have the balls to bust out the DSLR at dinner), but I will, of course, listen to ideas that other people have. I would love to get a couple of shots through the NVGs at the Night Savannah Viewings at AKL, however. Overall, as I stated initially, this trip has been over a year in the making, and I am really looking forward to getting down to Disney and enjoying it myself.

As of yesterday, I have officially hit the two month mark (technically 61 days). The good news is that I'll be more than happy to take and upload tons of pictures to Twitter and MobileMe; the bad news is that I won't be purchasing internet while I'm down there so I'll be doing all my posting here via my phone. Look for a more comprehensive, Tom Bricker style report post trip.

Oh, also just found out my wake-up time for the day we're flying down. 4AM. And that's leaving from my parents' house, which is closer to the airport than the house I currently live in (I have moved, so I haven't been able to blog-post recently). So it appears that I will be sleeping at my parents' house the night before. Flight leaves at 6:45AM and arrives at 9:50AM. At least I'll be at the parks nice and early, but man, 4AM is a scary wake-up time!

We'll be leaving from Bradley Hartford-Springfield (BDL). Big enough to have a goodly amount of flights, but not so small as to be effected by poor winter weather (our worry for something like Westchester).

Also, I was at work yesterday when Mom realized we were two months out and so I got that text message. Shortly after I acknowledged that I already had realized the timeframe, she texted me with the following. I almost typed it out, but it's more fun if you read it yourself, haha.

 

[deltableh]

Happy New Year everybody!

 

[deltableh]

Just remember folks, fish are animals too! Good story with this picture, had to sneak into a place where I wasn't supposed to go, but it's all recorded on my Flickr

Thanks for all the compliments thus far... it's tough to keep finding shots to "wow" you all, but I promise I'm trying!

 

[deltableh]

You can see how cold it was down at Disney in this shot... note the topiary tarp in the background!

 

[harveyt0206]

Ben, your pictures are just spectacular. That shot of AKL is breathtaking. We had some overlapping days. Hubby and I were down there 12/10 - 12/15 so I can't wait to read your full trip report to see what your itinerary was during those days.

And Holly's right, that Beaker picture is the best.

Love the pics and can't wait to see more. :wave:

 

[deltableh]

I offloaded all the pictures from my iPhone 4 to my computer, and I'm throwing them up on Photobucket to accompany the trip report. I'll get started writing on that very soon.

For now, though, peek-a-boo!

 

[BookwormxBelle]

Your pictures are fabulous. I'm absolutely in awe of all of them because they are so amazing. I really love the giraffe picture and all of your fireworks pictures.

I definitely can't wait to read your trip report. :]

 

[deltableh]

Hopefully today I'll get the motivation to actually start typing it all out, now that the pictures are uploaded! Here's the new Flickr picture of the day, though, in the meantime.

 

[deltableh]

Not that I rely on photo editing software as a crutch to make my pictures look the way they are, but I was able to acquire, through my job, free and legal copies of every plugin that Nik Software makes. This is the first picture I played with using those plugins. They are incredible, and I can't wait to use them to subtlely enhance other pictures of mine.

Good story with this picture available, as always, on my Flickr. Just click the picture.



Thanks for looking!

 

[deltableh]

I certainly love ND filters. Very cool tools; I can't wait to learn how to use them even more!

 

[deltableh]

Another classic shot that I had to replicate myself:

 

[deltableh]

To start, day zero of my trip report (I promise, I'm really trying to get out a day per day, but it's tough).

Day Zero - Dec. 10, 2010

My trip report starts off the day before I leave. The day of work before you leave is always the longest, haven't you noticed that? For me, it was working 10AM to 7PM, then driving to my parents' house, which was closer to their airport than the place I rent. However, the morning started off nice and early, as I had final packing to do, and then I had to pack up my car. Seeing my luggage all together, the little there was, got me super excited. I knew it was going to be a very long day at work.

Heading outside, my mind was shocked back to the realization that I lived in New England and it was the winter. My car was, of course, covered in a thin layer of frost. Just over 24 hours until I would be at Disney, and yet I was still firmly grounded in New England.

Work was, as one would imagine, uneventful. I cannot remember a thing about it. I think I had to teach Meet Your New Mac, a workshop for new Apple computer users. All I remember is the feeling of relief I had when I clocked out, gathered my camera bag and backpack and walked out of the store to wishes from my coworkers to have a good vacation. Believe me, I knew I would.

The drive to my parents' house was uneventful. I called my girlfriend, I called my father, then taking a golfing weekend in West Palm Beach, and then called my mother letting her know I was on the way. She asked if I could pick up dinner, as she had more packing to do than she realized. So I changed my destination and picked up Thai. As Disney was a culinary trip as much as a photographical and pleasure trip, we had ordered from my favorite Thai restaurant.

Dinner was excellent as always. But it went by quickly. I really wanted to watch ESPN Film on the Red Sox, but I remembered that I was taking an early flight the next day. In fact, a very early flight, one so early that waking up would be less than one-eighth into the next day. So I bid my friends online goodnight, set my iPhone's alarm to 3AM, and crawled into bed.

And now, onto my DSLR picture of the day. Once again, Fireworks Friday rolls around!

 

[deltableh]

Day One - Dec. 11, 2010

There's only one alarm on my iPhone that wakes me up. All the others are too soft, too quiet, too normal. For the iPhone users out there, it's the sound called "Alarm." To wake up to that at 3AM is certainly, certainly an exciting way to wake up.

But my excitement was also for Disney, as I was showered and dressed in 15 minutes. Then, after throwing my bags in the car, I paced around the house waiting for my mom got ready. I think that was the most stressful part. I hate waiting around not doing anything. But I grabbed her suitcase when she was ready and packed her car, and at 4:15AM, we were on our way to the airport.

Driving at 4:15AM is certainly a new experience. There is practically nobody on the road. But that also meant no traffic, and so before long we were at our airport. Security was also quick, and before long we had stopped off at the New England staple of Dunkin' Donuts and were waiting at our gate. And that is when we found out that our flight crew wouldn't be arriving on time. They had gotten stuck in traffic. If you'd followed me on Twitter, you'll recall I ranted pretty good about that one. Eventually they did arrive, and up in the air we rose, only arriving in Orlando a half hour or so late.

Magical Express was a dream as always. I was kinda bummed, though, to get a yellow bus, and not one of the DME wrapped ones. After all, I wanted everybody to be jealous of me! I was going to WALT DISNEY WORLD! Mom napped, as would be a trend the first day. But before long we had been dropped off at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, still as beautiful as I remembered, and consolidated a lot of our stuff into my backpack and headed to MGM. Fine... Disney's Hollywood Studios. Whatever, it's still MGM to me.

But first, we needed food. Breakfast at 5AM just wasn't covering it, especially for me, who was really too nervous to eat much of anything. And since we had left the cold to get to the warmth, and also because we had no idea how far of a walk it would be, Mom and I embarked for our reservation as Sanaa, a restaurant we went to merely because we wanted to grab something quickly at the hotel after a long flight. As we waited for our table, we did notice a little tortoise hanging out outside the window. Having been awake since so early, we found this very amusing.

Boy did we find a gem. The food was absolutely incredible. What a way to kick off my vacation. The naan bread with the red chile sambal was beyond incredible. It made my eyes and nose turn into waterfalls, but I kept going back for more. It was so good, I had to punish myself with each bite to enjoy more of the chili goodness. I also went a bit out of my comfort zone with dinner and ordered the tandori chicken, which was also amazing.

Beyond the food, though, the restaurant was really beautiful. Especially with the floor to ceiling windows looking out onto the Villas' savannah. It really set the tone, reminded me of the Disney magic when a giraffe walked by, then the zebra, then an ostrich. I also managed to fall out of my chair before we left, but I quickly blamed that on being awake since 3AM. Even with a nap on the plane, that's a very early wake-up time, and it was nearing 2PM by then.

So, the time being what it was, we decided to head to the Studios. Catching a bus from Kindani Village, we arrived at MGM in short order, and it felt great walking back into a Disney park for the first time in two and a half years. Since there was so much time, we took it easy, slowly making our way over the MuppetVision 3-D. Mom promptly fell asleep, while I joyfully watched the Muppets. I've always loved the Muppets, and in my eyes MuppetVision could only be better if Dr. Teeth were in it. Going to the Studios and seeing MuppetVision first was a departure from my normal routine at Disney, which involves EPCOT and Spaceship Earth, but it was necessary as I wanted to shoot Fantasmic. I had a great time shooting it, but I didn't realize how hard it would be. My stock-kit 55-200mm just didn't cut it most of the time, especially hand held. VR saved some of my shots, but I got less than I had hoped. I'm going to have to figure out a better way to shoot this next time I'm down there. Perhaps a prime, with a huge aperture, and a better (read: closer) seat would help.

Before Fantasmic, though, we zipped on over to Lights, Motor, Action!, a show I was looking forward to seeing being a car nut. Additionally, with the 200mm lens, I was hoping to get some good shots. Again, I got a couple, but nothing too much. The fire-burn shots came out the best, of that much I am certain.

After LMA, it was time to just leisure around. Mom called back home to speak with my sister, and I ran around the Fantasia hat with the fisheye. What a difference I learned that a fisheye could make. I had a lot of fun, and as golden hour rolled around before dinner, I was very regretful that my tripod was packed away in my checked luggage. This made me grab a new camera bag, this time one with an external holder for a tripod that I'll use on my trip in 2012. I will never be without my tripod again, that much I learned.

Soon enough, though, dinner rolled around at the Hollywood Brown Derby. I have to say, the food was beautiful, but it wasn't as good as I had expected from a 2 point restaurant. Food at a 1 point restaurant later in the trip was better. I got the tuna tartar and then the chicken for dinner. I believe my mother got the lamb. Dessert, the grapefruit cake, was actually rather good, but by this time I was just full and wanted to see Fantasmic and crash. Which we did, getting ready for our next day, bright and early, at the Magic Kingdom.

 

[deltableh]

While I write up day 2, here are two more pictures:

 

[deltableh]

Ever notice how Monday always manages to sneak up on you? Sometimes, this is exactly how I feel!



This was a tough shot to grab. Hand held at Fantasmic with a big 200mm zoom lens. VR saved my butt on this picture.

 

[deltableh]

Another long exposure experiment:

 

[deltableh]

Hmmm, been a while since I posted up a fisheye shot. Here's one for today!

 

[deltableh]

This picture was a tough one. I wanted to start it out as black-and-white, then I wanted it film effect, but nothing looked as good as it did when it came off the camera.

 

[Tazer19]

So many great shots! I think the Fantasmic! one is my favorite so far.

Looking forward to more pictures and the rest of your report.

 

[deltableh]

I have a few more Fantasmic! pictures in my bag. Just need to figure out what I want to do with them. They are rather noisy, and I want to make sure I have the skill to turn down the noise before I post them.

In the mean time, I'm starting a new thing! Wild Weekend! Saturday pictures will now be animals! Tell your friends, join in if you're a photog on Flickr!

 

[jhoff3405]

Great pics! I am heading over to Flickr now to look some more!

I am heading down for a weekend solo trip on the 29th. Just got our first DSLR (Nikon D90) and have the 2 kit lenses along with a 50mm prime I just picked up. I can't wait to "practice" in Disney!