Photo TR: Dan Does Disney, 8/21 - 8/30

Hey all! Just got back from another great WDW vacation, complete with free dining, tropical storm action, and three full days at Epcot! Our main intent was to drop my sister back off at college in the Tampa-St. Pete area, but this was also supposed to be regarding my college choice for next year as well. Unfortunately, both of my prospective schools (Florida Tech in Melbourne and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical in Daytona) were essentially under about a foot of water and above on our scheduled tour dates earlier in the trip. Disappointing obviously, but the irony is that I want to major in meteorology, so it's all good. I'll probably get the chance to go back in October or thereabouts, also, so it‘s not a total educational loss.

Anyway, after the long-winded opening paragraph comes an even longer prelude extravaganza of stuff around Orlando in the first few days of our visit. Because of our tour cancellations, we basically just toted around the Orlando area for a couple of days, so the aforementioned WDW pics will most certainly appear tomorrow afternoon. (I do have a job, folks.)

So, without further adieu or complaints, I present to you in amazing RectangleVision format, the Dan Smith tourist extravaganza!

We open this vacation with a special preview of Soarin' over Detroit! (Polluted rivers, construction and mayoral corruption can now be enjoyed from high altitudes.)

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The lighting scattered over the clouds made the sky look remarkably like a glassy lake with mist rising all across.

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It even comes complete with its own ghost ship!

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I only kept this because it very accurately describes our descent into Orlando. Just our luck that Tropical Storm Fay was unleashing her worst yet on the central Florida area the same night of our intended landing. I'm quite surprised that we managed to land at ALL... I mean, I love wild rides as much as the next guy, but I was damned scared of those crosswinds when we dropped like a rock onto the runway!)

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Indeed we are! (As much as I love the Simpsons, I love BTTF with a passion rivalled perhaps only by that one guy who hand-built an exact Delorean time machine replica.)

From what I recall, we ate at Olive Garden this night. Minestrone soup + breadsticks = Italian awesomeness.
 

MattyFresh

Well-Known Member
Wonderworks on I-Drive in downtown (OK, "tourist downtown" :lol: ) Orlando. Just snapped it as I was going by, only because I'd instantly thought of the Fay caption/hurricane damage thing. A lot more of my captions are on the fly than you might think!

Well played.......
 

princess17

Member
I just found this TR and I can say is Wow! Your pics are amazing. I love the one of Spaceship earth in Epcot with the monorail going by. Awesome!
 

meryll83

Member
I have no caption for this, but I do have a shameless video plug. Taken by the folks at Theme Park Review (it‘s a download, FYI)… what happens when CoP goes horribly, horribly wrong? This:

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/download.php?id=159551

I just KNEW you were a TPR reader/member from your first couple of posts on this thread! I could tell by the style of your photo trip report and the sort of comments you make on each photo! :ROFLOL:

Love it!!
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Plan to have Epcot 2.0 tonight!

LIES! :eek:

Day 5: Epcot Part II

Heaven: Est. 1982

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Go Jammitors!

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Segway tour invasion!

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And speaking of segues, here's how fast food views my beloved home country of Canaba! I believe this piece is entitled, "Mountie And Personal Sage Bear Guide Search For Pot of Greased Gold"

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"I hear that visiting Canada is better than getting hit in the head with a 2x4!"

"I won't believe that 'till I see it! Let's go!"

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Little known fact: Imagineers used my backyard as a model for the pavillion.

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My pool's always heated to 33 F!

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
"And now, with some pretty flowers and colourful trees... and some attractive porcelain moose... our country appears warm and inviting!" [/reference]

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It's the basic idea of Canadian climate... dark for exactly half the year.

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I had Canadian Tire work on the waterfall into the pool.

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HM # 11-y billion

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All right… so maybe “ colic” is a poor choice of words on the tagline’s part. It is not, however, a false choice of words…

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"If you choose to bypass this experience, ask a uniformed Brazilian for directions. (Before they ask you. All 300 of 'em.)"

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“Attention passengers: Due to increased fuel prices, the following Soarin’ flights will be cancelled: all. Thank you. The blue zone is for loading and unloading only. Do not park in the blue zone.”

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Wallpaper interests: Inquire within. Hope your desktop likes 1024x768 and under. (I shoot at 1600x1200, but Photobucket won’t allow a larger file.)

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I still say Siemens should have sponsored The Making of Me.

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
"Please note that in the event of an emergency, you may jump out of your vehicle and locate the nearest convenient call box."

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Once this baby hits 64.7 miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious s***.

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We leave the park for the afternoon as Monorail Purple glides solemnly past the Epcot War Memorial. (I’d hire a Mark VI to transport my casket to my grave Gettysburg-style. Just saying.)

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Hidden rainbow! (We parked at the Yacht Club because it provided for faster access after our dinner reservation. Sorry, Disney, our morals went the way of the Dreamfinder on this one.)

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I photographed this just in case it turned out to be a major Floridian weather event later that week as an "ironic placeholder".

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I seriously only realized passing it the second time that this is a waterslide. Disney hotel pools rock!

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Les rêves des amoureux sont comme le bon vin;
Ils donnent de la joie ou bien du chagrin.
Affaibli par la faim je suis malheureux
Volant en chemin; tout ce que je peux,
Car rien n’est gratuit dans la vie.

($5 in Dan Smith Fun Bucks for getting this reference.)

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Fun Fact: This painting is of the exact scene viewed from the artist's stool. (Minus the boat.)

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
La vie… Jamais on ne me dira
Que la course aux étoiles; ça n’est pas pour moi
Laissez moi vous émerveiller et prendre mon en vol
Nous allons en fin nous régaler

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Hidden bumblebee!

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Best part of World Showcase! (Getting to it tomorrow. Saving the best for the last update and all.)

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Luckily, this held off for Illuminations. Unluckily, it produced no photographable lightning later on.

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"When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie... your doctor still won't be convinced that's what caused your optic problems."

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LOVE the shadowing on this. Viva Italia!

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The sacchetti was pretty awesome. The pasta was filled with ricotta and mozzarella cheeses, which tasted surprisingly light. While I normally prefer a lot of sauce on my pasta dishes, the amount shown was absolutely perfect for each individual bite, and again was very light. Overall in terms of filling up, it wasn't excessive nor did it fall short. I'd go so far as to say it was my favourite meal of the trip! (Aside from New York strip, of course.)

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I stayed right outside the restaurant in that rather large plaza you may have seen before, courtesy of Sergio a few pages back. There was maybe 10 people in the entire courtyard when Illuminations started, and it still afforded a great view. (This was taken at full zoom [16x] across the lagoon.)

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Light 'em up!

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Note to SLR owners: you can probably get a lot better picture of this than my $150 point-and-shoot. Watch the show from the Italy courtyard next time and it should afford you some fantastic pyro/statue shots!

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Arrivederci, Epcot! 'Till tomorrow!

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Oh, come on, it was totally calling for it. :lol:

Would you rather have The American Adventure sponsored by McDonald's? :lookaroun
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Last Day: Back (Again) to the Future, Part III

...All complaints about this segment's title may be addressed to the Monsanto Corporation.

So the family was dropping off my sister at college today, so I basically had free reign over scheduling and wherever the heck I chose to go. I figured I'd head up near the Magic Kingdom and take some pictures from the ferry, then head over via monorail to Epcot for the day.

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In the past few days since I'd been in the park, they'd already put up the Halloween decorations on the station and near the entrance.

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Pano-random shot. Ain't I artsy?

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Pro: They now offer Dole Whip in the Polynesian as well.

Con: They still don't offer caramel pineapple bread in Adventureland.

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Monorail explosion!

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A total lucky shot; Monorail Purple was racing by at a combined speed of what seemed like 60 miles per hour on the Epcot beam. Kinda hard to photograph between that and not being able to see more than 5 feet forward of your tiny window.

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This is fine and all for a wallpaper...

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...But China's pagoda offered a lot more detail. Sorry, SSE, but my current desktop background goes to this one.

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
"Help us! For 5000 years we've been forced to get cups of coffee for Brendan Fraser!"

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Know what's even better than the American Adventure show?

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These guys. These are the true Voices of Liberty. If you can, try to catch them inside the pavillion next time you visit; simply amazing.

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Now I have a picture to post every 4th of July!

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After the show, I went back in to take a few pictures of the interior.

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You know those celebrities/historical figures you might share a birthday with? Honest Abe FTW. (Fun Fact: Lincoln and Darwin were both born on February 12, 1809.)

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If you don't make a habit of sleeping in the Hall of Presidents, you may recognize this painting.

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Upon photographing this, the portrait made a five-star tribute video of itself.

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Confession time: I've never done anything in Morocco besides walk right past it. I have no idea why. I only have two pictures that turned out -- the sun glare was particularly awful -- but all the shops were kinda cool.

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Vive la foodstuffs!

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Typical Disney street performers... once you think they can't do any more...

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They give a metaphorical "middle digit" to the collective audience by doing it better.

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I missed the EPCOT 25 exhibit last October, so I really wanted to hit it up before I left.

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I'm all for Dreamfinder, but first order of business: Bring back World of Motion!

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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“This script needs more Danny Kaye!”

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Layin' down some tunes

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Horizons fans rejoice!

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"The world awaits, celebrates... in 80's pantsuits..."

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EPCOT Center: 1982-1999

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The realization then dawns why the cars break down so often.

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A fine technician by any man's standards.

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Let’s see if any Mission: Space crew members kill me for mentioning this:

10 “DESTINY”

20 GO TO 10

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“Perfect… here NASA’s spent 500 billion on the X-2 project, and we have dummies for astronauts!”

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“If this was a skateboard wheel, you’d have to be over a mile tall to ride it!”

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Every mission control needs a sponsor, right?

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Lt. Dan instructs the crew on rocket insertion into deep-space.

…Exits. (I am so dead.)

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Eh, I like playing from home better.

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Not until you bring back ol' Redbeard, by gosh!

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I love macro zoom. (Or whatever it is.)

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