The 40th, MNSSHP, Food & Wine, A New Camera and 3200 Pictures. Sept/Oct TR.

Welcome to my 3rd trip report, for my 11th trip, that includes a few 1st and a 40th. Now we all know about the 40th, but the 1st's will be talked about later.
I have been home for two weeks now. Shame, for having waited this long to start. But I just wasn't feeling it yet. I have finally started editing some of my pictures and I am ready to get this going.
On this trip there were only two travelers. First there is me. This was my 3rd trip in 17 months and I am already ready to go back. I purchased a new camera, Canon SX30, before the trip. So, hopefully, my pictures have improved since the last trip. I still need more practice on low light pictures, but that is what the next trip is for.



Then there is my dad. This was his 13th trip, his first being in April of 72. His most recent trip was in May/June 2010. He videoed more of the trip than I did, while I took most of the pictures.



We stay at Pop Cenutry from September 30th till October 6th. We had free dining for most of our trip and we had 5 day Park Hoppers. We also had tickets to the September 30th MNSSHP. Add in the 40th and Food & Wine and it was a very busy 5 days.

In this trip report you will find out about how we met a dozen characters in just over an hour, our adventure of all four parks in one day, and just how crazy the 40th really was. Stay tuned for all that and much more, including many many many pictures.

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Yay!!! The trip report has started!!! :sohappy:

 

[WDW_Princess24]

:sohappy:
Looking forward to it!

 

[HollyBelle]

YAY! Another 40th report. Can't wait, Jessica!

 

[LuLaSue]

Sounds great...bring it....!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Count me in! Can't wait to read all about it!!:wave:

 

[jesemeca]

Yay!!! The trip report has started!!! :sohappy:

:sohappy:Thanks for joining in. I hope to have more up tonight. Depends on how work goes.

:sohappy:
Looking forward to it!

:wave:Thanks for stopping by. I have been reading your trip report also!

YAY! Another 40th report. Can't wait, Jessica!

Hi! You know, I thought I saw you on the 40th, but before I could get any closer, "you" were gone. LOL. So, when are you gonna start yours?

Sounds great...bring it....!

Thanks for stopping in. :wave:

Count me in! Can't wait to read all about it!!:wave:

You have been counted! LOL.

 

[jesemeca]

So, my day started at 4:34am. I didn't need to be up till 6am, but once I was up, I couldn't fall back asleep. I finally got out of bed around 5:30am. I checked my bags one last time, loaded the car and waited till it was time to leave. We left at 7:30am, right after my mom left with my brother and sister for school.

By 8:48, we were seeing this sign.



After roaming around the Welcome Center for a few minutes, we started our drive again. I took over at this point.

We made it to Alabama by 10:30am. The only reason I know the exact times, is because I texted my brother and sister everytime we got to a new state. They were not very happy when they got home from school that day.
I love this missile. The last few times we have gone to Disney, we have stopped here. But it was always at night, I was so excited that I got to see it during the day on this trip.
My dad started driving here again. He had to, because I wanted to take pictures of the prison in Mobile. I just love that it right up against I-10.

We made it to Florida at 11:55am. They had signs up advertising MNSSHP.



As we were looking around in the Florida Welcome Center, I was playing with my camera settings. All the pictures, so far, have been taken in manual mode. I was pretty proud of myself for doing this.

I have edited a few of these photos, but nothing major. I am just using Picasa, but it works for me.

We stopped at an Arby's in Crestview. Yum! I love me some Arby's. We kept changing out drivers, until we reached the hotel at 8:00pm. We stayed at a Hampton Inn in Ocala.

Before bed, we went to the lobby to get some cookies. While in the lobby I was taking pictures. My dad told me afterward, that the other people in the lobby were looking at me oddly. Probably cuz, I was taking a picture of a picture.

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Love road trips! and love how you take pictures of the different rest areas you stop at!

 

[enchanted_belle]

Not this next trip down, but the one after that I am so doing a road trip! Can't wait to read the rest of your report (and see more of those 3200 pictures! :lookaroun ) :wave:

 

[jhoff3405]

Looking forward to more!
Saw your picture with another WDW'er in their TR...wondering if you will have their picture in your TR?!

 

[jesemeca]

Love road trips! and love how you take pictures of the different rest areas you stop at!

Road trips aren't too bad when it is just a few people. But try having six people in one van for 12 hours straight. Not as much fun, trust me. But if that is what gets me to Disney next time I will do it again. I take pictures of everything. No, seriously. I took a picture of a magazine in the Florida Welcome Center. It's even worse now that I have a new camera, that I am learning on.

Not this next trip down, but the one after that I am so doing a road trip! Can't wait to read the rest of your report (and see more of those 3200 pictures! :lookaroun ) :wave:

I should have another update up some time this weekend. With some more of those 3200 pictures!

Looking forward to more!
Saw your picture with another WDW'er in their TR...wondering if you will have their picture in your TR?!

You must be talking about PartOfYourWorld. Yes, she will be making an appearance later on. Thanks for joining in!

 

[lbrad]

I'm ready for more :sohappy:

 

[jesemeca]

The next morning I was up at 5:50am. The car was loaded by 6:38am. It was now time for breakfast at Cracker Barrel.

This car was in Cracker Barrel's parking lot, so I snuck over and took a quick picture.

While waiting for breakfast, I was playing around with the camera settings. I must have taken a dozen of this same shot. This was my favorite, though.
After we finished eating, I went outside for my smoke break before we started driving again. Once again, I was playing with the camera.

We were now on our way again! We stopped at one of the rest stop on the toll road. I love that they are in the middle of the toll road, instead of on the sides.

I could tell we were getting closer when I saw the local YMCA building.

Right before 10am, we saw this.

I had my camera on sports mode and just snapped away.

Just a few minutes later, we were pulling up to this lovely sign.



We get out the car, I take another smoke break, and it's off to check in.

 

[jesemeca]

We made our way to the checkin line, that was quite long considering it was barely 10:30am. But the line moved very quickly, most people were checking out. The lady that checked me in was very nice. I had two seperate reservations, thankfully though, we didn't have to move rooms. We were in room 4114 the whole trip.
After checkin I needed another pit stop, before roaming Pop.

We were on the back side of this building, second room from the end closest to the lobby.

I was just snapping away, as I walked toward the lake.



As I got closer to the lake, I realized how much I could see of the new hotel. So I was a good girl, and took pictures to share with everyone.





It was funny, seeing these guys up there working.

We made our way back to the lobby and then the car. Our next stop was Downtown Disney.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Yay! A trip report! You did an awesome job with your first time in manual! Wow! Can't wait for more!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

I'm glad you got to take pictures of the new resort! We never had a chance to go look around!!! We never really spent much time at the hotel to be honest.

 

[jesemeca]

Yay! A trip report! You did an awesome job with your first time in manual! Wow! Can't wait for more!

Thanks for the compliments. I had alot of help from various people online. I wrote notes down for the settings to use on the dark rides. I had settings for fireworks, the Electrical Parade and even the safari. There were sometimes when I would forget to change the settings, so the pictures are not quite that great. I did my best to remember to read the histogram.(Is that the right word?) I would just change the settings until the camera told me it was a good combo. So, hopefully, my pictures show that I tried my best. Thanks again!

I'm glad you got to take pictures of the new resort! We never had a chance to go look around!!! We never really spent much time at the hotel to be honest.

That was really the only time I was able to check out the hotel. We were running around the rest of the time. I should have more up tomorrow.

 

[HollyBelle]

Great shots of Pop - so vibrant and bright!

As for the 40th, it probably wasn't me... We actually avoided the MK that morning - sacrilege, I know.

It'll still be a little while before I start my report, but I am about to put up the one from Pixar weekend (only six months late :lookaroun :lol.

 

[jesemeca]

Great shots of Pop - so vibrant and bright!

As for the 40th, it probably wasn't me... We actually avoided the MK that morning - sacrilege, I know.

It'll still be a little while before I start my report, but I am about to put up the one from Pixar weekend (only six months late :lookaroun :lol.

Thanks. My camera has a vibrant setting. So I just turned that on and left it on the whole trip.

It was around lunch time, outside of Cosmic Ray's.

I have been reading your Pixar TR. I haven't been able to comment, cuz up until now I had been on my phone reading everything.