Trip Report Yia-Yia, Yetis and Epcotonians. A sweltering Summer of '22 adventure!

It was the night before our Disney trip and I found myself scrambling. So much to do besides "Disney but "Disney" needed to get done. Where are my SD cards? Where are all my Star Wars shirts? Where is my camera bag? We had just moved after-all and things were not where they should be because well we were in a different house. Toni was scrambling too. She is spending the Summer waitressing in Bethany Beach Delaware and came home THAT DAY to get everything ready for Disney. Her Mom however also wanted her to help get her "crap" ready for college (leaving in a few weeks). Tensions were running high and the early morning flight out of Baltimore was like lighting a fuse to a stick of dynamite. Time was ticking away!

This was going to be a different trip for us. Just three of the five in the family as my wife Val decided to sit this one out and my daughter Alex couldn't get her schedule to work. So Val will be going to New Mexico to visit Alex in a month as the final three, the triumvirate headed to Walt Disney World to meet up with my sister Marina's family and my mom (Yia-Yia).

The Triumvirate -

Toni (center), Sterg and yours truly.

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As you may or may not know, one of the things I love about going to Disney is honing my photography skills. For this trip I decided to rent two fantastic (and expensive) lenses. The Sony GM 50mm f/ 1.2 and the Sony GM 14mm f/1.8 lenses to be exact. The cost to buy both of those lenses would be as much as the cost of the entire trip. Additionally I rented a lens adaptor to pair with my old Minolta 70-210 "beercan" lens that I wanted to try out on the Safari.

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I've been crazy after the 14mm lens due to it's wide angle nature. It's actually so wide it's referred to as an "ultra-wide angle" lens. Wide angle lenses have wonderful applications at WDW and I was going to see how this baby was going to work for me. The 50mm 1.2 is a lens with a great reputation. Very fast, very sharp and producing beautiful bokeh as your sharp subject stands in front of a background that literally melts into a dreamy blur of photographic delight.

By 11pm all that was packed, what was left of my Star Wars shirts was packed - "Chris, aren't we just getting a bit too old for Star Wars shirts?" Val quipped - and everything else on my list was packed.



Toni was also packed and had full-filled her "getting ready for college" obligations.

Val said her goodbyes and goodnights..
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and went to bed.


It was soon time for me to lay down for 3 hours of sleep. The hardest thing left for me to do was wake up with my alarm. I think I'll have a glass on wine (or two?). After-all, what could go wrong?
 
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fractal

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
What an intro! Can’t wait to hear the rest!

Thanks and Thanks for following!
Ready to follow along. Love the intro!

Thank you sir! Hope all is well. I know you have a busy month ahead.


Hah! 3rd in!! Can't wait to read about your adventures!
And with sexy camera talk like "lens with great reputations, beautiful bokeh and sharp subject stands" it should be amazing!!
(Not that I understood a word of any of that, but as a person who bought a few of your last trip photos. I'm all a quiver)! 🤣

Lol! Thanks for following @MickeyCB . I do indeed put those lenses to the test!

GIF by The Academy Awards


In the house! 😉

Thanks @Tuvalu /Shirley :)

I hope you and Em got more Shirley status the we did!
Yay! I'm in! I just hope you came home with your rented lenses instead of leaving one at the bottom of Pirate's (if I'm remembering that correctly!)!! Can't wait to see all your pics! I was hoping you would take a bit longer to get started so I could finish my report first because I just can't compete with you and Tuvalu!!

Luckily no lenses were harmed in the making of this Trip Report. Your report is great! I only did one "recreation" shot vs. your impressive tally.
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
What could go wrong? :hilarious:

Lol! Happy your here @Bullseye1967 !
I’m in! (And happy you saw a Phillies win today!)

Look forward to the report!!

Very enjoyable game! Thanks Chelsea!

I’m in! Also go Braves even though they lost the series to your Phillies this week!

While at the game yesterday I bumped into a friend (Braves fan) from home. We figured out the last time we were at a Phillies vs. Braves game together was way back in 1993 when we went to Game 1 of the NLCS at Veterans Stadium. The Braves smoked the Phillies that day (although the Phils ended up winning the series), but what we remember most was the rocket shot homer Fred McGriff hit. I've never seen a baseball his so hard and so far. It was 475ft when it smashed into an upper level seat while still on it's way up.

Thanks for checking in @Loco_driver !


Lol! thanks @Ellen Ripley !
I’m in. I can’t imagine the pictures we’ll see with all that paraphernalia. Oh the perils of pickup at MCO.

Lots of gear...lots of heavy gear this trip! Our particular pickup, while missing the charm of Magical Express was easily the smoothest we ever had.

"it felt great to be back"... Quote of the century....Same here when I went...

Um, you're never too old for Star Wars shirts....

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Yep, felt good @Billy6 !

That's what I said!
Worth the wait!

Careful with the high dollar rentals. I just returned a Canon R3 after a couple of days. The only questions left are when and which kidney I’m going to sell.

I decided I'm not buying either of these amazing lenses for reasons I'll get into in the report.

Lol on the R3! I hear ya. My Sony A7rii is getting a bit long in the tooth but the sensor is still amazing and I've learn to deal with it's shortcomings vs the newer cameras.

I’m loving the start to this report!!! The videos and your story telling are great.

thanks again Bill!
Are you ever REALLY too old for star wars T-shirts?

My words exactly!

Loving it already!

Thanks @Ciara!


Lol! Hi @Swissmiss using Hi. We certainly had a good number of "Hi's" again this trip. We also added another "phrase" to our repertoire. :D
 
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fractal

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I am here and loving it!

Thanks @Katiekitten !
I'm here too! :happy:
Welcome @MinnieM123 !

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I've been looking forward to this!

Thank you @PineapplePrincess !

@fractal I'm afraid you may get a "love" for every post!

Love the crazy beginning
Love the new lenses. Lets keep them in the boat when riding Pirates.
Love, Love, Love the little video clips by Toni
Love your HS entrance photos!

Thanks Teresa! There was a lot of love on this trip. :)

Here and looking forward to your trip report. Great pics so far!!

I have had reservations at Destino Tower a couple of times and always ended up changing to be closer to MK & Epcot. Looks like a great place to stay though so looking forward to your comments!

Thanks @MissViv! There is much to like about Destino Tower but there were some shortcomings I'll get into.

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I'm settling in for the amazing pictures and storytelling one can only get with an @fractal TR.

Thanks @PacNWTigger ! Happy you're here!

Glad to see the full report is up and running. Looking forward to seeing more.

Thanks Amy!

Well, the wait is certainly worth it!! I'm here and already amazed with the photos (the mirrored ceiling/chandelier is soooo cool!) and the videos are an added bonus! Happily following along!
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Thanks @cgersic ! Glad you're following!
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
A quick timeout to talk/rant about crowds and people moving through the parks.

Crowds were not an issue during our previous trip - July 2020 - due to the pandemic.

Here's a photo of me waiting for a bus at DHS. This was around 1pm in the afternoon. For a solid 20 minutes not only did no bus show up, I did not see one signal person. Not one. At a WDW Park bus station. As I wrote in my report - the possibility of a zombie apocalypse starting to enter my mind.

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Well, the crowds are back! We found WDW to be very crowded this trip. This brought a sense or normalcy to things as for the most part there was no hint of the pandemic, which is great. The downside is how a good number of people maneuver badly through the crowded parks. Here are the worst offenders.

1) The "WALL" people as we started calling them. Groups of 4 or more that decide the best way to go through the busy parks is to go shoulder to shoulder, forming a single wall that makes it near impossible to pass or forces oncoming traffic to squeeze to the side to let through this privileged group. It's like they are auditioning for those dramatic shots you see in movies. Think "Cherry Bomb" scene in Guardians of the Galaxy 1.

No more than three across seems like a good rule to me.

2) The "FREEZE" people. Groups or people that are moving along at a good clip then someone just stops dead and calls for the rest to do the same instead of pulling off to the side to regroup. It's the same a a car hitting the brakes on a busy highway. Jams and Pileups ensue behind them. People dash to either side to avoid collisions but then risk head-ons with opposing traffic! I admit to being guilty of this on rare occasion but it seems like it was a constant thing on this trip.

3) Let's park the entire group right outside the exit of the attraction and figure out what's next. It's like BEAVERS building a dam but to prevent people flow, not water flow.

We were constantly dealing with the WALL, FREEZE and BEAVER people during the trip, especially when it was just the Triumvirate. Conversely, when Marina, Yia-yia and crew arrived, the challenge became NOT to become those offenders!

On that first day morning, the crowds were not that bad, but that would quickly change.

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Time to ride a great indoor coaster!

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We were actually early for our lightning lane so we wandering around a bit.

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I found a new angle for Tower of Terror and the 14mm fit it all in!

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