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
Toni says thank you for everyone's birthday wishes! Her and her 6 friends just left our air bnb. We cooked them all a nice dinner and sent them on their way with leftovers.

I made it to having all my children reach 21 without any major incident! 🫡
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
@Captain Barbossa @RevRemy

This was my first Clemson game. What a great experience! Despite being a night game on a college campus there was no sign of crazy drunken behavior either around the stadium or in the game (as far as I could see).
Everyone was polite and hospitable. It was easy to make friends. Plenty of security - I lost count of how many State Trooper cars I saw. I loved the parade of the marching band coming down the street next to the stadium. It was a bit chaotic after that to get in but we were also going the wrong direction :D. The stadium is beautiful and the new scoreboard impressive as was all the pre-game hype programs and through-out the game.

The band was amazing! The half-time "TOP GUN" show was spectacular complete with the band forming an aircraft carrier and an F-16 landing on it! Just a great time overall and we had perfect weather! The win was the cherry on top.
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Where did we leave off? Oh by the way, it's @fractal jr Birthday!



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Back to YiaYia and I traveling through the zany Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad...

She was entranced by it!

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The 14mm lens proved to be a good choice.

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Photos however do not capture the best part of this ride which is the animation on the walls coming to life to not only tell the story but also give you a sense of being part of it and moving through the story with our favorite mice.

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Underwater

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This is a passage between rooms - the waves on the wall are moving up and down and towards the next room as your car picks up speed as if you've been caught up in them. Very cool illusion!

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We both enjoyed our quick dance lesson as the car would perform the steps off Daisy's instructions.

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and we avoided being smashed!

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Another happy ending!

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UP NEXT - Our Day with YiaYia continues across the Galaxy!
 
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Captain Barbossa

Well-Known Member
@Captain Barbossa @RevRemy

This was my first Clemson game. What a great experience! Despite being a night game on a college campus there was no sign of crazy drunken behavior either around the stadium or in the game (as far as I could see).
Everyone was polite and hospitable. It was easy to make friends. Plenty of security - I lost count of how many State Trooper cars I saw. I loved the parade of the marching band coming down the street next to the stadium. It was a bit chaotic after that to get in but we were also going the wrong direction :D. The stadium is beautiful and the new scoreboard impressive as was all the pre-game hype programs and through-out the game.

The band was amazing! The half-time "TOP GUN" show was spectacular complete with the band forming an aircraft carrier and an F-16 landing on it! Just a great time overall and we had perfect weather! The win was the cherry on top.
Glad you had a great experience/time! And the crazy drunks were with me in the student section lol. I have my gripes about some of the new changes that were made to Death Valley, but the nighttime enhancements are impressive and make the atmosphere for night games even better. And yes, the Top Gun show is one of the best halftime shows we’ve had in recent years.

I actually caught a glimpse of Toni and Sterg while on the field after the game and quickly looked to see if I could spot you, but no luck. Hope y’all had safe travels back home and again I’m glad y’all had a great time! Maybe our paths will cross the next time you’re in Tiger Town.
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Glad you had a great experience/time! And the crazy drunks were with me in the student section lol. I have my gripes about some of the new changes that were made to Death Valley, but the nighttime enhancements are impressive and make the atmosphere for night games even better. And yes, the Top Gun show is one of the best halftime shows we’ve had in recent years.

I actually caught a glimpse of Toni and Sterg while on the field after the game and quickly looked to see if I could spot you, but no luck. Hope y’all had safe travels back home and again I’m glad y’all had a great time! Maybe our paths will cross the next time you’re in Tiger Town.
It looked crazy down there! It took me a couple times to recognize "The Batman" theme from the band when Clemson was on D. Nice change-up from the common "Empire theme".

We were at Backstreets having a drink by then! They would have loved it you said hi! Thanks, and I'll let you know when I'm back.

A couple videos I took...



 
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fractal

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I received a transmission from Gold Leader and Blue Leader that they were making the jump to hyperspace for Batuu. Good thing YiaYia's wheelchair had a hyperdrive.

Batuu's surface temperature didn't provide any relief but we rendezvoused with the rest of the squad.

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We were hungrier that a Wookie on an Endor moon so we found the hardest working droid in the Galaxy for some Ronto wraps.

Don't work too hard 8D-J8!

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The wraps were a big hit with everyone!

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We received a message that our services were needed for a heist job to fund Resistance efforts so off we went to the Docking Bay.

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What a hunk of junk!

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With our team fully assembled and being braver than we thought, we boarded the Falcon while YiaYia stayed behind to watch over the camp.



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