Title Chosen: World of Friendship! October 2017 Girls Getaway: Aloha to the Poly/ MCO Hyatt p33-4

Great job on those long exposure shots! I need to work on taking some myself for my next trip. I’m not huge on pumpkin but I would be intrigued to try pumpkin Mickey waffles.
 
I followed ~Ninja’s suggestion for photographing fireworks- “Spray and Pray”- Just keep taking pictures and hope some of them are decent.
I love the long exposure on the fireworks. It makes them look more interesting than they do in person. I wonder how the moving projections on the castle affect the long exposure shots?

It must be hard to get good pictures in Haunted Mansion. The lighting is weird in there.

~Ninja wanted to stay later- ride Pirates, take some photos of an emptying park. At this point, I was tired from my travel day and visits to both EPCOT and MK, so I took my leave.
I would have left with Janet because travel day is just too long of a day when you wake up at 2:30am to catch a flight. ;) You really did a lot that day!DH and I had a relaxing night at our resort and went to bed early. We had important plans the next day. ::yes::

It was nice that Nannette was feeling better that night. It is not fun at all to be sick on vacation. :(
 
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This is so lovely! I can't wait for palm trees...

Here is my first attempt at using my DSLR camera, a tripod and long-exposure to shoot the fireworks


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Nice job! These are great memory photos to have!


This one is my favourite, I think.


Yum!!
 
I followed ~Ninja’s suggestion for photographing fireworks- “Spray and Pray”- Just keep taking pictures and hope some of them are decent.

I like that method. And, hey, it worked out well for you! Your photos of Happily Ever After turned out beautiful. Very crisp.


~Ninja’s method of meeting up is to call out the name of the person she is trying to find. Soon enough, I heard her calling my name.

I guess it's a good thing you don't have a super common name. Otherwise, she'd probably have to shoo away half a dozen people near the Haunted Mansion entrance.



we saw an advertisement for pumpkin Mickey waffles.

Sounds interesting. Glad you enjoyed the treat.


Man oh man am I excited to read about your tour the following morning. It sounds so interesting!
 


Those are the best fireworks pictures I've ever seen!!!! They are so awesome!
I wish I could get shots like that.
 
Great job on those long exposure shots! I need to work on taking some myself for my next trip. I’m not huge on pumpkin but I would be intrigued to try pumpkin Mickey waffles.

Thank you!

I think the tripod was really the most important ingredient, but I'm also extremely grateful that ~Ninja set the manual adjustments for me.

I love pumpkin. I love Mickey waffles. This snack was a WINNER!

::yes::

I love the long exposure on the fireworks. It makes them look more interesting than they do in person. I wonder how the moving projections on the castle affect the long exposure shots?

It must be hard to get good pictures in Haunted Mansion. The lighting is weird in there.

You can't make out the projections in most of the pictures for exactly the reason you suspect.

The lighting and the movement in Haunted Mansion make for really tough conditions for taking pictures. The very slight movement in the cars blurs the pictures. I wouldn't mind being stuck for a few minutes in front of the signing busts...


I would have left with Janet because travel day is just too long of a day when you wake up at 2:30am to catch a flight. ;) You really did a lot that day!DH and I had a relaxing night at our resort and went to bed early. We had important plans the next day. ::yes::

It was nice that Nannette was feeling better that night. It is not fun at all to be sick on vacation. :(

It was a really long day. As long as I am doing something, I am usually able to keep going. I'm glad I stayed for the fireworks, and even Haunted, but after that, I was DONE!

I was so glad to see Nannette when I got back and to hear she was feeling better.

*Spoiler Alert* She made it to the Walking With Giants Tour. ;)
 
This is so lovely! I can't wait for palm trees...

Thank you!

Not much longer now...

Nice job! These are great memory photos to have!

This one is my favourite, I think.

I really did not know how the pictures would come out until I had a chance to look at them. I haven't done any editing, except to crop a few of the pictures.

We didn't have plans to come back to MK night to see the show again later in the week, so I did give up the opportunity to just enjoy watching the show.

The pumpkin Mickey waffles were sooooo good- we had them again a couple of mornings later.


::MickeyMo


If I don't get a chance in the next few days, I wish you a most magical trip.


:cheer2:
 


I like that method. And, hey, it worked out well for you! Your photos of Happily Ever After turned out beautiful. Very crisp.

Thank you!

The hardest part was holding down the shutter for a full 15 second count. I really couldn't picture what the photos would look like with so much going on!


I guess it's a good thing you don't have a super common name. Otherwise, she'd probably have to shoo away half a dozen people near the Haunted Mansion entrance.

I guess maybe I should have been calling out "~NINJA!"

An even less common name.


Sounds interesting. Glad you enjoyed the treat.


Man oh man am I excited to read about your tour the following morning. It sounds so interesting!

The pumpkin waffles did not suck.

I'm probably a couple of posts away from the Walking With Giants tour. Totally worth it! Not sure what the age limits are, but there was a family with two kids, probably right around the ages of 8-11 or so.

:dumbo:
 
Those are the best fireworks pictures I've ever seen!!!! They are so awesome!
I wish I could get shots like that.

Thank you so much!!!

I had a lot of help!

The tripod is really key to keep the camera steady and I was lucky to have ~Ninja's advice.

:thumbsup2
 
What an awesome night! Your fireworks pictures are amazing! And YUUMMMM I love pumpkin anything, so those sound fantastic!
 
Beautiful fireworks shots! Sounds like a good night! :thumbsup2

Thank you!

Yes, we had a fantastic night at MK. There's nothing like that feeling of being at MK on arrival day and knowing you still have most of your trip still ahead.

:goodvibes


What an awesome night! Your fireworks pictures are amazing! And YUUMMMM I love pumpkin anything, so those sound fantastic!

Thanks so much!

I love pumpkin too, so I really wanted to try these and I was not disappointed.


::yes::
 
Thursday October 26, 2017
Animal Kingdom


The Morning Report (It was Devine)


Our plans for today had us meeting up with friends at Animal Kingdom in the morning, with Fast Passes for Na’vi River Journey from 9:50 to 10:50 then Walking with Giants Elephant Tour at 11. Lunch was play-it-by-ear, the afternoon was not planned and we had early evening dinner plans at EPCOT- Via Napoli for 8 friends. After dinner was also unscheduled time.

When I woke up, I made a pot of coffee- I love having a full size coffee maker in the DVC room. ~Ninja had brought a bag of Tim Horton’s so I could try it. She had also made a food run Wednesday morning for the basics like bread, English muffins, eggs, ham, butter.

I made breakfast for everyone. Breakfast sandwiches for Janet and me. Scrambled eggs and toast for ~Ninja. And I believe just toast for Nannette, who was feeling much better but did not want to push it!


We arrived at Animal Kingdom right around park-opening time, but I suspect they had started letting people in much earlier than that due to Pandoramania. I encountered a problem at bag check. I had my DSLR with lenses and some other gear, including a selfie stick. I never use it, but keep it in the bag. The security person told me I would have to turn it in at guest services and then pick it up before leaving the park since selfie sticks are banned from the parks.

Ain’t nobody got time for that! I headed toward the direction of Guest Services. And then walked on by. I pinky-swear I won’t take it out in the park (and I didn’t).

Once through the tapstiles, we contacted Sue and her husband- they had just entered the park as well!

We were greeted by someone I hadn’t seen in awhile-

Devine


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We watched Devine until it was time to leaf.


We stopped for pictures in front of the Tree of Life








We had time before our Fast Pass in Pandora, and since we didn’t have any FP for Expedition Everest for the whole trip, we headed towards Asia.


You can see my Meerkat ears in this shadow picture.

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As we passed the spot where Mickey and Minnie meet, ~Ninja suggested that we pop in. There was not much of a wait at all.








We had a great meet with our favorite mice.


Continuing on…


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When we got to Everest, it turns out only ~Ninja and I were riding. We asked for the front row.



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I don’t think I have noticed the DHS, EPCOT and resort area from here before.



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After surviving our encounter with Betty the Yeti, but without photographic evidence (for some reason I don’t have the ride photo), we met up with our friends and decided to take a kinder, gentler stroll through the park.


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The Komodo Dragons were not out. Boo! Hisssss!


The bats were hanging in there, though


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We were really hoping to catch a glimpse of the two newborn tiger cubs, but alas, they were not spotted.


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Our disappointment was somewhat alleviated by thoughts of our next destination, however.


Next Up: First Peek at Pandora
 
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I didn't know you were hiding a selfie stick. You are very sneaky. ;)

We were greeted by someone I hadn’t seen in awhile-

Devine
That was the first time we had seen Devine. It was very cool to watch her move around into her different poses.

We had a great meet with our favorite mice.
The meet and greet with Mickey and Minnie is something we would never have done on our own. It turned out to be a lot of fun. Ninja said to Mickey, "When are you going to put a ring on her?", and then they launched into this cute little routine, which you have pictured above. :)
 
I can't wait to hear what you thought of Pandora! Sounds like a great start to the day!

Pandora is pretty amazing! Worthy of multiple visits!

Yes, a great start to another fantastic, busy day! It isn't even 10 am yet!

::yes::


I didn't know you were hiding a selfie stick. You are very sneaky. ;)

Indeed!

And later in the day I hopped directly from Animal Kingdom to EPCOT so I had to come up with a way to conceal the stick...



That was the first time we had seen Devine. It was very cool to watch her move around into her different poses.

I didn't know that! I have seen her a few times.

Does anyone know if she only there in the Oasis in the mornings? We are typically at parks at rope drop and have only seen her in the mornings.

For a very short time, there was a male foliage performer. There were some cute names for him, the only one I can think of right now is "Dude-vine"


The meet and greet with Mickey and Minnie is something we would never have done on our own. It turned out to be a lot of fun. Ninja said to Mickey, "When are you going to put a ring on her?", and then they launched into this cute little routine, which you have pictured above. :)

Same here. My family has very little interest in character greets, so the only time I do them is if I am solo or with friends. This was a quick and convenient meet.

::MickeyMo ::MinnieMo
 
I like Ninja’s advice of “Spray and Pray” for taking pictures of the fireworks.
Beautiful shots with your DSLR of the fireworks
Love your PP pics in AK
We love riding EE and the Jungle Trek
Looking forward to Walking with Elephants Tour
 
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