Making Lemonade from Lemons.

[tundra1]

Wow! I love the black and white photos. You are giving me great ideas for our trip in November! I can't wait to see more!

 

[JCMCM]

You have such a talent! Thank you for sharing your wonderful photos! I especially love the black and whites of Everest. I’m a big fan of “deep cut” Disney art and decor and I can totally see doing a series of those gallery wall style. Really lovely.

 

[fractal]

Photographing Dinosaur dark ride is the pinnacle of dark ride challenges.

First of all it's soooo freaking dark so if you don't have a camera with at least an APS-C sensor or bigger then just forget it. You'll need a fast lens; f/1.8 or faster. Don't forget terrific autofocus (although I had a little success with manually focusing back in 2015 but a lot of that was random luck).

Then you are in constant violent motion - I always kid that shooting Dinosaur puts you at grave risk of knocking a tooth out with your camera. It's really not that far from the truth! No other dark ride tosses you around like Dinosaur.

Your subject is also in motion which compounds the challenge. Did I mention how dark it was?

Once you have the appropriate gear that puts you into the realm of possibility of getting a good shot, you really have to know what you're doing. For this shot I had my Full Frame camera, an 85mm 1.8 lens and my settings as such;
ISO 4000 (due to the darkness), 1/160 second (due to all the motion) and that was probably too slow and f/1.8 which is wide open and allows in the most light. Arms tucked in tight to help stabilize the camera and center Autofocus as typically your subject is the only thing with any light on it. My camera also has "In body image stabilization" which helps a bit more.

If you go with a faster shutter speed you have to compensate for that by increasing the ISO. ISO is like an amplifier - if you crank up the amp too high the music gets louder but sound quality goes down. Same thing with ISO - the image
gets brighter but the quality of the image goes down. You lose detail and introduce unwanted "noise". It's always a fine line because if the shutter speed is too slow your shot comes out blurry.

Can one give a dinosaur the heimlich maneuver?

I put the camera away for the rest of the ride inside knowing I would have more chances at it.


Back to 2020.

and back to the fisheye

What next kids?

How about selfie time in front of Tree of Life?

We then made our way to Africa for a much needed treat and break.

Coming Up - Val arrives and then Alex arrives (but not without a little drama)! Some crazy Safari photos.

 

[Lizzards]

Just found your trip report. I am caught up and really appreciate you taking the time to do one. We are going in November, so I have been wondering what it will really be like in there.....We are all sooooo excited and praying that we will be able to go. We live in Southern California, so Disneyland is our home park. We miss it terribly. It is great to see how Florida is handling it from your perspective. Thanks!!!

 

[fractal]

Your black and white photos of EE are stunning! The details you can see in your photos are so incredible.

Love the flashback photo of Toni. These darn kids grow up way too fast.

Nice Dinosaur pictures too. We love that ride and you captured some great parts of the queue!

Thanks! I was happy how they came out.

they do grow up fast!

Wow! I love the black and white photos. You are giving me great ideas for our trip in November! I can't wait to see more!

Thank you @tundra1 !

You have such a talent! Thank you for sharing your wonderful photos! I especially love the black and whites of Everest. I’m a big fan of “deep cut” Disney art and decor and I can totally see doing a series of those gallery wall style. Really lovely.

Thanks for the kind words!

Just found your trip report. I am caught up and really appreciate you taking the time to do one. We are going in November, so I have been wondering what it will really be like in there.....We are all sooooo excited and praying that we will be able to go. We live in Southern California, so Disneyland is our home park. We miss it terribly. It is great to see how Florida is handling it from your perspective. Thanks!!!

I appreciate you reading and commenting! Have a great trip in November and happy to offer some perspective!

 

[fractal]

"When you come to a fork in the road take it." - Yogi Berra

And we did just that.

Straight to these.

Finding a nice table, we sat down and relaxed for awhile. The cold sugary whip really hit the spot!

Our next adventure waited.

The last time I did this trail was in 2011 on another early morning trek with Toni...

(Lack of) hair duty was up to me.

Where did the time go?

All the interactive items were roped off - even the mole rats.

But there were still some interesting items.

Hello fishes.

and duckies.

Another "long exposure" shot. This one a full second long at f/16. Being in the shadows allowed that.

Even though we could only see the back end of a hippo, the kids thought this was a cool room.

"Hi skulls."

Time to look at some go-rill-as.

f/4.5 at 1/80 second.

f/16 at 0.4 seconds.

someday I'll go into Photoshop and combine the two photos.

 

[MamaMeems]

This is a wonderful trip report so far! Just echoing what everyone else is saying, your photos are amazing! It’s making me even more excited for our upcoming October trip.

 

[disneyrella]

Adding to the parade of praise here. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your trip with us! The photos are stunning, your excitement palpable, and the fun you and your beautiful family had so clear in these posts. We were supposed to be in WDW the very week it closed, and thanks to you, we are getting a taste of 'what could have been' -- though, I doubt Flight of Passage would have had no line!

 

[CruellaNY]

Heading towards Dinoland we spotted these guys enjoying a leisure cruise.

So cute! We saw different characters on the boat there but not these guys, hope to see them later this month! I know Pocahontas and Meeko are supposed to be on a boat also and I want to see them as well Love all the surprise character spottings!

Adore the picture of Toni when she was little makes me want to look back at all our old trip pictures with our boys!

 

[cheryllarsen]

Love it!

 

[cheryllarsen]

We've improvised and had some fun times this year as well!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

What a fantastic trip report and even more amazing photos! I especially love the throw-back shots. One of the things I love most about Disney World are the memories around every corner.

 

[SugarSweetLee]

Great trip report and photos! Keep it up!

 

[buzzrelly]

Toni had such a great time she left the park clicking her heels and dancing!

Great shot! She reminds me of my Allie, always dancing!

We came back to our room and unpacked our delivery from Garden Grocer which included this Covid Stress relief kit. (Actually, the vodka was from the Markplace in the Contemporary.)

My husband loves that Boat Box wine…good to know it's available down there!

We explored the new lobby for a few minutes. Still like the old one better.

Well, now we can look forward to a new, new lobby. I know people are hoping they bring back a waterfall. I like this lobby, but to be fair, I never stayed at The Poly until 2016 and the waterfall was long gone by then.

Our incoherent waiter in his hazmat suit did surprisingly agree to take our photo. Perhaps it looked in focus behind the plastic shielding and his thick glasses.

Very nice. And I like that you got your own little seating area. Every time I've eaten at Kona Cafe, I felt like I'm out in the middle of the room.

Amazingly, the Uber driver covering Walt Disney World didn't really know how to go from the Poly to the Contemporary - even with GPS.

Maybe he's in the wrong line of work.

Not one "ugh" - so much better!

Thank goodness! One positive change!

The ride was amazing (again)! -

I love it!

All that plus a little post editing in Lightroom produced this;

and now that I had the settings all dialed into the camera I tried a few other shots;

Holy moly…stunning!

I always said that once she became a teenager she would change into the sleepy, nasty and irrational creatures her siblings were; but to her credit she never did.

Same with my Allie. When all my friends complain about their teenaged girls, I'm over here like

Heading towards Dinoland we spotted these guys enjoying a leisure cruise.

Super cute

If only Wally could have seen me on that bridge waving my heart out to Mickey, Minnie and Pluto...

Yea, Wally doesn't know what he's missing

Toni circa May 2009

So cute. My kids loved that area too

We were in Dinoland USA for one reason and one reason only.

Pretty much the ONLY reason we go to DinoLand too. I really hate the whole area with the black top

Sterg saw me taking a picture of the Dino feet which prompted this;

"Dad, they look like your toe nails."

How about selfie time in front of Tree of Life?

Awesome!

The last time I did this trail was in 2011 on another early morning trek with Toni...

So cute. Happy memories are what's fueling me these days

 

[fractal]

This is a wonderful trip report so far! Just echoing what everyone else is saying, your photos are amazing! It’s making me even more excited for our upcoming October trip.

Thank you @MamaMeems! October is just around "the river bend"!

Adding to the parade of praise here. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your trip with us! The photos are stunning, your excitement palpable, and the fun you and your beautiful family had so clear in these posts. We were supposed to be in WDW the very week it closed, and thanks to you, we are getting a taste of 'what could have been' -- though, I doubt Flight of Passage would have had no line!

Thanks and thanks for following along!

Yes, we certainly lucked out on the lines! A trip we won't forget.

So cute! We saw different characters on the boat there but not these guys, hope to see them later this month! I know Pocahontas and Meeko are supposed to be on a boat also and I want to see them as well Love all the surprise character spottings!

Adore the picture of Toni when she was little makes me want to look back at all our old trip pictures with our boys!

I may just have a photo of Pocahontas and Meeko on a boat later in my report...

Always fun to look back at past trips!

Love it!

Thank you!

We've improvised and had some fun times this year as well!

Great!

What a fantastic trip report and even more amazing photos! I especially love the throw-back shots. One of the things I love most about Disney World are the memories around every corner.

Thank you @2xcited2sleep !

Great trip report and photos! Keep it up!

Thanks @SugarSweetLee ! Will do!

 

[fractal]

Great shot! She reminds me of my Allie, always dancing!






My husband loves that Boat Box wine…good to know it's available down there!




Well, now we can look forward to a new, new lobby. I know people are hoping they bring back a waterfall. I like this lobby, but to be fair, I never stayed at The Poly until 2016 and the waterfall was long gone by then.




Very nice. And I like that you got your own little seating area. Every time I've eaten at Kona Cafe, I felt like I'm out in the middle of the room.




Maybe he's in the wrong line of work.




Thank goodness! One positive change!




I love it!




Holy moly…stunning!




Same with my Allie. When all my friends complain about their teenaged girls, I'm over here like




Super cute




Yea, Wally doesn't know what he's missing




So cute. My kids loved that area too




Pretty much the ONLY reason we go to DinoLand too. I really hate the whole area with the black top









Awesome!




So cute. Happy memories are what's fueling me these days

thanks for all your comments @buzzrelly !

Maybe it's dancing that keeps these teenage girls "human"?

Wally is Wally. Good thing he doesn't go; he'd probably break something. Actually a lot of things!

 

[fractal]

Val called to let us know she was entering the park. We agreed to meet at Flight of Passage.

This was a sad sight. My favorite boat to photograph at AK was sinking!

Not looking good.

There were a number of boats in AK that looked bad; as if they were abandoned.

We continued on our way. Sterg and Toni ahead while I lagged taking photos of things I found interesting.

We rendezvoused with Val and quickly made our way though the FoP queue.

Toni needed some wardrobe adjustments.

Don't know what this is but it looks cool! Can you spot the nickel and penny?

Skull of something I don't want to mess with.

More important and authentic looking stuff.

Back in our pre-show chamber.

"Are we ready?" I asked like a football coach.

"Yes!" was the response.

"Are we excited?"

"Yes!"

"OK team let's go!"

"Hi team" Toni replied; having had enough of my pep speech.

At least they posed for me.

 

[fractal]

Swooping and diving through the landscape of Pandora on our banshee certainly builds up an appetite!

Once again we had a wonderful meal at Satu'li Canteen.

Now leaving Pandora;

We had a hankering for another trip back in time.

This time I was fully committed to capturing the inside of Dinosaur on my SD card; teeth be damned.

Never got this guy before.

Was able to pull out more color and detail of the background here.

another first for me; Raptor on the left!

Carnotaurus with the lightning in the background!

See you later buddy!

Well, made it through with some new shots to add to my Dinosaur library and without the need to see an oral surgeon.

Heed the warning!

 

[fractal]

Literally the only ones in the store.

Dino "chotsky"

This truck had a redo. I think I like the original better, but on the list of things important to me at Walt Disney World this is way down.

This was one of the highlights of the trip and classifies as something near the top of my list of things important to me at WDW. A cast member doing something extra like this is just an awesome thing to watch! I wish I would have gotten his name.

Val wanted to ride Everest and who was I to argue? Plus I had a few more photos to take to complete my comprehensive mapping of the queue.

Val seriously thinks I'm insane for taking this photos.

"Who cares about this?"

"Oh, you would be surprised."

resorted back to black and white for this...

and this, which I really like in B&W.

More queue mapping...

"Does anyone have a picture of the Serka Zong T-shirt?"

"Why yes Mr. Rohde I do!"

Another trip up the mountain!

Using the 24mm here.

It was right after this that we bumped into our friends from Pennsylvania. They asked if we wanted to ride Everest with them but we were monitoring Alex's close approach to the park.

Two seconds later I got a call from Alex. She arrived at the parking lot only to be told she could not enter. She didn't give the reservation number I texted her before the trip only because she didn't think of it. The CM she dealt with didn't seem very helpful and started to get rude with Alex. She more or less told her to leave even though Alex explained she had a reservation at The Contemporary and tickets for AK on this day (couldn't she scan her wrist band?).

As much as we wanted to join our new friends from the Lehigh Valley PA, I had to excuse us to try to reel in Alex who was now on her way to The Contemporary!

 

[fractal]

Alex is a wonderful human being. She always thinks of others before herself and that trait is what makes her an awesome nurse.

That same trait however makes her a bit of a pushover. She was too nice to the CM at the parking lot entrance and was now driving off. I told her to pull up the reservation number I gave her, turn around and give it to that CM. She at first didn't believe me that it would work but after I insisted strongly for her to execute my plan she did. 15 minutes later she was parked and walking into AK.

We met her near the Tree of Life.

Hi Alex!

It was good to have the entire family together again at Walt Disney World! We've had 2 trips since 2013 that one of them was missing.

Time to show Alex what was new at Animal Kingdom and Avatar happens to be one of her favorite movies!

On our way. The Disney Characters boat cruises were still running.

Not happy to see these guys all filled up with moss and plants growing in their "spouts" and on their shells. Last time they were shooting water out of those shells.

Once again, we are briskly walking up the queue ramp to Flight of Passage.

Did you know there is a bathroom in the FoP queue line? I didn't until that day.

We had two people go to the bathroom and during that entire time not one person came up behind us.

Alex loved Flight of Passage which made me happy.

Off to our next adventure.

UP NEXT - Is that giraffe going to move? Fisheye Everest looking really cool. Great times at Disney Springs!