PRE-TRIP REPORT - A Disney Anniversary - DLR, UOR and WDW w Star Wars Galaxy's Edge- Sept/Oct 2019

[RachelleBeaney]

Hello my DIS friends

I'm back with a new pre-trip report for my next upcoming trip to the Disney Parks in the US. My husband Jared and I are taking the trip to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. It will also be our 10th anniversary of discovering the wonder that is Disney Theme Parks, as we first visited Disneyland on our honeymoon.

If you've never read one of my reports before, my name is Rachelle. My wonderful husband (and best friend) Jared and I love travelling to Disney and taking fantastic photos (mostly Jared does the photo taking). We also love music and our three cats and dog!

Jared's favourite attraction at any Disney park is Splash Mountain and mine is currently tied between Mystic Manor (at Hong Kong Disney) or the new Pirates of the Caribbean at Shanghai Disney (that ride is EPIC!). I'd have to say the Disneyland Resort is my favourite, though the Tokyo Disney Resort is a close second. I'm fully aware I have nostalgic reasons for Disneyland being my favourite (it was the first we ever visited).

Throughout our 10 years of Disney Theme Park adventures we've visited every Disney park in the world, except Disneyland Paris, and every Universal Studios Park too!

And we thought the best way to celebrate a decade of us, and a decade of our Disney adventures was with another trip!

As we live in Perth, Australia getting to Disney is both time consuming and expensive, so we sadly can't go annually or bi-annually like some of you (I am super jealous of you that can!). Because of this, we try and fit as much as we can in the trips we do take. Sadly my husband has a new job that only allows him to take 2 weeks annual leave at a time (in Australia we are entitled to 4 weeks per year, and he is, but he can only take 2 at once). We managed to wheedle an extra 2 days but only have a fortnight for our Disney Trip this time around (those of who you've read my previous reports, you'll know we usually take more time!). I shouldn't complain too much, he gets lots of good travel perks with his new job.

As well as celebrating our Wedding Anniversary on this trip we are also catching up with some wonderful Disney friends we made on our Disney Fantasy Cruise in 2015. We've all kept in touch throughout the years, and Jared and I have watched jealously as they've taken a few more cruises together. We'll be meeting up with our friends Derrick and Becky at Walt Disney World and Todd and Kim at Disneyland.

Of course I'm super excited about the opening of Star Wars land which, surprisingly, will be open on both coasts during our visit. I was only expecting Disneyland's version to be open during our trip! I am hoping that Rise of the Resistance will be open by October at Disneyland so we can experience that! It will also be our first time experiencing Pandora at Disney's Animal Kingdom (really looking forward to that). And lastly, the new ride at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure - will be open by the time we visit.

So there are a lot of new things for us to look forward to and to plan for, so I'll be outlining all of my planning thoughts and ideas here, along with what we've already booked.

And now I invite you to join me again as we start planning this new Disney adventure...and you can start by having a look at some of my favourite pictures from our last few Disney adventures:


Blue Splash Mountain - Tokyo Disneyland


Rope dropping Carsland - Disney California Adventure


Venetian Canals - Tokyo Disney Seas

Minnie says Hi - Shanghai Disneyland

Castle Framed - Tokyo Disneyland

Be Our Guest - Magic Kingdom

The original castle - Disneyland

Chim-Chim-Chimmeny- Disneyland

Hogwarts - Universal Studios Japan

Shanghai Disneyland

Mystic Point - Hong Kong Disneyland

Mickey waves - Tokyo Disneyland Dreamlights

Dragon Fire - Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley - Universal Studios Florida


Carsland - Disney California Adventure

Castaway Cay and the Disney Fantasy

Enchanted Storybook Castle - Shanghai Disneyland

Onboard Big Thunder - Tokyo Disneyland

Alice Maze - Shanghai Disneyland

Classic Tea Cups - Disneyland

Mystic Manor - Hong Kong Disneyland

Partners - Disneyland

Fireworks - Shanghai Disneyland

Mermaid Lagoon - Tokyo Disney Seas

Arabian Coast - Tokyo Disney Seas

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Contents

1. Reflecting on our Asian Disney and Universal Adventure - Part 1
2. Reflecting on our Asian Disney and Universal Adventure - Part 2
3. Reflecting on our Asian Disney and Universal Adventure - Part 3
4. Photography Information and Planning
5. Travel Itinerary
6. Disney World Planning

• Bookings
• Crowd Levels
• Itinerary / Fastpass Plus
• Dining
• UPDATE - Hours, Sunrise at DHS and Disney Springs - 6 May 2019

7. Universal Studios Planning

• Bookings
• Itinerary / Express Pass Info
• Dining

8. Disneyland Planning

• Bookings
• Crowd Levels
• Itinerary / MaxPass Info
• Ticket Update
• Dining

9. Galaxy's Edge and New Attraction Planning

• Planning - Update 1
• Planning - Update 2

10. Tokyo DisneySea interlude!

11. Trip Report - now underway!!!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Ooh! Can’t wait to read along for your planning!

 

[JKMastalski]

Beautiful photos!!!

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Ooh! Can’t wait to read along for your planning!

Thanks! I’m so glad you are excited to come along as we plan

Beautiful photos!!!

Thank you so much!

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Reflecting on our Asian Disney Adventure - Part 1

So since these pre-trip reports are always plenty text heavy I thought I'd start with more pictures for y'all (sorry I'm laughing internally at myself, we don't say y'all in Australia - it just felt like the right terminology for a predominately American audience)

Anyway, back in January 2017, Jared and I went on one of favourite Disney adventures to date, our Asian Disney Adventure. If you haven't already, and want to read the entire trip report you can find that here.

However It's now been over 2 years since we went to Disney and I so I want to reflect a little on our last fantastic trip, before I get into the planning for the next one. If you simply want to read about the planning of the trip you can skip this part. However I promise lots of great photos. I'd also encourage anyone who is able to check out the Asian Disney parks. They are FANTASTIC.

We started our trip in Singapore. One of the highlights for me was definitely the Singapore Zoo! It was without a doubt the best zoo I've been too. We experienced both the zoo and the Night Safari, and would highly recommend both!








Of course any theme park is always a highlight of our trip and we really enjoyed Universal Studios Singapore a lot more than we thought we would. Though small, it is thematically much better designed than pretty much all other Universal parks I've been too (other than Island's of Adventure). We really enjoyed it!






Of course the city of Singapore is so beautiful, and we also enjoyed exploring it.




Next up was Hong Kong and Hong Kong Disneyland. Honestly the city of Hong Kong wasn't my favourite, but it could have had a lot to do with smog that settled over the city the entire time we were there. I had it's upside (some beautiful temples being my favourite part) and of course Hong Kong Disneyland. I knew that, originally, Hong Kong Disneyland had been made on the cheap and I hadn't expected much of it. Though it is still small and parts of it are definitely not up to the level of parks like Disneyland or Tokyo Disney it is still a charming park, and with three brand new ride experiences that we LOVED (Mystic Manor, Big Grizzly Gulch Runaway Mine Trains and Iron Man Experience), plus adorable Disney Dim Sum, and our first viewing of Paint the Night, we really did come away from our experience there impressed.










Continued in Next Post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Reflecting on our Asian Disney and Universal Adventure - Part 2

After Hong Kong we made our way into China proper and to Shanghai Disney. Getting to experience a Disney park that was barely 6 months old was something pretty spectacular! The park itself was amazing, so different from any other castle park around the world. We loved the TRON and Pirates attraction (seriously the Pirates attraction was like nothing I've ever experienced). On the down side we experienced crowds like we've never experienced before at a Disney park (it was crazy - we happened to be there during the Chinese New Year holiday break) and we did experience some pretty bad crowd behaviour. Still we didn't let that spoil our time at Shanghai Disney, and I would go again (just at a less busy time of year! Seriously don't go in mid-late January or early February, everywhere else in the world that's a very quite time in a Disney park, but not in China).











Shanghai itself was a big surprise to me. We only spend one day exploring the city and surrounding areas because I honestly didn't think I would like it that much. I was hugely surprised what a vibrant and modern city Shanghai is, and how much I enjoyed the ancient water town of Zhujiajiao (which I like to refer to as China's Venice). Still it's hard seeing the social class divide between the city and the rural areas of China.








After China we heading into Japan, and we had planned to tour Osaka, Nara and Kyoto first. Sadly I got a super bad chest infection and we only got to do a half day at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. We also missed touring Osaka and Nara completely, but did get to see most things we planned in Kyoto. Universal Studios in Japan wasn't my favourite. I was super sick, but I thought it was quite thematically disjointed. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter does have the fantastic addition of a great lake which really added to the experience.





https://flic.kr/p/YdfAUT
Kyoto was a fantastic place which we loved. It was cold and a little barren but we still loved it. Kyoto has a lot more elements of traditional Japan. The temples and streets of Gion were beautiful.







Continued in Next Post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Reflecting on our Asian Disney and Universal Adventure - Part 3

Lastly of course we headed to Tokyo and the Tokyo Disney Resort. I've left photos of our time in Tokyo out here (because there are too many good Disney ones) but I'll say my highlights were the Kawaii Monster Cafe in Harajuku and Robot Restaurant in Shinjuku. I call them the "only in Japan" experiences, in that they are such great examples of the kooky and crazy culture of Japan.

Of course Tokyo Disney was fantastic. This was our second time at the resort. Looking back I realise we did spend a small fortune to stay 2 nights at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel and one in a harbour view room at the Miracosta Hotel. However it was worth it, we had fantastic views from our room (which you'll see below) and we loved being absorbed in our "Disney bubble" for four days. Jared also got to celebrate his birthday at the resort, which he enjoyed a lot.

Anyway, enjoy some our highlights of Tokyo Disneyland:












The fantastic Tokyo Disneyland hotel and our view from our theme park view room



And this was our view from our Harbour View Room at the Miracosta Hotel:


And here are the highlights from Tokyo Disney Sea which, in my opinion is the most beautiful theme park in the world!

















Anyway I hope you enjoyed this quick recap of our Asian Disney Adventure.

Continued in Next Post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Photography Information and Planning

So if you hadn’t figured out from my intro post, Jared and I are enthusiastic amateur photographers. We love to take photos together, and we often go out on “photography” dates. It’s a great way for us to spend time together and create beautiful art together as well. We are by no means professionals or experts but, with my eye for composition and Jared’s understanding of how to use our camera, we are really proud of what we manage to capture with our lens. (I’m sure Jared would want me to add here that he has a great compositional eye too, but I have to be able to take credit for something )

In the four years since we’ve been to the US Disney parks (Disneyland and Disney World) we’ve upgraded pretty much all of our camera gear. Because of that, I’m super excited about taking lots of new photos of both Disneyland and Disney World with our improved camera and tools!

I often get a lot of questions on our trip reports about how Jared captures such great photos, and what camera gear we use. So I thought I’d give you all a quick rundown of what’s in our camera bag, and what new gear we are excited to try out for the first time at Disney, on this upcoming trip.

Jared uses a Peak Design Everyday Backpack. We bought this a few years back when Peak Design started a Kickstarter campaign to get the bag off the ground. The bag is SO intelligently designed and so easy for a photographer to use. The bags are quite expensive now (around $500 Australian I think, they were cheaper during the Kickstarter campaign), but we love this bag soooo much! Jared uses it for travel with work all the time. It’s also so sturdy that, in close to 3 years of use, it barely looks used. It also has a lot of anti-theft design elements, which makes it a really secure bag for carting around photography gear. In Jared’s fantastic camera bag is the following equipment:

· Greenpod (a small camera stabilising beanbag)
· Gorilla Pod (stabilizer that can be bent to attach to poles or railings)
· Velbon Ultra Luz iL Tripod
· Canon EOS 6D (camera body)
· Tamron 24-70mm f2.8 lens (versatile lens)
· Sigma 30-200mm f4.0-5.6 (zoom lens)
· Samyung 12mm Fish Eye f2.8
· Samyung 14mm Ultra Wide Angle Les f2.8
· Canon 50mm lens f1.8
· A neural density filter (it’s like sunglasses for a camera lens)

Of course, if you have no knowledge of photography or how to properly use a camera in manual mode you could go out and buy all the same gear we have, and probably won’t get as good results. This is not to brag about how awesome we are, but simply to point out that, if you are going to spend a lot of money on good camera gear, you really do need to learn how to use the camera in order to get the best out of it. Jared acquired all of his photography knowledge by reading about photography online, and has had no official training, but he has learnt how to use the camera. He loves to work out how to make things work, which is why photography is such a great fit for him. I skate by with a limited knowledge of how to use our camera on full manual mode (and by using it on aperture priority mode frequently) but I do understand enough to get by. Plus I have a good eye for composition (I know how to frame a subject so it looks good). We do also use Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom; Photoshop if we want to slightly distort an image (most commonly to add water reflections) and Lightroom to “expose” the RAW files we shoot on the camera. If you want to learn a little about photography I would suggest reading:

· “Understanding Exposure” by Bryan Peterson, and
· “The Photographer’s Eye; A graphic guide – Composition and Design for better digital photos” by Michael Freeman.

These are two great photography books and can be purchased as e-books. I really enjoyed the Photographers Eye, which I read to help me better my understand of composition (since that’s my strength). Jared will tell you he learnt a lot through YouTube tutorials and online photography blogs, which he prefers as they only cover one topic at a time. I use YouTube tutorials frequently to better my understanding about Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. There are tutorials out there for just about every level, including beginners, that can help guide you on how to use those programs to maximize your photos potential.

We bought our first full frame camera in 2016 ahead of our Asian Disney trip, a Canon EOS 6D. If your new to photography terms the words “full frame” simply refers to the field of vision your camera has. A standard camera (or crop sensor camera) will be able to fit a certain field of vision in its frame (the picture), and a full frame camera fits a wider field of vision. I believe how much can fit in the frame has to do with the size of the cameras sensor, which is more powerful on a full frame camera. The Canon 6D is also great at handling higher ISOs, which for a laymen just means it’s pretty good at handling dark environments. Of course where possible at night, we use a tripod as a long exposure will always provide a better and clearer picture. Before we bought our 6D we were shooting with a more entry level DSLR, a Canon 700D. All the pictures we have of the US Disney parks (to date) were shot with that older camera, so we are super excited to try out the 6D at the park this time around.

We also have a good versatile lens, our Tamron 24-70mm f2.8. This lens helps handle low light too, and the focal range allows us to zoom easily. While 70mm is not that close (in terms of focal length a real zoom lens will go to approx 300 – 500mm zoom), it does mean you have flexibility when shooting. The lens maximum aperture of f2.8 is quite wide, and can let in more light (with aperture, the lower the number the wider the aperture and the more light you get into the camera).

But what I’m really excited about it that, since the last time we went to a Disney park (our Asian Disney park adventure in 2017), we’ve acquired three new lenses. These are all prime lenses and are comprised of the 12mm fish eye and a 14mm wide angle and a 50mm prime lens. If you aren’t aware, a prime lens is called that because it only shoots at one focal length (i.e. the fish eye only shoots at 12mm). They aren’t versatile and can’t zoom but they all have specific uses that I’m really excited to try out at Disney.

Firstly, the fish eye and wide angle lenses allow you to capture even more in your frame, and at a Disney park (because you are often shooting quite close to attractions to avoid too many people in your shoot) this will be a great tool! I have some examples of shots taken on a recent trip we took to Melbourne and Sydney in which we got to try out these lenses. The variety of photos and versatility of the shots we was so exciting for me.

Taken with the 14mm Wide Angle lens:

As you can see, the camera can see just a bit wider so you can get more in your photo.

Taken with the 12mm Fish Eye lens:

As you can see here, the Fish Eye lens causes a slightly curved distortion to the photos which creates an interesting effect. It isn’t to everyone’s taste but it does make your pictures look more unique. It’s also fantastic for capturing indoor environments (like buildings/restaurants etc) in their entirety. The fish eye actually has a wider field of vision that the human field of vision, so it can actually photograph everything you see with your natural eye and more!

The 50mm lens we bought mostly to try and get better and clearer pictures on dark rides. It has a very wide aperture (f1.8) which should hopefully allow enough light into the camera to capture dark scenes. 50mm is also a great portrait focal length, so maybe we’ll use it to take more pictures of ourselves with the park as a background (we tend to not take that many photos of ourselves!). The only thing we’ve really tried with this lens to date portraiture and some close ups of flowers. The other thing that’s cool about this lens is that, thanks to the wide aperture, you can also get fantastic bokeh. Bokeh is just a photography term that describes a shallow depth of field, where your subject is sharp but the background is blurred.

Taken with 50mm lens (which also happen to be examples of Bokeh):

Here’s an example about what I mean when I say you can fit more in a shot with the wider lenses. All of these photos were taken from roughly the same distance from the city of Melbourne.

This photo was taken at 24mm with our 24-70mm lens:

This was taken with the 14mm wide angle lens:


This was taken with the 12mm fish eye lens:

I hope that gives you an idea of how the wider lens help improve what you can fit in your frame.
Along with having the right tools I’ve always thought planning is the key to getting good photos. Jared prefers to wing it a bit, and be inspired in the moment. However this does waste a lot of time if you don’t know exactly where to go to get the best pictures. There are so many examples of fantastic Disney photography around that I think keeping record of these photos is generally a great way to be inspired. When I see a photo I like I generally save it (either to one of the Flickr galleries I keep of Disney locations, or to my computer). Having these examples of fantastic Disney photography helps me come up with a plan of attack for to photograph when we are at the parks, and where we can go to get the best shots. I take this sort of thing very seriously, because, unlike some other Disney amateur photographers who are locals of either Disney World or Disneyland, we only go every few years, so every shot counts! This may be a slightly crazy aspect of my planning to some of you (I get it, I’m weird) but I actually enjoy doing this kind of thing. It’s almost like a touring plan for photos (I'm sure plenty of you, being Disney fans, understand that concept).

This is basically how I 'plan' our Disney photography: I add the photo locations I want to hit each night to our touring plans and then I create maps with all the photo locations I want to hit in a given area of the park.

Here’s an example of my map for the hub area of Disneyland.

And here's an example of one evening from my touring plan (for our evening at Animal Kingdom):

If looking at the number of places we need to go to take photos stresses you don’t worry, I don’t plan to hit all those spots in one night, but over the whole trip. I feel like creating these maps gives Jared a way to focus his talent and “inspiration” in the moment. As mentioned earlier, I have also created Flickr galleries of some of my favourite Disney shots taken by some of my favourite Disney photographers as references and as inspiration. And I also plan to have enabled data use on my international roaming so I can access all this information in the parks. Our carrier, Vodafone Australia, has fantastic internal rates that allow us to use our plan overseas for only an extra $5.00 per day (and we limit the days we use our phone data).

The process of planning which parts of the park to photograph which evening, and how to fit in all the photos I want to take at the parks, while still allowing time for us to relax and chill some evenings was a challenge. I created this very complicated spreadsheet which allowed me to note expected opening hours, sunset and blue hour times and crowd levels so I could work out the best times to photograph different parts of the park!

I’m sure that these have changed slightly now that my actual touring plan has been put together but this gives you an example (this is the nights we will be shooting at DCA).

Anyway, if you are a photographer or aspiring photographer and would like access to any of my photo plan maps or thought I’m happy to help, just PM me with any requests. If you are a photographer and have any advice for us, particular if you photograph Disneyland and Disney World frequently and have favourite spots for getting unique photos I’d also love to hear from you!

Hopefully those of you who aren’t photographers weren’t too bored by this post. I’m aware my photography planning is a little crazy, but it’s also fun and adds an extra something to plan and look forward to!
https://flic.kr/p/TcMoyw
Continued in Next Post....

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Travel Itinerary

As we discussed, we have had to make it a short trip to Disney this year (short for us, we normally take about 4 weeks on our Disney trips). Sadly, my husband can now only take 2 weeks of annual leave at a time (this is not normal for Australians as we are entitled to 4 weeks of annual leave a year and can usually take them all at once). We are going to be in the states for 16 days in total, so we are going to make the most of the time we have by cramming as much Disney (and Universal) as possible into this timeframe.

Jared has to travel to Sydney for work at least once a month (sometimes for a week, sometimes for less if he is combining his Sydney trip with a visit to another city like Melbourne or Brisbane). We decided to combine a work trip for him with the start of our Disney trip. This has the benefit of a few perks which include:

• Jared's flights from Perth - Sydney (return) are covered by work - one less thing to budget for
• Our hotel for the three nights in Sydney is covered by Jared's work, since he pays the same regardless of whether or not I'm there

So I will have three days to explore around Sydney a bit, while Jared is working, and we will have a few evenings to photograph a few spots we haven't yet photographed around Sydney. This means my holiday will be a total of three weeks.

That in mind, this is our full itinerary for the trip:

Sunday 22 September - Fly to Sydney
Monday 23 September - Explore Sydney (Jared working)
Tuesday 24 September - Explore Sydney (Jared working)
Wednesday 25 September - Explore Sydney (Jared working
Thursday 26 September - Fly to LA and then onto Orlando (arriving afternoon of 26th since we "go back in time" when travelling to the states)
Friday 27 September - Walt Disney World - Rest Day
Saturday 28 September - Walt Disney World - Animal Kingdom
Sunday 29 September - Walt Disney World - Magic Kingdom and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
Monday 30 September - Universal Studios Orlando - Both parks (Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida)
Tuesday 1 October - Walt Disney World - EPCOT
Wednesday 2 October - October - Walt Disney World - Hollywood Studios - STAR WARS GALAXY'S EDGE DAY - EARLY EVENING: Fly to LA
Thursday 3 October - Disneyland - Rest Day (evening photos in Carsland only)
Friday 4 October - Disneyland / Disney California Adventure
Saturday 5 October - Disney California Adventure
Sunday 6 October - REST and EVENING: Disneyland
Monday 7 October - Disneyland - STAR WARS GALAXY'S EDGE DAY
Tuesday 8 October - Disney California Adventure / Mickey's Halloween Party (Disneyland)
Wednesday 9 October - Disneyland - STAR WARS GALAXY'S EDGE DAY/ Disney California Adventure
Thursday 10 October - late morning Disneyland / Disney California Adventure
Friday 11 October - Disneyland - STAR WARS GALAXY'S EDGE DAY/ Disney California Adventure

Our Disney Cruise family members (who we met on our 2015 trip, which you can read about here) will be joining us for various stints during the trip. We'll be spending our Walt Disney World days with Derrick and Becky, though they won't be accompanying us to Universal or Hollywood Studios. Todd and Kim will join us at Disneyland from Monday 7 October through Wednesday 9 October.

Because we have much less time than normal we really have to make the most of it. Usually I'd pencil in some rest days or downtime days but sadly we just don't have time for that this time around. Additionally, because we want to stay until close in the parks to get the photos we wants we will be having quite late nights. And of course, we want to show up 30 minutes - 1 hour before opening to make rope drop and be ahead of the crowds. Thanks to the late night closing this time of year staying in the parks all day would just lead to complete exhaustion.

To compensate, I've decided that most days (Magic Kingdom, EPCOT and Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World and 4 of the 8 days we are at Disneyland) we will be heading to our hotel room for about 3-4 hours in the afternoons for rests/naps. In addition, two of the days at Disneyland are late starts (i.e. we are only going in the evening or we are sleeping in and going into the park a few hours after opening). I'm hoping this will help us avoid exhaustion, though I know it's likely to hit me when I get home (which is why I've taken another week off once we return so I can rest!).

Continued in Next Post...

 

[Jaina]

Sounds like a completely epic trip! (Even if it's only 2 weeks compared to what you're used to ) We are planning a 3-day family trip to Disneyland in 4 weeks, and we're super excited! Your pictures are completely amazing though, I'm blown away! It makes me want to do some online courses so I would actually be able to use the manual settings on our DSLR... (And then plan a trip without kids to I could actually set up some shots!) Excited to hear how it goes!

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Sounds like a completely epic trip! (Even if it's only 2 weeks compared to what you're used to ) We are planning a 3-day family trip to Disneyland in 4 weeks, and we're super excited! Your pictures are completely amazing though, I'm blown away! It makes me want to do some online courses so I would actually be able to use the manual settings on our DSLR... (And then plan a trip without kids to I could actually set up some shots!) Excited to hear how it goes!

Thanks Jaina! I am sure it will be a fantastic trip. I think if we lived closer to the parks (and it didn't take 20 - 25 hours of flying to get to them) I would be fine with shorter trips more often, but the nature of having to go so far usually means I want to take enough time to make it worth it. 16 days in on the threshold for me because of that, but still I know we will have a fantastic time.

Thank you for your kind thoughts on the photos. We have so much fun taking pictures, and it's really great to hear people enjoy them too. I understand what you mean about having to try find a way to take time to take pictures (and I don't even have 5 kids to deal with - I'm guessing from your photo signature). But it's a great and fun art form if you do ever get time one day .

By the way your family is completely adorable (looking at your signature photos). How cool to experience Disney as a family together

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Joining in! I followed your Asian Disney TR and I just loved your photos (y'all are well behind being just amateur photographers, those photos are incredible). I hope one day to go on a similar trip. Excited to see how you feel about the US parks after being away for so long.

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Disney World Planning - Bookings

So as discussed, we will be at Walt Disney World at All Star Music Resort from Thursday 26 September - Wednesday 2 October 2019. We were sooo happy to secure a deal which allowed us to get a cheaper room rate along with a free quick service dining plan (I'll talk more about dining in the "Dining Section" for Disney World Planning). I'm also excited that we will get to experience the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival for the first time, but more on that later.

We were trying to accomplish this trip on a bit more of a strict budget, which is why we were pleased to find a good deal. It's also the reason we choose a Value Resort this time around (last time we rented DVC points at stayed at Disney Animal Kingdom Lodge and as much as I would have loved to do that again it wasn't in the budget).

We've booked 2 x 4 Day park hopper tickets. We did this because originally we were going to be doing EPCOT and Hollywood Studios in the same day and because getting the 4 day park hoppers actually worked out cheaper than the 3 day park hoppers. Since the announcement of the opening of Galaxy's Edge though, and our realisation that we won't be needing to fly to LA until late on Tuesday 2 we are now spending that day at Hollywood Studios and it's just dawning on me that the park hopper tickets were a waste of time (we are simply doing 1 park per day!). Oh well, what can you do.

Anyway, I really love seeing PLANS in our My Disney Experience Account (it's been a while):



Continued in Next Post

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Disney World Planning - Crowd Levels

It looks as though we will have middling crowd levels during our time at Walt Disney World. Of course, we don't know how the opening of Galaxy's Edge a month before our visit will effect the crowds. I use the fantastic website www.touringplans.com to determine the estimated crowd levels and to create touring plans which I can then evaluate, to see if the plan is realistic and if it minimises wait times for attractions. Touring Plans charge an small subscription fee for each of the Disney parks you want to be able to check crowd levels and create touring plans for (I currently subscribe to all of them, Disney World, Disneyland and Universal Orlando) but for me this cost is so worth it. It's an INVALUABLE resource for me when planning how we are going to attack the parks without having to deal with too many long waits (I so hate waiting in long lines - but then again, who does).

Here are the crowd estimates for the days we are visiting (and what that means for headliner attraction peak wait times)

• Animal Kingdom - Saturday 28 September - Crowd Level 3 - Max Peak Wait - 2-3 hours
• Magic Kingdom - Sunday 29 September - Crowd Level 3 - Max Peak Wait - 2 hours
• Universal Studios Florida - Monday 30 September - Crowd Level 2 - wait times won't really effect us since we will have express pass
• Universal's Island of Adventure - Monday 30 September - Crowd Level 2 - wait times won't really effect us since we will have express pass
• EPCOT - Tuesday 1 October - Crowd Level 5 - Max Peak Wait - 1.5 hours
• Hollywood Studios - Wednesday 2 October - Crowd Level 4 - Max Peak Wait - 2 hours (not including Star Wars crowds information)

Continued in Next Post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Joining in! I followed your Asian Disney TR and I just loved your photos (y'all are well behind being just amateur photographers, those photos are incredible). I hope one day to go on a similar trip. Excited to see how you feel about the US parks after being away for so long.

Thanks so much for coming along . Glad to have you here. Your thoughts on our photography are very kind. I always feel like an amateur in comparison to other Disney photographers whose work I admire and who get paid for it, but I realise that comparison is not productive or helpful. And I am proud of what we are able to accomplish with the equipment we have . I'm really glad people do enjoy our photos.

I really hope you get to the Asian parks one day. They are so fantastic and it's so fun to experience something new and different.

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Disney World Planning - Itinerary / Fastpass Plus
I like to share my touring plans with all you wise Disney experts to see what you think about what we are planing to see, and if you think we will manage it all in the time we have! We have limited time at Walt Disney World this time around (to what I would prefer) so we are hitting all our must do's and making sure we have plenty of time in the evenings for photos.

If you were wondering, this is what my travel itinerary looks like I've included a screen shot below (example is our day at Hollywood Studios - because it was the shortest and easy to fit in a screen shot! )



The last thing we need to book for Disney World is of course of Fastpasses Pluses. We will be 60 days out from our check in date on the 28 July, and I plan to be online at exactly 7pm (which will be 7am in Florida) to book Fastpasses, so I can get the ones I want! I have put together some touring plans and an idea of when I would LIKE the Fastpasses to be booked for. Whether or not we actually get those times, only time will tell. Thanks to Touring Plans fantastic personalised touring plan apps I've also put together a plan of attack for attractions, which I hope will help us lessen our time spent in line. We've never had to wait ridiculous amounts of time at the US parks, and we've always found them more manageable than some of the Asian parks in terms of crowds. That being said, we haven't been to Walt Disney World (or Disneyland) for 4 years and I know crowds have increased at the US parks substantially over that time. I'm also aware that Galaxy's Edge will have an effect on crowds, so I'm planning for the worst and so I can be prepared for whatever the crowds end up being like.

If you are reading this and have more experience with Walt Disney World crowds and patterns in the past few years I'd love to hear your thoughts on the plans (especially if you think I am arriving too early, because more sleep at Disney is always a bonus!). In particular if anyone can provide any insight as to whether I can avoid waiting too long for Flight of Passage if I show up an hour before Extra Magic Hours and rope drop it!

WALT DISNEY WORLD PLANS
Animal Kingdom Touring Plan - Saturday 28 September

• Arrive 1 hour before opening at 7am - park should have Extra Magic Hours from 8am - 9am
• Avatar Flight of Passage (I am planning to secure a fastpass for this attraction but as we've never rode it before I would like to do it twice)
• Na'vi River Journey
• Kiliminjaro Safari's
• DINOSAUR
• Kali River Rapids
• Expedition Everest (Single Rider Line)
• LUNCH: Satu'li Canteen
• Fastpass Plus Booking - Flight of Passage - 1:00pm - 2:00pm
• Explore Discovery Island (something we haven't actually ever done at the park)
• Fastpass Plus Booking - Expedition Everst - 2:00pm - 3:00pm
• REST BREAK - 3pm - 6pm (dinner at All Star Music)
• We will return to the park about 6:45pm in time for sunset at 7:15pm. The rest of the evening will mostly be photos but I do plan to get a Fastpass Plus for Rivers of Light at 8:15pm.
• According to Touring Plans predictions (actually hours haven't been quite released yet) the park closes at 8pm so I believe Rivers of Light will be after park close
• UPDATE: I just discovered that the Tree of Light projections will be playing up to the 30 September. This is super exciting because I didn't think we'd be seeing the projections, which I hope will add nice atmosphere to Animal Kingdom.

Magic Kingdom Touring Plan - Sunday 29 September

• Arrive at park 30 minutes before opening
• Big Thunder Mountain
• Peter Pan's Flight
• Haunted Mansion
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Toy Sawyer Island (something I've never actually done that I'd like to give a go, particular for interesting photo angles on Big Thunder Mountain)
• Fastpass Plus Booking - Splash Mountain - 11:30am - 12:30pm
• Fastpass Plus Booking - Seven Dwarfs Mine Train - 12:30pm - 1:30pm
  
• LUNCH - Be Our Guest
• Fastpass Plus Booking - Space Mountain - 2:00pm - 3:00pm
  
• TTA
• REST BREAK - 3pm - 6pm (dinner at All Star Music)
• Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
  • Cadaver Dans at 7:15pm
  • Boo to You at 9:15pm
  • Fireworks at 10:15pm
  • Evening Photos

Mostly we bought the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party tickets to be able to try our hand at some interesting night shots. We probably won't bother with characters but just with the main entertainment options. We really wanted the option to stay late in the park to try and get as many night photos as possible, and the Halloween party seemed the best way to do this.

EPCOT Touring Plan - Tuesday 1 October

• Arrive at park 30 minutes before opening
• Frozen Ever After
• Soarin
• Test Track (as a single rider)
• Food and Wine Festival (from 10:30am - 1:00pm) - we are skipping an actual lunch location today in favour of snacking our little hearts out!
• Voices of Liberty - 1pm
• Fastpass Plus Booking - Frozen Ever After - 1:30pm - 2:30pm
• REST BREAK - 3pm - 6pm (dinner at All Star Music)
  
• EVENING - Photos at EPCOT. I take this task very seriously because we have yet to get really any decent night photos at EPCOT.

We are not really doing many attractions at EPCOT or exploring much of World Showcase. Instead I want to focusing a bit more on World Showcase and our very first Food and Wine Festival. While I do enjoy EPCOT and think World Showcase is fantastic, it's definitely my least favourite Disney park (of the ones of been too). I'm definitely looking forward to it's regeneration and new attractions that are planned. This may be sacrilege to fans of Disney World who knew the original EPCOT Centre well, but I didn't (so can't compare or contrast EPCOT to what it was, only what it is now). The first time we visited EPCOT in 2011 it seemed like it was stuck between two worlds, A Disney Theme Park and a World's Fair circa 1980. To me, it's also always seemed pretty dated. As much as I appreciate edu-tainment, I do think it's more appropriate for museums than a theme park. So I'm looking forward to what EPCOT will be in the future with it's new attractions and updated aesthetic (EPCOT purists please don't send ninjas to murder me in my sleep ).

Hollywood Studios Touring Plan - Wednesday 2 October

• Arrive at park 1 hour and 30 minutes before opening
• Millennium Falcon - Smuggler Run
• Explore Galaxy's Edge
• Fastpass Plus Booking - Slinky Dog Dash - 12:30pm - 1:30pm
  
• LUNCH - Woody's Lunchbox
• Fastpass Plus Booking - Tower of Terror - 2:00pm - 3:00pm
  
• Star Tours
• Toy Story Midway Mania
• Fastpass Plus Booking - Rock n Roller Coaster - 3:00pm - 4:00pm
  
• Leave the park at about 4pm for the airport

Of course for the day we are at Universal, especially since we are trying to fit the highlights of two parks, we've decided we will purchase Universal's Express Pass. In the past we've often bought Express Pass unlimited. We know the extra cost is slightly crazy (luckily on our last trip we stayed at Hard Rock Hotel so it was included with that) but we think it's worth it. Still, when we are only visiting for one day and will only just have enough time to do all the attractions we want once there isn't much point getting Unlimited Express Pass, so we are buying the one use Express Passes.

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS ORLANDO PLAN
Universal Studios/ Islands of Adventure Touring Plan - Monday 30 September

• Arrive at Universal Studios 1 hour before opening. I know we can't completely beat the crowds at Universal as, given that Hagrids Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure will be new, I ASSUME Islands of Adventure will have early entry for hotel guests. Still if we show up a decent amount of time before the rest of the regular guests I'm HOPING we can avoid huge huge waits.
• Hagrid's Magical Creature Motorbike Adventure - IOA
• Forbidden Journey - IOA
• Hogwarts Express to Universal Studios Florida
• Fast and Furious Supercharged - USF
• Escape from Gringotts - USF
• Men in Black Alien Attack - USF
• The Simpson's Ride - USF
• ET Adventure - USF
• Ride Hogwarts Express to Island's of Adventure
• LUNCH: Mythos - IOA
• Skull Island - Reign of Kong - IOA
• The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman - IOA
• Incredible Hulk Coaster - IOA
• Jimmy Fallon's Race through New York - USF
• Revenge of the Mummy - USF
• Tranformers - USF
• Diagon Alley Photos
• DINNER: Cowfish
• Night photos in Islands of Adventure (and if we have time we will ride Hagrid's Motorbike thing again)

It amazes me how much Universal Studios has added since we were there in 2015. I've highlighted the new attractions that we've never experienced. We've also only experienced Diagon Alley once before so we are really looking forward to that!

Continued in Next Post...

 

[Lesley Wake]

• Avatar Flight of Passage (I am planning to secure a fastpass for this attraction but as we've never rode it before I would like to do it twice)

Some comments from my experiences:

Animal Kingdom - So for FoP, I would recommend considering getting in line right before park close. That will leave you with time to get some cool queue photos! The lines right at park close are around 45 minutes. The fastpass queue bypasses most of the cool spaces and if you do it first thing you will be walking quickly through the queue, not letting you enjoy it. In the morning that could give you time to maybe get some cool photos of Everest with the sun rising behind it - you'd need to check the sunrise hours. For evening photos - make sure to go to the UP! show area. They have colored lanterns there which are awesome at night! You should also be able to get a Rivers of Light FP the same-day, so maybe you can book a Safari one as your third FP+?

Epcot - I don't think you need to do FEA twice, so I would skip attempting it at rope drop and rely on FPs only. I do like the ride, but with limited time and Food & Wine, I would focus on that.

DHS - I would have suggested trying to take evening photos at Toy Story Land, because that really is when it is at its best, but I don't think your schedule would allow for it. With the Park Hoppers you could always quickly go over to DHS in the evening, then get back over to Epcot because they should have evening EMH that night.

I also don't know how accurate I would rely on those crowd calendars! Touring Plans unfortunately hasn't been very accurate lately (I use them too, but often get emails a week before my trip increasing crowd levels from 2/3 to 7/8)! However, I think it's something just to keep track of - it's not like you can change your trip at that stage! And I think with SWGE opening soon before, it will be busier everywhere! But you have it under control and can know what you can afford to skip/what your priorities are!

I also just re-read through your Asian TR because I'm doing my own Disney Asian Adventure in the fall! 3 weeks - Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, plus a bit of time in Kyoto!

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Some comments from my experiences:

Animal Kingdom - So for FoP, I would recommend considering getting in line right before park close. That will leave you with time to get some cool queue photos! The lines right at park close are around 45 minutes. The fastpass queue bypasses most of the cool spaces and if you do it first thing you will be walking quickly through the queue, not letting you enjoy it. In the morning that could give you time to maybe get some cool photos of Everest with the sun rising behind it - you'd need to check the sunrise hours. For evening photos - make sure to go to the UP! show area. They have colored lanterns there which are awesome at night! You should also be able to get a Rivers of Light FP the same-day, so maybe you can book a Safari one as your third FP+?

Epcot - I don't think you need to do FEA twice, so I would skip attempting it at rope drop and rely on FPs only. I do like the ride, but with limited time and Food & Wine, I would focus on that.

DHS - I would have suggested trying to take evening photos at Toy Story Land, because that really is when it is at its best, but I don't think your schedule would allow for it. With the Park Hoppers you could always quickly go over to DHS in the evening, then get back over to Epcot because they should have evening EMH that night.

I also don't know how accurate I would rely on those crowd calendars! Touring Plans unfortunately hasn't been very accurate lately (I use them too, but often get emails a week before my trip increasing crowd levels from 2/3 to 7/8)! However, I think it's something just to keep track of - it's not like you can change your trip at that stage! And I think with SWGE opening soon before, it will be busier everywhere! But you have it under control and can know what you can afford to skip/what your priorities are!

I also just re-read through your Asian TR because I'm doing my own Disney Asian Adventure in the fall! 3 weeks - Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, plus a bit of time in Kyoto!

Hi Lesley

Thanks so much for all the feedback, hugely helpful!!

Interesting thought about not having enough time to photograph Flight of Passage riding first thing or with a Fastpass. I will take it on board, though I'm going to have to weigh up the importance of those line shots with all the night shots in the park we want to take, particular as the park will most likely only be open until 8pm and sunset it at 6:45pm (late sunsets are good, but it does mean less hours when the park is dark!)

I hadn't thought about photographing Everest in the morning at sunrise either. I think we will probably be in too late for sunrise at 8am, as I think sunrise is about 7:20am, but will definitely check out Everest in the early morning light.

Frozen Ever After is actually a new attraction for us (I realised I forget to mention that) which is why we are doing it twice. I promised Jared that if there were new attractions I was going to make him photograph we'd do it once for photos and once where he could relax and enjoy it! I'm hoping if we arrive early enough and rope drop it it won't cut into our F&W time too much. On that note, I know WS normally opens at 11:00am. Does it open earlier during the F&W festival, or are the booths in FW open earlier?

I did think about how we could fit in evening photos at DHS, as I really wanted to capture Toy Story Land. The issue is that all 4 days we are in the parks we only have three evenings, and I'm not sure we will fit in park hopping to take pictures at DHS. The only night it may be viable is the EPCOT night, but I really have a full photo taking itinerary there because we have so little photos of EPCOT and because DHS shuts at 8pm on the 1 October. Still if we can fit it in we will try (ideally, if we aren't too jet lagged, we could do it on our rest day, but it would require another days tickets so it depends on if we decided to add on an extra day once there). I would really like to shoot that area though, so I will really think about this a bit more.

Thanks for the heads up RE Touring Plans. I'm aware the issue with their data is that it's based on historical trends, and it does seem that trends have been all over the place at the parks lately. I also know Galaxy's Edge is going to effect crowds across the board, which is something historical trends can't account for. Still it's helpful to have a general idea of crowds and waits, but I do promise I'm aware it isn't gospel. One thing I do find their website useful for is determining which is the best order to do attractions in to minimise waits, that is super helpful for me .

I'm so excited for your own Asian Disney Adventure. I hope you post a trip report here so I can follow along . I'm sure it will be completely amazing, I love the Asian parks and I'm sure you will too . How long are you going for and how long are you spending at each park?

 

[Mickey.MAC]

Hi Lesley

Thanks so much for all the feedback, hugely helpful!!

Interesting thought about not having enough time to photograph Flight of Passage riding first thing or with a Fastpass. I will take it on board, though I'm going to have to weigh up the importance of those line shots with all the night shots in the park we want to take, particular as the park will most likely only be open until 8pm and sunset it at 6:45pm (late sunsets are good, but it does mean less hours when the park is dark!)

I hadn't thought about photographing Everest in the morning at sunrise either. I think we will probably be in too late for sunrise at 8am, as I think sunrise is about 7:20am, but will definitely check out Everest in the early morning light.

Frozen Ever After is actually a new attraction for us (I realised I forget to mention that) which is why we are doing it twice. I promised Jared that if there were new attractions I was going to make him photograph we'd do it once for photos and once where he could relax and enjoy it! I'm hoping if we arrive early enough and rope drop it it won't cut into our F&W time too much. On that note, I know WS normally opens at 11:00am. Does it open earlier during the F&W festival, or are the booths in FW open earlier?

I did think about how we could fit in evening photos at DHS, as I really wanted to capture Toy Story Land. The issue is that all 4 days we are in the parks we only have three evenings, and I'm not sure we will fit in park hopping to take pictures at DHS. The only night it may be viable is the EPCOT night, but I really have a full photo taking itinerary there because we have so little photos of EPCOT and because DHS shuts at 8pm on the 1 October. Still if we can fit it in we will try (ideally, if we aren't too jet lagged, we could do it on our rest day, but it would require another days tickets so it depends on if we decided to add on an extra day once there). I would really like to shoot that area though, so I will really think about this a bit more.

Thanks for the heads up RE Touring Plans. I'm aware the issue with their data is that it's based on historical trends, and it does seem that trends have been all over the place at the parks lately. I also know Galaxy's Edge is going to effect crowds across the board, which is something historical trends can't account for. Still it's helpful to have a general idea of crowds and waits, but I do promise I'm aware it isn't gospel. One thing I do find their website useful for is determining which is the best order to do attractions in to minimise waits, that is super helpful for me .

I'm so excited for your own Asian Disney Adventure. I hope you post a trip report here so I can follow along . I'm sure it will be completely amazing, I love the Asian parks and I'm sure you will too . How long are you going for and how long are you spending at each park?

it is so cool that you live in Australia and fly around the world for Disney!

Thanks for sharing. Your plans for Star Wars Land are awesome!