Missouri to DLR - Take 2 - Oct 2013 - Updated: Trip Report Complete

[MarbleBob]

We had a few pre-trip Disney Magical moments today!!!


So, the new St. Louis Disney Outlet store held it's grad opening ceremony this morning. They were giving out "free gifts" to the first 500 people. DW thought it would be fun to get up early with Ninja Potato and check it out. (The new outlet mall is only 15 minutes from our house.) First it was just going to be the two of them, but Pickle insisted that she wanted to go too. And then Buddy wanted to go along as well. At that point, we decided to make it a family event and we'd all go (injured foot and all.) Also, we knew that my mom would be interested in joining us (she probably would have went on her own anyway) so we planned to meet her there.



The new outlet mall actually opened on Thursday and the news reports were that it's been a mad house with traffic backed up on the highway. The store opens at 9am, so we decided to get there early. I think we arrived sometime between 7 and 7:30am. To my surprise, the parking lot was nearly empty. We parked the car and they wheeled me up to the store, and guess what? There was nobody there. We were first in line!



DW stepped back to get a photo of us in front of the store (photo above).

I called my mom to let her know that there wasn’t going to be a reason to rush over, but she was already on her way and met us about 15 minutes later. (Notice the lawn chair, she's a seasoned veteran at waiting in line for special events. )



So, we had about 1.5 hrs total to hang out.



It was fun mingling with the other people in line. Trading stories/tips about Disney vacations and whatnot.

The store employees came out around 8:15 or so to interact with everyone. They marched out of the store in a line singing "Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go"!!! 




They circled back around to the store entrance and started handing out Micke Mouse Ears hats to everyone. (That was the advertised free gift.) Then they started getting the crowd excited with singing, trivia, and general questions. They had microphones and a loudspeaker so it was easy for everyone to hear the questions/responses. Trivia was related to movies and theme parks. They handed out buttons, magnets, and stickers to people who participated. There were a lot of these items so pretty much anyone who tried to participate received a couple. They also went around asking people what their favorite characters/rides/resorts/foods/etc were. They were awesome and a couple of the cast members really shined.
 There was a guy named Danny stationed in front of us and he was a lot of fun and great with the kids.

When we first arrived, they were still setting up the outside area and asked Pickle and Buddy if they’d be willing to help later. We didn’t know what they meant, but the kids were eager to help. So, a little while before they came out for the festivities, they took the two kids inside the store. I wasn’t sure what they were doing, but both kids came out with new Mickey/Minnie shirts. How cool is that!!! When it was time to officially open the store, they introduced Pickle and Buddy to everyone and then they got to help cut the ribbon and be the first ones to enter the store. Awesome!!!





Then they let everyone inside to shop. There were more people in line than could fit in inside so, they let new people in as other people left the store. Anyway, the store itself was nice and spacious. Not unexpected, but they didn’t really have any special decorations in the store and the inventory/pricing was more like a traditional Disney store. (In contrast to the Disney Store in the St. Louis Galleria, which has an awesome princess castle with interactive magic mirror, an area to watch videos and color on activity sheets, and a fun tunnel to crawl through underneath the giant plush doll/character display.) They did have a clearance section in the back corner with quite a few good deals. (And the clearance items were an additional 25% off the lowest price.) Needless to say, between my mom and us, we didn’t come home empty handed. (pics further below.)

Once we were satisfied with our shopping experience, we headed out to check out some of the other stores and to get a snack. We didn’t spend too much time browsing around but we did spend significant time (and money ) at the Vera Bradley, Hot Topic, and Toys R Us outlet stores.

We got home a little while ago and decided to look at all the stuff. DisneMimi (my mom) got Pickle a new Snow White dress for Disneyland/Halloween. So cool! (Ninja had one when she was about 3 or 4 and it was always my favorite princess dress.) Pickle got a couple night gowns too



Below are a few of the other items that we came home with
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Free Disney Store hats and magnets. Ninja liked the Meredith doll. Pickle got a Tinker Bell Halloween treat bag and a few other goodies. It’s cut off in the photo, but Buddy’s free Mickey shirt is awesome.

And then Pickle is still wearing her free shirt and buttons



As we were leaving the mall, we saw another one of the ads for the Disney store grand opening, so we had to get a family photo shot (thanks mom for taking the photo and getting the wheel chair out of the way)



Such magical way to spend the morning!!! And spending the morning with DisneMimi made even that much more fun!!

 

[danacath]

Wow, your family had quite a morning today! Thanks for sharing such a fun "Disney Outlet Store Grand Opening Trip Report". Your pics almost made me feel like I was at the Grand Opening, too! And how cool is that, that your kids were picked to help with the ribbon cutting ceremony! (Always pays to have a few cute kids in tow. ) It's so nice that your Mom lives close and could get in on all the fun, too. Our family usually stops overnight in St. Louis on our way to KY to see my parents, so it looks like I'm going to have to talk DH into a stop at the Outlet Mall on our next road trip!

Thanks also for the prayers and pixie dust in regards to my foot injury. The doctor thought I might have a small stress fracture, but after viewing the x-rays he's thinking it's some form of tendonitis. I may still end up in a boot, but for now we're going to try rest, ice, elevation and NSAID's.

Too funny that Ninja Potato likes Legend of Zelda, too! After you mentioned that, I decided that I just HAD to post a pic of DD 14 at DCA this summer, wearing one of her favorite hats...

Yeah, she's also got 2 binders full of Anime and video games music that she's printed off. Right now she likes playing Arryll's Theme and the Twilight Princess Trailer. (I love to hear her play, so it's all good! ) Hey, DD 17 is impressed that Ninja can play Zelda songs on her ocarina! DD bought herself an ocarina online last year, but unfortunately, hers is "hopelessly poor quality", she says. Currently, someone is paying DD 17 to design and paint custom canvas shoes based on the Wind Waker game. That's her favorite Zelda game so she's pretty pumped to do the shoes!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Awww....Bob! Your family was First Family for that Store!!! That's going to be something that you and your kids can talk about forever. How cool!

 

[MarbleBob]

@PrincessInOz right back at you! (and Pickle is looking forward to waving your way at the beach )

@danacath: Awesome photo and awesome hat. Seeing Mickey's Fun Wheel really has me California dreaming right now. Thanks for sharing!

Yeah, of all things that a 13 year old could be into, Zelda has been it for Ninja Potato. I know this off topic, but she's loved Zelda since she was about 4 years old. We lived with my parents for a couple months before our current house was ready for us. My dad had a Game Cube that came with a special disc containing 4 classic games (original Zelda, Zelda II, Majora's Mask, and Ocarina of Time.) DW started playing Ocarina of Time to pass the time in the evenings and Ninja would sit and watch her (always running out of the room and hiding for the scary boss battles.) Eventually, my dad gave us the disc and she started playing Ocarina of Time herself around age 5 or 6 (still asking for help and hiding from the scary bosses ). She's been a die hard Zelda fan ever since. LOL. (Similarly, I played the original Zelda game on the NES when I was in the 6th grade with my dad. We'd play cooperatively for about an hour every day after school/work. Great memories!!)

I don't know if she's ever searched for piano music online, I'll have to suggest that to her. She ordered this book a year or two and plays most of the songs from it, but I think one or two give her trouble. (She likes piano, but doesn't really practice much anymore.) The Legend of Zelda Series for Piano: Piano Solos I enjoy hearing it in the background whenever she plays the songs...

She got her Ocarina from STLOcarina.com It wasn't cheap, but it came with Zelda sheet music (tablature) and a carrying case. (It was a christmas gift, she didn't get a lot of other things that year.) If you are familiar with the tunes, it's not too hard to figure out how to play the songs from the tablature. Even if you don't have one of their Ocarina's, STL Ocarina has great online resources and a fun youtube channel for learning.

Those Wind Waker shoes sound awesome. What a cool idea! We all enjoyed playing Wind Waker too, and are really looking forward to the new HD version coming out on Wii U this fall

Oh, and while we are on the subject of DD's and video games, I thought that I'd share this (since your DD's seem to be kindred spirits and might get a kick out of it.) Ninja Potato is quite proud, as we are remodeling the kid's bathroom this summer. It's still a work in progress, put on hold due to the foot surgery, but we placed these cool Super Mario Bro's decals on the wall right before the surgery. Had a lot of fun working with Ninja to figure out how the "world" should be arranged on the walls




I'm glad to know that your foot isn't fractured or anything. I really don't know anything about tendonitis, but it seems hopeful that you might be "relatively" OK for your September trip. We'll throw in a couple of extra prayers and pixie dust wishes for good measure though.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Ninja Potato is a Zelda fan? I like the Phantom Sword and Spirit Train (Adult Link timeline) myself; and have tried Minish Cap. My DS has been trying to get me into Ocarina of Time. We'll see. I know there's a new game coming out this year and may get back into the series then.


We went to the Oz Comicon recently and I had to snap this couple.







For gaming sheet music, try here. We print the pdf versions (there is Zelda in the selection as well).

http://www.ninsheetm.us/

 

[MarbleBob]

@PrincessInOz, That photo is awesome! Those kids did a great job on their costumes!!! And thanks for sharing the link to video game music. I'm sure Ninja will be spending more time on the piano than she has in a long time this week

You should listen to your DS, Ocarina of Time is a fantastic game. If you liked the other ones, then I'm sure that you'll like this one too

So while we are geeking out on the Legend of Zelda, music, and cosplay costumes, here's another fun one.... Have you heard of the "Symphony of the Goddesses"? It's an official touring symphony concert that plays Zelda music. (Unfortunately, as far as I know, it's only been touring in the US and Canada.)

http://zelda-symphony.com/concert

I've mentioned how awesome my mom and dad are on this thread a couple times now. Here's another example... They took Ninja Potato and Buddy up to Chicago to see the concert last fall. They all had an incredible time and Ninja came back on cloud 9. My mom ordered them some Elf ears on eBay and helped them make "Link" costumes. Ninja was Ocarina Link and Buddy was Red Link (from the Four Swords game). (DW even joined in on the creativity and knitted her some Goron bracelets.) They had fun interacting with and getting photos with the other costumed fans. I sure love my mom, she really takes interest into what her grand kids are into and joins right in, she's so much fun!!! Here a couple camera-phone photos from their trip:

 

[PrincessInOz]

Yes, DS has been trying to get me on Ocarina of Time for quite a while. I'll have to tell him he's r...r.....r...ri..."not wrong".


I haven't heard of Symphony of the Goddess! But....what a fantastic idea and concept. Wish it would tour Down Under. I took a look at the dates....none of them work for me .

Your kids look great in their CosPlay! Your mom did a fantastic job.

 

[disnemimi]

Just finished updating my reading on your thread Bob. What fun people comment on your thread. I feel like I know some of them too. As I started reading about Zelda, I was wondering how I could post some pictures from our Chicago trip and was thrilled to see you posted one. That concert was totally awesome, the music was phenomenal and even your Dad enjoyed it. And I guess we are "suckers" for our grandchildren (lol) and love being involved in their interests. As you probably recall, I sure did my share of skateboard adventures with you (loved every minute!!)

danacath, lots of pixie dust and prayers for your foot. I have had total knee replacement on one knee and a stress fracture on one foot, so I totally understand your concerns. But, if for some reason, you are not able to walk the long distances at DisneyWorld, consider renting an ECV. It was a life saver in Epcot for me.

And yesterday was a hoot at the Disney store opening. Your report was right-on!! I hope Pickle will wear her Snow White princess dress as I sort of talked her into that one (As Snow White is MY favorite princess)!

Kudos to your lovely wife too. For a person that is not a fan of shopping, she did awesome yesterday!!

Love these Disboards and how we learn so much. I am ready to go on a gondola ride in Naples, CA now. Thanks for sharing PrincessInOz.

Mimi

 

[luulu1999]

how exciting about the Disney Store me and DBF will be coming that way the first weekend of Sept to go to Six Flags ( I won free tickets) and I have already told him were making a stop at the new Disney store to see if I can find DD something for her BDay and after reading your information about the Infinity game we have decided that is what DS will be getting for his BDay

 

[MarbleBob]

That's awesome luulu1999! I haven't been to Six Flags in a while (I guess I'm too much of a Disney snob these days ), but Ninja Potato went a couple weeks ago with her friends and had a fantastic time. I'm sure you guys will have an awesome time! And free tickets makes it that much more special.

Hope you find some goodies for DD's birthday

 

[MarbleBob]

Plans for Capturing Memories

A major milestone today. The doctor said it's OK to start walking without crutches. WAHOO!!

With that in mind, I had purchased a few goodies for my camera around the time that I broke my foot, and I haven't had much of a chance to try them out yet. Now that I can walk, it's time to practice and start thinking about how to best capture the moments (including what gear I'm going to take and any special shots that I want to capture.)

If photography and video isn't something that you are interested in, feel free to skip this post and catch up later. This post might be a bit geeky

I think I'm going to break this into two sections: video and photos.

Video:
I've had a camcorder with me nearly all the time during our Disney vacations. We love watching the old vacation videos (especially Pickle.) We've got a lot of precious moments caught on video and it's always fun to relive the memories. So, of course we'll be bringing a camcorder on this trip. I also have a GoPro camera (the previous Hero 2 version) that I've used a lot for skateboarding. It's waterproof, so it would be fun to take on the Monorail waterslide at DLH and also as a POV (point of view) camera on rides like California Screamin'. I'll probably bring it along too. (I took it on a Disney Cruise last summer and got some amazing underwater footage of Ninja Potato in the snorkeling area at Castaway Cay. Also some cool time-lapse shots of the ship leaving port. Awesome!!)

As for video, I've really enjoyed getting footage of the kids before and after rides. Especially asking them what they thought about the ride afterwards. Getting video of random special moments/activities, and events like fireworks/parades have been fun too. Especially getting footage of the kids reactions to things - trying a treat for the first time, watching their face when somebody in a parade waves to them, etc. Sometimes just running ahead and standing in place with the camcorder as they walk by. Good stuff.

Photos:
Here's where I have some real decisions to make on what to bring along for the trip.

Photopass Plus:
I think we are going to do the Photopass plus on this trip. It's only about $70 and you get the regular Photopass photos "plus" ride/attraction photos. We never get enough family shots, and this will make it easier. We've had a photopass at WDW a couple times and we enjoyed the "magic shot" photos where they have you pose different ways and then put Tinkerbell, Stitch, an stuff in on their computers. For the Halloween party, they put hitchhiking ghosts in the picture! Too cool!!! So, at this point, I need to do some reading on what "magic shots" are offered in Disneyland and where to go in order to get some of the more clever ones.



General Photos:
I have an Olympus E-P3 camera. (It's a micro 4/3 camera, which means it has interchangeable lenses, but it's not as big/bulky as a traditional DSLR.) It's not as good as the more recent Olympus cameras, but it still takes pretty good shots. As for lenses, I'll bring my Panasonic 20mm/f1.7 prime. This stays on the camera most of the time. Great for indoor/low light shots and a nice focal length for general snapshots. I'll probably bring the kit zoom lens (14-44mm) too. It's not as nice as the 20mm lens and it's bulkier, but there will be times when I need it. I have a nice Olympus 45mm/f1.8 prime lens that I'll probably leave at home, since it's better for portrait shots. Wait, who and I kidding? I can always bring it and leave it in the room, right? I have a Panasonic 45-200mm telephoto lens, but it's big and bulky. I can't imagine that I'd need it on this vacation, so it will stay at home. (I have buyers remorse on that lens because I hardly ever use it.) Finally, I have a 7.5mm Rokinon fisheye. This one is lots of fun and a must have. The trouble is that I hate carrying around a big bag. Between a camera, couple extra lenses, and a camcorder, I may have to plan out what shots that I want and only bring extra stuff only when I think that I'll need it. I'll probably just carry the camera w/20mm lens and the camcorder most of the time. (I have a small bag for this option, plus a larger bag that will hold most everything else. I'll bring both to the hotel and just figure it out as I go along. We do plan to rest a little back at the hotel each afternoon, so I'll have chances to swap gear in the room.)

So what's this new stuff that I was talking about? Well, I got a new travel tripod (MeFoto), a panoramic tripod head (Nodal Ninja 3), and an ND filter (fireworks/waterfalls). I planned to use most of this stuff for the original road trip, for places like the Grand Canyon and Yosemite, but it will still be fun at DL too!

Nodal Ninja

Tripod

(Yes, I picked the green one.)


Fireworks (tripod and ND filter):
So, there will be fireworks during the Halloween Party. I've never tried taking fireworks photos with a ND filter (for those who don't know - it's like sunglasses for your camera - it allows you to keep the shutter open longer to get those long "fireworks trails" and/or multiple bursts captured without overexposing the photo.) This sounds great in theory, but I've never tried an ND filter before. So I have some reading up to do. (Figure out what settings to use. Best aperture, shutter speed (or how long to hold down button on remote shutter trigger), focus, etc.) I know some people get really into this and stake out a great spot for their tripod early on, but I'll be more casual about it and just hope that we end up in a good enough location.

360 Panoramic Photos (tripod and Nodal Ninja):
So, in preparing for the Yosemite visit (that never happened), I had seem some awesome photos of 360 panoramas. Really amazing. You can see what I'm talking about by clicking here: http://www.dlsphoto.net/Yosemite2010/Yosemite2010.htm (click on one of the thumbnails.) I thought it would be cool to try out myself, so I purchased a panoramic tripod head designed just for this. Using the fisheye lens, you take about 6 or 8 photos (say five or six horizontally, then one up, and two down.) You then use special software to align them and then it creates a single image. You can load that final image into a web-based viewer and pan around the photo. Really cool. I tried it a couple times right before I hurt myself, and it's not hard. The tricky part is that you need to remember to get the settings locked in the camera before you start. (For example, if it's bright in one area and darker in another, you don't want the camera changing the aperture/ISO settings between shots or they won't blend well.) Anyway, it's takes a couple minutes to set up and take the shot, so I won't use it too much, but I'll try to get a few shots around the hotel, DTD, and maybe around the Castle. Hope to get some fun shots with this!!!

HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photos (tripod and special software):
I've never played with HDR before, but I have all the equipment, so I might as well. The idea is that you take a shot of an area/subject that has bright areas and dark shadows in the same scene. Traditionally, you can get a good exposure on one or the other, but not both. For example if you get the dark area right, the bright area might become too bright. Or if you get the bright area correct, then the dark area could be too dark. With HDR, you take several photos in a row (hopefully on a tripod) each photo is exposed a little differently (there are camera settings to take the shots in burst mode). Maybe one that is normal, one that's slightly over exposed, and one that's slightly underexposed. This should allow everything to look "correct" in at least one of the several shots. Then later, in software, you blend the multiple shots into a single image and everything comes out looking real vivid. People tend to over-abuse it a lot, and photos can come out looking weird/unnatural, but I've seen some really awesome ones too. Again, I don't have experience doing this and it's all good in theory. Need to practice before the trip. In the meantime, here's a site that showcases a lot of Disneyland HDR photos: http://gallery.toursdepartingdaily.com/

So there's the stuff that I'm thinking about now. I don't want taking photo/video to get in the way of the family having fun, so I'll need to be careful not to overdo it... And I'm thinking that I'll reward the kids for each time they cooperate for a good photo. Hey, I'll buy you a churro if you pose for a few shots....

With respect to general photos, if anyone has any ideas or favorite places for fun photos at DLR, I'm all ears

 

[danacath]

DD's loved your Mario bathroom theming. How fun!

Thanks for the Ocarina link. I'm sure DD 17 will want to take a look at it at some point. As for the custom shoes, that's a little side business that she's starting, having had such a good response to the first pair of shoes she did for DH this summer. DH was taking DD 17 and DS 22 to Comic Con and wanted some cool shoes to wear for it, so he asked DD 17 to do a pair of Adventure Time Vans for him....



DH got the shoes autographed by several Adventure Time "celebrities" at the Con so he was thrilled!

So glad you told us about Symphony of the Goddesses! Our gang will definitely be making plans to go to that! DD 14 listened to the whole London concert on Youtube while doing her homework today. Her dream would be to sing in one of the choirs for a concert like that. Last November we all went to Video Games Live in CO as a birthday gift for DS 22. Such a great time and so fun to hear the older video games music mixed in with the newer!

And cosplay... yes! Your kids looked great! DD17 also dressed as Ocarina Link at Video Games Live. Because of that, she got to go back stage before the show, they gave her a VGL hat, etc. so she was glad she decided to dress up. I sewed one last-minute Anime costume a couple of years ago for DS 22 when his Anime Club was having a cosplay party, and that one about did me in! I haven't sewed one since then!

My other creativity challenge was this past spring when DD 14 requested a Minecraft birthday cake. I'd never worked with fondant before so I told her I'd have to keep it VERY simple...



I'm glad that DD was happy with the results, but I have no desire to work with fondant again, until the next request comes along. LOL

Okay, that's enough geekiness for one post! I'm way so I'll transition back to Disney by asking if Ninja or Buddy has ever played Kingdom Hearts...

 

[MarbleBob]

danacath,

Just finished reading your post with Ninja Potato. Those shoes are beyond awesome. Your DD17 should be incredibly proud, she did an outstanding job on them. I'm sure that she's going to be very successful! (She's got a couple of fans in Missouri already.) And how cool that your DH got them autographed!!! And to top it off, slip on Vans are the best!!! Slip on Vans have been my shoe of choice for the last couple years. (I'm lucky to work in an office with a very casual dress code.) So comfy and great for a lazy guy like me. I hate shoe laces these days. Buddy and I are currently sporting checker board print slip ons. (he hates shoe laces too. ) Not as cool as custom Adventure Time shoes, but fun nonetheless!



Major kudos on that Minecraft cake. It looks awesome. I hope Ninja didn't get any bright ideas from that, because I'm sure that I'd have a much harder time than you did. And it still probably wouldn't look half as good

I asked Ninja if she's ever played Kingdom Hearts and she said no. She's read some of the manga from the library and she played the demo on her 3ds, but she never purchased the game. I guess she was too busy playing Zelda and Pokemon through the years. (She used to be super into Pokemon. Not as much these days, but Pickle is picking up where Ninja left off We have way too many Pokemon dolls from the Japan Pavilion in Epcot. Ninja used to play the playing card game a lot too. She even won the Missouri state championship in 2009 and competed in the National tournament. Proud father bragging moment. LOL.) Anyway, she said the she wants to play the Kingdom Hearts game, just never got around to it. Might be a good christmas present, you think?

 

[MarbleBob]

And man, thinking about Vans shoes, has me thinking about skateboarding (how I started wearing Vans in the first place back in the day.)

Majorly This photo is from the same spot where I broke my foot in April. I asked the doctor when I could ride a skateboard again, and he said around December, a couple weeks after he takes the screws out of my foot. Really looking forward to that day. Luckily, we have a couple of indoor skateparks in St. Louis



Speaking of the fisheye camera lens from my earlier post, here are a few of my favorite shots that I've taken of my buddies. I love how the fisheye bends the lines of the concrete Looking forward to seeing what it does at Disneyland


My buddy's son (above)


My friend Andy. He broke his foot twice last year and can relate to my misery. LOL.


My friend Don. He was born with only one arm, but he can skate better than most of us They call him the one armed bandit.


My buddy Paul, over by the area where I broke my foot


My friend Deron in the 50+ group (there are more than a couple in that age group). We're all members of the "St. Louis Old Man Skate Cartel".


Sometimes the ladies come out and skate with us too. Nicole visiting from CO


One of my favorite shot's of my buddy, Jason. (Love the shadow.)

 

[danacath]

Plans for Capturing Memories


If photography and video isn't something that you are interested in, feel free to skip this post and catch up later. This post might be a bit geeky

Gosh, and here I was concerned about MY geeky post! LOL Very thoughtful with the disclaimer. Maybe I should have attached one to my post, too!

Seriously, though, you've got some awesome shots from the skate park! Very cool! I'll have to show those to my DH. He used to be into photography way back when, and still appreciates a good photo.


Sooo, let's see... on my DLR trip this summer my camera "gear" consisted of my iPhone and my Kodak that's about the size of a wallet. And DD 14 and I were so busy having fun that regrettably, I took very few pics. DD 14 was being so practical, too, by saying, "Come on, Mom, we've got so many Disney photos already..." (Which IS true. LOL) Oh well, the few that I've got I will cherish, along with the great Mom/DD memories that go with them. Having that one-on-one time was awesome!

Anyway, looks like you've got plenty of great gadgets for some stellar pictures this fall! Be sure to post plenty of shots in your TR after you get back!

DD 17 says thanks for the nice compliment and the "thumbs up" on the shoes. She just LOVES to draw and wants to get a degree in illustration. Now if we can just make a decision on an art school for next year...

Ah, yes, the checkerboard Vans. DH had his first pair back in the 80's when we were dating and he's been a fan ever since. He wears them until they have holes and then I start hiding them. DS 22 has a pair, too. DH is Mr. Low Maintenance himself and I whine about the unfairness of it all at least once a week. LOL He can be ready for work in 10 minutes, and me... ehhhh, not so much! DH can wear t-shirts and shorts to work if he wants to , so he does.

As for Pokemon, very impressive Ninja Potato, very impressive! Wow, how exciting that must have been to go the National Tournament!! All 3 of our kids went through the Pokemon stage, had the cards, etc. but never really got into playing the actual card game.

DD's were just curious whether your kids had played Kingdom Hearts because they haven't been able to yet and are wondering if it's any good. Like Ninja, they've gotten some of the Manga from the library (our second home LOL) and they know the plot lines, but that's about it. Sounds like a great Christmas gift... for DS 22 to get for his little sisters!

Haha, yeah, your PTR is just a bit (and I'm one of the guilty posters-- sorry! ), but it is your PTR after all, so you get to talk about whatever you want!

 

[danacath]

danacath, lots of pixie dust and prayers for your foot. I have had total knee replacement on one knee and a stress fracture on one foot, so I totally understand your concerns. But, if for some reason, you are not able to walk the long distances at DisneyWorld, consider renting an ECV. It was a life saver in Epcot for me.

Thanks disnemimi for your kind and caring words. I'm supposed to go in for a boot some time this week, as soon as they can find an opening on the schedule for me. I'll actually be flying to WDW alone, since we chose to use rewards points from 2 different airlines, so we're hoping that the boot will make things easier for me on the plane than having the crutches. Maybe?

I've never driven an ECV, but I may have to give it a try at WDW. I'm just worried that I'll run into someone or roll right over someone's foot!

DH and DD 14 are both sick right now, too, so it's a challenge to stay off my feet, but I'm sure trying!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thanks disnemimi for your kind and caring words. I'm supposed to go in for a boot some time this week, as soon as they can find an opening on the schedule for me. I'll actually be flying to WDW alone, since we chose to use rewards points from 2 different airlines, so we're hoping that the boot will make things easier for me on the plane than having the crutches. Maybe?

I've never driven an ECV, but I may have to give it a try at WDW. I'm just worried that I'll run into someone or roll right over someone's foot!

DH and DD 14 are both sick right now, too, so it's a challenge to stay off my feet, but I'm sure trying!

Take care!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Plans for Capturing Memories

A major milestone today. The doctor said it's OK to start walking without crutches. WAHOO!!

With that in mind, I had purchased a few goodies for my camera around the time that I broke my foot, and I haven't had much of a chance to try them out yet. Now that I can walk, it's time to practice and start thinking about how to best capture the moments (including what gear I'm going to take and any special shots that I want to capture.)

If photography and video isn't something that you are interested in, feel free to skip this post and catch up later. This post might be a bit geeky

YAY for the major milestone without crutches!

That's some great new equipment you've got.

I acquired the MeFoto (purple) for my trip.


I will offer the same disclaimer....if photography isn't something that you are interested in, feel free to skip the rest of the post.


Which ND filter do you have? I've been shooting fireworks with an ND-2 and I also have an ND-9 in my bag.

I leave the ND-2 on my UWA lens most of the time. (BTW - I love your pictures with the fisheye but am not sure if I want to add that to my bag yet.)

From my last two outings shooting fireworks.....












This spot is awfully dark....so I went with ISO 200. I would normally look at ISO 100 with a castle in the background.
The first picture is f/18, the second is f/16.
13 seconds for both.

I use my 2-sec delay function on my camera to take firework shots. Some people prefer a remote timer. Both work for me.



If you have the ND-9, exposures are going to run into the 60 - 90 sec mark or longer; depending on light conditions. I don't have an example because I've just been too chicken to try it out at night. I have used the ND-9 during the daytime. I would recommend that you focus the lens first and then put the filter on. It really is very dark and I was barely able to see anything to focus with the lens on. And if your camera doesn't allow you to set an exposure longer than 30-secs, you might need to get a remote timer if you haven't already got that in your bag. I also suspect that I may need an ISO around 400 with the ND-9. We'll see how brave I get on this trip.



Okay. Back to normal programming.

 

[danacath]

Take care!

Thanks!

BTW, love the photos you posted! Thanks for sharing!

 

[MarbleBob]

Danacath,

Thanks for the comments on the skatepark shots.

If you find that your foot is still giving you trouble at the parks, I second disnemimi’s recommendations on the EVC. I was sick on a trip once and stayed in the hotel room for 3 days straight. On the 4th day, I was over the sickness, but didn't have much energy. I rented an EVC (on disnemimi’s recommendation) and it turned out to be a smart move. I’m not sure that I could have kept the pace with everyone if I had to walk everywhere. And it was easy to park the EVC in the stroller areas for shorter walks to rides and stuff.

Also, hope your family feels better soon!

PrincessInOz,

Yeah, I bought the fisheye specifically for taking skateboard shots, I’m not sure that I would have purchased it otherwise. A friend took that first picture of me with a regular lens. It’s not a great shot, with my head and upper arm cut off. The fisheye makes it so much easier to get the skater and the terrain in the shot. The only problem is that you have to get dangerously close. Most of those were taken only a foot or two away from the person. Yikes!! But it adds to the thrill All that being said, I've had a lot of fun with the fisheye just goofing around and I look forward to playing with it at DLR.

Thanks for sharing those fireworks shots. Truly inspiring! I especially like the composition on the second one. Incredibly awesome!!!! Someday, I might get some good fireworks shots, but I’m sure I’ll take a couple trips before I get the hang of it. No worries, I’ll give it a go at DLR, and if they don’t work out, I’ll try again at WDW next June. I guess we can share stories of what worked and what didn't after we get back from our trips in October

I purchased a 0.9 ND filter, which apparently is a 3 stop filter. Thanks for sharing the filter and camera settings that you used, this helps for perspective. I’m not sure what the max shutter speed in my camera is, but I do have a remote cable ($3 on ebay and it works perfectly) and can put the camera on bulb mode (I think that’s what it’s called) and leave the shutter open as long as I hold the button down. Sounds like with the filter that I bought, that I might not need a super long exposure. I guess I’ll find out. I know that there are a few websites that have tutorials, so I’ll need to study up on those soon

Can’t wait!!!