Photography
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Lunch at Be Our Guest
I had heard many mixed reviews on Be Our Guest, and decided that if I got the mysterious invite email directly from Disney then I would reserve a lunch there. I did get the email, and so here we are. After checking in and confirming we had reservations (the CM was visibly relieved, she said it was so hard to tell people trying to just walk up that it basically wasn’t possible on most days to get in without an ADR) we walk along the bridge to the entrance. Such a sad gargoyle. Once inside – you walk down a hallway, and you can hear Lumiere and Cogsworth whispering. Then…
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Our Morning in the Magic Kingdom
Tuesday morning arrives – and runs off while we’re sleeping. Hey, I never pretended to be a morning person, and that 6am start wasn’t going to be a trend. Eventually we get going and head to the car. I snap a shot in the elevator. Let me take a quick moment to say THANK YOU to my ever patient husband for always toting the camera gear. It’s hard to see the size here, roughly an average diaper bag, and at least as insanely packed. He knows how much my photography profession (and obsession) means to me. The parking garage of course had Lion King theming – we were most often…
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Return to the Yachtsman Steakhouse
First fancy dinner night! After initial sticker shock over the prices (I did not yet know the beauty of a prime steak) in 2011, the Yachtsman Steakhouse fast became and stayed our favorite (and yes, most expensive) meal. Since he was our waiter each time (and a few times on my parents’ earlier visits) previously, we wanted to make sure we had the impeccable David guiding us through our meal again. I tried to call and get David’s section, but sadly only got a voicemail. Once we arrived and checked in, we had a little wait for our table, so of course that meant picture time! Yup, we’re goofs. At…
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Our Kidani Room and Lunch at Sanaa
After catching a tram back to our section of the lot – cranking the A/C – we make our way back to the resort and hit the front desk to get assigned our room. We’re just a little ways off the main lobby in room 7225. We would learn the parking at Kidani is actually awesome. There is an underground garage, so we were right under our room and just took an elevator up. You can see the HUGE swath of grey parking that is the AKL Jambo House parking. I can’t imagine walking all of that at the end of the day. The magic bands are very cool for…
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Kidani Village and Animal Kingdom
At 6am Monday morning the alarm goes off, and we head over to our home for the week. We have to stop in at the resort to get our magic bands activated before we can go to our breakfast ADR in the park. Still groggy, I take a few quick cell phone pictures as we walk up in the dark stillness. The sound of crickets and birds quietly drift across as you head to the doors. There’s a savannah out there, I’m told. Very Lion King. Also the last time you will see a sunrise photo from me. Check in was very smooth, but they had no anniversary buttons left.…
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Bits and Bobs and All the Rest
[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”14770″ alignment=”none”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]This spot is for all the other little tidbits that aren’t quite part of the trip but someone might find interesting. I’ve got some reviews, some crafts, and just a few other observations that I didn’t want to clutter in the regular posts. Some of this might get techy as I talk photography stuff. Feel free to skip past that. ;)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Getting an extended view… I purchased the Memory Maker package again this trip, as I already know and love the benefits of stopping at the photopass photographers in the parks, and having all of the ride photos bundled in. That only tells part of the story…
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Kobe Steakhouse and a Room for the Night
A new day has dawned (and then some) and we try to forget about Saturday’s misfortunes and move on. We start with break-lunch (it was 3pm) at Bojangles. A southern fast food chain that caught my attention because they have pork chop sandwiches! It was actually quite tasty for fast food. The biscuit was fresh and the pork chop was juicy and seasoned nicely. Not pictured is the awful drink mixup that was not helping my confidence in the day. I ordered a cherry soda of some sort, put in the straw, take a big swig and get SWEET TEA! Ugh, ptooie, ew ew. I get Chris to run in…
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Road Trip to Orlando – Through Mountains and Mayhem
I had a last minute work item that kept me downtown late, and so we didn’t get the early start we had wanted on our drive. In fact, it was nearly 2 in the afternoon when we finally got rolling. Most of the evening before and early morning spent doing this: Finally though we had everything packed, in the car, all the cats were accounted for, the house/cat sitter had all they needed, and we were ready to get on our way. We decided to take I-77 south so we could get the pretty mountain view with the fall colors, and figured on stopping somewhere around Charlotte, NC for the…
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Disney World 2014: A Halloween Road Trip
It seems like we’re creating a habit of last minute trip plans to Disney World. While 2011 was booked about 6 months in advance this time it was just three. This year marked our 5th wedding anniversary, and 15 years being together. Such a milestone deserved an awesome celebration and so after some budget wrangling, deliberation, discussion, and angsty hand-wringing we got a hold of a TA and put down the deposit. Our first option had been for Disney’s Wilderness Lodge Resort. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to get it booked in time and the last room sold. Mind you – we were trying for a popular time (Halloween, October), and…
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Roaming Night Photography in Detroit
If you ask what the best way to get better at your craft is, no matter what the craft, you’ll hear ‘practice’. A photowalk is one of the best ways to do this as it often can take you out of your normal shooting area, introduce you to photographers with a variety of shooting skill levels and styles, and force you to think differently and quickly about what you’re capturing. There are a number of ways that a photowalk stands out above just walking around on your own and can make you a better photographer: You don’t want to get left behind so you can’t just sit around waiting for…
