Strmchsr Family Vacation 2010 part 4

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05-11-2010, 04:19 PM
Strmchsr

Strmchsr Family Vacation 2010 part 4

Cast: me, Renae (DW), Caleb (DS9), and Cole (DS4)

Days: May 9-10, 2010

We woke up early on Mother's Day to be at MK for the opening ceremony. DW had never seen it. Her wish for mother's day was to see that and get a family pic in front of the castle. We managed both then sent her off to the Grand Floridian to enjoy one of the fancy massages while the boys and I hit the parks. Caleb had desperately wanted to ride Splash Mountain since it was closed when we were there in January. We hurried back and found...it was closed. Mechanical problems. Caleb wasn't too happy, but we hopped on BTMRR then went across to Tom Sawyer's Island. We hadn't been there before and Caleb has just finished reading the books so we spent a good hour letting the boys explore and enjoy themselves. They loved all of it. Once a refreshed and pampered Renae rejoined us we had lunch at Cosmic Ray's then headed for DHS. RNRC had been closed with mechanical problems earlier in the week so we wanted to be sure to hit it, which we did with a fastpass (standby was 130 min at one point). Also, we were able to get in to LMA and Playhouse Disney as well as the Great Movie Ride before our supper at Prime Time. "Uncle George" was a lot of fun and we all ended up with clean-plate stickers.

Crowds were quite heavy at both MK and DHS, but we expected that on Mother's Day. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, though. We were able to move around without bumping into someone every other step like at MK the previous evening. Given that WDW extended hours and added a Spectro I think the big MK crowds on Saturday surprised them, too.

Monday we packed the van then headed to Epcot for our last few hours in the World. To start the park was almost deserted. We walked right on most of the FutureWorld rides (not Soarin, but we did get a fastpass and didn't have to wait long). The weather was also the nicest it had been since we had been down with a cool breeze. The crowds started showing up by noon, but it still wasn't too bad. We had lunch at Le Cellier and took one last stroll around World Showcase before loading up and making the 7 1/2 hour drive back to Millbrook.

I took around 700 pics for this trip, so I couldn't post them all, but if you want to see any of my pics, feel free to check them out on my FB profile. I did it in 2 albums here and here. I tried to do a lot of "scenary" shots so if you want any of these for your collection (or if you want something that I might have and just didn't post on FB) send me a PM and I'll be glad to send that along to you.
05-11-2010, 05:27 PM
mouseketeer mom

Love your wifes Mother's Day morning!!! How wonderful is that?
I enjoyed the pictures. Thank you!
05-11-2010, 05:44 PM
DisneyorBust

What a special Mother's day for your wife!
The Opening Ceremony at MK is a favorite of mine, need to catch it each trip. Looking forward to your pictures, thanks for the reports.
05-11-2010, 06:24 PM
cer

It sounds like you had an amazing trip and the BEAUTIFUL pictures confirm that. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

What do you shoot?
05-11-2010, 07:02 PM
Strmchsr

Quote:

Originally Posted by cer

It sounds like you had an amazing trip and the BEAUTIFUL pictures confirm that. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

What do you shoot?

I have a Pentax K-x with an 18-55 and 55-270mm lenses. To get some of those silky water shots I used a neutral density filter (0.9). Glad you liked them! I had fun shooting those.
05-11-2010, 08:29 PM
RedSoxFan

Nice end to your vacation. I wasn't able to see the pictures ---bummer. I don't belong to Facebook so I'm guessing that is why.
05-11-2010, 08:59 PM
SBETigg

Love the pictures! What a wonderful Mother's Day for Renae. Great report, thanks!
05-12-2010, 01:42 AM
Kathy Jetson

Loved hearing about your trip! I wanted to see your pictures but I don't do facebook:(
05-12-2010, 07:38 AM
Strmchsr

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kathy Jetson

Loved hearing about your trip! I wanted to see your pictures but I don't do facebook:(

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedSoxFan

Nice end to your vacation. I wasn't able to see the pictures ---bummer. I don't belong to Facebook so I'm guessing that is why.

Not sure why you weren't able to see those. I set the privacy setting to "everyone" intentionally so that you should be able to see the pics even if you're not my "friend" or belong to FB. I also posted some of the shots (but not quite as many) to my Webshots album. You can see that here if you can't do FB.
05-12-2010, 08:20 AM
pdrlkr

Thanks for the Report! :smickey:
05-12-2010, 08:37 AM
PopPhan

Great pics Chris! I so want to get a DSRL myself so that I can frame the pics I want, like you did. Point and shoot digitals just don't give you the opportunities to play with the setting.

Thanks for sharing these with us!!
05-12-2010, 09:13 AM
RedSoxFan

Thanks for the link. Beautiful pictures. :mickey:
05-12-2010, 10:03 AM
DizNee143

great pictures!! thanx sooo much for sharing them and your vacation with us! :mickey:
05-12-2010, 10:23 AM
KylesMom

Lucky Mom - sounds like you made her day really special! Bummer for Caleb, though, that he missed his Splash Mountain "make-up" ride.

Your pictures are great, Chris. Thanks for sharing for those of us who didn't make it down for the Flower & Garden Festival. Crowds were obviously higher than you'd have liked them to be . . . but overall another great trip! :mickey:
05-12-2010, 10:35 AM
yjgirl32

What a great way to spend mother's day. Thanks for sharing.
05-12-2010, 11:08 AM
princessgirls

Chris,

Thank you for sharing your trip with us. How nice to give your wife such a nice Mother's Day gift!!!

Julie:mickey:
05-13-2010, 05:10 AM
vizsla

Thanks for the report.
05-13-2010, 09:29 AM
murphy1

Awesome, how nice you did that for her! Great photos! I just took my little one and we loved all the flowers at Epcot, it was really even better this year. I just sent you a friend req over on FB too, I kept meaning to do that before.

Shari
05-13-2010, 12:55 PM
SurferStitch

Love the pics! We took a ton in just the six days we were there. We would have had a lot more pics with characters, but it was just too darn hot to wait in any lines for them!

Did you see Davy Jones in Epcot? We saw his first show before we left Epcot to drive back home to PA. He was awesome, and even walked out into the audience to get close to those of us who didn't wait 2 hours in the heat for a seat. Nice!

We almost stayed at ASM, too, but DH changed the ressie to CBR. Love the pics you took there. Now I'm thinking we have to give it a try!
05-13-2010, 01:12 PM
Pally

Chris,

I enjoyed your vacation reports. Your family is lovely. Looks like you had a wonderful time. What a nice Mother's Day gift.

Your pictures are awesome. I think I need some photography lessons.:mickey:
05-13-2010, 02:37 PM
Strmchsr

Quote:

Originally Posted by SurferStitch

Did you see Davy Jones in Epcot? We saw his first show before we left Epcot to drive back home to PA.

We almost stayed at ASM, too, but DH changed the ressie to CBR. Love the pics you took there. Now I'm thinking we have to give it a try!

I did see part of Davy's show. Didn't sit down, but stood up in front of the American Pavilion to check part of it out. It was a lot of fun.

I really liked ASM's theming. I'd say it's the best of the values. My only knock against it is that it is badly in need of a refurb. It just doesn't stack up to Pop and the other All-Stars. On the good side, because it hasn't been refurbed it still had old channel 96 (the classic Disney cartoon channel) which the other resorts have lost. I really enjoyed ASmovies, but I hope they'll refurb them to the quality of the other values soon.
05-13-2010, 02:40 PM
Strmchsr

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pally

Your pictures are awesome. I think I need some photography lessons.:mickey:

Thanks!! I did an online photography class which helped me quite a bit with my pics. I noticed a dramatic improvement over last year's pics so I was happy to have these for our collection. Definitely well worth my time to learn how to take all those cool shots.

Of course, if I lived in your neck of the woods (Nova Scotia / PEI) I'd never get anything done. I'd always be out with my camera. LOVE that area up there. Hope the family and I can visit it again soon.
05-14-2010, 09:02 PM
#1disneyfan

Great reports and pics, thanks for sharing! Seeing you pics of the resorts makes me sad that we are staying outside of the World this year. :(
05-14-2010, 10:58 PM
PAYROLL PRINCESS

Thanks for sharing. It sounds like you had a great trip in spite of the crowds. And your pix make me impatient to get there.
05-15-2010, 03:30 AM
Kathy Jetson

Quote:

Originally Posted by Strmchsr

Not sure why you weren't able to see those. I set the privacy setting to "everyone" intentionally so that you should be able to see the pics even if you're not my "friend" or belong to FB. I also posted some of the shots (but not quite as many) to my Webshots album. You can see that here if you can't do FB.

I got to see your pictures! They were great thanks for sharing:mickey:
05-17-2010, 12:53 AM
Tink#64

Your trip reports were great! I really enjoyed reading them all! Your pictures are fantastic, you have a real talent! All of your water pix - WOW, just WOW! I particularly enjoyed all of your pix from Epcot, my personal fav park, you captured so many of the details, just captivating! You have a beautiful family & it looks like fun was had by all! I'm sure many happy WDW memories were made! My fav pic was of your wife & your little guy sharing the Mickey bar, oh my gosh, Cole - what a precious little face! Now I'm super anxious for our trip, we'll arrive in WDW in 20 days, and now I'm even more anxious!

Thanks for sharing! :tiphat:
05-17-2010, 07:48 AM
Strmchsr

Thanks, Shari! I really enjoyed making all of them. :mickey: Yeah, Cole, is something else. He's a great subject to photograph. Always up to something. Hope you have a wonderful trip, too!
05-17-2010, 10:35 PM
disneykid@hrt

The pictures are beautiful! A few gave me goosebumps. The place looks great for the Flower and Garden Fest. And what a lucky Mom!! Thanks for sharing. :mickey:

PS That's great we can link to FB!
05-20-2010, 08:10 PM
faline

I don't have a Facebook account and couldn't access your pics though I would have loved to have seen them.

Nice way to spend Mother's day!
05-20-2010, 09:32 PM
Strmchsr

Quote:

Originally Posted by faline

I don't have a Facebook account and couldn't access your pics though I would have loved to have seen them.

Nice way to spend Mother's day!

Hey, Linda, check post #9. I linked to my webshots account as well. Not as many pics as on FB, but still a good number.
05-23-2010, 07:57 PM
Checkers

:mickey:Chris, loved your report and photos! Thanks for sharing.

We were there from 5/8-5/16 and the weather was perfect. The crowds not too bad except for Sat., 5/15. I saw something I have never seen before in all of my many, many trips to WDW -- the Haunted Mansion's line was wrapped around so many times they had to take it down around the waterfront! Heard many Disney veterans remark that they had never see it before as well.

Glad you had a great trip and what a great Mother's Day gift. We celebrated by having dinner at LTT as we all enjoy it there.

Thanks again for sharing!