A Summer of Disney Dreams (TRIP VIDEO ADDED!!)

never2old · August 16, 2012, 10:35:54 PM

Great report!!! Wonderful to read (I've actually had to read it twice, I enjoyed it so much!!) I could almost imagine myself coming along with you guys, up to the supernova in the Space Mountain (I have long legs too, I find I can only sit comfortably in the front seat...), going around the Treehouse (one of the best attractions ever, so many details to discover!!), grabbing a cookie in the Cable Car Bake shop, waiting in line for POTC or exploring Adventureland... You really know how to bring us all along with you.

And your pictures... As gorgeous as ever. You had beautiful weather!!! I can't wait to see more. I always discover new details I hadn't noticed before, or even better, rediscover sights I thought I knew! If you ever decide to publish a book with your photos, please sign me up for a copy!!

And of course thank you very much for my painting

As always, looking forward to the next part!!

fraffstar · August 17, 2012, 12:32:38 AM

WOWwowWOW! I am absolutely loving those BTM on ride photos :thumbs: There was an Italian lad sat in front of me on one of our BTM rides who was taking video on his iPhone :shock: No strap or anything, just holding his phone in the air the whole ride!! OMG. Love that ride, and my daughter did too. We rode it about 8 times over the 5 days we were there.

We managed one crush ride too - also an early morning one. Queue time was around 30 mins I think? Anyway we all went on...my son is 3 but was just about tall enough at 108cm so off we went. Well he may have been tall enough but he was no way able to hold his head firm enough to prevent him getting whiplash so I spent the whole ride leaning across and pressing his head into the back of the seat so he didn't snap his neck! So I pretty much missed the whole ride really

Shame, but yet another excuse to go back again

SwipatronSparks · August 17, 2012, 08:24:09 AM

Quote from: "forza_united"Everytime I try it I keep regretting never experiencing the original!!

i wish i had been able to re ride this before it became mission 2 myself, first time i went on it i was 10 and since it was my first looping coaster while i loved it it terrified me as well meaning when it came to going on it again in my next trip i couldn't go on it (too scared i will admit it

) the next time i returned it had been refurbed into mission 2 so i share your regrets in a way

Quote from: "forza_united"One of you might recognize your theme suggestion in one of these photos:

Disney Studio 1 Reflected by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

hehe was this my 'reflections' theme suggestion? XD

loving the trip report cant want to read more and see more amazing photos =]

norhel · August 17, 2012, 05:02:57 PM

Always enjoyable to read your reports! :-D
I especially like your photo of Phantom Minor and the rest of Frontierland :-)

Epcot_Boy · August 17, 2012, 07:22:18 PM

Another great installment =D>

BlackPearl · August 17, 2012, 08:51:17 PM

What else to say than a big WOW!

Love your pictures as always and the report is great!
=D>

DLP-Photos.com · August 17, 2012, 10:55:16 PM

Quote from: "never2old"Great report!!! Wonderful to read (I've actually had to read it twice, I enjoyed it so much!!) I could almost imagine myself coming along with you guys, up to the supernova in the Space Mountain (I have long legs too, I find I can only sit comfortably in the front seat...), going around the Treehouse (one of the best attractions ever, so many details to discover!!), grabbing a cookie in the Cable Car Bake shop, waiting in line for POTC or exploring Adventureland... You really know how to bring us all along with you.

And your pictures... As gorgeous as ever. You had beautiful weather!!! I can't wait to see more. I always discover new details I hadn't noticed before, or even better, rediscover sights I thought I knew! If you ever decide to publish a book with your photos, please sign me up for a copy!!

And of course thank you very much for my painting

As always, looking forward to the next part!!

THank you so much - it's really nice to see that what I intend to do with my report is working! And I have actually thought about turning these two reports into a photo book

You are most welcome!

Quote from: "fraffstar"WOWwowWOW! I am absolutely loving those BTM on ride photos :thumbs: There was an Italian lad sat in front of me on one of our BTM rides who was taking video on his iPhone :shock: No strap or anything, just holding his phone in the air the whole ride!! OMG. Love that ride, and my daughter did too. We rode it about 8 times over the 5 days we were there.

We managed one crush ride too - also an early morning one. Queue time was around 30 mins I think? Anyway we all went on...my son is 3 but was just about tall enough at 108cm so off we went. Well he may have been tall enough but he was no way able to hold his head firm enough to prevent him getting whiplash so I spent the whole ride leaning across and pressing his head into the back of the seat so he didn't snap his neck! So I pretty much missed the whole ride really Shame, but yet another excuse to go back again

Thanks a bunch! I can't believe he had the b***s to hold his iPhone while riding the ride?? We only managed 5 times (you'll hear about a lot of closures later), but it really is a wonderful ride isn't it?

Yeah, the morning queue for Crush is usually 30 minutes. You simply have to visit there or just before closing if you don't want a 100+ minutes queue...

Quote from: "SwipatronSparks"
Quote from: "forza_united"hehe was this my 'reflections' theme suggestion? XD

loving the trip report cant want to read more and see more amazing photos =]

Ahh, so it was you who suggested that! Always nice to get profile names on here linked to the twitter person

You should be on the look out for a couple of more shots in this theme

And of course thank you!

norhel, Epcot_Boy and BlackPearl: Thank you very much! More will follow tomorrow and all over the weekend

A little sneak peek:

Disney Dreams by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

natalie1313 · August 18, 2012, 12:38:49 AM

your pictures are stunning!

minnieme · August 18, 2012, 12:45:10 PM

Brilliant report, as ever! I think you should publish all your photos, past and present trips, in a book, so I can buy it and look at it each morning - fab way to start the day. Cant wait for the DREAMS photos....am still forcing the kids to watch our trip dvd so I can relive it.

SwipatronSparks · August 18, 2012, 01:39:02 PM

Quote from: "forza_united"
Quote from: "SwipatronSparks"
Quote from: "forza_united"hehe was this my 'reflections' theme suggestion? XD

loving the trip report cant want to read more and see more amazing photos =]

Ahh, so it was you who suggested that! Always nice to get profile names on here linked to the twitter person You should be on the look out for a couple of more shots in this theme

yep this was me and i will keep an eye out for them =]

DLP-Photos.com · August 18, 2012, 07:43:49 PM

Quote from: "natalie1313"your pictures are stunning!

Thank you very much - and I think it's safe to say that the best is yet to come!

Quote from: "minnieme"Brilliant report, as ever! I think you should publish all your photos, past and present trips, in a book, so I can buy it and look at it each morning - fab way to start the day. Cant wait for the DREAMS photos....am still forcing the kids to watch our trip dvd so I can relive it.

Thank you very much! I think during fall I will make both a book and a calendar with my photos - the book possibly containing my trip report as well.

The Dreams photos will come within an hour or two - they are all edited and I am VERY happy with them. That is not normal for me to be this excited about my own photos!

DLP-Photos.com · August 18, 2012, 09:45:12 PM

Dreams of the Old Days - Day 2 Part 2

Finally I have the photos ready for this update that will not feature as much text as photos - be aware it'll be 105 photos and mainly of Disney Dreams!

We left of as we had been shopping in World of Disney and went into the hotel to pick up my tripod, bceause as you probably know this would be the night that was "cancelled" in order to take photos of Dreams. "Cancelled" in the way that we would be sat in Central Plaza from 8.30 until park closure. But before that we had quite a few plans to take as much advantage of the hours as possible - first off eating before/during the Disney Magic on Parade. We actually wanted to visit Restaurant Hakuna Matata once again, but as on so many previous occasions this restaurant was of course closed off - this is just a little after 6!? We were quite surprised, but when going into Col. Hathi (our replacement) it made more sense, because there wasn't many guests in here either. So if both restaurants were open I suppose it would quite simply be too expensive for them! An idea then could be to switch between the two restaurants during a week instead of only having Col. Hathi open in the evening each night!

Well it's little things and we really enjoyed our pizza and pasta and I my tiramisu for dessert even though I'm not fond of the coffee part! Filled with new energy and the knowledge that we had to be placed in Central Plaza in less than 2 hours we decided to just stay in Adventureland until then instead of running across the park waisting time. And after all there is no land more beautiful as the sun begins to set!

In the Wild by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Lamp Under the Bridge by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Falling Water by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Strolling through Adventure Isle it was once again time for one of these "old days of Disney" kind of moments with another character causing havoc by just walking around - our of programme, out of place, out of control. Who other than Jack Sparrow? I'm sorry Captain Jack Sparrow? One second he was on Pont Suspendu, the next he was in the caves scaring a certain something out of some teenagers before being by the waterfalls taking special care of a disabled guest. Characters are not essential for me in any way, but when they have to be there it is MUCH more entertaining and to me much more Disney when it is like this! It's safe to say that the CM following him around got her share of exercise!! :lol:

Captain Jack Sparrow on the Loose by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Having followed the Captain for a bit, we decided to visit his ancestors who are luckily yet to be 'spoiled' by his presence: yes, it was time for another go in Pirates of the Caribbean. With this scenery around we felt right in the spirit even before entering the queue line:

Bridge Over Caribbean Waters by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Ahoy by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Pink Summer by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Caribbean Sunset by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Unfortunately it wasn't a visit as perfect as those on tuesday, because this time we were not 'attacked' by the swinging pirate who was sadly just hanging still in his rope in between the sails

Wonder if he is just very unstable or they deliberately prevent him from swinging from time to time?

Well, I knew he had many opportunities to get back in the game on the trip, so we looked at the clock and to be honest it was still a bit too early to go to Central Plaza (at least we thought), so instead we did what we always say we don't want to do: we visited the ruins of the far east with Indiana Jones roaming through the ruins of the once so grand Temple of Peril - a fun, yet very rough ride that doesn't seem to get less rough! We will never learn to understand why we need to have those black 'things' in the back!! I guess they are there to make it comfortable, but as it is they do anything but this!! Anywho, we continue to ride it and it is kinda fun, so I guess it's not that bad..

Almost time for Dreams - or time to get ready.. We still had 2.5 hours to show time! lol Quickly visiting one of the stars of the show, the Genie, in Le Passage Enchanté d'Aladdin it was time. Much to my suprise with the time only being 8.35 there was no free spots in first row behind the front flower beds. However, I quickly find the perfect spot to me, when I spotted to cameras on tripods placed (inside) the the flower bed I wanted to stand by... As I came closer it turned out to be just a bit more perfect as it wasn't just another photo enthusiastic guest as myself, but an official photographer from Disney Spectacles. As soon as I came with my tripod he greeted me with a smile and I quickly settled for this spot. When I had set up my tripod he asked me "french or english?" and he then made sure I moved as far forward as possible because "a lot of people come and they do NOT behave - come forward now for a good spot"... We had a quick chat about the flowerbed climbers and knowing that he was aware of people's behavior I got my hopes up for maybe a complete removal of the climbers...

... and yes! Soon after two guest flow CM's came and got everyone out of the flowerbed and afterwards they came over to Marc (the photographer) and joked around with him also commenting on my camera "ahh, you got a competitor tonight, huh?".. Great! And the spanish family in front of me wasn't very tall and they were very understanding of me and my desire to get a clear view of the castle. Of course they wouldn't move and I said that I didn't want them to either - after all they had been there earlier than me and deserved the PERFECT view:

Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

As darkness came closer suddenly a group of 4-5 people came pushing there way to the front and it turned out to be someone Marc knew - presumably his girlfriend and her family.. I found it a bit problematic that he just 'saved' them a spot, but what the heck I still had a great view.. As Fantillusion came closer though, people started to climb the flowerbeds in great numbers again - luckily still only kids, but nonetheless not good for the park, the flowers or me and Marc. The family in front of me was furious as their view was slowly disturbed and I could see that Marc wanted to get a hold of the guest flow CM's, but they were nowhere to be seen. When a grown man suddenly stood up right in front of the castle, Marc didn't hesitate one second - he threw on his DLP jacket and walked in there throwing the man out of the flowerbed immediately. Need I say more than that was the last grown up entering the flowerbeds this evening? :lol: I certainly had found a great 'partner in crime' in Mark, who now kindly (though unnecessarily) informed that Fantillusion was about to start (still nice):

This photos is not a mistake, but intensionally shot to look like this:

Passing By by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Disney's Fantillusion Parade by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Disney's Fantillusion Parade by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

It's really great how they incorporate the castle in Disney's Fantillusion Parade and I will be very sad to see this parade leave by the end of this summer season! Standing here in the "middle of everything" you really experience the immersiveness of this parade - the story, the floats and most of all the amazing soundtrack! One of the best parades every IMO!

Still, it wasn't the main event. My legs were really starting to hurt a bit having stood up in the same place and position for two straight hours in shoes not made for standing. I felt sorry for Kristian having had to just spend his entire evening here, but then again he was fine with it... People started to push their way forward and especially a spanish mother and her daughter had me fearing for my camera. They came all of a sudden with just 10 minutes to go before Dreams and the mother would not accept that her daughter (aged probably 15) couldn't get into the flowerbed!! :? I wouldn't let her in, the family in front of me certainly wouldn't and the daughter accepted this, but the mother kept pushing her - at one time she pushed her into my tripod so it nearly fell over!!! She was getting on my nerves!

On my other side I had a brilliant british family - the boy seemed to be almost afraid of me if he by accident touched the foot of the tripod with his foot. He just stared up at me and received nothing but a smile. I knew I would get some pushes being in second row, so I accepted everything but people more or less deliberately pushing into me!!

Marc nodded his head at me, pointing at his watch with a great smile: "5 minutes - are you ready?". We both did the last settings on our cameras and then all lights went out: (I will recommend clicking some of these photos to see them in bigger resolution)