Anyone Interested in a Quickie - Lots of Pictures Parts I AND II

[freshlybarked 4]

Quickie Weekend Get Away – Part I

What did you think I meant? Here is a short trip report OVER-LOADED with pictures to keep everyone happy. I know we love nothing more than a good trip report and great pictures. So at least you will get great pictures (I didn’t take them so I can say that). So here it goes…. Part I

We decided to make use of our last weekend available on last year’s APs before they expired on 8/24 by doing another weekend get-away at FW. Everyone works hard and life right now is stressful. We probably take more weekend trips to FW than we should, but it makes us happy and we have no heirs to leave our vast wealth to so might as well spend it, right? Here we go. We head out after work on Friday and arrived as we always do – in a torrential rain storm – at about 7:30 p.m. Luckily it was ending by the time we get checked in so we were good for the remainder of the evening. After settling into Site 1715 we headed over to the pool around 9:00 for some end of the week relaxation. Pool was great, not too crowded and we spent some hot tub time also. Made for a good night’s sleep. You need your strength to do a crazy weekend at Disney.

Saturday dawned sunny and hot, well it is August in Florida, and we headed out to AK about 10:00 which is about as early as we ever leave. Rick even mentioned we were getting an early start. (TCD probably got there at rope drop which is why we never seem to run into each other). AK used to be my least favorite park but it has grown on us and now it is one of our must dos. The Kilimanjaro Safari only had a 20 minute wait, but we opted for the FastPass route. That gave us time to go on our trek through Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. Rick got some great pictures of a Silverback Gorilla sitting in a stream, just posing so grandly.

No Meerkats on this stop. Might have been too hot. We finished our walk just in time for our FastPass window to open. We have been on the safari many times and as usual you see some different things each time you go. This time our car was held up by two ostriches who decided to take a slow walk in front of us.

It was like a parade. We got some nice shots of the giraffe and other animals.

Unfortunately, our two week trip was cut short by poachers. That seems to always happen to us. Back at the Harambe station we depart for Rafiki's Planet Watch. We did it once before and were not overly impressed, but we decided to give it another try. Okay, not overly impressed the second time either so I will skip ahead to lunch. We are not people who take pictures of food. Maybe it’s because I’m usually hungry and am halfway through my meal when I think…should have taken a picture. The last two times we have eaten at AK we have picked Tamu Tamu. I love their Turkey and Swiss on Focaccia. We sat in the shade in their little courtyard. It’s usually not overly crowded and mostly shady.

Now we travel to Asia and the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Between AK and Epcot I have seen most of the world. I’m a seasoned traveler thanks to Disney. Anyway, we love the Jungle Trek. Tigers are fascinating to watch and for some reason, maybe the approaching storm, the tigers were putting on a show. This one got right up to the glass and Rick got an up close and personal shot.

I don’t have to tell anyone here that Disney does a great job with details. I love the waterfall shots Rick took.

Now is about the time the afternoon skies opened up and we were trapped in the covered area just before the bird enclosure. Tigers like the rain, birds not so much as none to bee seen flying around as we braved the lighter rain to head out. We were a little disappointed that the parade was cancelled due to lightening since we had never seen it before, but hey we have AP we will catch it some day. On our way out Rick got this great shot.

Time to return to FW to share our day with the dogs. They love hearing about the monkeys and big cats.

Dinner was a campsite affair of steaks and beans and a few adult beverages. Then it was time to figure out what we wanted to do for the night. Pool time? Yes, I’m all for that. Rick not so much. He is not a sitter. So we head over to MK for a few hours. Here are a few shots of FW as we head to the marina.

And here is a picture of our boat as it gets ready to board.

Hope you are not bored yet. Lot's more fun and photos to come. Part II - MK.

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Great report and pictures. Anytime you're ready I'll be waiting for an update :banana:

[Judy in Texas 150]

Great pictures! More!

:dance:

[Fairy Fort Father 6]

You have some fabulous photos there. What kind of camera do you use? Yes even use fairies like to snap a few photos.

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

You have some fabulous photos there. What kind of camera do you use? Yes even use fairies like to snap a few photos.

I think you mean useless :rofl2:

[freshlybarked 4]

Rick has a Nikon D7000 and shoots in RAW, not in the raw.

[scooterminnie...paula 20]

Beautiful pictures!!! :popcorn:

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Great pics! More?

[freshlybarked 4]

Check in tomorrow. More report and more pictures to come. I'm still working on putting pictures together.

[ynottony99 159]

Awesome photos!!!!! Anxious to see more!!!!!

[polkadotsuitcase 12]

Amazing photography -- I'm officially a fan! Can't wait for more...

[stefa70 205]

Absolutely beautiful!! The gorilla is my favorite. I could watch them for hours.

Did Rick "tweak" the picture of the tree of life, or was that really what the sky looked like?

I may never take another picture after seeing these. :worship:

[freshlybarked 4]

The Tree of Life and several others were done in HDR (high dynamic range) while shooting in a RAW format. It is super high quality. 3 shots of the same picture are combined and you can then get the best color saturation. The sky looked a lot like that, but you can intensify colors.

[fladogfan aka Gretchen 259]

I'll add my WOW to the compliments. Loved the up close and personal of the tiger. I love to go to AK in the winter when we get cold spells, the tigers seem to love the weather and are up and about. As you saw, they like rainy weather too. The sunset pics of the tree and from the dock are wonderful, what a talent--can't be JUST the camera. Thanks!

[ImDownWithDisney 342]

Great report. I am not a fan of HDR, but these are unique.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Another Wow!

I love all of the photos. Each one is a work of art. I especially like the Pioneer Hall and Marina shots from the Fort. Just gorgeous!

TCD

[johnnyb aka John 15]

Great report so far, I love the animal pics!! I can't wait to get to the "world" this Christmas, I can wait to take lots of pics. Can't wait for the rest.

Great report. I am not a fan of HDR, but these are unique.

I agree, HDR is often "overcooked" but these are really cool. Of course the subject matter may have something to do with it LOL,

[freshlybarked 4]

HDR is not everyone's cup of tea. They do look more like paintings than pictures, but some things just lend themselves to a little fun play. I'll finish my report out later today with a mix of pictures. Have a couple nice HDRs and some regular. Stay tuned.

[Roller ... aka Ed 351]

I've just started playing with HDR. I prefer the minimalist tweaking you can get. The occasional one that boosts color is ok, but one that just fills in detail while keeping the original feel is what I'm leaning toward.

[freshlybarked 4]

Different pictures lend themselves to different looks. Rick just has fun playing with them. When shooting pictures of dogs at sporting events there is only so much you need to do, maybe sharpen or work on some shadows, but that's about it. This is the other side for him. Something he can get creative with. There are so many things you can do with photos and he is just starting out on the creative side himself. Pictures have come a long way from the film days.

[freshlybarked 4]

Part II of our Quickie Weekend Get-Away.

We arrived at MK about 8:30 Saturday night. Neither DH nor I noticed anything unusual going into the park. I’m usually so focused on getting my MK fix I’m oblivious outside of the entrance. Anyway, parade time was close at hand and since the last two times we were here we did the late parade from the train station balcony

I wasn’t that interested in fighting the crowds for the only parade of the night so we headed off towards Adventure Land and a Dole Whip. I now have DH, Rick, requesting them. Earlier in the day he mentioned that he wanted one so that was our first stop. We had dinner and a desert with dinner, but a Dole Whip is something magical so I don’t think it counts as an additional desert. A short line and a nice place to sit and we are enjoying our anticipated treat. Right across from us is the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. Haven’t walked it much in the last year or so mainly because I have RA and walking up steps is sometimes a little difficult for me, but we had never done it at night and there was no one in line so we finished the Dole Whip and took the climb. It’s interesting at night and at the top we had this view.

It was fun seeing things from a night perspective, especially since there were no lines and you didn’t feel rushed. I did pay for that climb the rest of the trip, but that is life.

Our next stop was the newly retro(vated) Tiki Room. Rick had found memories of the old one, although I don’t remember it, and neither one of us like the 2nd Generation one. Look, no line. Ooops it closed at 9:00 and it is 9:10. Crap.

Next up was one of our favorite rides, POC. Rick asked me as the boat was leaving and we were saying….”Dead men tell no tales.” How many times have we ridden this ride? I smiled as I think it was what they call a rhetorical question. I mean we have APs, we are at Disney 6 to 7 times a year, we have been coming on a regular basis for 5 years, we hit MK about 2 times a trip. You do the math.

Next stop is our other must do ride, the Haunted Mansion. Same question applies to that one as we step into the “dead” center of the room. I do like doing that ride at night as it seems a little creepy at night. While some of these pictures were taken last month there is a good shot of the new exhibit.

While we are in line to get in the fireworks are going off. Nice, another crowd we missed. By the time we are done people are moving out at a good pace, so we decide to head out. We will be back tomorrow at some point for a couple hours.

Just outside the entrance Rick says, “S—t, look at that line. The monorails are down.” Yep, they were and stretched before us was a sea of people trying to leave at the same time and get home without one of the major modes of transportation. What a mess. We keep working our way to the right hand side of the mass of humanity to squeeze by to get on our resort shuttle. (Another ++++ for staying at FW). Anyway, we made it through in a few minutes only to find that because of the monorail being down, the other modes of transportation were filling in. Looking back towards the entrance all I could think of was I’m so glad we didn’t drive. We waited about 30 minutes before our crowds thinned out enough that a big boat could take 60 from the WL line and 60 from the FW line. We were in that 60. Yeah!!! Found out that the storm earlier in the day produced a lightning strike that took out a junction box or something like that. Took us about an hour to get back to our campsite, but I’m sure people were still waiting in line to get on a bus or the big boat to the TTC.

Bored yet?

Sunday morning is here. I’m very wasteful when it comes to money at FW. On the day we are to leave I actually book that whole day so I pay for an extra night we won’t use just to stay past check out time. We get up late, relax for a while around the campsite and then head over to AK Lodge. We had only been there once before and really enjoyed the sites. Got some nice pictures inside and out.

And had a nice lunch at their quick service restaurant. We left there kind of late and went back to the RV to let the girls out. It’s now about 1:30 and we decide to head over to MK again for some more fun and more importantly we need to drop some more cash on the cash strapped WDW and renew our APs which expired on the following day. We had talked about 1) not doing them this year; apparently not an option; 2) just doing the seasonal AP, but then we have blackout dates during that hellishly hot and steamy period of the year and we would have to pay parking when we just go for the day; and 3) just sucking it up and renewing again. We went with 3 and opted for the payment plan. That financial transaction out of the way we are out on Main Street. Now who, I ask you, in their right minds goes to a theme park in the middle of the day in August? Besides desperate tourists from out of state that are not staying on property for afternoon pool time. We were that crazy apparently. While I was busy getting the APs, Rick who loves the train was busy getting this shot.

Time to hit some shops. This was taken in a little glass blowing shop off Main Street.

Sometimes you just need to do all the shops (air conditioning is a great thing) for a change of pace from the rides. Since we have been at Disney so many times we look for hidden out of the way places that catch our eye.

Our main goal was to go to the Tiki Tiki Tiki Room today since we missed it last night. Crap, a line and a long one at that. In the blazing SUN which I think may have gone super nova at some point although you think they would have talked about it on the news and all I heard about that morning was Ilene. Anyway, after what seemed like 2 hours in line, but was actually about 2 minutes we decided we were coming back in October and that would be a much better time to revisit this classic. So onward we went.

Now it is time for the Celebrate Parade so we try our best to skirt around this and stay in the shade. We get a few good pictures, including this one of the Haunted Mansion

and by this time we decide we are delirious from the blazing sun and heat and must find a refreshing beverage and shade to drink it in. Luckily we are in Liberty Square and find the Liberty Swirl Slushy to be just the ticket. I’ll add that next to my Dole Whip on my list of must haves. By now it is going on 4:00 and we are hot and my DH says, “he is hot, getting tired and cranky.” Oh no, not the trifecta of hot, tired and cranky. On our way out Rick shoots these two pictures of what MK is all about

So we had back to FW for an early dinner of Nachos at Crocket’s Tavern. By the time we were done with dinner and ready to leave it was 6:45. We arrived home at 8:15 and that finished our Quickie weekend trip. Thank you all for participating in our weekend fun. We are going back October 9 – 14 and hope to see more of you there.

[stefa70 205]

Wow that was literally like reading a storybook, complete with illustrations. Beautiful!

[SCTigerCock 171]

Absolutely LOVE the pics! :heart:

And TR! :banana:

[freshlybarked 4]

Thanks. I don't do these very often so I never know if I'm hitting the mark or not.

[Judy in Texas 150]

I don't remember seeing the the glass blowing shop on Main Street. I'll have to look specifically for it next trip.

Nice.