My next post-Pixelmania trip: Jan 20-24, 2011!

zackiedawg

zackiedawg

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I figured out the timing and the booking of my next Disney trip after Pixelmania - this one will be the annual family trip that we've been taking the past 4 years or so, having moved our family trip from Memorial Day weekend to January, for the better weather and lower crowds. ; I managed to get our home resort - Boardwalk - with a preferred view/Boardwalk view waiting list (yeah, right!), checking in on January 20th (Thu) and checking out January 24 (Mon) - one-bedroom villa.

Though part of the time up there will be with family - my mother and a friend will be coming, and my aunt and two cousins who live up there will be meeting up with us, along with another aunt and her 3 kids who will be visiting from NJ - I will likely as not still 'carve out' some personal/photography time where I can split from the group and get some roaming hours in doing my own thing. ; So if anyone else is up there, and wants to do some informal meetups or shoots, I'm willing as always. ; I'll keep this thread updated and bumped as we get past Pixelmania and get closer...just thought I'd throw it out there now because it's always exciting when you've got another Disney trip planned!
 
Hey, Justin, I'll be at WDW on the 22nd before leaving on the 23rd. ; I guess I better post my full trip dates, eh?
 
It sounds like pretty quick planning...but when you're in DVC, that's considered pretty short notice! ; We're just a few months away - a lot of DVCers book 11 months out. ; I was very happy to get my first choice of resort on that short of notice actually, though I would have preferred to save some points and go with Standard view rather than preferred. ; But no big deal as it's only a few extra points for the 'preferred' which mostly means looking at a pool.
 
Scott - do post more info on the dates, and if you think you'll have any free time that you'd be interested in an informal meet - anything from grabbing lunch to picking a park and shooting for a few hours. ; Same with Jeff - if you'll be available day or night and want to pop by...doesn't have to be park or shooting - could just be at a resort, hit a restaurant or bar, chat a while, whatever!
 
Coming soon...counting down - just a few more days and I'm off for Disney again!

I've been very busy the past week and weekend, just getting caught up for work and errands/duties around home. ; Now that I'm in the countdown stretch to Thursday, I only have 2 more days of work to worry about, and some laundry before packing Wed night.

Looking forward to getting back up to Boardwalk...I'll keep an eye on TMIP while up there too in case any TMIPers are still on for a quick meetup or shoot on Saturday (or any other day I'm up there).
 
I'll be driving to Disney in about 24 hours...

One more day. ; Should be waking up, throwing my luggage in the car, and setting off around this time tomorrow. ; Looking forward to getting back up to Disney and Boardwalk. ; Sounds like it may be quieter - crowds haven't been terrible. ; Weather could be a little cooler for my taste, but certainly tolerable. ; No schedules this trip, no times I must be somewhere or places I must be...should be a lovely photography trip.
 
Nice up here today - one rainy day so far...

Been up here since Thursday - not much action on this thread here, so I presume noone's all too interested in hearing about Disney if they can't be there themselves! ;) ; Was hoping to maybe bump into some TMIPers here, but plans seem to have fallen away and noone's responded - no biggie, as I'm pretty much doing the same thing I'd be doing anyway.

Thursday was still kid of hot - a little muggy at night - just hit Downtown Disney for the night after checking in in the afternoon. ; Friday started off as a rainy, drizzly day...grey and still warmish in the morning, though without the rain. ; Went to MK for the day, and the light drizzle came on and off through about 2pm, then opened up to a full-on downpour for about 1 1/2 hours. ; Weather started getting cooler - I hid out when the rain started on the covered dock porch where the canoes used to launch from by Big Thunder - had a comfy rocking chair, and just relaxed for a bit staying dry. ; When the rains stopped, walked around the rest of MK, and pulled out around 5:30pm. ; Went back to Boardwalk, changed, down to ESPN for a cheap dinner and a hockey game, then around 8:30, went into Epcot for EMH - rain had stopped and temps dropped to the low 50s - beautiful weather for night photography. ; The photos will have a slightly different look due to the very low fog/cloud layer that was keeping skies pure white/grey, with the orange lights of Disney bouncing off them. ; I actually liked the effect just for something different!

Today, high is staying in the upper 50s, and today's an Epcot day all day. ; Headed over around 11:30 - noon. ; Just having coffee and checking e-mail first. ; Will stay just past sunset - dinner will likely be Italian tonight - either Via Napoli or Il Mulino. ; Then afterwards, going to head over to Fantasia Gardens for some minigolf. ; Tonight's supposed to drop to the 30s...which I can't say I mind!

Tomorrow will be sunny and mid-60s, and will be my AK day, wrapping up with Jiko for dinner that night. ; Maybe minigolf again - depends what the family wants.

BTW - parks are extremely light - MK might have been hard to judge because of the rainy day, but Main Street was more open space than people, POTC and HM were walk-ons (I mean truly...no line at all, boat/doom buggy waiting empty at the end - hop right on). ; Epcot at night for EMH was quiet - World Showcase was empty, Future World was a 10 minute for Soarin and 5 minute for Test Track! ; Hoping it stays that way for the next two days too.

So that's my Disney update. ; I'll check in tomorrow morning as well just in case any locals are around and want to meet at AK tomorrow...if not, I'll get home Monday and hopefully get through all my pics before the weekend. ; Hope everyone's having at least half as good a time back home as I am here! ; :)
 
No problem - any meetups would have been on the side - I had no plans, so no plans could be ruined!

Just got back home this afternoon - stayed fairly cool for Sunday, but warmed up enough that only light sweaters were the norm, rather than the big jackets - high around 63. ; Perfectly clear and sunny. ; Downside was: Sunday was the first day that was genuinely CROWDED. ; Like I haven't seen it in years, actually. ; Took me completely by surprise considering how sparse the parks were the other 3 days, and AK is usually not the most crowded one anyway. ; But for some reason, Sunday really picked up and AK was the place to be - and Spanish & Portuguese were the dominant languages of choice. ; It felt as if all of South America was there. ; Would have been a good time to go to Brazil, as it was apparently empty.

To give an idea of the crowd, this was the first time since Animal Kingdom's opening month that I've ever seen Kilimanjaro Safari open up the full line - the part that weaves through the forest past the ranger hut and adds several hundred feet to the standby line - which was running over 1 hour. ; 4-6 times a year every year since the park opened, and I haven't seen that overflow line area used. ; I didn't bother to have lunch there as the lunch spots were packed - we were having Jiko that night anyway, so I just went without.

All in all, lovely weather except for one rainy day at MK, gorgeous skies and nice photo ops, and mostly empty parks except the last day at AK. ; Now, the next few days I have to go through my photos!
 
That experience is what I saw back in 1995, same time frame. ; Very busy from South America...except only three parks to fill.
 
The funny thing was that it only really affected Ak, and only that one day. ; I had seen large tour groups at Epcot & MK, but the parks were not crowded at all...just AK.

In fact, I was at Epcot 2 consecutive nights at 9pm, and both times Illuminations ran, there were spaces along the lake with noone there, and where there were people, they were only 1 deep...visibility of the show was wide open from almost anywhere (though I wasn't planning to shoot Illuminations, I was there one night with tripod and just walking by when it started - I was around France - and I decided since there was such good visibility to just set up and try a few shots - but I ended up setting up exactly where the smoke was headed, so no shots!).
 
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