World Showcase, Epcot, Walt Disney World
Holiday Earth
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/320s, 19mm, f/11, ISO 200
Holiday Earth
Category Archives: Walt Disney World
Grand Floridian
Seven Seas Lagoon, Walt Disney World
On my Magic Kingdom day I headed over to the Wilderness Lodge to join a meet-up for a photo walk of the holiday decorations at the Magic Kingdom Resorts. When you are already at the Magic Kingdom, your quickest option for getting to the Wilderness Lodge is one of the boats sailing the Seven Seas Lagoon. I always love the views you get from being on the water, especially when the sun and sky combine to create some drama.
Grand Floridian
Olympus E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/500s, 21mm, f/11, ISO 200
Epcot Setting
World Showcase, Epcot, Walt Disney World
Although it might not be the ideal scene, you have to stop and capture the colors. Walking around World Showcase when the sky lit up at sunset. No time to reposition yourself, you grab the view you have.
Epcot Setting
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/5s, 27mm, f/11, ISO 400
Standing Tall
Yacht Club, Crescent Lake, Walt Disney World
Standing Tall
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 5s, 32mm, f/9, ISO 200
Sun Spotting
Monorail Monday
Future World, Epcot
This is still a favorite pastime in between rides and shows while I am in Epcot. I do collection a fair amount of interesting looks as I wait, camera pointed at nothing in particular for the next monorail. I’m not sure where I read it (probably on instagram) but I have tried to live up to it when I could… “If you are going to have the monorail beam in the picture, there better be a monorail on it…”
Sun Spotting
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/800s, 12mm, f/11, ISO 400
Christmas Resorts
Magic Kingdom Resorts, Walt Disney World
On my second day at Walt Disney World I joined a photo walk by Scott Thomas from the Picture This! blog at AllEars.net. Scott and I have known each other for a few years and live about 50 miles apart but usually only see each other when we are at Disney. I had been planning on touring the resorts around the Magic Kingdom but by committing to joining this photo walk I knew I would actually accomplish my goal. Otherwise, there was a good chance I would not!
We started our tour at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge. This resort is themed on the turn-of-the-century National Park lodges and does not disappoint. We spent quite a bit of time exploring the Christmas try in the lobby and not only capturing the grand view of this massive tree but looked for smaller details to photograph. I found a great view up on the third/fourth floor balcony which allowed me to highlight the wonderful lights suspended from the ceiling.
Christmas Wilderness
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/8s, 12mm, f/5.6, ISO 400
Christmas Details I
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 0.4s, 17mm, f/5.6, ISO 200
Our tour continued as we sailed our way to the Contemporary Resort. My hopes for an epic view of this classic Disney resort from the entrance with its massive Christmas tree were dashed as the rain started to fall as soon as our boat docked. We worked our way up to the fourth floor of the hotel to photograph the gingerbread display. I was not happy with any of the images I captured and truth be told was a little disappointed in the display. It was not as epic as I had hoped.
Our last stop would be the Grand Floridian Resort and my excitement was growing as we boarded the monorail for a ride to Victorian era resort. I had been to the Grand Floridian at Christmas time in the past and I had a good idea what to expect. The lobby and its Christmas display lived up to the name of the resort, it was grand! I took my time and capture not only the sweeping view of the lobby with the gingerbread house and large Christmas tree, but I searched out some details and was sure to capture the huge gingerbread house from numerous angles.
Christmas Details II
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/6s, 36mm, f/5.6, ISO 800
Grand Gingerbread I
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/20s, 12mm, f/4, ISO 800
Grand Gingerbread II
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/6s, 12mm, f/5.6, ISO 800
Grand Gingerbread III
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/4s, 12mm, f/5.6, ISO 800
Grand Christmas
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/10s, 12mm, f/5.6, ISO 800
Boardwalk Friendship
Boardwalk, Crescent Lake, Walt Disney World
This is the image that got me questioned by Disney Security. It was my last morning at Disney. As usual I woke early to capture the sunrise around Crescent Lake. The sky had some potential, and considering my good luck the day before with the Lighthouse, I decided to setup over on the Boardwalk. I was a little early for sunrise but you have to see how the colors change from dawn until the sun breaks the horizon. There is always a chance the pre-sunrise images will be better.
I picked a spot on the Boardwalk next to some of the carnival games and aligned my camera toward the Friendship boat launch and the eventual sunrise. I had about twenty minutes to wait and the clouds were holding in an interesting pattern. I didn’t think too much about the two Disney security guards walking toward me along the boardwalk until they started talking to me.
They asked if I was a guest, and then what my room number was and eventually asked if I had a Magic Band (the key to everything at Disney). I explained that I was waiting for the sunrise and they explained that I was making the transportation people nervous because of how I was standing partially concealed. Once they determined I was truly only photographing the scene everything was good. I apologized for any issues I caused and they assured me I had nothing to apologize for, but they had been called to look into what I was doing. I showed them a few of my images from the previous days and we chatted about digital cameras. Everything turned out alright.
I wasn’t upset by the encounter. I could see their point of view. We all handled it rather calmly and I made a mental note to not setup my camera in areas that could make me look suspicious… LOL
Boardwalk Friendship
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, {0.5, 1, 1.3s bracket}, 12mm, f/11, ISO 200
