F4 - Disney (Day 2)...the first part...and this takes us up to BREAKFAST.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

First off, just a reminder that the Tuesday Blog Party Giveaway is STILL open and going strong until May 12th. Over $2,000 has been raised at this point. Help us reach the goal of $3,000. Check out Who Says 8 is Enough Gives Back to visit the link list of all the generous giveaways going on.

Back to our vacation...and at the rate I'm going I may be able to write about them for "Way Back Wednesday's". On Wednesday, April 15th we headed out for Day 2 of our vacation (which was really more like the first day since the our actual first day turned out to just be this.) We got to the Disney Transportation by 8:15am ish on our way to the Grand Floridian for a 9:00am Photo Session and 9:45am breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. For the first time, we were one of "those" families; you know, the kind where everyone in the family matches...but I swear..it was slightly embarrasing and it was ONLY to get our pictures done. We took the bus to the Magic Kingdom and then hopped on the monorail to the hotel. Timmy looked so handsome that I had to take my camera out to shoot a picture. His fat little legs made their debut to the public and were quite the coversation starter. Noone could resist talking to him and commenting on his chunker thighs.

We finally got to the Photopass desk at the Grand Floridian at about 9:02. Let me give you some background. My sister had done a family photo session done here on her trip back in December 2007. If you had already purchased a photopass CD (or were planning to), you could book a 30 minute session at a variety of the Disney Deluxe resorts where the photographer is 1 on 1 with your family for only $25. A great deal, right? I thought so. So, since we haven't had any family portraits taken I thought this would be a fun opportunity. My sister's family had pictures taken on the beach there and they looked awesome. Here's what I didn't count on:

1) It is now SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive to do these photo sessions. There are different price points, but if you want the pictures on a CD like the photopass, the DISCOUNTED price since you already bought a photopass CD, is $70. (Oh and now they throw in a choice of 3 combo print packages to lessen the blow-but who needs prints that you have to travel home with when you have a CD?)
2) The early morning sun was SO bright on the beach..Katie and I had a horrible time keeping our eyes open. I wanted pics there, but the entire time he was like -where do you want your pictures? Hello...you work here - you're supposed to suggest the good spots.
3) The photographer didn't try to engage the kids to look at him at all. Katie was just being a brat cause the sun was bothering her, but I kept saying..his name is Timmy can you please just call his name...nope. Then he cut the whole thing a little after 9:20 cause he had to get back upstairs and get our prints uploaded before 9:30.

We did get a couple decent pics and one good one...but still...for the money we paid and the effort we put into getting there - not worth it at all. I would have rather done something local where the photographer would have at least been accountable.

Here are a few of the better ones (each with their own imperfections):

Timmy, look over here Timmy...oh yeah, that's right, that was just me in my head trying to telepathically get the photographer to try.

Perhaps he was afraid to directly engage with the kids since Katie looked a bit like the devil. Seriously, counting to 3 before taking a pic does NOT really work with small children.

I like this one of me. Of course the kids aren't looking. However we did get ONE with Timmy looking and ONE with Katie looking...sooooo.....cut and paste, cut and paste and here's me doing the photographer's job below:

See, you didn't even notice that Chris had two left elbows or two left knees, did you?

Chris opted out of this one, because he was afraid he'd break the hammock.

But look, cut me out of a picture that I looked AWFUL in and you have a matching sweet pic of Chris and the kids.

We got a few of this shot...Katie's eyes closed.....

Katie with her hand on her nose (and on a sidenote, I mentioned in an earlier post that she had her hand in her nose in many pics...I should clarify...she somehow got a cut right underneath her nostril and then like a dog, couldn't leave it alone the entire week (and still).

and finally, drumroll, ONE good picture from the entire shoot:

Whoo, done with these pics...a Friday Foto Finish Fiesta if I ever saw one. This one was for you. Carrie :) Carrie gets lots of bloggers together on Friday's to show off their Phavorite Fotos. You should check them out...I promise you'll find many that aren't quite as wordy as mine.

So, this brought us to about 9:45am on Day 2. Chris went downstairs to check in for breakfast while I wrapped everything up with the pictures and unknowingly left my camera on the desk. I finally met up with Chris, nursed Tim and then noticed that my camera was GONE. I knew I had taken that picture on the monorail. Damn. I asked around and wound up buying a disposable camera for our breakfast with plans to go to the transportation center lost and found after breakfast and on our way to Epcot.

I still haven't developed those pictures, but we had a great time! We saw Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, The Mad Hatter, Winnie the Pooh, and Tigger, too. I had gotten Katie to watch Mary Poppins about a month before the trip to get her excited and since it quickly turned into one of her favorite movies she was thrilled to see her. In having this breakfast, we also grew out of the Crystal Palace breakfast (that has all the Pooh characters) we attended on our last 2 trips. I was really excited that both Pooh AND Tigger were here, too. For the first time, Katie went up to the buffet lines with us and got to pick her food and let me tell you...it triggered an eating disorder waiting to happen. At this meal and for the rest of the week she PILED her plate up and wasted NOTHING. I honestly don't know how she fit it all in. Whenever we were at a restaurant that was a normal menu place she had a tantrum because she couldn't "pick" her food and got fond of telling me at meals that she wanted to "fill up her belly SOOO much". Lovely!

I'll be back with the rest of the day in Epcot....

7 comments:

cat May 8, 2009 at 2:16 PM  

Oh I think the pictures are great.

Mummy McTavish May 9, 2009 at 6:54 AM  

Some professional photographers just shouldnt get into jobs where they have to work with kids.

I can't wait to see the photos of your breakfast though!

Anonymous,  May 9, 2009 at 11:20 AM  

lol, i love the pics. to me they are vacation photos if they arent showing the true spirit of the family...btw have you ever seen the pic of my family when we went to disney? its quite possibly the greatest family photo of all time. i'll try to remember to bring it for timmy's christaining.
candi

Anonymous,  May 9, 2009 at 11:20 AM  

i meant they "arent" vacation photos...

Hit 40 May 10, 2009 at 9:33 AM  

Disney and a rude photographer?? Call the mouse!!!

Unknown May 10, 2009 at 11:24 AM  

LOL - he wasn't rude...he just didn't try hard enough to my standards...which are very high :)

Sugar Boogers & Tantrums May 11, 2009 at 6:08 AM  

Sweet sweet pictures. Happy Mother's Day!!

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