These are a Few of My Favorite Things...at Disneyland!

Next week I will be joining my fellow Glass Slipper Concierges at Disneyland Resort for our annual Agent Education Program! Our agenda is packed full of great training sessions and resort tours with some free time to enjoy the parks. In honor of our upcoming AEP I am going to share with you my five favorite things about Disneyland Resort. 

1. The More Manageable Size

Disneyland Resort is 160 acres in size. That includes three hotels, 2 parks and Downtown Disney. For comparisons sake, Walt Disney World is 40 square miles, or about 27,000 acres, roughly the size of San Francisco! Everything at Walt Disney World is very spread out. Getting around requires using some form of transportation - bus, boat, monorail, car, etc. That is not the case at Disneyland. The turnstiles to Disneyland Park and California Adventure Park are maybe 100 yards away from each other. This makes park hopping so incredibly easy. Here is a photo from Disney's website that is meant to show where will call is located but it does a great job at also showing how close both parks as well as Downtown Disney are. Also note it is an old image, and the entrance to California Adventure no longer has the word California or the Golden Gate Bridge (which does make me sad). 

I often go back and forth between both parks a couple times in a day. The Disney hotels are all easily walking distance to both parks as well. Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier are a 10 minute walk through Downtown Disney or just a couple minute walk to the monorail. The Grand Californian Resort & Spa is the closest Disney hotel to ANY Disney park. It even has it's very own entrance into California Adventure. You will also notice a difference in size between Disneyland Park and the Magic Kingdom in Florida. Everything is closer together and getting from Frontierland to Tomorrowland is so much quicker and easier. Because of it's smaller size, Disneyland Resort is a great weekend destination! 

2. Cars Land

If you haven't seen Cars Land yet you are truly missing out. It is Disney magic at it's best. You truly feel like you stepped into Radiator Springs. It's so much fun to be in Cars Land right as the sun sets and all the neon lights come on. Really makes for some great photos. I love seeing Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen driving down the road to meet the guests. So much fun! Not to mention how much fun Radiator Springs Racers is, of course. Simply walking around, checking out all the details, is a great evening in my book! 

3. Space Mountain

iPhone photo

I have probably said it before but Space Mountain is leaps and bounds better at Disneyland than at Disney World - for so many reasons. It feels faster, you sit side by side in the vehicle making it much more comfortable, there are speakers in the head rest (similar to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at Disney's Hollywood Studios), did I mention it is more comfortable?? It is the ride I want to do over and over again when at Disneyland!! Another thing I prefer about Disneyland's version is when they take the ride photo. It is done right at the very end when you are excited and having fun. I always find the location of the Disney World version to be quite silly. We always look bored because it is taken before the ride has really begun. Of course it's partially sentimental for me as I have some great memories being in a very empty park with my dad and riding Space Mountain at Disneyland over and over again without having to get back in line. 

4. New Orleans Square

New Orleans Square is my favorite themed area of any Disney park. It's so beautiful. It's no wonder why Walt was designing an apartment of his very own right in New Orleans Square (where the Royal Suite is now located). I love how Disneyland incorporates both Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion into this land. Then there is my favorite restaurant when it comes to atmosphere -Blue Bayou. You just can't beat listening the the crickets and watching the Pirates of the Caribbean boats go by. 

5. Disneyland Hotel

From www.disneyland.com

Though the Grand Californian Resort & Spa is steps away from the parks and, as the name implies, is more grand I still favor the Disneyland Hotel. The first hotel to bare the name Disney, it was beautifully renovated in 2011. The standard rooms are larger than at the Grand Californian and, of course, you can't miss the magical headboard!

All the Disney details makes my Disney geek heart so happy. It has a pretty awesome pool with very cool monorail slides. Oh, and two very very large hot tubs! Of course I can't forget about Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar. Seriously this place alone deserves to be one of my favorites but as I was narrowing this down to 5 I am including it with the hotel. Trader Sam's is not to be missed! I can't wait to get Mai Tais with my fellow GSC peeps! Is it next week yet? 

From www.disneyland.com

Day 10: Don't Forget You {10 Days of Disney Vacation Photography Tips}

It's the last day of 10 Days of Disney Vacation Photography Tips. Today's tip is one I personally struggle with during every vacation - don't forget to be in the photos. You want to look back on the photos and remember that you were there too :) There are a few ways to do this. One is the ever popular selfie. I personally love to mix in a few. There is something fun about trying to get everyone in the frame and that alone will produce some natural smiles. The above photo was taken during our muster drill on the Fantasy. We all look extremely happy for a good reason! Here's another personal favorite. Totally didn't know Amanda was photobombing our selfie but love that my camera focused on her! 

Another way to be in the photo is to use a mirror, or in this case a very reflective window! 

Sometimes you just have to let go of the camera and have someone take the photo for you. Even PhotoPass photographers will use your camera or phone to take a photo so don't be afraid to ask! If you are a more advanced photographer and are using manual settings be sure and have your camera set up and ready to go when you hand it off to someone. 

Finally, don't forget about PhotoPass photographers. As the person who is always behind the camera I am a huge supporter of PhotoPass. My husband finds me annoying for wanting to stop at so many PhotoPass photographers but we have so few photos of the two of us and I want a lot of options! 

Here are some of my favorite PhotoPass photos. 

 

That ends my 10 Days of Disney Vacation Photography Tips! I hope you had fun and some of these tips will be helpful for you on your next Disney vacation. If you missed the rest of the series follow the links below. 

Day 1: Perspective

Day 2: Rule of Thirds

Day 3: Details

Day 4: Use Your Background

Day 5: Characters

Day 6: Light

Day 7: Night Photos

Day 8: Ride Photos

Day 9: Tell a Story

Day 9: Tell a Story {10 Days of Disney Vacation Photography Tips}

Today's post is fairly simple - tell a story with your photos. This goes hand in hand with photographing the details. Take photos of that delicious Disney snack or the Space Mountain sign before you ride. 

Taking a photo of your hotel room. If you want to really tell a story take a photo before any of your stuff is unpacked and then take a photo once all of your things have exploded all over the room. I know I'm not the only one ;) 

 If you happen to be serenaded by the Mayor of Main Street, take a photo!! 

When you give your kid a lollipop and he eats half of it in 5 minutes definitely take a photo of that. I mean, that's impressive! 

Capturing both your dessert and the Irish dancers tells the story of your lunch at Raglan Road perfectly! 

If your friend is stung by a bee (for the first time ever!) and you have to go to First Aid most definitely take a picture. 

I feel like most of my trips have at least one set of photos of all of us trying on some funny Disney hat. 

When taking a photo of the view from your hotel room, get your husband in it. This adds a story element to the picture. 

If you are at EPCOT during the Flower and Garden Festival, take a photo of one of the signs. See how I'm using my background AND following the rules of thirds? It all ties together!

A combo of a photo of your kid driving and the track of Autopia creates a story. He's doing a great job of not bumping into the car in front of him! 

As a Disney foodie I take a ton of photos of food. Seriously, a ton. My travel buddies know that once we get our food no one can touch their food until I take a photo. Taking photos of food is part of the story for us as eating at Disney is one of our favorite parts of the trip. 

A photo of your last menu on your Disney cruise is a great way to end your vacation story. 

It's pretty easy to tie everything together and it's so nice to have your photos to look back on after you get home. It can make it easier to remember some of the details of your vacation :) 

Tomorrow is our last day! I will be talking about something I have a very hard time doing - making sure you as the photographer are in the photos. If you missed the rest of the series follow the links below. 

Day 1: Perspective

Day 2: Rule of Thirds

Day 3: Details

Day 4: Use Your Background

Day 5: Characters

Day 6: Light

Day 7: Night Photos

Day 8: Ride Photos

Day 8: Ride Photos {10 Days of Disney Vacation Photography Tips}

In today's 10 Days of Disney Vacation Photography Tips let's talk about ride photos. Specifically, dark ride photos. I have one very big tip here. Get a pen and some paper. This is very important. Are you ready? Do. Not. Use. Flash. You know when you are getting on the ride and they tell you no flash photography? Listen to them. They say that for a number of reasons but if there is one reason to listen it is to be kind to your fellow riders. Those flashes in a dark ride are so annoying. We once had a couple in front of us on the Pirates of the Caribbean taking selfies every 20 seconds. I was seeing spots for an hour after the ride. Another reason to not use flash - it doesn't help your photos! It washes out the photo and the result won't look like the actual ride. 

Remember yesterday's tip about night photography? So much of that applies to dark ride photos. Up your ISO and lower your aperture. To be honest, if your camera can't do those things and you need to use flash to take a photo in the dark just sit back and relax and enjoy the ride. Your photos won't come out the way you want them to anyway. 

One thing I like to do is capture the cars and people on the ride. Like this photo of Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. It captures what the ride is about a little more than just taking a photo of what you are shooting with your laser. The photo below shows Roz picking on the cab passengers as they ride by. She always picks on me for taking a photo of her!

 All of these tips also apply to shows like Festival of the Lion King. 

That's it for today. Moral of the story - turn of your flash!! Tomorrow I will be talking about how to tell a story with your vacation photos. To catch up on the series follow the links below. 

Day 1: Perspective

Day 2: Rule of Thirds

Day 3: Details

Day 4: Use Your Background

Day 5: Characters

Day 6: Light

Day 7: Night Photos

Day 7: Night Photos {10 Days of Disney Vacation Photography Tips}

There is nothing better than a Disney park at night! Taking photos of the park at night can be tricky though. Often it requires a tripod or a camera and lens that can handle low light photography. A tripod works for any camera you have. Amazon has some great lightweight tripods if you ever want to go that route. Let's be practical though - you probably don't want to bring a tripod around with you all day at the park. So let's talk about what kind of lens you should look for if you have a DSLR. This is me going off on a bit of a tangent but buying the right lens makes such a huge difference with all photography. I am a Canon gal so these will be canon lenses, but there are Nikon equivalents. 

My favorite lens is always a 50mm. Canon has a very affordable starter option - 50mm 1.8. It is $125 on Amazon and will do amazing with low light. It is great for portraits and details creating a great bokeh (you know, that beautiful blurry background). 

If you are using an entry level DSLR like the Canon rebel with a crop sensor you might find the 50mm to be too tight of a crop for a lot of indoor situations. Another great option is the Tamron 28 - 75mm 2.8. Since this one has a range of focal lengths offering great flexibility for taking around the parks all day. It is a little more expensive than the 50mm but again, much more flexible. 

Ok, now that we have talked about lenses let's talk about using them to take photos at night. There are two things you need to do to take photos in low light (this will apply to tomorrow's post too when I talk about taking photos on rides!). One is raise your ISO. On a rebel I wouldn't go past 800 ISO if at all possible as the higher your ISO, the more grain you will get in your photo. Second you want to lower your aperture. I always recommend shooting in Aperture Priority mode if you have a DSLR. To learn a little bit about aperture and shooting in aperture priority mode (so this post doesn't become a novel) here is a WikiHow post.  Aperture priority mode is great because you choose the aperture and the camera will choose the shutter speed that will properly expose your image. A simple way to remember it is you want your aperture (or f stop) number to be low when working with low light. You do have to be careful as it will lower your depth of field as well so be careful when focusing. 

Let's get to some photos! 

Fireworks photos are almost always better with a tripod but I have gotten some pretty great results without one. Here are some more of my favorite night shots. 

At night there are some pretty great reflections going on in the waterways around the parks. Very fun to photograph! 

That's it for today. Tomorrow I will continue with low light photography and talk about taking ride photos. To catch up on the rest of the series follow the links below. 

Day 1: Perspective

Day 2: Rule of Thirds

Day 3: Details

Day 4: Use Your Background

Day 5: Characters

Day 6: Light

Day 6: Light {10 Days of Disney Vacation Photography Tips}

Day 6 of 10 Days of Disney Vacation Photography Tips is all about light. I love using light in my photos to add an extra flare (pun intended). My favorite time of day to take photos is sunset. There is nothing better than golden light!! Like the photo above. That beautiful Florida sun was starting to set. Shooting with the sun in the background of the photo brings out those beautiful sunset orange colors. Be careful to expose your image so your subject is not a silhouette if that is not what you are going for. Though that is another great way to use light! When using a camera phone or a point and shoot camera try adjusting where your image is focusing to expose for different areas of your photo. There should be a little box or an x that you can move around. Every camera is different so dig into your settings and see if your focus point is adjustable!

You can play around with different exposure levels, especially at sunset. The first photo the image is exposed for the subject making the background very bright. The second photo the image is exposed for the sky creating a silhouette. You can also go somewhere in between like these images!

Using the sun to add flare to the photo can be done in the middle of the day too. Shooting into the sun will create a flare on the image just adding a little more interest. Now, not every photo needs it and some people don't like sun flares. I just happen to love them. 

One last thing about light. Whenever possible, when you are taking photos of your fellow travelers put them in the shade. It sounds counter intuitive to avoid the sun but if they are in direct sunlight you will get a lot of harsh shadows. The even light from shade is what you want! You can also put the sun at their back if it is early in the day or late in the day and sneak a sun flare in there ;) 

This photo was taken very early in the morning (hence the faces) so there was beautiful even light. 

Tomorrow we are going to talk about the complete opposite subject - night photography! If you missed the earlier posts from this series follow the links below:

Day 1: Perspective

Day 2: Rule of Thirds

Day 3: Details

Day 4: Use Your Background

Day 5: Characters