131 TWO PARKS IS THE PLAN MAN

So, after my forced day of rest yesterday, caused by a minor muscle tweak in my upper back, I had a plan worked out for today.  The rest did me good and allowed me to start fresh today.  Fresh all around, because last evening I went and found the guest laundry and washed all the clothes I’ve used in the last ten days.  Hey, the clean ones even made it into a drawer finally.  I’ve just been pulling T-shirts and things out of my suitcase when needed.

Anyway, my back feels good today as does the rest of my body.  So, the plan is to use up one more Disney park on my pass, then come back to the hotel for a rest, have dinner and then head over to Universal to catch the lightshow at Hogwarts Castle and then the fireworks display in the bay.

I headed over to Disney Hollywood Studios, which at one time was MGM.  This is the smallest of the Disney parks, but still a lot of walking and a ton of things to do and photograph.  In fact, I ended up with over 1300 photos by the end of the day.  It was cloudy and cooler today.  Still a lot warmer than at home and I continued my wardrobe of a Dri-fit T-shirt and shorts.  You can tell the locals or people from warmer climates as they are all in long pants and fleece or ski jackets.

Upon entry into the park, you are greeted by buildings and scenery reminiscent of the 1930’s or ‘40’s.  Pretty cool, but I’m not particularly good at architectural photography.  I went down and around the corner and found the Rock and Roller Coaster, featuring Aerosmith but didn’t go in.  The 90-minute wait dissuaded that, not too mention my dislike of coasters.

But I kept walking and stumbled right into the middle of a show of force from Captain Fantasm and the Stormtroopers from Star Wars.  I have been alternating between the Nikon and my iPhone, using the iPhone for wide angle shots and video and the big camera for everything else.  The camera, strapped to my chest as it is, continues to draw admiring glances and provoke conversations.  I even got stopped by some of the Disney photographers, who also use Nikons, but not the D4s and Tamron super zoom.  They all wanted to talk about the camera, in between doing tourist shots.

My meandering took me past an Indiana Jones show which was just going in, so I joined it.  There was a 30-minute wait before the show started, but I was sitting in stadium seats and quite comfy.  This whole show was a demonstration of the type of stunts used in making Raiders of The Lost Ark.  It used stunt doubles for Harrison Ford and Karen Allen.

They demonstrated many of the stunts used in the movie, complete with gunfire and explosions.  Political correctness has crept in though, as the “NAZI” soldiers are pictured as non-descript evil dudes.  No swastikas were visible on the airplane either.  All in all, it was a great show and when the explosions go off, I could feel the heat and I was sitting near the top of the stadium.

This may be a smaller park, but in photographers’ terms it’s a target rich environment for “character” photos, even more so than Disneyworld itself.  Everywhere I looked, there were characters from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Chip and Dale, Donald and Daisy Duck, Toy Story and even one from The Incredibles.

So, I had a great time wandering around and even found an empty stand and was able to buy lemonade freezes.  One thing that amazes me here is that you can buy beer and wine from vendors, but I even saw a stand selling hard liquor cocktails.  What I didn’t see, despite all the available alcohol, were drunks.  Absolutely no trouble at all.  Why are the idiots at home not capable of conducting themselves like civilized human beings?  I’m sure there’s other Canadians down here and I’m sure they are drinking, but not one was acting like an idiot after.

So, after leaving there and heading back to the hotel for a rest and dinner, I was ready to carry out the second part of the plan.  I’m no longer in agony by the end of the day and I was certainly feeling refreshed enough to head over to Universal, unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate.  I was about to head out after dinner, and it started raining.

I have no interest in getting soaked and I’m certainly not risking the camera gear to the rain.  I know the camera and lens are supposed to be weather sealed, but I’m not risking it.  If it was my last day here, then maybe I would wrap it in plastic and go, but I still have 10 days left to get it done.