December Update: Website, Upcoming Vacations, and More!

The semester is finally OVER!  I just finished up my fourth and final architecture studio at Clemson University, and it was the toughest and most exhausting studio I've ever been part of.

However, I have some pretty exciting news - I have my own website!  Domain name and all!



VictoriaShingleton.com serves as a central hub connecting all of my creative outlets - architecture, photography, sketching, and my travel blog.



This Saturday, my family will head to Florida for our annual Christmas vacation.  On Sunday, we'll depart from Fort Lauderdale on the new Royal Princess for a 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise.  This will be the newest ship we've ever sailed on, and I'm pretty excited.  Rachel is bummed that it's only 7-days long, but apparently that's about the only option you get when Christmas day falls on a Wednesday.  The ship will visit Princess Cays (a first for us), St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.  When we return from our cruise, we'll head to Disney World because as of October this year, we are once again annual passholders!  Where are we staying?  NO IDEA!  Hoping to get that booked tonight....

As of today, I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Nikon D7100.


This is a purchase that I've been planning for a long time, now.  My Nikon 1 J1 really got me hooked on photography, and I wanted to upgrade to a DSLR.  For compatibility reasons, I wanted to stick with Nikon, and I knew that I wasn't going to be satisfied with an entry-level DSLR like the Nikon D3200 (not to mention, my Dad has an entry-level Canon DSLR, so getting the equivalent Nikon didn't seem very logical).  After reading many reviews, I thought it best to skip the D5200 and go with the D7100.

I debated for a long time about whether or not to purchase a kit.  There are some benefits to purchasing a kit.... you can get a lot of "stuff" with camera kits from Amazon, B+H, and the like.  Stuff like spare batteries, additional lenses, and memory cards.... but also stuff like cleaning kits, memory card wallets, and tripods.... things which aren't really necessary or something that you might just want to pick out yourself.

I'm an avid reader of Tom's The Disney Tourist Blog, and from his photography buyer guide, I knew that I wanted to upgrade the kit lens (Nikon 18-105mm) anyway with the purchase of the Tamron 17-50mm lens, but I wasn't sure if I should buy the kit lens also to get the extra "zoom" and just have an extra lens.  I'm a big fan of wide angle lenses which I learned with my Nikon 1 J1 and my 10-30mm lens, so I wanted a wide angle lens for the D7100 body and went with Tom's suggestion of the Tokina 11-16mm ultra wide angle lens.  After adding that to my shopping cart, I realized that I'd much rather save the $200 I was spending on the kit lens (versus body only) and put it towards another lens.  Or maybe I just put it towards more gear because I also added the Nikon SB-700 AF Speedlight and "Cheap-O" 77mm Neutral Density filter to my cart.  So thank you, Tom Bricker, for your gear reviews.  I can't wait to try out my new toys!

2013 Disney World Trip Report: Day 4, I Don't Wanna Leave!

Our last day was a gloomy one. There was no sun in the sky. I was bummed because had I known it was going to be overcast, I would've taken more Beach Club photos the day before when the sky was beautiful. I was also really sad that we had to leave! It's so hard to go back after having a wonderful vacation!!!

We woke up early and went to EMH at Epcot. We went straight to Soarin' to ride, then ate breakfast at Sunshine Terrace and used FPs for Soarin' afterwards.









Unfortunately, World Showcase didn't open until 11:00 which was our check-out time. Would've loved to grab a bite to eat from F&W before leaving.



The only thing that makes it easier to leave is knowing that you'll be going back soon! We'll visit again over the Christmas holidays.

2013 Disney World Trip Report: Day 3, Part 2

We got some treats from the bakery and then returned to the Beach Club for an afternoon break.



Rachel, Dad, and I went to the quiet pool. And then Rachel and I passed out on the beach while Dad hit up the pool bar at Stormalong Bay.

We wanted to catch the 7:30 PM showing of Fantasmic and should've been a bit quicker about leaving. But we wanted to take some photos on the beach.

I had switched my camera to auto for my dad to take a photo of Rachel and I when a friendly stranger offered to take a family photo. He seemed all confident, saying he's a Nikon guy, and even asked if he can change the settings. If someone asks to change my settings (which were actually auto), then I assume they know what they're doing, so I said of course, go ahead. He told me that he's a perfectionist and took a few photos....



And he blew the highlights all out. It's a pretty precious family photo, and I'm tempted to use it on our Christmas card anyway just because we hardly have pictures of the entire family (and overexposed images seem to be all the rage today, anyway, thanks to Instagram), but there's really not much I can do in the way of post-processing to make this photo any better. I can work with an underexposed image, but this image is overexposed beyond repair.



I was skeptical of his photos when I got my camera back and adjusted the settings for this next shot...





Since we had done this photo shoot on the beach, we were late on our way to Hollywood Studios. Of course, right when we got to the park at around 7:00 PM, they were announcing that the 7:30 Fantasmic was filled to capacity. Birthday girl had a decision to make: go to dinner at Garden Grove or skip dinner and watch Fantasmic.

She asked for my phone and did a little looking.... Beaches & Cream was open until 11PM, so she suggested that we eat a little snack now and hang out for Fantasmic, then eat dinner afterwards at Beaches & Cream. Perfect!

We were a little bummed about missing our Garden Grove ADR because we had never tried it before and it looked pretty good. But, fireworks are a birthday must, and ice cream is never a bad idea! We got a snack from the counter service place across from the Beauty & the Beast theater and waited until they began letting people in for Fantasmic.











Mickey's red short outfit is my favorite... too stinkin' cute!















Afterwards, we went to Beaches & Cream for a late dinner and ice cream. I of course got my favorite grilled cheese and tomato bisque. I need to branch out and try different things because the entire menu sounds so good, but I just love that grilled cheese so much that I want to get it every time!

And then dessert...



Mom and Dad sure loved it....





Until they found out we were taking photos and videos of them...



"Don't send that to your friends! I don't want them to know that I eat ice cream!" - Mom



Worth the calories for sure.

2013 Disney World Trip Report: Day 3, Part 1

Monday was Rachel's Birthday!

Now, you might remember from another thread that Rachel had requested two things for her birthday - a birthday breakfast and to spend the day at Magic Kingdom.  Because of the free dining promotion which had been offered at this time, character dining was impossible to get.  And MNSSHP was held at MK that night when meant we wouldn't be able to spend the evening there.

I played the ADR game, checking everyday, and character breakfasts eventually opened up.  I was holding a 7 AM ADR for Chef Mickey's and a 10 AM ADR for 'Ohana which Rachel had to choose between.  She chose 'Ohana, so I canceled Chef Mickey's, and a few minutes later, she changed her mind!  Of course, Chef Mickey's was long gone.

On Sunday, I was making our FP+ reservations for the next day and decided to check out ADRs just for kicks - and what do you know!  Availability for 8:45 AM at Crystal Palace!  I immediately booked and canceled 'Ohana.

Our ADR was technically before the park opened, but the buses to MK were running behind that morning (assuming, considering two MK buses showed up back-to-back and there were a lot of people waiting), so we didn't get to MK until after it opened.



Birthday breakfasts are good!



I have no idea how many times we've eaten at Crystal Palace, but it's a lot! CP was one of our first character meals ever. I don't know why, but for some reason, Crystal Palace seems to have the worst time with people not waiting their turn for character greetings. Perhaps it's because it's a big open room, so you can see where the characters are at almost all times. Or maybe it's because they're in a hurry to get back to Magic Kingdom and don't want to wait. Whatever the reason, many people want to get photos and autographs from the characters when it's not their turn in circulation.

Well, it was because of many families were wanting to meet the characters out of turn that I got to observe a really great character handler. She was so great that I took note of her nametag - Jeanne from Lakewood. She was really good at being kind but firm. She articulated exactly what needed to happen and made people happy while keeping everything organized. Thanks, Jeanne!



This guy...





Birthday cupcake!



"So do you think that they have all the characters sign birthday cards at the beginning of the day, or do you think they go back there and say, 'Hey, Pooh, guys, it's Rachel's birthday. Will you sign this card?'"











We got a notification that Space Mountain was down, so we could use our FP+ for select MK attractions during that time period (after re-reading the email, we could've also waited until Space Mountain was open again).







We tried to use our FP+ for Winnie the Pooh, but apparently that wasn't an option. So we opted for Tomorrowland Speedway because it was right there. Whatever.



The CM placing people in cars put me in a car group ahead of my family. I asked him about it, and he said a little rudely, "They'll be right behind you." Well that ticked Rachel off, and she came to join me as a passenger in my car. Of course, Mom and Dad were not right behind us. They weren't anywhere near us.







We then hopped on the People Mover. Space Mountain was indeed shut down.









We had FP+ reservations to Big Thunder Mountain.



And then I took us across the park for our FP+ reservations for Space Mountain (we had two that day due to a glitch... which is a good thing considering it was shut down that morning and we didn't know we could wait and ride Space Mountain once it was open). However, I had forgotten that we also had a FP at about the same time for Splash Mountain, so we should've just ridden that while we were in Frontierland rather than crossing the park twice. My bad!!!









We then went to Main Street to do a little shopping. Rachel bought a birthday balloon.



A really nice PhotoPass photographer saw Rachel and I taking Instagram photos with the balloon and suggested one to us -



Up, up, and away!