Sgt. Fox

Castles n' Coasters in Phoenix. A great experience I had there was while waiting in the Desert Storm Coaster. The coaster can't run unless they have a certain number of people in it, so you have to just sit there in the train and wait for more guests to come. While waiting, the ride op kept trying to sell me some weed. After I declined several times, he started asking me for money. When I declined that, he started getting aggressive with his pan-handling until I just got up and exited the station. I think they must hire homeless people there or something!

Recently got back from a short business trip that allowed me to divert to WDW. It rained several of the days I was there, but I still managed to get some video and have a good time. Here's my trip video: HD WDW Trip Video - February 2010 on Vimeo Sorry it's in link form, but I don't think I can embed Vimeo videos here. If I'm wrong, let me know and I'd be happy to edit my post to embed. Video is in 1080i and was shot with my Sony HDR-CX520.

I have a similar question. I'm planning on going to SFOT for the first time ever on the day after Thanksgiving. They're only open for a few days and only in the evening for some reason. Does anyone know if most of the attractions would normally be open on a day like that, or is it some kind of special event/festival that would generally see most of the attractions closed? Thanks in advance for any tips you have. You guys are a great source of info!

I hate when the people in line behind me don't control their kids and I'm getting my heels/ankles stomped and kicked every time the line creeps forward. I have no idea why, but it often seems to be little Asian kids when it happens. Maybe there's a smaller personal space envelope in their culture or something? I don't know... I also have to second that peeve about the people who let a 20' gap form ahead of them in line because they're not paying attention. I get that the line doesn't move any faster when they don't, but with all of the rampant line-cutting these days, I'd rather they not maximize my chances of getting cut. It seems that over half the time someone ahead of me allows the gap, some tool in the next switchback decides to take advantage of it and sneak across to cut in line.

I highly recommend the XTi. It's treated me well. The XSi is nicer, but pricier. Amazon has a body + lens kit on sale for $540 right now. I think you can get a body only for around $420.

Thanks for the kind words. I shoot a Canon Rebel XTi. The lenses used for these photos were a 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS, a 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5, and a 50mm f/1.4. That fast f/1.4 lens is good for shooting in the rides where it's dark. HDR is a technique where you take multiple photos of a subject at different exposures, then combine them using software. You can do it with any camera. I have a very short tutorial here: http://www.arizonasteve.com/2008/07/hdr-photography-fun.html If you'd like to see more HDR, I recently took a bunch of HDR photos at Disneyland, which can be seen here: http://www.arizonasteve.com/2008/09/disneyland-in-hdr.html

Thanks Guys. Yeah, the HDR photos are High Dynamic Range. They're all 3 exposure HDRs.

Hey All! Just got back from celebrating my 5th Anniversary at WDW. We were married there back in 2004, and couldn't help but go back to celebrate our 5th. We stayed on the Atrium Club level of the Contemporary, and I would highly recommend it. Free food, snacks, drinks and booze more than make up for the extra price. Not to mention just having your own private lounge to unwind in at the end of the day. Way cool. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the trip. If you want to view them all, they're on my blog at http://www.arizonasteve.com WDW Was All Decked Out For Christmas View From the Atrium Club Lounge Grand Floridian As Seen From the Lounge View From Our Room (In HDR) DVC Under Construction Brer Rabbit Brer Bear and Fox YEEOOOW! Mansion! Anniversary You Say? The Food In Mexico was BAD Lucky For Me, It Didn't Have To Stay Down Long! TOWER!!! (In HDR) They're Heeeeeeeere! Bye Tower! (In HDR) Expedition Everest is AWESOME Think He's Scared of Dinosaurs? Go Eat at T-Rex. It's Cool! (Har Har) It's Japan! It's EPCOT! It's (in HDR)! I Found a Hidden Mickey In Nemo! Thank God That Giant Wand is Gone! (In HDR) Giant Mickey Hat is Cool at Night! (In HDR) And It's Bright! (In HDR) Cinderella Castle And We Finish with Fireworks From the Atrium Club Lounge! Hope you all enjoyed my trip report. Thanks for reading!

Thanks for all the compliments guys! To answer your questions, I'm shooing a Canon Digital Rebel XTi. All of the photos were taken with either a Canon 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS lens or a Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. I use a cheap-o travel tripod for the long exposures since it can fit in my backpack. The sky looks murky in some of the shots as a side-effect of the HDR. HDR also creates a halo effect where the ground meets the sky that I try to get rid of, but it's pretty tough. Here's a quick tutorial on HDR if you want more details: HDR Explanaiton I'm also glad you liked the panoramas. You can get larger versions of them here: Panorama 1 And here: Panorama 2

My wife threw a surprise party for my for my 30th birthday last weekend, with the culmination of the party being a surprise trip to Disneyland, THAT DAY!!! Crowds were light for a holiday weekend, the weather was perfect, and despite all my doubts, Midway Mania was actually really, really fun! I took a whole bunch of photos, including a lot of HDR (High Dynamic Range) photos. I hope you enjoy them! There are a lot of photos, and they're pretty large files so I picked out and put most of my favorites in my trip report for you. In order to prevent bogging you down on the forum, the rest are on my blog at www.arizonasteve.com Welcome to Disneyland! Main Street USA The Hub Partners Castle... So... SMALL No Matterhorn Line! We Must Ride! Mark Twain Best Ride EVAR No Line Here Either! We Got SOAKED On Splash For Some Reason Heh. They're Still Defacing It Eight Years Later... GRRizzly Rapids You Can Almost FEEL The Mist Sunset At The Pier Panorama Of The Pier At Night Panorama Of The Pier With The Sun Setting Tower of Terror at Night Go Star Trader! Still Kickin' Space Is Soooo Nice With the Redone Track

Reminds me so much of this guy...

Here's a press release about the signing: http://www.decadesusa.com/in-the-media/GovernorSignsBill.php They haven't started building anything, so there's nothing to see out there yet.

My guess: The family will file a wrongful death suit seeking unspecified damages with Six Flags, B&M and the Christian Church/Group responsible for the trip all named as co-defendants. Six Flags' insurance carrier will settle for nuisance value just to avoid trying the case ($30k?), B&M will get dismissed out or win on a motion for summary judgment, but that Christian Group has some serious liability for not supervising the kids. Remember, he was a 17yo minor in their custody for a trip. Oops, that's about a $1M mistake. Of course, if it turns out there was inadequate fencing or it was left open (which it doesn't sound like so far), then Six Flags could have much greater liability.

Fox News is still insisting he was decapitated. No source on that detail though. And yes, decapitation is the head. Limbs get severed, your head gets decapitated. Not to be too grisly in the details, but often when someone is decapitated, their head isn't actually removed from their body. People often suffer what's known as 'internal decapitation'. This is when your head stays on firm, but the inner workings are detached inside the neck, causing the same result even though you stay in one piece. (Spent too many years as a criminal prosecutor! )

Well, since they are now deciding and dictating what "fun" is for me and my family, why don't they just tether us all together so we can't separate at all? That should make for some more "fun" during bathroom breaks. (And I agree, it's just a temporary marketing gimmick to get free press.)