A few years ago, before we started having babies and traveling to Disney became 3000% more difficult, Kyle and I took a last minute trip down to Walt Disney World. I had more free days at the time than he did, so I went down two days early and did a little work before he flew down to meet me. It was funny to be in WDW by myself but it gave me the wonderful opportunity to just stroll around the parks and take things in like I used to when we were in the Disney College Program.
I knew that I wanted to take a bunch of photos while I was down there, so I loaded up with my fancy camera and fancy lenses and a bazillion memory cards. I also grabbed my tripod on a whim and I’m so happy that I did! I got some amazing photos of the parks at night by setting up the tripod and leaving the lens open. I admit that it caught the attention of a few cast members who had never seen a tripod in the park before, so it must be slightly unusual to take one in. I also was approached by a family who tried to give me their PhotoPass card because they wanted a picture in front of Spaceship Earth. You need to look for those safari vests, travelers!
It’s true that I had to carry it around, but my tripod folds up into a pretty small carrying case and doesn’t weigh much. I can slip it over the straps of my camera bag and it just lays along the top like it’s supposed to be there. I’ve also carried it on the side of my backpack on other trips because it fits into the pocket that’s meant for water bottles. (This is also a good way to carry it onto airplanes.) I couldn’t find the exact one that I own, but this one on Amazon is pretty similar. Note: I had never used the tripod for this type of photo before and I was manually pressing the button on the camera, which did lead to a little shaking and blurring. I’ve since bought an inexpensive remote for my DSLR which makes these photos a lot more crisp and also lets us be in them if we want!
Here’s a look at some of the night shots I took while I was down there:
