Here at the Oh! Orlando we love taking a few pictures while on holiday, we are gonna go out on a limb and say it’s nigh on impossible to take a bad one in Florida! The sky and the sun make even the most mundane photo look like a work of art in our opinion.
THE DO’S and THE DONT’S
There are a few rules about taking photos in The parks you should know about, the first is NO SELFIE STICKS!! They have been banned in all parks. Period. If you get to the bag check and you have one on your person you will have 2 choices, first take it back to the car. Now if you’ve been to Orlando before you will know that the car parks are MILES away… Second choice is to give it up, and believe us, the choice of either taking an hour’s round trip back to the car OR dumping it in the bin provided is a no brainer. There is always a pile of the useless things stacked up! They were banned a few years ago because people were using them to film parades (and therefore blocking everyone else’s view) and even on rides?? Trust me we’ve seen them. Stupid. Selfish and very dangerous. Good riddance to them!
If you do want a ‘group shot’ in front of the castle then simply ask one of the parks photographers or cast members to take it! They will even use your own camera for it and there is absolutely no charge.
PLAYING NICE
When taking photo’s please be aware of other park users, don’t be ‘that’ person who stands in the middle of everyone else’s shot to get the best possible picture… be kind and courteous and wait your turn! We always find it a little weird that folks like to take a pic of a character with someone else’s family in the picture??
We once saw someone trying to film the ride with a phone on the Aerosmith Rock n Roller coaster. As soon as the cars shot forward the phone flew out of his hand. Crunch. Then the cars returning back ran over it. Crunch crunch. The gentleman in question was asked to leave. Why bother folks. Not big. And DEFINITELY not clever.
THE GEAR
We often get asked what camera we would recommend. It’s all purely personal choice. Do you really want to lug about a DSLR and lenses. Mr Oh! Orlando learned that lesson long ago! The answer is no! A fancy camera is great, but the weight outweighs (no pun intended) the practicality, we mostly ended up using our phones because when it’s hitting nearly a 100 and the sweat is pouring off you a camera that big gets really annoying really quick….
So, we made an executive decision to change cameras. We’ve opened for the lightweight and very versatile Olympus E-PL8 This has the advantage that is WiFi and Bluetooth compatibility with our phones and IPad Pro. So anything we take using this we can upload automatically to social media. Loving that and the vast array of apps already built into this it’s going to be great fun to use.
We purchased the camera from Jessops as part of a ‘bloggers kit’ and it was brilliant value for money. It came with a 32GB memory card, a ‘Gorrilla grip’ stand and a very smart Olympus camera case and strap. And as Mr Oh! Orlando says we’ve only got to learn how to use it now…
Nikon COOLPIX AW130
Last year we had a little Nikon camera, it’s tough, waterproof and shock proof. And boy you can believe it – we tested that! We used this camera on rides, water parks and the fearless River at Volcano bay. The footage using ‘video mode’ was excellent as was the sound. It’s had 3 trips to Florida now and taken a bashing on each and everyone. Dropped, chucked in bags and generally abused. Still looks and works like brand new and it will definitely be coming on our next trip. Superb. It was worth every penny we paid for it. We were toying with the idea of a Go-Pro for next years trip, but this little unit will take some beating.
FINDING A GOOD SPOT
We always go to the usual photo spots in the parks, Main Street in the Magic Kingdom is always a winner, even better if you go up the stairs to the Train station and look up Main Street it’s something to behold!
Epcot has its very own Spaceship Earth, the huge Tiled globe that sits imposing in the entrance. We never ever get bored of seeing that as we approach on the Monorail. The Tree Of Life in Animal Kingdom has its own allure, a good little tip is to see this at night, a smorgasbord of colours… Now Hollywood Studios has changed a little bit, you no longer have the Blue Magician hat, that has sadly long gone but now we have the Chinese Theatre, by day a magnificent piece of Architecture but by night it’s a magical screen for the Star Wars show that’s projected onto it. That’s well worth taking photos of!
Universal studios has its own picture worth landmarks, the “Universal studios” globe is possibly one of the most photographed bits of Orlando we think. The gigantic gates to the park are also picture worthy as is the avenue from the ticket kiosks, you can get some real impressive pics of the Rip Ride Rocket Roller Coaster! Or some “boomerangs” if you are under 25….
One of the most perfect places for photos is Volcano Bay, oh my days! The sight of Krakatoa as you walk in is actually breathtaking, the lush green tropical foliage and the mist and layouts of the slides is genius. We took about a zillion photos here last year and had one of the hardest times trying to decide on what to keep and what to delete. Talk about first world problems eh?!
A few little tips to remember for when out and about, please be aware of where you are standing! The amount of times we’ve seen people nearly run over or walk smack dab into the middle of a parade is mind blowing. Always take the time to ask permission to take a photo, manners cost nothing and we can guarantee cast members will thank you for it.
One little tip also is to remember to charge your device! We know this sounds really really stupid…but..the amount of people who are running around looking for a plug socket is comical. There are lots and lots of charging points around and some of them are even disguised as tree stumps for example in the Magic Kingdom. A good little idea is to use the Fuel Rod stations dotted about nearly every park in Orlando. These self service stations dispense a Fuel Rod or battery to you and me, for about $30, but even better after it’s been used and flattened you simply take it back to the station and place it in the slot the right way round (there is a bar code on the one end) and voila a new Fuel Rod is dropped out the drawer at the bottom! No fee! Such a good idea. It also comes with leads for the current crop of smartphones etc.
Wherever you are on holiday, in the parks in the city center or by the sea you never be short of a picture perfect moment. Trust us, just don’t be one of the fools holding the camera or phone up in front of everyone during a parade…
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