Update Version 5.92 April 27, 2009

Ok so I was not able to think of a good title for this post, hence the randomness going on up there.  It is 2:45 ish here, and I am getting ready to head in to work at 4:30.  I thought I would update and put those pictures up that I promised last time.

So those were all from Julian’s 19th birthday celebrations.  

Lately I have just been working, trying to make some money!  In the past few days, I have gone to Epcot and Shannon, Julian, and Jose took me on Test Track for the first time.  It was awesome–I loved it.  The ride was done really well, the imagineers did a great job theming the ride and the queue.  I actually screamed at one point of the ride (as in, ahhhh I am scared, not as in, ahhh this is fun).  It was fantastic!  Shannon also took me on Spaceship Earth, which was really cool.  I can’t believe that ride fits inside the EPCOT ball!  Shannon even found a hidden mickey during our ride .  We also went to Italy and got some gelato there, which was pretty delicious.  That night, Shannon also baked a cake, which has been awesome!

No new updates about the animation development–I am trying to track down one manager in particular, Chris, because he is the nicest of all of my bosses and the one most likely to let me cross train.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Other than that, not much is happening here–I did register for a class, which starts in two weeks.  It’s called Creativity and Innovation.  I bought the textbook, so I ready to go!  

Oh and last night, Mermaid went “101″ which means it shut down during a performance.  It was weird, the audio wouldn’t work, and then the exit doors opened randomly.  So we had to escort that audience out, which I felt bad about since they had to wait in line all over again.  Oh well–not much we can do about that!  

Anyways, I am off on Friday and Saturday, so hopefully I will have some better stories to put in my next update.  I love you all and miss you!  As always, thank you for the comments, they brighten my day  Have a great week everyone, and…

See ya Real Soon!

Four Days Off! April 20, 2009

Hello everyone!

I have the four days off, tomorrow is the last of them so I thought I would go ahead and update the ol blog.  Happy Easter to you all, hopefully everyone had a wonderful holiday.

I woke up early and went to church on Easter Sunday; I am not a huge fan of the church nearby, the priest makes the sermons more like tourist attractions/speeches so I don’t get much out of it.  Ah well–it’s the best I can do for now.  Then I had work from 4:15 to 10:15.  It didn’t even seem like Easter in the parks–no decorations or anything. That was weird for me, but I guess they probably try to be “politically correct” and all of that.

Anyways, this week has been pretty slow work-wise, especially compared to the rush we had last week.  My manager gave me a pin lanyard this week though for pin trading with guests.  Basically, Disney sells a TON of different little pins for absolutely everything Disney, and you put them on a lanyard.  You can trade the pins with cast members or other guests, if you are a guest.  If you are a cast member, you can only trade with guests while you are on the clock.  It is a bit of a money trap, as the cheapest pin is 6.95 and the most expensive is about 18 or 20 bucks.  Still, it is a fun thing for us cast members since it is a great way to interact with guests.  Also, we get discounts on our personal pins which is nice, while we are supplied with 12 “work pins” that are exclusively for trading with guests.  I decided to start my own little collection–so far I have some pirate mouse ears, gaston, shere khan, mickey and minnie, and maleficent and the evil queen.  

Shannon and I have been hanging out with some new friends from the level above us.  Their names are Adam, Mark, and Jullian.  Adam works at Hollywood Studios at the new Toy Story ride, Mark works at Liberty Square in the Magic Kingdom, and Jullian works at Epcot’s Innoventions.  We went to see Adventureland last week (don’t see it…) and have just been sitting around after work, laughing and talking.  It’s been pretty fun.  Friday night Shannon and I decided to make him a giant birthday card since his birthday was on Sunday.  It was adorable (pictures follow) we made a giant Mickey surrounded by stars.  He was a fan.  

Saturday we went to the Magic Kingdom for rope drop in order to celebrate Julian’s birthday.  Shannon and I grabbed some breakfast on main street while Adam, Mark, Julian, Andres, and Felix rode Space Mountain.  Space Mountain will unfortunately be closed until late August for rennovations, so we wanted to ride it one last time.  We got some fast passes for it and headed over to Big Thunder Mountain.  After that we got fast passes for Splash Mountain, and went to Pirates of the Caribbean, then Haunted Mansion.  Then we went on Splash, which was really fun.  We all posed like we had fallen asleep on the big drop, which let me tell ya, was not easy.  Still, it made for a really cool picture!  Then we headed over to Space Mountain and said goodbye, then grabbed some lunch at Pinnochio’s Pizza place.  Not too shabby!  Afterwards, we did PhillharMagic, which is awesome, and then we did Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.  Then Adam and Julian had to go work, so we all departed and headed back to the apartment.  Shannon and I took a little siesta then went to Hollywood Studios for 45 minutes so we could ride Toy Story.  One of the toys (cast members) recognized us and let us through the fast pass lane (!!!), so we were able to ride it twice in the same half hour.  This is pretty impressive, since I have not yet seen the wait time under an hour there.  Then later on, we all watched Hunchback of Notre Dame on Julian’s computer and called it a night.

On Sunday, we slept in and did some laundry, then went to Hollywood Studios in hopes of going on the Backlot Tour, which is on its final run this year.  Unfortunately, it closes after 5 but we were able to hit Great Movie Ride, Star Tours, and the animation building.  We learned how to draw Scrooge McDuck and Jiminy Cricket.  I talked with Isaac, the teacher of the class, after the session since I knew him from around work.  He told me that he would be happy to sit down with a manager and myself, and maybe try to get me over to animation instead of Playhouse.  So right now, I am very excited for that possibility–even if I am not an official artist in the building, like Isaac, I would still be in the animation building, getting access to supplies and to important connections.  So that was a big deal to me–plus, having real animators commenting on my drawings was really cool, since both Isaac and Ryan, the guy taking his rotation, agreed that I should be working at their attraction and not playhouse or mermaid.  Ahhh!

After that, Shannon and I grabbed some dinner at ABC Commisary, and then proceeded to ride Toy Story three times, all in about an hour.  I have to say, having connections can really help with wait times… Then we went and got Julian a birthday cake and hung out with the boys for a few hours.  

And that brings me to now–I am about to hit the sack but I needed something to wind down with before laying down.  Tomorrow, Julian and I are planning on making a scavenger hunt at Epcot I do believe.  Hopefully it will be fun!  

By the way, I just want to say how much I love getting comments from you all, and how much I appreciate the cards in the mail.  I love you all and miss you so much, and those definitely help with any bouts of homesickness that come over me!  Thank you so much, I got some stamps from my mom and am planning on writing back soon.  Speaking of my parents, it was their 26th Anniversary on Thursday–I was thinking of them!!  So Happy Anniversary you guys <3

Anyways, I will be working for ten days straight after my days off–hopefully I will be able to update sooner!  I will upload some pictures this afternoon, so be on the look out for them!  As always, thanks for reading and…

See ya Real Soon!

Training at Mermaid April 10, 2009

Hey everyone, sorry for the delay in posting a new blog!  Things have been crazy here at work, right now we are in a peak week meaning that the park is expected to fill to capacity.  I have been working until about 10:15 every night, and by the time I get home, all I want to do is sleep!

Anyways, some quick fun little stories from my week at Playhouse last week:

• For one of my Magical Moments that I got to do, I picked a mother and a daughter to be my “Family of the Show,” meaning they get to come in first and pick their seats.  The little girl was really cute, but didn’t really get what I was doing quite yet. I talked with the mother for a little bit and found out they were from the D.C. area, so we talked about that for a while.  Then she told me more about her daughter–the girl was born without sweat glands, meaning in any heat she gets a fever and may need to be hospitalized.  They had just been jumping show to show, hoping that the outdoor line wasn’t too hot.  I was so excited that I had picked them for my family of the show, because they would be getting out of the heat quickly.  The doors opened, I ushered them in, and then it hit the little girl.  She just got so excited, and was asking me if she could dance during the show and which characters appeared where and whatnot.  And she kept saying, so WE’RE the family of the show?? It was awesome.
• There are some people who work in my area who are just grumps and I really don’t get why they work for Disney when they clearly don’t enjoy it.  I mean, come on, you’re at Disney World and you get to make magic as part of your job description!  How can you be rude to guests, how can you scowl all freaking day??  I just don’t understand it.  And they don’t even do their jobs thoroughly, which is so annoying since the rest of us have to pick up their slack.  Anyways they really get on my nerves, just in general.  Sorry to vent.
•  It was slightly alarming because at the end of the playhouse show one day, Daisy (a puppet) came on for her recording and the back of her head popped off.  None of us really knew what to do, I just kind of gaped in the back.  Thankfully they fixed it as soon as the recording was over.  Now it’s just a funny story.

And now this week!

On Sunday I was able to hit church for Palm Sunday at Mary, Queen of the Universe Shrine.  It is absolutely HUGE, I can’t believe how many people were there…every pew was filled.  A pretty short service, but still it felt really good to go to church.  I had work that night, I helped with standby greeter at mermaid and was having a great time with Shannon and Wanwisa.  

Then on Monday I began my training at mermaid.  My trainer’s name was Barbara, and she is one of my favorite people at work.  She’s this older lady who takes the work seriously but also has fun with the guests, and she is nice to everyone.  She was incredibly thorough and helped me with everything.  At mermaid, there are 9 positions, so it is a little bit more to deal with than playhouse.  Here are the positions:

• Turnstiles–The turnstile machine here is a lot bigger than at playhouse.  It has automated counts and a fastpass lane.  We have to let all fastpass guests in before the standby guests, so this usually makes the standby line long and angry.  At first, we have to let 300 guests into the preshow room.  Then when a little green light comes on, meaning we have 4 minutes to load, and we send 80 more in.  After that we listen for a seat count–preshow will ask for more guests depending on how many seats are left.  Then, preshow will tell us to cut the line.  Then we shut the preshow doors and let the guests know over our P.A. system when the next show is.
• Standby Greeter–This person stands by the standby entrance and greets everyone entering.  They are also pretty much the information center.  The question most asked: how long is the wait?
• Preshow–This person picks a “first mate” as soon as turnstiles lets people start entering the preshow room.  The first mate gets to stand on the little stage with them and gets to welcome the guests to the show.  This is one of my favorite parts of the job.  Once preshow puts their first mate up by the stage, they go into the theater and help the theater position escort guests out.  There they get an estimate from turnstiles of how many guests there will be and how many wheelchairs.  They then reenter the preshow room about 7-9 minutes before the show starts.  They get up on the stage with their first mate, and deliver the SPIEL.  The five big points of the spiel are: stand behind the yellow line, move all the way across the rows, place small children on laps, reserve top 2 rows for wheelchairs, and no flash photography.  The first mate says welcome, and then preshow watches for the green light.  As soon as that comes on, they open the doors and escort guests with wheelchairs into the theater.  They then watch for first light (2 minutes left) and second light (30 seconds left), and they give turnstiles the order for when to cut the line.  After that they go back into the preshow room and close the doors, then they let the entertainers know that they are all clear to cross the room.  They then reopen the preshow doors and allow the next batch of guests come in, and do the whole thing all over again.
• Stroller–This position is pretty much the same as playhouse.  You park strollers and answer questions.
• Theater–This person stays in the theater for the entire show.  They help seat guests before the show and help them leave afterwords.  During the show, if a guest needs to leave, they escort them out.  They watch for flash photography and clean up the theater after the guests have left.  
• Fastpass Distribution–this person helps with the fastpass machines.  If a guest can’t get their ticket to work in the machines, they help get it to work or print out the guests a fastpass.  They have a computer that keeps track of how many fastpasses were issued for each show, so they report that number to turnstiles.  They are also responsible for changing the entrance clock time.
• Fastpass Return–This position checks people’s fastpasses for the correct time and date and number.  They also let people with guest assistance cards into the fastpass lane.
• Theater assist–helps theater on busy days.
• Turnstiles assist–helps turnstiles on busy days.

Barb went through all of the positions and gave me my spiel to memorize.  After work Shannon and I decided to go to Magic Kingdom and try to ride a ride (it was almost 11 by the time we got there).  We ran through the park and made it onto Big Thunder Mountain right before it closed.  We got all of our screams out .  We then grabbed some ice cream on main street and just people watched for a while.

On Tuesday, we mainly did preshow and turnstiles since those are the hardest of the two positions.  I was pretty nervous to give my spiel at first (300 people!) but I think I did alright.  We had grocery bingo that night but of course I didn’t win anything.  Then around midnight Shannon and I remembered that we needed watches for our assessment so we did a watch-run to Wal-Mart.  

So on Wednesday, I was assessed by a lady named Kristinia.  She was not that great…she would not look me in the eye or tell me what we were doing or talk to me at all, really. She rushed through most of the positions then told me to take a long lunch so she could just sit there and read her dumb romance book. It was really frustrating.  She also told me not to pick a first mate even though I had plenty of time to do so.  She gave me no feedback at all and when it was time for her to call in my proficiencies, she forgot.  So I had to work at Playhouse for the rest of the day.  Some good parts of the day though:  At break, Mickey came by and gave Shannon a kiss on the head and gave me a kiss on the hand.  He then wiggled his nose at us and drew a big heart and pointed to us.  So that helped my day.  Then after work, Shannon and I took Alexis to the Magic Kingdom, because she had never been there before.  That was a lot of fun–we were actually able to do all of the major rides in just under 6 hours, which is impressive since it usually takes a couple of days to do that.  At one point we were waiting for the spectromagic parade to cross (my fave!) and Donald saw us, pointed to each of us, and patted his heart and blew a kiss.  It was adorable!

Then Thursday I worked a ten hour day, which wasn’t bad except for the fact that my feet were throbbing afterwords.  I made some magic for some people though–the wait was about 2 hours, and a daughter, mother, and aunt were very disappointed since it was the daughter’s 16th birthday.  I told them to wait for one moment, then went and got three fastpasses for them so that they could go right in.  They were pretty happy!  I also helped a family who was confused about fantasmic.  I told them about the fantasmic package, which is a deal that 3 restaurants in the park offer.  You eat dinner there, and then they reserve seats for you at the show.  This is pretty cool since people line up 90 minutes in advance.  So I told them about that and gave them a phone number where they could make reservations so that they wouldn’t have to walk all over the park.  Before they left, they thanked me and told me I was the most helpful person they’d met that day.

And that brings me to today, Good Friday, my day off!  I slept in this morning, and am planning on going to church tonight.  I might go catch a movie later with Shannon, we are thinking of seeing Monsters vs. Aliens.  Anyways, I love you all, and miss you all so much!  I hope everyone is doing well  I love all of your comments, and appreciate them.  Thanks for reading!

See ya Real Soon!

Hollywood Studios April 2, 2009

So today was my day off

I decided to sleep in then hit one of the parks (for free!).  Sorry, I have to add that part, it’s just so cool.  So I decided to go to Hollywood Studios, since I had not yet ridden the Toy Story Midway Mania ride.  This ride is brand new, it’s in the courtyard of Pixar Place, also relatively new.

When I got into the park they were about to do the Toy Story Block party, so I thought maybe the ride lines would be shorter.  Wrong.  I had an hour and a half wait ahead of me for the ride.  This pushy family behind me kept inching up on my heels, trying to pass me.  I’m sure.  I just kept stepping right in their way.  And in the end it didn’t matter since I got to skip like 20 people in line since I was a single rider.  The ride was pretty awesome–I wasn’t very good at it, but I still had a good time.  Each little cart has two “guns” that shoot 3D darts and things at the midway games.  It really was fun, had me smiling the whole time.

After that I headed over to the Art of Animation, which is right by where I work.  It kind of tortures me during the day, because I want to go in so badly!  So we were shown this little clip about how animation develops characters, then we got to walk around and see some concept art from the upcoming Pixar film, “Up.”  The film looks like it’s going to be amazing–the art was fantastic.  Of course, I was the only one who was just transfixed by it, everyone else rushed off but thats ok.  Then I moseyed over to another gallery that featured the art of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  This stuff was soo cool.  They had Walt’s oscars in the middle of the room and all of this really old concept art.  After that, I went to a drawing session where about 40 guests could sit down and learn to draw from an animator.  We learned how to draw Mickey Mouse–my favorite guy haha.  Anyways it was kind of cool, because the animator gal walked around to see everyones and asked me if I had taken the session before, which I hadn’t.  Then she said I must know how to draw, and said I did a really good one.  I had a pretty big grin on my face…

So after that, I just kind of rambled around Hollywood Studios, which was fun.  It was weird being in a Disney park by myself, but I think I kind of realized that it was the place/company for me since I didn’t feel completely lonely and depressed (not that I didn’t miss my parents. I definitely felt that…).  I just felt really independent and really intrigued by all of the details and planning around me.  And I felt happy, seeing guests that were happy because of things that cast members did or because of a fun ride.  And since I am a cast member, I feel like I am truly a part of that magic that Disney gives to everyone.  It is an amazing feeling.

Anyways, not to go all corny on you all!  After that I rode the bus home, and just had a nice quiet evening with my roommates.  Overall, a pretty good day!  That’s all for me, really.  Tomorrow I need to find a watch and get some groceries.  I will try to update soon!

I miss you all very much!

See ya Real Soon!