Here is the set up for the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides preview at Disneyland Park. We will host the premiere of the full film in May. I did not film this, but you are not supposed to have "soul capturin' devices" according to the pirates, so that is why the quality is so bad.
So, when I got to work yesterday I was told there was a celebrity that was in a sub and about to leave . Who was it?
Mr. Jack Black! Sporting a nice Hawaiian shirt. Jack Black donated $10,000 to the Tonasket High School Band from Tonasket, Washington to help cover their travel expenses to the Happiest Place on Earth and he showed up to cheer them on! Why to go Jack, supporting the arts in schools!
No fricking way. Today I was able to have a walking tour of the original Haunted Mansion at Disneyland! I got to walk through everything and see how they do all the Disney magic. It's amazing how most of the effects are old school theatre tricks. The best part was the way they did the ballroom scene. If you have never rode the attractions watch the video around the 6:25 mark:
The effect was done with something called Pepper's Ghost. I was not able to take pictures of the tour, but here is a website that kind of explains it: Click Here!
Another random fun fact is at about 5:19 there is an end table between the doors (you can't really see it on this video.) Well on that table there are some dead flowers and an open book. Of course I was interested to see what book it was, but the cover was glued down. So I remembered some of the names on the page so I could Google them later. 'Brother Wingo' and 'Ben Thigpen' where characters in The Gauntlet by James Howell Street, copyright 1945. Why did WDI (Walt Disney Imagineering) include The Gauntlet in the Haunted Mansion? No idea. According to Amazon.com it's about a peaceful period in the American past. It's a story about a young Baptist minister in the south, his family life and struggles with church politics. So I guess it fits with the southern theme of the house. It's a fun detail no one would ever have the chance to notice unless they were able to have full lights on and lean over the tiny end table that most people miss.
Ok, I know I missed a day, so I'm catching up right now. :o(
Yesterday I went to the parks before work. I wanted to see Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular again (There is a reason I've been seeing it so much, which you will find out soon enough).
I also was about to catch a show of Disney Channel Rocks. It was a show that uses a lot of songs from Disney Channel shows and movies performed by some random people. I personally was not a fan of the show, mostly because there was no story and there were only a few people that could actually sing in the cast. It's not something I would stop to watch again.
Over at Disneyland Park we have been celebrating Mardi Gras. There were so many people in the New Orleans part of Disneyland I was almost not able to walk around! I was, however, able to score this great picture with Chip and Dale.
Today my friend Callie and I were both off and wanted to do something fun. We wanted to go see a taping of Chelsea Lately, but Chelsea was playing hard to get. We emailed for standby tickets, but they didn't have anymore for today.
We then decided to drive to Long Beach and see the RMS Queen Mary. You may have seen the ship in the Travel Channel for its hauntings. The Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967. With the outbreak of World War II, she was converted into a troopship and ferried Allied soldiers for the duration of the war. Following the war the ship dominated the transatlantic passenger transportation market until the dawn of the jet age in the late 1950s. After several years of decreased profits, Queen Mary was officially retired from service in 1967. She sailed to the port of Long Beach, where she remains permanently moored. Much of her machinery including her propellers and boilers were removed, and the ship now serves as a tourist attraction.
A super old picture of RMS Queen Mary
We went on a ghost tour first, which was really a bunch of cheesy special effects with some stories about supernatural sightings on the boat. We then got to explore the rest of the ship our selves. They use some of the first class passenger rooms as a hotel now and a lot of the original features, like the on board library and dinning halls, have been turned into restaurants, conference rooms, and shops.
You could tell back in the day that this was a fancy ship. Now, due to the fact its old and renovations over the years have done more damage than preservation, it seems kind of odd and rundown. Over all though it was interesting to visit.
FUN FACT: The Walt Disney Company owned Queen Mary from 1988 to about 1993. They bought it when they bought the company that owned the original Disneyland Hotel. They really didn't know to do with the old ship. At one point Disney was going to open a theme park around the Queen in Long Beach called DisneySea at Port Disney, but their focus switched to Disney's California Adventure. The Port Disney concept they developed for Long Beach morphed into DisneySea at Tokyo Disney Resort.
I was super lazy today and slept in way to late to do anything. When I finally got up I went with my roommates Matt and Mike to Disneyland Park and rode a bunch of stuff we still have not been on. Tonight I rode:
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
Pinocchio's Daring Journey
Snow White's Scary Adventure
"it's a small world"
Matterhorn Bobsleds
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Pirates of the Caribbean
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage (They made me)
Sailing ShipColumbia around the "Rivers of America"
The Disneyland Story presenting Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln
Haunted Mansion
After a few hours we came back to the apartment to get ready to go to the House of Blues at the Downtown Disney District. It was karaoke night! Say you know I don't sing, but it was fun to see a bunch of other people who can't try to. There were a bunch of college program kids there, so it was pretty cool. This happens every Wednesday and I foresee me being there a lot more in the future.
As for tomorrow I will not be following Robin Peacock's suggestion of getting a tattoo. Haha. However I will try and call Ellen again to see if she will let me come to her show. I hope she clears out her voicemail this time.
Today was started as just another day a work. I noticed that time passes faster when I'm driving the submarine than when I'm loading it. So I want to be able to drive as much as possible in the future.
I got upset when some passengers on my sub wanted to play their Nintendo DS XL with super bright lights. I got upset because they messing up all the guests' view of the presentation/show. However, they did not speak English so asking them to turn it off did not work.
While talking to people, they happened to glance at my name tag. I met two people that have been to Warner Robins today. I did not expect to meet anyone that has even heard of Warner Robins, let alone meet two people that have been there in the same day.
After work Jase and I were planning on going to Universal Studios Hollywood, mostly because he wanted to see the Desperate Housewives' Wisteria Lane. However, they closed at five o'clock today, which did not give us enough time. So that is postponed until another day. We can get season passes for online $70 or something.
Since we didn't make it to Universal Studios we went to Disneyland with one of my roommates, Matt, and his friends, Lauren and Ashlie. I decided that Lauren, Ashlie, and I will be best friends. Yeah, I can tell.
Tomorrow is my adventure to Chick-fil-A and their test of Chick-fil-A standards test. It should only take about an hour to get to on the OCTA bus. I can't wait. It will be like a homecoming.
After you pass your training at Disney you have to call in to get what time you work each day (for the first week or two until they officially put you on the schedule). So I called the Tomorrowland office this morning around 8:30am and they asked me to be at work by 9:45. Because I take the bus, I had to rush to get ready and make it to the bus so I can get there on time. The worst thing to see is the back of the OCTA bus when you are in a time crunch.
Once I got to work I had to count people into rows for each sub for the first few hours today. What did I learn? I can't divide guests into 4 rows of 20 without losing count. It's harder than you think people.
Anyway, as I was counting people I saw a woman in plaid come up the exit ramp with a family. When ever you see someone dressed like this:
You know that they are from Guest Relations escorting a VIP. Who was the family with this escort you ask?
It was gross out today. I started work at 12:00 and about that time it started raining. Not the good kind of downpour, but a misty, gross, cold kind of rain. I had to go by costuming to pick up my clear rain suit. After it stopped raining I did get to wear my cool costumed blue peacoat. I love that thing.
In other news, I am no longer a trainee! I had my final test that covered radio commands, hand signals, opening and closing the sub hatches, greeting and sorting people entering the line, counting people for each sub, and most importantly driving the submarine with precision and speed. After I was tested of all of this I got the verdict: I passed! I am now able to work all by myself when ever they need me, starting tomorrow.
Well, I didn't do too much more today. I also didn't take any fun pictures, so here is a picture of my new TV. Sitting on the floor. In our bed room. Yeah, classy.
Also here is a picture of myself while writing this blog...
Yeah, I'm bored. Anyway, talk to you guys tomorrow!
After I posted my blog last night I went to Disneyland Park to see the new projection show called "The Music, the Memoeries, and You" projected onto the façade of it’s a small world. Here is a promotional video because I forgot to record it.
Then today I did not have anything to do. I got to sleep in! After seeing how beautiful it was out side I decided to go to the beach. After Googling it I found the closest beach was Huntington Beach, about thirty miles away. I had to look up the bus schedule, because this was uncharted territory. The bus ride was not too bad, sort of long though.
Once I got to the beach it was deserted. There were a few people surfing on the huge waves and a few riding bikes, but other than that it was dead. So I found a good spot where I could work on my winter tan (God knows I'm white). I read a book that Ms. India Winslow gave me before I left called How to Be Like Walt. It's a pretty cool because it is about Walt Disney's life and talks about how you can learn from his success and mistakes. It was a nice relaxing day on the beach.
I'm whiter than the sand...
When I got back we stopped by the Disney Cast Member off site store, called Company D. I bought a nice used 27" TV for only $25! The store has all kinds of discounted new merchandise. They also sale things that were removed from the Disney hotels, such as my new TV.
Back to work tomorrow. Classes should be starting soon, so check back for those updates!
I completed my number one goal for the day; I got new sunglasses. It's super bright here and I needed some that were in the Disney Look guidelines. I bought some Ray-Bans Clubmasters. What do you think?
This weekend is Character Fan Days, part of Family Fun Weekend at Disneyland Park. There are a lot of characters that normally are not seen too often, so of course I took some cool pictures with them.
Shaker and Liver Lips McGrowl from Country Bear Jamboree
All Seven Dwarfs from Snow White
Snow White and the Evil Queen
Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar
Tweedledum, Tweedledee, and me
The whole Alice gang
He was trying to tell me to scratch his back...
Thumbs up!
Later tonight I might go watch the fireworks or Fantasmic again. Tomorrow I hope to get some more character pictures.
I know a lot of you have not seen me in a whole so here is a video I made walking to the bus today:
Good news! I passed my driving test. While I won't be driving a car while I'm here, I have my license to drive a real submarine! I had my driving test and I passed so I can now drive all alone. I have had to drive the different subs (there are 8 in total) to learn how each of them handle. Each one drives a little different; some go super fast in the lagoon, some go slow in the waterfalls, all kinds of things. I still have one day of training left on Sunday. I'm not sure what I'll be working on that day since I'm pretty much the best submarine driver ever.
One pretty exciting thing that happened is Heidi Klum, Seal, and family came to ride Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage today! I didn't even know it was them until someone told me. In training we were told a lit of celebrities come into the park. I can't wait to see more famous people!
I had to drive the submarine. It is much more difficult than I would like for it to be. Most of the time it made me want to yell because the joystick was so sensitive. According to my trainer, Frank, I am ahead of most people that learn the subs. I thought I should give you a little history of the attraction, since Disneyland is like a huge history lesson.
The original Submarine Voyage attraction was built as part of the "new" Tomorrowland in 1959. The Submarine Voyage featured fish and other sea creatures all underwater. A major portion of the ride simulated the voyage under the Arctic Ocean's polar ice cap. After 39 years of this the attraction closed in 1998. At one point I'm told that they were thinking of re-imagineering it as Atlantis: The Lost Empire. But when Atlantis failed at the box office the attraction remained closed.
Then after months of speculation in 2005 the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage was officially announced. With this the entire original ride was gutted so new effects and elements could be built and added. It opened in 2007 and then I started working there in four years later.
After work I went to hit up some attractions I've not rode before at Disney California Adventure. I rode Toy Story Mania. This is a 3D attraction (with some cool CD glasses) where you play fun fair style type games with Toy Story characters. We also rode Mickey's Fun Wheel as seen below, which for some reason was terrifying.
Then we got to ride front row on California Screamin', the park's big roller coaster. It was so much fun. Zero to 60 in 4 seconds. It's the second longest roller coaster in the US! My eyes were watering so bad on the front row I looked like I was crying. This one makes me scream for real.
Before we left we rode Grizzly River Run. It's a normal raft ride. Nothing too special, but the setting was nice.
I work tomorrow which will include more driving the sub. I have to pass a test, which should conclude on Sunday. Other than that, I don't have anything exciting to do.
I have a great trainer named Frank for the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. Frank has worked for the company in the 60s through the mid 70s then went on to be a professional musical theatre musician. After he retired he came back to do what he loves; making people happy at Disneyland. I met with him this morning around 7:00am. We arrived early before the park opened so he could teach me how to do the opening check list for the attraction. It was pretty cool because I get to see behind the scenes of how the attraction is built. I know so many secrets now some people would die to know.
Anyway, I started to go over how to drive the subs. It's much more completed than you would expect. They say Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage is one of the hardest attractions to learn at Disneyland because of this reason. It's important to know how to speed it up and down so you keep the show elements consistent and you don't hit other boats. Not only will I be driving around million of dollars worth of equipment, I am also responsible for the safety of the guests and fellow cast members. Safety is Disney's most important key to success. Tomorrow Frank will actually let me practice driving before the park opens. I must say I'm a little nervous. When I'm not driving, I'll be loading and unloading guest. I like this because I can say silly things like "All aboard Shark Baits!"
After work Jase and I went into Los Angeles to meet his friends for dinner in Little Tokyo. We met in some sort of weird Japanese mall. It was like we entered another world. At dinner I was nervous to try anything so of course I just ordered some white rice. After dinner we left the restaurant and went to an Asian grocery store in the mall called Woori Market. They had all kinds of different foods, mostly noodles. They even some real shark bait. Jase's friends bought some interesting desserts that we tried, one being melon ice cream covered in frozen dough!
Sorry my posts have not been that exciting lately. I'll work on being more interesting. :/
Today I had what Disney calls "Welcome to..." It's more personalized training within our departments. Attractions (which is what Disney calls their rides) is part of Park Operations so my "Welcome to..." was called "Welcome to Park Operations." We leaned some basic things about people interaction, how to present ourselves. We also learned how to correctly lift things. You know, all that legal stuff. Just incase you were wondering this is the correct way to lift something:
We then went on another tour of Disneyland Park. This time we met with different managers that make up Park Ops. Park Ops include Tickets, Attractions, Custodial, Security, Guest Services, Parking; anything that has something to do with park ops...
After the tour we finally found out what attraction I'll be working on. Here is a hint (it's not the Monorail):
It's the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage! It is just like it sounds: a submarine that people get in and view the story of Disney-Pixar's Finding Nemo. It's pretty exciting because it's not something at Walt Disney World (there was a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride but that closed in 1994). I start training on the actual attraction tomorrow with my fancy costume! Part of my job will be controlling the speed of the sub. Here are some more fun pictures of my new attraction:
Notice the seagulls on the red buoy. They are always yelling, "Mine, mine, mine."
Darla... she killed that fish...
Some random Asian family. That person in the blue pants is what I'll be doing, driving the sub!
Once I've learned this particular attraction, I will have the opportunity to cross train on other Tomorrowland attractions, but I'm pretty happy with this right now.
Tonight we went to see World of Color and rode Tower of Terror (which is different than Florida) and a few other things while there were not many people in the parks.
Jase and I just met out new roommates. We are not sure what to think of them yet. They are a lot different than us....
