Rules of Engagement Taping

For Tuesday, March 22, 2011

So I haven't told a lot of you guys, but I went to an audition for the Aladdin musical that's at California Adventure. The audition was in Hollywood, so I took the bus/train. They were looking for someone who was older and my audition was terrible so I didn't get a call back. However it was good audition experience and now I know how Disney runs their auditions.

After the audition, the College Program got some of us tickets to see a taping of the tv show Rules of Engagement over at the Sony Entertainment Studios . The show stars David Spade and Patrick Warburton. It was cool to see who they actually film the show. We were told to laugh even if we thought it was just a little funny. It's amazing how much they can cram into one of those soundstages.

The episode was shot in order, from beginning to end, and the cast and crew moved across the soundstage as the scenes of the episode moved back and forth along with all of equipment that needed to follow them was astounding.

There was a comedian who was in charge of warming up the audience and keeping them engaged. He was great. He worked the entire crowd, but once he found out we worked at Disneyland he played around with us. When ever there was break in scenes he they would play songs from "Main Street Electrical Parade", Pirates of the Caribbean, Mickey Mouse Club and ask us trivia questions about Disney. He himself was even in a few Disney Channel Original Movies. It was a great day. I want to see more tapings of shows!

This is the comedian entertaining us in front of the Rules of Engagement set.

A Good Day for Chick-fil-A

I took the bus to the neighboring town of Orange, California. That is the closest Chick-fil-A.

That's right, today is the day I gave a west coast Chick-fil-A to see if it was (1) Clean, (2) Friendly, and (3) amazingly good. Wow did they pass. The whole restaurant was clean and the condiment bar was fully stocked (only they did not have any 'kid' bendy straws or mints, but I'll let that pass.) There was a woman who walked around offering refills just like at home. They even remembered my name when I went back to get a milkshake. Then came the food; did it have that amazing, juicy, crunch? Were the waffle fries hot and evenly salted? Hell yes they were. Just look at how delicious it was! This visit to Chick-fil-A sure did make me miss Georgia. I'll just be sure to give them a visit when I'm felling home sick.

I had to buy stamps today. They gave me those ugly bell ones, because they were sold out of the cool Disney-Pixar ones. Stupid USPS.

I got these...

and not these like I wanted.

Once Jase got off we went to find houses that are used on TV shows. We found all three houses from ABC's Modern Family. These pictures suck. My camera did not take good pictures in the dark.

The best part of the night is we went to find TV's most recognizable house: The house from The Brady Bunch! There are only a few differences from the 70s to now. The false window on the second floor is not there, there is now a new fence around the property, and the house is a new color. Other than that it looks just like the Brady's still live there!

As it was on The Brady Bunch

Starting tomorrow, I will only be posting my blogs on Facebook and Twitter on Mondays. I didn't want to annoy my friends by posting the blogs on there everyday. So bookmark my blog now, nicatdisney.com!

Hooray for Hollywood

Today was a true adventure day! Jase and I explored all over the city because we both had the day off! Here is everything we did:

The Santa Monica Pier

• We went to the Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach. The Pier was like the one on RocketPower, it has a theme park on it! The beach was filled with all sort of people; hippies, body builders, old people, fat people, people working out, everyone. There is a section where there that is similar to a craft sale, you could buy paintings, jewelry, get your palm read, and stuff like that. I felt like Olivia Newton-John was going to come out singing "I'm Alive" from Xanadu. You could also buy weed from random people standing on the beach if you had a "medical ID" for it. Just seems fishy.

• Next we headed to Griffith Park. To get there we had to pass through the tunnel that was used in Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Marissa's death scene from The O.C. 

The tunnel as seen in Back to the Future

• We walked over to Griffith Observatory. It over looks all of LA including downtown and the Hollywood hills. It was a great view of everything. FUN FACT: Griffith Observatory was seen in the following movies: The Terminator, The Rocketeer, The End of Violence, Midnight Madness, Bowfinger, Charlie's Angels, Flesh Gordon, House on Haunted Hill, Transformers, Yes Man, and many more.

The Griffith Observatory

The Hollywood sign from the Observatory

• From there we headed over to Hollywood Boulevard. Here I saw things like the Graiman's Chinese Theatre. Some of the footprints in the cement are as old as 1927! It makes me think of that episode of I Love Lucy when she stole John Wayne's hands and feet print.

John Wayne on I Love Lucy

Graiman's Chinese Theatre

• Here is the Kodak Theatre, home of the Academy Awards. FUN FACT: The folks that designed the Kodak Theatre also designed RiverCenter for the Performing Arts in Columbus, Ga.

Home of the Academy Awards

• I also got excited to find Mickey Mouse's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Mickey Mouse's star

• One thing I was not happy to see in Hollywood was a store that only sold Shape-ups. As I have always said, Shape-ups should not be worn in public. Please don't ever let me catch you wearing them.

Shape-ups store. Barf.

Tomorrow we meet the rest of our roommates. So look forward to that.

Touching the Pacific

The housing party was almost as lame as I expected it to be. It was very similar to the Orientation luaus we had at main campus such as this:

It was mostly lost of people standing around with loud music and free pizza. I left early and went up to my room. About that time my roommate, Jace, got back from work. He has a car and he said we should go explore the city! It was amazing! We went through downtown LA, Hollywood Blvd., Rodeo Drive,  the Hollywood sign, Malibu (home of Elle Woods), and Zuma beach. While it was dark, we made out way to the water so we could touch the Pacific Ocean. The waves were huge! While we were out we saw two movies being filmed: one in Downtown and one in front of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre. I think I'm going to like it here.

FUN FACT: The Hollywood sign isn't always lit at night. The city wants to cut down energy costs and the residents of the neighborhood right below it don't want traffic looking at it all night. That being said, this is what it looked like last night:

Today I went to Team Disney Anaheim (TDA) to take my picture for my ID as well as fill out my scheduling card and pick my classes. I had a pre-warning to make sure to smile because they don't tell you when they are taking the picture, so I cheesed it up. I think I have a good one. We got done earlier than expected, so I don't have much else to do today. Here is what TDA looks like:

Tomorrow is my first official paid day of work. We start with a class called Traditions, which covers history and information about The Walt Disney Company and Disneyland Resort. I'm super excited about this. I'm also going to get my Disney ID so I will be able to go to the parks whenever I want for FREE! Guess what I'm doing tomorrow! Check back tomorrow night for my update of my California Adventure!