Merry Christmas!

This has been the best Christmas, probably in years.

It all started last night when my roommate and I baked gingerbread cookies.  And they came out perfectly.  All soft and chewy and all gingerbread-y.  So delicious!  Then we each opened a present.  My roommate bought me a little radio control Safari truck.  It's a little smaller than I'm used to driving, but will do nicely.

Excuse this picture, I literally just took it, since I decided I needed to put more pictures with my posts.

I was really excited for her to open hers.  I recruited my other roommate to go in with me and get her a nice tiara from Adventureland.  One of the really nice, legit looking ones.  I'm pretty sure she almost fell asleep with it on!  Hers was the present I was most excited to give! 

Then I had to be at work bright and early this morning.  As I opened the front door, one of my friends had left a wrapped present for me just outside on our doorstep.  A small stuffed Piglet, my favorite character!  So incredibly "thotful!"

When I got to work I got Departure 2, which is my favorite land to have.  I loaded people on the trucks all morning.  I was hilarious because it was so slow nobody was going anywhere I asked them to.  "Party of three?  Row eight please."  Pause... watch them walk... "Orrrr, you could have two of you go to row five and one in row six.  That works too..." So funny.

Then, my first truck of the day I had the best family in the front row.  There are some safaris where you just seem to click with the guests.  They all love me, and I just love them.  I love safaris like that!  They are always so much fun, and what a great way to start off Christmas day!  And the family in the front row just made the whole safari that much more fun.

We had a pot luck at my location so on my break I got to pig out on the best green bean casserole I've ever had.  Also, someone made some incredible mac and cheese, and we had lots of turkey.  My friend also made a Jewish dish called "noodle pudding."  It was good, for a change (*wink wink* Dad).  I'm glad that I tried it!

I got off at the same time as my friend, Allie.  On our way home we made plans to go to Downtown Disney (DTD).  She actually wanted to brave MK, but I talked her out of it.  We went to Earl of Sandwich and got their Thanksgiving Sandwich which is stuffing, turkey, cranberry sauce, gravy, and such on a sandwich.  Best sandwich ever!  And only five bucks!

Even though DTD is less than ten minutes away, it took over thirty to get home for the traffic.  Ten minutes was spent at the same stoplight waiting for it to change three times before we could get through.  Cuh-razy!

I opened the rest of my presents and they were so awesome, plus all the Christmas cards and such from friends.

What made this Christmas better than any other I've had in recent years, is that today I'm reminded of the amazing friends that I have, and how much I am loved.  And with knowledge like that, not much else is needed in life.  I'm grateful for loving family, lots of friends who think about me, incredible co-workers, a fun job, strong beliefs, plans for my future, a safe place to live, a good education, and a working body and mind.  I love my life.  I love December.  I love Christmas.  I LOVE it!  Not much could make me happier.

Oh wait.  Christmas music.  Yep, that just made me happier!  I didn't think that was possible...

This has truly been one of the most Merry of all Merry Christmases I've had in recent years!  Thanks to all who made it great, and to all, a good night!

Gonna Miss These Guys

I see animals doing really silly things on the safari.  Believe it or not, an animal pooping is not the most interesting thing out there.  It's sad that, when I think the animals are being adorable, the guests hardly even notice.

For example, where the okapi is, there's a giant log on the ground.  The other day I drove through and the log was covered in maybe fifteen vultures lined up on it.  And then the okapi was pacing back and forth in front of the birds.  I almost died laughing.  Seriously, it looked like the okapi had recruited the vultures to help with some secret mission.  Or some creepy animal ceremony...

Okay, so maybe I have done too many safaris.

Then there's the pelicans.  They seriously look like they're doing yoga sometimes!  Like, this one stands on one foot and stretches the other out in the air.  When it does that, it opens it's wings out, I assume, to keep balance.  It looks literally like it's doing yoga.  I actually mentioned that on a safari the other day and the lady behind me laughed and agreed with me.  Yes, I appreciate that one guest who laughs at me.

The hippos talk quite a bit and it's like a bunch of grunting.  But today I got to do an empty safari (miraculously, seriously I thought I'd never get to do an empty round again cuz we've been so busy, but surprisingly today we were dead).  I came around to the hippo and she started grunting and for the first time it sounded like she was laughing!  Seriously.  She started laughing at me and then splashed in the water a bit and laughed again.  They've done this many times before, sometimes splashing with each other, but it's never sounded so much like laughter before.  Now I'm going to be looking for it...

The flamingos just crack me up too.  The thing about the flamingos is that they (and the crocs) are pretty much the only animals we can pretty much guarantee will be on every single safari.  So I always have that part of the ride exactly memorized and it's just boring.  But then lately I've noticed how silly the flamingos are.  I mean, they've always been super noisy.  But they "fight" too.  And they chase each other which is stinking adorable.  This one always is showing off it's wings, and sometimes it'll open it's wings and just run around in circles.  I've seen it do that like three times now and it always cracks me up.

Jabali is always funny, too.  The baby elephant.  Seriously, just exactly like a little kid.  He just has to be the center of attention.  Although the older he gets, the less he runs around which is kind of sad.  He plays with Luna all the time, though.  The two of them are always rolling around on the ground and pushing each other.  It's so funny to see Jabali try to push Luna with his trunk because he's like half her size.  Adorable!  The other day Luna tried to climb over a big log and got stuck, so Jabali came up behind her and was trying to push her the rest of the way over.  So stinking adorable.

One time I came around to cheetahs and saw one standing on the rock so I pointed her out.  "Hey look!  There's a cheetah!  And it looks like it's about to jump somewhere!  Let's watch her jump!"  Nope.  She wasn't about to jump.  She just needed to relieve herself... definitely the funniest time I've ever seen an animal take a poo because my entire truck laughed at me.

I did a safari a while ago and a few trucks up ahead got stopped for an ostrich.  So as we waited I told my guests we were stopped for an ostrich and talked a bit about ostriches to fill in the silence during our wait.  Then, we went back on the move and shortly thereafter found the ostrich.  The guy sitting in the first row had his little two year old sitting on his lap and as we came around the ostrich he proceeded to say to his child, "Wow.  That is one ugly animal!  Can you say ugly?  Yes, see, this thing is what we call ugly. Yuck!  That thing made us stop.  Look how ugly it's face is."  I had to turn off my mic and wipe the tears from my eyes trying not to laugh.

I'm gonna miss these animals.  A lot.  The people make me laugh too.  Like the other day a woman asked me how to tell if the giraffe was male or female.  My response?  "Umm, the same way as a human?"  The whole truck cracked up.  I since have been told that male giraffes are darker in color... meh.  Whatever!

I'm gonna miss this job!  I'm going to miss trying not to laugh so many times a day, and failing at not laughing just as many times throughout the day.  Seriously, sometimes just what I hear on the radio makes me laugh.  I love it!

Ohhhh, my life is so awesome!

Holiday Madness

Gotta love the Holidays at Disney World.  Cuh-razy!

It blows my mind sometimes when I re-realize just how many people are in this world.  Literally, I just stand there and watch as they drop the rope and this sea of people just comes straight towards us.  It's kind of overwhelming to see that many people walking towards you at once.  Okay, so that's why we don't actually "drop the rope."  Two people walk with the rope to the front of the line.  Because my friend was telling me that a few years ago he watched as the sea of people (I'm seriously not exaggerating, literally just imagine thousands of people all power walking together) came towards him and one person tripped and it was just a domino effect.  He said by the end about twenty people were on the ground all piled up.  Of course, no one was seriously hurt, but kind of crazy to imagine.  And a little funny. Heehee.

Anyway, today I worked Pram which normally sucks, but they pulled me out of parking and put me in the line.  I was basically just separating strollers from the actual line.  It's all about efficiency!  As I was standing there this random lady came up to me and threw her arms around me in a hug, "Ohhh!  You're from BYU-Idaho!!!  I love that school.  We're from Provo!"  Obviously, she read my nametag. Full body hug. Not awkward at all.

I decided as I was waiting to find strollers I'd entertain the line and it felt like my PAC days of yelling random junk to groups of total strangers again.  It's kind of fun to be the center of attention and seeing tons of faces looking at me with big smiles on their faces just wondering what I'll come up with next.  I really don't think I'm that interesting, but to super bored people I guess anything is interesting.  I was yelling about how there wasn't much line left and "just a few more miles down and you'll be there."  This foreign lady walked past as I mentioned this, and said with her accent, "Ohh, just some more miles?  Okay... uh, how many minute is that?"  Not too long, lady.  Not too long...

We were sitting at an 80 minute wait.  Actually, we were saying it was an 80 minute wait.  The FLIK cards showed us that people were waiting much shorter, from what I heard.  More like 50 or 60. But when the line is long like that we always say way more because people just swear that they've been waiting in line forever.  FLIK cards don't lie.  Those are the red cards we hand to random guests to bring with them to the front of the line so we can see how long they're waiting.  To that guy who insisted it had been two hours, I seriously pity him for the amount of people who had to cut in front of him for that to happen.

Anyway, one man told me, jokingly, that he'd been waiting "6 or 7 hours already in this line."  So I responded with, "Well then only 2 or 3 hours more to go!"  In reality everyone who got to the point where I was pulling strollers away was only about ten minutes away from the front anyway.

Due to the wait, I've been more motivated to give awesome safaris lately.  And to be honest, I feel like the people who ride my safaris have been more fun, making it easier for my safaris to be better.  Maybe something about waiting in a 60 minute line makes people want to enjoy it more.  But the people are more likely to applaud at the end and get involved.  And I love it when the parents really get into the story with their kids.  "Did you hear what she said?  There's poachers around!  We better watch out buddy!"  And there's no greater compliment to me when a four year old says excitedly in the middle of the savannah, "This is the best ride ever!"  Melt my heart!

Not that all of my safaris are awesome.  I get burnt out, too.  I get exhausted.  Today I was last truck again.  I love being last truck but it kind of sucks because they bring in a lot of the animals.  Last time I was last truck the only animals I saw for the entire second half of the ride were flamingos and the addax.  Super lame.  No lions, no cheetahs, not even the warthogs!  The reason I like last truck is because I get paid extra to sit in the VM lot at the end of the day waiting for fuel.  Literally just relaxing and doing nothing.  Except pulling the truck forward a few feet every couple of minutes.

Anyway, I could just write forever.  I'll stop here and update some other time.  Just rambling, remember?  My special talent. Heehee.

Hopefully I'll have more interesting stuff to write about next time.  I'm moving into my new apartment soon!  That'll be fun!

Animal Sightings

I've done so many safaris I don't even remember them anymore.  In fact, I love going back through this blog and reading what I wrote because, to be honest, I don't remember some of that stuff ever happening.  And it even happened just in the past few months!

Today, the lion was not only walking around in a perfect view of both the male and female, but he also started roaring.  He actually roared right on call for me!  I mentioned that it looked like he was going to roar to my guests and told them if they were quiet, we might be able to hear him.  And then, magically enough, he really started roaring!  I've heard him roar before, but it's always exciting to hear from the animals!

The hippos also spoke to us today (that's a lot more common though... probably the most common, in fact).  And I heard the cheetahs for the first time!  It's hard to hear the cheetahs because they're so far away.  But recently I was given an idea to pay more attention to listening to the animals, or, more importantly, allowing guests to listen to the animals.  The cheetahs sounded just like a cat, actually.  They were playing with each other.

I got a little worried today as I came around the elephants.  One was laying down on the ground on it's side and not moving.  It almost looked dead, but then it started rolling in the mud and another little elephant came over and started throwing dirt onto the first one's back.  They're so cute!  One time the elephants were playing like that and they even started talking very loudly!  So awesome!


We've also been having problems with squirrels lately.  I'm not really sure if I wrote about the squirrel that attacked me a while ago.  Basically, it lunged at my face and if I hadn't have dodged it it probably would have killed me.  Okay, so that's a slight exaggeration, but you get the point.

Anyway, there's this little squirrel that apparently someone's been feeding.  Everyone keeps blaming us safari drivers.  I haven't done it, but apparently there's such a big issue that they've been threatening reprimands for feeding the squirrels.  This just made me laugh.  But seriously, they've been having a big problem with the squirrels being not afraid of humans.  One even jumped onto my manager's leg the other day.  They come right up to us humans saying (in squirrel speak of course), "Food?  Food?  You give me popcorn?  Yes?"  Super cute... but also just a tad creepy.

Ah well.  I love the animals I work with.  I love my job.  And I'm super lucky for this experience!  I'm definitely going to miss this job!

Too Much TV?

Often during my job there are times when I feel like I'm in a movie.  For example, this morning I opened the Cheers dock, which is the exit basically.  So I was literally waiting for like 45 minutes for guests to come.  So boring.  By the time the first truck came, I felt exactly like in Madagascar when the animals of the zoo are waiting for people in the morning and start yelling, "Yay!  The people!  The people are coming!  I love the people! Yay people!!!"

There are other times when I feel like Maria from The Sound of Music.  When I'm on the safari and I get to a point where I've said all the interesting stuff I can come up with and there aren't really any more animals to talk about for a few seconds so there's that little bit of dead space.  I look in my rearview mirror and see a bunch of expectant faces just waiting for whatever I'll say next.  It reminds me of the scene where Maria sings "Raindrops on roses" and she turns to see the kids all looking at her expectantly and puts her hand to her head, not sure what to go on with for a second.  Ahh, I understand perfectly.

As I come around the savannah and explain the termite mounds and how not only termites get use out of them, but the elephants and antelope also use them, I always want to finish with the quote, "And so, we are all a part of the great circle of life."  I've never actually said it just because it doesn't completely fit, but still.  Such a good quote from the best movie ever.

Speaking of The Lion King, people always point out the animals from that movie.  As we go around to warthogs they all call out, "Oh!  Hey! It's Pumbaa!" and the lions are all called "Simba" "Nala" or "Mufasa."  The best is the mandrills though.  People catch on and call them Rafiki.  But really.  Have you ever seen a mandrill?  Looks nothing like Rafiki.  I'm just saying.  They're smaller, fatter, and lazier.  And not as wise.


 

I'm just sayin'.

That is all. (I'm too tired to figure out how to make this pictures fit side by side... so there ya go)

Oh, and I love my job!

Things I Just Love

I've been kind of grumpy lately.  I had a bad encounter with a guest that made me angry at all guests for a while.  Then I went home early on Tuesday because I wasn't feeling well (and I was still mad).  But I'd had the past two days off, and it's been wonderful.  And I've been thinking more and more about things I love about life rather than... negatives. 

So, here's to happiness!

Today I headed out to Magic Kingdom to get some friends into the parks.  On the way I was on the monorail and noticed a little four year old boy who asked his dad, "So, after Magic Kingdom, can we go to EPCOT?  I want to see the big white ball!"  Many adults don't even understand there are four different parks.  I mentioned how impressed I was, how advanced he sounded (he said other things too that just showed he really totally understood what was going on) and spoke with his grandmother a bit.  As I did I learned he hadn't even been here in a year.  "Oh, so what's the occasion this time?"  I asked.  "No babies!!!" the little boy yelled.  Apparently he had a little baby sister, two months old back at home.  Cutest thing ever.  He turned his little head to look out the window of the monorail at the castle and said, in the cutest, most excited voice ever, "This is going to be the best day EVER!"  And then let out a sigh.  I love it!

This past week I've gotten to do two scavenger hunts.  One in Magic Kingdom and the other in Hollywood Studios.  I love watching the Osbourne Family Lights dance and seeing the families around dancing with their kids and all over just having a fantastic time.  Also, it snows during the light show.  There's something about softly falling snow that is just plain magical.  I love watching the Jedi Training academy and watching little kids take out Darth Vader.

I love when I come around elephants on the Safari and Jabali is out playing.  The baby elephant.  The other day I went around and the elephants were all in the water playing, splashing and even making noises.  Crazy!

Shopping for Christmas gifts for people.  I love finding presents for people.  Unfortunately I could never afford to get everyone everything I'd want to get them.  But I'm pretty excited to give out some of my presents this year!

ABC Family and the 25 Days of Christmas just began.  Meaning this is all you're getting for an update.  But yeah, Merry Christmas! 

And I have to say that what I'm loving most right now is that my favorite month of the entire year has just begun!!!

Make A Wish

I haven't written much about the Make a Wish kids on here.  In fact, I'm not sure I've ever mentioned them.  However, they do have a pretty big impact.  The Make a Wish foundation brings children who have been diagnosed with life threatening illnesses or only have months, sometimes weeks to live, to Orlando to have one "last" family vacation.  It is extremely sad.  These kids are distinguished usually by their buttons, but they also have very special cards to bring around with them that show us cast members who they are.  It's pretty rare to see them, but we all treat those families like gold.  I don't see them often, normally only to let them into the Fastpass line because their card is an automatic Fastpass onto any ride in any park all the time, no questions.

With that said, I have a story.  Today, after my first break, I got my next assignment.  I was sent to a wheelchair truck.  I don't like driving wheelchair trucks.  I don't like the drama, I don't like having to come up with extra "filler" spiel at the end when things are blocked up in the jog, I don't like pulling up to that dock since it's the hardest one to go up to... I just don't like it.  On top of getting this truck, I went up to bump it and realized it had the headphones that I hate.  The kinds that go around the back of your head and pinch your head to the point you get a headache.  And since the cord was behind me I kept sitting on it and they kept falling off.  I asked to change them and she told me the other set was broken.

Needless to say, I was not happy and actually quite whiny.  I did my first three rounds happily driving guests, but being grumpy after pulling up to the dock and ripping off the headphones every chance I got.  (It's okay, I pull up to the dock just fine... it's just hard and I'm always scared I'm going to miss it).

As I finished my third round I was sad to see that I didn't have a breaker and I'd have to do another round.  I was hoping I could stop after three, I was hungry.  I looked back and saw one family in the line to get on my truck. As they approached I noticed it was a mom and dad and four kids.  And they had the Make a Wish buttons.  At least, the little girl did.  They were all very happy and had their faces painted and were perfectly ready and excited for a two week safari.  I did my best to sound upbeat.

As they boarded my truck, we waited a bit, and Tara (who was working the dock) noticed there weren't any other guests on their way.  Normally, in this situation, we load regular guests onto the truck who don't have wheelchairs or ECVs so that the normal line gets a little shorter, and my truck goes full.  We were sitting at about a thirty minute wait.  But, this family seemed really sweet and fun.  And they were Make a Wish kids.  So Tara and I agreed to go ahead and give this family their own, private safari, instead of calling for more guests.  The only time I've ever done this... However, it was, quite possibly, the best decision ever!

Instead of doing a normal safari, I gave the family just a little bit of backstage information as we went around, to make it a little special.  However, I stuck to the script as much as possible, basically giving them a combination of both VIP backstage tour with the normal safari meshed into one.  I chatted with them and joked, and they laughed.  The mom was practically rolling on the floor after one of my jokes.  I was very conversational and it was quite possibly one of my best safaris yet.

At the end they clapped for me and told me it was absolutely perfect.  Their kid only had weeks left, and this was their second day in their final seven day vacation as a family.  I let them know how honored I felt to have not only been a part of it, but to be a great, memorable part of it.  They said they felt like VIPs as well getting to ride like that. 

I know it doesn't sound like much on here.  But I nearly cried after I got my break after that round.  The family was so happy, the kids so loving, and I was able to give them a pretty decent magical moment that they would remember.  It felt so amazing.  I don't know how long the little boy had left.  But those kids look so emaciated from chemo and whatever treatments they've had.  The mom was telling me how they only had the energy to do half days.  I could tell the little boy only had a little bit left.

For the record, the vacation that Make a Wish gives them is three days in Disney, two days at Universal, and one day in Sea World.  The seventh day is used for whatever extra activity the kid wants whether it be skydiving or going to the beach or visiting local museums or whatever.  Usually though, this mom said they spend that day together, as a family, with no one else in the world but each other.  I can't imagine the pain of losing a little kid.  Knowing your child only has weeks to live, or a sibling will be gone soon.  Seeing a little girl who doesn't have hair to braid anymore or this little boy who would never be able to throw around a football again because he could hardly even stand.  But yet, they understand joy in a different way than I think I may ever understand.

And now that made my wheelchair truck experience totally worth it.  The new perspective.  The opportunity to give that family something special.  Getting to meet that family.  It's all worth it.

I certainly am grateful for my family.  I'm grateful for so much, but health and life are some of the most important things I think I could be grateful for!  I love my life!  I love my job!

Which One's Best?

I'm constantly asked which of my three jobs at Disney was my favorite.  Merchandise in EPCOT vs. Main Entrance in Magic Kingdom vs. Kilimanjaro Safaris in Animal Kingdom.  Honestly, the answer to this question is not just a one word thing.  I loved parts of each one, and I've dreaded other parts.  And as much as I try, I can't weigh in and figure out which one, overall was my favorite.  They were all just different.

I loved Merchandise because I was always able to make the unhappy guest happy again.  I don't recall a single time I was unable to help out a guest in a positive way.  It was a simple job, in air conditioning, that was fairly low stress and fun.  My specific location was extra fun because it included the pictures that I got to take of guests.  I loved getting them to pose just right in front of the green screen and then "magically" putting it onto the background of their choice.  I loved the one-on-one guest interactions in this role.  I also loved that I could pick up shifts anywhere on property and there were constantly shifts available for me to pick up extra hours.

There were also several reasons why I didn't like this role.  I constantly felt terrible for making monetary mistakes or messing up counting or whatever.  It also got extremely boring.  The same old place selling the same old Merchandise every single day.  And it was nothing special... it was basically just like the bookstore I used to work at.  Same, easy, grunt work job that almost everyone in the world has had experience in doing at one point or the other.  Nothing big or exciting or different.  Plus it's sad that Figment is nearly gone, and no one hardly knows who he is anymore.  And I didn't like that my hours here were entirely unpredictable.  At least in my other jobs the parades are at the same times (or at least within an hours or so) and at my job now I'm off early each day... but in EPCOT I could literally have been scheduled anytime, morning, noon and night, and I had no say, whatsoever.

Now on to Magic Kingdom.  I loved going between turnstiles and PAC.  I absolutely loved getting the crowds energized.  Hearing the music to the parades and being around such great excitement, and getting others excited was absolutely amazing, and participating in Flag Retreat was just something else.  I got to watch the MK fireworks show (including the Holiday fireworks which normally cost extra, even for cast members) every single night to the point I practically had them memorized.  I worked with a lot more people my own age, and overall had a magnificent time.

Unfortunately, the biggest negative to this role was the amount I got yelled at.  For fairly good reason too.  At the turnstiles, people freak out when their $500 paper ticket doesn't work the first time.  And within the park during the parade, people are tired and exhausted at the end of the day with three screaming children and are at the end of their thread already when I have to go up to them and say, "I'm sorry, you may not watch the parade from here."  Hence me being cussed out at least weekly.  Almost daily.  Very, very hard on me.  But I learned a lot from it.  Unfortunately, it changed my perspective on people, making me think more the worst of people instead of the best.  I'm recovering from that and becoming more realistic day by day.

Now on to my current job!  Safaris!  My favorite thing about this ride, ultimately, is the people I get to work with.  Everyone is just so much fun.  I love how we have so many "outside" of work parties.  I love playing, and being silly, and goofing off.  I don't think I've ever loved a group of people so much... at least since the rescue squad I worked on.  I love talking about my job.  The hours are completely amazing. I'm off before 6 basically every single day.  It's also amazing to get to share stories of animals and guests... and sometimes the two combined.  Best thing ever!

But, it gets very boring.  I'll be honest.  There are times that I cringe to do another Safari, sick of repeating the same things about the same animals again and again and again.  It's hard on me physically, my back sometimes aches when I get home and my voice is just gone after working just a few days in a row.  I get a sore throat, and I can no longer sing.  Like, at all.  Which is really sad, I love singing.  And it's exhausting.  I never get any exercise, but I'm still just exhausted at the end of the day, not wanting to do anything.  But at the end of the day, I always have the biggest smile on my face that just won't go away because I'm so happy to be with so many great people.

I just wanted this documented at some point, since this is my last CP ever, hopefully.  Maybe it will help others decide what role to have.  Honestly, I've both loved, and been terribly annoyed, by every single role.  It really has been a roller coaster, but I wouldn't change any of my jobs for anything.  I'm so grateful for the experience of working all of them.  Hopefully, I'll love my new job as much as I love these.

Random Updates

I keep starting posts... and then never finishing them.  One was where I listed things I wish all guests knew here at Disney World.  Like, I wish everyone knew to walk on the right hand side of the roads/paths/streets/anywheres.  I also wish they would all understand the Fastpass system before coming.  It would make their vacations so much better.  Seriously, you wouldn't believe the amount of people who are either entirely oblivious to it, or completely don't understand it at all (like they get their fastpasses, and then still enter the ride through the normal entrance thinking they need a ticket just to ride the ride... that dates back to a loooong time ago here at Disney when we had the E passes).

Anyway, another post was about how excited I am that the bongos are out on show now!  They're pretty cool, actually and I see them almost as often as the Greater Kudu.  Which is funny because they're supposed to be nicknamed "ghosts of the forest" because they're so reclusive.  But I see them!  A lot!


Hmm, not much else to report.  The rhinos were chasing the addax the other day.  I almost felt bad for the addax too, but then I remembered how often the addax stands in front of the trucks and stops up our ride... then I didn't feel so bad.  Then again, the rhinos sometimes do that too.  In all honesty though, the worst animal at stopping our ride is usually the ostrich.  However lately the giraffes have been being annoying.  Then we have the sweet little animals like the gazelles or waterbuck or the eland who never ever stop our ride or stand in the road.  Why can't they all be like that?

Anyway, hope that's enough of an update!  Sorry it's not very Holiday-ee.  Hopefully soon there'll be more Holiday-ish posts!  I am getting to see part of my family soon, so that'll be exciting!  Leaving bright and early tomorrow morning!  Can't wait! :)

Ten Foot Hault

Our location is doing the DAK PAC Olympics.  Yeah, I think I wrote about it on here before.  Today was the "Ten Foot Hault" event.  Before we took our trucks out to the ride path, we had to see who could get their truck's bumper closest to ten feet away from Tweezly, our giant plastic pet zebra.  (yes, I'm being serious, this really is a true story)  The reason is that out on the ride path when there's an animal in the road we're supposed to stop ten feet away from it.  Well, I completely failed at that event.  I was more than fifteen feet away.  Completely embarrassing.  I'm just hoping someone is as horrible at depth perception as I am.  In my defense, when I'm actually out on the ride path, I creep up a lot closer to the animals (depending on the animal and what's going on around us).  I don't actually stop that far away.  I just didn't want to get into trouble for scaring animals so I tried to stay in the safe zone.  Which really was a bad idea, because the people I work with are extremely chill and people don't really get mad at each other.  We get enough angry guests to spread around enough anger for everyone.

Anyway, in other news this has been altogether a completely and totally awesome week.  I was accepted to two PIs.  I accepted the one I wanted more and in doing so have learned tons about the company.  Found numerous friends who wanted me to stay with them, and actually found one perfect apartment to live in starting in January with a perfect location and even better price!  I stayed up late one night and watched the midnight showing of a movie that just came out (and proceeded to make it through the next day on only three hours of sleep).

Went to the Ft. Wilderness Campfire thing last night with friends from work (not smart to play football with a bunch of guys twice my size who also happen to be made of steel), ate S'mores and talked to my boss's wife who happens to have worked in both Professional Internships I was just accepted to.  Networked with her, and learned a lot about those jobs and what I'll be doing.  Ended up with way too little sleep and went home early today, but today's still been awesome.  I'm reeeeeally sore from the games we played (I basically ran right into a guy's leg and smashed my face in... found my glasses sitting on the ground five feet away thankfully still in one piece!) and super tired from the lack of sleep lately, but it's been worth it.  On top of all of that I even got two GSF cards today! (really good compliments from guests that go on my record card and say I'm a good person basically)

Definitely so incredibly lucky, and so incredibly happy!  What an awesome life.

Did I mention I work at Disney World?

Professional Internships

Last Wednesday I received an email from Recruiting asking to set up an interview for a PI.  I set up the interview which took place Thursday.  I learned more about that job, and hung up the phone feeling nervous despite the phone conversation going just fine.

Friday I received another email from Recruiting asking me to fill out background check info.  I told them all about my previous life as a convicted felon and all the laws I've ever broken.  After reading and obsessing over others who have been accepted/denied, I knew this email meant they were getting ready to give me an offer.  Or, in very rare cases, change their mind and turn me down.

But this email came Friday.  Which meant I had all weekend to obsess over what was going to happen. 

Monday came and I missed a call from Disney because I was at work.  I proceeded to play telephone tag all day, obsessing even more.  My manager told me he had received a phone call from recruiting about me and that he put in a good word.  I was delighted, but could hardly even show how happy I was.  I think I was more in a state of bewilderment.  Plus, it's hard to talk with a stomach in your throat.

Monday night my roommate and I were watching a movie and my phone started ringing.  It was that magical phone call!  The one where they offered me a Professional Internship!  But... not the one that I had the second phone interview for...  Well, she informed me I was still in the running for that one.  But I was officially accepted to this one, and I had to accept within 48 hours online.

I went online Tuesday (yesterday) and accepted.  The pay is higher, the job is fun, and I'll get to work at Disney World!

Today, I was just getting over that excitement and continuing to look for apartments (mainly friends to get an apartment with) when my phone rang again.  This time, again, from Disney.  (I'm learning that anytime a "restricted" number calls my phone it's going to be awesomely amazing!)  The lady on the other end offered me the other Internship!

"I see here that you've already been accepted to this other one, but at this point you are allowed to change your mind and choose between them if you'd like.  I want you to know though, that this is extremely rare.  We only offer maybe ten interns two PIs each season, if that.  This is a very high honor that you're allowed to choose between two."  As she told me this I nearly started crying.

Even though she offered me a day to think about it, I went ahead and told her I would rather stay with the first.  For one thing, I'm not really into answering angry guest emails all day.  I'm kind of sick of working with guests, and will enjoy working more with cast.  For another, the Workforce internship pays more per hour.  And also, the apartment I'm looking at living in is closer to the Workforce internship office, whereas it's more like ten of fifteen from where the GC internship would have been.  Also, Workforce will take me more in the direction I want to go long term.  So it wasn't a really hard decision to make.

But really.  Oh my gosh!  I'm still reeling... I can't even believe it.  I am seriously.  So. Freaking.  LUCKY!

Words can't even describe my joy right now!

Maybe I'll get Ghirardelli tonight to celebrate!  Just as a test to see if chocolate can even make the happiest people in the world even happier!

VoluntEARing

As with all things Disney, everything is themed and everything is cheesy.  Really, really cheesy.  I"m just warning you a little about this upcoming post.

So my roommate and I decided to do the Coastal Cleanup activity today.  We signed up a while ago, but today was that wonderful day!  I guess I should explain a little about it before moving on.

Disney is really big into the whole "service" thing.  There are tons of opportunities they give cast members to serve in their communities and such.  I've never done any of them because you have to register beforehand and there's always a lot of people who want to go.  And by the time I know my schedule, it's too late to register or something else comes up and I can't go.  But I heard about this coastal cleanup thing and I just had to do it so I gave away my shift for today to a friend so I could go.

But moving on.  We arrived at the meeting place in Celebration at 7am.  They said they wouldn't be providing hardly anything, but just minutes after pulling into the parking lot we were stacked high with presents!

First, they gave us a small container of wet wipes.  I guess to use after picking up trash.  Then the tube that looks like big bite healer stuff is both bug bite stuff and sunscreen in one!  Then they gave us water bottles that poofed out when filled with water.  And, my favorite, I got my very own Disney VoluntEARs t-shirt!  I was soooo excited!  The presents alone made the whole thing worth it (and, of course, the satisfaction of knowing I served the world, gave back to the planet, helped out Mother Nature... you know... that stuff too of course!) They also fed us breakfast and lunch.  We had fresh fruit and Kashi Granola bars for breakfast/snack.

Then we headed out to Brevard County to clean up some ocean!  Tons of people came and there were people with giant video cameras everywhere!  As we got on the bus our "bus captain" explained the rules and what we were going to do.  Get into small groups, we had to write down every piece of trash we picked up so they could keep track of what sort of trash is most common (seriously, Disney researches everything), etc. etc.  At the end, our captain asked us, "So, are there any questions?"  Dead silence.  "Any questions at all?"  Suddenly a little girl in front raised her hand.  "I have a question!  Umm... what... which Disney character's favorite color is purple?"

Best.  Question.  Ever.  We were riding the purple bus, which I think it where the question came from.  For the record, we ultimately decided on Daisy, but I think Rapunzel is up there, too.

 

 It was still pretty chilly, which is why we wore our jackets.  Our group (just our bus) cleaned up 1.5 miles of the ocean's coast.  Just standing back looking at it, there didn't seem to be much in the way of trash.  But by the end, our trash bag was surprisingly heavy.  As were the trash bags of all those around us.  I was amazed at how much trash we found.  Mostly, it was just little chunks of plastic (sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between the chunks of plastic and the seashells... but when you can clearly read on it "Made in China" I tend to be convinced that it is indeed plastic) and bottle caps.  We also found candy wrappers, string, rope, a fishing line (it took forever to pull the kelp out of the fishing line), a hanger, and bazillions of cigarettes.  Nasty!  Cigarette butts actually had it's own section on the sheet we filled out.

 

Yeah.  This is me filling out the sheet.  I don't know why I'm giving the camera stinkeye.  Actually.  I do.  The sun was shining right into my eyes... and I had no idea Pamilla was taking a picture.  Anyway.  Pamilla loves this picture of me and even put it up on Facebook, so I figured I'd better explain it.

 The beach was beautiful.  And surprisingly deserted.  Especially for a Saturday.  We found tons of trash and overall had a fantastic time, I'd say.  I loved seeing all the Disney people with their families coming out to have fun.  Kids as young as five were allowed. 

Afterwards we went to the park and had a picnic.  Sandwiches, chips and cookies.  Then we came back home and finished watching the movie Aladdin that we had started on the way there.

It's been a great day!  But I've been waking up at 5am almost every morning lately, and the latest I've slept in is about 6:30, so I'm going to bed.  I know it's early.  I know I'm lame.  But I'm stinking tired!

Way to go Disney!  Way to provide tons of opportunities to serve!  I absolutely LOVED it, and totally plan on VoluntEARing again!

Judge Me By My Size Do You?

My Disney Heritage class yesterday was in the Magic Kingdom.  We met there and walked around talking about the history of the park(s) and went on Mickey's Philharmagic and searched for Hidden Mickeys.  Best. Class. Ever.  Disney Heritage should be a major.  Only, then the only job you could ever get with it would be... well... um...  Meh.  Never mind!

A kid in my class was wearing this t-shirt.  We weren't supposed to dress professionally since the teacher didn't want us to stick out in the MK.  I almost died laughing at it.  It's one of those shirts where it says on the front "Judge me by my size, do you?"

And this is the back.  I just have to say I am soooo glad that I'm not working an attraction where we have a height limit.  We even have parents bring infants in their arms on my ride and it's okay.  My roommate who works Space Mountain has told me of the issues with it.  And the parents who stuff the kids shoes with tissues or tell their kid to stand on tip toes.  It sucks because it's such a hard thing to deal with.

But.  This picture cracks me up.  And that was the entire point of this post.

Now to get free Chik-fil-a (Thursdays after 4 for Disney Cast members!) and go to Grocery BINGO with my roommate.  We still haven't won, but it's fun and free!  Then Walmart to get milk and eggs... I can't believe I'm somehow out of both so I've been living off of dry cereal and soup.  Then sleep.  Oh, precious sleep!

Baby Sables!

I heard stories from the people I work with about when we got the addax a while back.  They said they just came to work and suddenly there were fact cards and the leaders basically just said, "Here's a new animal.  Memorize it and look for it."  Done.

Well, a few days ago they mentioned our "baby Sable Antelope" were coming out on show.  I didn't even know we had baby Sables.  I'd only ever seen the adult.. male I think.  Usually they put him over with the zebras, but once in a long while I'd spot him somewhere on West Savannah (out with the giraffes and Ankole cattle and such).

So yesterday was the magical day.  Their first day on show.  They put burlap all around the reserve to help protect them, just in case they got a little "lost."  And we got the little cards that had random Sable facts on them.  More Sable facts than the ones we had already memorized.

The only problem?  They didn't happen to warn us that baby Sable Antelope look absolutely nothing like adults. I mean, seriously.  Look:

So I was driving around and looked out, looking for a small group of Sables and instead saw two adults and several little reddish looking things.  I wanted to say, "What in the heck is that!?"  But of course, it's easy to figure out in that situation, since I knew every animal on the reserve except that one.  I'm just glad I didn't misidentify a squirrel or something as a baby sable.  The main thing I was worried about was that I didn't know how big the babies were, so I was scared I'd hit one.  But there were trucks parked all around the reserve both keeping an eye on the sables and keeping an eye on us drivers.  It all went well.

And I'm really excited for our newest addition! They really are adorable.

And in closing, something stupid I said on the safari yesterday (this could seriously be a daily thing here, stupid things I say).  This comment made my whole entire truck burst out laughing.  Soooo embarrassing: "The male lions of the pride are generally all females."

Meant to say, "The female lions of the pride are generally all sisters.(or at least closely related)"

Daylight Savings Time

America is weird.  Sometimes I feel like we are the only country who does Daylight Savings Time.  (Are we?  I actually don't know..)

Anyway.  I worked the Fastpass position today where I check the fastpasses to get on the rides.  All the foreign people kept coming an hour early and I had to keep explaining to them they needed to wait an hour.  And some even got mad, and pull out their watch which clearly stated that the time was "correct."  Then I had to remind them about daylight savings.  Some laughed as they remembered America is weird.  Others completely didn't get it.  Some just shrugged and left.  It was one of the funniest situations, and the most odd I've ever dealt with.  Really.  It never occurred to me that switching an hour back or forwards would be weird... but it is, I guess.

In light of Daylight Savings, though, our ride is officially closing at 4:45 for the rest of the month, regardless of what time the park closes.  This is good, because it means I'm off by 5:30 pretty much every single day.  It's also bad though.  Because 4:45 is a super weird time to be closing just one ride in a park that normally closes at 5 or 6 (closing times depends on the day... Disney is weird like that).

So I've been reminding people at the end of my safari if I have time.  "If you all enjoyed what you saw today, you're welcome to come back and join us again with Kilimanjaro Safaris!  We'd love to have you!  However, keep in mind that we will be closing at 4:45 tonight, so be sure to come back before then.  Thanks again for all your help catching those poachers!"

Have a hakuna matata day!  Remember, no hurries and no worries! (I don't actually use that one, but a lot of people I work with do)

I Swear I'm Not Blond

The cool thing about Disney is that they're good at illusions.  Things don't have to be real for them to be magical.  Something magical about my ride is how it gives the illusion that I'm very knowledgeable about animals... when in reality I simply memorize the three facts on the little card they give me with a picture of an elephant.

The other day this old woman in the front asked me about some random white and grey birds hanging out near the hippos (after I had told everyone about the pink-backed pelicans and the cormorants).  I turned off my mic, turned to look at her and told her straight up, "Actually... I'm sorry.  I honestly have no idea... I know nothing about those animals."  Then I realized I could probably pull this off entirely by telling the truth, "I know nothing about Floridian birds, I just know the birds here in Africa.  However, we do get a lot of foreign travelers here on the reserve."

The woman and her husband could not stop laughing, clearly expecting me to know everything and anything about all animals.  And quite honestly, I know very, very little about animals.  Very sad actually.

But that's not what this post is about.  As happy as I am to humor those guests who tell me at the end of my safari, "Thank you, you were very knowledgeable," I'm also the first one to tell you how completely not genius I am about many things.  In fact, sometimes I'm downright blonde.  Except that I'm a brunette.

The other day I was working prams and my friend was telling me a story about giraffes as I was trying to get the families with strollers out of the line so I could take their strollers and we could park them.  I told the guest, "Hello ma'am, I'll take your giraffe right here for you... I mean kid... I mean... the stroller.  Just the stroller, that's all I need."  In my defense, the stroller was orange.  The kid?  Well.. I don't have an excuse for that one.

But the real reason for this entire post is what happened today.  Again, at prams.  When I work Pram 1 position I get a radio.  I always clip the radio behind my back on my belt buckle.  That way it's out of the way as I deal with ten thousand strollers being shoved at me from various places.  So during pram today, I noticed a beeping sound, like a cell phone, coming from behind me.  I turned around to find nothing there but the tree.  After looking for a second, I ignored it and kept going.  A few seconds later the alert came again.  And again, I turned around in a circle, the noise continuously right behind me.  "Where is that coming from?"  I thought.

Finally the third time I turned around.  Enough guests had passed by that I was sure it wasn't a guest's phone, and we didn't have a phone at our location.  Just a.... radio.... ahhhh.  I actually realized it because Sean, who I happened to be working with, pointed it out to me just as I was thinking about it.  My coordinator was trying to reach me by radio.

Then he told me he was purposely just watching me because it was funny to watch me "chase my tail."  Possibly the most embarrassing thing ever.  You're welcome!

Rearview Mirrors

One of the greatest feelings ever is when I'm driving around in circles and I look up in my rearview mirror to see every single one of my guests with a giant grin on their faces.  Because I'm their driver!  I feel like I've created a Disney-worthy ride experience that people actually like!  (even though I totally didn't create this ride... someone else did and they told me what to say and how to drive... but still!  I can pull it off!)

I love it during poachers scene, when I'm speeding around turns.  That's the main spot where everyone is smiling.  I normally need to keep my eyes on the road at that point a little more than usual, but I love glancing up in the mirror... especially when there's an elderly couple in the front seat or a family I wouldn't normally think would know what's going on.  And they're just grinning away or laughing.  The elderly couple is fully aware that I'm being silly, asking where the heck I am... sometimes a little kid will answer.  I'll say, "Watch out for those geysers!  Aww, man!  Where are we?"  and a little kids voice will come out from the back, "I know where we are!  We're in Disney!"  or my favorite is when they say, "Oh!  We're in Africa!"  But you don't have to know what's going on to enjoy my ride.  It's just fun.  I love Disney!

The funny thing is, though... I was driving around some friends the other day and they were sitting in the back seat.  I kept wanting to tilt down my rearview mirror so I could see the people sitting in my back seat.  I didn't care about those cars behind me, I just wanted to see my "guests" and make sure they were seated and having fun!

I think that'll take me a bit to get over.

Oh The Joys! ...Of Apartment Living

A few weeks ago my roommate and I were on the couch watching a movie.  Suddenly, our phone rang so my roommate got up and answered it.  Apparently, the girl on the other end was yelling and cussing at her about how we were being too loud.  My roommate tried to clarify which apartment the girl was trying to reach because obviously, my roommate and I weren't being loud at all... we weren't even walking around our apartment.  The girl on the phone was so mad though, she just (apparently) started making fun of my roommate for not even knowing where she lived, and then my roommate hung up.

I assumed the girl on the other end either had the wrong apartment or was drunk.  My roommate was pretty upset about it, but the more we talked about it the more we decided the girl probably had the wrong apartment, and I made myself feel better by telling myself that the girl probably felt bad when she realized she chewed out the wrong apartment.

Well.  Fast forward to today.  About fifteen minutes ago.  I just got back from my class and no one else is home.  There was a knock on the door and I answered it to find Price Management (the guys in charge of our apartment complex... maintenance basically) standing there ready to install our new corkboards that each apartment is getting!  It's all part of the complex's idea to prevent us students from creating more holes in the walls.  They're installing five giant corkboards throughout our apartments so that all the stuff we want on our walls can go onto those and we won't be creating even more damage to the walls.

So the guys came in.  There were two guys and five gigantic corkboards.  I'm not gonna lie, they were heavy corkboards and they kept dropping them on the ground.  They asked if anyone was sleeping and I answered no, since I was the only one home.  They started hammering away and shortly after our phone started to ring.

One of the guys made a joke about how "if that is my ex-wife, tell her I'm not here!"  Laughing, I answered the phone.  I barely said "Hello" when the girl on the other end started yelling at me about letting elephants make babies in my apartment.  After I heard the third "F-bomb" I just hung up the phone, with her still screaming, and started laughing.  I told the maintenance guys about it and the one mentioned, "Sheesh, I guess it was my ex."

They didn't quiet down much after that.  The hammering needed to be done and the heavy corkboards were hard to move from room to room without letting them drop on the ground at least a little.  But five minutes passed and they were done.

The phone rang again.  I didn't bother answering, knowing I'd just be yelled at.

Five more minutes passed.  There was a knock at my door.

I looked through the peephole, planning on refusing to open the door if I didn't know who it was.  I didn't know who it was.  But it was a security guard.

I opened the door.  She asked me if I was making much noise.  I showed her how I was on my computer (actually in the middle of the first paragraph of this post), and was the only one home.  Then I explained how the guys were literally just here installing the corkboards (they were only next door) and how they were here when the girl downstairs called so she could ask them as well.  The security lady asked if I knew the girl's name who called, but I didn't.  Then she told me to have a nice day and left.

I think my neighbors downstairs hate me.  What's more, this whole situation reeeeeeally makes me want to do jumping jacks and parade around my apartment stomping on the floor.

But I won't.  Cuz I'm the bigger person.

Also, I'm pretty sure I should start being careful about where I park my car.  I'm really worried if they find out which car is mine they'll key it or slash tires or something.  But then that's probably just my anxiety talking.

Happy Halloween!

Crystal's comment from last time made me feel bad about not blogging in almost a week (thanks a lot for that!  but I'm glad you like my blog!).  So here we go.  A Halloween post that has (almost) nothing to do with Halloween!

Things have been a whirlwind lately.  First of all, everyone's been getting sick.  And it's all been different sicknesses too.  This guy I work with actually caught the chicken pox!  I didn't even realize that was possible at our age!  My roommate is sick with some nasty thing, and I've caught some sort of sore throat, goo-in-the-lungs kinda deal.  Not fun.  But the good news is I feel totally fine.  It's just I can feel liquid in my lungs when I take deep breaths and I've been coughing and sneezing a TON!

Anyway, the animals are still as fun as ever.  One of the baby elephants was chasing vultures the other day!  Soooo adorable!  She would find a bunch on the ground and charge at them until they flew up in the air.  Then she'd stop, look around for mom, try to get mom's attention, and then try to do it again wherever the vultures had landed.  Cutest thing EVER!

Today this little girl on my truck, maybe nine, got a little freaked out at the beginning when I mentioned it was a two week safari.  She just had to ask me, "Is this really a two week safari?" When I told her that "Of course is was" she told me she couldn't leave for two weeks because Dad had to work and she had to go to school to be educated.  I told her she'd be educated plenty on this.  We had biology.  Then she mentioned math.  I told her we'd count the giraffes.

Finally at the end of the safari she got my attention one more time.  "Um, excuse me, I have a question."  "Yes?"  "Umm... why...?  um... why... never mind!"  And she dug her face into her mom, embarrassed.  Her mom urged her to ask the question, and finally she looked at me.  "Why couldn't it be a two week safari?"  she asked.  Cutest thing ever.  The story on the ride is that our safari gets cut short because we have to chase the poachers, and I make it clear that that's the reason we have to "come back early."  She understood this, I think.  But I also think she understood the poacher thing was a story, but the two week thing could have been real.  I feel bad throwing people off sometimes, but other times it's just plain fun.

It's really sad when little kids leave my truck crying because they don't want to get off.  They cling onto the truck or scream, "But I wanna go again!!"  I feel bad for the parents, but I feel a slight sense of satisfaction as the slightly annoyed parent explains, "I know you enjoyed the ride, but it's time to get off.  Maybe we can come back later!"  Some parents enjoy it too, and I love it when I get requests for rerides!  (no, it almost never ever happens, and only sometimes I can actually allow it!)

My favorite is when I get a little kid in the front seat with mom and halfway through the ride the kid makes a comment about how "This is my favorite ride!" and mom says, "I know, this is your 6th time!"  Ours really is one of the best family rides I've ever been on in my life.  Every single age absolutely loves it.  Even people who don't speak a lick of English will ride it, because it doesn't really matter if you don't know what's going on.  The animals are the show!

I had "Training" on my schedule the other day.  I was totally confused, wondering what sort of "Training" I'd have since I've been here more than two months (it feels like it's been a lot longer than it sounds!).  Anyway, the training ended up being a tour of the village of Harambe (the village within Disney that I work in).  We learned the story behind our town and they pointed out a LOT of details throughout the town that I had never noticed before.  Crazy!  I'm thoroughly amazed at Disney and the detail and extent that they go to when they do things.  Fantastic!

Next week I have more "training."  This time, though, it's in preparation for the DAK PAK Olympics!  Animal Kingdom is by far my favorite place I've worked so far because we have so many cast activities and things.  A lot of them I haven't even written about on here, but trust me, it's been amazing!

The DAK PAK Olympics is basically what you'd think it is.  We have six managers over our area, and each cast member is assigned a particular manager who is called their "DAK PAK Leader."  DAK PAKs usually do fun things, for example ours toured the ride Dinosaur one morning.  Another DAK PAK I know got to go do the backstage tour of Everest.  Sometimes they'll take you backstage to the animal houses or do other fun things.

Well, apparently every few years they do the DAK PAK Olympics.  The different DAK PAKs are competing against each other to "win."  What do we win?  I have no clue.  But I don't really care, I'm just excited to play!  The "awards ceremony" will be in December and they even passed out these official looking invitations for us to RSVP because we're allowed to bring one guest.  The whole thing is super cheesy, but also super awesome.  It just cracks me up!

So the different things we have to do for our "Olympics" are all basically things that we do for our jobs anyway, for the most part.  One is parking ten feet away from a giant plastic zebra we have, because with animal stops, we're supposed to stop the truck ten feet away from animals.  Whoever can get the bumper closest to ten feet away from the plastic zebra (without going too close) wins.  Other events are timing things, like how long it takes us to switch out in the jog (switching trucks), or getting guests on and off the trucks in a timely fashion (it's all supposed to take about 30 seconds, but realistically... well, you can't really yell at guests to hurry it up).

I'm so excited for this!  It's just such a good idea and so funny.   Judging begins in another few weeks.  I can't wait to start.

Anyway, tonight for Halloween, my roommate and I are making dinner.  I know.  Lame.  Well, it's dinner in a pumpkin, so it's a little bit in theme!  We also did Grocery Bingo: Halloween Edition the other night.  I love playing Grocery Bingo, even though I haven't won yet.  It's a free event housing puts on every once in a while for us poor cheap college students as a way to win free food!  And sometimes Duffy Bears and Ipod Nanos.  But I digress.

So my roommate and I are making dinner in a pumpkin.  It's a recipe she found, and has apparently made before.  She's not home yet, so I started making preparations.  I cut up the peppers and the mushrooms... not sure how much I'm gonna like this meal, but hey.  I'll try it! (I normally don't like peppers or mushrooms)

But yeah, I dressed up as a foreign tourist for Halloween.  I went to a few parties, saw a haunted house, got scared, watched Halloween movies, and now am eating a Halloween dinner and carving pumpkins tonight.

Now I'm ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!  The most wonderful time of the year is right around the corner!  And I can't even WAIT!

Favorite Quote

Okay, maybe it's not my favorite.  But I found it on facebook and it made me laugh.

Halloween Party... Sort of

I can't tell you how much fear runs through my body when I get the hiccups between guests on my ride.  Seriously.  I think about how embarrassing it would be to have the hiccups on the ride and the sheer fear of that gets rid of my hiccups.  Thank goodness!

This is me at my friend's Halloween Party Saturday night.  The girls crammed on the couch for this.  I wasn't planning on dressing up at all, but the day of my friend Kaunnalli (sitting next to me in this pic) texted me telling me that Austin reeeeeally wanted everyone to dress up.  It was his party.  She texted this to me the day of while I was at work.  And I had nothing.

So I went as a Disney tourist.  I had the big camera around my neck too, but said camera was used in taking this photo sooo... yeah.  I planned on sunglasses but forgot them.  Lamest costume ever, I know.  But I bet you'll never guess who the girl on the right is.  Some chick from X-Men?  Something like that.

Anyway, Austin did a really good job and it was a fun party.  It was extremely hard to get pictures because the lighting was so dark and there were black lights everywhere.  The only way to get a decent picture was to use flash, but that lit up the whole room and was kind of annoying.  So I refrained and most of my pictures ended up like this:

Good times!

DAK PAC

Yesterday I got to work PAC in Animal Kingdom for the first time ever!  I was actually supposed to work on Thursday, but due to scheduling issues and extensions and such, they ended up taking me (and all other Safari Drivers) off of the PAC team.  I was pretty bummed because I was so excited, but that just meant yesterday I was even more excited.

Working PAC in Animal Kingdom is just like I expected it from what people told me.  Everyone I knew who worked both said that DAK is way more relaxed and chill about everything.  It was true.  It made me realize just how ridiculously uptight MK was.  However I will say MK is more structured and better at PACtivities (entertaining guests before the parade begins).  In DAK, the cast members are nicer, more laid back, and happier.

I liked how the people who work the parade daily were actually very patient and kind to us new people.  Had we been in MK, they would have been talking down to us, gotten aggravated, and been overall just annoying to deal with. 

At one point, a little girl stuck her head out from under the rope.  Instead of running down there, screaming and calling to the girl to get back under there or else she'd die, the cast member quietly, calmly walked down to her and bent down to her level to explain that she needed to move back.  Very nicely.  Fortunately, the cast in DAK don't need to be such sticklers because the floats are much more manageable, less dangerous, and easier to drive.  In MK, the float drivers have a much harder time seeing guests in front of them so it really is a bigger deal if people go out in the road.

Anyway, just my opinion on the differences.  I can't wait to work PAC again.  I did have to upset some people when I explained that they weren't allowed to get to the Safari during the parade (they could, they just had to go way down and around out of their way, or they could wait the 10 minutes for the parade to be over, which is a long time for excited vacationers to wait).  However, I successfully kept my area clear and I basically completely owned that place.  I think everyone eventually understood.   I've learned to acknowledge the fact that people are upset about stuff.  Instead of, "No, you can't go through here it's closed." it's better to say, "I'm sorry.  I know it's inconvenient right now, but I can't let anyone through because the parade floats are moving and it's dangerous.  The parade will be over soon, or if you'd like you can walk around."  People are a little more likely to not yell.

Anyway.  Good times. :)

Today I had more training.  We got to walk through Africa and learn all kinds of things about our town and it's history that I didn't know before.  Really, really cool stuff.  I love how Disney constantly has training for it's employees.  Absolutely love it.

Anyway, I'm hungry so I'm grabbing dinner.  Meatloaf!  Mmmm. :)

Twelve Hours

Today was pretty much the longest day ever.  I woke up before the sun rose.  I walked to the bus in the dark and made it to work around 6:30 so I could start at 7am.  Park opened at 8am.

Basically my day was spent driving around in circles.  For hours.  And hours.  During one of my breaks I interviewed one of my managers for my leadership class.  And apart from that, I did one thousand safaris today.  And that was my life.

Park closed at 6pm.  I was extended until 7pm.  My shift originally was going to be from 11:15a-6p.  But no.  I just had to choose to ask for extra hours today.  I got on the bus and came home.  The sun set while I was on the bus home.  And I walked back to my apartment in the dark.

And they told me Animal Kingdom got normal hours... psh.

For the record, though, I'm not complaining.  I wanted the extra hours, and the extra money.  I'm just exhausted beyond reason and due to upcoming Halloween parties and other events, I'm not going to be sleeping for quite a while... it's okay though.  Cuz I've been eating my vegetables. :)

I Love My Job

I love it when:

people applause at the end of my ride!

little kids tell me my safari was "wonderful!"

little kids cry when they "have" to get off at the end of the ride.  "But it was too much fun!"

the gorilla (who looks exactly like Kerchak from Tarzan) is out in the morning or evening and I can go over and watch him for a few seconds.

the animals walk in front of the road up ahead and my guests freak out. "Oh my gosh!  Look!  There's giraffe in the road!  Oh my goodness, we have to take a picture of this!  I'm sure it never happens." False.

a group of like thirty safari drivers start at the same time and together we take up about half of the bus going back to the Pride Rock

I come around the corner at the end of the ride to "Little Red" and everyone on the truck, in unison, goes "Awwwww!"

I hear the parents making sure their kids are learning from what I'm saying. "Did you hear that?  Those Ankole cattle use their horns to cool off!  Cool!"

I talk to guests on land and tell them that I drive the trucks too and they act all surprised like it's a really big deal!

children (and actually adults) ask the following questions about reality:

"Were there really poachers?"

"Is that a real tree?"

"Are those rhinos for real?"

"Is this ride on a track?"

"Are those ostrich eggs real?"

"What are the cattle guards for?"

"How do you get the birds to stay without flying away?" (they can indeed fly away... you would never guess how we do this actually!)

"How do the lions stay with the addax without eating them?"  I once had a mom ask me this, wondering, "So do you just let nature take it's course out there?"  I just love that it is so hard for guests to figure out just exactly how we do it.  Usually it's a little girl around the age of ten asking this question. (it's okay, we don't let the lions kill the animals who are endangered... we have our ways)  And yes, I went around today to see the cheetah eating a recent kill.  Very nice...

And my personal favorite.  "So do you chain the animals to the ground to keep them in the proper places?"  How inhumane do you think we are!? What part of "free roaming" reserve do you not understand?

I love my job!

Lily's Disneyland Surprise

If you love me, watch this video.  If you've already seen it, watch again.  It gets more hilarious each time.

That's my reaction every morning when I go to work.  Well... not quite so dramatic. ;)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my job!

"It's a monster... I mean Minnie Mouse!"

Opening Trucks Is Just Not My Thing...

This morning I started work bright and early at 7:15am.  Meaning I opened a truck.  I made sure not to pick 24 this time, from past experiences.  32 seemed like a good number.  I went with it.

I went through all the opening procedures (takes about 20 minutes) cleaning, sweeping, checking, double checking things, etc. etc.  Filled out all my paperwork and finally went to drive the truck.  As I put the truck into drive and pulled forward I heard a loud squeaking sound.  It only lasted a second and I didn't think much of it.  But as I went to drive around the VM lot, I realized it was happening each time I accelerated.  I decided to tell the manager when I went to get my paperwork signed off.  The last step of opening a truck is to get the leader to sign off the paperwork, then you drive on to the ride path.

I pulled up to the leaders and as I put my truck in park and explained what my truck was doing to the manager, a loud alarm went off.  I looked around stupidly for a second thinking, "Is that my truck?  Can't be... I checked the whole thing!"  Turns out my aux brake light and alarm went off.  Just like last time.  Now the truth is (I swear it normally works like this... just not with me apparently) when that happens, most of the time a simple reset will fix it.  So I turned to the manager since she was right there, asked if I could do a full reset, she said yes and I did.

And then I went to turn the truck back on.  Nothing.  Crank... Crank... Nothing.  And that's when we decided this truck was no good because apparently the squeaking sound was from yesterday and it had a loose belt too.  Lame.

So she had me pull around the lot, park the truck, shred the paperwork, and start from square one opening a different truck.  And this time I didn't get to choose the truck.

Fortunately it wasn't 24 they gave me.  That would have been hilarious though.  But no, I was put on 12.  I went through the paperwork to open 12, swept, did the evacuation ladder, everything.  Then drove around the lot, yet again.

As I went to sign off the paperwork, I almost accidentally signed under the number 32 because that was the first truck I opened.  I mentioned this near mistake to my leader as I signed under the number 12, and let her know we might want to double check the paperwork to make sure I filled it out for truck 12 and not 32.  There are three different places on the paperwork where you verify what truck it is.  I accidentally circled truck 32 in one of those places.  So I had to pull back into the lot and refill out all of my paperwork from the beginning (fortunately I didn't have to actually do everything again, just the check sheet).  But still.  Super annoying.  Finally, third time around, I was able to check out.  Oi!

I'm thinking I'm just bad luck when it comes to opening trucks.

Class Day

Wednesday.  My class day.  I actually got a phone call last night asking if I could come in to work today for a six hour shift because they needed people.  I wanted to, but of course I couldn't because one class is from 8:30 to 12:30 and the other is 4-6.

In my morning class it was a girl's birthday.  So the teacher had us sing Happy Birthday to her in each language that was spoken in our classroom.  Because we have a lot of foreign people in my class.  We ended up having Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin (the Chinese people I know actually call their own language Chinese, not Mandarin I've noticed), Korean and kind of Japanese.  I say kind of Japanese because we have a group of Japanese kids, but they said that in Japan they sing the Happy Birthday song in English.  I'm not sure if they were just getting out of having to sing it or if that's true. :)  It was awesome, though.

The Asian group in the corner always completely blows away the rest of the class with assignments.  I can now personally attest to the fact that Asian kids are crazy smart.  With each of our class/group assignments they just go so far above and beyond on things I wouldn't have ever imagined doing.  For example we had an activity where we needed to produce as many paper snowflakes as we could in a given amount of time with a set amount of paper and scissors.  Our group figured out our design, and made an assembly line to keep things going and did, what I thought, was pretty well.  We did in fact do a good job.  The Asian group however, used internet research in less than five minutes figuring out designs online that were very efficient and then retrieved extra sets of scissors and came out with this elaborate design practically with glitter.  Unbelievable.  I conceded defeat from that point on with any and all competition from that group.  And that's just one example.  With another assignment the average score of the class was 200-300 points (you wanted as few as possible).  Our group did second best on that one actually getting a score of 133.  The Asians?  96.

How do they do it!?

So far this semester, ever since our first class only three of the five members of my group have been in class each day.  One dropped today.  We should be fine though.  Our first real assignment is due in two weeks.

Then I had a break and I went to my 4pm class.  Disney Heritage.  Definitely one of the best classes ever.  Our teacher is awesome, too.  He basically spent almost the first hour of class just talking about his life.  Which would normally be kind of weird, except that we all clung on to each word he said because he's had such an awesome life.  His experience with Disney is so cool.  Plus he showed us about his trip to Marceline, Missouri.  Which I've decided I am definitely going to have to visit someday.  Just sayin'.

Anyway, in other news our washing machines have been updated.  We used to have washers where you got a card and put money on the special laundry card and then used that laundry card in the machines.  Now they've gotten newer, nicer machines.  These machines are credit card operated.  You put your laundry in and then there's a credit card machine on the wall and you put your card in and it automatically charges you.  If the machine breaks, malfunctions, or doesn't turn on, or if you choose not to use it, it will (supposedly) automatically refund you the dollar.  Pretty awesome.  Plus they're the high efficiency machines and they do the thing where is magically weighs how much laundry you have and determines just how dirty it is and uses just the right amount of time and washing.  But then that means the time on the machines changes.  So you can actually set up the machines so it text messages you when it's done, and you can look online to see what machines are available.  Super, super cool.  Kinda scary for me to be depending so much on technology, but still.  Very cool.

Stupid Things From the Mouth of Dianna

I shouldn't do the safari when I'm tired.  That last sentence was my original title of this post actually.  But it's true.  I need to get more sleep.  Here is a list of the stupid things I said on the safari today... during my 8 hour shift of driving in circles talking about animals who randomly jump into the road in front of me.

"Flamingos are the lightest pink of all flamingos." ....no.  That's not right.

"Ostriches can run up to 70 miles an hour!"  ....nope.  Not right either.

"The Ankole Cattle's long horns can grow up to 6 feet in length and 20 feet around at the base!"  I actually said this one a few days ago... the guy behind me repeated, "Feet?"  and then I realized what I said.  Fail.

"Watering holes like this one up here on the right are great places for black rhinos to hang out!"  Guest response, "Umm... that's the left."  Me: "I always fail at directions."

"And up here on the left you'll see some giraffes out there in the distance."  This would have been normal to say.  Except there were no giraffes within sight.  In fact there were only elephants.

We sell this shirt and it just seemed to fit this post like a glove.

"These crocs can snap their jaws shut with over 12,000 pounds per square inch of force!"  Yep... that would be a gross exaggeration.

Fortunately I caught every one of these and was able to correct it.  I just wish the guests would have laughed at me.  I think it would have made me feel better.  Usually I would just pause after saying it and then say, "Nope, that's not right..." And then I'd correct myself.  I've certainly learned my lesson about turning my brain on autopilot.

One time I came around to see the ostrich and accidentally called it a giraffe.  I corrected myself in a way like this, "And up here to the left you can see a giraffe.... wait... noooo, that's an ostrich.  Just kidding!  Whoever caught that gets two points!"

Anyway, final point: Dianna needs more than 6 hours of sleep.  Or else.

Also.  I'm tired.