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!!!