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!"
Showing posts with label Disneyland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disneyland. Show all posts
Friday, October 14, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Disneyland: The Extended Version!
I had to drop my Auto Mechanics class. Sad but true. It required resources I didn't have and money that doesn't exist in my world. BUT I still downloaded some of the Powerpoints and tutorials so I can still learn about cars... hope that's not illegal...
Also, I went to Disneyland last week! Here are some more pics of that trip.
Easter Sunday. The day we left. Heather M., Me, Heather H., and Whitney. We left around noon-thirty (after church), and got to Anaheim around 11:30 (California time, so 12:30 Utah time which means it took us right about 12 hours to get there...)
The reason the trip took so long was because we hit traffic about ten miles outside of CA. Everything was perfect up til then. The weather had been beautiful and there was no traffic, even through Vegas! Then, BAM! Traffic jam in the middle of nowhere! Seriously. As far as we could see, in every direction, there was nothing. Except cars. Lots and lots of cars.
I started to get nervous about gas (despite my AAA card and awesome insurance-thanks parents!) so after a while of moving 20mph we finally found a gas station. I pulled off and it was fairly busy. I think the other cars had about the same idea as we did. We wanted to fill up because we didn't know how much longer this traffic would last and we were literally in the middle of nowhere. The ONLY thing at this exit were two gas stations across the street from each other.
I pulled into the Chevron and Heather M. got her card out to pay while other Heather and Whitney went to find a bathroom. They came back shortly saying that this gas station didn't have a bathroom and they were going across the street. In the meantime, Heather M.'s card stopped working after about $5 of gas. We pulled the car up to a different pump and it started working again. We filled up the car and then waited.
After a minute or two, we decided to drive across the street to where the others were so they wouldn't have to cross the busy street twice. We drove over there and waited a few more minutes. Nothing. Heather got out to look for them and came back a few minutes later. She went inside and saw there was no bathroom anywhere. Still couldn't find them.
So we called them. BOTH girls had left their cell phones in the car. This is when I got a little nervous. We drove back over to the last place we had parted, hoping they'd be there. Still nothing. So we parked as close to the gas pump as possible, and waited. And watched. And waited. Heather got out to look around again. There were some drunk teenagers (or at least they were acting drunk, but sometimes teens don't need alcohol to act drunk). Just as Heather and I were talking about how we were going to react when they got back (we had a great, long, loud lecture planned) and how we would react if they had, indeed, been kidnapped (we tried to avoid that topic), we finally saw their bright, smiling faces coming towards us from across the street. We, however, were not so happy to see them alive and in good condition. "ARE YOU SERIOUS! YOU SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF US! DON'T YOU EVER LEAVE YOUR CELL PHONES AGAIN! NOT AT A CREEPY GAS STATION IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! AHHHHH!!!" Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what we sounded like. Anyway, the truth was I was extremely relieved and happy to see them fine. They said the bathroom was outside the gas station and around the corner. They had to wait in line AND they had to wait for someone to clean it so it took a while. Meh. Excuses excuses. I was still scared.
This is looking back down Main Street towards the train station. We were some of the first people to enter the park... we got there 50 minutes early to be a part of this crowd. Really, it was pretty empty. We picked a great time to come!
Itty bitty Sleeping Beauty's castle. I now know why I always had guests asking me where the walk-through in Cinderella's castle was. For the record, Cinderella's castle doesn't have a walk-through. There's a super ritzy restaurant up there and a Cinderella Castle Suite that rich and famous get to stay in! That's it.
If you look carefully, you can see they have a Partner's statue in front of this castle as well (the Partner's statue is of Walt and Mickey... they're partners)
This is me seeing the castle for the first time ever. I'm sooo happy Heather took this picture. I LOVE it! This is me, Heather and Whitney. Morning of the first day! I was so stinkin' excited!
I especially love this picture of Heather because it shows her personality perfectly. Map in one hand (although pretty soon she'll just have the map as a souvenir), video camera in the other, sunglasses on her head, and backpack full of snacks, water, etc.
Heather and I on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness! Their Big Thunder is very similar to the one in Florida, although it did feel a touch faster. Space Mountain also felt faster. Maybe it's because I don't have those tracks memorized, though. Heehee...
This is Heather on the (Not So) Fun Wheel in California Adventure. You can see my hand. And from my hand, gripping the walls for dear life, you can probably imagine my facial expression. I was pretty much curled up in the fetal position crying the whole entire ride. I'm not even lying, Heather, being the awesome friend that she is, filmed me. Worst. Ride. Ever!
Me, Whitney, and the Heathers meeting Duffy. I officially decided last year when I first met Duffy that I will someday own one, or at the very least, my children will have a stuffed Duffy. First, I'm a fan of stuffed animals. Second, Duffy's story is adorable and I LOVE to travel. Don't know the story? Look it up. :)
Heather H. and I in Minnie's house. Heather's going for Minnie's "diet" chocolate chip cookies. They're holographic. Good one, Minnie. Good one. They sure taste like air though...
This is my new favorite ride. The Storybook Canals Tour. You get to ride in a boat with a skipper and they tell you stories. Disney stories, of course.
The Pirates of the Caribbean 4 premiere is taking place this coming week. (Yes, they made another movie!) It costs like a thousand dollars to go on that day. Crazy! But they were doing a kind of "pre-premiere" trailer kind of showing while we were there. So we went. The pirates were hilarious!
At one point they were getting the crowd all excited as we were waiting to begin. One of the pirates yelled, "All the children, say 'Yo-ho!'" And they shouted, "Yo-ho!" Then he said, "All the women, say 'Yo-ho!'" We did. Then he shouted, "All the men, say 'Yo-ho!'" They shouted Yoho as well. Finally the pirate yelled, "Everyone else, say 'yoho!'" About a third of the crowd shouted. The pirates looked around confused. "So to all those who just yelled.... I'm confused... what are you?" Another pirate responded, "Probably French..." Buuuuurn!
At the end we got to meet Captain Jack Sparrow and Angelica (she'd from the new movie, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly aren't coming back for the fourth one).
Toontown in Disneyland is way better than Florida's Toontown. I'm still not really a Toontown freak, but I'll admit it was fun to spend a while there, especially since Disney World's Toontown is about to disappear to make way for the new Fantasyland expansion.
This is my favorite picture of the four of us. This was in California Adventure. And it's a construction wall. But still, I like it!
I had also never had so many fastpasses at one time before. I mean, I get them, but usually in Disney World I can do the single riders line or I know when to go when there's no line anyway.
The first set of fastpasses is from our day at California Adventure. The second is from Disneyland. And we had way more than this, too. This just shows how many passes I had at one time.
And, of course, no post of Disney a Disney trip is accurate without the fireworks. I actually didn't take many pictures of the three awesome shows we saw (Wishes: Disneyland Style; Magic, Memories, and You picture show; and World of Color water show). All were amazing!
Such an awesome trip. I can't say which park(s) I prefer, the one's in Florida or California. But I will say it was a totally awesome week. Worth every penny I spent and every second of worrying.
Also, I went to Disneyland last week! Here are some more pics of that trip.
Easter Sunday. The day we left. Heather M., Me, Heather H., and Whitney. We left around noon-thirty (after church), and got to Anaheim around 11:30 (California time, so 12:30 Utah time which means it took us right about 12 hours to get there...)
The reason the trip took so long was because we hit traffic about ten miles outside of CA. Everything was perfect up til then. The weather had been beautiful and there was no traffic, even through Vegas! Then, BAM! Traffic jam in the middle of nowhere! Seriously. As far as we could see, in every direction, there was nothing. Except cars. Lots and lots of cars.
I started to get nervous about gas (despite my AAA card and awesome insurance-thanks parents!) so after a while of moving 20mph we finally found a gas station. I pulled off and it was fairly busy. I think the other cars had about the same idea as we did. We wanted to fill up because we didn't know how much longer this traffic would last and we were literally in the middle of nowhere. The ONLY thing at this exit were two gas stations across the street from each other.
I pulled into the Chevron and Heather M. got her card out to pay while other Heather and Whitney went to find a bathroom. They came back shortly saying that this gas station didn't have a bathroom and they were going across the street. In the meantime, Heather M.'s card stopped working after about $5 of gas. We pulled the car up to a different pump and it started working again. We filled up the car and then waited.
After a minute or two, we decided to drive across the street to where the others were so they wouldn't have to cross the busy street twice. We drove over there and waited a few more minutes. Nothing. Heather got out to look for them and came back a few minutes later. She went inside and saw there was no bathroom anywhere. Still couldn't find them.
So we called them. BOTH girls had left their cell phones in the car. This is when I got a little nervous. We drove back over to the last place we had parted, hoping they'd be there. Still nothing. So we parked as close to the gas pump as possible, and waited. And watched. And waited. Heather got out to look around again. There were some drunk teenagers (or at least they were acting drunk, but sometimes teens don't need alcohol to act drunk). Just as Heather and I were talking about how we were going to react when they got back (we had a great, long, loud lecture planned) and how we would react if they had, indeed, been kidnapped (we tried to avoid that topic), we finally saw their bright, smiling faces coming towards us from across the street. We, however, were not so happy to see them alive and in good condition. "ARE YOU SERIOUS! YOU SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF US! DON'T YOU EVER LEAVE YOUR CELL PHONES AGAIN! NOT AT A CREEPY GAS STATION IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! AHHHHH!!!" Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what we sounded like. Anyway, the truth was I was extremely relieved and happy to see them fine. They said the bathroom was outside the gas station and around the corner. They had to wait in line AND they had to wait for someone to clean it so it took a while. Meh. Excuses excuses. I was still scared.
This is looking back down Main Street towards the train station. We were some of the first people to enter the park... we got there 50 minutes early to be a part of this crowd. Really, it was pretty empty. We picked a great time to come!
Itty bitty Sleeping Beauty's castle. I now know why I always had guests asking me where the walk-through in Cinderella's castle was. For the record, Cinderella's castle doesn't have a walk-through. There's a super ritzy restaurant up there and a Cinderella Castle Suite that rich and famous get to stay in! That's it.
If you look carefully, you can see they have a Partner's statue in front of this castle as well (the Partner's statue is of Walt and Mickey... they're partners)
This is me seeing the castle for the first time ever. I'm sooo happy Heather took this picture. I LOVE it! This is me, Heather and Whitney. Morning of the first day! I was so stinkin' excited!
I especially love this picture of Heather because it shows her personality perfectly. Map in one hand (although pretty soon she'll just have the map as a souvenir), video camera in the other, sunglasses on her head, and backpack full of snacks, water, etc.
Heather and I on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness! Their Big Thunder is very similar to the one in Florida, although it did feel a touch faster. Space Mountain also felt faster. Maybe it's because I don't have those tracks memorized, though. Heehee...
This is Heather on the (Not So) Fun Wheel in California Adventure. You can see my hand. And from my hand, gripping the walls for dear life, you can probably imagine my facial expression. I was pretty much curled up in the fetal position crying the whole entire ride. I'm not even lying, Heather, being the awesome friend that she is, filmed me. Worst. Ride. Ever!
Me, Whitney, and the Heathers meeting Duffy. I officially decided last year when I first met Duffy that I will someday own one, or at the very least, my children will have a stuffed Duffy. First, I'm a fan of stuffed animals. Second, Duffy's story is adorable and I LOVE to travel. Don't know the story? Look it up. :)
Heather H. and I in Minnie's house. Heather's going for Minnie's "diet" chocolate chip cookies. They're holographic. Good one, Minnie. Good one. They sure taste like air though...
This is my new favorite ride. The Storybook Canals Tour. You get to ride in a boat with a skipper and they tell you stories. Disney stories, of course.
The Pirates of the Caribbean 4 premiere is taking place this coming week. (Yes, they made another movie!) It costs like a thousand dollars to go on that day. Crazy! But they were doing a kind of "pre-premiere" trailer kind of showing while we were there. So we went. The pirates were hilarious!
At one point they were getting the crowd all excited as we were waiting to begin. One of the pirates yelled, "All the children, say 'Yo-ho!'" And they shouted, "Yo-ho!" Then he said, "All the women, say 'Yo-ho!'" We did. Then he shouted, "All the men, say 'Yo-ho!'" They shouted Yoho as well. Finally the pirate yelled, "Everyone else, say 'yoho!'" About a third of the crowd shouted. The pirates looked around confused. "So to all those who just yelled.... I'm confused... what are you?" Another pirate responded, "Probably French..." Buuuuurn!
At the end we got to meet Captain Jack Sparrow and Angelica (she'd from the new movie, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly aren't coming back for the fourth one).
Toontown in Disneyland is way better than Florida's Toontown. I'm still not really a Toontown freak, but I'll admit it was fun to spend a while there, especially since Disney World's Toontown is about to disappear to make way for the new Fantasyland expansion.
This is my favorite picture of the four of us. This was in California Adventure. And it's a construction wall. But still, I like it!
I had also never had so many fastpasses at one time before. I mean, I get them, but usually in Disney World I can do the single riders line or I know when to go when there's no line anyway.
The first set of fastpasses is from our day at California Adventure. The second is from Disneyland. And we had way more than this, too. This just shows how many passes I had at one time.
And, of course, no post of Disney a Disney trip is accurate without the fireworks. I actually didn't take many pictures of the three awesome shows we saw (Wishes: Disneyland Style; Magic, Memories, and You picture show; and World of Color water show). All were amazing!
Such an awesome trip. I can't say which park(s) I prefer, the one's in Florida or California. But I will say it was a totally awesome week. Worth every penny I spent and every second of worrying.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Numbers...
6 classes to get ahead in. 6 hours spent doing so on Saturday morning.
4 Disney fanatic friends.
$200 dollars (of my money, I'd say we did a dang good job).
1200 miles. 22 hours travel time. 5 stops for gas.
3 magical days in Disneyland.
6 princesses met.
6 hours of sleep each night.
5 times we rode California Screamin'.
2. The amount of travel hours we lost sitting in traffic Sunday night trying to get into California in the middle of nowhere. Apparently, they have agricultural inspections in that state. After we got in, though, I don't know why the traffic had to continue for another hour at 11 o'clock at night.
5 different beds/couches that I've slept on over the past week.
150 Disney songs sung at the top of our lungs.
80 degree perfect sunny weather.
1 viewing of World of Color. 2 Fireworks viewings. And 1.5 viewings of Magic, Memories and You. (the half is because it broke down the first time).
3 tries before we could actually get all the way through the line to ride Indiana Jones without it breaking down.
22 Cast Members that confused me by dressing and looking identical to cast members I worked with in Florida.
999. The amount of times I was completely confused at the similarities, but yet extreme differences between Disneyworld and Disneyland.
3. The amount of times I ended up back at the Gumbo shop in New Orleans Square walking in circles looking for Indiana Jones to get fastpasses for our group.
2 sunburned feet.
1 INCREDIBLE trip.
More to come later. For now I'm catching up on sleep in preparation for my four hour drive the rest of the way home tomorrow morning (yep, I'm still in Provo).
Monday, April 18, 2011
Random Thoughts on Stress and Vacations
Sometimes I look back at my time spent on Disney and remember the nastiest people I encountered. I wonder, sometimes, if they realize the impact they had on me and my life. I wonder if people realize how much it hurts to have a stranger scream in your face when you're simply trying to do your job and keep everyone safe. I remember the lady who attacked me and the man who held up his fist threatening to beat my face in. Do they realize, right now, today, the impact that had on me? How angry that made me feel, how my friends would go home crying, how horrible a position that put me in... either I get fired from my job or I get my face pounded. Thanks, dude.
I sincerely feel the majority of angry people I encountered were not always such horrible, beastly jerks. They were probably perfectly decent people who were under a lot of stress with screaming children and more expenses than they may have planned for this trip. They may have been working off only a tiny bit of sleep because they didn't want to miss anything. They may have been working so hard to make sure that their vacation was perfect, that they were causing their own problems without realizing it.
This is why I've officially decided that cruises are the best way to vacation. At all. Ever. When we went on our cruise, the only bit of stress I felt was getting to the boat early enough to eat lunch there! And the fact that one of Heather's bags made it to the room a few hours after the rest of our luggage and so we spent a couple of very nervous hours scared that Heather had lost her most valuable suitcase. Even then, Heather kept it together very well, and we certainly weren't angry, just scared. On a cruise, everything is paid for beforehand so there's no extra costs (unless you want to buy all the extras, but we had no problem turning those down). Also on cruises, all entertainment is pre-planned. You don't have to freak out making sure you plan enough time to get everything in. Everything is on one boat and everything can be done, easily. The whole point is to not stress and to relax. It's pretty much amazing!
Well, this next week will be the first time I've ever planned a vacation on my own, before, other than the cruise. And honestly, the cruise doesn't fully count since all we had to plan was how to get there and where to park. Heather and I are working together to plan this, and, fortunately, it's working out beautifully. We have our transportation, parking, lodging, food, and attractions planned. I'm hoping this won't be a terribly stressful vacation. Heather thinks we're going to do it for less than $150 a person. I'm thinking it's going to come out to more like $250-$300/person. That's still way better than the original figure I had, though, of $600. It's probably because we got more people to go, so more people to split the cost with.
Next Sunday (yep, Easter Sunday), Heather, other Heather, Whitney, and I will leave from Utah for Anaheim. We'll check into the hotel that night (already have reservations), and sleep. We'll spend Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in the parks. We're planning on walking because a)our hotel is super close and b)we're not fully confident that we can get free parking at Disneyland. We have one or two (two I think, but that's Heather's job so I don't really know) nice dining reservations for dinner, but we'll be eating breakfast at the hotel and packing sandwiches for lunch (our room will have a fridge, too which is pretty convenient, plus we have a cooler for the car snacks). Thursday we're waking up early and driving back home. Whitney has a GPS which will be super convenient to have since I've never been anywhere that we're going.
I've preplanned my classes and today was spent figuring out exactly what work I have to get done before leaving and what homework will have to be done the day I get back. The beauty of online classes is that I'm going to be able to pull of something like this!
I, however, will be leaving Rexburg Friday probably. I found some people to go with me on the ride down so I can split the cost of gas. Thank goodness cuz it's like $35 to get to Provo in gas alone.
I'm super excited for this trip and hope to goodness that everything goes as planned. Can't wait til Friday!
I sincerely feel the majority of angry people I encountered were not always such horrible, beastly jerks. They were probably perfectly decent people who were under a lot of stress with screaming children and more expenses than they may have planned for this trip. They may have been working off only a tiny bit of sleep because they didn't want to miss anything. They may have been working so hard to make sure that their vacation was perfect, that they were causing their own problems without realizing it.
This is why I've officially decided that cruises are the best way to vacation. At all. Ever. When we went on our cruise, the only bit of stress I felt was getting to the boat early enough to eat lunch there! And the fact that one of Heather's bags made it to the room a few hours after the rest of our luggage and so we spent a couple of very nervous hours scared that Heather had lost her most valuable suitcase. Even then, Heather kept it together very well, and we certainly weren't angry, just scared. On a cruise, everything is paid for beforehand so there's no extra costs (unless you want to buy all the extras, but we had no problem turning those down). Also on cruises, all entertainment is pre-planned. You don't have to freak out making sure you plan enough time to get everything in. Everything is on one boat and everything can be done, easily. The whole point is to not stress and to relax. It's pretty much amazing!
Well, this next week will be the first time I've ever planned a vacation on my own, before, other than the cruise. And honestly, the cruise doesn't fully count since all we had to plan was how to get there and where to park. Heather and I are working together to plan this, and, fortunately, it's working out beautifully. We have our transportation, parking, lodging, food, and attractions planned. I'm hoping this won't be a terribly stressful vacation. Heather thinks we're going to do it for less than $150 a person. I'm thinking it's going to come out to more like $250-$300/person. That's still way better than the original figure I had, though, of $600. It's probably because we got more people to go, so more people to split the cost with.
Next Sunday (yep, Easter Sunday), Heather, other Heather, Whitney, and I will leave from Utah for Anaheim. We'll check into the hotel that night (already have reservations), and sleep. We'll spend Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in the parks. We're planning on walking because a)our hotel is super close and b)we're not fully confident that we can get free parking at Disneyland. We have one or two (two I think, but that's Heather's job so I don't really know) nice dining reservations for dinner, but we'll be eating breakfast at the hotel and packing sandwiches for lunch (our room will have a fridge, too which is pretty convenient, plus we have a cooler for the car snacks). Thursday we're waking up early and driving back home. Whitney has a GPS which will be super convenient to have since I've never been anywhere that we're going.
I've preplanned my classes and today was spent figuring out exactly what work I have to get done before leaving and what homework will have to be done the day I get back. The beauty of online classes is that I'm going to be able to pull of something like this!
I, however, will be leaving Rexburg Friday probably. I found some people to go with me on the ride down so I can split the cost of gas. Thank goodness cuz it's like $35 to get to Provo in gas alone.
I'm super excited for this trip and hope to goodness that everything goes as planned. Can't wait til Friday!
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