Behind the Scenes, Part 1

As I mentioned in my last entry, I went on a 5-hour "Keys of the Kingdom" tour of Magic Kingdom.  I learned lots of history and in depth of how Magic Kingdom really came about.

We went on 2 attractions: The Haunted Mansion and The Jungle Cruise.  Our tour guide has worked at Disney practically his whole life and he worked these 2 attractions.  Because of this, we were given even more of an insight!  I'll share with you what I thought was most intriguing.  Don't read if you don't want the secrets revealed!

The Haunted Mansion

-They cut the grass literally with scissors to make it more uneven.
(Think how timely that is!)

-It is the most maintained and *clean* ride in the park, even though it's appearance is supposed to look just the opposite.

-When they first started making the ride there were 2 producers.  The first producer wanted the ride to be scary like it was actually haunted. The second producer wanted the complete opposite and wanted it to be corny and funny.  Because they were fighting over this, they came to a compromise--the first half of the ride is funny and then second part is scary.  This makes complete sense when going through the ride since the ending is the cemetery!

-Guess if the room really stretches or if it's just an elevator when you are in the room getting ready for the ride?  Trick question. It's both.  Disneyland in California has an elevator, and here in Disney World the room actually stretches.


-It's the only Disney attraction around the world that is in every single Disney park and in a different land also. 
(I think in Tokyo he said it is in Fantasyland?? I don't think I would fantasize about that..)


-Tony the Tiger from the Frosted Flakes is in the cemetery!


-Last but not least: the big secret! How do they do the ballroom with all those "holograms" ??
When the ride was first being created, they realized they wanted to do this scene.  So, before they went any further, they had to have a helicopter fly in with a piece of glass the length of the entire scene and place it 8 feet in front of you.  Without realizing it, behind your buggy there is a reflector that projects the images above and below you onto the glass in front of you. It is timed perfectly so that each buggy sees the same thing at the same time.  After he told us this, we looked below us and we actually could see a few "ghosts" before they were projected.  Crazy, right??

The Jungle Cruise

-Walt originally got this idea when he was in Africa. He actually wanted live animals from Africa.  After the realization of the costs and maintenance of the animals, they set out to make look-a-likes.

-There are over 300 plants on this attraction.

-They dye the water green because it's only 3 feet deep so they want to make it look more realistic and so that you do not see the bottom.

-Every single morning the skippers check the (fake) animals to make sure there is no mold on them and they wash them before the day begins.

-There is no steering at all.  The skippers pretend like they are driving the boat, when in actuality, they do it just for the show.  The boats are on a track.

-There is a part that you see mid-way through the attraction on your left side where it looks as if you are going to be ambushed.  There are 3 Indians and all sound like they are saying gibberish and yelling, however, the last one is not.  The last one says "I love disco!" but you will only be able to notice if you listen for it.  The producers of the ride put that in there as a surprise, since it was during the 70's, without Disney actually knowing.

Next blog will be on the rest of the tour.

R.I.P. Wings, until next time.

Family!

Soo everything still has been lovely here!

My family came almost a month ago, but just now have I gotten everything together! 

Here is a raw snip-it of our week. Pictures will be uploaded to Facebook soon. Enjoy Steven...
I love him.

 

  

We also saw Cirque du Soleli on one of the nights and it was BY FAR the best performance I've ever seen in my life. I couldn't take my eyes off of the acrobats. You weren't supposed to take snapshots or videos because of copyright purposes, however I sneakily did. This is all I had taken before one of the ushers told me to put my camera away.. oopsies! ;-0 

This showing was particularly special.  This show, called La Nouba, exclusively only appears in Orlando in Downtown Disney.  It does not move and you can see it nowhere else.  Because of that, I liked it even more!  Now I want to go see Cirque du Soleli everywhere else since they will all be different.  This was only about half the show, and of course the 2nd half was even better than the first, but here are just some examples.

I finally realized that I will certainly not be checking off everything I wanted to do here.  I only have 1 1/2 weeks of actually working because.. I'm going on a cruise!!!  I'm very, very excited.  I went on the Wonder in 2001 when I was a wittle baby so I obviously don't remember it that much except from the pictures. 


My roommate's 21'st birthday is April 23rd, and the ship cruises the 25th!  What a great birthday present to her!  She has never been on a cruise and she even asked me how much food was going to cost! I just laughed, because obviously it's included on the cruise. I got a great discount on it and it's the Magic (the Wonder's sister ship), therefore it will be fun to compare the 2 of what I remember.  And hey, you only live once, right???
 
I also went on a 5-hour "Keys of the Kingdom" tour at Magic Kingdom since I had half off the tour price as well.  OH MY GOODNESS did I learn a WHOLE bunch!! The next blog will definitely be about that and if you want to learn the "in's and out's" of Disney, then be sure to read that.  I learned all about how they do the special effects in the Haunted Mansion, how the Jungle Cruise came about, and the history into making the certain lands in Disney.  I thought it'd be silly to take a tour here since I work here, however, I learned more in that 5 hours than I did when I first started here!  I have a much greater appreciation for Magic Kingdom, as it's not just a "play place" and where only families go with their kids.  It's actually very intriguing to learn the thought process and how many people it actually took to make it all possible.

I'll blog on that later, take care everyone! Go Wings! :)

 
Steven just showed me this video clip.  It looks unique and fun, but realistically, it is the most illogical idea ever in my opinion.

Exactly one month left !!

^^ EEEEEK to that ! ! and so so so much more to do ! And I'm taking an early release to take a spring class at Grand Valley starting May 8th so my stay will be cut even shorter unfortunately :(

But everything has still been great here!  I literally could write at least 3 more blogs right now for everything that's happened. (parents coming, tour I went on, volunteering at a kid's resort with life-threatening diseases, etc.)


I continue to make lists of activities I want to do here before I leave.  The problem is that the list just keeps on piling up and the days keep getting shorter and shorter!  Mostly what happens is that I work 5 days a week and have 2 days off.  My one day off I will use to catch up on laundry, blogging, grocery shopping, and errand-y stuff.  The other day I will use as my "fun" day.  So realistically, if I'm working the 3-11:30pm shift and don't go to bed till 2 or 3am, you can see where I don't have much time for funzies.


Because of this, I am already interested and looking into fitness internships.  There is a small gym here for cast members along with classes, programs, etc. that any cast member can participate in.  I saw that there are opening for internships for 6-month periods.  I first want to go back to school and finish my degree since I only have one full semester left and an internship.  However, after that, I will be graduated in May and the internships are from June-January.  I thought this honestly would be PERFECT.  

Why?  In a summary, I thought that missing out on all the holidays with my family would have been sad and lonesome.  But who was I kidding?!? THIS IS WALT DISNEY WORLD! They have parades and fireworks and famous people coming ALL THE TIME!  I was looking at my friend who did the June-January this past year and she can't stop talking about how much she loved all the carolers and Christmas festivities.  It's like going to a huge carnival every day, but since there are so many holidays, and huge holidays at that, Disney goes crazy!  Everything looks way different than even before!  They have special ticketed events, special characters, and parties just for the holidays that I'm jealous I missed. Also, I will be coming right out of graduating, doing something towards my career, being able to see what Florida is like year-round (since I got this half of it done!), be in a wayy different environment, and boost my resume.  Therefore, I may be doing a blog round 2 in a year if God wants me to be here again!

I'm not sure if I mentioned this in a blog or not, but I have been asked multiple times if I would want to move here permanently.  The answer is a big resounding NO.  As much as I do love the atmosphere, I do really love Michigan.  Everyone complains all the time about the weather and how it's so unpredictable but that's what I like about it!  We have all 4 seasons.  It's absolutely gorgeous when the flowers come out in the spring.  Following, our summer is just the right length and right warmth.  Then we get to see the beautiful leaves turn colors, start to fall, go to apple orchards, get into "fall" colors, and breath in that autumn air.  Lastly, yes our winters can be rough, but of course "can" is the key word as this winter there was practically NONE! (or so I've heard!)  I do miss the snow angels I can make and watching the snow fall outside my apartment.  And my hot chocolate!! (which I still have here and people think I'm crazy).  Of course I don't miss when my face is so cold from the winter I turn red and my hands turn purple.  There are downfalls everywhere.  But all in all, everything I know is in Michigan. I love Florida, but not as much as I love Michigan.  Most Michiganders move to Florida because they hate the snow, but already seeing that I'm getting 8 months of summer weather this year, I have a preview of what it would look like to live here: over 90+ degree weather with 100% humidity in the summer, lizards and snakes out all the time, etc.. not too ideal for me.

Moving on,
I have had lots of visitors come see me this month!!!

My beautiful friend Allison came with her family!

My family !

Steve SO excited for the new Toy Story ride. Typical picture.

My aunt and I at the Polynesian :)

With that said, I've been super busy! I absolutely loved everyone visiting, but it was more tiring than I thought!  When my aunt came for a week, and then my parents after, it seemed I never slowed down.  I had a pedometer here and we calculated how much we walked in the parks out of curiosity.  A few examples: 15,790 steps one day and 7.3 miles, 24,712 steps and 11.3 miles another day, etc.  I took my family to Magic Kingdom their first day since it had extra magic hours (meaning longer parks hours) so we were there from 11am-1am.  14 hours in the park.. let's just say they were a little tired .. ! (but we got everything done!!)

I have more funny videos of just them when they came but that will be the next blog. 

When my aunt was here we went to Seaworld! I hadn't been there in years so I was excited to see all my cute little animals and my dolphins!! The ticket also let you go in a second time for free within 14 days so I went once again with my roommate, Ashley.

I cut them into 2 videos because it would have been pretty lengthy.  I keep surprising myself at how long it takes to edit all these videos and they still aren't the best!

I'm sure you all will love the opening video..

Until next time, when Steve will be the star of my next blog.  Obviously..you won't want to miss out.