Hello Everyone
Sorry it has been a while since my last post, there have been renovations going on in the computer building here so it's been hard to get on a computer. But I'm here now and I can update you on all the stuff thats has been happening.
Hope you all had a great New Years. Mine was pretty sweet. I had to work twelve hours, but I finished up at 8:30, so I spent the rest of the night at Studios. It was absolutely packed. I think someone had said that we were over capacity for the park, so you literally couldn't move very fast at all. They had a big stage set up where bands played and also the worlds most annoying DJ. I also went and saw the Osbourne Spectacle of Dancing Lights for the first time as well. In the backlot section of Studios they have a couple of streets that are supposed to look like streets from New York and San Fransisco. Down these streets are thousands apon thousands of lights that 'dance' to christmas music which is really cool. After this we saw the fireworks display with a couple of the guys from work. This was pretty sweet for the people still working at the ride as the fireworks were going off from the top of our ride, so they had to close it, it remain close for almost an hour after so they could see if all the fireworks had gone off.
This years American College program ended so there was a lot of people from the ride leave. Also my roomates had to leave so I had to move into another apartment. So I am now living with a couple of Brazilians who are really cool, but I think they are leaving in 2 weeks so I'll most probabally be moving again and getting more new roomates.
Working at the Movie Ride has been pretty hectic of the past few weeks. As its the holiday season there are so many people coming into the parks its crazy. I didn't go play in the parks on my days off as I didn't want to have to deal with a load of people. We did break down the other day, our compressor blew again, so we went 101 for 2 hours, it was awesome! Sitting around for 2 hours and getting paid for it is good in my books. I had a guest offer me a tip the other day after riding my show, of course I couldn't take it, but it does give you a nice feeling that they enjoyed my show that much.
Anyway I think thats all the major things that have happened, if I think of anymore I'll update you. Well our 40% discount is back so I'm off to do some major Pirates shopping. Have a good one guys!
Tristan
PS I'm sure you would have heard of the Tigger incident, yes it happened at my theme park and though I cant really comment about it, it was taken completely out of propotion.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Christmas
Hey guys!
Hope you all had a really good Christmas and got all the stuff you were hoping for. Now lets talk about how I spent Christmas. As I have already stated I had to work a 12 hour shift, fun! The day started out pretty good. Few issues with people calling in sick which got sorted out pretty well. Around 11 that's when it started getting a bit busy. That's when the storm came. Some pretty severe weather. We had a tornado watch near us, which I am told is really rare for Florida. Two tornadoes did touch down but nowhere near us. But we did get storms and really heavy rainfall. Of course The Great Movie ride is a very large building and a 20 min ride so its the opportune place for people to get out of the rain. So when it started to come down, there was a mad rush to our line, which bumps up the wait time. We had angry guests because of the rain and now they had to wait longer. And when people exited the ride, the didn't want to go out in the rain, so our exit got congested with people who wouldn't move. When this happens we have to light load onto the vehicles which means we put fewer people on the vehicles, which means a longer wait in the line. Then our compressor decided to blow. I was on a vehicle when this happened. I was going through Tarzan, and he was just waiting in the middle and not swinging back and forth, in Oz, the witch didn't have her smoke, Alien was just slumped out his hiding hole, and the smoke where the death scene of our bandit/gangster happens wasn't working so the guests could see them walking through the hidden wall. At this point they decided to close the ride to fix it. This means telling a line with people who have been waiting an hour that they had to go and come back when we got everything fixed. That was Christmas at the Great Movie Ride.
Then came boxing day, another 12 hour shift. Boxing day was much busier then Christmas, which means another long wait. Thankfully we didn't have the bad weather, it was just cold. It was about 2pm when we had a vehicle go down, 10 min wait is Oz (every time something goes wrong I am always on a vehicle and I am always in Oz!) After they got that car going and I finished up, it was time for my break. I come back from getting lunch and the call comes in that the car broke again and they can't move it, so we had to go 101 (the code for the ride having to close). This means going out and telling another queue of people that have been waiting for an hour that we are closing and they have to leave and come back (with some people being in the queue the day before).
Luckily I now have two days off and am looking forward to not having to deal with people yelling at me. Yay! Now I have to prepare for the New Years period where we will be getting double the amount of people we did on Boxing Day.
Take Care!
Tristan
Hope you all had a really good Christmas and got all the stuff you were hoping for. Now lets talk about how I spent Christmas. As I have already stated I had to work a 12 hour shift, fun! The day started out pretty good. Few issues with people calling in sick which got sorted out pretty well. Around 11 that's when it started getting a bit busy. That's when the storm came. Some pretty severe weather. We had a tornado watch near us, which I am told is really rare for Florida. Two tornadoes did touch down but nowhere near us. But we did get storms and really heavy rainfall. Of course The Great Movie ride is a very large building and a 20 min ride so its the opportune place for people to get out of the rain. So when it started to come down, there was a mad rush to our line, which bumps up the wait time. We had angry guests because of the rain and now they had to wait longer. And when people exited the ride, the didn't want to go out in the rain, so our exit got congested with people who wouldn't move. When this happens we have to light load onto the vehicles which means we put fewer people on the vehicles, which means a longer wait in the line. Then our compressor decided to blow. I was on a vehicle when this happened. I was going through Tarzan, and he was just waiting in the middle and not swinging back and forth, in Oz, the witch didn't have her smoke, Alien was just slumped out his hiding hole, and the smoke where the death scene of our bandit/gangster happens wasn't working so the guests could see them walking through the hidden wall. At this point they decided to close the ride to fix it. This means telling a line with people who have been waiting an hour that they had to go and come back when we got everything fixed. That was Christmas at the Great Movie Ride.
Then came boxing day, another 12 hour shift. Boxing day was much busier then Christmas, which means another long wait. Thankfully we didn't have the bad weather, it was just cold. It was about 2pm when we had a vehicle go down, 10 min wait is Oz (every time something goes wrong I am always on a vehicle and I am always in Oz!) After they got that car going and I finished up, it was time for my break. I come back from getting lunch and the call comes in that the car broke again and they can't move it, so we had to go 101 (the code for the ride having to close). This means going out and telling another queue of people that have been waiting for an hour that we are closing and they have to leave and come back (with some people being in the queue the day before).
Luckily I now have two days off and am looking forward to not having to deal with people yelling at me. Yay! Now I have to prepare for the New Years period where we will be getting double the amount of people we did on Boxing Day.
Take Care!
Tristan
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Days Off
Hello!
Just had the last two days off. Spent Thursday at Studios as I had to pick up my paycheck and wanted to do some of the stuff I haven't seen yet. Got to check out the Lights Motors Action! stunt show which was pretty cool. I got quite a few photos of that, which I will share with you once I find out the best way to put them online. Also got to see Fantasmic!, which is Studio's big fireworks show. Yesterday I got to the one park that I haven't been to yet, Animal Kingdom. I liked it a lot more then I was expecting. The attention to detail that they have there is amazing. I got to see the brand new show there as well, Finding Nemo: The Musical. I was pretty impressed. They've gone with the Lion King stage show kind of theme, with all the actors controlling puppets of the characters. Didn't get on the big new roller coaster they have there, Expedition Everest as there was an hour long line which I didn't really want to wait that long for, so I'll go back after the holiday season when the crowds die down. Finished up the night at Epcot, where it started to rain and I got completely soaked. Got on the ride Mission Space there which was a lot of fun.
Now I have to get to work, 2:30-8:30 so not such a bad shift. Them my week of 12 hour shifts and finishing at 2 in the morning start, fun stuff! If I don't post or email you before then, I wish you all a very merry christmas!
GREAT MOVIE RIDE FUN FACT: The ruby slippers in Oz are size 9 and a half.
Just had the last two days off. Spent Thursday at Studios as I had to pick up my paycheck and wanted to do some of the stuff I haven't seen yet. Got to check out the Lights Motors Action! stunt show which was pretty cool. I got quite a few photos of that, which I will share with you once I find out the best way to put them online. Also got to see Fantasmic!, which is Studio's big fireworks show. Yesterday I got to the one park that I haven't been to yet, Animal Kingdom. I liked it a lot more then I was expecting. The attention to detail that they have there is amazing. I got to see the brand new show there as well, Finding Nemo: The Musical. I was pretty impressed. They've gone with the Lion King stage show kind of theme, with all the actors controlling puppets of the characters. Didn't get on the big new roller coaster they have there, Expedition Everest as there was an hour long line which I didn't really want to wait that long for, so I'll go back after the holiday season when the crowds die down. Finished up the night at Epcot, where it started to rain and I got completely soaked. Got on the ride Mission Space there which was a lot of fun.
Now I have to get to work, 2:30-8:30 so not such a bad shift. Them my week of 12 hour shifts and finishing at 2 in the morning start, fun stuff! If I don't post or email you before then, I wish you all a very merry christmas!
GREAT MOVIE RIDE FUN FACT: The ruby slippers in Oz are size 9 and a half.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Exciting Stuff
Hello
Well my shift yesterday certainly turned out to be an interesting one. First up it was my first 12 hour shift (first of many it looks like, working 12 hours on Christmas Day and Boxing day woohoo!) They day wore on pretty long by the end of it and things were going pretty smoothly. That is until about an hour and a half before we were due to finish up. I was running a vehicle through and we could all start to smell a really horrible smell, almost of something was burning. I continued on and got to Oz, when I finished my spiel there I waited for the light to go green so I could go to the next area ... it didn't. After a few minutes a call came through that we were expecting technical difficulties. So here I am waiting will a car full of people waiting for someone to come help. Someone came through and told us that we were evacuating the ride as a vehicle had overheated with smoke going everywhere, and I had to entertain the guests while we waited till all the cars behind us had been unloaded. Luckily the guests in my car had a good humour about the whole situation. So we are sitting there for 15 - 2o minutes, I crack some jokes, tell them a bit about Australia and when I have reached the bottom of the barrel ... start playing eye spy. The runners finally came through and we got everyone off (many taking photos as a memento). When then have an hour of just standing around waiting for a shift to end. It was here I got to meet the guy that operates all the projectors in the park. Turns out that his other job is working as a camera operator on films. Also turns out that he worked on all three of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies! He wasn't able to say anything about the third one, but tells me that it's going to blow everyone’s minds. But I spent a good while talking with him about the films he has worked on, what process is involved with it all and name dropping all the people he has worked with and telling me about them.
So yeah, turned out to be a pretty interesting conclusion to a very long day.
Talk to you soon!
Tristan
GREAT MOVIE RIDE FUN FACT: In all of the Disney parks there are many 'Hidden Mickeys', which are hidden outlines of Mickey Mouse. On the Great Movie Ride soundstage is the only Hidden Minnie in the whole of the Walt Disney World Resort.
Well my shift yesterday certainly turned out to be an interesting one. First up it was my first 12 hour shift (first of many it looks like, working 12 hours on Christmas Day and Boxing day woohoo!) They day wore on pretty long by the end of it and things were going pretty smoothly. That is until about an hour and a half before we were due to finish up. I was running a vehicle through and we could all start to smell a really horrible smell, almost of something was burning. I continued on and got to Oz, when I finished my spiel there I waited for the light to go green so I could go to the next area ... it didn't. After a few minutes a call came through that we were expecting technical difficulties. So here I am waiting will a car full of people waiting for someone to come help. Someone came through and told us that we were evacuating the ride as a vehicle had overheated with smoke going everywhere, and I had to entertain the guests while we waited till all the cars behind us had been unloaded. Luckily the guests in my car had a good humour about the whole situation. So we are sitting there for 15 - 2o minutes, I crack some jokes, tell them a bit about Australia and when I have reached the bottom of the barrel ... start playing eye spy. The runners finally came through and we got everyone off (many taking photos as a memento). When then have an hour of just standing around waiting for a shift to end. It was here I got to meet the guy that operates all the projectors in the park. Turns out that his other job is working as a camera operator on films. Also turns out that he worked on all three of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies! He wasn't able to say anything about the third one, but tells me that it's going to blow everyone’s minds. But I spent a good while talking with him about the films he has worked on, what process is involved with it all and name dropping all the people he has worked with and telling me about them.
So yeah, turned out to be a pretty interesting conclusion to a very long day.
Talk to you soon!
Tristan
GREAT MOVIE RIDE FUN FACT: In all of the Disney parks there are many 'Hidden Mickeys', which are hidden outlines of Mickey Mouse. On the Great Movie Ride soundstage is the only Hidden Minnie in the whole of the Walt Disney World Resort.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Blog
Hey peoples
Haven't been up to much exciting stuff over the past few days. Just I did get to go see the movie 'Stranger than Fiction'. Really good film (Will Farrel) and I suggest you all go see it. Been working a bit as well. Things have been going pretty smoothly. Just getting into the hang of everything. All the different positions I have to do a pretty easy and straight forward. Most of them are just standing around. The one I don't like at the moment is ADB (Assistant Director B). It is just being incharge of the dock area and loading the people into the cars. But its very hectic and all over the place and gets really annoying when guests dont go to the row that you assign them or a family of 4 spaces themselves out cause they don't want any other people in the row (even though each row can fit 6 people) or when people are too fat to fit in a row. Its basically like playing tetris but all of the pieces have a really bad attitude. I just checked my work schedual and I got a 12 hour shift on Monday Woo hoo! Anyway I have to get going now, got some christmas shoppin to do, woo hoo!
Have a good one guys!
Tristan
PS Candy with chocolate and peanut butter rocks my socks off!
Haven't been up to much exciting stuff over the past few days. Just I did get to go see the movie 'Stranger than Fiction'. Really good film (Will Farrel) and I suggest you all go see it. Been working a bit as well. Things have been going pretty smoothly. Just getting into the hang of everything. All the different positions I have to do a pretty easy and straight forward. Most of them are just standing around. The one I don't like at the moment is ADB (Assistant Director B). It is just being incharge of the dock area and loading the people into the cars. But its very hectic and all over the place and gets really annoying when guests dont go to the row that you assign them or a family of 4 spaces themselves out cause they don't want any other people in the row (even though each row can fit 6 people) or when people are too fat to fit in a row. Its basically like playing tetris but all of the pieces have a really bad attitude. I just checked my work schedual and I got a 12 hour shift on Monday Woo hoo! Anyway I have to get going now, got some christmas shoppin to do, woo hoo!
Have a good one guys!
Tristan
PS Candy with chocolate and peanut butter rocks my socks off!
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Working
Hello Guys
Sorry haven't posted in a while, there has been so much going on that I haven't been able to get onto the computers, and when I have its been for work related stuff. A lots been happening since I last posted so as I can't remember what I've been doing on what day, I'll just summarize everything.
Going to the parks...
Managed to get to all of them except Animal Kingdom now. Magic Kingdom is pretty cool. Been in the Pirates ride about 5 times now :). Epcot is pretty cool as well. Half of has got semi educational attractions, but they are still pretty fun. The other half of Epcot though is the World Showcase, which is divided into 11 sections that are themed around 11 countries from the world. Its nice just to walk around there and take it all in. Disney-MGM Studios is my favourtie so far, of course. Got to see the bone cages from Dead Mans Chest which got me all giddy. Only been on a couple of attractions from each park though, just spacing them out as I got 2 months to do it all in :P.
Working at the Great Movie Ride
Finished my last couple days training. Didn't really do all that much for that. Most of it was spending 10 minutes explaining what to do, then going for a 2 hour break, not complaining though, still getting paid for it. After another 2 days of training, my assessment day came. It just consisted of a written test (which they showed me the day before so I knew the answers) and just doing all the various roles, which was pretty easy. Then I became an official Great Movie Rider. This consisted of a handprint ceremony, which was me putting my handprint on the wall. I was able to put it next to Tom Hank's signature which was awesome (see below for more info). Started my official day working there today. It was pretty hectic but I think I did alright. The girl that I was training alongside started her first day today as well. She had three vehicles die on her (not her fault) but still not cool.
Anyhoo I about to be kicked off the computer so I will have to rap this up. Day off tomorrow, but only because I have to go get a social security number, Joy!
Take Care
GREAT MOVIE RIDE FUN FACT: In one of the access walkways on the Great Movie Ride, everyone that has worked on the Great Movie Ride has put their handprint on the wall. I few years ago when Tom Hanks visited the Ride, he put his handprint and signature up. But one worker on the Movie Ride got angry at this because he hadn't actually worked on the ride itself and washed it off. All that is left his signature faintly scratched in the wall.
Sorry haven't posted in a while, there has been so much going on that I haven't been able to get onto the computers, and when I have its been for work related stuff. A lots been happening since I last posted so as I can't remember what I've been doing on what day, I'll just summarize everything.
Going to the parks...
Managed to get to all of them except Animal Kingdom now. Magic Kingdom is pretty cool. Been in the Pirates ride about 5 times now :). Epcot is pretty cool as well. Half of has got semi educational attractions, but they are still pretty fun. The other half of Epcot though is the World Showcase, which is divided into 11 sections that are themed around 11 countries from the world. Its nice just to walk around there and take it all in. Disney-MGM Studios is my favourtie so far, of course. Got to see the bone cages from Dead Mans Chest which got me all giddy. Only been on a couple of attractions from each park though, just spacing them out as I got 2 months to do it all in :P.
Working at the Great Movie Ride
Finished my last couple days training. Didn't really do all that much for that. Most of it was spending 10 minutes explaining what to do, then going for a 2 hour break, not complaining though, still getting paid for it. After another 2 days of training, my assessment day came. It just consisted of a written test (which they showed me the day before so I knew the answers) and just doing all the various roles, which was pretty easy. Then I became an official Great Movie Rider. This consisted of a handprint ceremony, which was me putting my handprint on the wall. I was able to put it next to Tom Hank's signature which was awesome (see below for more info). Started my official day working there today. It was pretty hectic but I think I did alright. The girl that I was training alongside started her first day today as well. She had three vehicles die on her (not her fault) but still not cool.
Anyhoo I about to be kicked off the computer so I will have to rap this up. Day off tomorrow, but only because I have to go get a social security number, Joy!
Take Care
GREAT MOVIE RIDE FUN FACT: In one of the access walkways on the Great Movie Ride, everyone that has worked on the Great Movie Ride has put their handprint on the wall. I few years ago when Tom Hanks visited the Ride, he put his handprint and signature up. But one worker on the Movie Ride got angry at this because he hadn't actually worked on the ride itself and washed it off. All that is left his signature faintly scratched in the wall.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
First Day Off!!!
Hey peeps!
It's my first day off since I got here woo hoo! As soon as I finish writing this post I will be heading for the Epcot theme park, should be fun. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest just came out on DVD yesterday, so they have it playing in the background in the Learning Centre here (which is where I am typing this) awesome!
Dec 5th
Started at 12 today. Thought I was going to be late because I though I had lost my Disney ID card as it wasn't in the lanyard I keep it in. Spent half an hour running around looking for it, going to all the places I had been asking people if someone had turned it in. Turns out I just put it in my wallet. How foolish did I feel. Started out the day working on the script a bit, trying to get it down. Did a couple of dead shows around the ride (this means doing the ride without any guests). I keep on stuffing up the actors names for the movies that I don't know. (I get Dick Powell from Footlight Parade easy enough because I find his name so amusing). But we need to get the script line for line perfect otherwise they give us a reprimand., which sucks because the script is so bland and clunky and crap. Example in Mary Poppins you HAVE to say Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke and NOT SAY Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews. Go figure. Anyway after this my trainer did something really mean, started putting people on my tram and says 'Oh your going to do it live now, good luck!' So feeling completely not ready, they get me to do my first live show. Didn't do too bad, didn't do all that good either. Was just relieved when it was all over. After this did some loading exercises and evacuation routes. Got 2 doors into showing the evacuation exits when the other trainer (who likes to climb thing) comes up and goes 'lets go play on the catwalks!'. So we spent about an hour just exploring the catwalks above the ride where they hang all the lights and stuff which was pretty awesome. Then we learnt what to do when the ride closes at night and went home.
And that’s all that happened. Anyway now to hit Epcot!
Toora!
GREAT MOVIE RIDE FUN FACT: The two audio animatronic gangsters used in the gangster scene are replicas of two pirates from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. If you open the mail box in Gangster, they have photos of them.
It's my first day off since I got here woo hoo! As soon as I finish writing this post I will be heading for the Epcot theme park, should be fun. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest just came out on DVD yesterday, so they have it playing in the background in the Learning Centre here (which is where I am typing this) awesome!
Dec 5th
Started at 12 today. Thought I was going to be late because I though I had lost my Disney ID card as it wasn't in the lanyard I keep it in. Spent half an hour running around looking for it, going to all the places I had been asking people if someone had turned it in. Turns out I just put it in my wallet. How foolish did I feel. Started out the day working on the script a bit, trying to get it down. Did a couple of dead shows around the ride (this means doing the ride without any guests). I keep on stuffing up the actors names for the movies that I don't know. (I get Dick Powell from Footlight Parade easy enough because I find his name so amusing). But we need to get the script line for line perfect otherwise they give us a reprimand., which sucks because the script is so bland and clunky and crap. Example in Mary Poppins you HAVE to say Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke and NOT SAY Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews. Go figure. Anyway after this my trainer did something really mean, started putting people on my tram and says 'Oh your going to do it live now, good luck!' So feeling completely not ready, they get me to do my first live show. Didn't do too bad, didn't do all that good either. Was just relieved when it was all over. After this did some loading exercises and evacuation routes. Got 2 doors into showing the evacuation exits when the other trainer (who likes to climb thing) comes up and goes 'lets go play on the catwalks!'. So we spent about an hour just exploring the catwalks above the ride where they hang all the lights and stuff which was pretty awesome. Then we learnt what to do when the ride closes at night and went home.
And that’s all that happened. Anyway now to hit Epcot!
Toora!
GREAT MOVIE RIDE FUN FACT: The two audio animatronic gangsters used in the gangster scene are replicas of two pirates from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. If you open the mail box in Gangster, they have photos of them.
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