All Things WDW

2011 Running Year in Review

2012-01-01T15:41:00.001-06:00

Well, 2012 is upon us and with it a whole new year of miles and Disney trips, starting next week with the Disney Marathon. Due to Christmas travel and a cold I haven't run in a week and are nowhere near my training schedule for the marathon so I'm betting on being close to death upon finishing.

Looking back at 2011, I really stepped up my game and made it through quite a journey. Some highlights:
- Setting new PR for the 5k (22:14) and knocking 5 minutes off my time.
- Demolishing my 10 mile time (1:25:55)
- Running 1 mile with the elites and nearly passing out
- Breaking my leg
- Running and completing my first half marathon 75 days later
- Winning a race (in my age group)

Disney Royal Family 5k in Feb - Our 1st Disney Race

Champion 5k at ESPN Weekend - March

1st Place!!!

The result of trying to win. Womp Womp.

Can't race, but can cheer!

Disney Halloween 5k - Sept (W& D weekend)

1st Half Marathon in the books!

Here's to 2012 with more miles and prolly more injuries. Looking forward to the Spring thaw and more long runs. What are your running plans for 2012?

Disney World Announces A New Race.....

2011-12-21T22:56:00.000-06:00

....well....er...sorta. You see, runDisney just announced (after their usual corny clue deal) starting 2012, the Tower of Terror 10 Miler would be back in the Vacation Kingdom on September 29th. Well, wouldn't exactly be back. You see, the Tower of Terror 13k (~8 miles) had been a previous race which ran (from what I believe) from 2007-2009. For some reason it just vanished, much like the characters in storyline of the race's namesake. Ooooooooohhhhhhh scary stuff.

Anyway, I never had the chance to run, but I will be in 2012 and am excited to do so. If you have read my blog regularly (I thank you for your patience), you will have seen that I spent a great deal of my WDW tenure working within the Studios. You will also have known that the Studios kicked my ass during Wine & Dine. Well, it's payback. Granted, it's only 8 miles so it's a relatively quick race, but the park will stay open until 3am for us runners, that's a lot of Rock n Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, and Great Movie Ride!

I'm really excited for this race as it will be a good last speed work exercise before Wine & Dine Half Marathon which has been moved back to November 9th (much cooler weather). Doing some interweb digging, I came across the course from the old ToT 13k. We'll see if it's the same.

Seems like during Wine & Dine we ran 8 miles all in the Studios. WWOS? Whatever.

So far the reaction to the news amongst the Disney runners is mixed. Most folks really wanted another half marathon, others wanted a Disneyland race. With it being so close to W&D and the race length (which should take about an hour), wonder how many folks will make the trip and pay the Disney premium?

RunDisney doesn't have much information yet, but I'll make sure to update this post as they update their info.

What are your thoughts? Are you psyched? Angry? Have you already cut a check to participate?

Walt Disney World Marathon is Getting Closer

2011-12-09T22:08:00.001-06:00

Here we are in December, 30 days away from the Walt Disney World Marathon. My first full marathon to be exact. I can't say I'm counting down the days in excitement, rather counting the days to my inevitable collapse. Thanks to some rather severe knee issues I haven't been able to put in large mile chunks like I had wanted. Plus, the below freezing temps of the Midwest aren't making it easy for me. I'm really wishing I had signed up for the half like my wife. Well, I guess we'll see.

Anyway, the final instructions for the race are out, here are links:
Full Marathon
Full - Relay
Half Marathon
Goofy Challenge (If you're nuts) - Best of luck to my ROTE friends running this!

Plus, I'll be doing the fun run 5k. It's at Epcot and themed after the 3 Caballeros (bah)
Fiesta 5k

If you haven't gotten your waiver or bib# here's the link:
Bib # & Waivers

And if you want the official race program, well, here you go:
WDW Marathon Official Race Program

For those of you running, Best of Luck and one way or another I'll see you at the Finish line!

2011 Wine & Dine Half Marathon Race Recap - Part 3

2011-10-06T20:01:00.001-05:00

Quick Correction - In Part 2, I mentioned the awful drinks as GU Gels. Actually, it was Cliff Shots and they were still terrible. On to the final chapter.

When I last left you I was in severe pain, miserable, andready to start a fight with any costumed character that got in my way. There,did I miss anything? I had just passed Mile 9 and was entering a lengthy zigzagging run through the Studios.

Mile 9 (continued):

I had just passed behind the Great Movie Ride onto MickeyAvenue and things were looking grim. I was doing everything I could do to keepmy legs moving at my current pace, including talking out loud, pleading withthem not to stop. Passing Toy Story Mania and a costumed Woody with a goofygrin I clearly would be happy to wipe off if asked, the inevitable happened, mylegs stopped. My legs, after 9.8 miles, said no more and all forward locomotionall but seized. I was reduced to a brisk (meh) walk. With every bit of energy Icould muster, I screamed at the top of my lungs in frustration (which I’m suresurprised runners in my proximity) and watched a bevy of runners I had passednow fly by me at exponentially faster pace. The wave of grief I experienced washumbling to my very core. Now, I understand never running a half marathonbefore, there would be points of the race where my body, under tremendousstress, would want to quit (even involuntarily), but not here. Not at the parkwhere I spent so many days working as a gangster, a bandit, and multitude ofother roles. I looked at the facades and soundstages, areas where I once usedto be able to navigate nimbly at 3:00 in the morning for Super Soap Weekend,were now brick walls destined to keep me from finishing. I was heart broken, Iwas no longer a runner, I was dead. Worse yet, I knew what a battle it would be to get back up to pace aftersuch an intense pressure on my legs. But, I had to muster on, it wasn’t likethis was my first long run. So, after about 45 seconds of walking I beganchugging back up to pace. We still had a lot of Studios to go, but I just didn’tcare. I wanted out of that place ASAP. The rest of Mile 9 took us through theCostuming Tunnel and backstage past my old production office.

Mile 10:

Mile 10 kept us backtracking to Perimeter Road nearly wherewe entered, which I thought was kind of ridiculous. We continued down Perimeter Road until we hit Lights, Motor,Action where we ran through the show area. They had a stationary camera set upso we could see ourselves on the big screen which was a nice touch. We thenheaded up New York Street where many of the Osborne lights were illuminated. IfI were in a better frame of mind, I may have enjoyed them, but really I wasfeeling pretty low. My legs were still burning and my heart just wasn’t init. We cut through the Star Toursgate and ran past Darth Vader who looked how I was feeling.

Mile 11:

This mile took us back onto Perimeter Road, past thecastmember costuming building, back onstage, and then out the park through theoverflow gate near Theater of the Stars (Beauty & Beast Stage Show). ThankGod! I was out of the Studios and headed towards the Epcot resorts, the end wasin sight. We followed the narrow walkway towards the Boardwalk which was tight,but not horrible. I was starting to feel a bit better, but still pretty down.The music on my iPhone just wasn’t doing it, even the Power songs I had put inthere. In fact, it turns out thevolume was as high as it could go and I couldn’t even tell (which now leads meto believe I may have been experiencing some kind of weird fatigue condition). Notto mention, the same songs which I found so powerful before just sounded likegarbage. There were 1 or 2 songs that were still working and I just keptplaying them over and over again. Unfortunately, at this mile, I passed arunner who was hobbling so badly, it was clear there was serious damage. But,the person refused any help and just wanted to finish. I commend that.

Mile 12:

Mile 12 took us behind the Boardwalk and in front of Yacht& Beach. The course was littered with onlookers cheering us on which gaveme a new burst of energy and positive spirit. I dug in just a little harder andupped my pace a bit. While feeling better, I was surprised to find myselffeeling an odd kind of sad. Even though, this race completely kicked me aroundand spit me out, I was sad it was ending soon. All this work, dedication,broken bones, rehab, early mornings, late nights; it was all ending in 1 mile.I started to hyperventilate and needed to physically control myself so as notto let my emotions overtake me. I headed over the last incline to InternationalGateway and readied myself for the home stretch.

Mile 13:

The finale mile put us backstage adjacent to the rear of TheLand. On the side of the road was a huge hot air balloon lying on its side. Thepilot was firing flames into the canvas and I could feel the heat. Also, therewere a ton of castmembers with signs that said “400 Yards to Go” and “One MoreTurn for Beer”. My preraceconcerns of no straightway finish were realized as we made a few cuts to aclearing where the Finish line lay. I closed my eyes, dug in for a weak maddash for the finish, and then it was all over.

I had just run my first marathon in a respectable 2:11, 11minutes over my goal time. It was okay, though. I did it. I was now member of anew club, the 13.1 mile club and it felt good. I walked over to the bag pickupand got my stuff (it was a breeze), then checked my phone to see if I couldtell when Devin would be finishing. From the text alerts it looked as thoughshe had about another 45 minutes to go. She came in at a 2:57 time. I was soproud of her. Turns out, she and Eileen stayed together the whole time,propping each other up when one would fall behind. I thought that was awesome.

We didn’t do much of the after party since it was freezing(even with our change of clothes) and Devin wasn’t feeling that great. We endedup walking back to the Beach Club and much needed sleep.

There you have it, my race recap. Overall, I was super happywith this race. With it being my first half, and being able to do it at Disneywas just amazing. The course was good, not great. I wish there was a better wayto get to the parks without the barren Osceola Parkway, but it’s not a dealbreaker.

Good Points:

- The Weather: Itwas perfect! Low humidity, and low temps, perfect running weather! So glad thecold front came in.

- The Course: I should caveat this with, “to a certainextent”. Wide World of Sports is a great place to start a race and AnimalKingdom at night was unbelievable.

- Bag check and pickup: Easy breezy

- The Expo: Well planned out (plus, we got to meet JeffGalloway)

- RunDisney Merch

- Meeting a great group of ROTErs. Thanks guys!!!!!

- Cheddar Cheese Soup in Canada (of course!)

- Watching your wife cross the Finish Line in her firsthalf-marathon (she liked it so much, she’s running the half in January!).

Areas to Focus On:

- The Course: There was just too much of the Studios. Allthat back and forth was kind of ridiculous

- Entertainment: I know there’s only so much Disney can do,so not too miffed.

- Cliff Shots: Please. Never. Again.

Did you run the W&D Half this year? Let me know aboutyour experience.

2011 Wine & Dine Half Marathon Race Recap Part 2

2011-10-05T20:12:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I shared my recap of Disney’s Halloween 5K atAnimal Kingdom and left you on all the edge of your seats for the half marathonrecap. Well, wait no longer….

At 7:00 we boarded a bus from the Beach Club to ESPN WideWorld of Sports. Our wait was about 5 seconds and the bus wasn’t even thatfull, which was a nice surprise since I’ve heard other folks had terribleexperiences. Upon arriving at WWoS we immediately ran into a group of ROTErswho were amassed in the field. Since I had not met them in person before, Iintroduced myself and we all talked a bit. They were all very helpful indelivering points of advice based on past W&D experience that helped menavigate the evening (both running and non). After bidding a fond adieu to theROTE running crew, we met up with Eileen who I used to work with at the GreatMovie Ride.

Off to the Race!

Calm Before the Storm

Eileen runs an amazing blog dedicated to smart & healthyeating and is a must read for those who are interested in weight management (Hello Skinny). Wefound Eileen and her boyfriend, Kyle and settled in for the 3 hour wait for therace to start. During the pre-race, we saw quite a cast of characters (no, notDisney ones) in crazy costumes, including a girl who looked about 8 monthspregnant in nothing but a sports bra and shorts dancing around. Yikes! Also,during this time I ran into another fellow Movie Rider, Randy. He and I were at about the same pace sowe decided to start together (as we were both in Corral A), but agreed to keepgoing if one of us faltered.

Finally, the time came when the DJ asked folks to startqueuing up. Randy and I headed into Corral A and tried to stay in the back, butwere ushered up to the very near front due to the sheer influx of fellow CorralA runners, which intimidated me a bit. Once were all corralled, they startedthe Star Spangled Banner. Whoever sang it was terrible. Seriously, it was likeMariah Carey but ultra intensified. Heck, it wasn’t even in the right key!Certainly, not a fan but I had more pressing matters to attend to; I was aboutto put my body through excruciating paces. After the lone wheelchair competitortook off, it was our turn. I could feel every fiber of my being trying topropel me forward while I was standing motionless.

The view from the Back of Corral A. We moved up right behind the Start Line

Everyone else

BOOM! The fireworks exploded over our heads and we inchedcloser to the Start line. Crossing the Start line, I could hear the beeps ofall the running watches (including my own) signaling the wait was over. I firedup the playlist of Hip Hop, Rock, Drum n Bass, and a few choice Disney Parkstracks on my Nike Plus GPS program on my iPhone and headed out the gate.

Mile 1:

The first mile was really only one of the very few places werunners were bunched, but it wasn’t horrible. Randy and I headed down VictoryWay (main thoroughfare of WWoS) for about 3/4 mile and made a left turn ontoOsceola Parkway. My pace was slow and steady at about 9:45 p/mile. Typically,my pace for shorter races is about 7:50-8:00, but since this was my first halfmarathon and I had that pesky lingering stress fracture I didn’t want to overdoit early. “Run your own race.” I kept telling myself, expecting to be passedup. But, here’s something I didn’t expect; I was holding my own against all theother racers. It felt great!

Mile 2:

Mile 2 was still on Osceola Parkway, adjacent to BlizzardBeach, and headed towards Animal Kingdom. There was a little bit ofentertainment along the way including some glowing stilt walkers and somecheesy band that was a DJ, singer, and drum set player. Since I also playdrums, I popped out my ear buds to listen to what they were playing whichturned out to be some Taio Cruz song. I just chuckled it off and kept running.This was where Randy and I broke off and I was on my own. I still felt greatphysically, but a little bored of the scenery. Luckily, I could see the AnimalKingdom parking gates ahead me. I was about to enter the first theme park ofthe race.

Mile 3:

Mile 3 put me past the parking gates and headed towards thecast parking/Animal Kingdom Lodge access road. But, instead of going straight, we turned right towards theparking lot. There was a lot of energy here with some folks cheering and a fewSpectromagic floats/characters. This was also an area that we would be coveringagain on the way out of AK, I didn’t see anyone at that point yet, so I new Iwas still pretty close to the front. We headed into AK through the frontturnstiles and up through the path that leads you towards the Tree of Life(similar to the 5K course we ran previously that morning). Here is where I raninto a little bottleneck. I had caught up with the wheelchair competitor andthe security bike behind her and got stuck in the tight pathways. Finally, Iwas able to pass her just as we came to the clearing and what I saw wasunbelievable. Standing, majestically in front of me was the Tree of Life lit upperfectly with a dark night sky behind it. This was a rare occurrence as AK isseldom open past when the sun goes down. I was so inspired I almost stopped totake a picture with my phone. Instead, I agreed a picture would not do justiceto what I just saw, so I kept on my brisk pace.

Mile 4:

Mile 4 put me over the bridge and right in front of Harambevillage (again, the same path from the 5K) with a right turn towards Asia.Along the dark path, Disney had set out these football sized glowing pebblesthat looked really cool in the jungle atmosphere. We then cut around ExpeditionEverest, up towards Finding Nemo: The Musical and into DinoLand. This is wherethe course differed from the morning’s run, as instead of going straight pastCountdown to Extinction and backstage, the evening’s run took us into Chester& Hester’s area of the park, past Primeval Whirland backstage behind the Countdown to Extinction show building. From there, weheaded out to the parking lot and on to Mile 5.

Mile 5:

The end of Mile 4 was the hand off point for the relay teamswhich was somewhat bittersweet. On one hand it was great to see so many peoplecheering for you, on the other hand it was tough to watch all the fresh legstake off and sprint past. However, I wasn’t that upset as I was feeling greatand hadn’t given much thought to the distance still ahead of me. I will say,though this included one of the mentally toughest point of the races as we hadto backtrack a bit around the entire parking lot to exit AK. I had to watch allthe people ahead of me and for some reason was very depressing and my positiveattitude started to wane a bit. As we left the parking gates of AK, there werethese giant, bright LED boards that kept changing colors which made me nauseousto the point of where I needed to look down and cup my hands in order to not vomit.

Mile 6:

Mile 6 put me back on Osceola Parkway and to one of myfirst points of mental exhaustion. Halfway through the mile, my legsbegan to ache terribly and I started focusing on the race, specifically, themileage. Aside from the few folks cheering on the side of the road this areawas barren. I couldn’t help but start to think about my stride and my time, soI tried to figure out how to optimize my run by trying some asinine runningstride that felt like ice skating. I probably looked like an idiot, but atleast it kept me busy and refrained from walking. I would just like to forgetabout this mile as soon as possible.

Mile 7:

Mile 7 was really no different from Mile 6, except lookingacross Osceola Parkway I was able to see the “cleanup crew”, which was thegroup of Disney race officials that picked up runners who couldn’t keep a 16minute mile. It consisted of 2 motorcycle cops, a Disney van, a Track Shackvan, and a bunch of street cleaners. To be quite honest, the whole thing lookedquite ominous and worse yet, I could see a few runners in its path fighting invain not to be gobbled up by the machine. This was inspiration enough for me todrop it into an extra gear and keep up the fight. Mile 7 is also where weturned from Osceola Parkway onto World Drive. Here, Disney had more Spectrofloats and music which was nice. Coming around the turn I was stuck in ahorrible mental hole where all I wanted to do was stop (still had yet to walk),and then I ran into the Toy Story Army Man on a hill. Now, some people say heinspired them; all I wanted to do is punch him in the face as hard as possible.Yeah, I wasn’t doing so well.

Mile 8:

On World Drive for a bit was nice and flat. I was lookingforward to running through the Studios which I could see was coming up.Unfortunately, there were two obstacles in the way: An on ramp, and GU gels. AsI mentioned during Mile 7 I was in a really bad place mentally and my calveswere on fire, but I wasn’t ready to quit. I could see the hill coming up andalso most people were stopping to walk it. Right before the hill, volunteerswere handing out GU gels which I had never tried before. Now, throughout thewhole race I was sucking down Jelly Belly Energy Beans but they were no longerdoing the trick so I grabbed some gel and muscled it down. Oh my God, it wasthe absolute worst stuff in the world! I thought I was going to vomit, so Igrabbed a cup of water but that just made the gel feel like a big loogey in mymouth. Worst of all, I was approaching “Das Hill”. I did everything I could toovercome it all, kept up my pace, and enjoyed my prize of a downhill run following the battle.

Mile 9:

That victory was short lived as I entered the Studiosthrough the old castmember parking area and behind Tower of Terror. My legswere screaming at me to stop and I couldn’t get the taste of GU crap out of mymouth. Just a few hours earlier I was so excited to cover over the Studiosreminiscing of my Movie Ride days, but here I was entering the park and lamentingthe sheer amount of land I needed to cover in this hell hole of dreams. Throughthe Rock n Rollercoaster courtyard, to left of the Tower bathrooms and into theFantasmic queue for about 100 feet (which was odd), we headed out onto SunsetBlvd (one of my favorite areas). From there we headed onto Mickey Avenue andPixar Place. As I ran by the Great Movie Ride I showed her some love and gave aquick smile. Unfortunately, my grin turned to immediate grief as I was about togo to serious war with MGM Studios…and it was about to make me it’s bitch…..

End of Part 2

2011 Wine & Dine Half Marathon Race Recap Part 1

2011-10-04T19:50:00.003-05:00

Last weekend my wife and I headed down to Orlando to visit family, friends and of course, participate in Disney’s Wine & Dine Half Marathon. We have run in Disney 5Ks before but this would be our first half marathon, so we weren’t sure what to expect. I was excited to be able to run through MGM Studios since I spent such a large part of my Disney tenure at that park, but equally nervous as I was recovering from a serious stress fracture in my leg. Overall, the entire weekend was amazing and we are both pretty sad to be back in Chicago after such a great weekend. Luckily, the WDW Marathon is right around the corner (with plenty of 5Ks & 8Ks in between).

We got in Thursday and visited with my wife’s parents for a bit and dropped off our dog (we tend to travel with our pup a lot. He’s a good traveler on the plane) to be babysat for the weekend. We were concerned the weather hadn’t cooled down yet like predicted and heard horror stories of last year’s race where it was so hot and humid people dropped like flies. Luckily, the cold front showed up and made the night perfect for running.

Friday, we met up with my mom and went to the expo at the Wide World of Sports to pick up our race packets and some RunDisney merch I’ve had my eye on. It was pretty empty at the packet pickup area so no long waits. I picked up my packet quickly and headed over to the Runner’s Relations booth to see if I could get in the correct corral (my stress fracture prohibited me from qualifying races during the summer). I was finally able to get a qualifying race and the person behind the counter changed my “C” corral to the correct “A” corral no problem.

After the packet pickup, we headed over to the expo to get our shirts and look at all the other great running gear. I ran into fellow ROTE’r Heather from www.runningwithsass.com at the Running Skirts both and told her I enjoyed her blog. We also got to meet Jeff Galloway which was super awesome (in a nerdy running kinda way). Even though, we didn’t purchase a book at the expo (we already had some), he spent a good time prepping my wife about the half marathon. He was super genuine and all around a great guy. That night we had a great dinner at the restaurant we had our wedding rehearsal dinner at and reminisced about the night.

Jeff Galloway

Saturday morning was the Halloween 5K at Animal Kingdom. My wife requested we walk it since the half was a mere 15 hours away, so we hung out in the back (thankfully, I managed to get her to jog a bit since the back of the pack was something akin to water buffalo trying to all make a narrow water crossing. As per usual, the pre-race was chock full of DJ’s corny banter and a repertoire of songs typically found on a bride & groom’s ‘Do Not Play” list. There were also a lot of characters for pictures which was nice for those who are into that kind of thing. Since this was an “experience” run and not a “timed” one, I decided to bring the little camera. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a lot of pictures. Oh well.

One of the few photos

Once the race started, the herd started to move to a slow crawl and we were off. Later that night we learned many of the paths used in the 5K were re-appropriated for the half marathon so it was nice to somewhat know where we were headed when running that night in the dark. The 5K started taking us all the way around the AK parking lot and in through the front gate. We, then moved through the path which opened up to view the Tree of Life which I think is a very cool icon for the park (more on that later). Past Camp Minnie Mickey, we headed over the bridge to Harambe and made an immediate right towards Asia. However, before doing so, we cut through the back area to Conservation Station and the backstage area for the Kilimanjaro Safaris. During the backstage run, we ran past the hippo and elephant enclosures but didn’t see any animals. The only ones that were on the course were an owl, and tortoise, and a ferret. Really, Disney? Really?

After emerging from backstage, we turned into Asia, where in front of Expedition Everest there was Goofy dressed as Himalayan Sherpa. I found this to be pretty cool since I am completely enamored by the actual Mt. Everest. From there, we headed through Finding Nemo: The Musical queue, past Countdown to Extinction and backstage. Since we were nearing the end, I decided to do some actual running and took off a bit. I waited at the Finish line for my wife and we crossed together which I thought was nice.

C'mon Devin!

The medal (ahem…medallion) was another cheesy rubber keychain looking thing that is rather sad (certainly, the price to run warrants a real medal), but we expected nothing less. Even though, we didn’t really “run” this, it was still enjoyable to motor through a park we seldom visit. I’m really looking forward for an MK 5K. Hopefully, in January.

After the run, we had breakfast at Whispering Canyon in the Wilderness Lodge. I’ve been there before but my wife hadn’t so it was fun to see her reaction of all the debauchery that happens when the staff interacts with the guests. However, our experience there was a foreshadow of my overall experience at Disney during our weekend (that’s saved for another post).

It was about 11a and we decided to check in at our resort, the Beach Club, knowing full well our room wouldn’t be ready. Turns out, it was! Well, our king bed was not available so they upgraded us to a water view with two queen beds so the room was kind of ready.

We hung out at the resort a bit and walked around the lagoon. For old time sake, we had lunch at the little pizza counter over at the Boardwalk which was delicious as always and then headed back to the Beach Club. Upon arriving back at the hotel, my wife exclaimed she left her purse at the pizza place so I had to high tail it all the way back over to the counter to see if it was there, which luckily it was. We napped until about 6. I didn’t sleep well as my anticipation for what lay ahead of me in just a few short hours.

6:00 came, we donned our running apparel and headed out the door to the bus for Wide World of Sports. The next time we entered our room we would be half marathoners……

End of Part 1.

One Week Out...

2011-09-23T22:56:00.003-05:00

Next Saturday is the Wine & Dine Half Marathon. Currently, the forecast is 78 degrees, rain, and 80% humidity. Sounds more like a death march than a race, but we'll see how it goes.

For you Disney runners out there who may be going through your first Disney race, you may have some questions about preparation. If you have those questions, Eat Sleep Run Disney has all the information.

She has broken it down to how to prep a few weeks out, what to pack, what to expect at the expo and race, as well as pre-race nutrition. It's all listed here.

After the race, I'll be going back to more Walt Disney World type posts (as well as a race recap). For those of you running, best of luck to you all and I'll see you at the start line.

Remember When......

2011-09-20T20:31:00.002-05:00

Parks and attractions used to be original.....

Avatar in Animal Kingdom

Le sigh......

Champion 5K at ESPN the Weekend

2011-08-28T20:48:00.002-05:00

When I last left you I had just run my first Disney race, the B&B 5k fun run at Epcot. As I mentioned, the course around World Showcase was awesome (especially as a former Epcot cast member). But, after a week of relaxation it was time for the real race, the Champion 5k at ESPN the Weekend at Disney MGM (I will NEVER say Hollywood) Studios. This race was especially special for me since the majority of my Disney career was spent at this park (most of which at The Great Movie Ride). Not to mention, this race was actually timed so there was more incentive to give it my all.

We arrived at the parking lot to the Studios early and made our way to the prep area. I was surprised to see the running field as light as it was than the 5k a week earlier (most likely due to the B&B happening during half marathon weekend).

The fanfare was the same as other Disney races, a DJ played upbeat music and tried to motivate the tired masses (it was early), while Disney characters milled around for pictures. What I liked about this race was since it was ESPN the Weekend, where many professional athletes attend, some NFL players were in attendance and interacted with us runners. Greg Jennings, a wide receiver from the Green Bay Packers and Deangelo Williams from the Carolina Panthers MC’d and kept us in good spirits. I even ran into some old friends at the race who I hadn’t seen in a long time so that kept us busy until we queued up.

Once we were lined up to go, Disney played the national anthem, fireworks exploded and off we went. The course started out down the main entrance access road through the toll booths and then looped back towards the park. However, before we hit back where we started, the course shifted through a gate and onto Perimeter Road (the backstage access road that nearly encircles the park). From there we jumped onto the Backstage Pass tour road and to Lights, Motor, Action. This section of the race was really cool as we cut right across the front of the stage area where our faces were broadcast on the show’s large screens (I kept looking for my friend who is a tech there, but couldn’t find him). We ran a little farther up the tram tour road and around the Pearl Harbor airplane props (this area used to have the tank-like car from Armageddon). Next, we passed through the Costuming Tunnel and briefly through New York Street over to Muppetvision, past Indiana Jones and onto Echo Lake. Next, was my favorite part of the run as we went right past the Great Movie Ride and I felt a bit sad while remembering the amazing times working at that attraction. Unfortunately, there weren’t any GMR cast members out there when I ran past, but that’s okay GMR, I still love you. Heading past GMR, down Hollywood Blvd we turned onto Sunset towards the Tower of Terror, through the Rock n Rollercoaster courtyard and backstage.

Now, I should mention that when I run in races it’s always nice to find a person who runs at relatively the same pace and keep stride which is a good way to stay motivated throughout the race. Well, rounding the backstage area of Tower of Terror, I noticed there was someone pacing with me, who appeared to be Elizabeth Hasselbeck (talent from The View & QB Matt Hasselbeck’s wife). We paced for awhile together and then broke right before the finish.

After Sunset Blvd, we headed towards the entrance of the park but turned immediately right just before Sid Cahuengas’s and back onto Perimeter Road. It was fun to see all the long faces from tourists waiting for the park to open, as they had no idea what we were all doing. The final stretch put us back out into the parking lot where we had started. The one part I did not like was the finish line. It was super tight and appeared immediately after a blind curve. Since I always sprint the finish, I had to dodge slower runners (people, run THROUGH the finish, don’t just stop) and nearly ran into the stone wall that was Greg Jennings greeting finishers.

The medal was cool. I think it's supposed to be a ticket or something similar. At any rate, it's meaty and heavy, but cool since the race is now retired.

This was a very good race as it was somewhat sentimental to me, and I’m sad to see it go. I think the Studios is one of the best parks to just explore all the great Disney nooks & crannies, and hope they decide to hold another individual race there again soon (currently, the Studio is part of the Wine & Dine Half Marathon and Disney Marathon courses) outside the bigger races.

First Disney 5K

2011-08-20T18:23:00.003-05:00

Last February, we decided to run head down to Disney World to run our first race, the Beauty & Beast 5k and decided to also hit the Champion 5k at “ESPN the Weekend”, and had a great time. Here’s a bit of race recap (forewarning, I run to run, not to take pictures so not picture heavy. Sorry).

First up was the B&B 5k at Epcot. Since we’ve never done a Disney race before we weren’t sure what to expect. First, this was a fun run. A fun run? Really? What the Hell is a fun run? Sorry, but I need that urgency of a clock to really get moving, so kind of bummed that it was all in fun. Also, the medallion? C’mon! I felt it was pretty weak to give you a glorified key chain for the price of entry, but I digress.

We got to the Epcot parking lot relatively early and met up with some local friends from my cast member days who were running as well. It’s great to know people before a race to keep you occupied while waiting (read: Join Runningoftheears.com - they are a great group of folks). If one were to go there alone Disney does a good job of keeping you occupied with a DJ playing upbeat music. Overall, he wasn’t bad for how early it was. One thing I have to mention is since this was a fun run there were a ton of costumes, from princesses to Disney characters. I always wondered how someone would run in all that getup.

The DJ made an announcement to get ready, so off we went to the corrals. I went up to my position just outside the first few people and my wife and friends back to their respective pace times. With a fireworks salute we were off!

The race took us through the parking lot towards an access road that led from the parking lot back to the cast member parking lot (I was familiar with this route as I spent about 2 years as an attractions CM at Epcot in my early years and then 2 more years as a Millennium Drummer in the Tapestry of Nations parade). After traipsing the access and backstage parking, we headed into the park right behind Test Track. Running through, I gave a one fingered salute to Mission Space on my right to represent my Horizons respect. Next, we cut through the access path just to the right of Mexico (from the World Showcase side). This brought back old Tapestry memories as all the drummers wanted a Mexico slot so we could get out the door as fast as possible at the conclusion of the parade. From Mexico we traveled through the World Showcase (with folks making the occasional stops to see costumed entertainment along the way). It actually was a nice course, since the WS paths are so wide you can really get into a groove without having to dodge slower traffic (p.s. walkers, please stay to the right!). I cruised along a good pace until the UK pavilion where the course directs to the International Gateway and back up the back way through UK only to come out at the entrance to the old Millennium Village. From there, it’s a straight shot up to Future World, around Spaceship Earth (wave hi to the tourists waiting to enter the park) and backstage behind Universe of Energy. The finish line is directly ahead back in the parking lot. I motored through the finish, got my PowerAde and muffin and waited for my wife and friends to finish.

This was an enjoyable race if you are interested in an easy, no stress run. At first, I was a bit peeved, but ended up enjoying it quite a bit (except for the medallion). This is a great starter race for families or anyone interested in running without the pressure of time.

Always On the Run

2011-08-19T21:57:00.002-05:00

Recently, I mentioned I have really gotten into running. Well, “gotten” into running is an understatement, I have really made it a near daily activity. It’s really one of the last ways to unwind from the fast paced day to day activities and an opportune time to clear my head of all things work and just run. I will admit though, there is more of an incentive than just the “me” time. This October my wife and I will be running our first half marathon at the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon in Florida. Secondly, I will be participating in the full marathon at Disney World in January. What other place would be better for your long run firsts than Disney? Needless to say, I’ve been training hard.

But that’s getting ahead of myself, maybe I should start at the beginning…..

Last October, my client at the time, sponsored a 5k in one of the Chicago neighborhoods. As a sponsor we received free entry to the run and thought it would be fun for the team to participate. So, I started running to get in shape, but not giving it that much effort since, when I was younger I was always the one of (if not the) fastest in sports, so I felt like I had an edge. Boy was I about to get an unbelievably rude awakening.

So race day is upon us. It’s a crisp, clear fall day with the temperature around 55 degrees (perfect running weather). The group meets up and sets off to the corral to start. Headphones in my ear with the quintessential running mix of perfectly cut motivational music to put me in the lead, I was confident, conditioned. I was ready.

Off goes the starting gun and we are underway. We started mid-pack, but quickly I was moving up the ranks, easily overtaking groups of runners at a time. 1 mile down, no worries, I had this thing licked. About 10 minutes into the race I started seeing runners coming back towards me on the other side of the street, to which I thought to myself, “The turnaround is just around the bend, making pretty good time.” Unfortunately, the turnaround was nowhere in sight and for quite awhile. Then it hit me, I was nowhere near the leaders of the pack.

“I must be near the turnaround since I’m getting so tired.” I pleaded to myself. All of a sudden, my chest started to feel like my heart was trying to escape, much like a person buried alive grasps at the coffin, and my legs started to act as if they were being possessed. I thought I was going to die. “Ugh, something must be terribly wrong with me!” I had to slow down to a walk losing precious spots against the runners and walkers I easily surpassed just moments earlier. There was a lump in my throat that made me gag every time I tried anything more than a brisk walk. This was embarrassing. All of the symptoms could have illustrated some type of injury – a pulled muscle, a broken bone, a stroke! Yep, it was none of those. Turns out I was severely out of shape and my ego just defaulted on a check that body certainly could not cash. So there I was stuck in neutral, feeling sorry for myself while falling deeper down the results page. I decided to walk just a little bit more and muster up whatever energy I had left to finish this sad 3.14 mile journey strong. I began to jog, which turned into a healthy run. I started feeling better. At the 2.75 mile mark I could see the finish and with all the energy I could summon in my worn out body, sprinted like a demon towards the end.

When the results were posted I viewed my time with a timid one eye open. 27:53. “Not bad. Not great, but not bad,” I thought to myself. Then I saw the winning time which was just a shade under 16 minutes. Bah! To get anywhere near that I was going to have to get serious, but it wasn’t the winning time that set me ablaze. TWO, yes, two of my colleagues finished ahead of me!!!! “No, no, this is all wrong,” I exclaimed, “I’m the fast one!” I was mortified. Here I was a shell of the athlete I was once fading into running obscurity even against my office mates. Granted, I have about 4 years on both of those guys and their times were marginally faster than mine, but I couldn’t let this happen. Call it ego or call it fear of becoming irrelevant, but right then is when I decided to get serious.

Post race.

Getting up and running (no pun intended) was actually pretty easy, staying motivated was the tough part. But after a few steady runs I saw the benefit of getting out and putting some miles behind me. What also helped was having a specialty running store near me to get the proper setup (yes, you should really get fitted for the proper shoes) and discuss best practices to running.

I’ve been consistently running for about a year now, except for 8 weeks off due to a stress fracture (which is being stubborn), and even my wife caught the bug. I highly recommend it as a good way to stay in shape and clear the cobwebs.

An Update......

2011-08-06T22:02:00.002-05:00

I haven't had much time to update the ole blog, but plan to get back to it (nice to see some new followers). Since my last post I've really gotten back into running, so much so that it's consumed a very large amount of my time. I'm currently gearing up for the 2011 Wine & Dine Half Marathon and then the full in 2012. I will definitely add more in the near future (typing this post from an iPad) and a lot will be towards running + Disney. Look for more soon!

Go Here Now!!!

2010-12-13T21:33:00.003-06:00

Www.horizonsresurrected.blogspot.com

Yeah, yeah I know......

2010-06-06T11:22:00.009-05:00

So, it's been a long time since I posted to my blog. So much going on in my life (new job, getting married blah blah... Plus, the good folks at UABmagic.com and at mesaverdetimes@blogspot.com should have kept you more than occupied and entertained. I know you've been clamoring for more, so I will try my best to keep this thing updated.

Anyways, let's get to today's topic.

I've been thinking about this for awhile and finally decided to get my thoughts on the screen. Before you get to reading I just want to forewarn you that yes, this will be an observation of the general decline of Disney's dedication to quality. "Oh, Christ! Another bitchy story about Disney, from an angry Disney-phile living in the past," you shriek. Well, sort of and not really. Just read on and tell me if I'm full of shit or not.

It all started with an iPhone, my iPhone to be exact. Now, I love Apple. I mean, love Apple. The way they paved the road in terms of software and hardware to address the needs of creative minded designers like me (I can't live without my Mac, Pro Tools, and Photoshop - even though, those programs come on PC based systems, you've got to be joking if you actually use them) is simply astounding. They carved out their niche audience and stuck with them..... That is, until the iPhone.

Yes, it's a game changer and yes, it paved the way for other smart phones. But the iPhone symbolized the end of Apple's dedication to the designers out there. Now, we have iPads, iAds, iTVs, et al. All this time could have been spent re-designing, testing and adjusting more powerful designing tools instead of churning out consumer facing devices that only the suckers buy the 1st version. Today, it's all about the bottom line, scale.

Now, how does this fit to Disney? I'm going to focus on the parks, but my argument is basically made if you switch on the Disney Channel at any point of the day.

So let's take a look at what I mean.

Take for instance, Epcot. Epcot was once an incredible experience. It was full of wonder, imagination, creativity, enlightenment, education, and discovery...back when it was EPCOT Center. It was built to serve one purpose - a tangible view of the future endeavors we as a planet could achieve will imagination and the determination to better ourselves. We could witness what computers will be able to accomplish, how to harness the sea and sun to provide sustainable life, and most importantly, what 21st Century living will be like on land, at sea, and even out in space.
It was a mecca of discovery. Unfortunately, like Horizons, World of Motion, The Living Seas, World and other great attractions, it has ceased to exist. Names like Coates, McGinnis, Davis, Blair, and Crump have been replaced by well, who knows? At least Joe Rhode is hanging on.

The park today has been transformed to something completely different, but I can't seem to figure out what. Maybe you can help. The Living Seas is now Seas with Nemo. World of of Motion has become GM Test Track. Horizons has become a carnival vomit comet (and killer), even Akhershus in Norway has become a character dining restaurant. And what the Hell is Kim Possible doing in World Showcase? Basically, Epcot has been reduced to a bigger Magic Kingdom which is frustrating to say the least. Don't even get me started on the amount of merchandise carts.

Vibrant, Exciting, Garry Owens!

I've ridden this before. It was called my drive to Epcot.

Sea Base Alpha

Stupid Birds

Untouchable Greatness

Ugh. Someone please punch me in the throat.

To quote a great attraction, "...there was always someone saying turn back, turn back. But, there is no turning back, not for us, and not for our carousel..."

Or is there?

Enter John Lasseter - the man who will save the mouse.

If you don't know John Lasseter, I don't know how you stumbled upon this blog. Anyways, the elevator pitch version:

John Lasseter was born.
John Lasseter goes to work at the Jungle Cruise at DL as a teenager.
John Lasseter grows up to start PIXAR animation studios.
John Lasseter churns out kick ass movies.
Disney acquires PIXAR.
John Lasseter becomes Disney's Chief Creative Officer.
John Lasseter learns to walk on water.

The best thing about John Lasseter is that he's not taking bullshit from anyone (not even Chuck Norris). John's vision is to restore the Disney Parks experience to Walt's vision and to a larger audience than just the Disney-philes (have you notice a little thing called the California Adventure rehab?) and it's starting to show in spades.

Take for instance Spaceship Earth. Sure, we're all kinda "meh" over Dame Judy Dench. But, it's not her fault as the Jermey Irons version was just so well done (as was Walter Cronkite's). However, listening to the new score of the attraction shows signs of the dedication to the attraction. Bruce Broughton's Spaceship score is carefully crafted to fit perfectly within the story of the attraction much like the attractions of yore. Back in the day, not only did the attractions have scores penned specifically, for them, but also had queue music, and outside the attraction "experience music". Through the 2000's most of the attraction outside music was just re-appropriated movie scores. All the work of JL.

You've heard Bruce Broughton more than you think.

So, you see we're getting there. We finally have infiltrated the ranks of the suits with one of our own. Hopefully, this is the sign of well crafted attractions with gripping story lines, attention to the most minute details, and less cross promotion with other Disney properties.

We'll see what the future holds.

Oh, and welcome back Captain EO.

Thoughts?

Save Coco

2010-01-19T20:53:00.001-06:00

Jay Leno sucks.

2010-01-12T20:34:00.001-06:00

I know, I know.

New blog coming this weekend.

Horizons References in New Space Mountain!!!!

2009-11-14T17:23:00.003-06:00

Looks like there's one cool Imagineer left. In the queue of new Space Mountain, there's a clearly labeled Mesa Verde sticker on the suitcase (as well as the cool robot butler - seem familiar?)

Photos are courtesy of Exprcoofto from WDWmagic.com.

Samantha Brown's Favorites Shoot

2009-11-11T18:24:00.004-06:00

Last year, I was able to negotiate with my client at the time the opportunity for Samantha Brown to film an episode at WDW (as well as the Seasons of Disney episodes). You're welcome. Here's a pic of the prod crew (with yours truly). Look how many folks it takes to produce this show in the field. Cool thing was, Samantha remembered me at the Discovery upfront a few months later. She's super cool and way down to earth. These were taken backstage at Animal Kingdom, January 2008. Can you tell I'm from the Midwest?

Happy Birthday Horizons

2009-10-01T21:09:00.005-05:00

It was on this day you were open to the masses. You amazed, you educated, and most importantly you let two guys run around and take pictures of your insides.

I miss you Century 3.

Thank you George McGinnis. Thank you Hoot & Chief. & Thank you EPCOT Operations for letting me work at the best ride in Epcot.

....And huge thank you to whoever created this picture.

The Future Has Arrived.....well, sorta.

2009-09-04T11:46:00.018-05:00

You hear the boarding announcements as you enter the queue. Folks heading out to Sea Castle, Brava Centauri, and Mesa Verde better hurry up as their respective flights are leaving. Of course, there’s only one destination for you and that’s of course, the future. As much as your own flight is amazing and fanciful, there’s always that wonder of the other destinations as well as the trip getting out there. So, are we destined for those destinations or will they always be held in the imagination of George McGinnis? Guess what? They’re no longer visions of the future. Tomorrow’s Horizons are here, today! Here are a few glimpses that reach toward the future to bring you a tangible Horizons experience.

Mesa Verde - The most advanced desert reclamation complex in the western hemisphere invites you to explore its wide range of career possibilities. Mag Lev Express service to Mesa Verde leaves every thirty minutes.

“Our little girl is doing wonders out in the desert.”

Mesa Verde was the vast stretch of desert that was slowly beginning to take shape as food producing farm (is that orange I smell?) of the fabled L’oranges (lime + orange). This show scene illustrated new methods in agriculture can bring barren deserts to life.

How exactly are we to turn deserts into fields? Enter Desert Control. Desert Control uses the latest advancements in desert reclamation technology to bring food producing plants to life.

Desert Control is turning deserts into Farms

The main challenge to making deserts sustainable has to do with sand. As you know sand is a loose particle that is susceptible to wind and terrible at moisture collection. What Desert Control does is treat the sand with a substance called Nano Clay. This clay packs the sand together to form dense pieces of land that maintains moisture and is less impacted by wind storms. In turn, seeds can be planted and crops grown. Currently, Desert Control is holding tests in Africa and Asia, both which have some of the largest non-fertile deserts as well as severe food shortages.

NanoClay helps to retain moisture & protect from wind erosion

Brava Centauri - Newest of the exciting Centauri Series of space stations. Offers remarkably rewarding opportunities in Earth support locations. Come up to Brava. Space shuttles depart daily.

“Mom, mom!”

Living in space, what an experience! Unfortunately, on this world of over 6 billion, only a handful have done it. But imagine the possibility of taking summer vacation in a fully habitable synthesized space city. Here, we get just a few glimpses what traveling past Earth’s atmosphere to sleep among the stars.

Well, that’s still pretty far away for most of us. But, with advancements in the International Space Station’s tenure in space at least we are giving it the “ole college try”.

There’s also another possibility.

Virgin Galactic, owned by billionaire adventurer Sir Richard Branson, aims to take folks on an interstellar joyride. Albeit, a short and expensive joyride (~$200,000 US for a 2.5 hour flight).

How does it work?

Well, 6 passengers and 2 pilots will board SpaceShip Two and be connected to the Virgin Galactic mothership WhiteKnight Two. WhiteKnight Two will take the passengers to about 50,000 feet (~9.5 miles) above sea level. From there, SpaceShip Two will undock from WhiteKnight Two and fire up its engine to reach altitudes in excess of 360,000 feet (~68 miles) above sea level. Once the trip is complete, SpaceShip Two will use the Earth’s gravitational force to safely glide back down. To put things in perspective a normal NASA space shuttle mission can reach about 350 miles and most commercial flights travel ~35,000 feet (~6.5 miles). That being said, 68 miles above Earth is nothing to scoff at.

For $200,000 I would expect a little style and this has it.

I can see my house from here!

Virgin Galactic is not yet commercially available and is cost prohibitive to most of us. Also, there’s another reason this may be out of reach for awhile; all maiden voyage reservations are completely sold out for first year of operation.

Sea Castle - The newest and most exciting floating city in the Pacific invites you and your family to come away with us to the sea. Convenient daily departures by sea train and skylift.

“How often do we check our gills? Every 10 minutes.”

Or more often.

Arguably the coolest set of scenes in Horizons, sea life civilizations depicted what it would be like to travel in your own sub down to your undersea house, restaurant, or office. I like to think this was so popular due to the fact that the sea was something everyone was familiar with. You didn’t have to hop on a space shuttle, you just had to drive to the beach. Plus, everyone loves the sea.

In relation to the above destinations, undersea resorts are abundant with more being drafted as we speak. While the first resorts were somewhat primitive and needed all parties to be scuba certified, new resorts are more advanced and offer conveniences similar to that of five star hotels.

Deep in the Emerald Lagoon of Key Largo, Florida sits Jules Undersea Lodge named after the grand old man himself, Jules Verne. The resort actually is the La Chalupa research laboratory created to research the continental shelf off of Puerto Rico’s coast. It was purchased in 1995 and renamed Jules Undersea Resort. This 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom resort sits 30 feet below the surface. Look around, it has all the creature comforts of home as well as scuba room service from a “mer-chef".

Notice the "5 Fathom Club" sign? Nice.

Ugh, I always get a room right next to the pool.

Spacious eatery. Reminds me of my freshman dorm.

I don't feel like going out tonight. Let's stay in.

If you’re more about luxury and less about diving check out the Poseidon Resort Mystery Island off the coast of Fiji. This resort takes passengers to their underwater “pods” by elevator (think Living Seas’ Hydrolaters) 40 feet below the ocean’s surface. Once on the ocean bottom the guest will have the option to stay in one of 20 standard pods, a luxury suite, or a themed-suite, as well as, bars and restaurants. Rumored pricing starts at $30,000 US for a party of two per week, or rent the whole thing for $3,000,000 US per week. Slated to open in early in 2010, Poseidon is already 15 months past schedule. But, its postponed opening gives you a chance to save your pennies. Also, if you are staying 40 feet below the ocean for a week do you really want them to cut corners?

They look like escape pods.

What's that fish starring at?

And then there’s Hydropolis.

Hydropolis is slated to be a vast undersea luxury resort in Dubai (hey, it’s all Dubai these days) 66 feet below the Persian Gulf. There isn’t much information on it as of yet, but rumor has it will cost about $5,000 US per night. There are also rumblings that Hydropolis is in talks with Disney to produce an underwater show for the resort. This resort was supposed to open in 2006, so take it all at face value.

It looks like the spaceship from the Abyss.

Hmm, that veranda looks like the Living Seas.

These are just a few of the prophecies told by Horizons (an attraction that was designed in the late 70’s mind you). Try googling things like Mag Lev and Hovercar and you’d be surprised how much you can find. Not to mention the countless automated products already found in your home. Hopefully, we will continue along the path of Horizons to make the world more enjoyable.

Thoughts?

Photo Credits are of their respective parties.
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Mickey's 10 Commandments

2009-08-21T11:15:00.004-05:00

Marty Sklar (if you don't know who he is stop reading) came up with a list of commandments Imagineers (more importantly, Disney top brass) should follow to maintain the high standards of storytelling Walt set forth. These commandments are how Disney distances itself from other "amusement" parks and the reason guests continue to come back. Do you think that these are still valid? Does Disney Parks still live by these standards (both creatively and business operations)? What do you think?

1. Know your audience - Don't bore people, talk down to them or lose them by assuming that they know what you know.

2. Wear your guest's shoes - Insist that designers, staff and your board members experience your facility as visitors as often as possible.

3. Organize the flow of people and ideas - Use good story telling techniques, tell good stories not lectures, lay out your exhibit with a clear logic.

4. Create a weenie - Lead visitors from one area to another by creating visual magnets and giving visitors rewards for making the journey

5. Communicate with visual literacy - Make good use of all the non-verbal ways of communication - color, shape, form, texture.

6. Avoid overload - Resist the temptation to tell too much, to have too many objects, don't force people to swallow more than they can digest, try to stimulate and provide guidance to those who want more.

7. Tell one story at a time - If you have a lot of information divide it into distinct, logical, organized stories, people can absorb and retain information more clearly if the path to the next concept is clear and logical.

8. Avoid contradiction - Clear institutional identity helps give you the competitive edge. Public needs to know who you are and what differentiates you from other institutions they may have seen.

9. For every ounce of treatment , provide a ton of fun - How do you woo people from all other temptations? Give people plenty of opportunity to enjoy themselves by emphasizing ways that let people participate in the experience and by making your environment rich and appealing to all senses.

10. Keep it up - Never underestimate the importance of cleanliness and routine maintenance, people expect to get a good show every time, people will comment more on broken and dirty stuff.

Martin Sklar, Walt Disney Imagineering, Education vs. Entertainment: Competing for audiences, AAM Annual meeting, 1987

More Horizons pics

2009-08-18T10:58:00.009-05:00

As promised, here are a few more Horizons pics from closing day.

Better shot of the Hidden Mickey

That's our daughter the desert dweller. She's doing wonderful things out there in the desert. (She also has a ginormous booty as seen in previous blog post).

Old Uncle Jules may not have had all the answers, but his space capsule sure smelled like animal dung. (No privacy at all 'round this place).

This picture speaks for itself. Somebody on the Imagineering team was a fan of the ladies.

...and someone was a fan of the fellas. (Aw, now that's really lovely. Practical too. Practical indeed).

Love this pic.

Oh, the irony. Tom Fitzgerald fixing a sub. Subs get sunk in the water. Fitzgerald sunk Imagineering. Ironic.

This poor guy's been waiting over 15 years for his wife to show up. Unfortunately, she's off with her "other" family.

See.

A feat of engineering if you really think about this show scene.

Hope these photos have helped to give you a sense of how wonderfully detailed this attraction was. Can't seem to think of any new ones this detailed. Of course, if you count a ton of tv screens as detailed, well then, I guess today's rides are detailed. :(

The Day Horizons Closed

2009-08-12T12:07:00.009-05:00

So long Horizons...

Now, I think you all know my fascination with Horizons; it was the ultimate attraction. Enormous, overly detailed, great music, great storyline, and never a wait. I can recall first riding in early 1984 and immediately falling in love with it. In fact, while most of my family was off exploring the rest of the park I could be found at Horizons riding over and over. I even had the pleasure of working a couple of shifts there during my stint in Epcot attractions. I sure wish I was smart enough to bring a camera along, but appreciating an attraction and working an attraction are two very different scopes. Anyways, I thought I would post a few pictures of Horizons from January 9th, 1999. Fans will recognize this date as the day Horizons closed for good to the public. It did run though afterwards for events and private parties till about April. Anyways, these pictures may not be as cool as my friends over at Mesa Verde Times' pics (which are flippin' awesome), but they're special to me. I apologize for the quality. These pictures were taken with a 1st Generation Sony MAVICA digital camera that took photos on 3.5 floppies. Also, there's really no order to the photos as I have a ton of them. Enjoy!

As you can see it's 1st thing in the morning and it's chilly. We headed straight to Horizons to get in as many rides as possible. The best part was as we were castmembers, we could park back by Wardrobe (between WOM & Mexico) and just walk in a little early.

Cheesy, but anywhere I ever hear this phrase, it makes me think of Horizons.

I'd give anything to hop the Mag Lev Express service to Mesa Verde or Sea Castle.

Always dug how these pictures moved. Kudos to George McGinnis!

Dedicated to the great Georges Méliès' 1902 classic A Trip to the Moon.

Easy living indeed. I always wondered if the guy getting a tan was the freeloading Cousin Orville from Carousel of Progress. "No privacy at all 'round this place!" Dig the curved design, very retro.

Loved the '50s music in this scene. Does anyone else remember the "beep beep beep beep" that went to the rhythm of the music? This reminded me of the Jetsons.

I'm sorry, but this lady had a ginormous, flat ass. That jumpsuit isn't helping her cause any.

Shut up Scott. No one likes a teacher's pet. As you can see Rover's about to chew his face off.

I always called her 'basketball head'. I know, classy.

The mix of distance, rear projection and matte paintings really made this work well.

Hidden Mickey in Nova Cite

Hidden Mickey in Space Colony

That's it for now. I'll post more later.

Thoughts?

Horizons T-Shirts

2009-07-20T16:01:00.007-05:00

Hi folks. Well, I finally got around to designing some t-shirts that I have been wanting to do for some time. They're not much, but if you're a Horizons fan it's all you'll need. Pick your favorite destination or get all 4. Wear them with pride as you walk past Mission:Space and say, "No thanks. I don't ride this attraction." Shirts can be customized by male/female size, shirt type, and color. Here are some images of the shirts and the link to purchase. I'm designing a bunch more so keep checking back in the future.

Here's the link to my Zazzle store.
JStone423

Mesa Verde

Sea Castle

Brava Centauri

Nova Cite

Walter Cronkite: Spaceship Earth

2009-07-19T11:43:00.008-05:00

Sad to hear about the passing of Walter Cronkite. He was one of the good ones. I can't say his rendition of Spaceship Earth was any better than a walking audio tour in a museum, but he had a voice that just exuded class. SSE really has gone downhill since.

I posted the Cronkite audio version below. Enjoy!

Part 1:

Part 2:

Sources:
The Internet: Cronkite Picture
The Internet: SSE Picture
Mousebits: SSE Ridethrough Audio

You Die and You Go to Hell!

2009-07-13T12:02:00.006-05:00

"In the afterlife you'll be headed for the serious strife. Now, you make the scene all day. But, tomorrow there'll be Hell to pay."
-Squirrel Nut Zippers

And they weren't kidding. I mean tell me about it. You steal a car, race it through the town square reeking havoc, motor through a restaurant, run over some gypsies, knock over some TNT, get sentenced to prison, break out, and commit suicide by losing a game of chicken with a train.

Darn right you're going to Hell.

Yet, I miss you so much.

Devil Picture Source: The Internet
Mr. Toad's Picture Source: Personal Archives

Monorail Accident: Update

2009-07-06T11:20:00.006-05:00

Here's what's circulating around the net regarding the accident. This is from Kevin Yee over at Miceage.com. I have also posted below the pictures of the monorail spur tracks below. Please check over at Miceage.com for further updates as I will probably not post anymore monorail news.

"It may be best to simply relay the events as they explain it via a series of chronological snapshots, rather attempt a cohesive narrative. I must stress that the following account has not been vetted by Disney or law enforcement, and must be considered speculation (though speculation backed by years of their experience, at least). Any errors that creep into this account are probably my fault, since I was myself never a Monorail CM, and some of the terminology is new to me.

Monorail Pink is running on the EPCOT Line. It is near 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, meaning it’s the very end of a long, long Fourth of July holiday. This is typically the busiest day of the year for the Magic Kingdom, and thus for the monorails, too.

Monorail Purple is also running on the EPCOT Line. While Epcot itself closed several hours ago at 10pm, the monorails are still running because the Magic Kingdom was open until 1 a.m., and it takes more than an hour to clear. Since some visitors park at Epcot and venture over the Magic Kingdom, the monorails have to keep running until the latter of the two parks is finally closed and cleared. So it’s the Magic Kingdom’s operating schedule which dictates how long the EPCOT line has to be staffed.

Monorail Pink is scheduled to come off the line after this final stop at the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC). To come off the line and retire for the night, Monorail Pink will have to depart the TTC on the same EPCOT Line for a few hundred yards, long enough to navigate a semi-circle "U-turn" in the track and point in the direction of Epcot. Then, it will stop while a Y-intersection switch that it just passed by will be moved to the alternate position. Once moved, that switch will enable Monorail Pink to go backwards onto a different track, a spur line, which will then deposit Monorail Pink onto the Magic Kingdom Express Line (still going backwards, at first). Then, Monorail Pink can head toward the Magic Kingdom, put in a quick stop at the MK Station to switch piloting duties to the "other" end of the monorail (they have dual and identical pilot cabins on both ends, to enable this kind of forward and backward flexibility), and then take one last spur line around Space Mountain and home to the Monorail Shop deep backstage, a kind of roundhouse used to store and maintain the monorails.

Monorail Pink leaves the TTC Station (this side of the station is called the "Concourse") without mishap, and makes it to the stopping point to await the switch.

The Monorail Pink pilot radios in the need for the switch. Monorail Shop is the place that controls the track switches. Shop allegedly tells Monorail Central Command (the person "in charge" out on the platform) that the switch is done and now in place. It turns out later that this is incorrect; they switch did not get moved. But Monorail Central Command apparently thinks it is, and so authorizes Monorail Pink to head in reverse. (It is not clear to me if the details in this bullet point constitute "inside information" or merely a surmise by the monorail pilots who pieced together this narrative, so we must employ the usual grain of salt. But clearly this is one of the possible critical errors in the entire series of events, if not the fulcrum itself on which everything else turns, and the official investigation is sure to focus on it particularly.)

Monorail Purple approaches the Concourse, pulling in a few minutes behind Monorail Pink. Because the switch is about to occur, Monorail Purple cannot simply operate with the usual electronic safety equipment turned on. The MAPO system (so named for the manufacturing arm of Walt Disney Imagineering that also built the monorails, and hardcore fans will remember that MAPO was named after the movie MAry POppins) will normally cause the trains to automatically brake and disallow them to come too close to each other.

I’ve personally been in the pilot’s cabin (Operating Cabin 1) when they brought a new monorail online on the Express Line and had to go through the MAPO tests, and I watched the pilot try to accelerate until the system didn’t let him. But MAPO’s effectiveness works against it in this case. Because the MAPO sensors would disallow trains to get close, the only way to perform a track switch, like Monorail Pink is attempting to do, is for both Monorail Pink and Monorail Purple to operate in "MAPO Override" mode. Normally, this is quite safe. The folks in Monorail Shop act like air traffic controllers and know where each car is. The individual pilots can see each other, and just have to watch the track. It’s been done many times each and every day for 38 years with exceedingly few fender benders as a result.

Monorail Purple may either be arriving, or be parked and taking on a single party of several adults and children, and a stroller.

Piloting Monorail Purple is Austin Wuennenberg. Mr. Wuennenber’s Facebook page indicates he has worked long hours lately: a 12-hour shift on May 30 and a 14-hour shift on June 9 are cited as examples, but the implication is that he worked many others. It’s never good to assume anything, but it’s not an unreasonable guess that the busiest day of the year might also have yielded a long shift, especially since other recent days did so without the same crush of crowds.

Monorail Pink heads in reverse in MAPO Override, which is capped at 15 miles per hour. The pilot must think he or she is on the spur line. One assumes his or her cell phone and text message logs will be looked at by authorities. Or perhaps the pilot is simply distracted/detached. Maybe the lateness of the hour contributed to fatigue, and maybe this pilot worked a very long shift. At any rate, he or she did continue on the track, and with enough speed that Monorail Purple will soon be impacted forcefully.

The pilot of Monorail Pink is normally supposed to look behind him or her as the vehicle moves in reverse by using the rear-view mirrors. The lateness of the hour and the darkness of the region may explain why the rear-view mirrors wouldn’t be especially helpful at first, since it would probably be quite dark. But those mirrors should definitely show a looming Monorail Purple.

We have no eyewitness accounts regarding the speed at which Monorail Pink hit Monorail Purple. It is unknown at present if the pilot of Monorail Pink realized the mistake and attempted to slow down, though online chatter by other pilots indicates that the brakes are quite responsive, especially if the emergency brake is engaged as well.

We have no indications whether the Cast Members on the platforms used their remote control "clickers" to kill-switch the monorails in the area. Did they not see the coming vehicle? Or did they not realize the import? Or did they simply freeze? The answers to these kinds of questions will have to wait until the investigations are complete.

We do not know where Monorail Central Command was located physically. There is a command post on the Concourse platform, a somewhat imposing structure near one end and facing away from the Magic Kingdom (meaning that the brick wall at the back of the post would obscure the view of a backing-in Monorail Pink, anyway). It is apparently common that the Monorail Central Command person would roam, and control the movement of vehicles by mobile radio.

The biggest unanswered question is probably why Austin Wuennenberg took no "evasive" action in Monorail Purple. Did he not see the approach of Monorail Pink? Was he otherwise occupied? (One assumes his cell phone and text message logs will also be examined.) Or, was he simply not experienced enough to slam Purple into reverse and accelerate away? He was a seasoned ride operator, though, having worked on Rock ‘n Roller coaster before the monorails, and he has been working the monorails as a Full Time employee since October 2008.

Maybe the gates (and monorail doors) were still open, and he was worried about moving away at high speed lest a Guest be thrown free? But the video taken right after the accident shows the doors and gates closed, with the one cabin door pried open to let out the shaken visitors. Maybe Mr. Wuennenberg tried to escape but only got so far as to close the doors in preparation for rapid departure?

It could also be that the MAPO brakes *did* prevent his train from moving, and he saw the incoming train and tried to escape. For this to be true, he would not have been entering the station in MAPO override mode to begin with, just regular mode, and then MAPO clamped down on him as pink came closer. Had he thought of it, going into MAPO override mode on his own recognizance could have let him go backwards and keep pace "ahead" of pink.

Or maybe a completely different set of circumstances was in place here: did Monorail Purple suffer a power outage that required a restart? Not only can that sort of thing happen, it happened to me two times within the past sixty days… both times on Monorail Purple. I recognize that’s a shaky correlation at best, and one shouldn’t draw too many conclusions from that. Bottom line: this, too, will have to wait for the official investigation to bear some answers.

Immediately after the crash, the video was taken until monorail CMs forbade any further videotaping. First-responders were on site in 10-15 minutes, and several minutes were needed to pry out Mr. Wuennenberg, who was pronounced dead.

Monorail Pink then backed further into the station, so that the pilot of Monorail Pink could reach the platform and disembark (some reports indicate this pilot was taken to the hospital). While the pilot gets out, the now-joined monorails jut out behind the station, and it is at this moment that the other photograph is taken. Later, Monorail Pink again tows the attached Monorail Purple, this time back to the station, and there they remained, while investigations are ongoing."
Source: Miceage.com

Also, here are some images of the spur tracks at TTC & MK
Ticket & Transportation Center (scene of the accident)
Full Epcot Track Spur
Magic Kingdom Spur (to Monorail Garage)
Photo source: Microsoft Live Maps

Monorail Accident

2009-07-05T11:49:00.004-05:00

Know most of you already heard about the accident that happened at Disney World this morning. Terrible shame.

It looks like the Epcot train track and the pink one seemed to have caused the crash. What I'm curious to as why Epcot trains are so close together, unless they were pulling one for the night. However, that would require a spur switch which is timely. Something isn't adding up, but it's sad to say the least.

Photo source: CNN.com

Was Billy Mays the Model for Horizons?

2009-07-01T20:05:00.003-05:00

I'm just sayin...........

Haunted Mansion Backstage

2009-06-26T08:56:00.004-05:00

Here some pics from a tour of the Haunted Mansion a few years back.

This is a pic from the ballroom floor looking up at the ghosts who hang from the chandelier. The glass next to them is the hallway where the doombuggies travel.

Another ballroom scene. Here we are against the back wall. It's tough to tell, but that's as far as the stairs go. The rest is painted on.

The famous organ. This is a replica of the Disneyland one. Coincidentally, the Disneyland organ is the organ from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea movie.

The seance room (pre-refurb). You can't tell from here, but the table is completely surrounded by a 15 foot pit. Allegedly, some guest hopped out of their vehicle, fell down the pit, but wasn't rescued until the end of the day. Apparently, the screams for help were just thought of show audio.

The famous "Donald Chair."

Tomorrow's a Long Time

2009-06-08T16:51:00.008-05:00

Well, after a hiatus of ya know a few years All Things WDW is back! Things have been so hectic and quite frankly I just let this go. You can expect more in the future. From personal stories to thoughts on what's going on in the parks. In the meantime, make sure to read Mesa Verde Times and here's a few pics for my UAB friends.....

Here's one from Journey into Imagination circa 1996.

This Dreamfinder AA wore a white thong.

And of course, a Great Movie Ride pic circa 1997

More coming soon......

The "Great" Movie Ride

2007-09-20T09:39:00.001-05:00

I have noted in my previous entries (many, many months ago) of my numerous responsibilities while working at WDW. Some have been memorable and others unbearable. I’d like to share with you now a time there that will forever be tops in my book as the greatest place to work, Disney MGM’s the Great Movie Ride.

I’m sure many of you know that GMR was the reason for MGM’s existence, as originally Great Moments into the Movies (its original title) was intended to be sandwiched in between The Land and Journey Into Imagination at Epcot. Luckily, Mr. Eisner in one of his few wise choices gave the Imagineers carte blanche in devising a new park to make this attraction fit. So Disney MGM Studios was opened in 1989, and the very 1st thing you would see is Grauman’s Chinese Theater looking at you all the way from the (at the time) back of the park.

I have had a fascination with GMR since its inception. At the time my sister was on the College Program and got to open the ride. She was even the bandit in the very first MGM guidemap; you can still see her picture on the Disney website! Anyways, I was about 12 and when we’d go visit her, I’d always haul ass to the Movie Ride and ride it 10 or 12 times.

This ride stuck in me in such a fantastic way; the history of old Hollywood, the stories the ride would tell, and the detail was, and quite frankly still unsurpassed. Every time you go, you can see something else brand new. The whole building is just magical, and just 8 short years later, it would be I, dressed in red suspenders and newsboy hat welcoming you aboard.

Luckily, through a friend, I was able to transfer to GMR from Journey into Imagination/HISTA in the winter of 1997. Never having a fear of speaking in front of large groups and quite frankly being a wiseass, I was more than excited to start. Little did I know that the next 5 years would be some of the peaks and valleys of my young adulthood.

I’m not going to bore you with the details of each show scene, heck there are about a billion sites that will do that. What I will share with you are some stories about some of the best people in the world, and maybe some near backstage secrets. This may get lengthy, so bear with me, hopefully my memories will be as captivating to you as they were magical for me.

When I started I was a bit overwhelmed, there were scripts to memorize, attraction positions to learn, how to drive the vehicles, etc. It was daunting, but I was bound to make it work. When you are new, you’re stuck in what’s called “Dock Rotation”, simply meaning you were not spieling on a vehicle until you do a sign off show. Dock consisted of Greeter, Pre-Greet (aka Head Usher) which loaded the pre-show, Pre-Con which spieled in the pre-show and opened the doors to dock, Load which loaded the vehicles, and sometimes Load-Con meaning you just stood around and helped. Let me tell you now, I absolutely hated these positions, hated! In fact, I used to do people’s shows and bump around them to break. Once I did 27 B shows (the gangster one) in a row just so I wouldn’t have to work Dock. That was all until I was character trained.

You see to be a Gangster/Bandit back then you had to loosely audition and get approved. Being a character was the absolute highlight to working there. Gangster shows were 8 minutes, Bandit shows were 4. There were always 4 Gangsters and 4 Bandits, and what we would do is 2 of each character would work for an hour and the other 2 would take a break. Sometimes, we’d get 5 Gangsters and I would do my 5 and then not work again for 2 hours, (we called it a “matrix” and it was great). At any rate, characters ruled the ride, it was something of the “A” crowd back in high school, and I enjoyed every minute of it. It’s not that we were jerks or lorded it over the Tour Guides, it was just prestigious and everyone knew it. The conditions up there were somewhat otherwise.
You see when they designed the ride, they left out 1 simple fact; the air conditioning did not cool the building, and up in Gangster/Banditland, it was hot, very hot! Gangsters had to wear wool suits with many layers and that didn’t help out at all. Bandits had it a bit easier in that I basically wore jeans, a light shirt and vest.

Gangster Alley wasn’t much to look at, but it was home. Basically, there were 4 theater seats attached to the floor, a bookshelf, and a water cooler; that was all there was room for, so cramped was an under statement. Banditland had it much nicer, two couches and an old vinyl thing you could sleep on right behind the bank, funny how you could sleep through all the gun play and explosions and not even flinch.

I won’t bore you with the details on how the show worked, but a few things are neat to know: we did use real guns Smith & Wesson/Taurus for the Gangsters, Rueger Blackhawks for the Bandits, the door we swung around in Anubis during the death scene is directly behind Gangster Alley, and the elephant in the Tarzan scene is hollow (I’ll get into that later).

So enough of all the insights as to a day in the life of a “Movie Rider”, let’s talk about some the great elements that I have the opportunity to experience behind the scenes……tomorrow.

I promise part 2 tomorrow!

Part II

2007-03-14T14:07:00.000-05:00

When I last left you, my family was racing from Ft. Wilderness to the Magic Kingdom for a day of rides, shows, and way too much junk food. We were now standing behind the rope waiting ever so impatiently for it to drop. “Stay together,” Mom would order, “and don’t run.” However, she knew the minute that rope showed the least bit of slack we would be off faster than Kirstie Alley to a bag of Doritos, and probably wouldn’t be seen again until the money in our pockets ran out. So there we were, waiting in anticipation.

Then there it was, the famous spiel that instructed the CM’s to “drop the rope”, and before I knew it we were off. Back then the big draw was Space Mountain, and that’s where everyone headed. I, being the youngest, found it hard to keep up and I had to consistently yell to my siblings to wait up. Not wanting to wait in line for more than 30 seconds, my oldest brother would throw me on his back and off we would run.

Upon reaching the megalith known as Space Mountain I was instructed to sit on this bench and not move, as I was much to short to ride, (Mom never knew this ride had a height requirement, or maybe she thought that someone would watch while the others rode, not bloody likely). So off they would all go to have fun zooming and zipping across the cosmos. However, in my best “Screw this” mentality I have adopted through my lifetime I would take off on the WEDWay Peoplemover for my own journey through Space Mountain. The WEDWay, known for its short lines was always a fun ride for me, as it was this elevated taxi through Tomorrowland. I would look at all the rides and mentally make a “Ride it”, or “Don’t ride it” list. I always figured nothing was going to happen to me, after all I was 6 years old and at Disney World. I’d come back to my assigned bench and of course there were my siblings half pissed I took off, and half relieved they weren’t going to have to go back to Mom and Dad sans 1 child. I’d usually get a punch in the arm as brothers do and off we would go about the rest of the park.

After they would ride their big thrill ride, then it would be my turn to hit the fun rides. I generally loved every ride except 1: The Haunted Mansion. It would scare the bejesus outta me, and I wanted no part of it. Funny, because today it’s one my top 3 favorite attractions. Anyways, the rides I had to hit were 20k, Mr. Toad, the Star Jets, the Jungle Cruise, and Pirates.
I really enjoyed Mr. Toad, because it’s a ride the whole family would ride. I usually would ride in the front seat with my Mom. She would always be overly enthused at my ability to a) drive a car b) seem to narrowly miss all the characters. Funny thing about Toad was that in the last scene, you know, when you go to Hell, I never realized you die until I was older.

The other fun ride for the family was 20k. I actually thought you were completely submersed and visited all of the locations portrayed in the ride. My siblings helped with the freakiness of it by asking, “Hey, is that a leak in my glass?” or “Too bad you can’t swim”. I always loved the lost city of Atlantis scene. I don’t know why, just always have.

Around noon we’d all gather on Main St. for what Mom called “Hot dogs on main”, and then in the blink of any eye gone in a flash. I’d usually be tired by then so Mom and I would hop on the train and ride it for an hour or so while I napped. My rejuvination would hit and I’d be ready to go for some more excitement.

Adventureland was always a good place to run around, and for whatever reason it always seemed like it was separated from the rest of the park. I think my whole family loved Pirates of the Caribbean, I especially love the queue. Talk about a well themed queue; it had skeletons, and cannons, and overall just this mystique of a Caribbean themed fort. Has anyone else ever thought that Pirates had a certain smell? Hard to classify what it was, maybe some kind of crisp, damp odor? I dunno, but when go to Pirates I always smell it.

The other fantastic rides in Adventureland were the Tiki Birds and the Jungle Cruise attractions. I hated the Tiki Bird show, but loved the music, and so the rest of the day I’d sing “In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, in the Tiki…..” much to the annoyance of my brothers and sister. The Jungle Cruise was fun as I loved going into the Vietnamese temple, it had this eerie music that was so spooky. I never really got the jokes, but played along anyways.

We also enjoyed the Dole Pineapple Whip, I mean who hasn’t. That still is one of my favorite stops in Adventureland, although A-Land just doesn’t have the same feeling since they added in that God awful Aladdin attraction.

The day would end with us watching the fireworks. I remember one time my sister jumping into my Disney stroller (remember the light blue ones that were more shopping carts than strollers) and getting stuck because she was too tall. So my brother grabbed her and rolled her all around Main St. with her screaming bloody murder. After the fireworks we would take the boat back to Ft. Wilderness with me usually falling asleep.

(End of Part II – Look for Part III “Epcot” soon)

Monorails with buttons on the outside of the cab to open the doors, a live steam train in Ft. Wilderness, the StarJets, and of course If You Had Wings

2007-03-12T12:47:00.001-05:00

First off, there are numerous accounts on the internet that are impeccably written and go into great details of all things WDW. Discussions on X. Atencio and Buddy Baker, Mary Blair, and the great Marc Davis. I love these blogs, and find a lot of them inspiration; however I try to write mine from a first person perspective of how I either remember or choose to remember my trips to WDW. So, please bear with me if I can’t remember all of the car names to Mr. Toad, or if I mention the asteroid in Space Mountain as the big cookie.

I am lucky to be the youngest of 5 kids, each of my siblings having some type of influence on me as they were quite older. Their sole responsibility in life was babysitter, while sometimes they would actually watch me, most of the time was spent trying to terrorize me with Muppets and stories of the man with the hook who would kill me if I stepped outside my room. However, generally we all did okay, especially on family vacations.

My folks used to love to vacation all over, I thank them now for the experiences, but those car rides of sitting in between Mom and Dad in the front seat “hump” for hours was never fun. (Back then if you owned a station wagon those things were like tanks and child seats were something of a fad). Anyways, more times than not we would get called to the office at school around noon, and there was mom. She and my dad would have the car packed and off we would go on another adventure; my older siblings grumbling about being too cool to go, the younger ones gearing up for game “are we there yet?”.
My parents were great in that about 4 times a year we would truck from the Midwest to Orlando to go to Disney World. Most of the time we would rent a cabin at Ft. Wilderness. My mom thought Disney was nice as she could basically turn us loose and not have to worry much about how we’d get home. During this time there was no Sea World, Universal, no nothing, except WDW.

I don’t remember my first trip to WDW, I was a toddler and my mom swears that someone kidnapped me at the Contemporary. She claims Security looked for hours only to find me traipsing the monorail queue looking quite flustered. My only thought was that I wanted to get to MK so badly I said “screw this” and looked to the shiny train to get me to the castle. However, I recall none of it, and wonder if it ever even happened. I do, though, remember taking the small boats from MK back to Ft. Wilderness and seeing the Water Pageant. To this day when I hear Handel’s Water Music, I immediately regress back to the days of light up sea monsters and U.S. flags. To digress one second, anyone remember those old brown busses in Ft. Wilderness?

Anyways, our day would begin like this 5am, Mom’s up like a rocket, kicking us out of bed. Peter and John on the bunk beds, Missy on the hide-a-bed, Paul on the couch, and me, curled up on the hide-a-bed cushions with a blanket. We have our Fruit Loops which was already a vacation to us as no sugared cereals unless it was a) Christmas or b) we were at Disney. Next step would be mom putting out our clothes in order from tallest to shortest, all outfits looking the same so we could we be identified easily as the nerdy family from the Midwest, all the long while Dad just drank his coffee. Next, out the door for the mad dash to get to the boat dock, this was quite a sight to watch 5 kids with bowl cuts wearing the same clothes, screaming and yelling at 6 in the morning. Dad, well he just drank his coffee.
We’d get to the MK and wait in line for what seemed an eternity. I could barely hold the anticipation knowing that just behind this flimsy rope was an adventure filled with ghosts, pirates, giant squid, and oversized animals waiting to inadvertently scare the bejesus out of me. While we waited would mom pin our tickets to our clothes (which now seems really odd), and go over her “if we get lost spiel”. My mom was cool in that even in a park of 30,000+ people you could always find her: either at the hot dog place on Main St. now known as Casey’s or at the Tomorrowland Terrace watching Michael Iceberg and his incredible synthamagnetic musical device; “The Iceberg Machine”. All of a sudden the P.A. blared, “To all who come to this magical place…” This was it, it was go time.
(End of Part I)

Production Coordinator: Part 2

2007-02-28T16:30:00.000-06:00

So when I last left you a young, non-crazy Britney Spears was taping a concert at Disney MGM Studios, infront of the Rock n Rollercoaster for about 2500 girls and their moms. Since this was a rehearsal, not all the production elements were in place, most namely, Britney's top.

When Britney turned around to face the audience after a contorted dance number, in the true fashion of Tara Reid and Janet Jackson, Ms. Spears was, ahem, exposed. Well, of course, the mothers were dumbstruck, the director was embarassed, but not Ms. Spears, she remained calm and collected; almost as if she had noticed her breasts had popped out.

While Britney was stuffing herself back in, Disney personnel braced for impact; everyone imagined the throngs of angry mothers going straight to Guest Relations to exclaim how Disney was responisble for sullying the adolescence of their daughters. Managers were tripping over eachother in attempts to provide some damage control, others unable to move much like a deer in headlights; but we coordinators were steadfast. One of my favorite peers, went over to the camera guy and calmly asked, "Did you get that?"

These are the times I cherished being a PC. Other times, well, not so much. Let me tell you about a little thing called Super Soap Weekend. (Please do not read on if you are easily offended).

Super Soap Weekend, in my words and my words only, seems to be the only time that 40,000 three hundred pound women leave the house to shmooze with female ABC soap stars, and eye hump the men. Now, I wouldn't have a problem with these lovely ladies if they a) didn't all drive motorized carts, and b)have some common deceny. It's like this:

For an entire weekend MGM is turned into a Soap fans wet dream. There are meet and greets, concerts, trivia, soap stars taking their shirts off (unfortunately, guys). While it's soap fan nirvana, it's my personal Hell.

Planning for this thing is crazy, everyone whose anyone is tapped to handle this event. Queues have to be devised, stanchions (movable poles) have to be stolen from all around property, talent has to be coordinated, and we PC's give up all kind of rest. It's literally a month of planning, then when the weekend arrives we just sleep when we can, where we can (thank you Banditland @ GMR). So let me take you to Saturday morning. We get in about 3am, and as you are walking in, you can see the beat up motor homes with a whole bunch of Bertha's/Betty's/Marge's/ and Thelma's inside. These ladies will line up outside the gate for an 8:30am opening, you would think they were waiting for Stones tickets.

Anyways, the moment the gates open is a term a I affectionately call "The Stampede". Trust me, if you've seen the bulls in Spain, you've seen Saturday morning during Super Soap Weekend. It's bedlam. Since the event is parkwide the ladies spread out and wreak havoc on the park the Mouse built. Oddly enough, the park is packed while most of the rides will have walk on times during this weekend.

I was always in charge of New York St. and the Arch. Susan Lucci came every year and always remembered me. She is a very tiny, but extremely nice person. The stars will do 2 signings a day, plus Q&A's, and Wally Kurth's band will always play some crap music. My whole day is getting more headshots, water, and trying to be personal WDW diplomat to the guests (who are always angry), because it's too hot, there's not enough shade, Kelly Ripa's too thin, or why Brad Taylor won't take his shirt off.

The best part of SSW are the weeks that follow it. That's when we have to clean up the pigsty and return all the crap we stole from other parts of WDW. My favorite memory was being in a rented Ryder truck with expired tags, with a driver who had an expired license, stolen stanchions in the back, and ramming the awning to the monorail track infront of about 500 guests. Classic.

Production Coordinator: Part 1

2007-02-27T08:40:00.000-06:00

I have had the pleasure/pain of working for the mouse for nearly 10 years. Some jobs were fantastic, some made it hard to get up in the morning. As I continue down the blog path I will recap some from time to time; today being one of those times. For a stint, I was what is called a "Production Coordinator" at MGM, ahem, I mean the Disney Studios. What a PC does is basically this, everything. When I mean everything, I mean everything. From logistical planning, to activation, to strking, and a whole lot of diplomacy with others who plainly just don't want to be diplomatic.

So to get down what we do is whenever something big comes to MGM (sorry, that's what I know it as), like Super Soap Weekend, Concerts, Marathons, Cheerleading, Star Wars Weekends, we are in charge of it. (You didn't think it just "magically" happens did you?)
Anyways, if you have never been to those events, they are really circuses. Not only do we have to take care of production (film crews, staging, grip work), we then have to take care of talent (in this case we'll say Regis & Kelly), but then we also have to make sure the day guests are happy and not interfere with the production. Easy. Now, I have to say some events are easier than others, some are excrutiating, some are just plain odd.

Take for instance a concert we produced for Disney Channel's "Summer Jams" Concert Series. This particular one starred Britney Spears, but way before her shaved head and sans panties days. It was to be held in the brand new, at the time, Rock n Rollercoaster courtyard for about 2500 girls who entered a contest and their moms. This wasn't too bad as RnR courtyard has a gate that we can close, so while the day guests won't get to ride RnR for the day, they can still hear the music and if they crane their necks right, can catch the taping. Normally on day like this, shooting will take place mid to late morning as it will be ridiculously hot later, meaning our crew had to get in about 3:30 am. This, however, was a much better time than the stage techs who were there all night putting the stage together. (Disney is wildly known for having an empty space one day, the next day some monstrosity standing in place, and then overnight it seems to disappear, so kudos to WDW on that). Anyways, to get back to my story. We get in, go through all the logistics and set off to the stage. Everything is set up, and the camera crew is unloading, everything perfect. Fast forward about 6 hours to sound check/dress rehearsal. Britney is just finishing up wardrobe and the courtyard is bulging to the brim with pre-pubscent teens and parents who keep looking like they would like to be somewhere else. We are ready, the director's ready, and the back up band is ready (of course it's all tracked).

Out comes Britney in tight black pants and nothing but a long piece of green fabric across her chest, quite the wardrobe for a Disney sponsored event. So everyone gets quiet, lights go on, and the director yells "Action". Britney and her dancers bust into a sequence of twists turns and God knows what, the music is pumpin', the kids are screamin', and Britney turns her back to the crowd to perform a dance move. When she turns around the look of parents immediately turns to horror.

(Part 2 tommorow)

Welcome to my blog

2007-02-23T12:56:00.001-06:00

This blog will be dedicated to, as the title states, all things WDW. I have spent nearly a decade working there, and nearly a lifetime building fond memories of a magical place in Central Florida. Sometimes this blog may say things that don't agree with you, sometimes it will be complete utter nonsense, and other times it may help you remember a cherished time while at Disney with family. So, welcome to my blog and of course "por favor mantangse aleado de las puertas."