Film Fest Friday - How to Ride a Horse

Today's short is an instructional video on riding horses. I hope you all will receive some sort of educational benefit from this.



Maybe that wasn't quite what you expected, but it was still a lot of fun, wasn't it?
Okay, I have to go. I'm a little under the weather right now.
T.H. Excellence

Film Fest Friday - Mainframe: The Art of the Sale

Today's feature is Mainframe: The Art of the Sale, depicting a salesman with a million dollar product and the wrong target market.

AtomFilms.com: Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | Comedy Central

Okay, I'm off. I'll see y'all later.
T.H. Excellence

The Life of a Cast Member

Today marks one week since I started my official duties as a post-training cast member, and I must say this has been quite an exciting week! Almost every day I'm in the park, helping Splash Mountain to run smoothly. So far, it's been quite fun! I've really enjoyed interacting with guests and taking on the various roles required to operate the mountain.

Not that work has been all fun and games. The job certainly has its ups and downs, and sometimes it's easy to get really frustrated when confusion erupts or guests get upset over something. But making one guest happy completely compensates for dealing with twenty annoyed guests, and I must say I really take pride in the job. The best part of my day is closing up the attraction at midnight once Disneyland has closed. Afterwards, I walk to my car, enjoying the cool silence and the glowing lights of the empty park.

Okay, I need to go sleep. I've got an eight hour shift tomorrow, and it starts at 10:00 a.m.
T.H. Excellence

Film Fest Friday - Bone Trouble

Today's entry for Film Fest Friday is a recent Pluto cartoon I found and enjoyed. Here it is!



Quite interesting, eh?

On a side note before I wrap this up, I have successfully completed my training for Splash Mountain at Disneyland. Thus far, I have had a really great experience and I'm really enjoying my work. Hopefully that trend will continue.
T.H. Excellence

Film Fest Friday - Out of Scale

Sorry for the lack of a short film yesterday. I spent most of my time working at Disneyland, being trained in the various aspects of operating Splash Mountain. It's been incredibly intensive, but pretty fun as well, and I've had a great time going through the different cast member position.

Anyway, enough of that. Today's film is an old Donald Duck cartoon from 1951. This was one of my favorites when I was a kid, mostly due to the gargantuan model railroad in Donald's backyard.

Okay, I gotta go. I have to be in the park at 6:00 tomorrow.
'Bye for now,
T.H. Excellence

Slowing Down

On Monday, I once again visited Disneyland for a few hours with the intent of enjoying several attractions that I missed on my Saturday visit. Yet even though my main intent lay in the attractions, I spent a fair amount of time snapping pictures here and there, and I had a small collection ready to upload as I boarded Splash Mountain for my final adventure of the day.

Then something unexpected happened (I still don't know what) and my memory card had to be formatted, thus removing many of the pictures I had shot earlier. Fortunately, this wasn't too much of a blow. I didn't have that many pictures on my camera, and those that I had taken could easily be reshot later if necessary. So I simply moseyed around the Critter Country area and took a few more pictures before heading out. It was at that time that I realized how Disneyland is to truly be enjoyed.

When most people visit the park, they spend their whole time running from one place to another, hoping to catch a show at a certain time or trying to get into a line as quickly as possible. Most people don't take the time to slow down and examine their surroundings. I was forced to do that while I was snapping pictures, and I came to realize just how wonderful a place Disneyland is. Separated from reality, it carries its own sense of peace and wonder, with the dreams and fantasies of many masterfully blended together into one extraordinary park. When you take the time to slow down, there is an infinite amount of details to be found, some placed intentionally, others simply an inherent part of the place. A group of ducks perched on a docked canoe, for instance, or the laugh of a child in reaction to an amazing day. This is beautiful, I thought to myself. It is so wonderful that I get to work here.

The Sailing Ship Columbia was docked in Fowler's Harbor, resulting in her masts poking up over this roof. I'm not terribly satisfied with the way this photo turned out, but it looked lovely in the thought process.


I'm very fascinated with the Haunted Mansion's artistic style, so I spent several minutes grabbing a variety of shots.


Here's a black-and-white pic.


And finally a black-and-white with blue tint.


The canoe dock was very serene that evening.


All the guests and cast members had left, and the canoes were serving as a perch for a group of ducks.


A random shot of the Crystal Arcade on Main Street.


And to conclude, one final shot of the Partners statue in the central plaza.

Thanks for reading, everyone. I start guest interaction training tomorrow, so stay tuned!
T.H. Excellence

First Days at Disneyland

If you happened to be here around mid-April, you may recall that I was recently hired by the Disneyland Resort to work in an attractions role. Well, Saturday, May 31st marked my first official day as an attractions cast member as I went down to the Disneyland property to begin my first day of training called "Traditions". This day was a simple walk-through of general training, in which I was instructed in various cast member traditions and guidelines with regards to safety, performance, guest interaction, and so forth. After lunch, my group and I were taken through the backstage area of Disneyland and emerged "on-stage" in the middle of Toontown, where we began a quick walk around the park to inspect and observe its various aspects. I must say that entering Disneyland from the back is quite a different experience, but not an altogether unwelcome one.

The day eventually concluded by preparing each of us for our next day of training (which would be area-specific), and I learned I would be operating Splash Mountain for the time being (bummer, no Haunted Mansion). When all was said and done, we received our official Disneyland Resort ID cards and name badges, which was very exciting. And, of course, my natural response upon receiving my ID was to rush to the main entrance of Disneyland and present it for admission into the Magic Kingdom.

Since Traditions concluded around 6:00, I had approximately six hours to romp the parks before they closed for the night. Since it was a Saturday, the lines were a bit long, so I was worried I wasn't going to get to do everything on my agenda. Indeed, Disneyland closed its gates before I could get on every attraction I had intended (California Screamin' will have to wait for another time), but I managed to fit in quite a bit between 10:00 and midnight. Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, and Splash Mountain were all walk-ons, allowing me to experience all of those in less than an hour. Space Mountain wasn't quite a walk-on, but I easily made my way through the queue in about 10 minutes, which wasn't bad at all. Afterwards, I attempted to cram Peter Pan's Flight and Indiana Jones Adventure into the last 20 minutes of the day, but, alas, I did not quite make it.

Oh well. There will be other times.

Anyway, even though I was rushing from place to place, I still managed to snap a few pictures. I would have loved to take more, but I can spend more time doing photography later. After all, I've got access to the park for the entire summer.

The train station was looking lovely in the setting sun, so I took a few shots.


I was inspired to take this shot while in line for Soarin' Over California. I'm very satisfied with the lighting and colors, but I'm not sure about the composition. I can always try again some other time.


So I went on Tower of Terror for the first time (that ride is a death trap!) and got a few not-so-good out-of-focus slightly-grainy shots of the very well themed lobby.


Loved this owl sculpture in the middle of the room. Wish I would have had my tripod so I could have capture it better.


My group stopped to watch a bit of the Electrical Parade (which we kept running into as we tried to get out of the park), so I propped my camera up against a trash can and got a few shots.


In my opinion, this is probably the most memorable part of the parade. Not sure why, though.


I bet it's fun to be the guy who drives that turtle around.


And for the final shot of the day, Space Mountain (the wait was only 10 minutes!). Don't look too closely - it's a little blurry. Wish I had my tripod.

Okay, those are all the pics for now. I'm hoping to go down to the park one day for a massive photo excursion, but first I have to get settled in working there. At any rate, I'll keep you updated until then.
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