A Miniature Splash Mountain

On a recent trip to the beach I found myself with little to do at one point, so I resorted to an act of incredible geekiness: I decided to try my hand at building a sand model of Splash Mountain. I'm not much of a sculptor of any medium, let alone sand, but I found I was able to carve out a rough replica of the actual landmark. No doubt my lengthy amount of experience around the actual thing was of considerable help. Anyway, when all was said and done, I felt my model was worth photographing, and thus the results are posted below.



Here's an aerial shot. I was so pleased with the front of the mountain that I decided to head behind the peak and complete the flume in that area as well.

One last close-up.

In case that doesn't float your boat, here are a few more pictures from the day.




Okay, that's all from me for now!
T.H. Excellence

A Tribute to the Magic

Here's a tribute to the magic that cast members make every day. A fellow cast member from Splash Mountain was once doing a little guest interaction while the attraction was experiencing some downtime. A small child ran up to him and asked, "What's wrong with the ride?"

"You know that big snoring bear that you hear when you're up in the mountain?" the cast member started. "Well, he woke up and was very hungry, so he came down to the churro cart here for a churro. Except the cart was all out of churros, so he had to go all the way to Main Street to get one, and we can't start the ride again until he comes back."

The child nodded in understanding and walked away, at which point the father walked up to the cast member and said, "Okay, c'mon now, what really happened?"

"You know that big snoring bear..."

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

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.
T.H. Excellence