Dad's trip days 3-7

Over the weekend of Dad's visit I had to work one 8 hour shift and one 10 hour shift on Sat. and Sun. There was one exciting thing about those two days: I saw and spoke to Celine Dion. It was pretty cool. There are 3 levels of celebrity priority that Disney grants. All of them get an escort to guide celebrities and their parties around the park to hit attractions at their non-peak hours. The first two levels can be bought. Basically if you have enough money and want to pretend you'll get mobbed if people notice you, all you have to do is pay for it. Level One gets a party on a ride within 20 mins, and Level Two gets the party on an attraction immediately. These can sometimes be a big pain because more often than not the families act we owe them something, and don't seem to be enjoying themselves. We've had several Steeler/Cardinals players and families through in the last few days. It is really difficult to explain to guest who don't speak English why these people can just walk up and get in the car when they have been waiting for an hour and a half. Now having said that...I also want to say that one of the Steeler football players and his family were pretty cool the other day. (I have no idea who it was.) They were all having a blast, were super friendly and thanked us over and over for letting them get on so quickly. So they aren't all a pain.

Level Three when Disney decides that you might be mobbed if people recognized you. This one cannot be bought...in fact it's free. This level gives the guest and their party full and immediate access anywhere in the park. Celine Dion and her family came in through the backstage areas in Toy Story. They got on immediately and rode around twice. When they came by my station I said, "Welcome back toys. You'll be exiting toward the wall when your lap bars release. Did everyone have a good time?" Like I do to most everyone (or some similar version of that) and she looked right at me, smiled and nodded her head. So that was neat.





On Monday, dad and I played in my park. This is one of the ice cream shops near my ride It;s a giant 6pack of coke. Fun Fun. We got to do most everythingm starting with Toy Story (which on of my friends hooked me up with several fast passes for us for the day.) and hitting all the rides the super cool stunt show and the block party.

The Mr. Potato Head and The little green aliens with Luxar's Ball pictures are from the block party. Instead of having a parade Hollywood Studios has a block party. So instead of lots of floats going past you the floats park up and down the street and perform for you to high energy music. They even get the crowd and especially the little kids in on it. It's hard to not have at least a little bit of fun if you're anywhere near close to it. Also...my park is the main pixar park, so there are lots of the pixar characters in my park and in the block party. You can find the pixar characters in other parks...but there are LOTS of the at Hollywood Studios, like Mater and Lightning McQueen; Buzz, Woody and all the Toy Story people; and even Mike and Sully from Monster's inc. If anyone who reads this is a fan of the pixar shorts (like For the Birds, or Knick Knack) they are supposedly all represented (in a title, graphic, or poster) somewhere in my park...and a lot of them are represented on my ride. Give me some titles and I'll try to find them and take some pictures.

Of course we ended that day with Fantasmic! I love this show it's a water/character/music/lighting/firework/movie/firebreathingdragonwhosets thelakeonfire type of show. Because of Cuts Disney is having to make because of the economy and what not they pulled Fantasmic back from an every night show (like Magic Kingdom fireworks) to a twice a week show, and boy are people upset about that! It only shows on Monday and Thursday and this past week they've started showing two on those nights. So they are back up to four a week after only a month of cutting back to two.

Tuesday was the day that dad was supposed to fly home but because of all the ice in Oklahoma the airlines changed his flight to Wednesday. So we spent Tuesday getting the tools we needed to take the top off my jeep and then we went to the beach that evening. It was a lot of fun. It wasn't warm enough to make the drive to Cocoa without the top...but I'm sure those days are coming. The beach was very pretty. I can't believe I live so close to one. It's about the same drive time as from my home town to South Oklahoma City!

I had a ton of fun with dad, I was so glad he got to come and actually spend some time, not just drop off the Jeep and have to fly back the next day. Now I'm ready to see mom and my best friend in a few weeks. I like showing people around with my Disney Employee Badge. I haven't yet gotten over how fun it is to flash a badge and be waved on into "backstage" or security, or even just into parking without having to pay. It was a full few days, but we had a blast. :-)