I worked 7-17-05

[saidthekat]

This is where I've decided to post my story about working on Disneyland's 50th Birthday.

I have to admit-- I was a little apprehensive at first because I was scheduled OT on the routes (not my favorite location... especially not on a hot, crowded day). But the day ended up being quite grand.

Guests were in an overly good mood. There was just so much positive energy flowing through the park. It's hard to explain. I'm just happy I was there to be a part of it.

I spent a large part of my shift on opt. task (hard to explain... basically what they have us do in attractions when there's really nothing to do-- give out water breaks, adjust queues, help with special assitance guests, etc). For every singel opt task I had (and i had a lot of them), I stood by the carrousell, and blew bubbles.

I had tons of guests come up to me, and chat while their kids played around in the bubbles. I met a ton of cool people this way. I think that I will always carry bubbles around, and use them for opt tasks.

So, I'm starting to ramble now. But, basically, I love my job 10 million times more now than before July 17th. It was a magical day.

Hooray!

Did anyone else have any interesting experiences?

[PirateJohn]

Normally, on the Mark Twain, we have to go around and search for guests to bring up to the wheelhouse. (It's mandatory to have guests there) But on the 17th there was a two-hour waiting list.

[LostMalfoy]

I was actually a little surprised with how laid back everything was. Quite a few of us in DCA were expecting the normal rabid guest overflow when DL maxes out, but we were practically dead. It was nice to spend a little more time just talking to the people and playing with the little kids because there weren't as many people around.

But of course, that flip side is that our stores were also rather dead for blocks of time...that made for a pretty long closing shift.

[dlaurora1955]

Working July 17th was really nice I think, it was definately not as bad as I thought it would be. Yes, the line was long getting in, all the way past Harbor Pointe, but overall not that bad. Because the park opened around 7 or so, it took us at least an hour to get lines for Book, it was dead for a while and nice.

We gave the first 50 people, Happy Birthday Storybookland stickers, it was nice and cute and saying Happy Birthday all day long. The attitude was quite positive that day. :)

[LiveWire]

The 17th was the best day for me. I got to experience both sides since I arrived at 5:30 to get in line at DCA. Spent the morning and part of the afternoon as a guest and then worked a five hour shift then went back into the park (after clocking out properly) and stayed till closing. Yes I am insane! :D:

But it was worth the sore feet and backache. Not only was the castle ceremony very moving. But people were so awesome. All of the boats I had at jungle were just AMAZING! I was afraid that people were going to be tired and cranky but they were fun and interactive and just as patient as can be. Im sure it wasn't that way everywhere but I left in such good spirits. I felt so happy to be a part of it all.

Then at jungle we got to meet one of the original jungle cruise skippers who told us about having walt on his boat. Oh man its great to be at an original attraction, especially jungle. And we got a birthday card signed by the walt disney world jungle cruise skippers. If any of those skippers are here....thanks! I thought that was so awesome! :D:

[Captain Josh]

As an almost regular parade shifter, I must say, the 17th was a bit easy.

Sure, it was somewhat crowded for a Sunday, but nothing extreme, and thankfully, everyone was quite behaved.

I dunno, it just felt too easy. I was so amped up for the week, with a dark forboding, and for nothing to happen, well it was kinda....unexpected.

[PirateJohn]

As an almost regular parade shifter, I must say, the 17th was a bit easy.

Sure, it was somewhat crowded for a Sunday, but nothing extreme, and thankfully, everyone was quite behaved.

I dunno, it just felt too easy. I was so amped up for the week, with a dark forboding, and for nothing to happen, well it was kinda....unexpected.

I had the same thing on the 4th of July at Pirates, too. I was expecting a horrible, crowded day, and our line never made it past the bridge. It's an almost daily occurrence in the summer for the line to be outside the bridge at Pirates, but it simply didn't happen on the fourth.

[DLRFantasmic!Dan]

As an almost regular parade shifter, I must say, the 17th was a bit easy.

Sure, it was somewhat crowded for a Sunday, but nothing extreme, and thankfully, everyone was quite behaved.

I dunno, it just felt too easy. I was so amped up for the week, with a dark forboding, and for nothing to happen, well it was kinda....unexpected.

I was working Fantasmic!, it wasn't that bad then what I expected!! No troubles. Helped the foods CMS hand out cupcakes by yelling, "FREE cup cakes!! Key word is 'FREE'!!!!" We had three shows, I don't know why, it had no point since it wasn't that crowded! The first show was busy!! The second show gotten easier, but the third show: DEAD!!!

[goose]

Overall, the guests seemed relaxed and happy that day. Well except for one.

I got into an argument with this one stupid woman. She swore at me and called me rude. Why? She asked me a specific question and I told her that that "was up to management." Apparently this response is rude. I never thought answering someone with the truth could be considered rude. She told me she was going to complain. She didn't. I didn't swear at her or call her any names, but I did manage to convey to her that I thought she was a stupid bitch. :D:

[murf]

I think that the real pain was the night before! I had to set everthing up in the structure (yes I was the one that closed BCML @ 7 pm) as much planning as they did it was a nightmare you'd think that they would've had everything ready but we had to scramble all night long just to get evrything ready.