Auctions for Fastpasses & CM Stuff ?!?

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lady ulrike
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Re: Auctions for Fastpasses & CM Stuff ?!?

Post by lady ulrike » Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:38 am

MagicDream4Me wrote: One more thing- If the CM's change tags all the time- how is management going to know who I'm talking about if I want to praise a CM?!? :confused:
"No - we don't have a 'Roberto' that works at POTC"! :o:

OK- last one - Do CMs hate it when guests ask if they can sit in a certain seat on an attraction? ie.. front row, Row 1 gate B, etc.? :D: I realize most things can be enjoyed from all areas...but I do have a couple of favs that I would like to get primo seats. I would be willing to wait for the next ride. Is it worth it to ask?

In general, the CMs who change nametags are not the ones who will do something you will want to compliment. All CMs lose their nametag occasionally nut if it's a good CM it'll be a rare occasionand the leads will probably be aware of it and so know who the compliment belongs to.

As for asking for a specific row, I'm always fine with it, if you ask right away. Soething to the effect of when the CM asks how many are in your group say, '4 and can we have the front row' just don't get assigned a seat walk uo to the load area wait for the ride vehicle to show up then come back to me and say, 'oh can we have the front?'

Now with that said, with some rides and some CMs, there may be a problem with it, but if it's not a fast loading ride, like Space, there's rarely a legit reason for denying it. We do deny front row requests at Small World if there's no one else in the boat for balance reasons, but there'
s no one in front of you then anyway.



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Re: Auctions for Fastpasses & CM Stuff ?!?

Post by GRUMPY PIRATE » Wed Oct 10, 2007 8:22 pm

BRWombat wrote:Oh, by this standard, I am the prime target audience for backstage tours. I used to spend lots of money, probably hundreds of dollars all totaled, at magic stores just so I could learn how they worked! I rarely ever performed them, or even practiced them enough to get good. Still have them all, somewhere... :o:
DW and I went on the seven hour tour at WDW last month! It was totally worth it. We had been going to DL DCA and WDW for years and finally took it. The best part was meeting the CM's "backstage" and seeing how certain things are done. The only problem was we had a possible SGT in the making, one women was LITERLY writing down every word the CM that was giving the tour was saying! He was nice about it, but you could tell that it got a little old after a while!

AS to the origional OP, WHY would anyone want to dress like a CM? We get the name tags just to commemorate our trips, as they mean a lot to us. (We got engaged at DL in California and Married at WDW, years before they had the "magic" wedding stuff)

If I was mistaken for a CM (wearing shorts, with facial hair, and looking hot and sweaty!) I would probably give directions to the main exit gate "because you are too stupid to be a guest here today!" O.K. I'll go back to sleep....


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Re: Auctions for Fastpasses & CM Stuff ?!?

Post by Princess Susi » Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:33 pm

Big Wallaby wrote:I'm afraid that is a no. The Origami is a $25,000 illusion, and most of what that cost is is the secret. You'll have to forgive me on this one.
Of course I forgive you! I know that magicians are very careful about their act. I was kidding...Magic is cool, I love watching a really good magician. I am just in awe of what they can do and I can never figure out how these things are done. Isn't there going to be a show on the tube that features Uri Geller asnd Criss Angel facing off coming up soon on NBC? That should be interesting! Illusionists! Cool... :cool:
sues


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Re: Auctions for Fastpasses & CM Stuff ?!?

Post by Kwahati » Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:07 pm

susislicker wrote:I am just in awe of what they can do and I can never figure out how these things are done.
It's called "voluntary suspension of disbelief" and I find most of the people who are best at it (the people who love magicians the most, but "can't" figure out how it's done) are the same people who can get really into Disney! (It's not that you can't figure it out...it's that you're somewhat actively choosing not to in many cases. Your mind stops you from figuring it out because you're happier with the answer being "it's magic!" Note: not all cases. Copperfield has been my hero since I was very little and there are lots of things I've seen him do on TV and live, and I've gone through frame by frame on many of them, that I still can't figure it out!)

My favorite thing in Disneyland is the Magic Shop on main street. It's honestly a little over priced, but the people they get working in there are often pretty good. My roommate usually picks out one illusion that he sees the CM's do and buys it for me when I'm not looking. Then he forces me to learn it and do it for him repeatedly until he can figure out how it's done. For anybody who knows common card illusions out there (Wallaby et al.) I had him trying to figure out CardToon (version 2, I think...the one with the cannon) for almost a year before I finally gave in and showed him how to work it! After one trip, when I was still in the military, he dragged me all around a dorm doing a version of the "hidden deck" illusion I call "Dream Deck" for hours before I showed him how and promptly let him screw up performance of it for the girl he would eventually marry so I could teach him the value of practice prior to performance of an illusion!

By the way, Wallaby: I like your answer about why not to reveal the secrets, but a close friend of mine (the guy who got me into magic and brought me to my first IBM meeting) had a slightly better one: "Well, if you make a large enough donation to the [Wallaby] school of magic, I'll teach you anything you want to know!" (Translates to the same thing as what you said: basically, "I'd teach you, but the secret and apparatus is too expensive to give away!") :D:


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Re: Auctions for Fastpasses & CM Stuff ?!?

Post by Big Wallaby » Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:50 am

Kwahati... If you like performing magic, then you need a "Control Deck". If you're interested, let me know. I can send you right where you need to go.

In magic shops, everything would seem overpriced, but again, that's because of the secret. To put the Origami together yourself would cost somewhere in the range of $3,000... or less if you're cheap... but to know the secret, that is where the other $22,000 comes in.

The neat thing about stage illusion is that it's very difficult to catch. I know how Criss Angel does most of his stuff, I know for a fact that I can do everything Copperfield can do, given the money to buy the equipment necessary... yes, even Flying as he did so many years ago. The thing that I can't touch with Copperfield is the way in which he engages the audience, and that is where my respect for him lies. Technically, I am probably as good a magician as him... but he performs illusion like no one else out there. I just find it sad that he's sorta going the same way as Criss Angel and David Blaine in that he is making it a spiritual thing, despite the fact it's not, but mechanical. But no one can touch Copperfield's love of his audience. A few years ago, he was out performing something like 700 shows a year, got deathly sick and continued playing, because he would not have disappointed his fans. It took doctors and heavy sedatives to convince him to take a break, and even with that he cancelled as few shows as possible. Now, you know he didn't do the shows because he needs the money, but for his audience. I drove the flight attendants on a flight he had been on one night, and it turns out that his humanity is that he has a fear of flying. However, before he knocked himself out on the plane, they said he was the nicest celebrity they've ever flown with. You could have mistaken him for a laid-back version of a Japanese businessman.

The second best magician, in my book, is Lance Burton. He's another one who is first concerned with engaging and enjoying the audience, with the illusions themselves second.

In case you can't tell, I have a certain thing that is important to me when it comes to magic. In my head, I probably hold anywhere between 1.5 and 10 million dollars in magic secrets, which for an illusionist is not much, when it comes right down to it. But all those secrets do nothing for me now, because they in no way help me to entertain my audience. I take that back... when I am waiting for a bus to show up in front of a line, I usually pull something out of my pocket and make it disappear/reappear/redisappear and so on for kids of all ages. But my stage illusion history means little to me, except in that it helps me to understand the magic I protect where I am now.


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Speaking of Magicians

Post by Cheshire Figment » Thu Oct 11, 2007 5:43 am

I have met George Reiger, the Disney Tattoo Guy. His profession is a close-up magician. Which is why there are no tattoos on him above the bottom of his neck or on his wrists or hands. He does not want them to be targets for people to look at when he is performing.

He was a speaker last year at a NFFC World Chapter meeting (and also attended the Convention at WDW last month).



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Re: Auctions for Fastpasses & CM Stuff ?!?

Post by Princess Susi » Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:16 am

Kwahati wrote:It's called "voluntary suspension of disbelief" and I find most of the people who are best at it (the people who love magicians the most, but "can't" figure out how it's done) are the same people who can get really into Disney!
I agree! :D: Disney is magic for me the moment I get on the Magical Express and never ends until we get off the bus back at the airport at the end of the trip! I think we get transformed and taken to that "other" place that only real Disney enthusiasts know. To other's, (SG's) it is just another theme Park to go on vacation to. I love Magic and Disney and to me they ARE one and the same. There really is nothing like watching the best magicians or illusionists do their art, in the same way I am transfixed EVERY time I see the Fireworks and watch for the Hidden Mickey in them (at DL) and respond naturally with a childlike enthusiasm when I see the characters or a parade. Sometimes tears even well up when I hear the music or see a particularly moving encounter with a child and character. (Even tho I have no kids and have NO desire to own one! ;) ) It is all quite awe-inspiring to me, how these things change our everyday lives to something to be marveled at! :D: That is pure Magic! I would say Walt was a great magician! He definitely was a master at illusion, NO doubt!!! :)

One of my all time favorite movies is still "Houdini" with Tony Curtis. I just love that movie. I agree, there seems to been a real sea change in the style and direction that some Magicians are going these days, like Criss Angel. I actually prefer the old school style. I would love to see Lance Burton in a live performance.

Oh boy, now I am REALLY anxious for my next trip in December to DL to go to the Magic Shop! That is always one of our stops on Main Street as well! Ooh, I am going to have to find some new fun things!!! I am hardly very good at it. I think that comes from my not *really* wanting to know, even tho a small part of me does! I think I do prefer to be mezmerized by the sheer coolness of it all! :cool: And knowing those secrets would just cost too damn much! :p:
sues
I look forward to your disappearing tricks, my Grand Wallaby on our next trip to The World! :D:


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Re: Auctions for Fastpasses & CM Stuff ?!?

Post by Kwahati » Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:09 am

I also love Lance Burton, but more because I'm envious of his handling abilities with his animals. David Copperfield is on a completely different level in my mind because he's trying to evoke a visceral or emotional response in his audience. I think that's what you're mistaking for trying to put "spirituality" into the illusions. Also, I like that he's (from what I've seen, although it's possible I'm wrong) always quite careful to refer to it as illusion rather than magic. In fact, the last time I saw him perform live, the show was entitled "An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion". However, if an illusion you know is fake can create a real emotional response in you, isn't that magic?

Cris Angel, on the other hand, kinda bothers me too. First, I don't like that he routinely refers to what he does as magic (half the time, he acts like he doesn't even know how he does it--I was taught a somewhat more smug form of illusion: my mentor told me that a good magician is always thinking "I know exactly what your card is, and you're a moron!" which is a harsh way of saying the magician shouldn't be surprised by his own illusion). Second, I don't like the character he plays. Third, I'm not that impressed with many of the illusions. I think he shows too much setup sometimes and I can figure out what he's doing before he even does it. Maybe it's just the way his shows run, but it kinda ruins suspension of disbelief for me. (To be fair, my roommates and I do watch his show periodically, so he must be doing something right.)

But I'm with Wallaby: Touching the audience with the performance is the key. As such, the best story tellers are some of the best illusionists. This is why Walt was one of the best illusionists of all time and why none of us have any trouble with the phrase "Disney Magic!" (Even though we can see the smoke and mirrors!) :D:


Yo, it's one universal law but two sides to every story
Three strikes and you be in for life, manditory
Four MC's murdered in the last four years
I ain't tryin to be the fifth one, the millenium is here.
- Mos Def Mathematics

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Re: Auctions for Fastpasses & CM Stuff ?!?

Post by Theme Park Where » Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:09 am

I met David Copperfield once. He performed at my college campus. The tickets were rather expensive, and I'd actually just seen his show in Chicago on a break, so I decided not to go. My roommate and I were in the dorm when one of our good friends came rushing in from seeing the show. Copperfield was doing autographs after the show and she didn't want to go by herself. Would we rush back with her so she could get a picture with him? We hustled back across campus to the auditorium to find the doors closed and a guard outside. She told the guard that she'd been in the show and wanted a picture, but she'd been nervous about going in by herself (she was like that, wouldn't go out by herself much). The guard told us that Copperfield's orders were that he wouldn't go home until everyone who wanted one got an autograph or picture, so he let us in. We were last in a line of about 10 or 12 people still waiting. When it was my friend's turn, she asked us to take the picture for her. We snapped a photo then Copperfield gave her a kiss on the cheek, causing her to promptly swoon. We ended up carrying her back to her dorm. Copperfield was a mixture of worried and amused. He was also exhausted from doing his show and spending another hour or so signing autographs and taking photos, so I'm sure he wanted to go back to his hotel and crash. We thanked him for staying the extra time with us and hauled Julie back to her room. He was completely charming and generous with his fans!


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Re: Auctions for Fastpasses & CM Stuff ?!?

Post by Big Wallaby » Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:18 pm

Theme Park Where wrote:...The guard told us that Copperfield's orders were that he wouldn't go home until everyone who wanted one got an autograph or picture, so he let us in... Copperfield was a mixture of worried and amused... He was completely charming and generous with his fans!
Yep, you've nailed the personality.

I understand that when not on stage, he's an extremely private person, which, of course, explains (if you've ever played with those personality matrixes) why he wants his performance to be so special for people when he does it.

Looking at Copperfield's website, I concede that I was probably wrong about the whole spiritual aspect, but that he is probably going for the more emotional aspect that has made him famous.

Either way, he's good enough to pull it off, over and over again, for millions and possibly even billions of people.


My opinions are mine and mine only. If my opinions are the opinion of others who happen to share whatever my crazy views may be, then fine, but it's not because I represent them in having my opinions. Got it?

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