Thursday, October 6, 2011

Beach & Food

Today, I went to Blizzard Beach!

I wish I had pictures. But I don't. Because it's sort of dumb to carry electronics at a water park. So I'm going to link to some pictures from the web.

Here's Summit Plummet. It's a body slide with what I guess is a 12-story drop. Yes, I went on it. The wait was scarier than the actual drop. But it is really really fast.

This is the Slush Gusher. It's right next to Summit Plummet, but it's shorter, so we figured it would be a good practice run. It was not fun. The Summit Plummet was better. Slush Gusher was painful and I actually caught air... which is terrifying on a body slide.

The Lazy Creek was pretty fun and relaxing.

The Toboggan rides were awesome. This pic is of the Racers ride. The Slalom one was pretty awesome, but it's hard to get good pics of it.

Runoff Rapids was also fantastic.

Team Boat Springs was pretty fun. We got put in a tube with some guys from the UK, because there's a minimum of four people per tube, and we only had three.

And that's pretty much it for Blizzard Beach! We got a Sand Pail, which is ice cream with lots of toppings in a little plastic bucket. One of my friends took a picture of it, so I'll post that when I get it from her.


Later today, I went to Epcot for food! Here's some pics:















I went on The Seas with Nemo and Friends for the first time! It was pretty adorable, but the area at the end is even better. It's like a small aquarium, with lots of observation areas. I saw lots of different kinds of fish, including sharks. I also saw manatees! I couldn't get a good pic of them, though. I did, however, meet a cast member who is involved in animal research here at the parks.

Then I went to Argentina for a beef skewer. I totally forgot to take a picture, but trust me, it was fantastic.

Then I went to China, where I got this:















Black Pepper Shrimp with Sichuan Noodles! This was soooo yummy, and almost a meal by itself.

Then I went to Italy:















This is my second chocolate cannoli. SO FANTASTIC. I couldn't walk by Italy without getting it.

Then Belgium:















What else? A Belgian waffle. This was basically heaven. Strange thing about this photo... it looks sunny outside. It was actually really dark.

And finally, on my way out of the park, Australia:















Lamington! It's yellow cake with chocolate and coconut flakes. It's wonderful!

And that was pretty much my day. But I've been promising pictures, and here they are! Though they are all of food. Sorry about that. But I'm sort of a fan of the stuff.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Not So Scary

Guess who went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party? This girl! That's right, I broke down and got a ticket for it. I went with a group of two people who I knew and four people I didn't. I didn't dress up, but major props to those who went to the park in full costume in that humidity. I got off work at 7 that night, along with a friend of mine form Facebook(that's right, we first met on Facebook. Let's not be judgmental about that). After I changed, I went back upstairs and got my wristband- it was that easy. With the wristband came  a bag that I could fill with wonderful goodies. Which I most certainly did.

We met up with my friend's friends(she's been here for three weeks longer than I have) by the Haunted Mansion. They had just come off it, and so we decided to go on the ride ourselves and meet up with them in the line for the Seven Dwarves. The Haunted Mansion was pretty cool- the cast members there were in more costume than usual. Zombie makeup and all that. So we went on the ride. Sometimes that ride stops. It happens. Unfortunately for us, it stopped while we were in the Attic, which is the creepiest room ever. We got stopped right in front of the bride... so yeah, that was terrifying. 

After the ride, we joined the rest of the group in the Seven Dwarves line. We took turns holding our spot in line- normally I don't feel okay with that, but since we were all taking a picture together and not seven separate ones, I felt fine with having someone hold what was essentially one place. When we weren't waiting in the (long) line, we went on Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We walked onto both of those rides. And by walked, I mean we entered the standby line and walked with nobody in front of us until we got to the log or train. That NEVER happens, especially on Splash Mountain.

The Seven Dwarves were totally awesome. I need to get the picture from someone I went with, and then I'll post it here. After we met them, we ran over to the Hub(the middle of the park in front of the castle) for the fireworks show and the Villains' show. Both were awesome. Then we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride(also no wait) and watched the Boo to You parade. Also awesome. After that, we trick-or-treated and gallivanted about the park until midnight, at which point we went home.


So on a more serious note: Work. I enjoyed my Glow Cart training. I have a Glow shift tonight, so I'll let you know how that goes. To be honest, I'm kind of nervous, because I'm going to be by myself for the entire shift, responsible for a cart full of things that have a nasty habit of walking off. People, please never make jokes about stealing when you're in front of me. Don't come into the Crow's Nest to buy water and joke about how you're distracting me so someone else can steal a bunch of other waters from the water cart outside. Please don't pretend to walk away from my glow cart without paying. You will make me very nervous and you will most likely not be getting the best of service from me. Why? Well, at Disney, Safety is the top priority- it even comes before Courtesy, which is what Disney is really known for. Even a joke about stealing is essentially a threat, and threats make me as a Cast Member feel really unsafe, especially if I'm all by myself. I'm also concerned about the safety of other guests. If you're the sort who would openly threaten to steal, then who knows what other sorts of laws and rules and general codes of social conduct you're willing to break? So save it for someone who will actually enjoy your joke.


Less serious: Epcot's Food and Wine festival is going on! I went the other night(for the food, of course). It was AMAZING. Seriously- the food is the best of the best. I had a sausage in a pretzel roll from Germany, a chocolate cannoli from Italy, and escargot and a crepe from France(though the crepe wasn't from their Food and Wine booth). They were all amazing. I'm excited to go back and try food from other countries.

So that's pretty much it for now! Have fun!