Monday and Tuesday of this week were the Cast Holiday Parties at the park.  (For future reference, if I refer to ‘the park’, I’m more than likely referring to Disneyland Park.) No, I didn’t go to either parties…don’t ask me why, I really have no reason.  I just didn’t.  But I did close the park to the general public on both those nights.  The park closed to day guests at 6PM.  The cast parties started at 8PM.  What did we do during the free hour or so we had?  Ran around the park like crazies!

My fellow Fantasyland CMs were running Peter Pan’s Flight with the lights on, which I chose to skip (because I see the same thing during walk throughs anyway, ya feel me?), and some Tomorrowland CMs were running Space Mountain with the lights on.  It was so awesome to have the park completely empty and see CMs from different areas (Frontierland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Critter Country, and Toontown) all rushing in the freezing cold to the same attraction.  Keep in mind that these weren’t just attractions Cast Members.  We were chillin (literally) with Custodial and Merch too.  I don’t know why, but whenever I see a bunch of different costumes together it makes me smile.  After Space Mountain we sped over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and rode that with all the show lights completely off.  I know everyone has ridden Big Thunder at night before, but you don’t realize how many lights are on inside the attraction until they’re all off.  It was terrifying.  (Luckily the waterfalls were off because I KNOW that Kevin would have gotten me wet.)

Space Mountain with the lights on…was interesting.  It definitely feels faster in the dark.  The tunnel with the strobe lights isn’t nearly as fun either.  Knowing how small that building is though… Man.  I have never been more afraid to lift my arms up on that ride.  Really.  The walls are right there.  But not nearly as scary as Thunder.  Like I mentioned, it was pitch black on that ride.  The tunnels were super duper dark.  I couldn’t see the girl I was sitting next to at all.  We tried doing the goat trick but we couldn’t see the darn goat!

That was probably the most fun I’ve had at work since I started, and the best part is that for half of that time I was getting paid.  Word.

[this is a copy/paste of the about page. actual content is on the way! welcome to mickey and me!]

My name is Alissa, and I am a Disneyland Cast Member.  I started this blog up for a few reasons.  First of all, I’m addicted to blogs.  I have too many.  Really.  My main blog is Thunked and Befuddled and while I do blog about most of my life there,  I found myself holding back, because all I wanted to talk about was work.  Work work work.  And since I work at such a well-known and iconic place that people tend to either love or hate, I felt awkward about that.  I didn’t want my personal blog to become a strictly Disney blog, because I wanted to be able to post other things there too.  So here I am.

Here I’ll be posting just…my experiences with The Mouse.  Not just work stories, but while I remain with the company a lot of them surely will be.  Consider me the anti-Jungle is 101, if you will.  (I’m not trying to pick fights, so Mike, if you somehow find this, nothing personal.) I promise I’ll explain what I mean by that later, although generally it’s a reference to his nostalgia versus my nowstalgia.  I’m sure in 20 years, if I still blog, I’ll end up just like him.  Anyway, I’m rambling.  This is just a sneak peek of how I work.

I’ll try to be hip to the Disney news, too, but I’m really bad at keeping up with that sort of thing, especially considering I work for the company.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the blog!

–Alissa

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a 1986 motion picture released by Paramount Studios. It is the fourth feature film based on the Star Trek science fiction television series. It completes the story begun in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and continued in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Intent on returning home to Earth to face trial for their crimes, the former crew of the USS Enterprise travels to Earth’s past in order to save their present from a probe attempting to communicate with long-dead humpback whales.

After directing The Search for Spock, cast member Leonard Nimoy was asked to direct the next feature, and given greater freedom to the film’s content. Nimoy and producer Harve Bennett conceived a story with an environmental message. After dissatisfaction with the first script produced by Steeve Meerson and Peter Krikes, Paramount hired The Wrath of Khan writer and director Nicholas Meyer, who collaborated with Bennett to rewrite the script.

James Horner, the composer for the previous two films, declined to return; Nimoy’s friend Leonard Rosenman was given the job instead.

The film earned four Academy Award nominations, for Best Cinematography, Best Effects, Best Music and Best Sound.

Trivia:

• The device Dr. McCoy uses to heal Chekov’s head injury is part of a model kit of an AMT movie version Klingon Battlecruiser.
• The punk on the bus is played by associate producer Kirk R. Thatcher. He also wrote the song that is playing on the boom box during his scene.
• Some shots of the whales were in fact four foot long animatronics models. Four models were created, and were so realistic that after release of the film, US fishing authorities publicly criticized the film makers for getting too close to whales in the wild. The scenes involving these whales were shot in a pool underneath a Paramount parking lot. The shot of the whales swimming past the Golden Gate Bridge were filmed on location, and nearly ended in disaster when a cable got snagged on a nuclear submarine and the whales were towed out to sea.
• The film was originally supposed to have Eddie Murphy instead of Catherine Hicks. Murphy was supposed to have played a professor concerned with UFO’s who spots the de-cloaking Klingon ship at the Super Bowl. Apparently, all others are convinced the ship is a half-time special effect while Murphy believes it is real. Paramount declined this script for two reasons: Paramount didn’t want to combine their two most profitable franchises (“Star Trek” (1966) and Beverly Hills Cop (1984)), and Murphy had signed on to do The Golden Child (1986) instead.
• According to George Takei, when McCoy, Scotty and Sulu are standing in front of the building with Yellow Pages advertisement, a door opens and an Asian woman appears. The scene in the movie ends at this point but originally this woman was to begin shouting for a young boy named Hikaru, who would run into Sulu. Sulu would realize that this boy was his great-great-(etc.) grandfather. The young boy hired for this scene began to cry on the set before the shot and they were unable to get him to do the scene. With no one to replace him, the scene was never shot.
• Sulu (George Takei) was supposed to leap into the Huey helicopter when the pilot was outside, looking the other way, and make off with it. Takei had just run the San Francisco marathon when they were supposed to shoot this scene, and was too sore to leap into the helicopter. They tried having a grip throw him in, but couldn’t get it to look realistic, so the scene was cut. In the final edit, Sulu is shown talking to the pilot, then shows up flying the helicopter a few minutes later.
• Cameo: [Bob Sarlatte] The waiter in the restaurant.
• The Cetacean Institute is actually the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California. The Institute’s logo also belongs to the Aquarium.
• When Kirk, McCoy, and Gillian first enter the hospital and are walking around trying to locate Chekov, a voice on a loudspeaker in the background says “Paging Dr. Zober… Dr. Sandy Zober.” Sandra Zober was director/star Leonard Nimoy’s wife at the time.
• The officer on the Saratoga who announces that the thruster controls are offline is of the same alien race as the Federation President in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). This race has never been officially named, but some promotional materials identify the race as the Efrosians (named after Mel Efros, unit production manager for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)).
• During Spock’s memory tests, the computer speaks very rapidly, almost too rapidly to discern. The first question it asks Spock is, “Who said ‘Logic is the cement of our civilization, with which we ascend from chaos, using reason as our guide’?”
• The time-travel method used in the film comes from the “Star Trek” (1966) episode ‘Tomorrow is Yesterday’.
• A scene written for but cut from the film explained why Saavik stays on Vulcan: she is pregnant with Spock’s child, stemming from an event in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984). This was the character’s final appearance in a Star Trek film.
• Jane Wyatt’s final cinematic appearance.
• The computer graphic consoles that became standard on the 24th century Star Trek bridges and also called “Okudagrams” (named for designer Michael Okuda), make their first appearance on the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-A. It is also the final appearance of the entire original Star Trek movie bridge set as only small parts were reused for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989).
• Scenes of the Enterprise’s final moments and its self-destruct were reused from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984).
• During the film’s 1 hour 59 minute runtime, there’s only a total of about 1 minute 13 seconds worth of shots of the Enterprise – the shortest amount of time the Enterprise is seen on screen in any Star Trek movie. The first 33 seconds of it during the beginning courtroom scene was stock footage of the Enterprise’s destruction from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984). The other 40 seconds of it were shots of the Enterprise-A towards the end.
• One early draft script was subtitled ‘The Trial of James T. Kirk’. This script involved Kirk being ‘court-martial’ed at the request of the Klingons, who were indignant about the events in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984). One particularly interesting facet of this script is that it included the character of Harry Mudd (Roger C. Carmel)as a character witness. When the time-travel script was approved instead, the trial was included as a minor sequence. The trial-by-Klingons idea (and portions of the dialogue) was later re-used in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).
• Cameo: [Jane Wiedlin] The Go-Go’s rhythm guitarist appears as the captain of a ship rendered powerless by the Probe. She is seen on the right of three huge video screens amid a chaotic control room on Earth. Her line: ‘The condition remains the same. The Probe has neutralized all power supplies. We are functioning on reserves only’.
• The captain of the USS Saratoga, seen at the start of the film, was the first female captain ever seen in a Star Trek story. The success of this film led to offers by several US TV networks to produce a new Trek TV series with the original cast. Instead, Paramount gave the green light to produce the syndicated “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987) starring an all new cast. A woman (Kate Mulgrew) was cast as ship’s captain in the Star Trek series Star Trek series ‘Star Trek: Voyager (1995)’.
• The miniature of the Spacedock interior (some fifteen feet across) had been destroyed at the end of production on the previous film and had to be rebuilt from scratch.
• As part of a deal with reincarnating Spock in the previous film, Leonard Nimoy took the director’s chair.
• When Chekov is running through the Enterprise (the aircraft carrier), trying to get away from the Marines, the words “Escape Route” and an arrow can be seen on the bulkhead walls.
• The ‘USS Enterprise CVN-65′ was actually The USS Ranger CV-61. The Enterprise was out to sea during filming.
• According to Spock’s computer on Vulcan, Kiri-Kin-Tha’s First Law of Metaphysics states that “Nothing unreal exists”.
• Kirk R. Thatcher did such extensive work on the film that he was promoted from “Production Assistant/Visual Effects” to “Associate Producer” by the end of the film.
• Scenes filmed on location in San Francisco marked the first time any Star Trek installment had been filmed outside the Los Angeles region.
• When Nicholas Meyer was asked to help with the script, the first thing he wanted to do was change the location from San Francisco to Paris because he had previously written and directed a movie about time travel involving San Francisco called Time After Time (1979). But since Starfleet is supposed to be located in San Francisco, he was overruled. Oddly enough, scenes in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), as well as scenes from “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1993) depict the Office of the Federation President to be in Paris.
• The scene with the punk music on the bus was written by Nicholas Meyer to revive a scene that was cut from his movie Time After Time (1979), that had H.G. Wells encountering a teenager with music blaring from a boom box.
• The scene with Chekov and Uhura kneeling on rocks looking at the Aircraft Carriers was shot in San Diego at North Island Naval Air Station.
• It is often claimed that this is the only Star Trek film where no weapons are fired. This is incorrect, as Kirk uses his phaser to weld a door shut, and the whaler fires its harpoon. Chekov also tries to use his phaser, though it doesn’t work. It is also one which no cast member from this film is killed, as the only deaths were from the reused footage from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984).
• The whale hunters speak Finnish. The older Finnish hunter says “What the hell was it, that hit the harpoon?”
• The film bore the dedication, “The cast and crew of Star Trek wish to dedicate this film to the men and women of the spaceship Challenger whose courageous spirit shall live to the 23rd century and beyond…”
• The computer that Scotty uses to show transparent aluminum was originally going to be an Amiga, but Commodore would only provide a computer if they bought it. Apple was willing to loan them the Mac.
• When the alien ship is approaching Earth at the beginning to look for the humpback whales, there were originally subtitles saying things like “Where are you? Can you hear us?”. The studio wanted to keep them despite Leonard Nimoy’s objections. In the first test screening, however, test audiences indicated the subtitles were unnecessary so they were cut.
• For the shot of Sulu flying the helicopter over San Francisco bay, the filmmakers tried to get a pilot to fly a Huey, but they were unable to. The long shot was accomplished using a radio controlled model from Japan.
• The Probe is modelled after Rama from Arthur C. Clarke’s “Rendezvous with Rama”.
• While attempting to escape from the security agents aboard the USS Enterprise, Chekov tosses his phaser to one of the agents; although it is representative of twenty-third century technology, it is never retrieved.
• After Leonard Nimoy allowed Kirk R. Thatcher to play the punk on the bus, Thatcher expressed displeasure at the music chosen for his boom box on the bus scene. He then asked to write and perform a song that he felt would be more representative of his character than the pre-selected music that was to appear. The result was the song “I Hate You”.
• The original script called for the whales to be intercepted during aerial transport over the Golden Gate Bridge. San Francisco Mayor Diane Feinstein objected, saying that the city already had enough trouble with jumpers on the bridge, and that the scene would only encourage more. This led to the scene showing capture of the whales in Alaska.
• One of the questions Spock is asked by the Computer on Vulcan asks about the major historical events of 1987. We never see or hear the answer to that question as the film was made in 1986.
• The sounds of static from the computers heard in the background when the Bird of Prey comes out of timewarp are the loading sounds of a Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer.
• The location where Dr. Gillian Taylor picks up Kirk and Spock is not an actual street. It’s a parking lot that runs alongside the main road.
• In order to find the best actress to play Dr. Gillian Taylor, two prospective actresses were brought out to William Shatner’s ranch by Leonard Nimoy to meet with the man himself. It was Shatner who personally chose Catherine Hicks saying that she was “spunky” (According to Shatner and Nimoy in the DVD Commentary).
• The idea of having Spock give the Vulcan nerve pinch to the punk rocker was inspired by Leonard Nimoy who was walking down the street in New York when a punk came out of a store with his boombox blaring, disturbing everyone around him. Annoyed, Nimoy thought “If I was REALLY Spock, I’d pinch his head off!” (According to Nimoy in the DVD Commentary).
• This film features the only instance in which Kirk says “Scotty, Beam me up”
• During the final scene of the movie, where the Enterprise crew is in the shuttle Sulu says “with all due respect I hope we get Excelsior”. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), Sulu is the Captain of the Excelsior.
• The scene where Chekov and Uhura are asking a woman about “nuclear wessels” was almost completely improvised. Her line about them being in Alameda was ad-libbed by her, and although she wasn’t supposed to say very much, Leonard Nimoy enjoyed the spontaneity of the scene so much he left it the way it was.
• The sound the probe makes is taken from the sound of baby’s heartbeat during a sonogram, slowed down and digitalized.
• Final cinema film of Robert Ellenstein.
• The antique glasses that Kirk sells to make some cash are the pair that was given to him by McCoy for his birthday in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982). It’s suggested that once sold in the antiques store, those glasses hang around until they’re bought by McCoy, in the future, and then Kirk takes them back in time, and so on, in which case one has to wonder where the glasses “originally” came from. This constitutes an “ontological paradox”, an old favorite of science fiction writers, and raises too many questions to discuss here. (It is possible that these glasses existed in two places simultaneously, like characters in the “Back to the Future” films, rather than being caught in a causal loop.) The same paradox arises when Scotty explains how to make transparent aluminum. If the formula is “found” for the first time in the 20th century, but only because Scotty took the information back, then it was never invented in the first place! (This may not be a paradox if Scotty only gave Doctor Nichols the chemical formula but not the manufacturing process.)
• Scotty provided the formula for transparent aluminum in this movie. Interestingly, this state of matter was discovered in 2009.
• According to Leonard Nimoy, about 95% of the Humpback Whale footage in the final cut of the film was man-made.
• Susan Sarandon was among performers that were considered for the main guest lead of Dr.Gillian Taylor.

Oh, how convenient that Bing Crosby’s “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” just started playing on my Pandora Radio Christmas list. Boooo. No, I wont be home for Christmas, and yes, this is my first time ever being away from my family and home for Christmas. I can deal with this no problems, but every time this song plays I get a little bit sad, just a teeny weeny bit because…

• I have no Christmas tree to set up and no stocking to hang.
• There will be no Cookie glaring up at the shiny Christmas ornaments with his little brain ticking away and wanting nothing more than to jump into the tree and attack the ornaments.
• There will be none of Mum’s amazing roast pork and Nana’s delicious turkey.
• There will be no big family gathering over Christmas Day lunch while Bing Crosby’s Christmas CD is playing in the background.
• And the biggest disappointment of them all, (not that I’m materialistic or anything) is that I will have no Christmas presents waiting under the tree for me when I wake up on Christmas morning <insert sad face here>.

A typical Christmas at my home back in Australia

The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights @ Hollywood Studios

So, feeling a bit down about this, a few Cirque mates (who are also spending their first Christmas away from their families) and I were feeling rather Christmasy on Monday night. We decided to head down to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and check out the ‘Spectacle of Dancing Lights’. I’d heard about this from other Disney Cast Members and the hype surrounding it, so I was extremely excited to get down there and check it out,  especially since Australia doesn’t really go all out with the Christmas lights… and besides, I’m a sucker for Christmas!

OH. MY. GOD. is all that comes to mind. I could not believe my eyes! The set up was INSANE! Sooooo pretty. I don’t think I’d ever seen anything so amazing before in my life! Not one single wall went to waste, there were lights absolutely every where. I stood there kind of dumbfounded for the first few minutes. I’m pretty sure Mike has a video of me running around with my mouth wide open and all you can hear me saying is “Woahhhh!” I was like a five year old let loose in a candy store. I felt so happy at that exact moment in time… until “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” started playing over the sound system haha.

You’re probably wondering where the ‘dancing’ part comes into all of this, right? Right. Well, every 10 to 15 minutes, a Christmas carol comes blasting over the sound system and the lights start dancing to the beat of the song. As if the non-dancing lights weren’t already good enough, the dancing lights come along and kick the non-dancing lights right in the butt! Ouch. This is just all too much for me. I must look like the biggest tool ever to grace this planet as I walk around in awe with my mouth hanging open. Again, I feel like a six year old allowed to stay up all night and watch TV instead of going to bed at 8pm. So, so pretty. Nothing tops this. I start to feel a little bit OK about missing Christmas in Australia; just a little bit.

I could post a plethora of photos and videos from this event, but not a single one will do this spectacle justice. Do yourself a favour and get your butt down to Hollywood Studios from now until July 4, 2010 to check this out. You will not be disappointed!

Hollywood Studios closed at 8pm so we had to get moving. We were all still in a very Christmasy mood so we headed over to the AMC at Downtown Disney and went to see Disney’s ‘A Christmas Carol‘ in 3D. Two thumbs up. Amazinggggg. I’m so glad we picked the 3D session and not the regular viewing because this movie just looked so phenomenal in 3D. I found it rather amusing how much they made Colin Firth’s character look like him and Jim Carrey did a sensational job voicing many of the characters. Although this may seem like a children’s movie, I think it was rather creepy at parts, enough to scare little kids!

What a great start to the holiday season

Usually when I mention Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort, people look at me with confusion and surprise.  I think this resort is” Disney’s Best Kept Secret” and that very few people know it exists.   This was our 3rd time at Disney’s HHI Resort and our trip this time was a little different than previous trips.  This time we brought 5 teenage girls and our tween son and only stayed for 1 night for Megan’s Sweet 16 birthday party.   Yes, we drove down for only 1 night and it was the best decision we could have made! 

We wanted to do something special for Meg’s Sweet 16, but she didn’t want a big party.  We finally decided to take her & her 4 best friends to Hilton Head for a night.   After a call with a great Cast Member, we booked our 2 bedroom villa and started planning.  Megan knew of some plans, but the rest were a surprise.   One of our favorite things about the resort is the campfire.  Who doesn’t love singing silly campfire songs and eating s’mores?  Unfortunately when I called during the week to check on the scheduled activities, the campfire was scheduled for Friday night and Sunday night, but not on Saturday.  A few days later, Jon called back to put a few requests in: early check in & pool view (both were noted, but not guaranteed) and he asked if we could have our own campfire.  The call was transferred to the Rec dept, where Jon was told that we couldn’t hold our own fire for safety/liability issues, but they could schedule a private campfire for us as long as a Cast Member was available to work.  A little while later, I got the phone call that Brittany would be able to come in and do the campfire for us.  We decided to have it at 8:30pm, and I told them that the girls would love to be silly and of course we wanted s’mores.  Anything else was left up to Brittany to plan.  We felt bad that she was going to come into work just for our campfire, but we were assured that they love doing the fires and were happy to have an excuse

The Birthday Bash as it became known started Friday afternoon when the girls all came over.  An evening of pizza, high school football, movies & girl talk were followed by an early wake up for a 4 hour drive to Hilton Head Island.   The first surprise we gave the girls Friday night; matching T-shirts that said “Megan’s Sweet 16 Birthday Bash  Hilton Head Island 2009″ and had each girls name on it as well. 

Saturday morning, the guys headed out about an hour before I left with the girls.  When Jon got to the resort at 11:30am, not only did we get our pool view; the villa was ready!  The boys had the villa decorated by the time I arrived with the girls.

After unloading all the bags, we got lunch at Tide Me Over and then the girls took off for some pool time.  While they did their thing, Jon, Jason & I went over to the Beach House for awhile.  Played some ping pong, walked on the beach and relaxed.  On the way back we stopped at Big Murgies Den and ran into B’loue.  B’loue is a Cast Member who has been at the resort for a very long time!  We met him for the 1st time on our very first HHI vacation almost 5 years ago.  When we walked into the room he told us we looked familiar; we told him that he had done a magic trick involving a dollar bill with our daughter all those years ago and he remembered it immediately.  He told us that particular trick he always got a “dad” from the audience to participate but this one night a little girl in the audience jumped up, very proud to have a dollar bill in her pocket that he could use.  He couldn’t say no to her, so he had to improvise a bit and told us that to this day it is the only time he has done that trick without a “dad”.  We told him that we were back for that little girls sweet 16 and he was couldn’t believe it.  After chatting and catching up, he asked Jason if he liked card tricks.  Well Jason loves magic & card tricks, so B’loue spent about 20-30 minutes with him and taught him 3 new tricks.  It was a great afternoon!

We went back to the villa, I started getting dinner ready while the girls headed up to Big Murgies Den to hear B’loue tell ghost stories and legends of the Low Country.   One of the great thing about the villas is having the full kitchen.  I was able to make everything for a taco bar, room to server and a table for everyone to sit and eat.  After dinner, we all went down to relax in the hot tub for awhile and then got ready for the surprise campfire.

At 8:30pm we met Brittany at the campfire pit.   The fire was started and there was a chair with a bunch of balloons tied to it, a goody bag and a crown that said “it’s my birthday” waiting for Megan.  Brittany was great!  She got the girls involved and they sang and danced to silly campfire songs, laughing & giggling up a storm.  After they had “earned it”, it was time to make s’mores.  Normally, you get 1, maybe 2 s’mores.  Since this was a private party and there were only 8 of us, she told us to have as many as we wanted.  The girls and Jason were happy to oblige! 

The girls spent time playing ping pong and shuffleboard and then came back; ready to sing Happy Birthday and have birthday cheesecake.  They talked, ate and giggled until it was time for SNL and then they collapsed from exhaustion!

Sunday morning we got everyone up, packed and ready to go.  Everyone was hungry so we went down the road to Stacks.  We were there on the 1st trip and had a great breakfast then, so decided to try it again.  It couldn’t have been more perfect!  We didn’t expect entertainment with our food but we ended up with Mick as our server and our meal was a cross between the Jungle Cruise and 50’s PTC.  He was hillarious!  Even better, the food was excellent!    Jon & I both had one of the specialties of the house; the Low Country Omelet.  It was an omelet stuffed with lump crab meat and avocado slices, topped with hollandaise sauce.  YUM!  It was served with potatoes & pancakes.  The pancakes were amazing, because as we learned from Mick; Stacks grinds their own flour to make the pancakes.  The girls all enjoyed breakfast and then we headed over to the Beach House for a few hours.

The weather was absolutely beautiful!  Sunny and 80 degrees; it doesn’t get much better than that in November!  Disney’s HHI resort heats both pools to 84-86 degrees, so they’re comfortable to swim in  all year long.  The girls changed into their suits and took the plunge together! 

They played volleyball, and practiced cheerleading stunts and then it was time for the pinata.  There was a perfect spot to hang it from and lots of room for the girls to take a swing at it.  It took some work, but they finally broke through it    After the pinata we all headed down to the beach for a bit.  The sand was soft, the water was a bit cool but that didn’t stop the brave ones.  The rest practiced cheerleading jumps and stunts and played in the sand. 

 Before we knew it, it was time to load up in the car for the drive home.  We all had a great time and I don’t think we could have planned a better party!  The girls are still talking about it and singing the campfire songs (Brittany, you were right; it’s stuck in our heads)

A little about the resort:  Located on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina is a beautiful Disney Vacation Club resort.  Not a Member?  Not a problem!  Rooms and villas are available for cash reservations to anyone.  The main resort is on its own little island –Longview Island- in Shelter Cove on the Broad Creek marsh side of the island.  This is where all of the villas and main lodge are.  There are several types of villas to choose from: studios, 1 bedroom villas, 2 bedroom villas and 3 bedroom grand villas.  Studios sleep up to 4 people and have a queen size bed and full size sofa sleeper along with a kitchenette.  The larger villas sleep 4, 8 or up to12 people, have full kitchens, washer & dryers in the room and living comfortable living rooms.  The grand villas are often booked by large groups or families for birthdays, reunions, and holiday get-togethers. 

Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort is a great place to get away for a relaxing weekend or a weeklong vacation and it’s a great place to get a refill on Pixie Dust when Walt Disney World is just too far away.

Cast Member on the left: “We’re so gonna get fired for this”
Cast Member on the right: “Yeah, especially if it gets on the Internet…”

Caption by Jason

Original pictureby George Herold / Bruce Nelson from Jungle is “101″

Over the last three months I have come to the learn that my family and friends back home don’t like me enough to write me or send me care packages via post, but regardless, today I decided to check my letter box at the off chance that something wonderful may be waiting for me. I reached in to my letter box and grabbed the contents… junk mail, mail for the room mate x3, junk mail, more junk mail… and low and behold, an envelope… with my name on it… ooo, excitement!

I walked (at a very fast pace) back to my apartment and ripped open the envelope… Disney mail… pretty standard, but hello, what’s this? Not so standard Disney mail… it’s the Disney Family Holiday Celebration 2009 card for cast members! EEEEEEEE! It’s like all my Christmas’ came at once! This one little card entitles myself and up to three guests to:

Walt Disney World Theme Park Admission
DisneyQuest Admission
Blizzard Beach & Typhoon Lagoon Admission
Holiday Room Discount at Disney Resorts
One 5×7 Disney PhotoPass Photograph
One round of golf at Disney’s Winter Summerland Miniature Gold Course of Disney’s Fantasia Gardens & Fantasia Fairways Miniature Gold Courses
Discounts on Cirque du Soleil – La Nouba (because I totally need that)
Special Company D discounts
30%, 40% and 50% off Disney dining coupons
Special Holiday Discounts on merchandise
Double discount at Cast Connection
Six popcorn and soft drink coupons

Woah… what a mouthfull! So excited to put this baby to good use! It’s valid until February of 2010 which is plenty of time to fit all this awesomeness into my already hectic schedule!

To make matters even better, today I went to Publix to get my discount tickets for Halloween Horror Night at Universal tonight!!! I’m so excited and pretty sure I’m going to lose my voice screaming when some psychopath chases me with a chainsaw! YAY!

Disney Holiday Celebration 2009 card & Halloween Horror Nights ticket!

As you may or may not know, I am a loyal member of D-CoT: The Disney Community of Tomorrow. One feature of this friendly community is Forums. One of the topics started a while back was “Where would you most like to work in WDW?”. A few posts later, someone mentioned that actually working at WDW might “ruin the magic”.

A few posts after that, TiggerROCKS came up with a reply that I completely agree with. Read his post below:

“First, a lot of you guys are scared to work in the parks because you don’t want
to ‘ruin the magic.’ I say PHOOEY!!  

Guests like people on this site make EXCEPTIONAL Cast Members. You already love it…Yeah, you learn how a few things work… but that means you get to be IN on it. You become part of the magic… which for me, just intensifies my own magical experience.

Of course, I’m one of those ‘How do they DO that?’ kind of guys… But usually, when I find out, knowing the secret makes it 100 times cooler! I’ve worked at all 4 parks and many of the resorts… (Entertainment is global)… Getting to see the inner workings across property made me really appreciate the genius of the Imagineers and front-line CMs who keep this magical monster alive.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. What do you think? Would being a CM ruin the magic, or make it better? I want to hear from CM’s (past/present) is there are any here, as well as everyone else. Share your thoughts!

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Photo: gumption

of the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival was on yesterday, Thursday, September 24; one day before opening to the public for its six week run. Although all the seminars were not available, we had access to all the International food kiosks which consisted of: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; Mexico City, Mexico; Barcelona, Spain; Krakow, Poland; Shanghai, China;  New Delhi, India; Cape Town, South Africa; Bangkok, Thailand; Melbourne, Australia; Munich, Germany; Bologna, Italy; Vienna, Austria; New Orleans, U.S.A.; Tokyo, Japan; Marrakesh, Morocco; Paris, France; Cork, Ireland; Wellington, New Zealand; Montreal, Canada; Athens, Greece; Santiago, Chile and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Walt Disney's 2009 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival

It was much to my delight that one of the feature International kiosks was from my home town of Melbourne, Australia ♥ A bunch of Aussie’s went down together and we were all super pumped for Lamp Chops and Lamingtons, but first, we had to represent, Aussie style!

Melbourne, Australia kiosk @ EPCOT

I took it upon myself to indecently touch the Melbourne sign. You totally know that sign loved every minute of me holding that pose… I know I did Enough touching, more eating! Off we went to place our orders…

I ordered a Grilled Lamb Chop With Red Wine Sauce and Murray River Sea Salt. The single chop alone set me back $5.50 US, but boy, was it worth it; it was bloody delicious! This country seems to lack lamb so I have missed it dearly so the $5.50 price tag was little in comparison to what wonders it would do for my taste buds! It was like there was a party in my mouth and everybody was invited; that’s how good it was! Next up was the Lamington. I had been looking so forward to this, but, in all honesty, it was a major FAIL. I guess those who sample it and aren’t from Australia aren’t going to know any better, but for us Aussie’s, it was nothing like the real thing. The Lamington slice cost $3 US… I would have much prefered picking up an entire packet of Lamingtons from Woolies for $2.50!

Lamp Chop & Lamington from the Melbourne, Australia kiosk

Another major FAIL was the fact that they had absolutely no Australian cast members working the Aussie kiosk! What the heck is that? Oh, and that one of the dudes behind the counter, an American bloke, said “Good day” to me… Ummm, mate, I’m pretty sure it’s G’day. Ugh. Get some Aussie’s behind there already! This was seriously a major disappointment for me as most of the other International kiosks seemed to have cast members representing their respectful countries, plus, it’s always fun having a chat to a random fellow Aussie!

So after I’d successfully ate Australia, I felt the need to frolic over and drink Italy (over at the Bologna, Italy kiosk). It took a whole three minutes to get there; crazy, I know! I coughed up the $3 US to purchase a Primavera ♥ This is a strawberry, banana and peach style slushi drink which, let me tell you, was absolutely bloody AMAZING! It was soooo full of flavour and its iciness was so refreshing and welcoming in the 90 degree heat. I downed this baby within minutes. Could this be the best $3 I’ve ever spent? Quite possibly…

We checked out all the other International kiosks and found many things that tickled our taste buds (Mental note: Must head back to Athens, Greece for Chicken Souvlaki and Baklava!), however, we had dinner plans so decided to save the other samplings for another day. After all, there is still six weeks left of the Food & Wine Festival and we can visit EPCOT for free when ever our heart desires! Ah, the joys of being a Disney Cast Member ♥

.

Oh, boy!  Just what we needed!  A list of all the ‘Twilight’ cast members and their official Twitter accounts– collect them all! LOL

And, let it be known, if they aren’t listed here– guess what?  They don’t have a Twitter account!  *gasps*  Sad, ain’t it? Yep…

From Extra TV:

Fans of “Twilight” are always up-to-date on every cast member’s every move, but what better way to connect with the stars than with their updates on Twitter?

“Extra” has the list of Twitter accounts of the “New Moon” and “Eclipse” cast members. Start following them today and be one more step closer to the “Twilight” world!

• Peter Facinelli (Carlisle Cullen) www.twitter.com/peterfacinelli
• Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen) www.twitter.com/ashleymgreene
• Anna Kendrick (Jessica Stanley) www.twitter.com/annakendrick47
• Justin Chon (Eric Yorkie)    www.twitter.com/justinchon
• Christian Serratos (Angela Webber) www.twitter.com/cserratos
• Billy Burke (Charlie Swan) www.twitter.com/billy_burke
• Gil Birmingham (Billy Black) www.twitter.com/gilbirmingham
• Kiowa Gordon (Embry Call) www.twitter.com/circakigordon
• Jaime Campbell Bower (Caius) www.twitter.com/jaimebower
• Michael Sheen (Aro) www.twitter.com/michaelsheen
• Charlie Bewley (Demetri) www.twitter.com/alchemission
• Cameron Bright (Alec) www.twitter.com/cambright
• Edi Gathegi (Laurent) www.twitter.com/iamedigathegi
• Rachelle Lefevre (former ‘Victoria’) www.twitter.com/rachellelefevre

Special Thanks:  @CelebExaminer

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Here’s a week-in-review from Gossip Cop!

‘Twilight’ Highlights:

The week began with a ludicrous story by the Aussie mag NW, which claimed that Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart gave an unnamed U.S. magazine a joint interview about their “steamy relationship.” Among the topics covered: the “shock love triangle” that nearly tore them apart, their “intense sexual chemistry,” and the truth about their marriage plans.  None of it is true other than the fact that they have sat down for interviews to coincide with the release of “Eclipse.” Then we cleared up a little confusion about a showing of “New Moon” in Knoxville, TN on November 17 – three days before the highly anticipated movie opens nationwide. It’s a special, charity screening and just Stewart and Taylor Lautner are slated to attend – no Pattinson.

OK!, for the third week in a row, had a ridiculous “Twilight” tall tale. This week’s cover featured a photo of Pattinson and Stewart with the headline, “Wedding of the Year,” and promised inside to have the “the scoop on the big-screen ceremony, plus what to expect when Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson really tie the knot.” Besides the fact that they are not engaged in real-life, as OK! had previously claimed, the article went on and on describing what the “Twilight Saga” wedding looks like. But the wedding takes place in “Breaking Dawn,” not “Eclipse,” the installment they are currently shooting. So how is it possible that they have the “scoop on the big-screen ceremony?” Wrong again.

Fortunately all these false reports haven’t affected ticket sales. In fact, today is EXACTLY TWO MONTHS before the release of “New Moon,” and not only are online sales brisk, but the L.A. Times reported that the film “is selling out screenings earlier than any other movie to date.”

 

And then the tweet heard ’round the world. Tweeting on Peter Facinelli’s account, Robert Pattinson typed, “Hi, it’s Rob … My first and last tweet. My dad made me do it.” Shortly after that, Facinelli, through his rep, told Gossip Cop EXCLUSIVELY that Rob “relishes his privacy, but we’re hanging out and he wanted to say hi to the fans.”

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In an exclusive report from Gossip Cop, they’ve got some sweet details for us regarding New Moon!  Woohoo!

From GossipCop:

OK, “Twilight” fans, the question is this: Will you be packing your bags for Italy?

The Internet has been buzzing for a day with different rumors about unseen “New Moon” footage possibly being screened at the International Rome Film Festival in October. Many fan sites have speculated about what would be shown, how much would be shown, who would be there, and when.

Summit Entertainment came to Gossip Cop with answers:

- There will be an event on October 22 at the Rome Film Festival like there was last year, and Summit “will show ‘used’/repackaged footage like the Comic-Con pieces and on set B roll.”

- “There will probably be one ‘new’ scene [to be determined] just prior to talent introductions and audience Q&A, but will be a few minutes at most.”

- She went on to say that Summit is “still discussing specifics internally,” and “will have more details in the coming days.”

- As for who will be there? “It looks like Melissa Rosenberg, Cameron Bright, Jamie Campbell Bower, and Charlie Bewley will be in attendance.”

View Source.

The EPCOT Food & Wine Festival starts this Friday, September 25 at Walt Disney World. So excited ♥

EPCOT Food & Wine Festival

Howeverrrrr… Disney Cast Members get a sneak peek this Thursday! Usually my days off are Sunday and Monday, but because Cirque du Soleil has no performances on this week (the performers are on vacation), I’m working different hours and get Wednesday and Thursday off! What an awesome coincidence… a little too awesome if you ask me <insert sly look here>.

As soon as I enter through the EPCOT gates, I’m frolicking my Aussie butt over to the  ‘Melbourne, Australia‘ stand at the Marketplace Kiosk and getting me some of this:

Melbourne, Australia

Location: Africa Outpost

- Seared Barramundi with Blistered Cherry Tomatoes, Arugula and Lemon Oil
- Grilled Lamb Chop, Red Wine Sauce, Murray River Sea Salt
- Lamington
- Beverage Selection: Rosemount Traminer Riesling, Rosemount Pinot Noir, Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet, Penfolds Bin 2

I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited for Lamb Chops and Lamingtons!

I’m sure I’ll have plenty of photos to follow

Still trying to figure guest out. Really?!
Things I scratch my head over. You have a meal plan, it is a declining meal plan placed on your room key card. Every time you get a meal you hand your card to a Disney cast member and the meal gets taken off the card. You DO NOT walk out on a meal or out of a food court area. The food still has to be accounted for!

Over all I really dislike the meal plan…

Walter Koenig

 

 

Walter Marvin Koenig (IPA: [ˈkeɪnɪg]; born September 14, 1936) is an American actor, writer, teacher and director, known for his roles as Pavel Chekov in Star Trek and Alfred Bester in Babylon 5.

Mr. Chekov on Star Trek

Star Trek

Koenig played the navigator Pavel Chekov on the USS Enterprise in the original Star Trek (TOS) television series and in the several movies that featured the original cast. He was cast as Chekov because of his resemblance to British actor/musician Davy Jones of the Monkees, in a bid to attract a younger audience, especially girls. (The studio’s publicity department, however, ascribed the inclusion of Chekov to an article in Pravda complaining about the lack of Russians in Star Trek.) Koenig wore a hair piece while playing the character of Chekov in his first few episodes of the original Star Trek series until his own hair grew out to a suitable length. Gene Roddenberry asked him to “ham up” his Russian accent to add a note of comedy relief to the series. He is also credited for writing the Star Trek: The Animated Series installment “The Infinite Vulcan,” making him the first “original cast” member to write a Star Trek story for television. Interestingly, the character of Pavel Andreievich Chekov never appeared in the animated version of Star Trek, where Koenig never got to reprise his character on the animated series as the rest of his fellow Star Trek castmates did. Though Chekov’s accent has been criticized as inauthentic, in particular his substitution of the ‘v’ sound with a ‘w’ sound, Koenig has said the accent was inspired by his father who had the same difficulty with the ‘v’ sound.

He received Saturn Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor in a Film for both Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Walter reprised his role of Pavel Chekov for the fan webseries Star Trek: New Voyages, To Serve All My Days and the independent Sky Conway/Tim Russ film Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, both in 2006.

Walter Koenig ("Checkov" from Star Trek) Captures a Stormtrooper! at a recent Steele City Con in Pittsburgh, PA

Other work

After Chekov, Koenig had a starring role in a Sci-Fi thriller Moontrap opposite Bruce Campbell and Psi Cop Alfred Bester on the television series Babylon 5. Koenig was the “Special Guest Star” in twelve episodes and, at the end of the third season, the production company applied for an Emmy nomination on his behalf. He was slated to play Bester on the spin-off series Crusade, but the series was cancelled before his episode was filmed. He also played “Oro” in two episodes of the Canadian science fiction television series The Starlost, which aired in 1973 on Canada’s CTV television network.

Koenig’s film, stage and TV roles span fifty years. He has played everything from a teenage gang leader (Alfred Hitchcock Presents) to a middle-aged Tom Sawyer (The Boys In Autumn) to a Las Vegas entertainer (I Spy). He returned to space with a starring role in Moontrap and played a computer hard drive in Maximum Surge. In addition to acting, he has written several films (Actor, I Wish I May, You’re Never Alone When You’re a Schizophrenic), one-act plays, and a handful of episodes for TV shows: Star Trek: The Animated Series, Land of the Lost, Family and The Powers of Matthew Star. Walter has also written several books, including Warped Factors: A Neurotic’s Guide to the Universe (autobiography), Chekov’s Enterprise (a journal kept during the filming of Star Trek: The Motion Picture) and Buck Alice and the Actor-Robot (a science fiction novel), which was rereleased in 2006. He also created his own comic book series called Raver, which was published by Malibu Comics in the early 1990s.

Koenig has taught classes in acting and directing at UCLA, the Sherwood Oaks Experiment Film College, the Actor’s Alley Repertory Company in Los Angeles, and the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University. In 2002, Koenig directed stage versions of two of the original Twilight Zone episodes for Letter Entertainment.

In 2004, Koenig co-starred in Mad Cowgirl, an independent movie about a meat-packing health inspector dying from a brain disorder, Walter plays televangelist ‘Pastor Dylan’: a character described as “a sleazy, slimy, sex-addict.” The movie played the SF Indiefest and the Silverlake Film Festival, followed by a limited release in major cities such as New York and Seattle. Mad Cowgirl” was released on DVD on December 5, 2006.

 Trivia:

Father of Andrew Koenig and Danielle Koenig.

Had bypass surgery in 1993.

Walter Koenig and his wife Judy Levitt appear together in the “Babylon 5″ (1994) episode “A Race Through Dark Places” which aired in 1995.

Has written episodes for “The Class of ‘65″, “Family” (1976), “Land of the Lost” (1974), “The Powers of Matthew Star” (1982), and “Star Trek” (1973) (Animated).

Walter Koenig is of Russian and Jewish descent, which made him a perfect candidate for Chekov on “Star Trek” (1966). His family had emigrated from Lithuania, USSR and changed their original surname (Koenigsberg).

Attended Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, with a major in pre-med. Transferred to UCLA where he received a BA in psychology.

Last name is pronounced “Kaynig”

Only original generation “Star Trek” (1966) actor not to provide voices for the animated version of the series, although he did write an episode for it.

Was scheduled to reprise his role as the villainous Bester in an episode of the “Babylon 5″ (1994) spin-off series “Crusade” (1999) entitled “Value Judgements”. Unfortunately the series was canceled weeks before the episode was to be filmed. Walter Koenig was terribly disappointed by this, as he has stated publicly that he considers it his favorite “Bester” script.

Because his hair was too short, had to wear a wig in his first appearance on “Star Trek” (1966).

Was cast as Chekov on “Star Trek” (1966) due to his resemblance to Davy Jones. The producers were hoping to attract a younger audience, including girls.

As of 31 August 2006, he is the only original “Star Trek” (1966) cast member who has not received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Has appeared in episodes of three different series with George Takei: “Star Trek” (1966), “Diagnosis Murder” (1993) and “Futurama” (1999).

Often complained about the character, Pavel Andrievich Chekov, he portrayed over the years as having no levity on Star Trek. As well as getting hurt through the motion pictures and series.

Author of “Raver” comics in 1994.

Father-in-law of stand-up comedian Jimmy Pardo.

Is an avid collector: His collections include Star trek Memorabilia(with a shelf completely devoted to the character Chekov) Buttons, Comic Cards, Pins, and “Little Big Books”. He gives us a brief tour of his collections in the segment “Life Beyond Star Trek” in the Season Two release of “Star Trek: The Original Series”.

So last night I had a guest come up to me and ask if they could have a croissant for dessert. I told them that unfortunately we only make croissants in the morning and when we are out we are out. She looked at me like that was unacceptable.
She then asks, “Can I save my dessert from my dinning meal plan and use it tomorrow morning.” Again I let her know that we don’t do that because if I do it for her I have to do it for everyone and that is just not possible. At the end of it all she was very understanding.

Please feel free to comment or share post with others!

Cheers!

Photographed by Joe Penniston

This was a real quick shot as we were leaving the park. I lowered the camera way down to the ground and pointed it up towards the balloons and just kind of got lucky. If I had to do it over again, I’d choose I smaller aperture in order to deepen the depth of field to get the balloons more in focus. Live and learn!

Quick Exif:
Exposure: 1/100
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 24mm
ISO: 200

Pictured:
Main Street Balloons
Main Street USA
Disneyland Park
Disneyland Resort
Anaheim, California
August, 2009

View On Black

See where this picture was taken. [?]

– License

The best video ever done! This had to be done by a cast member! Hats off to you!

So one of the big problems right now is tipping. Yes, I understand that your meal is free but your server still needs a tip. I can not tell you how many times people just leave the table. And on that note you still need to get your meals deducted from your declining meal plan.

I mean the meal may be free for you but Disney still needs to account for the food going out. We do have such thing as inventory. So it always makes me laugh when we have those guest that get their food and just walk out of the food court. I have seen this happen across property.

So back to the server. Here is how it is laid out. Disney this year decided that tip is not longer included in the dining plan because we felt that you would actually tip your server. So with free dining there is no tip included… you have to either tip in cash or use the credit card. This allows these wonderful Disney Cast Members to have a job and keep serving you. P.S. in Disney 18% is the norm for tipping.

Hope you are having a magical day. Please feel free to comment or add stories.

Sorry, I was meaning to write every day but I had no internet for 3 days. I finally figured it out but that is for another blog.

So at our location things have been steady. Surprisingly we are not as busy as I would have expected. I remember previous years where it was non stop dining all evening long. I guess the economy really is having an impact still on Disney. Still guest seems to expect everything to be free.

I mean really so you are not getting appetizers if you are on the DDP? How much food do you need to eat. We had one guest complain because they didn’t get their appetizers and they wanted compensation for it??? REALLY??!! The food is FREE!

So yes, snacks are included in the DDP. You get one a day. This does not mean you get to build your own snacks. You get ONE item. I swear!

My favorite still is the guest that asks if they get dessert with breakfast? Again, REALLY? if you go to any other dining location in the world do you get chocolate cake with your eggs and bacon?!? I honestly believe people miss place their brain when they hear the word FREE and Disney.

Example:
Guest was angry this morning because her friend, who was here last week, told her she was able to get 4 snacks as one meal but she was told no when tried to get 2 muffins and 2 danishes as 1 meal. We explained the continental combo option, that she could use 4 snacks. She ended up using her snacks but was not happy and thought because it was “free” we would not allow that transaction to go through.

Please feel free to comment or add your own story.

The Orlando Sentenial have reported that a WDW CM was fatally injured following an accident in the Hollywood Studio’s park. The accident occured during rehersal for the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.

Stunt performer Anislav Varbanov, 30, was fatally injured during a rehearsal for the ” Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.” He was doing a tumbling roll after 7 p.m. when he was hurt.

Disney workers dialed 911 at 7:34 p.m. to report that a cast member sustained a head injury. Varbanov was rushed to Florida Hospital Celebration Health, where he was pronounced dead at 8:53 p.m., Orange County sheriff’s deputies said.

Varbanov’s death makes him the third CM in just seven weeks to die after suffering injuries at work. Disney have canceled Tuesday’s performances of the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular because of Varbanov’s death.

Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this difficult time.

A CM in the Magic Kingdom’s “Captan Jack Sparrrow’s Pirate Tutorial” has passed away after suffering a head injury during a performance.

The Orlando Sentinel has reported that Mark Priest, 47, slipped on a wet spot during a performance and was taken to the hospital on Thursday, August 6th. His vertebrae was broken and he required 55 stitches.

Priest passed away on Monday from a  blod clot following complications on Monday 11th August.

Disney officials have contacted the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Our thoughts go out to Priest’s family, friends and co-workers.