May 22–May 28, 2011

Yes, it was softball Sunday again!  It was a tight game but we pulled it off in the end – our last regular season game!  With this win, team Fantastical ended in 2nd place in the standings! Woot!  We have next week off and then it’s playoff time!  I can’t wait!

Monday, I spent the day with Harry.  I had finished book 6 late Sunday night and jumped right in to book 7.  And all day, while laundry was washing, I joined Harry on his final adventures.  Seriously – all day, from wake up until just about 6pm when I got ready to attend Danielle’s going away karaoke party.  I hadn’t quite finished with Harry (but was very close) but I couldn’t miss seeing Danielle off!

It was a great time at the karaoke bar.  I got to spend some time catching up with Danielle and some mutual friends. Harry (a real life man!) and Sammie were there, along with Sammie’s son Travis and his wife Vilma.  I declined on the singing, and the bar was better for it, but the others all got up and did at least a number. I realized how much I missed hanging out with this group and seeing them on a regular basis.  But my crazy schedule and the 30 miles between us really makes it difficult to keep up with them. 

After several hours of singing and good conversation, I headed home and back to Harry (the fictional one).  I ended the night by ending my adventures with him.  I am super excited and ready for the final movie now!  Just so long as they don’t change too many things, I will be very happy!

Tuesday saw me finally experiencing the movie Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides in its entirety.  I’d been seeing the same one scene for weeks on end with Join Jack’s Crew and now got to see how it all fit together.  I enjoyed the movie though I may have been partial to it.  I thought it was right up there with the first one. 

On Thursday, my cousin Cheryl, her husband Scott, baby Westin, and cousin Barbara arrived in town from Utah.  I met up with them late in the morning to sign them in to Disneyland.  As I had Grad Nite that night, I couldn’t play with them but they got a good many hours in the park.  Thankfully I knew we had the big family BBQ on Saturday when I could really catch up with them.

Friday I started my refresh on the summer fireworks spectacular, Magical.  It is a much faster paced show for us stage managers.  In addition to the two fairy flights, we also have a pachyderm flight.  We are constantly doing something during this show – not a lot of time to sit and enjoy the pyrotechnics. 

I continued my Magical refresh on Saturday but not before I experienced the famous Pickett Summer BBQ.  We usually saved the big BBQ for 4th of July but as we weren’t sure about the state of the house sale, we moved it to Memorial Day.  The kids got a bounce house, BINGO is played at the end of the night and all evening, my mom’s fabulous BBQ and spread is feasted upon by all.  There were probably 50+ people, family and friends, all hanging out in the family’s backyard.  It is such a fun time.  And I finally got to catch up with my cousins!  I was a little bummed to leave early (missing BINGO – with prizes!) and head in to work (especially as we ended up cancelling due to high winds!). 

Another family filled fun week in the books!

May 15–May 21, 2011

No softball games scheduled this week, so no softball fix.  The week was plenty full of fun regardless!  So much so that for the most part I’m going to skip most of “work” for this week.  Not to say that I didn’t work or spend any time at work – quite the opposite really.  But enough babbling, to the point – the only work related item of consequence was my 5 Year Service Celebration on Wednesday.  Technically, I’ve been with Disney for over 6 years but since I started as uber part time, the first 18 months ‘didn’t count’.  The company was a bit late with the celebration for April (me) so they combined it with May.  Sarah & I share service birthdays – she’s been with the company even a bit longer than me.  I love that we can share our milestones together.  The Entertainment service celebration is held in one of our rehearsal halls with cake and lemonade.  The ceremony is for those service celebrations of the month in 5 year increments starting with the 5 years.  It was lovely to share the moment with many of my friends. 

On Thursday, before Grad Nite, the Osgans and I spent the day playing at Disneyland.  I had tickets for the Cast Preview of the new Star Tours – The Adventures Continue.  We met up not too early (I did still have to work ALL night) and enjoyed the day.  We started with Indiana Jones as Shane really wanted to ride it – he’d heard his friends talk about it and was finally tall enough.  Brandon was quite skeptical but since little brother was willing, he could try it.  Needless to say, neither quite enjoyed it.  Shane sat calmly with his hands gripping the sides with his eye firmly shut.  Brandon wouldn’t let me let go of him as he held tight to the ‘steering wheel’.  Good thing we took pictures before the ride started!  I don’t think we’ll be trying it again for a few years. 

The rest of the day was a typical day in the park until 3pm.  Enjoy the various pictures… 

We decided to see if they were letting us go in early (the tickets were from 4-8 p.m.) and they were so we jumped in line.  It was a relatively short wait and seeing all the new material made the line go even faster.  Before we knew it, we were sitting in the Starspeeder 1000 ready for our first flight.  It was AMAZING!  The combination (1 of 54) we got was Darth Vader stopping us then escaping through a space battle, down to Hoth weaving through AT-AT’s and over cliffs, with Princess Lea imploring us “Star Tours, you’re my only hope” and to head to Naboo, where we headed into the ocean and Jar-Jar’s world before emerging at our final landing at the Queen’s palace.  SOOO much fun!  We wanted to do it again right then but technically we only got one ride with my ticket and the line had quadrupled since we’d gone in the attraction.  Alas, I can’t wait to ride again!  Then we spent some more time in the park before I had to go to work…

Friday, after a short sleep (Grad Nite really gets in the way of sleep and socializing), I headed in to meet my folks at the park because today was their day to ride the Cast Preview of the new Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure attraction.  I had a couple of meetings so I ditched them after lunch only to find the meetings cancelled and re-scheduled.  Boo!  I met back up with them in line for the ride.  We waited longer than for Star Tours (that’s what happens when you pick the final preview day for ST and the first preview day for LM) – about an hour!  But we got to catch up and enjoy each other’s company, which is never a bad thing!  Eventually we got to the ride, which for what it is – a dark ride (similar to Haunted Mansion or Winnie the Pooh), is really good!  The advances in technology really bring the audioanimatronics to life.  Then it was back to work for me – Join Jack’s Crew.

But the day was not done for me, no, I met back up with the folks for dinner at Big Thunder Ranch (as it is literally attached to the arena where JJC performed).  BTR has excellent food – a bit overpriced – but what isn’t at Disneyland.  And of course, I knew the entertainment (a guitar playing singing cowboy) so he came over and interacted with the family.  And one of the pirates, on his way out to the trail, tried to “lift” my mom’s purse.  It was a fantastic dinner.  Later, my Mom took my Dad to see The Magic, The Memories, and You! for the first time.   :)  Then they came over and became the only family members to experience Join Jack’s Crew.  After the show, I let them stay in the arena and interact with a few of the pirates!  My mom has those pictures (they didn’t transfer very well from her phone to my computer).

It was a great week!  Truly a family week and chock full of memories.  Life is made for week’s like this (even if not a lot of sleep was experienced!).  I am truly blessed with an amazing family and love them very much!

Apr 3–Apr 9, 2011

Once again, I completed my weekend with Join Jack’s Crew – except this was my last shift for 13 days!  I wasn’t going to get to play with my pirates for almost 2 weeks!  Can you say “withdrawal”?  It was an fairly normal night – we had a few issues with the pyro cauldrons but we made it work!  All in all a lovely Sunday night at Festival Arena!

And following the pattern of the past few weeks, I had Monday and Tuesday off! :)  Monday was a day for around the house stuffs.  Nothing terribly exciting – just the run of the mill chores and such.  Tuesday, on the other hand, was quite busy.  I began the morning signing in my friend Alyssa and her girlfriend into Disneyland.  I’ve known Alyssa since she was 13 and playing the lead role in Annie.  Almost 10 years later and we still hang out occasionally.  I love when you find those special relationships that last years from those fleeting productions which last only months. 

After getting them settled in the Park, I headed off for my errands.  I made a few unusual stops – the sticker store at the Block of Orange to get the Osgan’s their own Angels ‘A’ sticker for their car; a sports apparel store to pick up Brandon a new red Angels t-shirt (as he’d outgrown his most recent one); and one very usual stop – Target!  I love Target.  I can spend way too much money every time I go – however, I had a list this time & it was small.  I also stopped by the Osgan’s to drop off their new swag. 

Then it was back home to drop off my stuff and back in the car again to meet up with Alyssa & Crystal at Disneyland.  We got to spend dinner and the wait for Space Mountain (60 minutes) together before I had to run off again.  As they headed into the building to experience the awesome-ness of Space Mountain, I headed back to my car and back home to meet my visiting teachers.  So even though I didn’t get the payoff of the ride, I did get to know Crystal and reconnect with Alyssa.  Can’t go wrong with that!  I forgot to take pictures but Alyssa did – I just have to get them from her before I can post them here!

Work was a bit eventful this week.  Wednesday was all about Jedi.  Annalisa and I continued to work on the OG’s (Operating Guide) – we are so close to being done with this multi-year project!  It can’t happen soon enough.  Thursday was super windy!  So windy in fact, I cancelled the fireworks show.  I was probably the most unpopular person in the resort if the Guests were voting.  And it was cold!  But the weather was even colder the next night though not nearly as windy.  I even brought a blanket with me to the rooftop to help stave off the cold.  There was a slight threat of rain but it never materialized.  So we were able to treat the Guests to a fireworks show Friday night.

Saturday was the family’s first Angel game of the new season – and it was ski beanie night!  We had a great time sitting up in the nose bleed seats near the right field foul pole.  The seats weren’t actually too bad; no crazy neck turn to see home plate and while up in the upper section, they weren’t the extreme nosebleed seats.  A couple a few rows in front of us won the seat trade promotion.  We’d noticed the Angel girls and crew lurking and tried to subtly and not-so-subtly encourage them to choose us but our party was too large.  So we tried to at least get the kids in the shot and on the jumbo screen but that didn’t work too well either.  Nonetheless, we had a great time.  And the game wasn’t half bad either.  We only stayed through the 6th inning before the boys were ready to go home (and it was freezing!).  I went home and finished watching the game on TV – it ended up going to 14 innings before we finally won.  It was  great way to end the week!