Parks

Well, before I even get into the parks, I should probably talk about the party. Except that there isn't really much to talk about. It was a giant welcoming party with viturally all the Canada pavilion cultural reps, and we were so hot all shoved in one apartment's living room that as soon as the obligatory welcome stuff was over, most people left. That was probably less than an hour long, and before it ended my can of beer had gone flat from the heat. Whatever. Met a lot of people, most of whom I won't remember the names of for a while yet, but it was a good time.

So yesterday I had my second day of orientation, wherein I signed another seven pages of paperwork, sat through an immigrations presentation, and then got my card that allows me to get paid. ...Well, I get paid either way; it's the card that allows me to ACCESS my pay. Heather and I were planning to go to Downtown Disney when she got home from late in the afternoon, but then she called me when she was on the bus and was like, "We're doing Magic Kingdom, I'll be home in fifteen, and give me about five or ten minutes to change." So that's what we did. We met up with a small group of Canadians who were finishing up a Four Park Challenge (this is where you do three rides in each of the four parks - the major draw attraction, a classic attraction, and a random choice - and use as many modes of transportation as possible to get there; depending on who you're with and the time of season, there may be additional rules to adhere to) after doing The Haunted Mansion as my first ride as a Cast Member. We lined up for the SpectroMagic parade, watched David pseudo-dance to Hannah Montana, watched the parade (during which Craig got some attention from Pluto and Kim got some from Peter Pan, who is really kind of creepy because he's older than he should be), and then went to the fireworks show Wishes. That was a lot of fun.

Today Heather, David and I headed over to Disney's Hollywood Studios to play for the day. We hit almost every show, including Playhouse Disney (NEVER AGAIN. EVER) - we only missed the stunt car show and Fantasmic because they weren't running today - and most of the other attractions and rides. Tower of Terror was as awesome as I remember. There's a new area that was added since the last time I was here: Pixar Land. This is particularly awesome because they have a ride called Midway Mania, and it is one of the most fun rides I've been on in a while. For those of you who've been before, think of the Buzz Lightyear ride, but with the targets as computer-animated video sequences designed to look like midway games. And you wear 3D glasses, which just makes it even better. My personal best of the day (we rode is twice) was 139200, which was a lot better than my first score of 97500. We got group pictures with Woody and Buzz, as well as Mike and Sully, and I have a picture of me with a Green Army Man. Lunch was at the Sci-Fi Dine In, which was really cool because I'd never been there before. You sit in a car-shaped booth in mostly darkness while a giant movie screen in front of you shows trailer after trailer for the worst sci-fi horror black-and-white films of the fifties era (Dad, we have to see some of those). Our server was really fantastic, and brought us out a sundae at the end to share since we were cast members (we could barely eat it, though, because our oreo cookie ice cream milkshakes were filling enough!), and we got glow-in-the-dark souvenir cups (the kind with a lid and straw) filled with caramel corn at the end! All in all it was a fantastic day, but I'm going to get ready for bed soon since I have to board the bus tomorrow for Traditions at 6:15 in the morning. I have to look professional for that, and I'm pretty sure that part of "professional" is "awake."