Another Week, Another Job

So. Animal Kingdom. Really early. Never Again. ...Well okay, maybe not never again, but never again in the rain, that's for sure! It rained pretty much the whole time we were on the tour. Eventually I bought an umbrella during our first break on the tour, but even after that capillary action meant that my pants were wet from the knee down. Plus my left coat sleeve was stuck to my arm, and I had to peel it off. Mel had a jacket with a hood, so she didn't opt to share my umbrella until she got to the point where her coat was so wet the water was coming through it. And we're both sick with colds. The tour was fun, though. We had a guy named Glen from Guest Relations take us around the East half of the park and tell us not the story behind the building of the attractions themselves, but the stories that the Imagineers made up for each of the attractions and areas to follow. So we started out on Discovery Island, and talked about the Tree a bit (the Tree is kinda still a sore spot with me right now), before heading to our first major stop: Dinoland, USA. Yay.

For those of you who don't speak fluent Mel N., that 'yay' was extremely sarcastic, so go ahead and read over it again in the proper tone of voice. ...Okay. We're good now. Anyway, that's because in Dinoland, USA is an intense thrill ride called Dinosaur! I have a rather intense fear of Dinosaurs that aren't on a tiny, flat, non-3-D screen (because I do enjoy Jurassic Park), never mind animatronic ones that kinda look realistic and try to eat you. And yes, I realize that they're extinct and they can't actually come and eat me, but I don't care. So, for part of our tour, we're told the story of Dinoland, USA as a whole, and how the institute had developed this new technology called Time Compression (which had me giggling a bit, because that's one of the major concepts during the last battle sequences of Final Fantasy VIII), and how you could actually go back to the age of the dinosaurs. So what's the next thing we do? We go back to the age of the dinosaurs! Now, obviously we have a choice as to whether or not we want to go on this ride, but this is as good an excuse as any to actually get me on the ride, since you have to try everything once (which is the only reason why I've seen the Playhouse Disney show at the Studios). Mel assured me that I would live through the ride. Well, I'm not sure whether or not me being in the ride vehicle actually counts, because I didn't see anything beyond the first ten seconds of the ride. I had my eyes closed the whole time, and at one point I also had my ears plugged and my coat lapels flung over my face. But I survived, so I figure that if I go on it once every time I'm in Animal Kingdom and get familiar enough with the sounds of the ride, I might eventually be able to open my eyes for some of it. We'll see.

Moving on, we did more Discovery Island (kangaroos!), and saw the 3D movie inside the Tree, 'It's Tough to be a Bug.' I'm not overly fond of this thing, either, but I'm not afraid of anything there eating me, so we're good. The last large area on our tour was my favourite section, Asia. We were told the story of the particular part of Asia we were meant to be in, and did the Maharaj Jungle Trek. By this point, everyone is soaked, and it decides to pour even harder. And we have to finish the walk still, because we're only halfway down the trail. There is a tomb halfway there though, so when we're stopped Glen asks us if we want to continue to our final stop afterwards, or just end the tour here, since we're all really, really wet. The last stop is the Forbidden Mountain, so like hell we're gonna skip that! He's surprised at our resilience, but honestly, who doesn't love a good yeti?

So we walk through the queue line of Expedition: Everest and we're told about the things on the walls and all the decorations around us (Mel points out at least three hidden Mickeys). Eventually we get to the front of the line (which had a whopping 5 minute wait due to the rain) and those who want to ride can. Honestly, I was all for it, because I love Everest (to the astonishment of one of the guys on the tour who'd ridden Dinosaur with me). But then Mel brought up a good point: Everest goes outside a lot, like at least half the track is outdoors. Doing high-speed rides in the rain HURTS. So we didn't do it. And we definitely weren't the only ones. Once the weirdos got off the ride and met us in the gift shop, Glen said good-bye to us, and we all went our separate ways. Mel and I went to Yak & Yeti for some hot food, hot tea, and a chance to use the freakishly high-powered hand driers they have there. Then we came back home, I made myself comfy on the couch, and I didn't leave it until time for bed.

Wednesday was much the same (the couch part, not the tour). I got out of bed, eventually I showered, put new pjs on, and sat on the couch all day. I also started on my Japanese books I'd bought in EPCOT the other day, so now I know a whole seven hiragana! Out of forty-six. And then there are forty-six katakana. And after THAT come the 1,945 basic kanji. Just the basic ones, mind you. ...I've got a long way to go.

Thursday and Saturday were assigning shifts. Things went fairly well, and nothing overly exciting happened. Friday was my last scheduled popcorn shift, and I got rained on at about 3:30, and it didn't stop until way after I'd clocked out. Fun times.

Sunday was my first day of food running! Huzzah! I was taught how to read a ticket, the proper way to deliver the food to the table, position points on the table so you're not just auctioning the food at the table, and the tricks to holding three plates at once. Despite knowing the trick to it, though, I still can't really do it. My fingers are too short and stubby to stretch enough for stability! Yesterday was much the same, except that we incorporated the pantry window into our running, and we were taught the closing duties. I have one more day of training on Wednesday, and then I'm on my own. I should be fine, though. Dana and I have made very few mistakes over the past couple days. Today, though, I'm heading over to Patrick's to play my first-ever game of Dungeons and Dragons! ....Just you shush! I think it'll be fun.