Being apart of the opening crew for Fantasmic! meant being apart of one of the biggest shows on property, having no fear of heights or of the water and enduring nearly four months of sleepless nights. Our rehearsals were from sun down to sun up and from what I was told, the guests in the Swan and Dolphin hotel were getting pretty miffed at hearing Maleficent (I never could remember how to spell her name) dieing evey night around two in the morning.
One of the first things the character performers had to learn was how to paddle a canoe for the Pocahantas scene. From our stand point, it was rather amusing watching them go round and round in circles. It became clear that none of these people had every been a Boy (or Girl)scout. The canoes were actualy gas powered, they just had to steer. Once thier trainers got them going in one direction, then came the fun of seeing bumper boats as they tried to pass each other in the begining of thier scene. What was even more fun was watching the Princess Barge's collide with each other or the wall and that was the entertainment techs driving them. Speaking of the barges, we had one sink due to a maintance error. . . . as in a maintainence men siphened water into the barge by accident. If I remember the story right, There was some work that had to be done to one section of the moat, so the mechanics siphened the water into the other sections. Except the huge siphen hose crept up the side of the barge and manage to completely fill it with water.
Have people fallen in the moat? Yes. At least one time, that I know of, it was intentional. In order to give the Rescue Boat training time and to answer the question "what would happen if a character falls in ?", Mickey took a walk one day. . . off the front of the stage. What we didn't know was that his shoes are made of an extremely bouyant material. He went in, his feet went up and his head went down. It became known at the 'Day we almost drowned Mickey'. But Never Fear, The Rescue Boat Was Near! I'm sure there has been more incidents of unintentional swimming since I have left the show, but one of the first times was when a tech took a dive. The canoe people are, when approaching the docks, supposed to put out thier oar and the tech pulls them into the dock. One night the character was a little impatient and tried to hurry it along. However, instead of the tech pulling the canoe in, they pulled the tech into the water. During the show the canoes stop on the sides of the stage and let thier passanger out. Whether or not the pocahontas indian makes it to the stage is based on how good the canoe driver is. Some times they fall in when they stop too far away from the platform.
A windy day at Fanstasmic! is always fun. For those who have seen the show, there is a huge purple and orange snake that comes out on stage. Each snake section looks like and inflatable pup tent. On more than one occasion, i have seen the wind blow a section into the moat. Then the techs have to go fishing for it. At one time costuming used a huge cloth bin to move costumes from point A to point B. This bin was later preset for the characters to throw their costumes in as they ran passed. The bin was set. We went to lunch. We came back to stage. It was gone. I looked over the edge and there it was, on the bottom of the moat. THe tech guys stood around and discussed how to get it out. One the tech girls came up with a grappling hook and helped us retreive it. (Score one for the girls!!). During a show, the wind can be brutal. The water screens soak everything and everyone. It may be my imagination, but I always felt like I was covered in a oily film after one of those nights. Heaven only knows what's in that water. Every so often a pair of ducks would find the moat. We'd always try to scare them off. I'm not really interested in seeking a three headed duck.
Fantasmic! is not a show for those afraid of heights. 66 steps to the top, and when you are carrying Mickey's Sorcerer costume to the top, it feels like 666. (no pun intended) In the middle of the mountian is a fairly good size deck, but it's all metal slat floors. You look down and see people running around below you. At the very top it's a pretty cool view of the park. . . and with more metal slat flooring, it's a good view of every one else two floors down.
Lighting in Florida summers is pretty much a given. We are the lighting capital of the Americas (I think one place in asia, Japan maybe, has more). Take my advice, If it's lighting and thunder immediately follows, don't remain in the Fantasmic! theater. You are surrounded my high voltage power lines for the stage lights. You are sitting on metal bleachers. Can we say "TOASTED" ? Not long after the show opened, we had one of those wonderful Florida thunderstorms and the show had to be cancelled. We alomst had a riot. The audience was yelling profanities and BOooing. I actually heard some brainiac scream "F*** Mickey". Except he used the uncensored version. Now, I understand that these people have been waiting for a long time . . . However, IT'S LIGHTING PEOPLE.
One last tip. FANTASMIC! is supposed to be spelled with the exclaimation mark. As the show was opening, we got word of some merchandise that was printed with out the exclaimations mark. Several of us stocked up on the misprint items. So if you see something written with out the '!' grab it, it could be worth something. . . in a hundred years or so.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Puppets, Puppeteers and the "Golden child"
First off, I have to admit that I really don't like puppet shows. There is just something about them that's strange and disturbing. Disney, seems to love puppet things. Working at shows like Bear and the Big Blue House (which later became Playhouse Disney) and Voyage of the Little Mermaid, I did manage to learn a few things about the craft along the way. First of all, if you are comfortable while you're working the puppet, you are probably doing it wrong. Most puppeteers have to be a bit of a contortionist to get the puppet seen by the audience while they are not seen.
At Playhouse Disney, the puppeteers are all scrunged up under the stage and spend a good chunk of thier time on thier knees. They slide from one side of the stage to the other on hard shell knee pads and old gerry-rigged office chairs. Bear and the Big Blue House was an eight week experiment that lasted several years. Story has it, that the Disney powers that be saw bear during a mall tour and wanted him at Disney. The Playhouse stage used to be the Soundstage Restaurant. Our very first breakroom was the old stainless steel serving station counters from the restaurant. We eventually found some blankets to sit on. Above the stage was the old Catwalk Bar. Decked out with odds and ends furniture and a big screen TV, we often invaded the space during our lunch breaks. In fact, for a while, the Bear and the Big Blue House television show came on a few minutes after our first ended, so we'd book it upstairs to the bar and watch the show. To recap, a cast of puppeteers were sitting at a bar watching a show for preschoolers. . . Only At Disney :)
Playhouse also had a host in front of the stage to engage the kids. Thier job was to get the kids up and dancing at the right time, settle them back down at the right time and to keep the little rug rats off the stage all the time. This job they have done quite well over the years. However, as with all best laid plans, there is the occasional slip up, or as we call them "The Golden Child". The Golden Child is the one individual who has made it passed all of the obstacles and managed to run up on stage. This is bad for several reasons. Bear can't see very well. There are numerous trap doors through which a child can fall through. And finally, but not the least of which, the show had large moving set pieces that can squish a child like a bug. On at least one occasion, a puppeteer opend the trap door and had a child fall into his lap. The performer then quickly shoves the child back up on stage and quickly locks the trap door. I can't help but wonder if, in that child's later years of life, he would have some vague frightening memory of seeing the dark underbelly of Walt Disney World. Who knows, maybe he now has a fear of creatures under the bed. I was walking back stage one day and a toddler's shoe came flying out from under the stage. I asked the stage manager if Bear had started eating the children and spitting out thier shoes.
To call Voyage of the Little Mermaid (VOLM) a puppet show would do it a great dis-service. it has one black light puppet number and Ursala. There are several puppeteers on stage during the "Under the Sea" number and it can be quiet amusing when the performers train wreck and you see all of the neon puppet fish pile up on each other. When the show first started, a dresser would walk out on stage during Ariel's transformation into a human and take her sea shell bra. (the curtain was down). I was always afraid of falling off the stage or getting ran over by Ursala, so I'd find Prince Eric and stick close to him as several of us would go out on stage. Why Prince Eric ? Because I could see him. He wears a white shirt that glows in the black light. On one occasion (this happened to another dresser), Ariel's hair got tangled up in the bra strap. The curtain was about to back up, in a panic, the dresser shoves the shell bra in the back of Ariel's dress and runs off stage. Ariel finishes the show looking like Quasimodo.
VOLM incorporates lasers, black lights and numerous other special effects. Not the least of which is a water curtain to symbolize going under water. Once, when one of the dressers was leaving the show, the cast wanted to tell her good bye, so the darlings taped her to a chair, set it under the water curtian and left her there. When others leave shows there are similar going away surprises as well, like being thrown in the mote when you leave Fantasmic or being covered in baby powder when you move from an area.
On that note, I'll sign off until next.
p.s. don't for get to keep checking back for new stories to come.
At Playhouse Disney, the puppeteers are all scrunged up under the stage and spend a good chunk of thier time on thier knees. They slide from one side of the stage to the other on hard shell knee pads and old gerry-rigged office chairs. Bear and the Big Blue House was an eight week experiment that lasted several years. Story has it, that the Disney powers that be saw bear during a mall tour and wanted him at Disney. The Playhouse stage used to be the Soundstage Restaurant. Our very first breakroom was the old stainless steel serving station counters from the restaurant. We eventually found some blankets to sit on. Above the stage was the old Catwalk Bar. Decked out with odds and ends furniture and a big screen TV, we often invaded the space during our lunch breaks. In fact, for a while, the Bear and the Big Blue House television show came on a few minutes after our first ended, so we'd book it upstairs to the bar and watch the show. To recap, a cast of puppeteers were sitting at a bar watching a show for preschoolers. . . Only At Disney :)
Playhouse also had a host in front of the stage to engage the kids. Thier job was to get the kids up and dancing at the right time, settle them back down at the right time and to keep the little rug rats off the stage all the time. This job they have done quite well over the years. However, as with all best laid plans, there is the occasional slip up, or as we call them "The Golden Child". The Golden Child is the one individual who has made it passed all of the obstacles and managed to run up on stage. This is bad for several reasons. Bear can't see very well. There are numerous trap doors through which a child can fall through. And finally, but not the least of which, the show had large moving set pieces that can squish a child like a bug. On at least one occasion, a puppeteer opend the trap door and had a child fall into his lap. The performer then quickly shoves the child back up on stage and quickly locks the trap door. I can't help but wonder if, in that child's later years of life, he would have some vague frightening memory of seeing the dark underbelly of Walt Disney World. Who knows, maybe he now has a fear of creatures under the bed. I was walking back stage one day and a toddler's shoe came flying out from under the stage. I asked the stage manager if Bear had started eating the children and spitting out thier shoes.
To call Voyage of the Little Mermaid (VOLM) a puppet show would do it a great dis-service. it has one black light puppet number and Ursala. There are several puppeteers on stage during the "Under the Sea" number and it can be quiet amusing when the performers train wreck and you see all of the neon puppet fish pile up on each other. When the show first started, a dresser would walk out on stage during Ariel's transformation into a human and take her sea shell bra. (the curtain was down). I was always afraid of falling off the stage or getting ran over by Ursala, so I'd find Prince Eric and stick close to him as several of us would go out on stage. Why Prince Eric ? Because I could see him. He wears a white shirt that glows in the black light. On one occasion (this happened to another dresser), Ariel's hair got tangled up in the bra strap. The curtain was about to back up, in a panic, the dresser shoves the shell bra in the back of Ariel's dress and runs off stage. Ariel finishes the show looking like Quasimodo.
VOLM incorporates lasers, black lights and numerous other special effects. Not the least of which is a water curtain to symbolize going under water. Once, when one of the dressers was leaving the show, the cast wanted to tell her good bye, so the darlings taped her to a chair, set it under the water curtian and left her there. When others leave shows there are similar going away surprises as well, like being thrown in the mote when you leave Fantasmic or being covered in baby powder when you move from an area.
On that note, I'll sign off until next.
p.s. don't for get to keep checking back for new stories to come.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The Fans, The Fanatics, and The Fanatic Fans
You hear about rock stars and boys bands dealing with crazed fans, but what you may not realize is that Disney is a magnet for the odd and sometimes extreme fans. We've had families up and move to the area, just so they could get closer to a performer. This happened when we had a show called Doug. It originally was a Nickelodeon show that Disney bought. They made a movie out of it that did poorly and created a show at The Studios that was short lived. Basically, Disney almost killed the franchise. Nickelodeon bought it back after a couple of years though. For those who are not familiar with Doug, it was a show about a pre-teen boy with a huge imagination. The cast wore various colors of make up like Skeeter was Green, Rodger was blue, Patty was orange. A young girl had a huge crush on Rodger and convinced her mom to move to Orlando so they could get closer to Disney. In fact, the cast member had to start leaving through different doors each day on his way home because she'd wait for him at the stage door. We never knew if she wanted Rodger 'the person', 'the person' who played Rodger, or if she just had a thing for blue people.
Hunchback of Notre Dame seemed to have the freaky fans coming out of the wood work. We had one fan, a young lady, we refered to as cape girl. During the show, she'd spin around with her jacket and pretend to do the gypsie cape routine. But Wait, there's more. She later got hired as a costuming cast member. Let's just say she scared the cast. One day she was in the green room and showed someone the secret compartment in her ring. I kid you not, she said, "This is where I keep my poison to kill people." Needless to say, managment moved her very quickly.
One of our Quasimodo cast members got a fan letter one day. It started out normal. "I love your show. I think you're a great singer. . . " . Then it got odd. She said that 'she was new to the area and we were the closest thing to family that she had and that she was coming back on her birthday to spend all day at the show,' and she gave us the date. THEN it got weird. she asked our Quasimodo cast member, 'are you into paganism ? If you're not, that's okay.' Needless to say, we were a bit alarmed and intrigued. In the greenroom there was a dry erase board that listed who where the equity cast members and who were the gypsies for the day. In the middle of those two lists someone wrote COUNTDOWN TO W##F3N DAY (I don't want to use her name, but let's just say it was not a normal name.) Sure enough, on that day, half way through the day, one of the operations people came to the green room and told us she was there. I have never seen that green room clear so fast in my life. Everyone ran out to the stage to see who this girl was. It scared her and she never came back.
We have a gentleman who insists on putting disney performers on his body. Across his back is a tatoo of one of our Streetmosphere performers. The face of one of the Indy Stuntmen (the German Giant) is tatooed on his knee. During the Star wars Weekends we have a lady fan who has legally changed her last name to Skywalker Quigon Kenobi. She'd come every day to the event and stay all day dressed in her Jedi garb.
The Studios is known for it's special events. StarWars Weekends has seventy to eighty Star Wars characters from various Jedi's to three different type of troopers (storm, sand and clone). Storm troopers wear spandex and plastic armour. Guests tend to get a little frisky with some one in spandex. . . I wonder why? Not all Storm troopers are guys. One of the female storm troopers got pinched by a couple of flirty girls. The Storm Trooper informed them she was a girl and embarassed the snot out of these girls. Supersoap Weekends is a time I was glad to be behind the wall. When the park opens, they do a little rope drop ceremony. During Super Soap, it is like the running of the bulls, or as one of our stage managers put it, the running of the house wives. They open the gates and literally thousands of normally sane individuals turn into steam rollers and book it to the back of the park so them can get numbers for the autograph sessions. While I was working as a runner at a resort, I had to drive a guest to the Studios during Super Soap. The whole way over there she kept saying, " I'm not one of those crazed fans." Then she'd turn to her daughter and say, "As soon as we get out you have to run." Not a crazed fan . . . rriiight. ESPN The Weekend is a testostrone version of Super Soap. It's very amusing to see all these guys try to act calm, cool and collected, but as soon as one of the sports stars walk past, they turn into a twelve year old. That's okay, Mr Armchair Quarterback, no one saw you get all giddy when the cheerleaders came out.
Then we have the Dead Dog Lady. Yes, that's right I said the Dead dog Lady. When she and her daughter come to the park, her husband stays in the car all day. He thinks Disney is evil or something. The mother and daughter go to Beauty and the Beast and sit down front center for all five shows. In her lap is a plastic grocery bag. In the bag is a freeze dried / taxidermied little black poodle. Needless to the say the cast gets a bit un-nerved knowing that there is a dead dog in the front row.
Hunchback of Notre Dame seemed to have the freaky fans coming out of the wood work. We had one fan, a young lady, we refered to as cape girl. During the show, she'd spin around with her jacket and pretend to do the gypsie cape routine. But Wait, there's more. She later got hired as a costuming cast member. Let's just say she scared the cast. One day she was in the green room and showed someone the secret compartment in her ring. I kid you not, she said, "This is where I keep my poison to kill people." Needless to say, managment moved her very quickly.
One of our Quasimodo cast members got a fan letter one day. It started out normal. "I love your show. I think you're a great singer. . . " . Then it got odd. She said that 'she was new to the area and we were the closest thing to family that she had and that she was coming back on her birthday to spend all day at the show,' and she gave us the date. THEN it got weird. she asked our Quasimodo cast member, 'are you into paganism ? If you're not, that's okay.' Needless to say, we were a bit alarmed and intrigued. In the greenroom there was a dry erase board that listed who where the equity cast members and who were the gypsies for the day. In the middle of those two lists someone wrote COUNTDOWN TO W##F3N DAY (I don't want to use her name, but let's just say it was not a normal name.) Sure enough, on that day, half way through the day, one of the operations people came to the green room and told us she was there. I have never seen that green room clear so fast in my life. Everyone ran out to the stage to see who this girl was. It scared her and she never came back.
We have a gentleman who insists on putting disney performers on his body. Across his back is a tatoo of one of our Streetmosphere performers. The face of one of the Indy Stuntmen (the German Giant) is tatooed on his knee. During the Star wars Weekends we have a lady fan who has legally changed her last name to Skywalker Quigon Kenobi. She'd come every day to the event and stay all day dressed in her Jedi garb.
The Studios is known for it's special events. StarWars Weekends has seventy to eighty Star Wars characters from various Jedi's to three different type of troopers (storm, sand and clone). Storm troopers wear spandex and plastic armour. Guests tend to get a little frisky with some one in spandex. . . I wonder why? Not all Storm troopers are guys. One of the female storm troopers got pinched by a couple of flirty girls. The Storm Trooper informed them she was a girl and embarassed the snot out of these girls. Supersoap Weekends is a time I was glad to be behind the wall. When the park opens, they do a little rope drop ceremony. During Super Soap, it is like the running of the bulls, or as one of our stage managers put it, the running of the house wives. They open the gates and literally thousands of normally sane individuals turn into steam rollers and book it to the back of the park so them can get numbers for the autograph sessions. While I was working as a runner at a resort, I had to drive a guest to the Studios during Super Soap. The whole way over there she kept saying, " I'm not one of those crazed fans." Then she'd turn to her daughter and say, "As soon as we get out you have to run." Not a crazed fan . . . rriiight. ESPN The Weekend is a testostrone version of Super Soap. It's very amusing to see all these guys try to act calm, cool and collected, but as soon as one of the sports stars walk past, they turn into a twelve year old. That's okay, Mr Armchair Quarterback, no one saw you get all giddy when the cheerleaders came out.
Then we have the Dead Dog Lady. Yes, that's right I said the Dead dog Lady. When she and her daughter come to the park, her husband stays in the car all day. He thinks Disney is evil or something. The mother and daughter go to Beauty and the Beast and sit down front center for all five shows. In her lap is a plastic grocery bag. In the bag is a freeze dried / taxidermied little black poodle. Needless to the say the cast gets a bit un-nerved knowing that there is a dead dog in the front row.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
Or as we call it EPIC. The oldest show at the Studios, it opened shortly after the park opened. I can best describe Epic as working in a 'Boy's Club'. A good chunk of the cast has Peter Pan syndrome. . . they refuse to grow up. You never knew what was going to happen next. It took a certian personality to be able to work at Epic: not easily offended, ability to go with the flow and most importantly 'Shy People Need Not Apply'. Not to say that my cast of 'Lost Boys' was difficult to work with, but on more than one of occasion we had costuming dressers get trained at Epic and never come back.
With a cast of close to twenty guys and three girls per day, testosterone and bravado filled the room. And "oh the things you learn about guys when you're the only female in the room." I'll never forget, we were on a long break between shows and only a handful of people stuck around the green room. One of the cast, who grew up in Alaska, started talking about peeing into the wind and watching it freeze. I was eating lunch. All I could say was "Thanks for THAT visual." Working with a bunch of half dressed men, we had a lot of visuals. One of the guys, who had been there since day one, walked into wardrobe with only a towel wrapped around his waist. That's it. Nothing else. We said, "We're putting a load of towels in the washer, we need that one too." He dropped it and kept on walking. Now THAT WAS A VISUAL.
A costuming job at Epic was mostly presetting clothes, replacing worn out costumes, sorting laundry and dressing the guests which were picked out of the audience to be in the show. Sounds pretty easy. . .right. Wrong. Getting the 'boys' to give up a worn out costume was like getting Linus to give up his blanket. The conversations usally went something like this. "You need to try this on." "Later." "You need to try this on." "Why? I have one already." "It's falling apart. You need a new one." "I like my old one." " You look like you were on the losing end of a dog fight." "No I don't." Basically, you had to wear them down. . . in a nice, big sisterly way. One of the worst was Tumbler "P". I called him the brother i never wanted. He harrassed me. I harrassed him. One sure fire way to teach new cast members to put up thier shoes, hats, ect, was to put them in the freezer. The next day he had to wear frozen shoes, but he never forgot to them away again. Everyone expected the clothes to be ripped to shreds, the shoes to fall apart and the hats to eventually disintegrate. It was the unexpected wardrobe malfunction that kept life interesting. Indy has a monlogue where he explains the difference between a stunt double and stunt actor. Indy 'E' happened to be wearing a pair of button fly pants that wouldn't stay buttoned. He did his whole speach not only with his fly open, but his shirt sticking out. Dark brown pants. Light tan shirt tail poking out. Enough said.
I often thought I had the wierdest job in the world. I helped people change clothes during shows. Then, during the show, I'd see the six tumblers walking towards me taking thier shirts off for thier costume change, and think "I like my job." One day, a group of girls (guests) discovered they could stand on the handicap ramp and see the guys as well and started whistling. Amazingly, the guys turned shy all of a sudden. Thier one costume change was by no means a quick change. In fact, they had time to get into water fights, feed the begging squirrels, torment the new dressers and throw each others costumes in to the Mayan cart. (Scene one is a Mayan Temple scene, afterwards the set separates into three sections and rolls off to the side.)
Thier shenanigans didn't stop there. In the green room, if you heard the phrase, "Hanger in flight", you learned to steer clear of the costume rack. They loved to throw the heavy costume hangers at the rack and see if they could make them stay on the rail. They rarely made it. For several years they had a ping pong table and, for a while, full contact ping pong games dominated the greenroom. They'd hit the ball so hard, it'd ricochceted off the walls. Then there was Mote Ball. I am not sure where the name came from, but it's hybrid of a shortened tennis court, using racquetball racquet with elements of jai lai thrown in for good measure. The techs and certian cast members had mini-tournements between shows. The court was actualy a driveway leading to the the stage. The backstop on one side was the high stage wall/gate. The back stop on the other side was what ever car happened to be driving past. The sides were marked out by the Tech break trailer to one side and the tent storing the extra rolling boulders to the other.
The most awesome thing about working the show for the number of years that I did, was I saw kids with little to no experience come in and learn how to be a stunt performer. Now, I can't watch a movie with out sitting throught the credits to see if I know any of them. I'll always remember a kid from south Florida. He was a high school football star. The first time he sauntered into the trailer, he wore a big cowboy hat and had his shirt halfway unbuttoned. Well, let's just say, boot camp had begun. That training session there were six new tumblers, (I think), one or two new Marions and a couple new Indy's. Thier trainer was Tumbler "O", or as I called him Sargent "O". He ran that bunch of new hires ragged. During training they ran circuits, which consists of climbing the buildings of the market place (scene two sets), running across the tops of the buildings to the Indy high fall, do the high fall and run back to the begining. Between shows they'd learn about throwing punches, the slide for life and three-man pyramids. At one point in time when the Indy high fall wasn't high enough, they went all the way to the roof of the stage and jumped out of the rafters. Absolutely, utterly insane. One day, in the greenroom, they were watching a home video of someone on fire. Only at EPIC does that not seem wierd. That week end one of stunt captians had an unofficial training session at his home on how to do fire stunts.
By the way, the high school football star stuck around for a three four years, then moved to L.A. and became Toby Maguier's stunt double in Spiderman. Not bad, eh. I found an interview with him on You Yube http://www.anthonyplascencia.com/video/stuntman.html Another rags to riches story has to do with a guy who started in costuming. He went to the casting center and told them he wanted to be in costuming at Epic. They tried to taking him out of it. He insisted. His goal was to see what it took to get cast in the show from the inside out. He auditioned, but didn't make it. He auditioned again. He still didn't make it. In between auditions the Indy's would work with him on what he needed to improve for the next time. I believe it took four or five times before he got cast. Once he broke through, he was contracted as a primary Indy stunt double for a while, then he moved to L.A. Long story short, he landed work on a Tim Allen movie as his stunt double. Now, he's Mr. Allen's primary stunt double.
The tell tale signs of an Indy in training: knee pads, elbow pads, butt pads, brand new timberline boots all while wearing eye protection and the leather jacket in 90 degree Florida summers, just so you can learn that dam whip routine. Oh, yeah, throw in a few character performers running for thier lives because they're afraid of being accidently hit by the thing on thier way to the parade trailer.
There are plenty of more EPIC stories to come, so come back and check it out.
With a cast of close to twenty guys and three girls per day, testosterone and bravado filled the room. And "oh the things you learn about guys when you're the only female in the room." I'll never forget, we were on a long break between shows and only a handful of people stuck around the green room. One of the cast, who grew up in Alaska, started talking about peeing into the wind and watching it freeze. I was eating lunch. All I could say was "Thanks for THAT visual." Working with a bunch of half dressed men, we had a lot of visuals. One of the guys, who had been there since day one, walked into wardrobe with only a towel wrapped around his waist. That's it. Nothing else. We said, "We're putting a load of towels in the washer, we need that one too." He dropped it and kept on walking. Now THAT WAS A VISUAL.
A costuming job at Epic was mostly presetting clothes, replacing worn out costumes, sorting laundry and dressing the guests which were picked out of the audience to be in the show. Sounds pretty easy. . .right. Wrong. Getting the 'boys' to give up a worn out costume was like getting Linus to give up his blanket. The conversations usally went something like this. "You need to try this on." "Later." "You need to try this on." "Why? I have one already." "It's falling apart. You need a new one." "I like my old one." " You look like you were on the losing end of a dog fight." "No I don't." Basically, you had to wear them down. . . in a nice, big sisterly way. One of the worst was Tumbler "P". I called him the brother i never wanted. He harrassed me. I harrassed him. One sure fire way to teach new cast members to put up thier shoes, hats, ect, was to put them in the freezer. The next day he had to wear frozen shoes, but he never forgot to them away again. Everyone expected the clothes to be ripped to shreds, the shoes to fall apart and the hats to eventually disintegrate. It was the unexpected wardrobe malfunction that kept life interesting. Indy has a monlogue where he explains the difference between a stunt double and stunt actor. Indy 'E' happened to be wearing a pair of button fly pants that wouldn't stay buttoned. He did his whole speach not only with his fly open, but his shirt sticking out. Dark brown pants. Light tan shirt tail poking out. Enough said.
I often thought I had the wierdest job in the world. I helped people change clothes during shows. Then, during the show, I'd see the six tumblers walking towards me taking thier shirts off for thier costume change, and think "I like my job." One day, a group of girls (guests) discovered they could stand on the handicap ramp and see the guys as well and started whistling. Amazingly, the guys turned shy all of a sudden. Thier one costume change was by no means a quick change. In fact, they had time to get into water fights, feed the begging squirrels, torment the new dressers and throw each others costumes in to the Mayan cart. (Scene one is a Mayan Temple scene, afterwards the set separates into three sections and rolls off to the side.)
Thier shenanigans didn't stop there. In the green room, if you heard the phrase, "Hanger in flight", you learned to steer clear of the costume rack. They loved to throw the heavy costume hangers at the rack and see if they could make them stay on the rail. They rarely made it. For several years they had a ping pong table and, for a while, full contact ping pong games dominated the greenroom. They'd hit the ball so hard, it'd ricochceted off the walls. Then there was Mote Ball. I am not sure where the name came from, but it's hybrid of a shortened tennis court, using racquetball racquet with elements of jai lai thrown in for good measure. The techs and certian cast members had mini-tournements between shows. The court was actualy a driveway leading to the the stage. The backstop on one side was the high stage wall/gate. The back stop on the other side was what ever car happened to be driving past. The sides were marked out by the Tech break trailer to one side and the tent storing the extra rolling boulders to the other.
The most awesome thing about working the show for the number of years that I did, was I saw kids with little to no experience come in and learn how to be a stunt performer. Now, I can't watch a movie with out sitting throught the credits to see if I know any of them. I'll always remember a kid from south Florida. He was a high school football star. The first time he sauntered into the trailer, he wore a big cowboy hat and had his shirt halfway unbuttoned. Well, let's just say, boot camp had begun. That training session there were six new tumblers, (I think), one or two new Marions and a couple new Indy's. Thier trainer was Tumbler "O", or as I called him Sargent "O". He ran that bunch of new hires ragged. During training they ran circuits, which consists of climbing the buildings of the market place (scene two sets), running across the tops of the buildings to the Indy high fall, do the high fall and run back to the begining. Between shows they'd learn about throwing punches, the slide for life and three-man pyramids. At one point in time when the Indy high fall wasn't high enough, they went all the way to the roof of the stage and jumped out of the rafters. Absolutely, utterly insane. One day, in the greenroom, they were watching a home video of someone on fire. Only at EPIC does that not seem wierd. That week end one of stunt captians had an unofficial training session at his home on how to do fire stunts.
By the way, the high school football star stuck around for a three four years, then moved to L.A. and became Toby Maguier's stunt double in Spiderman. Not bad, eh. I found an interview with him on You Yube http://www.anthonyplascencia.com/video/stuntman.html Another rags to riches story has to do with a guy who started in costuming. He went to the casting center and told them he wanted to be in costuming at Epic. They tried to taking him out of it. He insisted. His goal was to see what it took to get cast in the show from the inside out. He auditioned, but didn't make it. He auditioned again. He still didn't make it. In between auditions the Indy's would work with him on what he needed to improve for the next time. I believe it took four or five times before he got cast. Once he broke through, he was contracted as a primary Indy stunt double for a while, then he moved to L.A. Long story short, he landed work on a Tim Allen movie as his stunt double. Now, he's Mr. Allen's primary stunt double.
The tell tale signs of an Indy in training: knee pads, elbow pads, butt pads, brand new timberline boots all while wearing eye protection and the leather jacket in 90 degree Florida summers, just so you can learn that dam whip routine. Oh, yeah, throw in a few character performers running for thier lives because they're afraid of being accidently hit by the thing on thier way to the parade trailer.
There are plenty of more EPIC stories to come, so come back and check it out.
Friday, May 23, 2008
So, Did You Hear The One About The Guest Who Said...
Wierd stuff happens at Disney. Yes guest's really do ask."What time is the three o'clock parade?" and "How much are the two dollar ballons?". For those who missed the news, there was a parental throw down at the Tea Cups near the end of 2007 that ended up in court and I believe prison time. I can see it now, "What are you in prison for?" "Well, I was at a Tea Party. . ."
When I first transfered to the resorts I worked at the All Star Resort front desk. As part of that job we also answered the phones in a place we called DAKRA. (Disney's Animal Kingdom Regional. . .something or another). We were the ones that answered all the lost guest questions, the angery "where's my lost luggage?" questions and the "my child's lost his pacifier in the Animal Kingdom Lodge's savanna" panikced parent calls.
One of my favorite calls, wasn't even mine. One of the other operators had a call from a guest who insisted that there was a Zebra out side of the Magic Kingdom parking lot. We assured her that none of the animals from the Animal Kingdom had gotten loose and told her it was a deer. She became very upset . "I know what a Zebra looks like and I know what deer look like! This had stripes." We called animal services, because we said we would. They were highly amussed.
Speaking of animal services, those people must be ran ragged 'fetching things from the Lodge's savanna'. Usually kid's stuff, once it gets thrown over the railing, most parents agree it was time to wean Jr off the pacifer anyway. Numerous cameras are pointed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge balcony's to prevent people from harming the animals. Knowing that, parents are pretty quick to call us about lost items. It's amazing how few pacifiers parents want back after it's fallen into a savanna filled with animals, and what animals leave behind. One lady was drying her plus size bathing suit on the railing and a gust of wind blew it away and it landed on a near by roof. Maintanence had to get a high lift to fish it off the roof.
Let me say a brief word about Love Bugs. . . the little black bugs, not the car. Love Bugs don't bite, don't eat anything, nothing will eat them. Basically they don't provide any useful purpose. According to pest management, they hatch, breed and die and their life span is only a few hours. These little pests wreak havoc for our guests twice a year. (spring and fall). The most common complaint is, " why didn't any one tell us about the bugs? I spend good money on this trip. . .yada yada yada." To answer that all I can say is, "We don't know when they will get here. It all depends on the temperature, rain fall ect." They tend to go for bright colors, so the hotel doors at All Star Resort are always plastered with them for that two weeks or so. Custodial tries to keep up with the dead bodies, but it's a huge resort. I had a guest irrate that 'A', one, Love Bug got into her room. Let me remind you, they don't bite and they will die soon anyway. This guest insisted that we get some one over there immediately to remove the one Love Bug. I called pest management, they told me that as soon as they were finished relocating the rattle snake, that they'd be right over.
We had a guest enjoy the pool bar a bit too much one day. He went back to his room, turned the water in the tub on and passed out on the floor. Fortuneately for him he passed out face up, because the tub overflowed and flooded out six rooms. When questioned, he said, " If you didn't want me to get drunk, you shouldn't have sold me the liquor."
It's been said that people loose IQ points when they get to Disney. They walk into lamp posts, leave thier cameras at the restaraunts, leave thier children behind in the car, all of which, in thier own minds, is never their fault. Blame it on Nicotine withdraws, Caffine withdraws, jet lag, stupid airlines, lost bus/taxi drivers, but they never seem to want to take the cedit for thier faux pas.
I recently had a guest demand that we compensate her because of a flight delay as if we're resposible for AirTran's plane breaking down.
That's alright honey, that's why we're here
When I first transfered to the resorts I worked at the All Star Resort front desk. As part of that job we also answered the phones in a place we called DAKRA. (Disney's Animal Kingdom Regional. . .something or another). We were the ones that answered all the lost guest questions, the angery "where's my lost luggage?" questions and the "my child's lost his pacifier in the Animal Kingdom Lodge's savanna" panikced parent calls.
One of my favorite calls, wasn't even mine. One of the other operators had a call from a guest who insisted that there was a Zebra out side of the Magic Kingdom parking lot. We assured her that none of the animals from the Animal Kingdom had gotten loose and told her it was a deer. She became very upset . "I know what a Zebra looks like and I know what deer look like! This had stripes." We called animal services, because we said we would. They were highly amussed.
Speaking of animal services, those people must be ran ragged 'fetching things from the Lodge's savanna'. Usually kid's stuff, once it gets thrown over the railing, most parents agree it was time to wean Jr off the pacifer anyway. Numerous cameras are pointed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge balcony's to prevent people from harming the animals. Knowing that, parents are pretty quick to call us about lost items. It's amazing how few pacifiers parents want back after it's fallen into a savanna filled with animals, and what animals leave behind. One lady was drying her plus size bathing suit on the railing and a gust of wind blew it away and it landed on a near by roof. Maintanence had to get a high lift to fish it off the roof.
Let me say a brief word about Love Bugs. . . the little black bugs, not the car. Love Bugs don't bite, don't eat anything, nothing will eat them. Basically they don't provide any useful purpose. According to pest management, they hatch, breed and die and their life span is only a few hours. These little pests wreak havoc for our guests twice a year. (spring and fall). The most common complaint is, " why didn't any one tell us about the bugs? I spend good money on this trip. . .yada yada yada." To answer that all I can say is, "We don't know when they will get here. It all depends on the temperature, rain fall ect." They tend to go for bright colors, so the hotel doors at All Star Resort are always plastered with them for that two weeks or so. Custodial tries to keep up with the dead bodies, but it's a huge resort. I had a guest irrate that 'A', one, Love Bug got into her room. Let me remind you, they don't bite and they will die soon anyway. This guest insisted that we get some one over there immediately to remove the one Love Bug. I called pest management, they told me that as soon as they were finished relocating the rattle snake, that they'd be right over.
We had a guest enjoy the pool bar a bit too much one day. He went back to his room, turned the water in the tub on and passed out on the floor. Fortuneately for him he passed out face up, because the tub overflowed and flooded out six rooms. When questioned, he said, " If you didn't want me to get drunk, you shouldn't have sold me the liquor."
It's been said that people loose IQ points when they get to Disney. They walk into lamp posts, leave thier cameras at the restaraunts, leave thier children behind in the car, all of which, in thier own minds, is never their fault. Blame it on Nicotine withdraws, Caffine withdraws, jet lag, stupid airlines, lost bus/taxi drivers, but they never seem to want to take the cedit for thier faux pas.
I recently had a guest demand that we compensate her because of a flight delay as if we're resposible for AirTran's plane breaking down.
That's alright honey, that's why we're here
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Hunchback of Notre Dame: A Musical Adventure !
Way back when each new movie was welcomed by fan fare and a new show or parade being added to the park, there was a show based on Disney's bastardized version of Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame Classic. The animated film was 'ehh' and was kind of out of step with most of Disney's animated movies. The show however took on a life of it's own as a thirty minute retelling of the film and had a huge fan base.
Located in the back of the park, it seemed to always be under threat of closing. We were amazed when we lasted one year, much less seven. This show was and always will be one of my favorites. It was a show about outcasts, and being an entertainer you never quiet fit the social norms of society, anyway. We had a little bit of everything in that show: seven Equity performers (anyone who has special skills, talks or sings is Equity), nine character performers (pupeteers who in another life worked with Mickey, Pluto, Chip, Dale etc.), pyro techs (they burnt down Paris five times a day), six costuming dressers (who were always ducking out of the way of props, and dodging cast members who were late for enterances), two cosmetologists (it is amazing all the uses there are for doublesided hair and makeup tape) and one preshow juggler act (who had his own fan club following after a while).
It's petty sad when you'd rather be at Work on a holiday that with your family, but the cast and crew at Hunchback was my family. . . sort of. On our first Easter sunday, we turned the court yard between the stage and the greenroom into a little outdoor French Bistro. The techs had two hot plates in the back corner making omletes. We had electric skillets and waffle irons with pitchers of batter to make pancakes and waffles. Breads and pasteries of every size and discription was on another table. You name it we had it. Costuming put together an Easter Egg hunt. I found the quickest way to turn grown adults into children again is to hide something and tell them to go find it.
Costumes were alway an issue at that show. One of our gypsies (characters) hated his hat. He called it the "Herbie the Misfit Elf" hat. In one show it fell off, as it usually did, but this time he never got it back because his precious cast members kept kicking it around the stage like a hacky-sack. After that the stage managers made the hat go away. Costuming's claim to fame was a seven second complete Esmeralda costume change. It didn't have to be seven seconds, but we wanted to prove we could do it. Esmerelda would sneeze on stage and disappear behind a curtian and a poof of smoke. One of us would unzip her red dress, drop it to the floor. The second dresser would drop the blue dress over her head. The first dresser would zip it while the second dresser would snap the sash into place. Meanwhile, cosmetology straightened her hair and she was off.
The characters took being a gypsy to heart and were the mischievous bunch of people I have ever worked with. They had themed shows like the 'Riverdance Show' where everyone moved around on stage like they were in Riverdance. In one scene the gypsies where thrown in jail. The top of the jail was a stair way where the Gargoyles stood. We had certian gypsies that loved to torment the Gargoyles by untying thier shoe laces or pulling on thier tights.
As with most theater shows, Broadway and other wise, we had understudies. Everyone knows that. One particular day, we ran out of Quasimodos and the managers had to call in the under study. . . We'll call Quasi J. The only problem was, Quasi J, being his day off, was at the Epcot WINE and Food festival. (note the emphasis on Wine) Quasi J told them he was at the WINE and Food festival, but Stage Managers said "We'll deal with that when you get here, just come in and save the shows." I happened to be dressing that track that day and had to deal with the tipsy Quasi. . . lucky me. Quasi T wanted the lead in the show so bad, but there was one minor issue, a rope swing stunt from one side of the stage to the other that he was petrified of. He almost never landed right, in fact we refered to his rope swing as 'Bowling for Guards' since he usually took out several guards each show.
Props were a big part of that show. Let me emphasize BIG. We had a life size horse puppet we lovingly refered to as Snowball. Frollo would ride out on this thing being pushed by a puppeteer. I was always amazed the Frollo never took a header off the front of the stage. After his scene, we used Snowball to preset costumes on. His right ear became The Official Spot for the stiltwalking gypsy's dew rag. Since the show went away five, six years ago, Snowball turned into a convention prop. Just the other day I actually ran into him at some holiday promotion thing. I ignored the people working the event and told Snowball how much I missed him. The people thought I was nuts.
Back stage at Hunchback was 'all about no where to stand'. In our seven year run, we only had one costuming manager who wasn't afraid to be back stage during a show. In fact we had one manager (blonde . . .enough said) that came to see us right before the show. The music started. People started running. This manager was like a deer in headlights. When the 'burning buildings' were rolled back stage (real flames), she was gone and never came back to the show again. Between flaming set pieces, Snowball the life size horse, a Madonna and child statue, various size puppet racks, stiltwalkers and just the general wierd costume/props, we were always moving out of the way of something, not the least of which was running cast members.
Disney shows are live microphoned singers, so let me end with our blooper reel and Hunchback had some real doosy's.
One of the gargoyle parishoners was supposed to "ask for fame."
Instead he asked for "pain" one day.
In a touching scene, Quasi is supposed to tell Esmerelda that "I don't think I'm your type." Esmerelda replys "Nonsense, your sweet, intellegent (yada yada yada)"
However, Quasi T said one day "I don't think you're my type." Esmerelda had no response for him. Although it was interesting to watch her dig herself out of the hole.
Clopin in the opening of the show was supposed to say something about Paris "...and the cities awake."
What he said was yada yada Paris. ". . . and the titis awake." Hmmm wander who he was looking at in the audience.
Clopin in the Feast of Fools scene, he was supposed to say, "Tospy Turvy is when you shock the Prig and mock the Priest."
One day he said, no lie, "Tospy turvy is when you shock to prig and f##k the priest."
And the stories continue, but at another time.
I found a pretty good version of the old show on youtube. check it out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZrYogrA2Ao
Located in the back of the park, it seemed to always be under threat of closing. We were amazed when we lasted one year, much less seven. This show was and always will be one of my favorites. It was a show about outcasts, and being an entertainer you never quiet fit the social norms of society, anyway. We had a little bit of everything in that show: seven Equity performers (anyone who has special skills, talks or sings is Equity), nine character performers (pupeteers who in another life worked with Mickey, Pluto, Chip, Dale etc.), pyro techs (they burnt down Paris five times a day), six costuming dressers (who were always ducking out of the way of props, and dodging cast members who were late for enterances), two cosmetologists (it is amazing all the uses there are for doublesided hair and makeup tape) and one preshow juggler act (who had his own fan club following after a while).
It's petty sad when you'd rather be at Work on a holiday that with your family, but the cast and crew at Hunchback was my family. . . sort of. On our first Easter sunday, we turned the court yard between the stage and the greenroom into a little outdoor French Bistro. The techs had two hot plates in the back corner making omletes. We had electric skillets and waffle irons with pitchers of batter to make pancakes and waffles. Breads and pasteries of every size and discription was on another table. You name it we had it. Costuming put together an Easter Egg hunt. I found the quickest way to turn grown adults into children again is to hide something and tell them to go find it.
Costumes were alway an issue at that show. One of our gypsies (characters) hated his hat. He called it the "Herbie the Misfit Elf" hat. In one show it fell off, as it usually did, but this time he never got it back because his precious cast members kept kicking it around the stage like a hacky-sack. After that the stage managers made the hat go away. Costuming's claim to fame was a seven second complete Esmeralda costume change. It didn't have to be seven seconds, but we wanted to prove we could do it. Esmerelda would sneeze on stage and disappear behind a curtian and a poof of smoke. One of us would unzip her red dress, drop it to the floor. The second dresser would drop the blue dress over her head. The first dresser would zip it while the second dresser would snap the sash into place. Meanwhile, cosmetology straightened her hair and she was off.
The characters took being a gypsy to heart and were the mischievous bunch of people I have ever worked with. They had themed shows like the 'Riverdance Show' where everyone moved around on stage like they were in Riverdance. In one scene the gypsies where thrown in jail. The top of the jail was a stair way where the Gargoyles stood. We had certian gypsies that loved to torment the Gargoyles by untying thier shoe laces or pulling on thier tights.
As with most theater shows, Broadway and other wise, we had understudies. Everyone knows that. One particular day, we ran out of Quasimodos and the managers had to call in the under study. . . We'll call Quasi J. The only problem was, Quasi J, being his day off, was at the Epcot WINE and Food festival. (note the emphasis on Wine) Quasi J told them he was at the WINE and Food festival, but Stage Managers said "We'll deal with that when you get here, just come in and save the shows." I happened to be dressing that track that day and had to deal with the tipsy Quasi. . . lucky me. Quasi T wanted the lead in the show so bad, but there was one minor issue, a rope swing stunt from one side of the stage to the other that he was petrified of. He almost never landed right, in fact we refered to his rope swing as 'Bowling for Guards' since he usually took out several guards each show.
Props were a big part of that show. Let me emphasize BIG. We had a life size horse puppet we lovingly refered to as Snowball. Frollo would ride out on this thing being pushed by a puppeteer. I was always amazed the Frollo never took a header off the front of the stage. After his scene, we used Snowball to preset costumes on. His right ear became The Official Spot for the stiltwalking gypsy's dew rag. Since the show went away five, six years ago, Snowball turned into a convention prop. Just the other day I actually ran into him at some holiday promotion thing. I ignored the people working the event and told Snowball how much I missed him. The people thought I was nuts.
Back stage at Hunchback was 'all about no where to stand'. In our seven year run, we only had one costuming manager who wasn't afraid to be back stage during a show. In fact we had one manager (blonde . . .enough said) that came to see us right before the show. The music started. People started running. This manager was like a deer in headlights. When the 'burning buildings' were rolled back stage (real flames), she was gone and never came back to the show again. Between flaming set pieces, Snowball the life size horse, a Madonna and child statue, various size puppet racks, stiltwalkers and just the general wierd costume/props, we were always moving out of the way of something, not the least of which was running cast members.
Disney shows are live microphoned singers, so let me end with our blooper reel and Hunchback had some real doosy's.
One of the gargoyle parishoners was supposed to "ask for fame."
Instead he asked for "pain" one day.
In a touching scene, Quasi is supposed to tell Esmerelda that "I don't think I'm your type." Esmerelda replys "Nonsense, your sweet, intellegent (yada yada yada)"
However, Quasi T said one day "I don't think you're my type." Esmerelda had no response for him. Although it was interesting to watch her dig herself out of the hole.
Clopin in the opening of the show was supposed to say something about Paris "...and the cities awake."
What he said was yada yada Paris. ". . . and the titis awake." Hmmm wander who he was looking at in the audience.
Clopin in the Feast of Fools scene, he was supposed to say, "Tospy Turvy is when you shock the Prig and mock the Priest."
One day he said, no lie, "Tospy turvy is when you shock to prig and f##k the priest."
And the stories continue, but at another time.
I found a pretty good version of the old show on youtube. check it out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZrYogrA2Ao
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Mother nature's fury meets the Magic Kingdom
Pardon me if I seem a bit side tracked at the moment. As I am writing this, I am also watching my state burn down on the news. Florida is extremely dry and crispy right now and some idiot decided to light several forest fires. Back in 1998 we had a similar set up that got real close to home. A huge fire burned really close to the Magic Kingdom for serveral days that year. Disney, so far, has faired very well in the face of mother nature's fury, however.
Since there are nightly fireworks displays, Disney keeps every thing well watered and I mean everything. During the 1998 fires, I was working on a Star Wars event at the Studios. If you have never been to Star Wars Weekends and are a Star Wars Fan, you gotta go. We have seventy to eighty Star Wars characters, stars from the movies and hundreds of fanatical, if not a little scary, fans. But more on that at another time.
At the front of the park during Stat Wars Weekends they put Storm Troopers up on top of the turnstiles to torment and amuse the people waiting to come in. If you are familiar with the Studios, you'll know that just inside the front gates is a small information kiosk called Crossroads. On top of it is a spire with a Mickey statue. During the 1998 fires all of the smoke lifted up and over Magic Kingdom and dumped on the Studios. We could barely see a few feet ahead of us. The Storm Troopers on top of the turnstiles couldn't see Crossroads, if fact they could barely see the guests down below. They later said that they only way they kept from falling off the turnstiles was to follow the yellow caution tape marking the edge of the roof.
365 days a year, Disney is never closed. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Y2K scares we were open. However, a stiff hurricane and police ordered evacuation tends to stop us in our tracks. Disney has Hurricane Rideout crews that are made up of Cast members who volunteer to ride out the storm and to keep the place from blowing away(and it's huge amounts of overtime pay). I worked one Ride out Crew years ago. I think it was Hurricane Opal. We gathered in our main wardrobe building and watched one of our managers climb around on top of the fourth tier of the clothes rack as he spread plastic over everything, in case we lost a roof. (It was amazing how much dust he stirred up doing that too.)
That night, nearly a hundred of us tried to sleep on the floor of the Great Movie Ride. The following morning we were expecting destruction and mayhem. No, just branches down and leaves. After a through cleaning, the park was opened a couple hours later. We 'the Rideout crew' were expecting to go home that morning. Oh no. Because of call ins, we had go to work the shows that day. I walked into Beauty and the Beast and said, " I am here to just dress the shows. In between shows, you can find me sleeping underneath the rail of ball gowns."
Y2K, the disaster that never was. Disney planned for the Apocolypse, I think. They had pages of protocol and multiple plans if the world's computers were to crash on January 1, 2000. At every traffic intersection there were generator powered work lights. There were multiple generators staged all through out the parks. You name it, they did it. I also worked part-time at Universal Studios as an Entertainment Tech back then too. After seeing Disney's over planning, I was amazed at how non-chalant Universal was. I arrived at work December 31, 1999 and was handed a sheet of paper. One sheet, that's it. Basically it said, We are shutting down the rides at 11:30 pm. If all hell doesn't break loose at mid night, the rides will be reopened at 12:30.
One last thing, after our record setting four hurricane year with Charley, Francis, Jean and Ivan, the powers that be made pins to thank us for all of our hard work. It's one of my favorite Disney momentos. It's Mickey holding onto his Sorceror's had as the wind is trying to blow it away. http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/pin?id=34775
Since there are nightly fireworks displays, Disney keeps every thing well watered and I mean everything. During the 1998 fires, I was working on a Star Wars event at the Studios. If you have never been to Star Wars Weekends and are a Star Wars Fan, you gotta go. We have seventy to eighty Star Wars characters, stars from the movies and hundreds of fanatical, if not a little scary, fans. But more on that at another time.
At the front of the park during Stat Wars Weekends they put Storm Troopers up on top of the turnstiles to torment and amuse the people waiting to come in. If you are familiar with the Studios, you'll know that just inside the front gates is a small information kiosk called Crossroads. On top of it is a spire with a Mickey statue. During the 1998 fires all of the smoke lifted up and over Magic Kingdom and dumped on the Studios. We could barely see a few feet ahead of us. The Storm Troopers on top of the turnstiles couldn't see Crossroads, if fact they could barely see the guests down below. They later said that they only way they kept from falling off the turnstiles was to follow the yellow caution tape marking the edge of the roof.
365 days a year, Disney is never closed. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Y2K scares we were open. However, a stiff hurricane and police ordered evacuation tends to stop us in our tracks. Disney has Hurricane Rideout crews that are made up of Cast members who volunteer to ride out the storm and to keep the place from blowing away(and it's huge amounts of overtime pay). I worked one Ride out Crew years ago. I think it was Hurricane Opal. We gathered in our main wardrobe building and watched one of our managers climb around on top of the fourth tier of the clothes rack as he spread plastic over everything, in case we lost a roof. (It was amazing how much dust he stirred up doing that too.)
That night, nearly a hundred of us tried to sleep on the floor of the Great Movie Ride. The following morning we were expecting destruction and mayhem. No, just branches down and leaves. After a through cleaning, the park was opened a couple hours later. We 'the Rideout crew' were expecting to go home that morning. Oh no. Because of call ins, we had go to work the shows that day. I walked into Beauty and the Beast and said, " I am here to just dress the shows. In between shows, you can find me sleeping underneath the rail of ball gowns."
Y2K, the disaster that never was. Disney planned for the Apocolypse, I think. They had pages of protocol and multiple plans if the world's computers were to crash on January 1, 2000. At every traffic intersection there were generator powered work lights. There were multiple generators staged all through out the parks. You name it, they did it. I also worked part-time at Universal Studios as an Entertainment Tech back then too. After seeing Disney's over planning, I was amazed at how non-chalant Universal was. I arrived at work December 31, 1999 and was handed a sheet of paper. One sheet, that's it. Basically it said, We are shutting down the rides at 11:30 pm. If all hell doesn't break loose at mid night, the rides will be reopened at 12:30.
One last thing, after our record setting four hurricane year with Charley, Francis, Jean and Ivan, the powers that be made pins to thank us for all of our hard work. It's one of my favorite Disney momentos. It's Mickey holding onto his Sorceror's had as the wind is trying to blow it away. http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/pin?id=34775
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