OMG! It's Been Almost Four Years!!!

Wow! It's been almost four years since my last update! We went to Walt Disney World recently and there have been even more changes. The parking garages are completed and are state of the art with signs that tell you how many spaces are open on each level and where those spaces are. Very convenient. There is still some surface parking for those who don't like parking garages and the food is still tremendous at Disney Springs. A sparate bus lane eases traffic congestion while aiding guests arrival time at the various venues and elevated walkways make crossing the street safer for pedestrians. While we were there we saw one of the final performances of Cirque Du Soliel's La Nouba and it was great yet bittersweet knowing that show won't be there anymore, however, the grapevine says that Circque Du Soleil will remain with a new new show, but details are scarce as of now. Disney Springs is opening up more restaurants and the construction should be finished this year. Speaking of food, Rainforest Cafe has a bar called Lava and is situated right on the water availing the guest lovely breezes and a great view of the waterfront. The food was tasty with ample portions. Later that evening a trip to Ghiradelli's was on the agenda and there were no disappointments there! There is so much to share, I'll be writing more often to fill you in on everything at our Happiest Place on Earth. Have a Magical Day!

Changes at Walt Disney World

I haven't written lately (over a year I think), and I am going to try to find more time to write. (I know, I know, you've heard that before!) No, really, I mean it. Recently there have been some changes to our Walt Disney World and as all changes are, some are good (I suppose) others not so good. The changes at Epcot, there are four of them, are that at Morroco, Mo'roccan musical show is gone, the Comedy Troupe that entertained guests at United Kingdom and France and brought guests into the show is gone, the Drum and Fife Corps. of red coated patriots is gone at the American pavillion, and to my personal sorrow, Off Kilter Celtic rock band is gone from Canada. Off Kilter has been replaced with a lumberjack act. Also many other changes are happening. There is work going on at Downtown Disney or Disney Springs as it is being renamed. There will be a parking garage, which is currently under construction, a new Starbucks and several more additions in the works. I keep reminding myself (because I'm one of those people that believes that if it ain't broke don't fix it) that what I know and love as Downtown Disney was different at one time and was called Disney Village or the Village. So if I could fall in love with a changed Village, (albeit I never experienced the Village) then I can learn to love the new incarnation of Disney Springs. One thing that I don't think I'll ever get used to is a Starbucks on Main St. at Magic Kingdom. OK, putting one at downtown Disney is one thing, there are name brands everywhere there, but on Main St.? Their logo alone is offensive on Main St. U.S.A. What's next, the Emporium as a Wal-Mart??!! Walt wanted the guest to leave their everyday world and come to a magical one. That is why you get to Magic Kingdom by boat or monorail or bus. The getting there took you from your world and brought you to Walt's world of magic and reminiscing of days gone by. It's also why upon entering the park, you enter a dark tunnel underneath the train station and emerge in the brightness of a new place. There was a movie I saw once starring Christopher Reeve, he goes to an old hotel and sees a painting of a beautiful woman (Jane Seymour) and inquires about time travel because he is infatuated and wants to meet her. A psychologist professor tells him if he can surround himself with items from that world it just might work, but there can be no reminders of the present. So Reeves dresses in period clothes, stays in a room that has been specially decorated for the period and concentrates. He actually makes it back to the era of this woman and meets her and they fall in love until... He reaches in his pocket and finds a coin there. It's a penny left over from someone who rented the costume before him and guess what? He sees the date. A modern date, and there goes the illusion and he's back in the present and eventually wastes away. Same thing with Starbucks on Main St. There goes the illusion Walt tried so hard to give us. Just saying.

Adrenaline At Epcot

Not everything about being a Security Host at Walt Disney World is fun and games, sometimes reality or the threat of reality creeps in.
One day I was working Epcot East which is the area of Future World that has Universe of Energy, Mission: Space and Test Track among other things.
I was walking around the area by the fountain when I heard this on my radio earpiece:
Epcot East, Echo 2
Epcot East by (my response)
Signal 21 Universe of Energy
10-4 I'm 51 (my response)
Translation:
Epcot East, this is Echo 2 dispatch
This is Epcot East standing by
There is a burglary in progress at Universe of Energy
OK, I'm enroute
Well, I started to walk briskly as we are trained to do while thinking what I was going to do as an-unarmed security host against a potential burglar.
As I came around the corner I caught movement out of the corner of my left eye and was relieved to see my Duty Manager Charlie Moran hot footin' it out the bushes that was a shortcut from the security office.
We approached the door and Charlie signaled me to hold back. No problem there Charlie.
We entered the building and heard voices from another room and we slowly made an approach.
What we encountered were two IT guys lounging in chairs behind a desk. One of them had hit the

panic button located under the desk with his foot or knee as he rocked back in the chair which sent the silent alarm.
We called it in and cancelled back-up and Orange County Deputies.
You know, for about 4 minutes of adrenaline filled investigation I was a security guard like the ones in real life.

Just Another Night At Walt Disney World: Performing With Kool and the Gang

One afternoon I was working as Main Gate 10 at Epcot. Main gate 10 is the Security Host that patrols the entrance area of the park before you actually enter the park.
Well, I got a call on my radio earpiece that said there was a man trying to gain entry to Epcot by saying he was with Kool and the Gang. I approached and the gentleman had dry cleaning over his shoulder and told me that his name was "Little Jimmie" and that he had to meet up with the rest of the band because he was late getting his wardrobe from the dry cleaners for that night's performance.
I took him backstage via a side door called Eastgate and we went to the security office. I told Charlie Moran my Duty Manager the situation and he tossed me the keys to his marked sedan and as we were getting in the car, Little Jimmie started to get in the back.
"Whoa, sir, that's for the bad guys, you sit up front with me. He laughed and we went to the American Garden Theatre via Avenue of the Stars which circles the property backstage.
I escorted him to the dressing room where the rest of the band was waiting for him and he got a lot of teasing for being late and getting "the star treatment" by being personally esorted by security.
On the third night of their three night performance schedule, I signed up for an extra-hours detail guarding Kool and the Gang as they performed.
As you look at the stage I was positioned at the foot of a small flight of stairs on the right that lead up to the stage and I was facing the audience stopping people from rushing the stage or getting too close. At the beginning of the performance, Little Jimmie came out pretending to tune a boom box to good music eventually landing on a Kool and the Gang tune and danced off stage as the band appeared and played the song on the boom box live.
It was the end of the performance that was unique. As I was standing there facing the audience and looking well, as security guardish as can be at Disney, The lead singer danced his way across the stage while singing "Celebrate!" and put the microphone in my face and the spot light shone on me so I just broke out dancing and singing along. This is Disney World right?
Well, as soon as the mic and spotlight left me I went right back to the serious security look. The singer started laughing and the audience started laughing because the singer was laughing and trying to keep singing. I thought, "Ok, it was nice working here while it lasted."
The next day I went to the morning briefing and my Duty Manager, I don't recall if it was Charlie or Gary, asked me if the detail went OK. I thought, "I'm toast" well, he told the assembled security hosts what happened because he was in the audience and saw the whole thing and described it in ever excruciating detail. While I was looking for the nearest rock to crawl under he said something amazing.
"This is the Disney attitude. We're here to make the guest's experience a wonderful one and Jay did that by being in the Disney spirit."
I got an Atta-Boy!! I loved my job!
Until next time, Have a Magical Day!!

A Lawyer and the Magic Kingdom

   Although I didn't have a bidded post, a post that I applied for and where I worked every day, I did work the Magic Kingdom on occasion.
   One afternoon I was working swing shift at the front entrance to Magic Kingdom when I was dispatched to the Guest Services building at the front. I was informed that there was a man making a disturbance.
   Dutifully I went over and approached the man with open palms extended and asked, "Good afternoon sir, how can I help you?"
   Well, he proceeded to tell me quite loudly that Walt Disney World was not allowing him to add days on his ticket or something like that and that he was an attorney in New York and knew his rights. He was getting closer to me and getting in my face as it were, but I stood there and didn't move. You know, kind of like a baseball manager and an umpire.
   As I'm looking up at this tall rather angry man, I noticed in my peripheral vision a group of fellow Security Hosts standing discreetly around us.
   Then the guy did something that I wasn't expecting, using two fingers of each hand, he pushed my shoulders and said something like, "What are you going to do about it?"
  Well, as I made a quick thought as to a response and before I could answer, he did it again! His version of the two finger point, I guess.
   That's when the sherrif's deputy arrived at my right side and said to me, "Officer what would you like me to do? I just witnessed two counts of assault and battery, but I leave it to you." The deputy said this while never taking his eyes off of the guy who was now looking back and forth between me and the deputy.
   Beyond this guy was a woman holding a child by the hand in each of her hands. She looked absolutely horrified or scared, it could have been both.
   "Well, deputy, I think this gentleman should rejoin his family and have a Magical Day."
    The guy went with his wife and entered the park but not before trying to say something and the deputy held up a hand and said, "You heard the officer, have a magical day."
   The lawyer looked at me and realized he wasn't going to win that case and went to his wife and
children. She lit into him and I actually felt sorry for him.
   As we dispersed the Security Hosts went back to their posts and the deputy started going back to where he came from, but not before telling me that he was robbed.
   I looked at him and asked him what he meant.
   "I really wanted to arrest that guy and take him to Railroad St. (the Orlando jail), I was robbed," he said with a smile.
   Three hours later after the front end had closed several Security Hosts and I went inside the park to be a visible presence and that's when I saw them. They were over by Toontown Fair and I guess the kids were on a ride and she was still going at him! I never saw a guy look so defeated. Lawyers.

  




  

An Exuberant Little Boy and the Magic Kingdom

It was a nice warm evening, actually late afternoon, when one of the boats coming over from the Ticket and Transportation Center arrived at the dock at Magic Kingdom.
From our vantage point at Magic Kingdom bag check, it looked like a tsunami of humanity coming towards us.
I was at the last security table on the left as you look at the boats and I noticed a little boy maybe six or seven years old running ahead of the pack. When he ran towards us, he came to my table and his parents were right behind him. They had to pick up the pace to catch up to him.
As he approached, I squatted down to his eye level like we're trained to do and said, "How ya doin' little buddy?" He proceeded to give me the strongest bear hug I've gotten in a long time. I looked up at his parents and asked if it would be OK to hug him back, also as we're trained to do, and they both nodded yes, so I did an open hug where you pat the back, but your elbows are up and away. I had to ask him to let go so I could give him a security sticker and he did.
After I gave him the sticker he kept looking up at me grinning ear to ear, but he never said a word.
I started going through Mom's bag and while I was chatting I noticed tears running down her cheeks and I looked at Dad and he was filling up with tears too.
"Is everything alright?" I asked in a kind of whisper not to draw attention to the couple.
They both nodded yes and Mom started to say something but couldn't get it out and Dad said, "Our son is autistic and has never showed any emotion. He associates you with Mickey Mouse, I guess. This is a real breakthrough."
I finished looking through their bags and squatted to the little boy's eye level again and through misting eyes of my own wished him a Magical Day and got another bear hug for my efforts. I loved my job.
So until next time--Have a Magical Day!! Below is the last remaining sticker I own

Naughty T-Shirts and Walt Disney World

One fine day took an unexpected turn in the queue at the entrance into Epcot. It was one of those times when you just knew things were not going to go well.
I was working Epcot bag check, you know, checking people's bags as they enter the park. Back then, we were located up by the turnstiles, just before you put your index finger in the biometric scanner. Well, this couple of young ladies, a teen about I'd say sixteen or seventeen and her mother who was on a cell phone behind her.
As the teenage age girl approached me and put her bag on the table and opened it for inspection, it was hard not to notice three situations, shall we say. One, she was well endowed and well, perky. Two, she was bra-less and as they say, staring, and Three, she had a T-shirt on that was totally unacceptable for entry into the park. The T-Shirt was black and had script lettering that said: "I'm single, you're single lets FCUK."
These T-shirts are made as advertising for a British or European fragrance and clothing business called French Connection United Kingdom. Hence the initials FCUK. They are not allowed in the park because someone looking at could misread it.
I looked at the shirt and explained to the young lady that she could not enter the park wearing the shirt and, using the two finger point indicated the guest gift shop to the left and that she should tell them Security wouldn't let her into Epcot with the shirt she was wearing and they would give her a new shirt free of charge. Her mother then asked what the hold up was because she had been on the cell phone and had ended the conversation and was now interested in getting into the park.
The girl looked at he mother and said that I told her she couldn't wear the shirt in the park and that she had to take it off.
Which is NOT what I said. The mother said, "Then take it off then," it a beautiful British accent.
"What? Here, Now?" Teen said.
"Yeah" Mom said. She was looking straight at me while she said this.
I pointed the two finger point at Mom and said, "That is not what I said." and proceeded to call Main Gate 10 who patrols the front entrance area and I also requested a female security host as well.
They both arrived and explained the situation and Maingate 10, a male, took one look at teeny bopper and said "Go inside and take a break" and the female security host whose name is Nooshin, talked to the teen while checking the bags of the other guests and Main Gate 10 talked to Mom. I had a root beer in the break room inside.
About ten minutes later which seemed like hours, Main Gate 10 came in and told me what happened.
The mother tried to tell them that I was flirting with her daughter and told her to take her shirt off. The daughter with Nooshin told the truth and the guests on each side of the adjoining tables and the ones behind the mother told what really happened. As a result the mother and daughter were expelled from the park and were not allowed to return.

All because of an offensive shirt. A picture of one of the shirts is above. What a day.