Sometimes I like to play with Anagrams. Thats where you take the letters of a word and try to form other words or phrases from those letters. Since it is a particularly slow morning for me I thought I would mess around with anagrams for Disneyland.
Among the hundred or so I found my favorite was DANDY LINES.
There were many others, one in particular that had an amazing personal sagnificance to me… super strange. Anyway. After I play with the letters a bit I check myself here to see how I did.
This is a story I found here and just loved. It says a lot about what I believe is the majority of Disney Cast.
Pardon my dust… and lack of spelling…
Well first I would like to explain something about the attraction at which this happened. The Tomorrowland Transit Authority is a rail ride powered by magnetic induction motors. Its a train like ride that goes through a few attractions and is about 15 feet above the ground. Ocassionally the motors have problems causing the trains to back up and hit each other a little hard but not that harmful at all.
On this day it had happened in Space Mountian. This Cast Member, CM, had been doing what would have been a normal evacuation of the ride. However a woman was getting very panicky and nervous. CM had done what he could do to calm her and made sure she was right with him the way back, a situation where someone would be just sent on there way to follow the others out.
CM wasn’t quite sure why she was so afraid. It is a rather routine issue at the ride but nothing that would make some one that scared. Mostly the evacutaion is the sounds of clamoring guest upset they have to walk a little ways to safty in the heat. Never a thank you for helping them out.
After she was safe and CM gotten her a bottle of water and calmed her she told CM why she had been scared. She was a survivor of the World Trade Center Attacks on 9/11. She was in the building as the lights went out and things happened around her. She told him that in the darkness of Space Mountian and the cars hitting one another gave her flash backs from the plane crash. She held out a hand to him and gave him something. She told him it was her survivor pin, a pin with the Twin Towers on it given to her after the destruction. She wanted him to have it for saving her life once again.
As I heard the story my heart sank. CM told me that the woman spent the day telling everyone one of her angel and showing him off. But he did nothing more than what was expected of him.
The CM, who we know, would rather not have anyone know about his efforts. He would have done it for anyone. He doesn’t want any recontion but I wanted to make sure that he got respect from me. In situations like that it’s easy to push someone aside and jsut say get over it its not scary…but we don’t know their true fears. CM will at least get some of the recognition from me at least.
At Disney we want everyone to be treated with respect that they deserve and some times we forget about the individual attention can be just as magical for some. We try to create memories that will last a life time. If you are one of the lucky ones who get to visit Disney World in your life. Please take the time to just thank at least one cast member. Whether or not you think it matters it really does. And you as a Cast Member if you can take the time to get a little personal with a few of the 100,000s of guests we have. It can create magic as well.
So it’s a little after midnight on Sat (now Sunday). I should be asleep but my brain is jumping all over the place making it hard to fall asleep. I know myself well enough to not fight it, I just have to get up and occupy this extra brain energy with something. After a little while my eyelids will get heavy and I will drift off. So it seemed like a good idea to blog again. I’m really quite proud of myself for keeping up with this little site as much as I have in the last few days. Sometimes it’s so hard to convince myself to sit down and commit some time to updating the world on what’s up around here. Hopefully people are reading what I’m saying.. and it’s not all in vain.
Today should have been a day off for me, but real life sometimes doesn’t follow the rules. I’ve already put in a solid work week but in this business you just never know when things are going to pop up. I was shaking off sleep at around 11:00AM when my phone rang. It was a colleague in convention services who was having a mini event emergency.
In one phone call she drummed up a good little bit of work for me.
So really all in all there wasn’t too much stuff… I’ve had much much worse phone calls from work (like “can you make it snow in the ballroom about 12 hours from now?”).
The venue move entails several calls since there is many elements to even this little event. We have a Jazz Trio who’s got to plan on a new arrival, a florist delivery, some support from our technical folks, and of course the other half of the Mickey ears and custom Mickey Mouse chocolates that are waiting in various places for me to pick them up in the morning.
The additional ears were the biggest pain. I had to call my good friends at one of the shops on Main Street USA to set them aside, and just go to the park to pick them up myself. Since I was going to the park to pick Janey up anyway (she picked up a White Rabbit shift today) I decided it wasn’t a big deal. I felt a little strange going into meet this merch. manager in my sandals and golf shirt, but hey… I’m not dressing up to pick up some ears.
So a call to a few florists to see what was in stock solved the night event problem, and all was well. But by the time it was all done it was 5:30 PM. Awww man! I wanted to get that 6 ft tall pile of laundry taken care of today. I have to get to work by about 7:00 AM tomorrow to tend the load in of this venue change too… so my Sunday morning is shot too. Ahh well. I have the rest of my life to do laundry.
Even though calls like this one can be annoying… I wouldn’t have it any other way. They call me because I say yes, and make things happen. While so many others can make things happen, they don’t. So… I made this little bed for myself, and I’m OK with lying in it. Making the magic takes a lot of energy, and sometimes it happens off the clock. I love it.
Thanks for reading.
R.
A funny little artcle about Cast Member’s experiences.
USATODAY.com
This is one of my new favorite places to waste time.
Photoblogging Disneyland – a photoset on Flickr
As you might remember, a while ago I placed an order for A Musical History of Disneyland. 
It’s a 6 disc set of all kinds of music and sounds from Disneyland that is really targeted and the uber Disney geek.
Well after many days of waiting and wondering it has finally arrived! Last night I ripped it all into iTunes for my listening pleaseure… and tonight it will find it way onto my brand spaking new iPod mini (Thanks Mom and Dad!) for use in the car and vairous other portable applications.
I listened to a good chunk of it last night and I’m very happy with it so far. Thats not to say I wouldn’t have done a few things differently had I been at the mixing console, but thats another conversation for another day. If I’m feeling really ambitions one of these days I wil stay up late and write a review… but don’t hold your breath. If you do happened to read this little entry and want to chat about this set, just drop a comment to me.
till next time…
I started a beta test of a killer new online computer game coming from Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online – Virtual Magic Kingdom. I didn’t get very far before I hit some application crashing bugs… but thats what betas are all about.
So far it looks great. As I learn more (and if it doesn’t violate any sort of confidentiality something-or-other) I will post here.
Last week I started reading about it here. Then it popped up over here…
I actually started reading minute by minute accounts of other people experinces with ordering one of the 5000 limited edition sets that are being printed. I got all caught up in the frenzy and drama of the Disnayana types. AHHH I did it. I called Disney Direct and ordered my limited edition copy (hopefully mine will be one of the sets with the golden LP… not because I have a record player, but because it will look wonderful on my Disney wall).
I’m not going to be shown up by those wannabe Disney folks. I’m the real deal and, if there was any doubt before tonight, a total geek.
I’m not sure how much I can actually say about this so I will word carefully.
I am increasingly dissapointed in the [not so] creative content coming out of other lines of business in my company. With the newly announced successor to the current CEO I fear that the pattern will continue. I hope everyone is prepared for more oh so magical direct-to-video sequels!
Here is the official release from the company:
ROBERT A. IGER NAMED CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY
BURBANK, Calif., March, 13, 2005 – The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) Board of Directors announced today that Robert A. Iger has been unanimously elected Chief Executive Officer effective September 30, 2005. He will succeed Michael D. Eisner, current CEO, who announced his intention to retire in a letter to the Board last year dated September 9, and will step down as CEO on September 30, 2005.
“After a lengthy, thorough and professional selection process, comparing both internal and external candidates against our criteria for CEO, I am pleased to announce the decision of the Walt Disney Board of Directors to select Robert Iger as the company’s next chief executive officer,” said Sen. George J. Mitchell, chairman of The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors. “Bob is an experienced, talented and visionary leader who has made crucial and substantial contributions toward Disney’s strong performance. On behalf of the entire Board, I want to express how excited we are at the prospect of Bob leading this extraordinary company and talented management team to new levels of financial and creative success in the years ahead.”
“It is truly an honor to be entrusted with the responsibility of guiding this great company that occupies such an important place in the hearts and minds of millions the world over toward a very bright future,” said Iger. “It’s also an honor to work with our incredibly talented and dedicated worldwide team. I feel all the more privileged to succeed Michael, whose tremendous 20-year leadership and enormous accomplishments have built this company into the world’s preeminent leader in family entertainment.”
“It is with a considerable amount of satisfaction and even pride that I approach the end of my term as CEO of this company,” said Michael D. Eisner, former chairman and chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company. “By every financial and creative measure, Disney is performing at its peak. I have enjoyed virtually every moment of my tenure and want to express my appreciation to the phenomenal colleagues with whom I have been privileged to work. I believe Disney is now poised for its brightest days in the years ahead under the able and insightful leadership of Bob, who has not only the qualities to succeed, but also has a keen sense of the Disney brand and how to maintain its leadership position and grow it on a worldwide scale.”
The election of Mr. Iger culminates a lengthy and detailed CEO selection process that started formally when the Disney Board announced on September 21, 2004 that it would, “engage in a thorough, careful, and reasoned process to select as the next CEO the best person for the company, its shareholders, employees, customers, and for the many millions of others who care so much about The Walt Disney Company. The Board is keenly aware of the special place our company holds in the hearts of people all over the world and the importance of its responsibility in choosing a CEO.” The Board also made known that day its intention to “complete the process and announce a successor as soon as possible, with an expected date of completion of June 2005.”
Directors selected the executive search firm of Heidrick & Struggles in October 2004 in order to assist with the CEO selection process.
“The search and the process for considering potential candidates was thorough and exhaustive and met the most rigorous standards,” said Gerard Roche, senior chairman, Heidrick & Struggles.
Happy New Year everyone. It’s the early evening of January 1st 2005 and I’m already reflecting of events of this year. This morning I woke up early to watch the Tournament of Roses Parade. I wanted to make sure to see the very beginning since my very own Disneyland was doing the pre-show and had the first float in the parade.
I’ve been excited for this little event for some time. A few months ago while walking to my office I had an impromptu conversation with one of the instrumental parties in putting it together. I saw concept art and got a little run-down of what they had planned. Since then I’ve just been so excited. It sounded like Disneyland Entertainment was finally getting back into the hands of people who know how to cater to a theme park audience. No more of this artsy-fartsy crap that has been going on stages in the parks. No more high-concept mush. It seems were finally back to good old american song and dance fun. And it honestly was fun, I was smiling the entire time. I’m a very critical audience of Disney entertainment, and this really made me happy.
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