Not so bad after all

Okay, I know I kinda trash-talked my attractions a couple weeks ago, but now I'm over it. Let me start by saying I LOVE Epcot. Working at Epcot is awesome for a lot of reasons. I get to ride the bus to work with all of the international students who work in their respective World Showcase pavilions, and so I get several different languages buzzing in my ears every morning, and I've met some really interesting people. Also, the Flower and Garden festival is going on and the gardens all around the park are amazing:

T

The dark glass pyramids in the background are the Imagination Pavilion (where I work)

 

Both of my attractions are usually open from 9am-7pm (except for Extra Magic Hours Fridays until midnight), which is waaaay better than Magic Kingdom's hours last week, 7am-1am (EMH until 3am). Also, IllumiNations is definitely the coolest fireworks of any of the resorts.

I really love working Journey into Imagination. It's fun to work with all of the families with kids, who think the ride is pretty cool. I love pressing buttons. My favorite is walking the track at the end of the night checking for lost and found items and anything unusual. The ride system is actually pretty interesting because the trains stop and go between scenes and rotate to face the walls. One of my coworkers was telling me that there are a lot of old components from the old version of the ride still in the building behind some of the scene walls. I'm looking forward to a more in-depth tour soon!

 HISTA is still kinda fun, but I really don't like spieling. HISTA seems to be a lot more popular here than in CA, we nearly fill the theater for every show between lunch and dinner times (575 people!) I have a three-page script that with spiels for the show. I have them mostly memorized, but I still refer to my sticky notes before I pick up the position in rotations. I was soooo nervous about getting on the mic in front of all those people, but now that I've been doing it for a week, it's not really a big deal. I've stolen a lot of jokes from my coworkers. It's fun to watch people watching the show. Seeing them scream and pick up their feet every time the "mice" enter the theater never gets old. When the snake comes around we almost always have to let mothers and children out of the theater, despite having verbally warned them twice about the nature of the show (and numerous printed warnings). Park guests are an endless source of entertainment.

Did you know that the Imagination Institute staff cleans not only the HISTA glasses, but all of the 3D glasses for all four theme parks? This includes MuppetVision 3D, Mickey's Philharmagic, Toy Story Midway Mania, It's Tough to be a Bug, Innoventions, and more! That's one of my positions in rotation is operating the glasses cleaning machine. It sounds like a drag, but it can be a nice respite from crazy co-workers and park guests.

At home, we've got two new roommates, bringing our total count to 8. They're cool, I'm really glad that despite having that many guys in the apartment we all get along really well. One of the downside of having that many people is that all 8 of us will never have free time together, e.g. one roommate works 5am-1pm, I work ~11am-7:30pm, and the new guys work 5pm-2am.

I've got lots more to talk about, but I'll have to save it for another night! :-D