So...I was pretty much right. This was the best vacation ever.
Let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start?) The flights went well, got into Disney in the evening and had a delicious dinner at the T-Rex restaurant. Great food, great service, great night. The next morning Christina and I went to audition for American Idol Experience. We both got cast in a show and were so excited for later in the day! I performed at 1 and sang "Alone" by Heart (I was hoping I would get that song!) I won my show and went off to ride star tours (for the last time) and TOT before Christina's performance. She did an amazing job singing"Holding out for a Hero", but she had some bad luck and got placed in the same show as a hot guy singing "Circle of Life". And he sang it well. :( So he moved on instead of her. But I think she had a great time which is really the most important part. I just like competing because it's a chance to perform!
So I moved onto the finale show that evening and had some pretty stiff competition! A 15 year old girl put some serious soul into "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". Kristin Chenowith's distant cousin (named Krysten Chenowith...weird right?) totally rocked "Black Velvet", Christina's competition was like a boy band member singing the Lion King, and this Colombian guy brought the house down with "La Bamba!" I was pretty nervous, but when the host announced the winner he said my name! I was so surprised and pleased and sad at the same time, because I can't use my golden ticket this year! The last auditions for the season are in San Francisco on Thursday, when I will be down at Disney (and an employee of the company, so ineligible to use my ticket) I felt a little guilty taking it away from someone who may use it, but the experience was fantastic so I didn't feel THAT bad. :)
The next day we went through all of Animal Kingdom and Epcot before heading off to Universal Studios and checking into our hotel for the night. After a cheap but delicious dinner, we went to sleep, stoked for what was to come early the next morning. Because what was it? Oh none other than THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER. As soon as I walked through that archway into Hogsmeade I became a 10 year old again. I couldn't stop smiling...and if I did it's because my jaw was practically dragging on the ground. It was so incredibly magical. There are no words to explain it! So we ran and got in line for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey - the main attraction for the park. It's this fantastic mixture of videos and set pieces and the ride vehicle is so smooth. You really feel like you're flying!
So while waiting in line for the attraction (which by the way, the line is in the Hogwarts castle...ummm could there be a better place to stand around for 2 hours??) we started heckling one of the employees who was dressed like a Slytherin (and looked like Draco...which I will be calling him from now on). After a little bit of waiting, our new friend Draco came to find us, whereupon he took us out of the big line, and brought us up the back entrance - putting us right on the ride! We skipped the whole line! He even rode with us, and when the ride stalled for about a minute, he told us he would get us right back on. We ended up going on the ride 3 times that morning PLUS he gave us an unlimited express pass, which basically meant we didn't wait in line all weekend!
We spent the rest of that first day exploring Island of Adventure, buying too much candy from Honeydukes, eating in the Three Broomsticks, seeing Scott Pilgrim, and downing margaritas at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville in CityWalk. The next day was slightly less enjoyable, but only because it would be hard to top the magical experience from the day before! We went to the Universal Studios theme park that day and had so much fun. My favorite ride there was probably the Men In Black ride. It's kind of like Buzz Lightyear because it's a shooting game, but you have no control over the vehicle and it throws you around a bunch. Plus I was TERRIBLE at it. So I texted our new friend Draco and asked for some tips - with his help I scored about 100,000 more points!!
Our last day at Universal Studios Orlando was absolutely perfect. We slept in, went on a few rides in the morning, and then headed over to Harry Potter where Draco not only got us on the ride with no wait again, but also gave us passes so we could come back without his assistance. By the end of the evening Christina and I had been on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey 11 times in 2 days. I even have most of the dialogue memorized now! This trip seriously
wouldn't have been the same without that employee...it gave me a great example to follow as a Disney cast member. It is so easy to make someone's trip magical - simply engaging them in an enjoyable conversation or heckling match can make the day 10 times better. Then again, helping them skip lines is always great too. :)
So now I'm back in San Jose for the evening, and I head down south bright and early tomorrow morning. Most of the packing is done - I just have some toiletries and a few more bags to stick in the car. Tomorrow is gonna be a long day of driving, more packing (dumb storage unit), doctors appointments and waiting around. But come 8am Wednesday morning I will be checked into my new apartment and (hopefully) have some kind of idea where I will be working!
All in all, fabulous final week of summer, and I can't WAIT for what is to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment