SusanEllen
07-11-2008, 01:06 PM
The call that woke me at 5:45 (AM!!!) was a wrong number, but of course, I didn’t know that when I bolted out of bed and stumbled to the desk, feeling for my phone in the dark. Since only a handful of people have my cell number, I was afraid this early morning call meant trouble—either an emergency back in Oklahoma or a change in Sharon’s flight plans. Happy to say it was neither. I was so relieved that this call hadn’t ended the vacation before it had begun that when the person on the other end apologized for disturbing me, I said, “That’s all right. Really.” and I meant it! Whether it was the adrenalin still in my system or the bump on my leg that I got when I tangled with a chair during my dash to the phone, I was wide awake now. I began thinking about our plans for the week and once that started there was no chance of getting back to sleep. Though six was earlier than I’d intended to start the day (thinking I’d bank a little extra rest for the long, full days ahead and rise just in time to dress and meet Sharon in the lobby), I knew that Sharon had already started her day by this time, so it seemed only fair that I be up, too. With an 8 o’clock plane to catch, she and Howard were almost certainly on the way to the Sacramento airport. I hoped they’d allowed plenty of time in case Sharon ran into . . . well, you know . . .Special Screening! Her LA/Ontario ETA was 8:50 and now that I knew how long that trip took, I had some idea of when to expect her—10-ish and not before.
I realized that being up before the sun might be an opportunity to get a shot of my wonderful park view in the morning light. I opened the curtains to find Paradise Pier still lit with the park’s night lights. Dawn was just beginning to lighten the sky and one by one the lights on the rides and the neon signs snapped off. I pulled up a chair and for the next two hours sat watching Paradise Pier come alive. Trucks began to arrive—small ones moving down the midway and big eighteen wheelers pulling in behind the barrier that hides the utility road from guest areas. Before long the park would open and for the rest of the day thousands of guests would walk just there, only a few yards from the backstage they wouldn’t be able to see but that I could see now from my window. All those people stopping and watching friends on California Screamin’ or the Maliboomer would be unaware of the world of work going on so close to them. Tiny blue street cleaners (tiny from 14 stories up) that looked like Zambonis zipped around washing the walkways. There were vans, bicycles, trucks of various sizes and shapes—a big one pulling seven cars like a railroad train off its tracks, and vehicles like I’d never seen before, obviously designed for their specific jobs. Two boats crossed Paradise Bay heading for the Sun Wheel. Soon there were dozens of vehicles and hundreds of people moving all over the park and I felt like I was playing with the most deluxe version ever of a Disney Park game, complete with lots of miniature backstage Cast Members. A large crane pulled up and parked next to the Golden Zephyr ride and a man in a basket at the top of the crane began to replace light bulbs. (The Golden Zephyr has long cables lined with old fashioned amusement park light bulbs. Keeping them all lit must be a full time job—this man worked on them for nearly three hours.) As the Zephyr slowly rotated while the crane stayed in place, the man changed the burned out bulbs he could reach. Awhile later, the crane began to fold very slowly. Then it unfolded and when it was in its new lower position the man began to change bulbs at that level.
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd161/SEYATES/IMG_6685-1.jpg
This hazy view may look just like the pictures from Day One, but note the empty parking lot and the night lights decorating the rides still on. The red ride on the left is the Golden Zephyr.
Of course, I knew that it took thousands of people behind the scenes to keep Disney parks going, but knowing is one thing while seeing is something else entirely. What great luck to have awakened early today, to get to see all this. Tomorrow morning we’d be doing the Cruzin’ California segway tour in DCA at just about this time. For months I’ve been looking forward to the tour, to seeing DCA’s backstage activities as we move around the waking park. I realized that seeing those activities now from up here was adding a dimension (literally) to my understanding of what goes into getting a park ready for us—every day! I scanned all that was in my view hoping to see segways from today’s tour speeding down the walkways but knew that at 7:30 the tour group was probably in the midst of their segway training. It was time to get dressed, but every few minutes I returned to the window to look for the segways. Finally, just after 8, I spotted a lone segway that was obviously not part of the tour but a CM on a mission speeding from one side of Paradise Pier to the other. At 8:45 riderless coaster cars began moving along the Mulholland Madness track.
I believe I could have stayed at my window all day long and been entertained the whole time, but decided it was time to go downstairs. I knew Sharon’s plane had probably just landed and it would be an hour or so before she got here, but I thought perhaps it was time to break my wonderful window’s hypnotic spell—if I could.
. . . to be continued
[B]Day Two, Part 2: Day Two, Part 2 (www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1889577)
I realized that being up before the sun might be an opportunity to get a shot of my wonderful park view in the morning light. I opened the curtains to find Paradise Pier still lit with the park’s night lights. Dawn was just beginning to lighten the sky and one by one the lights on the rides and the neon signs snapped off. I pulled up a chair and for the next two hours sat watching Paradise Pier come alive. Trucks began to arrive—small ones moving down the midway and big eighteen wheelers pulling in behind the barrier that hides the utility road from guest areas. Before long the park would open and for the rest of the day thousands of guests would walk just there, only a few yards from the backstage they wouldn’t be able to see but that I could see now from my window. All those people stopping and watching friends on California Screamin’ or the Maliboomer would be unaware of the world of work going on so close to them. Tiny blue street cleaners (tiny from 14 stories up) that looked like Zambonis zipped around washing the walkways. There were vans, bicycles, trucks of various sizes and shapes—a big one pulling seven cars like a railroad train off its tracks, and vehicles like I’d never seen before, obviously designed for their specific jobs. Two boats crossed Paradise Bay heading for the Sun Wheel. Soon there were dozens of vehicles and hundreds of people moving all over the park and I felt like I was playing with the most deluxe version ever of a Disney Park game, complete with lots of miniature backstage Cast Members. A large crane pulled up and parked next to the Golden Zephyr ride and a man in a basket at the top of the crane began to replace light bulbs. (The Golden Zephyr has long cables lined with old fashioned amusement park light bulbs. Keeping them all lit must be a full time job—this man worked on them for nearly three hours.) As the Zephyr slowly rotated while the crane stayed in place, the man changed the burned out bulbs he could reach. Awhile later, the crane began to fold very slowly. Then it unfolded and when it was in its new lower position the man began to change bulbs at that level.
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd161/SEYATES/IMG_6685-1.jpg
This hazy view may look just like the pictures from Day One, but note the empty parking lot and the night lights decorating the rides still on. The red ride on the left is the Golden Zephyr.
Of course, I knew that it took thousands of people behind the scenes to keep Disney parks going, but knowing is one thing while seeing is something else entirely. What great luck to have awakened early today, to get to see all this. Tomorrow morning we’d be doing the Cruzin’ California segway tour in DCA at just about this time. For months I’ve been looking forward to the tour, to seeing DCA’s backstage activities as we move around the waking park. I realized that seeing those activities now from up here was adding a dimension (literally) to my understanding of what goes into getting a park ready for us—every day! I scanned all that was in my view hoping to see segways from today’s tour speeding down the walkways but knew that at 7:30 the tour group was probably in the midst of their segway training. It was time to get dressed, but every few minutes I returned to the window to look for the segways. Finally, just after 8, I spotted a lone segway that was obviously not part of the tour but a CM on a mission speeding from one side of Paradise Pier to the other. At 8:45 riderless coaster cars began moving along the Mulholland Madness track.
I believe I could have stayed at my window all day long and been entertained the whole time, but decided it was time to go downstairs. I knew Sharon’s plane had probably just landed and it would be an hour or so before she got here, but I thought perhaps it was time to break my wonderful window’s hypnotic spell—if I could.
. . . to be continued
[B]Day Two, Part 2: Day Two, Part 2 (www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1889577)