After a gorgeous weekend, I finally got signed off on the Mark Twain and the Columbia. The Twain was just one day of training and the hardest part is remembering when to signal the engineer and when to hit the spiel buttons around the river. I do love being in the wheelhouse. It is a great chance to interact with guests and give them that special extra memory of their time at Disneyland. It also affords the opportunity to blow the whistle so that all the people of Anaheim can hear you. It is a very traditional attraction not one to goof off with, but still a lot of fun.
The Columbia however is a bit more relaxed. they give the CMs a little more room to spiel and make the voyage more entertaining. The highlight of being a Columbia operator has to be pulling in and out of Fowler's Harbor. All the people along the River watch as you back out of the harbor. I know that I do whenever I see it happen. Plus in the role of Hawkeye you get to fire the cannon at Ft. Wilderness. You also get to actually drive the Columbia which, while intimidating at first, is actually a lot of fun.
I hope I get to pick up some shifts soon so I can hone my spieling on the Columbia and run the Twain with two boats in operation. The Cast Members all seem to be having fun and it will be a nice relaxing change from the Pooh ride.
The other event this weekend was Matt's birthday bash. Once again I had the Kool-aid and Vodka mix which rendered me inebriated. Good thing I knew when to stop this time - no vomiting. I think I only embarrassed myself a bit, but apologies were made to all involved and I think no lasting effects will be around.
All I ask is that you untie the Columbia from the mooring before the ship starts moving and only after it has come to a complete stop.
:)
Sadly, I haven't been to Disneyland in ... a year and a half, I suppose. So the Columbia is back up and toodling around the harbor, I guess? I've been trying to see what's going on with the renovations of Tom Sawyer Island, but I can't seem to tell yet. I -really- hope that they didn't make it all cheesy and plasticized (plasti-sized? whatever.) like how they made the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse "better" by turning it into Tarzan's Treehouse.
Yeah... so I like all the old stuff. Oh well. I was really actually just searching the web for information about working for Disneyland, because their website doesn't really say much other than "call our hotline!" Hmm. I'm not sure I would be confident and people-friendly enough to work for a ride, though it would definitely be preferable to something like sales, or food service.
Sigh. I did always want to work for the Davy Crockett Canoes. =) Anyway, that was a long comment, and I enjoyed reading your weblog entries from when you first started at Disneyland to present. Keep up the good work.