WonkaKid
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2009
Wow. Today was a potent combination of failures, victories, extreme embarrassment and meeting of new friends.
To begin: this morning I left my place 20 minutes earlier than I usually do – about 5:45. Friends were at the park early on Friday and they told me that the lines for the structure were crazy due to Disney 100. It opened at 6:30 to ease the congestion. I expected much the same today, which is why I left early.
I arrived at the structure at around 6:10 and was pleasantly surprised to find a small number of cars there: fewer than ten. Indeed, I was the first car in my lane. To my immediate left and right were people I know, also at the front of their respective lanes. So: I was there in ample time. I plugged a flash drive into my car stereo, turned on a podcast, charged my phone via the lighter port and settled in for a light winter’s nap ;-).
At 6:59, excitement was high as I prepped to move into the structure. It had been a long time since I’d been the first person in. I turned the key in my ignition… and my battery was dead. There was perhaps 1% of a charge left and that was exhausted in just a few seconds. Well. This was embarrassing. There were probably 30 cars lined up behind me and the drivers surely wondered what the delay was. No one wants to be the reason that dozens of would-be guests can’t get into Disneyland. The good news is that I keep a portable charger in my truck. Still: it was going to be uncomfortable raising my hood, attaching it and waiting to get going while all of these people watched, annoyed and impatient. It wasn’t a great choice but it was also my only choice.
I grabbed the charger from my trunk, hooked it up and began to charge my battery. I presumed. Seconds later, the charger died. I’ve made a habit of checking its charge monthly. The last time – three weeks ago – it showed that it was at 99%. Good enough. Or so I thought, to my peril. Now I’m stuck at the head of the parking queue with my hood up and no way to move. I ran to the CM in the kiosk and explained my situation. She replied that help was already on the way. For those that aren’t aware, DL security will bring a portable charger and jump any guests’ car that needs it. I’ve been aware of that for awhile but that was the first time I had to call upon the service.
Two CMs came to help. One waved traffic off to the other lane and the other reassured me that this kind of thing wasn’t uncommon and that I shouldn’t worry or be embarrassed (too late, for that ;-)). Guests that I’d delayed were all kind as they passed. They variously waved and smiled. One even stopped to ask if I wanted a jump. That everyone seemed to understand helped me to feel less embarrassed and guilty.
It took about 20 minutes for a security CM to arrive on his bike with the requisite charger. I had to complete some brief paperwork, which granted him formal permission to touch my car. A few minutes later, I was rolling again, grateful, and my embarrassment had all but evaporated. By that time, all of the cars that had been behind me were gone anyway ;-).
Side note: later in the day I told this story to an in-park security CM I know and he got a good laugh over it. He also explained that the security CMs on bikes have a shift-change at 7:00, which was probably why it took the guy 20 minutes to arrive.
Side note 2: since I was dealing with this at exactly 7:00, I wasn’t able to get a BG for the new M&MRR. I tried briefly but they all seemed to be gone within seconds. Someone else I spoke with later in the park told me that all BGs were gone with mere seconds. No big deal. I’ll go another time – perhaps next Sunday.
Now: as to my day in the park. It was chilly as forecasted and crowds were relatively light. In fact, they stayed light at least until I left at 3:30. Rain was also in the forecast but we were able to dodge that as well. So things were kinder than expected, weather-wise.
I met a number of cool people throughout the day. The first was a mother and her 16-year-old daughter. They were in town for an F1 race. Her daughter was a junior racer of F1s! I had no idea that kids did that. We talked for a short time. The girl told me that the car she raced only went up to about 100 MPH, but that seemed plenty fast for a young person. I had several questions but also didn’t want to monopolize their time so I wished them a pleasant day at the park. They were very pleasant and also asked me for some Buzz strategies (that’s where we met), which, as many of you know, I’m always happy to share.
Later (also at Buzz), I met a very kind and animated woman from the Bay Area. She saw my score and asked for some tips. We ended up talking for about 15 minutes. It’s always fun to help people beat a family members or friends on BL. Especially when it’s by a huge margin. Hopefully we'll stay in touch.
Later in the afternoon I met a guy who was drawing a pic of the castle (see below). He told me that he comes to draw at the park several times a week and aims to work in animation, ultimately. Really cool guy. His Instagram is Merlins_Pantbrush. Coincidentally, he and his wife had lived in Chicago, walking distance from where my place is (which is also walking distance from the house where Walt was born).
We rode PP first and were well in the lead of all rope-droppers. Waited in line about ten minutes, tops. One friend didn’t want to ride Dumbo because it was too cold. I recalled being freeze-dried at the same time last Sunday morning so I agreed ;-). We then rode Pinocchio and moved on to Tomorrowland. You can see that I did reasonably well on Buzz from the scoreboard pic below.
Despite the rough beginning to my day, this was one of the better times I’ve had at DL in quite some time. I love meeting people. I find it stimulating in the same way that many people find caffeine stimulating. It gets my blood flowing and even after just two minutes, my mood improves radically. I often wake up grumpy because I’d been alone for most of the previous day. The antidote is always social interaction.
To begin: this morning I left my place 20 minutes earlier than I usually do – about 5:45. Friends were at the park early on Friday and they told me that the lines for the structure were crazy due to Disney 100. It opened at 6:30 to ease the congestion. I expected much the same today, which is why I left early.
I arrived at the structure at around 6:10 and was pleasantly surprised to find a small number of cars there: fewer than ten. Indeed, I was the first car in my lane. To my immediate left and right were people I know, also at the front of their respective lanes. So: I was there in ample time. I plugged a flash drive into my car stereo, turned on a podcast, charged my phone via the lighter port and settled in for a light winter’s nap ;-).
At 6:59, excitement was high as I prepped to move into the structure. It had been a long time since I’d been the first person in. I turned the key in my ignition… and my battery was dead. There was perhaps 1% of a charge left and that was exhausted in just a few seconds. Well. This was embarrassing. There were probably 30 cars lined up behind me and the drivers surely wondered what the delay was. No one wants to be the reason that dozens of would-be guests can’t get into Disneyland. The good news is that I keep a portable charger in my truck. Still: it was going to be uncomfortable raising my hood, attaching it and waiting to get going while all of these people watched, annoyed and impatient. It wasn’t a great choice but it was also my only choice.
I grabbed the charger from my trunk, hooked it up and began to charge my battery. I presumed. Seconds later, the charger died. I’ve made a habit of checking its charge monthly. The last time – three weeks ago – it showed that it was at 99%. Good enough. Or so I thought, to my peril. Now I’m stuck at the head of the parking queue with my hood up and no way to move. I ran to the CM in the kiosk and explained my situation. She replied that help was already on the way. For those that aren’t aware, DL security will bring a portable charger and jump any guests’ car that needs it. I’ve been aware of that for awhile but that was the first time I had to call upon the service.
Two CMs came to help. One waved traffic off to the other lane and the other reassured me that this kind of thing wasn’t uncommon and that I shouldn’t worry or be embarrassed (too late, for that ;-)). Guests that I’d delayed were all kind as they passed. They variously waved and smiled. One even stopped to ask if I wanted a jump. That everyone seemed to understand helped me to feel less embarrassed and guilty.
It took about 20 minutes for a security CM to arrive on his bike with the requisite charger. I had to complete some brief paperwork, which granted him formal permission to touch my car. A few minutes later, I was rolling again, grateful, and my embarrassment had all but evaporated. By that time, all of the cars that had been behind me were gone anyway ;-).
Side note: later in the day I told this story to an in-park security CM I know and he got a good laugh over it. He also explained that the security CMs on bikes have a shift-change at 7:00, which was probably why it took the guy 20 minutes to arrive.
Side note 2: since I was dealing with this at exactly 7:00, I wasn’t able to get a BG for the new M&MRR. I tried briefly but they all seemed to be gone within seconds. Someone else I spoke with later in the park told me that all BGs were gone with mere seconds. No big deal. I’ll go another time – perhaps next Sunday.
Now: as to my day in the park. It was chilly as forecasted and crowds were relatively light. In fact, they stayed light at least until I left at 3:30. Rain was also in the forecast but we were able to dodge that as well. So things were kinder than expected, weather-wise.
I met a number of cool people throughout the day. The first was a mother and her 16-year-old daughter. They were in town for an F1 race. Her daughter was a junior racer of F1s! I had no idea that kids did that. We talked for a short time. The girl told me that the car she raced only went up to about 100 MPH, but that seemed plenty fast for a young person. I had several questions but also didn’t want to monopolize their time so I wished them a pleasant day at the park. They were very pleasant and also asked me for some Buzz strategies (that’s where we met), which, as many of you know, I’m always happy to share.
Later (also at Buzz), I met a very kind and animated woman from the Bay Area. She saw my score and asked for some tips. We ended up talking for about 15 minutes. It’s always fun to help people beat a family members or friends on BL. Especially when it’s by a huge margin. Hopefully we'll stay in touch.
Later in the afternoon I met a guy who was drawing a pic of the castle (see below). He told me that he comes to draw at the park several times a week and aims to work in animation, ultimately. Really cool guy. His Instagram is Merlins_Pantbrush. Coincidentally, he and his wife had lived in Chicago, walking distance from where my place is (which is also walking distance from the house where Walt was born).
We rode PP first and were well in the lead of all rope-droppers. Waited in line about ten minutes, tops. One friend didn’t want to ride Dumbo because it was too cold. I recalled being freeze-dried at the same time last Sunday morning so I agreed ;-). We then rode Pinocchio and moved on to Tomorrowland. You can see that I did reasonably well on Buzz from the scoreboard pic below.
Despite the rough beginning to my day, this was one of the better times I’ve had at DL in quite some time. I love meeting people. I find it stimulating in the same way that many people find caffeine stimulating. It gets my blood flowing and even after just two minutes, my mood improves radically. I often wake up grumpy because I’d been alone for most of the previous day. The antidote is always social interaction.
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. The earlier in the day the better.
