Soarin' through the DCP {pun intended}

How cool would a behind-the-scenes tour of a Disney attraction be?

Well I can tell you that it is pretty amazing. I had the wonderful opportunity of seeing the Disney attraction Soarin' in a cast member exclusive behind-the-scenes tour. In our break room at work there will sometimes be postings on the bulletin board to enter a drawing for tours of attractions, and I was lucky enough to be drawn! 

And so the tour began at 8am one sunny morning..

We started on the outside of The Land building, which houses Soarin'. There are so many interesting details and facts about the building itself, such as the way the building is designed and they way it has changed over the years, that make it so unique. The people who designed the building even took into account the way that the shadows fall in the interior from the light streaming in from the skylight above. Falling a certain way as the sun sets, the shadows add to the atmosphere of the building.

On to the fun part!

Soarin' has a flying theme, of course! Beginning on the outside of the ride you get to see all of the little details and thought put into the design. I didn't even realize most of the details until they were pointed out in the tour! There is a check-in desk just like at airport gates, and a little gift shop that looks like a newsstand at the airport. The queue (which is 1/4 mile long) is lined with blue lights, indicating the path of travel just as they do on an airport runway. The original ride is in California, and they took the exact same blueprint and built a replica of it. The ride in California is designed to withstand earthquakes, and so here in Florida, should an earthquake ever occur, Soarin' is the place to be. 

Other fun facts...

We also learned how the film used in the ride was made - some of the scenes they only had one chance to capture it! The music was written by Jerry Goldsmith, who jumped at the chance to compose it. He is known for composing music for many aviation themed movies, and wanted the Soarin' soundtrack to only be used in reference to the ride, and not for anything else. We got to see all of the backstage hallways and corridors, as well as the entrance that they bring the VIPs through. Our tour guide told us about a few celebrities she has brought through the ride as well as some cool stories of other VIPs that have come through. A few mentioned were Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Neil Patrick Harris, and Michael Buble.

I had a blast on the tour and it was really cool to learn about everything that goes on behind the scenes, and all of the details that Disney puts into their attractions! Ask me for some more fun facts if you'd like to know more about Soarin' :)

Other recent adventures on Disney property..

Disney's Contemporary Resort

Polynesian

Sometimes, being stuck in the Disney bubble is a good thing. There is so much to do, and it is all at our fingertips. Another thing I can check off my list here is exploring a Disney resort hotel! (One down, many more to go...) Disney's Polynesian Village Resort is absolutely beautiful. Being there felt like I was in Hawaii. I definitely got confused a few times but then I would snap back to reality and realize I was in Florida still! I explored the hotel with a friend, and then we rented a small boat on the lake. We adventured out a little too far at one point and got caught by the security boat, but she said she didn't mind helping us out because it gave her something to do :) Around the lake you could see several Disney resorts including the Contemporary and the Grand Floridian, as well as Disney's Magic Kingdom. Afterwards we got Dole Whip and sat near the pool, eating it before it melted from the hot sun.

Imag Crew Unites

The "Imag" crew is what we call all of us friends that work at our location at Epcot. ("Imag" coming from Journey into Imagination ride that we work at). We got together again recently at the piano bar called Jellyrolls, which is at the Boardwalk. What is really cool is that you can walk there from Epcot; it only takes about 15 minutes. So I got off work one evening and walked over to meet up with the crew (all of whom had gotten off work a few hours before me) and we all got drinks and popcorn and enjoyed the music! (Not to mention the amazing dance moves and singing of Rico the opera singer:)

We also had one last gathering with Tara, who is leaving the program for a great job she just got in Dallas, Texas!! We will miss her so much! We went bowling at Splitsville, which is at Disney Springs. They have really good food and drinks, not to mention the great Disney cast member discounted bowling price! It's always a good time hanging out with the Imag crew outside of work. Ironically enough, we always end up talking about work. What's not to love about Figment and Captain EO? I'm hoping that I will be able to hang out with Tara in December when I do my department tour/campus visit at TCU in Fort Worth!

{Tara's in the middle}

 To everyone that actually reads this - thanks for reading! :)