First stats for this year

I thought it was time to post some stats for this year.

Last year, I had an average of 11.7 rides per visit to Radiator Springs Racers. This year my average is 16.58 rides per visit.

At the end of August last year, I had a total of 1323 laps at Racers. At the end of August this year, I have 1609 laps. I hope I can keep staying ahead of my pace from last year.

So here are the individual stats for this year.

A total of 1609 laps.

Luigi side for race: 803 times and record of 422 wins and 381 losses.

Ramone side for race: 806 times and record of 400 wins and 406 losses. 

Last year I won more on Ramone and this year it is Luigi.

Now for my records this year by color of car.

Red: 286 times and record of 157-129

Teal: 226 times and record of 105-121

Silver: 206 times and record of 106-100

Purple: 203 times and record of 100-103

Yellow: 195 times and record of 109-86

Green: 170 times and record of 89-81

Blue: 163 times and record of 85-78

Cranberry: 155 times and record of 69-86

Winning cars are Red, Yellow, Silver, Green, and Blue.

Losing in cars Cranberry, Purple and Teal.

I hope to reach 4400 laps all time on Monday. Last year, September was my best month at Racers. I need the same to happen this year. If I can get close to 4700 by the end of the month, I'll be on track to reach 5000 in November. 

4300

I need 10 laps (rides) on Radiator Springs Racers to reach 4300 all time. Let's see how we get there:

I arrived at The Mickey and Friends Parking structure when it opened at 6:30am. I then walked from there to the main gate in front of Disney California Adventure. I was first in line behind entrance gate 41/42. Now I wait until they open the gates at 7:30am. They opened the gates at 7:30am. I went to Starbucks to get a slice of coffee cake. I know some of the cast members that work there. They asked me what number I was at. I showed them my lanyard and told them I'm 10 away from 4300. They were all excited. And wished me luck. I then waited for rope drop at 8am. This is when the park official opens. And on cue at 8am, the Pit Crew members walked the crowd down to the entrance of Racers. Some of the cast members were John G.,April , Carlene, Phil, George, Mikey,and Amos. I waited for the single rider line to open up. Carlene opened the single rider line at 8:10am. And away we go. Dan was at merge. Where the single rider, fastpass and standby line meet up.

Catalina was grouper. She sent me to row 1. A front row load area. I got in car Red 6 at 8:15am. Greg was at belts. My car was on the Ramone side for race and we won. At Unload front was Shou. Unload rear was George. At Unload  assist 1 was Ruth and Unload assit 2 was Mikey. Some of the girls looked ready for photos today. I think it is pretty cool when the crew get dolled up to take a picture with this crazy guy. 

Lap 4292:

Carlene at Single Rider. She gave me a flik card. This card tracks the wait time to get on ride. Mikey at merge and April at merge 2. Grouper was Holden and Dan grouper assist. Sent to row 1. At 8:36am got in car Silver 1. Ruth at belts. Was on Luigi side for race and lost. 

Lap 4293:

Doug at single rider entrance. John G. at merge 3. April: grouper. Sent to row 6. At 8:49am got in car Cranberry 4. Ruth at belts. Luigi side for race and won.

Lap 4294:

Doug: single rider. Brian: merge 3. Carlene: merge 2. Sent to Gwd (groups with disability) area of ride load. David was GWD. Ruth (GWD assist) put me in car Silver 5 at 9:03am. Shou at belts. Ramone side for race and won.

Lap 4295:

Josh: single rider. Brian merge 3. Carlene: grouper. Sent to row 5. At 9:17am got in car Blue 1. At belts was Shou. Luigi side for race. And then we had a traffic jam at start of race. Only took a couple minutes to sort out. Won race but did not race against another car. This has happened a few times.

Lap 4296:

Josh at single rider. Brian at merge 3. Greg at grouper. Sent to row 4. At 9:34am, got in car Purple 3. TJ at belts. Ramone side for race and loss.

Lap 4297:

Brian at single rider. Amanda at merge 3. Doug was grouper. Sent to row 8. At 9:48am, I got in car Green 1. TJ at belts. Ramone side for race and won. 

Lap 4298:

Dan at single rider. Amanda at merge 3. Doug at grouper. Sent to row 5. At 10:10am got in car Purple 4. April at belts. Luigi side for race and won.

Lap 4299:

Ruth at single rider. Christina at merge 3. Josh at grouper. Sent to row 6. At 10:35am, got in car Cranberry 3. Brian at belts. Ramone side for race and loss.

I wanted to talk about all the Pit Crew members the guests interact with as they get on the attraction. It takes all of them to keep the ride moving. I hope I have treated them with the respect they all deserve, on every lap I have taken. They are truly the reason I keep going towards 5000. 

One lap to go.

Lap 4300: Shou at single rider entrance and gave me Flik card. Carlene at merge 3. Sent to GWD. Christina was GWD and April GWD assit. At 11:01am got in car Red 6. Luigi side for race and WON. Lap 4300 in the books. 700 more to reach 5000. Now to get photos with the crew.

Blocked my face. What a goof.

Carlene

Catalina

Ruth

Phil

Andrew 

Christina

Shou

Angel

Grace

Katie

D23 Convention

I've been a charter member of D23 since it started back in 2009. I've also been to all the D23 conventions. This year was the 4th installment. And this one was the best. Here is a day by day break down of the activities I attended.

DAY 1: I got to Hall E at 4:40am. There was a section for people wanting merchandise and a section for those waiting for the first D23 Arena show. A lot of people camped out overnight. They could line up at 10:30pm the night before. The area for merchandise was crowded. So I waited in the for the Lengends Show. At about 6am, my friend Ken W. Showed up. I met Ken and Sandra W. At the last D23 convention, waiting outside in line. They have been good friends ever since. At about 6:30am my friend Heather H. met us in line. She only got a 1 day pass. Then around 7:30, Ken's cousin Chet S. met us in line. He came all the way from New York. The first thing he said to me was he was happy to meet, thee Jon Hale. They escorted the group upstairs at about 9:30am. They created a 7500 seat arena in Hall D of the convention Center. Among the group that became Disney Legends were Susan Lucci,  Danny Elfman, and George Lucas. They all were grateful for the honor. We all thought George Lucas was the last one honored. But we got a surprise when the told us they also made Johnny  Depp a Legend. The place went crazy. He was great in his speech.

After the panel, we walked the floor and started collecting the D23 trading cards. They gave a starter pack with each show booklet. They had a few locations in the convention center to get cards. The full set was 30 cards. They passed out new cards each day. 

At about 4pm, Sandra, Ken, Chet and got ready to go over to Disneyland. A friend of a friend of Sandra, got us a reservation to eat at Club 33. This is a private club in Disneyland above New Orleans Square. You either have to have a membership or know someone that has one, to get you in. It was a treat. I can now knock off an item on my bucket list. A great end to Day one.

DAY 2: I got in line at 4:30am in Hall E to line up for the Marvel, Disney Studios and Lucasfilm Show. Ken got there at 5 and Chet just got in line with us at 6, right before our area was filled up. I saw my friend Amos in the standby line. But he was able to get in also.

For Marvel, actor Chris Evans came out to show a clip for the new Captain America movie coming out next year. Disney Studios plugged a bunch of new movies coming out. Including live action film versions of Jungle Book, Beauty and The Beast, and Pete's Dragon among others. Some of the actors were also there from the various films. 

Then the new cast and director of Star Wars: the Force Awakens took over the stage. The place went nuts. Especially when Harrison Ford came out. He was very humble and grateful for Star Wars starting his film career. He was also thankful to Disney for taking over the franchise. But there was one more surprise. Johnny Depp dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow came onto the stage to plug the latest Pirates movie: Dead Men Tell No Tales. He was great. He was totally in character as Jack. The rest of the day we got more cards and traded for a few more.

But then I got the Racing itch. So I went to Racers at 5:00pm. I was able to turn 5 laps. I'm now at 4263. I met Sandra, Ken  and Chet there. Chet was able to get in the same car as me. He thought that was great. He is a true fan of what I'm doing. 

DAY 3:

Most of today was spent shopping. It took 1 hour and 49 minutes to get in the Mickeys of Glendale store. I got a couple hats and shirt. Besides seeing the Mickey Mouse Club panel, the rest of the day I took Selfies with cast members,  walking the convention floor and trying to get the 5 trading cards I did not have. It came down to one missing card. I  needed a Lauchpad card to get the Small World Hippo card I needed. Chet gave me his only Launchpad card and I got the Hippo card I needed to complete the 30 card set. I'm very thankful he did that for me.

I'm also very thankful the cast members allowed me to take photos with them. That was a big highlight of the Convention for me. I can't wait for the next Convention in 2 years. Maybe I can get a Sorcerers pass for that one.

Now it's back to Racers to race towards 5000 laps. I need 37 to reach 4300. You can now also follow the journey on Instagram. I'm on there as Racers5000. Some of my favorite photos are there. 

Heather, Ken and me

George Lucas

Johnny Depp

In wall of charter D23 members

In Club 33 with Ken, Sandra and Chet

Waiting for Films panel with Chet and Ken

Teresa and Aleesa

Alison

Eddie and Marc

Cristian and Elise

Katie

Teo

George

Brittany 

Andrew

Tina

4200

I need 8 laps to reach 4200 at Radiator Springs Racers. Let's see how I get there.

I arrived at the Mickey and Friends parking lot at 5:50am. Needless to say, I'm the first in line, when they open the parking lot at 6:30am. I brought with me 4 containers of Snickerdoodles for the Pit  Crew. Two for the AM Crew and two for the PM Crew. Also the 2nd photo album of my shots with the Pit Crew. The album covers from 3600 laps to 4100 laps. And all the fun photos in between those marks.

The parking lot opened on time. I usually walk over but with the weight of the Crew goodies, I took the tram.

Gates opened at 7:30am. I first got a locker ($7.00) because it will be hot and stinky today and I brought a change of shirt. 

We were walked down to Racers at 8am. Not in a hurry. I first dropped off cookies to Photopass Crew and then Pit Crew. Then I started my countdown to 4200.

Lap 4193: 8:11am, Blue #2, Ramone side for race and won.

Lap 4194: 8:16am, Red # 5, Ramone and Won

Lap 4195: 8:29am, Silver # 2, Ramone and Won.

I was walking in line for lap 4196 and a girl and her mom were walking behind me. The girl told her Mom, "that's the guy". I talked to them before. Always glad to talk to fans of this adventure. 

Lap 4196: Purple # 1, Luigi side of race. And loss race.

Lap 4197. Yellow # 1, Ramone and Won. Carina was at belts for this lap and said, "well, well. look who it is". The people in the car asked if I work here. I told them I. I just love the ride and  cast members.

Lap 4198, Yellow # 1, Luigi and Loss

Lap 4199, Yellow # 2, Luigi and Won.

Getting nervous for the milestone lap. Catalina S. Saw a little of this anxiousness  before lap 4000.

Lap 4200: Yellow 3, Luigi and Won. Usually do not win on milestone laps.

Now only 800 more to reach 5000. I'll spend the rest of the day adding to my lap count. Will also take pictures with the Pit Crew. 

From now on, my posts will be on the milestone laps. Of course if something of interest comes along, I will also post. But next post will be at 4300.

The 4200 lap

Cast members: April,

Rosanna,

Jalina,

Stephanie,

Amos,

Catalina,

Carlos, 

Henry,

Annette, 

Greg,

and Andres.