9000

I was 7 rides away from 9000 times on Radiator Springs Racers. I did not want to chance not getting those 7 rides today, so I came last night to get on the ride at least twice.

I left work at 5pm and arrived at the single rider entrance of Racers at 6:50pm. I was feeling a little nervous until I got on that first time. I met some nice ladies that recognized me. They wanted to get a couple pictures, which I always love taking. The single rider line got shorter, so I knew I could do at least 3 laps. On the 3rd ride, I was in a car with a couple families. They wanted to get pictures with me and their kids after we got out of the car. I was able to get back in line right before they closed the ride for the night. Four rides to reach 8997. 

I got to the Mickey and Friends Parking lot at 7:03am. The parking lot opens at 7:30am. Just a bit anxious today. Got to park entrance at 7:50am. Came to Racers after rope drop at 9am. Turned 2 laps by 9:51am. Now at 8999. Time to relax until the big ride tonight. It also gave me time to write about my friends who will be joining me tonight in the 9000 car.

I met Ken and Sandra W. at 5am, waiting to get in the 2013 D23 convention at the Anaheim Convention Center. We saw each other at panels during the convention and have been friends ever since. We've been to a few Disney Halloween parties and a friend of a friend of Sandra got us in Club 33. Dick Van Dyke was even eating when we were there. They were in the 2400 car and also the 7500 car. I think I've ridden the most times on Racers with Sandra.

I've been friends with Heather H., since we worked at HRTV together. Over 7 years now. Also friends with her mom, Dorise. Heather now works with the horses on Main Street in Disneyland. And at the off site ranch, were they stable the horses at night. Saw her and her boyfriend Jon, in Orlando at the Star Wars Celebration. They mainly went to get a photo with Sarah Michelle Gellar. They maybe bigger Buffy fans than me. But not by much. 

Katie H., was one of the first cast members at Racers that I became friends with. We hit it off from the start. She and her husband Glenn even invited me to their wedding. Katie had to leave Disney because of back issues. But I still see her from time to time. Glenn still works in the parks. She always had the best hugs. 

Carlene was also one of the first cast members I got to be friends with. By chance she was in the very first photo I got with the Racers crew. She is the only one who has been in every big lap car. 1000 and 2000 were by chance. But the day I reached 3000, she came in on her day off. We got in the single rider line. And she was in the front seat and me in the back. So ever since then, I make sure she is in the car. She is one of my favorite "sisters" at Racers. 

I also need to mention my other favorite "sister", Catalina S.. She came up to me a few months ago to tell me she would not be able to ride in the 9000 and 10000 cars. I knew immediately what that meant. She was pregnant. I'm so happy for her and Deane. They even told me they are having a girl before they told everyone. Catalina and Carlene have been my 2 buddies from the start. They really treat me like their big brother.

I went over to Disneyland and spent some time with my friends Lesa and Liz. I met them last night in the single rider line at Racers. We got a snack at Starbucks. We then went on Buzz Lightyear. I still have it. I scored over 1.4 million points. Liz and I then went on Hyper Space Mountain. And I did not lose my phone. I kept it in my tote bag. 

I then caught up with Heather driving the Horse "Lucky" on the Main Street Trolley. She is getting pretty good with the horses. 

I came back over to DCA at 2pm. I went by Hyperion to say hi to Amos. I also got to say hi to Sarah P. Always great to see one of my Tower favorites. I guess now it will be Guardians. Back to Racers to visit with the crew a little bit. I got to see the 10,000 showing of DJ. They have a show several times a day in front of Luigi's. 

I had a Fastpass for Soarin', so I went on the ride at 4:30pm.

Found out Ken got stuck at work and will not be able to join us tonight. So I asked Glenn to join us. 

Everyone showed up around 7pm. We got on the ride about 7:25pm. Heather's boyfriend Jon took video with my phone. On the ride, Carlene and Heather had my Go Pro cameras and Sandra took a much of Selfies. My friend David will put together a video for You Tube. 

Now 1000 more rides to reach 10,000. It took 4 months to go from 7000 to 8000 but 5 months to go from 8000 to 9000. I hope I can get to 10,000 by the end of August. Which would be 4 months. 

Katie, Heather, Sandra, Glenn and Katie

 

Sandra, Heather, Carlene, Katie and Glenn

 

The goofy shot 

 

Sandra and Ken 

 

Heather 

Katie

 

Katie and Glenn's wedding 

 

Carlene

 

Catalina

 

Liz and Lesa

Buzz Lightyear with Lesa

 

Liz on Hyper Space Mountain 

 

Sarah

 

DJ's 10,000 show 

 

Musical Tribute to Carrie Fisher - Star Wars Celebration 2017

Epcot and Test Track

It has been great going to all the parks at Walt Disney World. Hollywood Studios with Tower of Terror and Rock N Roller Coaster. Animal Kingdom with Expedition Everest and Safari. Magic Kingdom with 7 Dwarfs Mine Train and all the rides Disneyland has. Space Mountain, Big Thunder, and Splash Mountain, to name a few.

But my favorite ride is in my favorite park. Test Track in Epcot. I first got on Test Track Monday night. I got to ride 5 times before it closed. I also got to meet Cast Members, Emerson and Jessi. Emerson knew about my Racers adventure at DCA. Jessi helped me learn where they take the ride photo.

The next day, my friend Amos and I came to spend the day at Epcot. We went on Test Track twice. Then off to Spaceship Earth. Next, a trip to Mars on Mission: Space. It was a pretty good simulator ride. We did the green level. One more time on Test Track.

We went to Norway in the World Showcase and took a trip on Frozen Ever After. A cool ride that even goes backwards down the flume.

After lunch, we went to Future World West. We went on Journey Into Imagination with Figment. Then off to Living with the Land. Next up was Soarin over the World. Same ride as California but Epcot at the end not Disneyland. Last up, The Seas with Nemo and friends. Amos wanted a little break. He went back to the hotel and I went back to Test Track. I got on 2 more times to reach the 10 ride total. I went on 5 more times to reach 15. Took a break and went on Mission: Space Orange. It was more intense than Green. I made it out in one piece.

I got some dinner. I met up with Amos and we went on Frozen one more time. He wanted to watch the fireworks and I went back to Test Track to end the night. As I was racing, more cast members came up to me and asked things like, "are you the guy from Racers? Can I have a card? I want to be your friend. I've heard a lot about you". By the end of the night, I got more photos with my new friends. Katie, Laura, Rachel, and Lindsay. They also helped me get on the ride quicker the last 5 times. When I told them, " this is my last ride of the night", they told me to make sure my pose for the photo was a good one. After I got out of the car. They gave me a copy of the photo. Rachel Robinson wrote on the photo holder, "Test Track Loves You". It was a great end to my trip to Orlando. Getting to know this great group of cast members was the best I could ever hope for. Their treatment of me almost brought me to tears. I know have a family in Orlando to go along with my family in Anaheim. I love my new "sisters and brothers". 

Emerson and Rachel

 

Emerson 

 

Jessi and Emerson 

 

Frozen Ever After 

 

Amos and I on Frozen 

 

 

 

 

Lightning 

 

Greg

 

10th ride 

 

Rachel

Katie

Laura

 

Lindsay

 

20th ride 

 

Last ride. Number 25

Sarah Michelle Gellar

You know I most certainly needed to do a blog about my favorite actress. This is the first time that Sarah Michelle Gellar has ever gone to a convention. Even during the Buffy The Vampire days, she never did any photographs or signings. So when I saw she was going to be at the Star Wars Celebration, I had to sign up for a photo and autograph. This could be my only chance ever. My friends Heather and Jon also came to the Celebration. They only came to get the photo and autograph. Also to visit the Disney World Resort while they're in Orlando. Like Amos and I are going to see starting tomorrow night.

Amos and I got to the Convention Center at 6:30am. We got in the queue to the showroom floor. They started letting people onto the floor at 10am. I went straight to the Photo and Autograph hall. I waited there until they called us into the line for Sarah at 11:30am. At noon they started letting people in to get photos with her. When it was my turn, I said  "hi". Sarah also said, "hi". After the photo I thanked her and she said, "your welcome". Heather and Jon got there photo right after me. I also got the download besides the hard copy photo. We then got into the line for the autograph. She was not signing until 2pm, but they let us line up at 1pm. She starting signing at 2pm. A bunch of us in line sang her Happy Birthday. When it was my turn to have my photo autographed, I also wished her a Happy Birthday. She thanked me. She saw our photo and said, "that a good picture". I said, "because she was in the photo". She said "awe".

Today was a dream come true for this fan. Feel very blessed to have gotten this opportunity. I will treasure this moment the rest of my life.

Sarah Michelle Gellar

 

Sarah before signing autographs 

My photo after Sarah signing

 

My friends Jon and Heather

Star Wars Celebration Day 1

Amos and I camped out overnight in the Convention Center. We were in a queue line waiting to get a wristband for the 40 years of Star Wars panel. No sleep. We were on cement floors. They even brought in a Deejay to play music from about 12:30am to 2am. They got everyone to gather up their stuff at 5am. Just after 6am they started giving out the wristbands. We then walked all the way around the hall and got back in the same queue line we were in before. Now we get to wait a few more hours before they take us up to the Stage for the panel. I sure hope it is worth all the wait.

At 10:30am they finally let us go to the Galaxy Stage on the 4th Floor. It was a crazy mad dash to the stage. We got to sit about 16 rows from the stage. But they had 3 large monitors to also view the panel better.

George Lucas was the main guest. He talked about the making of Star Wars and the cast. The other guests were Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, Peter Mathew, Ian Mcdiarmid, and Hayden Christensen. They were all great. They then brought out Mark Hamill. He was great reminiscing about the films. Then a surprise guest, Harrison Ford. The audience went crazy.  George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy talked about Carrie Fisher. It got a little emotional. Carrie's daughter Billie also talked about her mom.

When we thought the show might end, they opened a curtain and John Williams and the Atlanta orchestra had a very moving tribute to Carrie. It seemed we were all crying by then.

They even passed out Carrie Fisher posters as we left the hall. 

It was a good tribute to the first 40 years of Star Wars.

And yes it was very much worth the wait.

Amos waited to get his photo with Hayden Christensen as I waited to get into the Celebration Store. Amos beat me. He got his photo at Hayden before 4:30pm. I was stuck in line for store for over 3 hours. 

Universal Studios Theme Parks, Orlando

Amos and I had free tickets for Universal Orlando. So we took Uber and got to the parks at 8:15am. 

After we put our stuff in a locker,  we first went to the Hulk ride. I'll do any ride once. We even had to put everything in a free locker. No hats, phones anything metal. Of course my knees are metal but that was ok. It was a wild ride. Kept my eyes open the whole time. Felt a bit shaky after we got off. 

We then went on Spider-Man. Kind of like Transformers in California. But a lot better. Still feeling a bit quesy after this ride also. Hulk had not gotten out of my system yet.

We then went on King Kong Skull Island. A tram ride. They even had a single rider line, which we took advantage of. I think the tram ride in California was better for the Kong part of the ride. 

Next up Jurassic Park: River Adventure. About a 30 minute wait. We were in the 3rd row. So we did not get too wet.

Amos and I got in the single rider line for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It turns out what we thought was the single rider line was the normal line. It moved pretty good. The ride was another spin and turn you in all directions. I handled it a lot better than Hulk and Spider-Man. But still got a tad guesy.

After, we got some Butterbeer. A non-alcoholic butter cream icee. It was pretty good. 

We were on the Islands of Adventure park. We then went over to the Universal Studios Park. Amos wanted to eat first. We went to the Leaky Cauldron restaurant. I got the cottage pie combo and Amos the chicken sandwich.

We went to the Mummy ride. I wanted to go on because it is my friend Carlene's favorite ride. We went Single Rider and took a spin. A little better than the one in California. We walked around the rest of the park, stopping to see the Horror Makeup Show. The one in California is better. Especially when Carlene was the audience volunteer. I fell asleep during this one. As we were walking out of the park we stopped at the Chocolate Emporium for some ice cream.

We left Universal at 5:30pm.

Now headed over to the Orlando Convention Center. We are camping out overnight for the Star Wars Convention. Specifically to get a wristband for the 40 years of Star Wars panel. We got to the Convention Center at 6:15pm, we were about 400 people back in line. So we are golden for the panel. Now just need to sleep over night on a hard concrete floor. 

Amos and I in front of Hulk

 

Hogwarts

 

Butterbeer

 

Lunch

 

The Dragon

 

As we left the parks today

 

Flying to Orlando

I woke up at 3:30am this morning to get ready to go to LAX. I left my house at 4:25am and arrived at my place of work by 5:25am. I left my car at the parking structure and got a ride with Uber. It was my first time using Uber. It costs $9.76 and I got to LAX at 5:43am.

Today was also the first time flying since 911. So it was a first time going through TSA. Since I have metal knees, I had to have a full pat down. He even asked if I wanted to go to a private room. I told him no, just do it. I got to the Southwest gate around 6:30am. Flight wasn't until 9:15am. I met my friend Amos there, who showed up a few minutes after me. The flight took off 30 minutes late. The plane was late getting to us. Also the crew needed to get a burrito off the food truck on the tarmac. Just kidding.

We arrived in St. Louis at 3pm, but did not get off the plane until 3:15pm. We then had to rush to our next plane. We were at gate 12 and had to get to gate 31. Of course we had to stop by the restroom on the way. I'm not using the plane toilet. The plane was already crowded so, Amos and I were separated. I got to sit next to 2 kids who were flying to their new home in Orlando. Their parents were in the seats behind us. I showed them my Tower of Terror and Racers pictures. They thought it was cool. The plane looked newer than the first flight. Cleaner and more leg room.

Now only 2 hours to Orlando. 

We touched down in Orlando at 6:25pm, Local time. Did not get off the plane until 6:40pm. Took shuttle to All Star Music Resort. Checked into our room at 8:30pm. Amos and I then got an Uber to take us to Walmart to load up on water and snacks for the parks.

I want to thank my friends Carlene, Catalina and Tara for allowing me to keep them informed of our travels today. They are my 3 favorite "sisters", I've gotten to know. 

The adventure begins tomorrow. Stay tuned.

The tarmac food truck

 

Amos and I 

    

Victorville 

 

Colorado

 

Coming into Orlando 

 

Carlene, Catalina and Tara in the 8000 car