July Recap

July was another good month at Radiator Springs Racers. I was able to get on the ride 302 times this month. Last July, I only got 186.

My best 3 days in a row, ever, happened from July 4th to July 6th. I turned 42 laps on the 4th of July. All by 6pm. I probably could of got a new 1 day record, with 4 hours left in the day. My record for one day is 52. This occurred on December 24th, last year. I promised my friends Dorise and Heather, I would go to their house for a BBQ. Some things are more important than getting on Racers.

On July 5th, I got on the ride 43 times. That meant, I needed 35 races on the 6th, to hit the 7000 ride mark. I got 28 of those laps by 4pm. Then the single rider line wait turned into 30 plus minutes. I kept in touch with my 2 friends, Carlene and Catalina. They were waiting to ride with me on the big lap. They had finished their work shifts at about 3:30pm. They then had to change out of their work uniforms to come back into the park to ride.

At about 7:30pm, we loaded into the car for ride 7000. Joining us was currently working cast member Meli. She was able to take a brief break from her normal work rotation to ride with us. I was very happy these 3 friends could ride on lap 7000. Catalina had my GoPro camera on her wrist and captured the ride.

For those who have not seen the video, click below:

It got a little slow after this day. The ride went down a few times and the weather was very hot and humid. It was not until July 26th, that I turned lap 7100.

July 29th was the last day I was at Racers for July. I got 33 rides to reach the 302 total for the month. I also reached 7177 all time. Exactly 3000 laps since the end of August, last year. What made the day extra special was getting to ride with 4 of the admins from the Drama Free Disney Facebook page. It was the first time these ladies were all together. And they wanted to ride with me. I was very honored we got to ride. The admins are Lisa, Trish, Erin and Heather. It was the first time I ever got to ride with Erin and Heather. It was the 10th time I got to ride with Lisa Love. I also was honored to ride with Jamie H. and her husband and 2 daughters. A great end to the month.

I can not do a July recap without including my rides on Tower of Terror. I was able to ride Tower 17 times in July. I'm now at 75 times this year and 121 total times. Hopefully I can ride with the Bellhops when I reach 150 rides.

A new adventure started in July. Two of my friends, Catalina and Carlene introduced me to Pokemon Go. We were at a McDonald's by LAX and they showed me how to download the game and get started. We even ended up at a park at the end of the day. We walked around for almost 3 hours capturing Pokemons. That got me hooked. So any breaks from Racers, I'm playing. I even play as I walk into and away from DCA.

Looking forward to a great August. At Racers and Tower. 

Here are the current Racers stats for this year:

Rides by month:

January: 250

February: 177

March: 173

April: 216

May: 228

June: 264

July: 302 

For a total of 1610 this year. Last year I had 1405 at this time. On pace to beat last year's total of 2795. 

By color of car this year. Total rides then won-lost record:

Silver: 275 and record of 156-119

Red: 210 and record of 112-98

Blue: 198 and record of 106-92

Teal: 193 and record of 100-93

Yellow: 190 and record of 103-87

Purple: 187 and record of 97-90

Green: 180 and record  of 98-82

Cranberry: 177 and record of 83-94

By lane for race:

Ramone: 802 and record of 465-337

Luigi: 808 and record of 388-420

1610 rides this year and record of 853-757

Meli, Catalina and Carlene leaving the station for lap 7000

The 7000 lap photo

Post 7000 ride with Carlene, Meli and Catalina

The 7100 ride

Andres, Desiree, Armando and Josh

Doug, Adrian, Carlene and John G.

Amanda

Giselle

Drama Free Admins: Trish, Heather, Lisa and Erin

Riding with the ladies

Ride with Jamie Hagel and her family

The 10 rides with Lisa Love

Sara M.

Sarah G.

Jess

Jamie

Look at all the Poke stops inside DCA.

7000

I didn't think I would have reached 7000 rides on Radiator Springs Racers today. 

On July 4th, I was able to get 42 laps (rides) in on Racers. On the next day, I got on the ride another 43 times. So today, I only needed 34 laps to hit 7000.

The day started out great. The single-rider wait time was only 5 minutes for the first few hours. I arrived at the attraction at 7:36am and didn't take a break until 2:54pm. I rode the ride 28 times by then. The wait time grew to 30 minutes and managed 5 more laps by 5:45pm. I only had one more lap to hit 7000. I took a break and waited for some of my friends who were cast members so they could ride the last lap with me. Carlene B. and Catalina S., came after they were done working for the day and showed up at about 7:40pm. Joining us in the car was Meli C. She was able to be relieved from her current Racers position in order to ride with us. Around 7:50pm, in Car Yellow 2 (Carlene's Car), we turned lap 7000. We were on Luigi's side for the race but we lost. A special thanks to  April and Justin who were the two Racer Leads that let us all ride together. Everyone at the ride have always been supportive in this adventure and you all know how much I care about them. Come next Tuesday, I start the march towards 8000 and I hope to reach that milestone by the end of the year.  If not sooner. Ka Chow

Meli, Catalina, and Carlene

Carlene, Meli, and Catalina. With Emily photobombing.

Goofy photo with Carlene, Meli and Catalina

Meli

Emily

Justin and Jessica

Tyler and Joel

Austin, Jacob and Tyler

Sandra

Birthday 2016

This was one of my best Birthdays ever.

I got to Radiator Springs Racers at about 8:05am. I was wearing my Disney Birthday button I got at DCA chamber of commerce. The single rider line was short  most of the day. Things were going good, when I got a text from my friend Sandra W. She was in the park with Jill G., also my friend. They came to Racers and we were able to ride together. We went by Luigi's to say hi to my friend Catalina. She had us go on Luigl's. It was my 7th time on the ride. Sandra, Jill and I then walked over to Soarin to get a Fastpass. I went back to Racers for a few more laps. My friend Eddie was waiting to be assigned a car, when he saw me. He waited for me to catch up to them. So I was able to ride with him and his daughter,niece and nephew. I turned a few more laps. I was in one car, and the ride stopped when I was in Luig's tires. Cast member, Phil P., came and took a selfie stick from the girl sitting next to me. We then finished our ride. Did I get the business, when we got back to the station. My cast member friends, Carlene B., Rosanna H., and Ruth C., joking blamed me for the selfie stick. 

I walked back to Soarin to met Sandra and Jill. On the way, I saw Lisa B., escorting one of the trolley shows. I stopped to say hi and get a couple photos with her. She is one of the first Bellhops, at Tower of Terror, I got to know. It was great seeing her.

When I got to Soarin, Desiree L., was able to join Sandra, Jill and I for a ride. Desiree is one of my Racers friends. One of the flight crew even asked what my current count on Racers was. After going on Soarin for the 34th time, Desiree and I said our goodbyes to Sandra and Jill. We went to Racers. When we got there, cast members were still teasing me about the selfie stick incident. We met Erika and her husband and daughter. I met them last year when I was at 5500. The 5 of us were able to ride. It was great seeing them. We then went our separate ways. I stayed at Racers and turned a few more laps. I got 22 rides. Now at 6859. I went by Tower of Terror on my way out of the park. I got a couple photos with Patricia and Jamie K.

After going home to change clothes, I met some friends at The Benihana restaurant in Anaheim. I had a birthday dinner with my friends, Carlene, Catalina, Mike and Denisse G., Heather, Jon, Dorise, Sandra, Jill, Jenny and David. We had a fun time. They gave me some great gifts. Racers and Star Wars related, of course. It was a great way to end a great day. Birthday 2016. Thanks everyone who wished me well and took pictures with me. It is still amazing how going on a ride a few thousand times has created friendships that will last forever.

Dinner with Jill, Jon, Sandra, Heather, Dorise, David, Jenny, Catalina, Denisse, Carlene, and Mike

 Birthday Video:

Jill and Sandra in back row with me.

Jill and Sandra

Eddie and family

Lisa

Lisa

Sandra, Desiree and Jill at Soarin

Erika and family, Desiree

Erika and family

Patricia 

Jamie

Carlene and Catalina at dinner

Group dinner photo

Carlene

Stephanie and Carina

Allison and Marie

Danielle 

Ruth

John G.

Heyse

Dinner 

Tower 100

I had to do a blog about my 100th ride on Tower of Terror. This is one of my favorite rides at Disney California Adventure. I even went to the Passholder preview of the ride before they officially opened in 2004.

After work on Saturday, I drove to the Disneyland Resort. I walked by Tower at about 7pm. I dropped off some chocolate chip cookies I made for the Bellhops. I told cast member Kate M. I would be back later, when the ride would be closing for the night. She was truly excited for me, reaching 100 on Tower.

I walked over to Radiator Springs Racers, to get in a few laps. I got a 6800 photo with Jessica G. and Carlene photobombing the picture. Thanks to them both. I was able to get 4 rides. Now at 6835 on Racers.

At 8:30pm, I walked back over to Tower. I talked to Alex D. and Megan H., who were at the entrance. Sarah G. also came by. She had to clock out before she could ride with me and the other Bellhops. In fact, Sarah help set up the 100 ride. I was stuck on 99 for a couple weeks. I Facebook messaged Sarah and she said she would clear things with the Ride Lead. So all the Bellhops knew this would be the big ride.

We waited until they closed the ride for the night. I walked back to the elevators with Bellhops Kaden and Megan. Kaden has never been on the ride. So I got a picture with her and Megan before the ride. I also got a few other photos with my Bellhop friends before they cleared the attraction of all the "guests". We even waited for the upstairs operators to come downstairs.

At about 9:30pm, Kaden dispatched the Bellhops and me on our ride to the 13th   floor. We did the ride in the "No Show" mode. This is when they turn off all the lights, video and audio. So you do not know when the drops will happen. And in the dark the whole time. The only sounds were the blowing of the wind and our screams. I held up the 100 sign on the 13th floor. When we got back, all the Bellhops clapped. They really made this a special ride. I got a shot of the ride photo and thanked them all for letting me ride with them.

My birthday is on Tuesday. And this was a great birthday present. 

Whether it be Racers or Tower, the cast members have always made me feel part of their family. They really help me enjoy the big milestone days. And they like to take photos with me. They are all awesome.

The 100 ride on Tower with my friends Alex, Jose, Ashley, Sarah, Andrew, Jessica, Megan, Viona, Samantha,  and Shaughn

Carlene and Jessica at Racers 

Kaden and Megan

Sarah and Jenna

Megan, Sarah, Andrew, Jessica, Ashley, Jenna, and Samantha

In the next 2 photos: Jessica, Samantha, Jenna, Sarah, Andrew, Ashley, Kaden and Megan