Jon's Racers Update

Monday, January 2, 2017

New Year's Eve 2016, Racers and Tower. And friends who have moved on

Once again I need a number of rides on Racers to hit a goal. It could be too crowded to get 45 laps to hit 8400. But if I can get on Racers 8 more times, I'll have a new 1 year record. Last year I was on Racers 2795 times. I'm currently at 2788 for the year.

Before the activities of New's Year Eve, I want to talk about 3 cast members who moved on to other adventures.

This year, Destiny S., Allison M., and Tracie L., had to leave Disney for various reasons.

Destiny was one of the first Bellhops that friended me at Tower of Terror. She was always welcoming and gladly took pictures with me. I even got to ride a few times with her and the other Bellhops.

Allison worked Racers and Luigi's. We always had talks about the latest movies and she made sure we got the ride sign photos.

I call Tracie my "goofy little sister". She also worked Racers and Luigi's. She always had a way of making sure the attention I'm getting did not go to my head. She would tease me about stuff all the time. Once was when I had to buy a poncho the day it rained hard and I had no rain gear.

I will miss these 3 fine ladies. They are part of the reason I keep coming back to achieve the ride goals I've set.

Now for New Year's Eve:

I was able to come in with the Extra Magic Morning guests. I got to Radiator Springs Racers at 7:15am. By 10:22 am I got the 12 rides I needed to hit the 2800 ride total for one year. I took pictures along the way with my cast member friends. No rain in sight. So now every lap I get is gravy. Took my first break at 10:27am.

I got on 5 more times before the ride went down from 11:55am until 12:33pm. I was in a car at race start when the attraction went down.

I was able to ride 25 times before the rain came at 2:45pm. Luckily, I had my Disney poncho. Still not fun to race in the rain. Heather and her boyfriend, Jon, got to ride with me for my 27th time today.

I took a break from 4pm to 5pm and went on Tower of Terror twice. That brought my total to 275 times.

I came back to Racers. By 7:27pm, I had 35 rides for the day. And that will do it for Racers. I reached 8390 all time and and 2823 for the year.

I went back to Tower to finish off the night. I saw Lisa B. and Jessica M. on my way to the elevator. Great to see my Bellhop friends. I took 7 trips to the 13th floor today. I'm now at 280 times on Tower.

I left DCA about 9:30pm. It was a cold and raining day. Back on Monday to spend the whole day at Tower. It will be the last day fir the attraction. Also going to bring cookies to my Bellhop friends.

Destiny

Allison

Tracie

Catalina

Jess

John G.

Carina

Carolyn and Teara

Stephanie

Bethanie and Kristen

Lainie and Chris

Alicia

Carlos and Yesenia

Elizabeth

Jamie

Tony and Jessica

Brisa

Minerva

Jess

In the back row, Jon, Heather and myself

Lisa

Cidney

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Looking ahead to 2017 and recapping Stats for 2016

2016 was a great year at Disney California Adventure. I got to 6000, 7000 and 8000 at Radiator Springs Racers. I also took 251 trips to the 13th floor at Tower of Terror. Only went on Tower 39 times from 2004 through 2015. Ended at 290 for my all time total.

2017 could be the best year yet. I'm going to Disney World for the first time ever. Also going to the Star Wars Celebration in Orlando before taking on the 4 parks in Florida. The opening of Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout. The D23 convention will be in July. And of course this little thing about reaching 10,000 rides on Racers. Probably by the end of July or first part of August.

And now for the stats for 2016: Racers and the other attractions I went on in 2016:

I went in Racers 2823 times.

Ramon's side for the race 1410 times and a record of

815 wins and 595 losses

Luigi's side for race: 1413 times and a record of

703 wins and 710 losses

1520 wins and 1303 losses. 217 more wins than losses

By color of car:

Silver: 443 and record of 256-187

Teal: 378 and record of 200-178

Red: 377 and record of 199-178

Yellow: 345 and record of 185-160

Green: 344 and record of 187-157

Blue: 318 and record of 163-155

Cranberry: 310 and record of 160-150

Purple: 308 and record of 167-141

I had a winning record in every car. That is a first.

Rides by months:

January: 250

February: 177

March: 173

April: 216

May: 228

June: 264

July: 302

August: 285

September: 262

October: 194

November: 180

December: 292

An average of 235.25 times per month

I came to Racers 158 times for an average of 17.86 per visit.

I also went on other rides besides Racers and Tower:

Luigi's Rollinkin Roadsters: 14

Mater's Junkyard Jamboree: 8

Soarin over the World: 5

Big Thunder Railroad: 4

Haunted Mansion: 4

Indiana Jones: 3

Star Tours: 3

Space Mountain: 2

Monster's Inc. 2

Pirates of the Caribbean: 2

Heimlich's Chew Chew Train: 1

Toy Story Mania: 1

Jungle Cruise: 1

Small World: 1

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride: 1

Racers: 2823

Tower: 251

All other rides: 52

For total of 3126

Catalina, Jamie, Ruth, Jess and Carlene

Meli, Catalina, and Carlene

Heather, Mary, Tara, Carlene and Catalina

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Carrie Fisher - Lightsaber Vigil In Downtown Disney (12/28/16)

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Tower 260 and Christmas Eve 2016

On Friday night, December 23, I came to Tower of Terror after work. I wanted to go on Tower for the 260th time, with the Bellhops. That was my goal for Tower. Why 260? The Bellhops said I should have a 13 in the number. 260 is 13 times 20. So at the end of the night, I got to ride with my friends. Sarah G. helped set up the ride. This was a great Christmas present from the Bellhops. Tower means a lot to me and I'll miss it when it closes after January 2nd. My Bellhop friends have been awesome and I love them all. I'll come on the last day and see if I can somehow be the last "guest" to ride.

Left to right: Alex, Juston, Jose, Travi, Sarah, Walter, Brisa, Jeff, and Felix

Now for Christmas Eve.

I got to Disney California Adventure at 7am. I was able to come it with the Extra Magic Morning guests. Radiator Springs Racers did not open until 7:30am. I was able to get in the first car out of the station. The goal was to get 40 rides to reach 8300 all time.

I got 3 rides before they had a minor issue. I got on Racers 10 times by 10am. Then 10 more by 12:45pm. I took a brief break at 2pm and had another 10 laps at 4:15pm. Only 10 more to reach 8300. Three more rides before a break from 5pm until 5:12pm. Three more rides by 6:10pm. I got another 2 rides before a 30 minute downtime because of a single car issue. After 2 more rides, I hit the 8300 mark at 8:21pm. I was in Silver 2, on Luigi's side for race, and lost the race. I got 40 laps for the day. That was enough for this day.

Throughout the day, I also went by to see some of my cast member friends. I visited with Jess and Minerva at Mater's, Tracie at Luigi's, Amanda working the shop by Grizzly River Run. I also saw Desiree at Disney Junior. At night, I went by to see Cameo at Flik's and Lisa at the Viva Navidad parade. I got Merry Christmas pictures with them and pictures with my friends at Racers.

When I left Racers at 8:21pm, I walked over to Tower of Terror. I took 4 trips to the 13th floor. I'm now at 264 times on Tower. I also got photos with Jessica, Tyler and Aubree.

It was a pretty good Christmas Eve. I got 2 presents at the park. Getting to ride with the Bellhops at 260 and reaching 8300 laps at Racers.

One week to go for this year. I'll be at the park Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, New Year's Eve. I'd like to reach 8400 at Racers but also need to say goodbye to Tower. The friendship I've made at Tower has really been my Disney Magic. The ride may go away but the relationships will last a lifetime.