Disney World: Days 1-3

Monday January 15th: I arrived at LAX at 9pm for my 11:50pm flight to Orlando. I flew on Jet Blue. I wanted a flight without any stops along the way. The plane left on time and the 5 hours went by slow. I had a pillow but could not fall asleep. I just watched the screen that showed our progress across the country.

Tuesday January 16th:

I took the Magical Express from the airport to the All Star Sports Resort. If you stay on Disney property they give you a free bus ride from and back to the airport. At 8am, my room was not ready. So I dropped my bags at Bell Hop, and took an Uber to get water and snacks at Walmart. I then took a bus from All Star Sport to Epcot. I saw one of my Cast Member Friends also get on the bus from All Star Sports. Meganne G. And a couple of her friends. Ran into her a couple times during the week.

Went on Test Track 8 times. I meet up with my friend Tracie N. She came in from Georgia. I met Tracie when she worked Radiator Springs Racers. We went to Hollywood Studios. We saw the Beauty and The Beast Show. Tracie got a photo of me dozing off. We also saw Muppets 3D. Next we went on Star Tours and Toy Story Mania. Tracie kicked my butt on Toy Story. We saw parts of Fantasmic. We hurried over to Epcot to watch the Illuminations Fireworks Show. End of day one. I was awake for 28 hours in a row. 

Day 2: Tuesday January 17th. 

I met Tracie at Animal Kingdom. We were there when the park opened at 8am. We went straight for Avatar: Flight of Passage Ride. We saw my friend Krystle M. She works the ride. Tracie’s friend Ace also works the ride. We got on twice. It is the best ride I’ve ever been on. You feel like you are flying on a Banshee, from the movie Avatar. We then got on the Nav’i River ride. A boat that takes you by Avatar landscapes. It was short.

We saw the Lion King Show. We were so close, one of the stilt performers stepped on my foot. No harm done.

Next we went on Kilimanjaro Safari ride. We saw several wild animals. Even a mother Hippo and her new born from yesterday.

I went to Hollywood Studios to say hi to my Friend Lindsay S. I met Lindsay at Test Track in April. She now works at Hollywood Studios with guest control. It was great to see her. 

I went to Epcot and got on Test Track 3 times.

I met up with Tracie again at Animal Kingdom and we went on Flight of passage 2 times. We separated and I met up with her again at the Magic Kingdom Park. I just got the last part of the Fireworks. I tried to find another of my Test Track friends, Emerson. But it was too crowded. Tracie showed up and we went on Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder and Pirates of the Caribbean before the park closed. It was great spending time with Tracie. She is a good friend. 

Day 3: Wednesday January 18th. 

Got to Animal Kingdom before the park opened. Wanted to get on Flight of Passage again. I did and also the Safari ride again. I went on the Expedition Everest ride twice through the single rider line. 

Went over to Hollywood Studios to see my friend Jessica G. She was also here from California with her Disneyland friends. We had lunch at the Pizza place inside the park. We went on Tower of Terror. Jessica used to work at Tower in DCA. I met her when she worked at Racers. It was great to visit with them for a little bit. I went Single Rider on Rock n Rollercoaster. And said hi to my friend Lindsay before leaving the park.

Epcot again and Test Track for 7 more rides.

Back to Animal Kingdom to see Laura E. She is also a cast member from Test Track I met in April. She introduced me to Kayla. Kayla is actually a friend of Lisa B. , one of my friends from Guardians. It is truly a small world. They gave me a vip seat to watch the Rivers of Light Show. It was pretty cool.

Finished the night at Epcot and Test Track. I got on the ride 22 times. My total number of rides is now 56. That includes my total from April of 25. I got photos with my friends Melissa and Tori. I also was join by my friend Tina. She went in the Single Rider Line with me for rides 50 to 56. I used to work with a Tina at TVG.

The 50th time on Test Track

Meganne

Tracie 

Sleeping at Beauty and Beast show

Krystle at Flight of Passage 

Pandora 

Hippo and her newborn which you probably can’t see 

Lindsay

Expedition Everest 

Tower of Terror

Jessica and friends

Jessica and Christina, Lloyd and Thomas 

Jessica

Lindsay 

Laura

Kayla

Melissa 

Tori

With Tina. 

2017 Year in Review

Big Thank You and My Ride Statistics on Radiator Springs Racers

2017 Year in Review

2017 was a great year for me. Here’s a recap:

In January, I participated in the runDisney Event. It was the Star Wars Rebel Challenge. I did a 10k on Saturday and a Half Marathon on Sunday. My friends Heather, Jon and my cousin Natalie participated in the 10K event. My friends Catalina and Deane Simpson, did the Rebel Challenge along with me. We got 3 medals for finishing both races. 

In April, I traveled to Florida for the first time in my life. I went with my Cast Member friend Amos. We did one day at Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure. We then spent a couple days at The Star Wars Celebration. It was awesome. Seeing the panels with Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford. I also got a photo with one of my favorite Actresses: Sarah Michelle Gellar. She was in a couple Star Wars Rebel episodes. 

We then spent a few days in the Disney World Resort. My friends Krystle got us an upgrade to a Cars themed Suite at the Art of Animation Resort. I loved all the parks but especially Epcot. I fell in love with Test Track. They even recognized me from my Racers Adventure. I got on the ride 25 times. At the end of the night, after my last ride, they gave me the ride photo. Emerson, Rachel, Jessi, and Lindsay became instant friends of mine. 

In May, I reached the 9000 ride mark at Racers. I knew after that, it would be tough to get the next 1000 rides to hit 10,000. 

On June 15th, Cars Land has its 5th Birthday. I got photos with my friends. 

In July, I attended the D23 Convention. It was the 5th one and I’ve been to them all. Always great to see all things Disney. 

September brought the Disneyland runDisney event. I once again took on the Half Marathon. I started out with my friend Angela but see unfortunately got pulled from the race. I got some help from my friend Carlene. She gave me some ice about 2 kilometers from the finish. It was what I needed on a very hot and humid day. 

In October, my friends from Test Track came to Racers from Florida. Emerson, Rachel and Lindsay got to join me for my 9800 ride. It was great to see them again. 

On November 13th, I finally reached the 10,000th ride on Racers. The local ABC news station even came out to do an interview. And I did a couple online interviews with Now This and Cal State Fullerton. Also a local radio interview on the Tim Conway Jr. radio show a few weeks later. I also got to hang out with Carlene’s family from Oregon. We got to go on Racers and Guardians together. Sandra and Steve Bekius and their 2 nephews. And the Steinke ladies also came down from Oregon and Washington to visit. We got on Guardians and Indiana Jones. 

In December I got to hang out with another of my favorite families from Oregon. The Crees wanted to ride with me on lap 10,101. We were able to do just that. We even had matching shirts for the day. They treated me as one of their family.

And I finished up the year by passing out cookies to my Cast Member friends on Christmas Day. I even got on Guardians 12 times and got all of the 6 different song combinations. I got on Racers 9 times to bring my yearly total to 1750 and overall total to 10,140. 

I don’t know if I can top this year but I’ll sure try. It’s going to start great because I’m going back to Florida in January. 

Here are my up to date Racers statistics:

Rides by year:

2012: 56

2013: 316

2014: 2400

2015: 2795

2016: 2824

2017: 1750 which equals 10140. 

I came 775 days to Racers to average 13.08 rides per day. 

Rides by month:

January: 685

February: 692

March: 725

April: 654

May: 818

June : 856

July: 885

August: 898

September: 1177

October: 995

November: 623

December: 1132

Rides by colors:

Red: 1526: 839 - 687

Silver: 1433: 771 - 662

Teal: 1352: 671 - 681

Yellow: 1116: 613 - 503

Blue: 1096: 570 - 526

Cranberry: 1102: 562 - 540

Purple: 1085: 574 - 511

Green: 1058: 540 - 518

Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout! statistics:

Total rides 145

 Songs: 

“I Want You Back”: 31

“Born To Be Wild”: 26

“Give Up The Funk”: 24

“Hit Me With Your Best Shot”: 22

“Free Ride”: 20

“Burning Love”: 18

“Monsters After Dark”: 3

And no song: 1

By shaft after 41 rides:

Lower Bravo: 23

Upper Bravo: 18

Lower Alpha: 18

Upper Charlie: 16

Lower Charlie: 15

Upper Alpha: 14

Other Major Ride Totals starting in 2001:

Buzz Lightyear Astro-Blasters: 579

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror: 290

Disneyland Train: 184

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: 100

Disneyland Monorail System: 76

Soarin' Around the World: 60

Haunted Mansion: 42

Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters: 35

Star Tours: 34

Pirates of the Caribbean: 30

Space Mountain: 28

Mater's Junkyard Jamboree: 25

Jungle Cruise: 24

Grizzly River Run: 20

Splash Mountain: 20

Matterhorn Bobsleds: 19

Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!: 15

Indiana Jones Adventure: 12

Now the photos for the year:

The 10,000 Car 

Natalie, Heather, Jon, Catalina and Deane after 10K

After Half Marathon

Universal: Islands of Adventure 

Sarah Michelle Gellar 

Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and George Lucas talking about Carrie Fisher

Magic Kingdom with Amos

Test Track

Emerson and Rachel on far right after my 25th Ride 

Katie, Heather, Sandra, Glenn and Carlene 

Sandra, Heather, Carlene, Katie and Glenn

Alessa and Karla

Ken, Sandra and Chet at D23 Convention 

Berit at D23

Crossing finish line Disneyland Half Marathon with ice cup from Carlene 

Half Marathon Medal 

9800 ride with Rachel, Emerson and Lindsay 

Rachel, Lindsay and Emerson 

10,000 car with Meli, Heather, Catalina, Rosanna and Carlene

ABC news interview 
 

Sandra, Carlene and Willem

Guardians with Willem, Sandra and Carlene 

Hannah, Lindsay, Michelle and Nicole


On Guardians with the Ladies 

10,101 with The Crees 

Katherine, Marybeth, Carlene, Tara, Mark and Mary on Guardians 

With Darth Vader

Tara, Mary, Carlene, Marybeth, Katherine and Mark

Christmas at Guardians 

Christmas at Racers 

Cidney, Karla and Cameron

Got all 6 different songs on Guardians in one day

The Cree Family Visit and Lap 10,101

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