Spaceship Earth Backstage Tour

Backstage tours were one of the perks of the Disney College Program I was really looking forward to. A few of my amazing managers scheduled backstage tours of the classic attractions at Disney World for the Epcot Custodial college programmers who want to attend them! About a month ago, a group of us got to tour the inside of Spaceship Earth, aka the ride inside the giant golf ball at Epcot.

We gathered near the entrance of the ride, and our tour guide discussed the history and structure of Spaceship Earth. We even got to pass around a piece of the aluminum-based material used to create the outside "skin" of the sphere! There are 11,324 triangles that make up Spaceship Earth and it stands 180 ft. tall. Spaceship Earth is an original Epcot attraction; it was there on park opening October 1st, 1982.

Our tour guide took us through "backstage" Spaceship Earth, which included riding a giant service elevator and many many stairs. We learned how the ride operates and got to see where the mechanics work and some hidden passageways throughout the ride. 

I remember when he showed us one of the doors that opened up to the ride, he told us to be quiet while we peeked, because there were still passengers on the ride. So what do I do after it's my turn to look? Hit my arm on a nearby metal crate. Not my smoothest moment...but it was pretty funny :)

Our guide explained that on many of the attractions, there is a mural that gives a vague interpretation of what you are about to experience on the ride. Spaceship Earth is a slow moving continuous ride that takes you back in time through the history of communication.

He also pointed out on the mural that the "3" makes possible hidden mickey. Some people disagree, but  then he countered why is the 3 the only number in black?

We were able to ride the ride through once to refresh our memories. This was the funny picture Mary and I took for the build-your-future sequence at the end of the ride!

The first scenes show the development of cave paintings. If I remember the tour guide correctly, Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) studied cavemen and cave paintings to make sure they were authentic, as opposed to guessing what the paintings looked like.

The next scene takes us to Egypt, where hieroglyphs were recorded onto papyrus.

The face used for the middle animatronic might look familiar. It is supposedly the former President William Taft. WDI will sometimes re-use a face from a previous animatronic, instead of creating a new face. President Taft can also be found in the Hall of Presidents at Magic Kingdom. 

Another example I happen to know of this is on the Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion. The face on the explorer on the bottom of the totem pole on Jungle Cruise and the face of the lost traveler (with the dog) in the graveyard of Haunted Mansion are the same!

This scene shows the phoenicians discussing the alphabet. The man in purple is royal because purple dye was rare, and it resembles royalty during that time.

WDI clearly used depth perception with this animatronic! That's our tour guide in the purple, and next to the animatronic that is actually extra small to make him look like he's in the distance.

Hidden mickey! The red cloth with the two bells on top.

Hidden mickey in the three scrolls!

Hidden Mickey in the paint!

3rd shift Custodial coming in to dust the ride.

The newspaper used in this scene is the same exact print that was used on this actual day!

There is actual garbage in the basket, even though you can't really see it from the vehicles.

Speakers inside the basket.

WDI Stands for Walt Disney Imagineering :)

The broadcast of Apollo 11 landing on the moon. The toys, books, and games on the shelf are real, and they're even from the same year, 1969. The only thing that isn't from 1969 is the Beatles album, which is from 1982.

The moon was originally shown as a full moon in this scene, but Imagineers learned that this was the phase of the moon you could see on this actual day, so they changed it.

This animatronic's official name is Foxy Brown.

Signing the binder!

If I could go back, I would have written down much more of the fun facts that the tour guide shared with us. I was going to remember this for the next tour, which is Haunted Mansion. Unfortunately, the tour is on May 19th which is two days after I leave! 

I was upset at first, but I have some other great opportunities coming my way that other people don't have, such as a conversation with Meg Crofton, the current President of Disney Parks and Resorts in the United States and France. I also have an interview this week to become a Campus Rep at my school!

There has been so much that has happened on this program I still want to write about! A lot of my posts are going to be "after the fact" when I have more time over summer.

I'm Just a Yearnin' for Some Learnin': Part Two

This post is dedicated to the classes and workshops I have attended on my program so far! I am enrolled in Creativity and Innovation on Mondays from 1:30-5:30pm and Disney Heritage on Thursdays from 4-6pm. It is possible to get college credit for the classes offered on the program, but for my school it was sort of a complicated process and I would have had to pay tuition. However my roommates Cat and Emily are each getting 8 and 12 credits respectively for their universities! But I am still taking courses for fun and the experience, which is part of the reason why I chose Creativity and Heritage over something like Corporate Analysis or Finance.

I am also in the process of attending Career Development Workshops on Tuesdays from 10-12am. So far I have taken Acing the Interview, Personal Branding, and Professionalism. I just have Presentation Skills and Resume Writing left before I earn my Certificate of Completion for the workshops! The workshops I attend are taught by my same Disney Heritage facilitator. They are really helpful because the information we learn is geared towards what Disney looks for in a strong candidate seeking a job.

Creativity and Innovation

Where else can you take a class called Creativity and Innovation?? (Okay maybe if you are an art or design major but still...) It is such a fun and interesting class and I am really happy I am taking it! We learn all about how to enhance our creativity while avoiding barriers. Our teacher even leaves things on our tables such as rubik's cubes, magnet puzzles, magazines, play dough, colored pencils, etc. to play with while we listen to her lecture.

Our first project was to pick a famous creative person and interview them. Obviously we can't just pick up the phone and call famous people, so the assignment was to research our person and creatively come up with how they would answer the questions. And then of course typing it out on a piece of paper wouldn't be creative at all, so we had to creatively construct a way to present our answers that had to do with our creative person. I naturally picked J.K. Rowling, and I made a train out of Tupperware containers and construction paper. (because that's where the idea of Harry Potter "simply fell into her head")

One of my favorite class activities so far has been inventing a new board game. Our teacher left random board game pieces on each of our tables, and we had to use those pieces to create a new game. Our group had dominoes, a checker board, a pair of dice, and monkeys in a barrel. We created a game where you take turns rolling the dice, and had to successfully stack the corresponding amount of monkeys to the number rolled, which then you could play a domino on the checker board. There were also rules if you rolled doubles, snake eyes, etc.

Our teacher shows us a lot of interesting videos that feature different elements of creativity. These are two of my favorites we've seen! The first video is a creative, very different, and challenging version of Swan Lake. The second is how Google brings out creativity in an incredible work environment.

I've also made some great friends in this class since we've been working on so many different projects together! Shout out to Team Zazu! (don't ask why we call ourselves that...there isn't even a competition.)

 

Disney Exploration Series- Disney Heritage

This is one of the most popular education offerings on the program! And I am not surprised with all of the interesting facts that we learn about the history of Walt & Roy Disney and everything they have done. Like how Timex would have gone out of business during the Great Depression if Walt Disney had never allowed them to start selling watches with Mickey Mouse on them. We also learn about things that never came to be at Disney such as a Herbie the Lovebug ride or a Lewis and Clark Adventure indoor Disneyland theme park in St. Louis.

We had a model monorail activity where we were split up into teams and had 10 minutes to construct a small-scale monorail system with the parts we were given from a set, and balance as many little characters on top as possible while it moved around the track. The more gateways it traveled through with a high number of characters on staying on top, the more points you received. We were given money to buy things like tape, sticky notes, and pipe cleaners, paper clips etc. to help build or make the characters stay.

My team ended up winning with a total of 300 points! I felt like I was doing a reward challenge on Survivor or something. Don't ask me about the time I felt like I was on Amazing Race when I slept through my alarm clock one early morning before work...(don't worry, I made it!)

Next week our class is meeting at Magic Kingdom and I can't wait to see what we are going to be doing! And the week after that we have a scavenger hunt in Hollywood Studios.

Our facilitator for the series, David Horvath, started his career with Disney as a Park Greeter at Hollywood Studios during his Disney College Program. He has now been with the company for 18 years, and was a part of the Resort Operations opening team for Disney's Coronado Springs Resort, became a Traditions leader for new cast members, then traveled around the world recruiting for Disney, and now works for Disney Internships & Programs. I scheduled a one-on-one meeting with him last week to hear more about his experiences and he gave me advice on how to network and told me about different internship opportunities with the company.

With his advice to schedule as many one-on-ones as possible while I am here, I am meeting with my Area Manager (of all of World Showcase) this week! He started out as a Custodial cast member during his college program too. My managers who got off of their college program within the past few years offered to meet with me too! I love how willing our leaders are here to help us with any questions and advice on how to grow here at Disney. And so many of them started out on the college program!