When I think of my stories I obviously have a very clear visual. Some of you have been on Kali, but I know many have not. So before we get too far into this I thought I'd take you on a photo tour of the day in the life a Kali Rapids Expedition Guide!
*These photos are NOT high quality. This is from the point and shoot camera era and were taken during early morning and early evening hours, so not exactly the best light. But it does show you what the park looks like to us when we are opening and closing attractions!
The day begins in the Cast Member parking lot, which is right behind the Disney buses many guests use to get to the park. We walk in through the front security area like everyone else, but instead of going in the main gates we have our own private entrance off to the far right, again sending us through security one more time. From there we would enter the park in the main area where the guests also enter, and begin our walk to the back of the park. Like guests, we get the majestic view of the Tree of Life as we exit the Oasis and enter Discovery Island.
To get to Asia we veer to the right around the Tree, passing by Flame Tree BBQ, and being welcomed by our sign and bridge to Anandapur.
Looking to the west shows the quiet bridge leading into Harambe (Africa).
After the bridge we see our official sign of Anandapur sitting right next to the Tiger Tree.
This photo is just one spot along the way before the ride gets rough. It shows how deep the water is once it is full. Also notice there is no track. These are free-floating rafts which means there is no "wet seat" or "dry seat" even though many stubborn guests would try to argue that with us.
After all things are checked the ride is turned on, with 6 of 7 pumps working to send water from the reservoir into the flume. Once that is complete maintenance would send out the rafts. We would check every single seat belt in every single raft and sign off on them every single morning. Each raft has a unique name and number, so if there is anything off with them we can get them pulled out and replaced with a new raft until it is repaired. Then the ride through! Before we can start the day some lucky cast member has to ride and hope to not start their day out completely soaked. We used to not buckle up, so we could move seats during the drops, but then that came to a halt, and many people would start wearing ponchos. Chickens!
Finally, after a morning chat on the turntable about anything special going on that day, we would go to our places and prepare for guests. This photo below is from our Height Stick area. It had a few different locations throughout my time there. Here we were farthest away from the ride itself, but able to watch our Siamang and White Cheek Gibbons better! Say hello to Sunita and Dipesh!
From there we would walk back to Discovery Island, able to take one last (blurry!!) look at our Asia bridge.
The day begins in the Cast Member parking lot, which is right behind the Disney buses many guests use to get to the park. We walk in through the front security area like everyone else, but instead of going in the main gates we have our own private entrance off to the far right, again sending us through security one more time. From there we would enter the park in the main area where the guests also enter, and begin our walk to the back of the park. Like guests, we get the majestic view of the Tree of Life as we exit the Oasis and enter Discovery Island.
To get to Asia we veer to the right around the Tree, passing by Flame Tree BBQ, and being welcomed by our sign and bridge to Anandapur.
A perk of being in the park before it opens is watching the sunrise. In this particular photo I am looking to the East, and that view would now have Expedition Everest in it. Always so peaceful.
Looking to the west shows the quiet bridge leading into Harambe (Africa).
After the bridge we see our official sign of Anandapur sitting right next to the Tiger Tree.
Behind Tiger Tree and to the left is the entrance to our backstage area. There we would put things in our lockers, prepare for the day, clock in, and then get our assignments on the computer. If you are there during the day you would immediately go into rotation, but those early days are fun because you actually power up the attraction. Starting the ride is centered in Expedition Base where we have 9 monitors and a computer screen constantly sharing data of what is happening with the ride. This is where we start it up and shut it down, and tend to any other things during the day like during a ride stop or evacuation.
Everybody wanted to start at the Base during the day - mostly because you sit down and are away from guests. But I liked actually being out IN the ride area. To do that I would first have to tag out on the official board. You cannot enter the ride area without tagging out first. Well, technically you CAN, but it is against the rules and I would hope would result in some form of discipline because dang, that can be very unsafe! (That might be the trainer in me talking here.)
If you are the one doing the fun stuff then you are checking every E-stop in the ride area, as well as the phones by the E-stop buttons. Doing this means you go backstage to the maintenance area where the rafts spend the night, and then walk the empty flume. We check the Emergency Stops as well as the flume itself to make sure everything is order and no debris is lingering. One day I had someone come with me so I could get these photos. I've always been fascinated with the engineering behind attractions and knew I wanted to always be able to remember those days when I was actually IN a ride before the water and guests were in it!
This first photo is Tiger Face Falls. It is at the top of the hill right at the start of the ride. When operational water would be coming from it and geysers would be shooting up giving guests their first big soaking.
This photo is just one spot along the way before the ride gets rough. It shows how deep the water is once it is full. Also notice there is no track. These are free-floating rafts which means there is no "wet seat" or "dry seat" even though many stubborn guests would try to argue that with us.
Now we are entering the Burn Zone. That log truck is supposed to be sliding down with logs starting to fall off. It didn't always work, but sometimes it did!
The climax of Kali River Rapids is the drop. Oh shoot, I didn't grab that photo. You'll see it later if you continue to follow along! Behind me in this next photo is where the rafts are paused under a burning lo before doing down the hill. This is one of our evacuation points as well, which will be covered later, too! Prior to the construction of Expedition Everest this was one of the highest points in the park.
After all things are checked the ride is turned on, with 6 of 7 pumps working to send water from the reservoir into the flume. Once that is complete maintenance would send out the rafts. We would check every single seat belt in every single raft and sign off on them every single morning. Each raft has a unique name and number, so if there is anything off with them we can get them pulled out and replaced with a new raft until it is repaired. Then the ride through! Before we can start the day some lucky cast member has to ride and hope to not start their day out completely soaked. We used to not buckle up, so we could move seats during the drops, but then that came to a halt, and many people would start wearing ponchos. Chickens!
Finally, after a morning chat on the turntable about anything special going on that day, we would go to our places and prepare for guests. This photo below is from our Height Stick area. It had a few different locations throughout my time there. Here we were farthest away from the ride itself, but able to watch our Siamang and White Cheek Gibbons better! Say hello to Sunita and Dipesh!
From the exit area you can look down and see THE turntable. That turquoise shirt is a Kali cast member at Unload welcoming guests back and ushering them out of their raft and up through the exit.
This is the final ramp down to the turntable, you way in and out of the ride. This was taken from the Crossing Guard position - my least favorite spot of them all. I seriously can't even explain how much I hated it. Pure torture for me, and the place I heard men try to make "Help Me Ronda" jokes constantly.
This next photo is looking down at the Checker area, as well as our special loading dock. This is where we can allow guests with mobility issues a little more time to get in the raft in a stationary position. The occasional celebrity would also request this area as well. This is how we all entered and exited the turntable during the day.
When the day is at a close our line stops admitting people. If you are in line by the time the park closes, you WILL be allowed to ride. The height stick cast member will follow the last guests through the queue, letting Crossing Guard know it is all clear. Below we can see Vikram who was at Crossing Guard and lingering in the baby swap area. Notice that lovely EMPTY queue behind him. That's what we like to see!
Just as we start the day, we end the day with a final ride through, again making sure everything looks okay. Morning rides are usually one cast member, but at night, especially on a hot day, we could have many people jumping in for that ride!
Trek Talk happens at the end with all of Kali and the Maharajah Jungle Trek cast. Most people head out and that point, but two of us would have to stay behind to clear the park. Once Asia was empty of guests we signaled to Discovery Island we were clear, then head to Africa. And we'd have to just stand and wait and wave good bye to guests until a Safari cast member told us they were officially clear.
Empty Africa!
From there we would walk back to Discovery Island, able to take one last (blurry!!) look at our Asia bridge.
There you have it. A day in the life of Kali River Rapids!
See ya real soon! °o°
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for reading my little blog, your comments rock my compression socks!! ºoº