Tales From the Turntable: A Google Earth Tour

I realize I can babble on and on about my life in the Orlando area, and I know that some of you completely understand what I'm talking about and where things are. But I also to some of you it is maybe all a foreign language. You might recall that in 1997 when I went to Pleasure Island for the first time and saw the big Walt Disney World sign as we neared Downtown Disney, well, I thought I would be able to see the Magic Kingdom and that huge ball at Epcot. I was so wrong. So today I am going to give you the lay of the land. We will go on a little trip across the country to the Walt Disney World resort, and I'll show you points of interest once we get there!

First we start in Oregon. Follow that blue line to get my path to Florida. I went down into California, over through Reno, Nevada and then east. In Kansas City (represented by hearts) I stayed in a hotel next to a porn shop. It wasn't my favorite. Moving on to Nashville, Tennessee (the cupcakes and clouds - whoa ignore than random North Carolina cloud!)... I stayed the night in a motel next to Hooters. My cat escaped and ran around that entire motel. And then we had Waffle House.... Which brings us to angry face in Atlanta, Georgia.... this is where I realized I got food poisoning from Waffle House. #NeverAgain. And finally, I arrived in the Orlando/Kissimmee/Walt Disney World area!

Next up we have a map of the overall Walt Disney World resort area. You can see Magic Kingdom up there at the time and Epcot in the center. Look for the hearts showing you where Disney's Animal Kingdom is in relation to the rest of the property. If you look over to the right and the lollipops, those are showing you the location of Vista Way and Little Lake Bryan - which we visited in the post about losing at Tug of War. Now look in the center at the very bottom. See the bubbles? That's Celebration, Florida. This is where I spent a lot of time during my final year when I made my regular trips to Celebration Hospital for my Meniere's Disease diagnosis. I was also at Florida Hospital and other places, but we don't really need that on a map.

And now we are narrowing in on my every day life. See those tiny crowns in the lower left? That is where I lived. That red line shows the path I drove every day to get to work at Disney's Animal Kingdom (and had to walk home alone at night once.) Once I worked backstage I actually parked backstage, but the majority of my time I was in that large parking lot.

Shall we walk to Asia together now? If you start in the lower left corner we will pull into the Cast Member parking lot. It is just on the other side of the area where guests can get buses to the other theme parks and resorts. Follow the bubbles! We walk in the main entrance area with all of the other guests, until just before the actual turnstiles. At this point it is a slight right backstage, before re-entering the Oasis. From here we get to walk right be to Asia like any guest would. Pretty standard. DAK isn't set up like Magic Kingdom where we have to keep our costumes secluded to our specific lands, and therefore do all of our moving around under the park. The bonus of this is we get to see different animals at the beginning and end of our shifts instead of only our beautiful animals in Asia. This also allows you to see things going on in the park -- like musicians performing for television specials or spoiled, entitled actresses causing scenes in front of everyone. So embarrassing. You'll hear all about that!

Let's get to the good stuff.. Anandapur!

There is a lot to see here!! The rainbow circle is showing you THE turntable. This is the fun spot where all the best stories happen! The bubbles begin there and head up clockwise making a full "circle". This is the entire ride path. The strawberry is where you would enter the queue except I see it saved weird. Move it over to the left about an inch and a bit. Or queue actually goes through all of that greenery and into the temple that you can see in the center of the photo. The lower right angry face is home of the Yeti .. aka Expedition Everest, not the Kali Yeti aka Stache. Alright, over to the lower left you can see some little blue clouds. That is Caravan Stage where I worked at Flights of Wonder. Just above that are some Thumbs Up with a G - this is the trailer we would have meetings in occasionally. It had air conditioning! Next to that, to the right, see some small cupcakes? That's our break room. Above that you'll see some animal faces, that's the Maharajah Jungle Trek. And lastly see the bearded dudes? Those are representing the maintenance area. The left is where the boats are housed each night and the right is showing you the large pumps coming out of the reservoir and up to the flume.

The downside of being in Asia is we only have that tiny break area. If you are working over 6 hours you will have a 30 minute lunch break. Well, if you are on the other side of the park you can easily get to Pride Rock for lunch and have actual food. In Asia? I've shown you the path in orange of how we would have to walk to get to Pride Rock. Walking that distance, ordering, getting food, eating and walking back? Not happening. This was a perk when training people. I always pampered them and we dined at Pride Rock every day!

And to conclude this little tour, I take you to where I finished my career as a Disney Cast Member. .... moment of silence please.....

The Disney Labor Office. See those happy animal faces at the top center? That's where the Kilimanjaro Safaris vehicles spent their off-time. Look over to the left and find the strawberries. Those represent where I used to park my little Hyundai and the approximate location of my desk inside the building. On Sunday's when the building was virtually empty - except for those of us making sure everyone would get a paycheck - I would wander through the building and see the frogs outside of Beth Stevens' office. She was top dog at Disney. I wouldn't randomly wander to her area during the week!! That'd be like just popping in to chat with Michael Eisner or something. Not happening.. but she was super nice!! This photo shows Pride Rock again, represented by cupcakes. Clearly I was able to get lunch with my HOUR long lunch breaks when I was an office and technical cast member! Pride Rock is not only the big cafeteria, but also home to a Disney Learning center, which is where we spent a lot of time during training. There are computers to use, as well as movies and books you could check out for free with your Disney ID. I enjoyed their spaghetti. And the fact that I could get a bagel for breakfast for 80 cents. Meanwhile resort guests pay for one bagel the amount you could pay for a full bag or two at a store.

ºoº See ya real soon!