Scaling Everest.

I climbed Mount Everest yesterday.

Well, Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom. One of my managers, Chris, set up a walk-through tour of the ride before the park opened. Considering I got about four hours of sleep the night before, I had to peel myself from the comfort of my bed in order to get there on time. Taking an early bus at 5:30, we -- Vero, Kyle, Christina, and I-- arrived at the Animal Kingdom before the sun even began to think of cresting the sea. And guess who wasn't there when he said he would be? Oh, Manager Chris!

Other-Chris, a coke-stocker that looks like Clark Kent (and the one that helped me the night Jorge did the nice thing of unloading my cart), met us at the gates. It wasn't until 6:42 that the others came. Finally!

I've only ever seen Hollywood at closing time, empty, with but a few stragglers here and there as though they were caught in time. The music still plays, old 30s tunes, The Way You Look Tonight, as you trundle by with a dolly. It's beautiful to watch the spotlights swinging overhead, to see the big blue sorcerer's hat twinkle in the dark. Animal Kingdom is different. It was poignant with awakening life. The birds own the park, the apes are active in the predawn twilight. When the guests are away, the animals will play!


Going to Animal Kingdom made me remember why I love Disney as fervently as I do. There is a story behind every structure, every painting and prop, from the legend of the yeti to the tire tracks beneath your feet; it all means something. Bike tire tracks in the lower ring means people travel by bike, but as you approach Everest, the tracks change into yak tracks because they're better suited for the higher, steeper elevations. The stacks of wood on the roofs of shops aren't for burning, but to signify how wealthy the person that owns the business is. The more wood, the richer the business. Pictures of the wealthiest family hang in every 'shop,' and the bigger/clearer the picture is, the wealthier the owner is; this goes for the frame as well. It's astounding. After a while, I stopped thinking I was even in the U.S.; I whole-heartedly believed that I was in Anandapur. The atmosphere and thought put into everything is amazing.

Everything is also either authentic, was used, or is a direct replica. Most of the backpacks, ice picks, and tour things were used by the Imagineers that helped to build Everest.



Anyway, our tour of Everest was a walking one. Let me reiterate: we walked. Everest. That's about thirteen stories, lots of metal beams criss-crossing one another, but not touching 'because if they touched, Everest would crack and potentially collapse. It already has some hairline fractures from the vibrations." Safe-D begins with them! But seriously... Cam-- our guide-- told us that it takes so many tons of power to operate the Yeti (who was under major construction that day and was hidden behind a sheer net). The Yeti is MASSIVE! So big, in fact, that it can't leave the mountain now. It used to come down and swing its arm towards the train, but the spine in it broke and started spewing oil or some such thing. It looked like a giant puppet when they showed us.

So then they took us thirteen stories up, all the way to where the car meets the broken track and turns backwards.



Um, so Kyle offered to hold my hand up the steps and walked to my right, where there was no railing. He really is one of my BFFs, lol! I returned the favor and lead him around a locust.

Just chillin' on the step. Stoop-bug's afraid to leave the stoop!

At one point, the tour guide asked me if I even wanted to follow down the steps, because they were steep there. As terrified as I am about heights, I can't pass up an opportunity like this. How many people get the chance to walk backstage, to tour the inside of a main attraction? So I sucked it up and put on my man pants. It was amazing... I did have Kyle take the pictures, though, just because I was afraid to let go of the hand rail, haha.



I was up here, you guys! Sooo scary!


But the adrenaline rush was worth it. It wasn't until I saw a bird wheel by at my shoulder that I realized how high up we were. It was exhilarating.

Cam and I! And my three layered tan....

I walked this!!!

Afterward, we had got two ride-throughs of Everest: one with the lights off, and one with the lights. The beeest part of waking up, is Yeti in your cup!



Since I worked at 12:30 that day, I milked what hours I had left with my ODF family. ODFamily is what we call it... or, well, OUTDOOR FOOLS~ That's what ODF stands for. We rode Dinosaur and hung out in the giftshop, where we donned everything with a Mickey Premium on it. That's our main seller and the object of which I'm trying to collect! I have a pin and a purse with it and I'm currently looking for a Vinylmation with it....

And then we took pictures with a duckbill.

We're dinosaurs!!

I love my ODF crew. I hope we have another backstage tour soon!!