007 - 3/22/10

Today was spent driving from Dover, DE to Camden, NJ to go to the Adventure Aquarium. Totally amazing place, even if it was almost $25 to get it! I'd suggest going there if you're in the Philadelphia area for sure!




I just wanted to quickly tell you guys about a few of my favorite things I think you should do that I’m pretty sure are only at DLR, not WDW. I’ve been asked about DLR, and didn’t really know what to talk about. These two things, however, were hands down my favorite part of my experience at DCP.


Academic Field Experiences! They’re opportunities that only College Program get to do! They fill up quickly, but they honestly can’t be missed. Sadly, I was only able to participate in one before I left the program, but it was amazing. The AFE I participated in was the Space Mountain Experience, but there are a handful offered every program. The ones I know for sure were offered are below:




  • Haunted Mansion - Backstage Tour
  • Backstage Tour of Disney’s Pyrotechnics
  • Finding Nemo Expedition
  • Space Mountain Experience
  • Backstage Experience of Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams




I was told that after I left, there were a few others, including a tour of Walt’s apartment on Main Street. I also heard that the month before I got to DLR, there was a Tower of Terror Experience as well. The Space Mountain Experience was really really cool. First, we rode Space Mountain as you normally would. Then, the fun started. First they turned off all the lights, which wasn’t really too terribly different. I made the mistake of riding in the front row, so I could still see the green blinking lights on the track, so the element of surprise wasn’t really gone. The coolest part though, was riding with all the lights on. You don’t realize exactly how close you are to the other tracks until you’ve seen it with your own eyes. It was intense, and definitely made me rethink putting my arms up on the ride after that.


From what I heard, some AFEs were more exciting than others, which makes perfect sense. Those experiences were honestly one of my favorite things about DCP though. I don’t know if WDW does anything along those lines, but I sure hope so!


Special Events! I was lucky enough to get to work Miley’s Sweet 16, and it was so awesome. Mainly because I didn’t really do a lot of working, more just wandering around. I called the ODV office every ten minutes for an hour straight, because I wasn’t scheduled to work but they said they might need extras. Finally, the lead gave up and told me to come in. I was so excited! They didn’t really have anything for me to do, so they told me to just go to Fantasyland and see if people needed help. I was told to walk backstage, but that would have taken me about 30 minutes, considering the ODV office is behind Splash Mountain. So, rebel that I am, I walked out the far end of Critter Country and took my sweet time going to Fantasyland. It was amazing exactly how all-out Disney had gone for this party. Makes sense though, considering each ticket was $250! Over the course of the night, I walked past Kobe Bryant and his extremely angry wife and children (we’re talking a foot away), I saw the Naked Brothers Band with their VIP tour guide on multiple occasions (and no, it wasn’t the Jonas Brothers, although a few people wanted to fight me on that), I had a friend tell off Mr. Jay (of ANTM) and have Tyra Banks apologize to him for Mr. Jay’s behavior (he was being a diva), watched Miley Cyrus perform on the Rivers of America in an extremely short skirt, and I was almost run over by a line about 15 limos deep backstage next to the ODV office.


It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I’m so glad I got to say I helped in making that magic come to life. I wish that I had been at DLR longer, because it would have been really fun to cross-train and do Special Events. If WDW offers cross training of that sort, I am totally signing up!

1 comments:

Kristin said...

I love Adventure Aquarium, it's not far from my house!

If you ever want to go again for cheaper, NBC10 has promotional days (this year they had one January 10th and they are having another in October, although you'll hopefully be down for the CP, but maybe when you get back!) where its $10 per person, regardless of age. I love the aquarium, so I was fine sucking up dealing with the crowds because I don't think it's worth $25, especially since I've seen it before.

Also, if you go back, park on Market Street at the closest parking meters. I think it cost $1 an hour, so it's a third of the price of aquarium parking. It's like a 5 minute walk, right near the courthouse so it's safe!

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