36-hour day
To put this 36-hour Disney Candlelight rehearsal trip in perspective:
Salt Lake City to Orlando is 3107km:
Orlando to Madison is 1784km:
That's 4891km (or 3039 miles) in 36 hours.
I woke up at 4am and took a cab to SLC airport, sort-of dozed on the plane, and made it to Orlando in about four hours. Jameson fetched me from the airport and we went to Keke’s Breakfast Cafe, a great Florida chain that sadly has been bought by Denny’s, meaning it’s soon going to become garbage. Case in point, I have memories of fluffy pancakes and perfect eggs at Keke’s, and today we had to agree that our chicken and waffles were just “meh.” Mostly everything was very dry, and although it was good, it didn't taste as fresh as the Keke's we knew and loved.
At home I scrambled to do a load of laundry, repacked my suitcase with more winter things, gave Jameson his presents from the German bakery, and prepared for the rehearsal I’d jumped two time zones to make. I very much wanted a nap but can never make myself calm down enough for one.
Eventually it was 7:30pm, time to drive over to Disney Health Services, where I queued up with other musicians for a hearing test. Disney provides these tests to any employee that works in loud environments. When it was my turn I was put in a booth almost exactly like this, where I listened to a variety of tones and mashed a button every time I heard something.
The administrator said that my hearing was “high end of average”, which is great. Next we all had to complete a huge series of training modules about PPE and aerosoles and intellectual property and god knows what else because at this point I was 18 hours into my day, running on 3 hours of sleep, and my brain was melting out of my ears. We had all started around 8:30, and by the time training was done it was nearly 11pm, so we hustled over to “the Trap Room” which is kind of like a break room for entertainers.
On the way, this is what the Epcot ball looked like. Cute swirly marble.
From there to the stage where we launched right into a full run of the show.
(Stock image from DisneyLists.com. We can never take or share photos of rehearsals.)
The reason Disney holds entertainment rehearsals after the park closes is because they don’t want guests hearing, seeing, or documenting any rehearsal processes and/or shows that haven’t been revealed to the public yet. The only way for them to accomplish this (especially when almost all of the stages are outdoors) is to wait until the park is empty. We did three sessions, each a full run-through of all of the music with three different conductors, and with musicians rotating in and out. I had to attend all three sessions because this was the only rehearsal I could make, but other musicians only had to attend one or two tonight because they’ll be involved in more overnight rehearsals in coming days.
As a result of these rotations I got to meet four trombonists and a tuba player, some of whom I knew from social media and others who were new to me. Everyone was friendly and patient, which is just the vibe you need when slamming through a full show in the wee hours lol. By the end of the second set (around 1:50am I think) I was really feeling that I had been awake for close to 24 hours. I definitely made more mistakes than I normally would on simple Christmas music, but let's just say I was not alone, and it was very understandable.
And despite being deeply tired, I very much appreciated being there. So much, you guys. That I was able to participate at all was a miracle of timing. And this was my first time ever doing actual work as a Disney employee. I may not ever get called to work for them again after this, but I had today, this one day.
I looked around at the lovely Christmas-decorated stage, and the choir singers doing their absolute best, and the conductors showing such enthusiasm, and it really was heartwarming to think of how much effort everyone was putting into this rehearsal, and how it would make the final show great :)
Finally we were done and I was free to stumble home.
On the way out of the park I found another of the Danville, PA vintage mailboxes! (mentioned previously HERE.)
Now I had better bring a letter to send the next time I'm in Epcot, which might be December 6th to see Jameson play Jollywood!
Back at home I fell into bed and slept for a scant 2.5 hours before having to get up again and catch a cab to the airport for the flights to Madison. Everything was on time and went smoothly, and I even got an exit row seat so was able to nap a little better on the longer flight. A layover in Chicago wherein I got lunch and walked around and sucked down coffee to stay awake, then a final short flight to Madison where I retrieved my stuff and got an Uber to the hotel. It's the same hotel where we stayed for Tootsie just a year ago. Kinda cool to be in a city soon enough to remember where things are!
Despite being tired I went to get groceries so I could have dinner and a good breakfast tomorrow.
Then I unpacked and typed this up and went to sleep VERY early indeed, around 7:30pm.
What a wild ride. And all for one rehearsal.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Random shoutout to this EXCELLENT trombone case. I've had to check my trombone three times now, and the case has held up fantastically and my instrument has always come back to me safe and sound. Here it is sitting on top of god-knows-what-else before being loaded onto my United flight.
Salt Lake City to Orlando is 3107km:
Orlando to Madison is 1784km:
That's 4891km (or 3039 miles) in 36 hours.
I woke up at 4am and took a cab to SLC airport, sort-of dozed on the plane, and made it to Orlando in about four hours. Jameson fetched me from the airport and we went to Keke’s Breakfast Cafe, a great Florida chain that sadly has been bought by Denny’s, meaning it’s soon going to become garbage. Case in point, I have memories of fluffy pancakes and perfect eggs at Keke’s, and today we had to agree that our chicken and waffles were just “meh.” Mostly everything was very dry, and although it was good, it didn't taste as fresh as the Keke's we knew and loved.
At home I scrambled to do a load of laundry, repacked my suitcase with more winter things, gave Jameson his presents from the German bakery, and prepared for the rehearsal I’d jumped two time zones to make. I very much wanted a nap but can never make myself calm down enough for one.
Eventually it was 7:30pm, time to drive over to Disney Health Services, where I queued up with other musicians for a hearing test. Disney provides these tests to any employee that works in loud environments. When it was my turn I was put in a booth almost exactly like this, where I listened to a variety of tones and mashed a button every time I heard something.
The administrator said that my hearing was “high end of average”, which is great. Next we all had to complete a huge series of training modules about PPE and aerosoles and intellectual property and god knows what else because at this point I was 18 hours into my day, running on 3 hours of sleep, and my brain was melting out of my ears. We had all started around 8:30, and by the time training was done it was nearly 11pm, so we hustled over to “the Trap Room” which is kind of like a break room for entertainers.
On the way, this is what the Epcot ball looked like. Cute swirly marble.
Click to viewFrom there to the stage where we launched right into a full run of the show.
(Stock image from DisneyLists.com. We can never take or share photos of rehearsals.)
The reason Disney holds entertainment rehearsals after the park closes is because they don’t want guests hearing, seeing, or documenting any rehearsal processes and/or shows that haven’t been revealed to the public yet. The only way for them to accomplish this (especially when almost all of the stages are outdoors) is to wait until the park is empty. We did three sessions, each a full run-through of all of the music with three different conductors, and with musicians rotating in and out. I had to attend all three sessions because this was the only rehearsal I could make, but other musicians only had to attend one or two tonight because they’ll be involved in more overnight rehearsals in coming days.
As a result of these rotations I got to meet four trombonists and a tuba player, some of whom I knew from social media and others who were new to me. Everyone was friendly and patient, which is just the vibe you need when slamming through a full show in the wee hours lol. By the end of the second set (around 1:50am I think) I was really feeling that I had been awake for close to 24 hours. I definitely made more mistakes than I normally would on simple Christmas music, but let's just say I was not alone, and it was very understandable.
And despite being deeply tired, I very much appreciated being there. So much, you guys. That I was able to participate at all was a miracle of timing. And this was my first time ever doing actual work as a Disney employee. I may not ever get called to work for them again after this, but I had today, this one day.
I looked around at the lovely Christmas-decorated stage, and the choir singers doing their absolute best, and the conductors showing such enthusiasm, and it really was heartwarming to think of how much effort everyone was putting into this rehearsal, and how it would make the final show great :)
Finally we were done and I was free to stumble home.
On the way out of the park I found another of the Danville, PA vintage mailboxes! (mentioned previously HERE.)
Now I had better bring a letter to send the next time I'm in Epcot, which might be December 6th to see Jameson play Jollywood!
Back at home I fell into bed and slept for a scant 2.5 hours before having to get up again and catch a cab to the airport for the flights to Madison. Everything was on time and went smoothly, and I even got an exit row seat so was able to nap a little better on the longer flight. A layover in Chicago wherein I got lunch and walked around and sucked down coffee to stay awake, then a final short flight to Madison where I retrieved my stuff and got an Uber to the hotel. It's the same hotel where we stayed for Tootsie just a year ago. Kinda cool to be in a city soon enough to remember where things are!
Despite being tired I went to get groceries so I could have dinner and a good breakfast tomorrow.
Then I unpacked and typed this up and went to sleep VERY early indeed, around 7:30pm.
What a wild ride. And all for one rehearsal.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Random shoutout to this EXCELLENT trombone case. I've had to check my trombone three times now, and the case has held up fantastically and my instrument has always come back to me safe and sound. Here it is sitting on top of god-knows-what-else before being loaded onto my United flight.
