“This is Not a Normal Break Down”

Closing Space Mountain is not difficult and generally takes about fifteen minutes to close both the Alpha and Omega tracks. Tonight, however, we were being trained on how to handle emergency stops, and evacuations. This included causing the ride to break down so we could fix it.

After we E-stopped the track we practiced going out and jogging rockets from place to place on the track like we would in a normal evacuation. When we got to Zone 10 (actually one of the first zones on the track) we found the rocket right where we knew it would be. We called the people on the computers to help us get that section of track going. We tried the first time…. nothing. We tried the second time…… nothing. We powered down the ride and restarted it…… nothing. In the end we had to call maintenance.

When maintenance got there one of our managers came with him. We managed to get the train off the track and finish evacuation training in time to clock out without going over our shift. It was quite impressive. N o pictures. Pictures backstage are a big no-no.

Besides that, today has been pretty leisurely. I got up at 9 a.m. and went and worked out which was kind of fun. Then I went to work a little early and saw different parts of the backstage area. I had a low blood sugar today while we were training. After 11 years on a pump one would think that it wouldn’t be such a big deal when I can handle emergency situations like an unexpected and untimely low. We had a scheduled break about a half hour after I started feeling icky and didn’t feel like the low was bad enough to call for an early break. SO! I started a temporary basal rate that would only last for that half hour and would cut all insulin from my pump. For those of you who don’t know I get a steady amount of insulin every hour. By increasing or decreasing that amount I can increase or decrease my blood sugar. Tonight I stopped it completely for just a half hour. I tested at dinner and I was only 73. I was so excited. Such a little thing, but it made me happy. :)

After all that I did ask my trainer what I would do in a normal work situation if that happened. Sometimes when I’m low I don’t think very clearly and would rather not put someone in danger because of that. He said I’d call control and they’d send an immediate replacement so I could have a quick break.

So that’s all for tonight.