Tuesday, Day 3

Well, yet another amazing day out here in California. Of course, we were up with the sun, this time to experience a day of agriculture and Disney!

I began our day bright and early with an alarm piercing my ears at 5:30 am. I again ate one of our “breakfast packs” that we had received the night before.

By 6:30 we were on a bus and on our way to Scarborough Farms, a farming company that grows greens and herbs. While we were there, we saw their processing plant, a typical field and hoop sheds where they grow the smaller herbs. The cool part was that just last week I was watching How It's Made: Salad and then actually getting to see it was crazy!

The whole tour was led by a fragile looking woman by the name of Ann Stein.  She turned out to be anything but fragile and told us her entire business story and how she went to college to become something totally different, but ended up becoming an entrepreneur.

Next, we headed over to a small urban farm by the name of Silver Lake Farms. This “farm” was literally the back yard of a woman named Tara Kolla who wanted to find a niche in the community and make a living by growing. She found that the locals didn't have ready access to locally grown flowers and has built a successful company based on this need.

Our last stop in the agriculture industry was a restaurant called Tender Greens. They are a self-sustainable restaurant chain and we had the privilege of being treated to a feast of their finest dishes. It was probably some of the best food I’ve ever had…ever. We also had a nice chat with a few of the architects that help Tender Green stores from concept to opening.

Hard to imagine we’re only half way done with the day at this point, but we still had a full 3 hours to play around at Disney Land. We pretty much had free roam of both parks and spent our time riding as many attractions as we could. We spent time on Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, Soar’n, California Screamer, and Star Tours. All of which were incredibly detailed in which you felt like you were almost on the ride while you were just waiting in line.

By the end of our short time my head was spinning a bit and I forced myself to eat some salad. (Of course this salad was nowhere near as crisp as the greens I’d had directly from the ground.) As a group we headed out to get a rare glimpse behind the scenes of the Disney show “World of Color”. 

  To sum it up, the creation of the production is an incredibly intricate process that involves a lot of programming and many computers and a room full of generators. You don’t really think about how much time and money goes into one experience that you see, but they work around the clock to do the show and without their team of around 60 people, it wouldn't be possible.

We ended the night actually getting to see World of color in all its glory and now we are headed home to our lovely soft beds that I’m sure are just anxiously awaiting us. Until tomorrow,

Andrea Polis

Monday, Day 2

Even though I'm beyond exhausted right now, I would regret not keeping up with this blog.

We started off the day at the Wildlife Learning Center. We talked to a woman by the name of Brittany Whitlow who pretty much runs the show there. They only have about 130 animals (much less than a typical zoo), most being reptiles, but it was amazing what they do there. They educate kids and bring animals to schools to talk to people about them.

They were located right in the middle of this neighborhood which was kind of strange and very cool. We got to measure out the correct amounts of food for a bunch of different animals. We then got to make some enrichment opportunities for them as well.We basically just put a bunch of twigs and branches into a big tub and sprayed some almond water on it all for them to explore.

Next we got dirty and cleaned the cages of a couple different species of mammals. We tried to clean a bobcats cage, but the little guy wouldn't cooperate with us.

We ended the day with a couple different animal encounters. From an albino boa constrictor to a desert fox named Buster, to getting to hold Newton, a  little owl. Overall it was an experience that was more than memorable.

Next we headed over to Dolby laboratories where we ate a filing lunch of sandwiches and salad and headed into Dolby's own personal Atmos surround sound. Basically its the newest technology in the sound world where not only are you surrounded by speakers, but the sound can be pin-pointed to a specific speaker which intensifies the feeling.

Dr. Poppy Crum talked about the science behind the things they do at Dolby and how they've discovered that contrary to past hypothesis, the stimulus is not as important as what's actually going on in the brain, and reacting to it.

After a free gift bag and of course a few pictures we headed back to the hotel where we were handed dinner on our way up the get ready for the premier! I got as dolled up as I could with what limited supplies I brought, but I think I pulled it off.

Many of the other girls were completely freaking out. My excitement wasn't as extreme, more just incredibly intreseted to see them in person, walking, talking and breathing like any other human.

We saw a huge range of celebrities, and I'll try to list as many as I can remember. The Hemsworth Brothers, Anthony Hopkins (I told him I loved him in Silence of the lambs), Zachary Levi (Gave me the smolder), Thomas Hiddleston (Incredibly Nice), Micheal Rooker, Stan Lee (Incredibly funny), Debby Ryan, Bradly Perry, Zachary Abel and probably more that I'm forgetting.

We finished off the night sitting behind some ABC stars and watching the Thor movie. We'll be seeing it in  Dolby Atmos on Friday along with our documentary short. I'm so excited! But I'm also drained, so until tomorrow, Thor Rules!

Sunday, Day 1

WE MADE IT! Dad and I are currently de-compressing from and hour long talk about anything and everything we'll be doing this week. Wow is all I have to say.

People would kill for the kinds of things were going to be doing this week. Tomorrow were going to the RED CARPET premeire of the new Thor movie! We're actually getting the chance to meet the cast. The poor parents aren't allowed near it however and have to watch from across the street.

One thig I've noticed is the security for some of these activities is going to be very extreme. For the Dolby laboratory and behind the scenes at Disney land we can only bring ourselves and the clothes on our back. We'll be seeing behind the scenes in places that the public is never allowed. In fact, well be touring the sound stage for Marvel agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and its so secretive that they have special programs where the company can only see it for an hour before its deleted.


The ride here was absolutely fantastic! We met up with our driver George and we so happened to get the stretch limo! He also gave us the special privilege of complimentary drinks that are usually reserved for limo renters. I felt like a celebrity driving through the streets of LA.

Every night we get a little "breakfast pack" for the next morning that has some goodies to eat the next day. We also got a pack of free stuff including Thor T-shirts, mugs, Thor soundtrack, backpack, and disney journal. Not to mention the gift cards we recieved for shops in this area along with subway and Starbucks gift cards.

This is all so much to handle its kind of a dream. I'll be journaling questions and things I learn throughout the day so I can hopefully blog about them that night! Until tomorrow, night!

Day Before

Well now I've entered the packing stage of my trip. I think I'm going a little overboard with the amount of clothes I'm bringing, but better to be over prepared than under.

I also decided it was about time to re-watch the Thor. I would feel a bit pathetic if I failed to understand the story line of the whole movie. I have hopes that I may get the chance to meet the stars of the movie, but that's just a small hope and one that I don't really expect to come true.

Just thinking about what I'll be doing the next 6 days gets my heart pumping! I am crossing my fingers that the weather is nice and we get to spend some time outside.

I have a feeling that with how many activities we have planned that I'm going to fall asleep as my face hits the pillow each night.

I AM SO EXCITED! That's all for now :)

3 Days Prior

Well, here I am sitting at the same desk where I made my 5 minute video.

This whole thing still feels like a dream. I remember thinking "There is no way this is ever going to happen"
A couple days later I received a phone call disproving that.

Departure time for me is this Sunday at 11:15, at the Airport in LA there will be a man with my last name on it to take me to the Lowes Hotel in California.

We don't quite know our schedule yet, but whatever it is its sure to be amazing!