Memoirs of a Cast Member

Dreams do come true.

2012-10-23T19:42:00.000-07:00

So, this is the end. The last and final post. And it's about time, too. Basically, I had an amazing last few days in Florida. My family and I visited the parks (which was super cool as both my brother and I could let them in, doubling the amount of free passes for them) ... (and also super cool because we know the nooks and crannies of each park and the fastest way to get to the best places, also making the experience freaking awesome!) I had my graduation ceremony (which you can see below - yes, I got grad Ears!) and that last night watching the Wishes fireworks show in the Magic Kingdom with every special person that I met this summer really did make me cry. And I'm not a huge crier. So it was certainly *magical*. We received these neat little boxes with room for a photo on the lid, graduation diplomas, and took pics with Mickey and Minnie one last time, then we jumped on the monorail, stopped at the Polynesian for some final Dole Whips, jumped back on the monorail, and caught the beginning of the light parade (which I watched twice - once with Jeremy and friends and again with my Brits!) I ALSO bought some Magic Kingdom ice cream on top of that, and mine was a sugar-free flavour - I actually believe it was soy. My trip home wasn't too eventful, I flew home with my father and then Mom, Jeremy, and Liam drove home a few days later. Ben and Abbi left before my program completed. To all the future cast members (or hopeful applicants) who are reading this; it's an unbelievable experience that you will NEVER EVER duplicate or match. Seriously, I was at odds about doing it right up until April but I cannot stress enough about what an UNFORGETTABLE, CRAZY, WONDERFUL, and of course MAGICAL time I had in Florida. It was so worth it. And so here is the closure to my blog, Memoirs of a Cast Member. It's October, and life has moved on, but literally every single day I get a comment or a "like" or a friendly photo from SOMEONE that I met and befriended at Disney, and I can't help but smile with every reminder I get of my three months down south. Oh, and one last thing: I now work seasonal at the Disney Store near my school. Let the magical moments never end! ------------------------------------------- (here are some random photos that weren't included; pics from a lovely day with Carissa and Dylan, a joy ride on Space Mountain, some Grad pics, my home of three months, a Disney Dollar that I gave to my roomies and Brits as a souvenir, my fellow CP coworkers and me, and Christmas in July. Have a great one everybody! Thanks for coming along for the trip!)

The Famjam's in Town

2012-07-29T18:57:00.001-07:00

So a couple of days ago Mom, Ben (older brother), Liam (younger brother), and Abbi (girlfriend of Ben)drove down and have been staying at my grandparents' condo in Clearwater. They've been driving an hour and a half every day to come see me at the Contemporary and go to the parks, and boy do they take a lot of energy! Not the company of course, I love having them around, but walking in the sun around Magic Kingdom all day and then heading off for a 6 hour evening shift is a bit draining. Jer and I bestowed Liam with our supply of gifts and took him pin-trading and getting sorcerer cards. We even were able to take the famjam into Cast Connections! Today we're all taking a break from eachother, and storing up our energy for another adventurous day tomorrow. They'll be moving house to a townhouse close to Vista Way, and I'll spend my morning at work followed by an afternoon in the park and spending the night at the townhouse. Tuesday is an evening out with my roomies(the group I went to Miami with), Wednesday is my last day of work, Thursday is our official graduation, Dad's arrival in Florida, and a huge group event of watching the Wishes fireworks show one last time at MK, and finally Friday brings the teary goodbyes and flights home (or for my lucky Brits, an excursion to New York City. So jealous!)Afterwards the family will vacation in Florida for a few more days and then finally I shall return home to Canada. There's A LOT waiting for me to do when I get back, so I think I'll be sure to spend lots of time socializing and relaxing in the Florida sun here before I leave once and for all. In the meantime, this evening Amy, Charlie, and I have been busying about cleaning (and I mean REALLY cleaning) our apartment as we have an inspection tomorrow. If we fail the inspection, we all have to pay 25 bucks. If we pass with flying colours - a free box of Ferrero Rocher truffles! My hands are prunish and all I smell is chemicals, but I've got my eyes on the prize. Off to work!

I was in Miami, trick

2012-07-21T11:15:00.001-07:00

And it was AWESOME! Here's how it happened - me and my roommates who were going were sitting in our room around 6pm painting our toenails and sharing a bucket of frozen yogurt (or Froyo, as my British friends call it) and waiting around for Wil the Photographer to text. The Brits were promoters for the trip, so they had to deliver the names on their guest list and money to the guy who arranged the whole thing, Wil. At around 9pm we all finally had gotten our stuff ready and finished what we needed to do, then went to bed to get as much sleep as possible before our 2am start. I was so excited I hardly slept, but I didn't even feel fatigued until the next day because of how much went on during our day. We dolled ourselves up, donned our swimsuits and clothes, and met up with the others who were coming with us before heading out at 3:30am. After picking up snacks and waiting at the Wendys where the EIGHT buses were supposed to pick us up, my Canadian roommate Sarah realised as her contact suddenly popped out that she had left her glasses at the apartment. She is even more blind than me without her glasses, so I went with her to guide her through our complex and we ran back as fast as we could. The buses were just arriving at the time, and despite pushing to the front of every group, we still ended up on the last bus. Four hours, multiple pit stops, and a lot of dozing on the bus and we were there! Yes, I did listen to LMFAO's song as we arrived in the city. We all did.

Before setting up camp on the beach, we all got together for an enormous group photo. Following that, we got our "free" t-shirts then slathered on some sunscreen and spent the next few hours in the sea and soaking up the Miami sun.

(These pics were taken by none other than Wil himself.) On our list of things to do was also visit Dash, a store owned and decorating by the Kardashian sisters, and lunch at TGI Fridays. First of course came shampooing and rinsing off the salt from our hair in the shower, an accomplishment in itself.Then we split up, as some of us wanted to do a little extra shopping, and I ended up joining Amy and Vicky as we ventured the fashion streets of the city. We passed a cop car that had Miami Beach printed on its side and stopped for a quick photo. Here's mine:

(thanks to Amy for the photo.) Two hours later, as we were sitting down for one of the most delicious restaurant meals I have ever consumed, a familiar face from the first Miami trip of Amy and Vicky popped up at the window - a not-so-normal man dressed in a leopard print bikini as well as polka dot bra underneath and matching pink lipstick shook what his Momma gave him in front of the dining guests. We went out to say hi and ended up having a lovely (if not completely true) conversation with him about all the countries he's visited and radio stations that have him state the weather and the news on his little headset there. I have to say, he was QUITE the fella.

After our long drive home, we quickly got changed and re-made up our faces for a night out at B-Dubs (Buffalo Wild Wings.) My hands practically glowed with the big black exes on them declaring that I am under 21, but I still had a great time dancing and meeting some cool people. Not to mention, our taxi ride home was only 6 bucks. After being up for a solid and unforgettable 24 hours, I hit the sack and slept soundly.

Pirates and Pals

2012-07-16T09:21:00.000-07:00

So here's what's been happening recently: I have been finally working a bunch of 8 hour night shifts and spending a lot of mornings at Jer's playing magic, neopets, and talking about home. Also, he cooks me breakfast and makes hazelnut coffee everytime I go over, which is a plus. Some mornings (well, early afternoon as I get up around 10:30 everyday) I go walking in the sunshine or lay outside by the pool with my roommate Amy, but every afternoon always ends in an evening at the Contemporary. I can honestly say that I enjoy my job, as I have really gotten to know my coworkers and coordinators and learned the ins and outs. I think it's going to be hard to say goodbye to everybody, despite how much I'm looking forward to being home again. Last night was a new experience, as I got to participate in Pirates and Pals. It's a little thing done by the resort where adults and children alike can dress up like pirates, meet and greet Hook and Smee form Peter Pan, eat pirate cake and other free food, then go on a cruise boat to watch the fireworks in the middle of the lake. Outside of the conference room where this all happens, some Merchandise Cast Members set up a small area of pirate merchandise, also dress in costume, and play around with the kids. I was beaten in two separate sword fights, and even tackled to the ground by one energetic boy. It's alright though, I met a family of Canadians from Thunder Bay whose daughter shares the same name as me, and was rewarded with a hug from her :)Tonight is my last night of work until Miami on Wednesday! I. Am. So. Excited!

So today at work a man asked me about a Merida doll and before long I had learned his daughter studied french and went to Switzerland, his other studies german and is in Germany now, and he studies Gaelic and has traveled all over Europe for his job. Then he came back with his daughter and we spoke in french which attracted a family from Quebec and for about 20 minutes we were all standing around talking in Greek, French and English (his wife is Greek) and yeah. It was epic.

2012-07-11T22:50:00.001-07:00

A Date in Downtown Disney

2012-07-11T08:31:00.001-07:00

So, I know I haven't posted in a while and I'm sorry for that. Time has been going by really fast in the last week, and I have been out more often than usual. Without further ado, here is my update: I managed to catch a summer cold, went Downtown Disney twice and played around enjoying the warm, summer evenings, finished my deployment at the Grand Floridian and must now somehow find time to return my costume, and I've signed up for a bus trip to Miami! Kim and I, a fellow friend form York who is also on the program, met by accident at Cast Connections on one of my days off. We got our groceries and decided to spend the rest of our day together, and so met up again on the bus to Downtown Disney. We had made plans to go see a movie and after much deliberation, decided on the Amazing Spiderman. It was around 8:30pm by the time we actually arrived downtown, and since we had the options of any three showings around 10 o clock, we ventured to seek out Cap'n Jacks, a cheap but cute little seafood restaurant for dinner. Despite it being a Monday evening the wait time was still 5 minutes, so we put our names down and went to play around until it was time to eat. First we went to Ghiradelli's, a delicious chocolate shop where there is always a nice lady standing by the entrance with a basket of free chocolate samples. We quickly learned through observation that if you say "Thank you" to the first sample, she'll hand you another. We went there twice, just for that :P Next we wandered off to Basin, an equally-delicious smelling soap shop of custom, hand-made soaps, soaks, scrubs, and more. As is custom, we washed our hands using the shea scub testers at the provided sinks and once our hands were fragranced and soft went around smelling and admiring all the shop had to offer. We managed to pass half an hour in there, and so by the time we exited the shop realised it was time to head back to Cap'n Jacks. When we got there, the hostess was about to ask us to wait another 15 minutes when a particularly friendly waiter told us he had one of there nicest seats in the house available. Apparently, these seats are so grand because they are situated just in front of a view over the lake that shows the bright lights of the other side of Downtown Disney. It also shows the EPCOT fireworks off in the distance, which we sat down just in time to see. After our spectacular meal of crab cakes and salmon, (at a discounted price thanks to us being Cast Members!) we slowly made our to the AMC theatre and bought tickets for the final showing of Spiderman at 10:55. By the time we had gotten our drinks and sat down in a still-empty theatre, it was only 10:30, so we each raised the arm bar of the seats to either side of us and fashioned a sort of couch to lounger on as we watched the movie. It was on of the most comfortable movies I have ever enjoyed watching. Also, the Amazing Spiderman was not at all disappointing, so I would recommend it to anyone who is still on the fence :) We left the cinema at just after 1am and by the time we made it home, showered, and to bed, it was after three and I fell asleep immediately. The perfect end to another wonderful day.

Working at the Grand Floridian??

2012-07-03T10:11:00.001-07:00

So, this week I am yet again deployed - this time at the grandest of them all, the Grand Floridian! I needed to get my costume, a period-themed green suit, from the costuming used by the Polynesian and GF, so I left early and met a girl from Australia while on the bus. She walked with me across the sweltering parking lot (why do they make these places so far away? I'll never know) and by the time we got to the building, we were both sweating. I found a skirt and blouse for my) costume just fine, and when I went to try on the jacket(which also fit fine) the lady who worked there insisted that I try another one the next size up. When I got to my work location, my coworkers mentioned that my jacket looked a little loose and thanks to the padded shoulders, makes me look like a box on top. Oh well, I find besides the awkward jacket, the costume is quite lovely. I promise I'll get a picture of myself soon! In the meantime, here's a few online photos of my new work location and costume :)

So I worked at their merchandise shop Mickey Mouse Merchantile, where if you simply stand outside the doors to greet guests, you can see down to the first floor and hear the gorgeous piano music being played, switched routinely with a jazzy band that consists of a cellist, pianist, bassist, trombone, and trumpet. Man, can that trumpet handle a solo. I couldn't stop myself from dancing along several times. With that costume, I felt like I was on broadway! :P At one point, the piano played three songs in a row that came straight off ne of my playlists on my iPod. It was really cool. Going back to the Contemporary where they play the same CD all day long is going to be hard. Fifteen minutes before close, we had a family(or rather, group of several families) come in and drop 1,050 dollars one one purchase! WITHOUT discount of any kind! Apparently, the lady who headed the group and paid for the order was married to a prince of some kind, and they had rented out an entire floor for their party! They cleaned us out, let me tell you. At the end of the night, when we were sitting at the bus stop, a bride and her party of bridesmaids and other guests came walking down the sidewalk right behind us! Apparently, this is a regular occurrence at the Grand Floridian. An average of three weddings a day or so I've heard. It's like another world!

Puzzles and glass windows

2012-06-30T07:59:00.001-07:00

SO I was working a dew days ago, and myself and two other CP's (college program cast members) had closed up the shop and were counting up the money in our tills. We close at eleven, but every night without fail someone tries to get in to just pick up a few more items. For instance, tonight we had to turn away one man who said he was desperate to buy batteries for his four year old kid. We would have let him in, but our tills had already been shut down and t was impossible for us to ring him up. Even after explaining this, he continued to push on. He said, and I quote "You don't know what it's like!" He started actually sliding open the door and walking in, so I went up to him and guided him back out and wish him a good night, letting him know we opened at 7:30 the next morning. As we continued counting our money, we heard a loud *Thunk* and thought someone might be knocking on the glass door to get our attention, as they have often done. I went out to investigate and discovered that in fact, a woman had walked headlong INTO the door and had banged her face against it, then quickly walked away while laughing it off. I made sure she was okay, and went back in the shop where my coworkers and I couldn't help but burst out laughing. She had actually left a facial imprint on the door where she had hit it! It made my night. I have had quite a few more opportunities to practice my french with some guests, most who are from Quebec. I met one lady yesterday who spoke no English and was from France, and when my coworker called me over to speak to her I felt so useful! I still start buzzing after every French conversation. I think my boyfriend and coworkers are getting sick of me telling the same story of how I got to meet french people over and over again :P Ah well, you've got to share with those who care, right? Yesterday, Jeremy and me had some free time in the morning, so we went walking to Dunkin Donuts for coffee and Dollar Tree for food. I had gotten him a Star Wars pin from work and had his Berkenstalks sent from our mom, and get this, when I gave them to him he actually HUGGED me. Twice! Then at the donut place he bought me a bagel and coffee. It was so nice. After finding two Star Wars puzzles at the dollar store, we upheld family tradition and brought them back to Jeremy's to put together while listening and singing along to Jack Johnson. At one point Jer's roommate, Pat, joined us in both puzzle-making and singing, and we belted out the chorus all together on every song until both puzzles were finished and I had to leave for work. Needless to say, I was in a great mood when I got there.

Rain, rain, and a still broken camera cord.

2012-06-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

It was coming down in buckets all day yesterday... so naturally, Jeremy and I went to go play at the Magic Kingdom. Jeremy, being an outdoor worker, has a work-issued see-through rain jacket - and matching pants - which he put on for the occasion. We fought the exiting crowds through the torrents of water falling from the sky to get to the flooded Main Street and decided to relive our childhoods by jumping in puddles and splashing around without a care in the world. Our time was limited to 2 and a half hours as I had to take the monorail over to work, so we ran around Adventureland and played our Sorcerer cards (for those of you who haven't heard of them, you definitely need to try it if/when you come down!) We got sick of it after while, so we went to the bakery where I ate a very fancy bagel for lunch and then walked around the merchandise shops to waste some time. We watched a glass-blower make a vase in the style of Minnie Mouse, and traded some pins with the cast members in the Emporium. Finally, we headed over to the Contemporary where I bought some gifts and introduced Jeremy to some of my coworkers (one spanish lady named Theresa told me "ello es guapo como tu" meaning "he is attractive like you." I thought that was sweet, and it was fun talking about my brother in front of him without his understanding.) Apparently last night we had a tornado warning, which is scary, but I slept through any storms and was lulled by the rain into sleeping until 12pm, so it turned out alright after all. We are supposed to have constant clouds, wind, and rain until who knows when, which would usually be ideal movie-watching weather, but the Vista Way Library computers are down and I am left with no choice but to socialize. Woe is me. Perhaps Wednesday will be Universal Studios day!

Did you know some people call a bag, a sack?

2012-06-19T08:51:00.001-07:00

I was cashing out a boy at one the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and he was just getting a couple of snacks, so I asked him, "Would you like a bag?". He then gave me the strangest look, as if I had started speaking some other language. "U-uh what?" he asked me. Having served people from all over the country, I used a term I knew he would know, "Would you like a sack?" He responded with "Um, yes please ma'am." and we went on with our way. I have to say, I think it's just the cutest thing when people from the southern states call me Ma'am, especially the kids. It's definitely not something I'm not used to hearing very often in Canada. Life is still moving down here in Florida - we're past the halfway point by about a day or two. I am continuing to get evening shifts, meaning I can't take the bus to Walmart as it starts going after one. Evening shifts also mean my social life is even further limited, as most of my friends work day shifts or have already made plans. It's fine with me though, I usually sleep in late in the morning, clean up the house a bit, then go run an errand before work, and I still have enough energy to visit the gym afterwards. Oh, but I have to say that coffee has been a big help. I am starting to have the need to shop creep up on me. I would really like to save my money for school, but Disney merchandise is really addictive! So far I have managed to contain myself and even work extra hours, but who knows how long that will last? I have already made up my mind to buy a polyester kimono before I go home, so thats 150 bucks out of the pocket. Anyways, not much exciting has been going on this week. Tomorrow is my day off and I'm hoping to get to the Magic Kingdom, so I'll be keeping you posted! Cheers!

What a week!

2012-06-15T22:32:00.000-07:00

I have to say, I've been having a wonderful time in the past few days. I have gotten to talk with some loved ones from home, finally made some decisions on gifts for people, started making plans for the school year, and been working at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and having a blast doing it. Wednesday morning, my roommates and a few extra friends got dressed up for a ladies' breakfast buffet at the deluxe hotel the Grand Floridian. We were celebrating Vicky's birthday, the friend of my roommate Amy, and it was nice because she was given a celebratory cupcake at the end of breakfast (which she had no room to fit in her stomach of course.)The place we went is a character meet-and-greet breakfast, and so in one sitting we had the pleasure of making acquaintances with Pooh, Tigger, Mary Poppins, Alice, and my personal favourite, the Mad Hatter. That's one more achievement to check off my bucket list! I worked that evening, but Thursday was my day off and so I used it to satisfy my Disney park craving by visiting Disney's Animal Kingdom. It was my first visit! I went with my friend Val, and we of course went on Everest and visited all the well-known attractions. By the time the afternoon showers started, we were both tired and ready to head home. Val took a nap and I took a much-needed trip to Walmart to stock up on supplies. By the time I got to bed it was late, and I had an early morning shift today so I relaxed and eventually went to bed. Now, at the Lodge there are two different gift shops on either side of the huge complex, and today was my first shift at the smaller one of the two. I got to work just before the sun rose, but it was still quite warm out even while it was dark. My shift started at 6:30 and as I was there a bit early, I took advantage of the fact that you can watch the animals grazing just outside the window of the area I was in. How cool is that? This morning there were zebras out, so I snuck a quick pic and then went to punch in for work. I am used to sleeping in and then working until 12am, so today it was tough to wake up, even with the benefit of free coffee to the Cast Members at Johari (the gift shop's name.) I was granted an early release (don't worry mom, it was just an hour earlier than I was scheduled) and went home for a nap. At around seven I woke up just as Amy came in to settle down for her own nap. I think she intended to get up and waste some energy before going back to bed again, but it is currently 1am and she hasn't emerged. I'll probably go in and join her after this. Anyways, I got up and returned my movies as well as rented some more, cooked the sweet potatoes that I had bought last week (baked with butter and cinnamon - delicious!)and now here I am. Tomorrow is my last day at the Lodge, but I have applied to pick up a shift there next week on one of my days off just because I know I'll miss it! Last but not least are a few photos from our character breakfast, taken by the other girls. I finally bought a cheap SD card and am no longer limited to just 10 pictures a day, but of course I accidentally seemed to have dropped a chair on my camera cable, so it's now out of commission. I'll try to fix it by my next post. Until then!

The Animal Kingdom Lodge and Sibling time

2012-06-12T13:19:00.002-07:00

So, this week I have been deployed (meaning my work location is temporarily moved to another area) to Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. That means a new costume, and as the Lodge is done up in an obviously African-inspired design, I get to wear a westernized African traditional outfit as my costume. It is incredibly comfortable though, and the store that I work in - the Zawadi Marketplace- has some very cool decor. Today, an American man approached me and asked "Pourquoi est-ce que tu parles francais? (Why do you speak french?)" to which I replied "Parceque je suis Canadienne!" We then had a lovely conversation in French, and I learned that he was a elementary school French teacher. After he walked away, I turned back to my coworkers who exclaimed, "This girl speaks wicked french!" It was a nice moment for me :) This evening my shift starts at 6:30, so I had some time to get some shopping done. Jeremy and I met up on the bus to Cast Connections where we had fun playing with the leftover merchandise from Star Wars Weekends and finding great bargains. I got a nice summer dress and Jeremy, well he got a backpack that looks like a little Chewbacca(forgive me if I misspelled that) is getting a piggy-back ride with a matching T-shirt. We headed to the next store over and browsed around Property Control, where we found some neat costume pieces that have been retired. We bought matching waistcoats. After picking up the necessary foodstuffs, we took the bus home and met up again at the pool for some quality tanning time. It's the first time I have actually laid down to tan since I got here. It was a scorcher, and we called it quits after about an hour and a half in favour of eating ice cream and playing Magic in Jer's apartment. Guess who beat her teacher twice in a row? That's all that's going on for now. My roommate's friend is celebrating her birthday with a Character Brunch at the Grand Floridian tomorrow, so expect more photos to come!

Epcot (again) and Bed Bugs

2012-06-09T07:41:00.001-07:00

Let's start with the most recent and disturbing occurrences in my life and make our way to the happier ones. My room is located on the ground level in the corner right beside a garden, and so when it rains, tiny little ants (that I was told are apparently in the spider family) make their way somehow through my wall and onto and into everything. My dresser, my drawers, my laptop screen, heck I went to go and fry some eggs this morning, and guess what started crawling out of the pan once I had turned on the heat? I have woken up with tiny bite marks on my arms too, so yep, they're in my bed. Just lovely. Now would be a wonderful time for the rain to stop. I went out yesterday and bought a ton of cleaning supplies, and as I was walking home with my broom in one hand and various soaps in the other, couldn't help but think that I was embodying the old stereotype for women. :P The last few days have been fun, I had the Wednesday and Thursday morning off so on Wednesday, met up with my friend Val to go to Epcot. We did some character hunting and rode some rides, and then of course it started raining, so we decided to seek shelter in the Captain EO show, which to all who haven't seen it, is basically a music video of Michael Jackson in Space. I'm not kidding. Our friend Carissa joined us just before Val had to leave for work, and she and I decided to go play pretend at the Grand Floridian hotel. We walked around and pretended to be one of the hotel guests, absorbing the music of the grand piano and walking in and out of the fancy shops. We started with a homemade soap shop, where we were encouraged to sample the lip scrubs, hand scrubs, and bath soaps. It was a real treat! After a while we tried to have tea in the beautiful lounge, but it was reservation only and we were too late. We monorail-ed it over to the Contemporary (my workplace!) and got ourselves some cheap snacks, then headed home. After a wet walk to the Walgreens for some groceries, it was almost dark out, so we found Jeremy and friends in the Clubhouse where we all finished our evening together drinking 30 cent hot chocolates and watching Disney's Tangled. The next morning before work, I was invited out to the Golden Corral for a breakfast Buffet, and so we ventured over and stuffed ourselves silly, then waddled home in time for work. I felt full throughout the evening!

Orientation (finally)

2012-06-05T15:34:00.001-07:00

Today was my orientation day of the Contemporary resort. Usually, trainees have their orientation (where you learn the history of the resort and take a tour to learn about the amenities available to guests)before they start training, but there was a bit of a mix up for me and so I ended up having it rescheduled today, on one of my days off. It was a fun day, and I actually learned a lot about my work location (including the answers to quite a few questions I had been asked that I couldn't answer beforehand.)We started the morning at 9:30, in a Cast Member meeting room where we introduced ourselves and rereRE-learned some Disney basics that we had all heard during Traditions and our training. An hour later, we took a short tour of the cast member area of the building (costuming, break rooms, cafeteria, etc.) It was a bit weird for me since I had been working in the environment for about a month, so I did my best to stick to the back of the group. After a short break, we went outside to the pool area to take a group picture and start a tour. We got the picture printed out with a nice a contemporary background, to "remember the experience" - featured in my photo is me, the only merchandise person in the group, about four Cafe workers, a few custodial workers, a student in the culinary program, and a sous-chef who had been with Disney for 18 years. No idea why he was there, but he was a nice guy, and now I can say I know a sous-chef. We toured the docks where people can rent boats, go para-sailing, and even get picked up by a pirate ship for a mini cruise at night. Then we visited the top floor, where the California Grill and a spectacular view of all of Disney World is located. It was really cool to imagine dining up there, dressed up with a romantic atmosphere and the fireworks exploding into the sky behind me. Of course, it's extremely expensive. To rent out the restaurant, say for a business meeting or a wedding, would be $65,000- not including the food. We also visited the time-share (again I have delivered groceries, so I was familiar with it and zoned out a but. Which got awkward when my Spanish group leader was asking me about the proper way to pronounce "hors d'oeuvre" because she saw my french name tag.)After another hour of walking and touring, we took a 30 minute lunch break and I went to the merchandise floor to visit my co-workers. My manager, Eric, was in Fantasia and let me know there were ice cream treats in the freezer in the breakroom to reward the team for 90 days with an accident or major incident. It was delicious! After our final hour of review in the meeting room again, I was released to go home, and so instead I decided to get some food and discount shopping done at Cast Connections. I got from there some apples, bananas, and sweet potatoes, a Disney umbrella (it's been raining a lot and ponchos are like 8 bucks each), a pair of sunglasses for 50 cents, and a couple of presents for some kids I know. I'm back home, surrounded by my British roomates. A few new groups of CP's(college program) have arrived and as our room is on the first floor and in the building right next to the Welcome Centre, we have been spying on everyone who walks by. My one roomate, Charlie, has been squishing her face against the window to spook people. It's worked. Now, I have been singing along to some Bob Marley songs and making plans to go to Lonestar for dinner with some Canadians. Have a good evening! ----Later------ And so we had a blast at Lonestar for dinner! We were laughing our heads off (mostly at Jeremy) and ate delicious and cheap steak and were merry. Here's a few pictures!

Kimono at last!

2012-05-31T08:43:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry, but a seperate post just had to be made for this. While I was studying Aikido, I became interested in Japanese culture and learned a bit about what a kimono is. I had been wanting to try one on ever since, and added it to my mental bucket list. When I was taking a Koto class (Japanese instrument) I missed the opportunity to wear one around. I then happened upon the Japanese club allowing the people to try on kimonos one evening after class, but I didn't have time to do anything but take a few pictures. So today, at Epcot, when I learned that you can try on any of the beautiful kimonos in their Japanese merchandise shop, I jumped on it. And I got to wear a kimono for a brief amount of time! So there you have it, checked off my bucket list. Next step - travel to Japan during the summer festival and purchase a yukata!

Rain, rain, rain and Late nights

2012-05-30T07:34:00.000-07:00

Soooo hello again! I am here relaxing on the morn of my second day off, and I have much to tell! For the last week I have been working night shifts, finishing around 11 or 12 meaning I get home at 1. This hasn't been so bad, as I quickly adapted to it and now my body doesn't feel exhausted until 3 or 4am. However, in the coming week I will be working mornings again, so that might be a pain. Having mornings off was great because I got to sleep in and just mess about before going to work, but I haven't really gotten to see anyone. There's not enough time to go anywhere before work, and most people are already at work anyways. Instead, I have been trying to do some clean-up around the house and getting other chores done - I even made it out to the gym! Apparently there is a hurricane beneath us, as we have been having flash showers (and boy does it ever come down) followed by a few days of rainy overcast weather. There was one point on the bus while we were driving along the highway that I looked ahead, out the front window, and I could literally see a wall of rain that we were about to head into. Once we hit it, it didn't stop. I swear, the weather here is really weird. It actually starts coming down in like a curtain of water within 10 seconds of being sunny. While it's a nice break from the humidity we've had, I would like to have the sunshine back. On Monday after work, I got off the bus and was just wondering if Jeremy had gotten off of work yet when I walked right past him chatting with two girls he had met on his bus. I joined them and immediately discovered that there was a Spanish girl present whose french is about at the same level as mine. We happily switched between English, French and Spanish during our conversation while Jer made comments about how he had started it all. At about 1:30, I knocked on our friends' door, the Dangerfield sisters, and since Amy was free and neither of us were tired, we went for a nice walk to Walgreens for a hot chocolate. At about 3:45am I finally made it to bed and fell asleep. The next morning, I got up at 9:30 and quickly got dressed and ready for a day at the Magic Kingdom. I made it halfway there with my group of friends when I realised, as we were changing buses, that I had left my ID at home. After making plans to meet up with my friends at 3 in Tomorrowland (it's such a pain not having a phone!) I got back on a bus heading home and ended up sitting across from two of my surprised roomates. As it would be, one of them had forgotten her ID as well! Eventually, after having a nice long conversation with all of my flatmates(it's been a while since we were all home at once)I made it back to Magic Kingdom by half two(as my british roomates say, meaning 2:30). I was early, so I took my party of 1 to the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor and had a good laugh at Mike Wazowski before finding my group again. It started pouring on us for almost our entire stay, but we managed to make it onto a few rides before going home to play board games. After a failed attempt of ordering pizza and a not-so-successful game of Clue, we switched to Apples to Apples and spent the rest of our evening laughing and having fun before heading back home to bed, after a wonderful day.

A cool scene I got between two "rocks" in Tomorrowland

A sighting of Buzz Lightyear!

Our fashionable and necessary rain ponchos. Yes, mine is just a garbage bag.

Can you guess what ride THIS is?

Ah, languages.

Our photo from the Space Mountain ride. The goal was to look terrified. I was enjoying the ride too much.

We were walking past the castle when suddenly fireworks went off and pairs of princesses came skipping down either side of the walkway leading to the castle stage. They were pretty flighty once they reached the crowds, but I managed to get a couple.

Moi :D

Snow White and Prince Charming escaping the crowds (as one woman ran along next to them and posed for the camera)

One of my favourite rides!

This creepy tombstone only breifly and rarely opens and blinks her eyes, and somehow I accidentally managed to capture it

Finally, we all shared a Dole Whip float before leaving the park. Delicious!

Late shifts and People

2012-05-26T07:21:00.004-07:00

The last couple of days have been mostly about work. My shifts have started in the late afternoon and completed at around midnight, so in the mornings I have mostly...played online scrabble. I know, I know, I really need to get out and enjoy that Florida sun. I'll do it today. I promise. It's been different, working in the Marketplace at night rather than the gift shop during the day. You get to see a lot more families and couples just picking up groceries and alcohol after a long, fun day at the parks (we sold about 4 or 5 bottles of Crown Royal alone last night!) It's fun for me, I like to imagine what their day might have been like. One particular family all came in sporting rosy tans/sunburns, so I imagine they spent quite a bit of time at the pool. Others come in wanting to use up the rest of the cash on their room cards just before they leave the next day, so they'll buy 14 packs of mixed nuts. That's one of the reasons I love working with people - it's so entertaining to imagine what they're story is. I had the privilege of meeting a mother and her children who came from northern Quebec. I overheard them talking while they shopped, and so when they came up to the cash, I greeted them with "Ca va? ("Everything going well?") The mother responded with and english yes, and behind her, her son whispered in french, "Mama, I think she said that in french." It was cute, and it lead to a wonderful conversation in both french and english about Canadians and how their vacation was going. I have to say, that was probably my favourite moment of the day. I also got to deliver some grocery orders, which is a lot of fun, too. The rooms that we deliver to are super-deluxe time-shares, and they are just gorgeous. It's like someone cut out a picture from an Ikea magazine and turned the room into an exact, life sized replica. The thought occurred to me while I was putting the groceries in the fridge that although it would be a wonderful experience, I would never actually stay there in fear of viewing my bill once the vacation has ended. Instead, I'll just use my imagination and experience the rooms on the rare occasions that I deliver groceries :P

Spark in the Dark and another Water Park

2012-05-24T08:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my second day off, and it was packed full of events! All the Canadians and Brits had to rise and shine extra early for a 6am appointment to get our social security numbers worked out. We formed a huge line at the Pavilion where our papers were double checked, then loaded onto two coach buses and didn't leave for the social security office(which opened early for us) until 6:30. I found myself seated beside a lovely girl named Sabrina whom I had befriended before. She's Quebecois, and so naturally we chatted about language and school until we got to the office. We were lucky enough to get our appointment times within the first group of people served, so we were out of there before 8 o clock. Jeremy and a few others from my regular group were hanging outside the 7 Eleven across the street by the buses, and so I bought a coffee nd joined them until it was time to head home. As a student, I can say I truly have learned to appreciate a cup of coffee after an early morning wake up. When we got back, we got a few people together and ventured off to the Golden Corral down the street. With our cast discounts, our breakfast buffet came to less than 8 dollars a eprson, which was excellent considering it was the best breakfast buffet I have ever experienced. There was french toast, 5 or 6 different types of cooked potatoes/hash browns, eggs, quiche, tacos, fresh fruit, oatmeal, grits, toast, sausage and every other kind of meat, yogurt, and a dessert bar which included bread pudding, a soft serve oce cream machine, and a chocolate fountain! Oh my goodness, were we ever full! The walk home helped a lot, but even at 10am we were sweating. We got home, changed quickly, then met up at the Vista Way bus stop and headed to Blizzard Beach, Disney's other water park (Cast members don't get in free after June 10, so we wanted to go while we still could.) It was so much fun! We ran into countless other ICP's while we were there, everybody got a great tan(slash sunburn), and we hardly spent any time in line-ups. One thing I will remember about the park though - the pavement gets super hot. Even with workers and automatic sprinklers routinely spraying the pavement to cool it down, everybody's feet were raw by the end of the day. Also, remember how boring the lazy river was as kids? It's probably one of my favourite places at the park now. That, and the huge free-fall water slide that Jer convinced me to go on near the end of our stay. On the bus ride back home, a lot of us were falling asleep, so we agreed to take a 2 hour break before meeting up again for the organised event that evening, Spark in the Dark. After a nice shower and relaxing on the couch with my roomates, I put on my brightest coloured dress and went back to the Pavilion, which now had party music pumping out and black lights set up in an outside tent with a DJ. There were also Disney characters like Mickey and Donald Duck at the party to pose exclusively with Cast Members! At the door we were given glow necklaces and bracelets, and in the back was served free pizza and drinks. There were a couple games as well, like tossing the beanbag into the hole, as an excuse to give away freebie disney merchandise. Jeremy ended up winning a couple of Disney ICP wallets from dancing the dougie with a girl on-stage. I headed back to my apartment for a caffiene break and lo and behold, the empty apartment across the hall from us was being used as a breakroom for Mickey and Donald! We tried sneaking pictures of them, but the Character attendant shooed us away. When it was dark, I headed back to the party and danced it up until it ended. It was such a blast! The party ended at ten, as some people had to work early the next day, so those of us who didn't shuffled over to the pool to cool off. Turns out everybody had the same idea - there was probably close to a hundred people there. By eleven, we were all getting pretty tired, so we said our goodbyes and called it a night. Aaaand here's a couple blurry pictures of our evening!

Homesickness

2012-05-22T11:06:00.002-07:00

It's been just over two weeks that Jer and I have been here at the Happiest Place on Earth, and while I am certainly having a wonderful time and making lots of memories, a tiny bit of homesickness has begun setting in. It's not a big deal, I don't cry myself to sleep or anything, but I have caught myself wishing that I could spend some time chatting with my dad, or give Liam a big hug or have sushi with Ben or lay outside in the sun with my mom. I guess it's normal (one of my new friends left today for England, having self-terminated because of swollen ankles. When I commented that it really sucks that she had to leave, she replied that she was ready to go home.)I think it is also because I have been spending less time hanging out with people and more time either at work or sleeping. I need to figure out a schedule for myself. In the meantime, I think next week will be a good week for tanning. The cloudy, rainy weather has finally ceased and the sun's been hot and shining for the last few days, plus most of my shifts begin at 3pm or later. I think I'll do the best I can to soak up as much Vitamin D as possible. Also, good news! I have finally figured out the right measurements of coffee appropriate for my now-functioning coffee maker. Hurray!

Image - This sign was hanging in the stall of the cast member bathroom at work. The first and third lines are obviously English and Spanish, but the middle line seems to be some adaptation of French (ex: in french, "et puis" means "and then", but said really quickly can sound like "ehpee", which is what the word "Epi" on the sign seems to sound like.) My best guess is that it is a form of Creole. I probably spent more time examining it then I should have :P P.S. Comments are always welcome! If anybody has any suggestions or advice on what I should do while in Florida, or even just to say hi to let me knowyou're reading, I'd love to hear!

Days 13 and 14

2012-05-20T14:35:00.001-07:00

These last two days have been a lot of fun. I finished up my training and spent some time with friends, which was really nice. Waking up for a nine thirty shift was actually not easy to do, after having gotten home from work after one in the morning the night before. I had a new trainer, Brendan, who reviewed a lot of things that I had already been trained on and taught me a lot about stocking and grocery deliveries as well. Did you know at the Contemporary, people who own time-shares actually can put out grocery orders that we deliver to their rooms? It’s about the price of a regular supermarket, but we usually have the groceries sitting on the counter or put away in the fridge before the guest checks in to their rooms. Now that I think about it, that’s probably been around for quite some time, but I have never experienced it so I thought it was kind of neat. I also found out that another way Disney Cast Members “preserve the magic” is by adding certain accessories sold in our store to our costumes. I, for example, am on my third day of wearing the Princess crowns that go with all of our princess dresses. So far I have switched between the Belle, Aurora, and Ariel crowns. I sometimes forget I am wearing a crown, like when I got into the elevator at the beginning of my break and three construction guys bowed to me and called me Your Highness. I have one manager who now refers to me as the Canadian Princess. I’m seriously having a blast. My shift the second day with Brendan ended at two (yay!) so I went monorail riding until I got to Epcot. I met up with Val, Kim, Cara, Devyn, and McKinna, and we went around the world again. This time, we got through England, France, Japan, America, and Canada. Canada was a hoot, all we saw were French words to the restaurant, moose plushies in Mounty uniforms, and maple syrup. A true representation of our country. I got really excited when we went to France, as Belle and the Beast were there as well as Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. We passed Alice and Mary Poppins in England, as well as Tigger and Eeyore. After gawking at kimonos in Japan, we headed to America for a good ol’ fashioned burger and fries meal. Except I had a veggie burger and grapes. Still, dinner was delicious. We had heard rumours of the delicious pastries in France, so we went there for dessert and I ordered completely in French! It was a little nerve-wracking, but I’m proud to say I understood the entire conversation. My friends told me they were jealous that I could converse with a certain French boy before his break, as he was replaced by someone else by the time they got their turn :P After dessert, we took the boat over to Hollywood Studios and met up with Val, one of my friends from Quebec. This weekend is the first of Starwars weekends, so we watched a performance that included Darth Vader and the Stormtroopers dancing to “Sexy and I know it,” and then rode the Tower of Terror once. Let me tell you, it’s a lot scarier when it’s dark out. After a fresh adrenaline rush, I headed home around nine and headed straight to bed. It was a great day!

How I look in uniform - wearing Aurora's crown

A bush Pluto at Epcot. What a beautiful sky!

The lumberjack outfit that the Canadian reps at Epcot have to wear.

Mary Poppins chatting with an adorable little boy.

The miniature France of Epcot!

Bush Beast and Belle in France.

The Japan of Epcot!

We went inside of a merchandise shop in Japan and of course there was a whole room dedicated to pokemon and anime! I just had to pose with this cute little pikachu plushie.

There was a kimono room and a restaurant attached to the shop, and every single cast member was dressed like this. So jealous!

I saw this purposely unfinished painting in France and immediately wanted to go up and paint it.Agh!

Anybody recognise this from Finding Nemo? Everybody in my group who saw it literally broke out into a chorus of "mine, miiine, mine, mine." Haha!

Day 12 - Fudge sampling!

2012-05-18T20:46:00.002-07:00

Today was my first closing shift at the gift shop, and boy was it fun! I had my original trainer, Sherida, who I found out is also training to become a Co-ordinater. She really is such a sweet lady, and very personable (or chatty as she calls herself). She told me I remind her a lot of herself because talking with the guests seems to come naturally and comfortably for me. What a compliment! I always have had an interest in people, so I suppose that makes this job all the more enjoyable. We started at 3:30pm and just did the usual stuff, reviewing where stock is and covering breaks at the three different stores. At one point we covered the candy counter(which technically doesn't sell candy - but it does sell a delicious assortment of fudge, ugar cookies, cupcakes, and chocolate cups!) I learned how to scan and package fragile items and the "candy" items, and then we went into one of the back stock rooms to cut and refill the display case. My trainer told me that since guests would and are known to ask detailed questions about the taste and consistency of the fudge, she had received permission for us to taste-test a few. What a treat! I think that was my favourite part of the day. What I find is also a cheerful addition to a day shift is that there is a constant flow of Disney movie songs playing softly, both the originals and redone versions (I prefer the originals, personally.) One of these for example, is any song from the Little Mermaid, or Zip a dee doo dah. I try not to sing along too much, but it's hard :P We worked the cash registers and traded pins for the next few hours, then at ten o clock Sherida took me outside the store and up near the windows to watch the end of the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom. We could even hear the music that accompanied them! I caught myself again getting excited like Liam does, but I couldn't help it. I never get bored of fireworks! It got busy for the last half hour before closing, as everyone was returning from the parks, but we were able to get the registers counted and closed up and taken downstairs to be put away by 12:15am, which isn't too bad considering we were going slowly. By the time I got home, it was after 1am, and so I ate a quick bowl of cereal for dinner, checked my emails, and headed for bed for an early rise the following day.

Days 10 + 11: Training week begins

2012-05-17T10:47:00.000-07:00

SO I have made a very important discovery! (and many thanks to Jeremy who originally made the finding) - a cappucino machine that sells hot chocolate, french vanilla, coffee, espresso, etc. for 30 cents a cup! The place that I rent my movies from, the Clubhouse, is going to be getting a lot of visits from me from this day forward thanks to that! Not a whole lot of social networking has been happening over the last few days as all my new friends and roomates have received different schedules, so it has been difficult to organise any park visits for any decent amount of time. I have been doing a lot of reading and movie watching though(I am trying to get through all the Disney princesses :P) Okay, so on Tuesday morning I was up and in costume and on the bus to work by 7:15am, and when I arrived had everybody confused as there was no assigned trainer scheduled to work with me. One of my managers ended up assigning me to the cash register (which was terrifying) for an hour and then sent me on an early 30 minute break. During my break, one of my coordinaters approache dme and told me I was free to go home. As it turns out, I was supposed to have attended an orientation class in professional attire rather than been on the floor in costume. I had been checking the wrong schedule. I got home and had a glorious nap, followed by cooking up some pasta and meatballs for dinner, and then getting ready to set out into the rainy evening to pick up some cereal from the Dollar Tree. No sooner had I stepped out of my apartment did I happen upon a group of friends heading to the pool to chill in the hot tub. I decided to join them and spent a the rest of the evening getting to know some more lovely people from Canada and England. The next morning I was up and out again for a shift at 9:30am. My first trainer, Sherida, wasn't there but I did have a new trainer who was just as nice and very informative. Our job was to cover breaks for the day, so we worked the cash registers in both the Marketplace and the BVG (bayview gifts) gift shop. I also received a lot of info on theft prevention, which was great to know. We have to count "the Disney Way", which is counting change backwards to the guest. It requires a little bit more thinking than the way I udo it at Tim Hortons, and when you are dealing with traveler's cheques, Disneyworld charge cards that require extra ID, signing receipts, and package delivery, it's difficult to do everything the "disney way". I'm slowly getting more used to it though, and there are always people around to help. I think my favourite part of the job so far is that I am not only allowed to but encouraged to go and stand out in front of the cash and talk to the guests for as long as I want, if no one needs to check something out. Also, pin-trading is a lot of fun, but I am trying not to get attached to my favourite pins. They aren't mine to keep, but yesterday I almost had trouble trading off a beautiful little Snow White pin to a lady who handed me a Mickey Christmas pin in exchange. Oh well. I can't wait to get my own starter kit to start trading for my favourite pins! After a long day of standing/ more eLearning, I got home by six o clock. There were a couple of people who invited me to watch the fireworks at epcot, but I couldn't get in touch with them as they had already left. It's very strange and limiting not having a cellphone. I am strating to rethink my decision about buying an American one. Jer and I ended up venturing out into yet another rainy evening to the Dollar tree for some dry foods, and then met up with his friend Ken in the clubhouse, drinking cappucinos and playing chess. There was a very bizarre movie on as well, which we ended up leaving before the end because of how strange it was. Plus, Jer and Ken had to work in the morning. I finished off my evening with Sleeping Beauty and then a late night into bed. The end :P

Day 9 - Cast Connection

2012-05-15T05:02:00.000-07:00

Today was my second day off, and so I forced myself to sleep in. Thanks to that, I didn't quite wake up all the way for the rest of the day. Oh well. My roomates and some of her friends were going to head to the waterpark(they're only free for us during May) but the sky was still completely cloudy so I suggested we try out that discount store we'd heard of. It's called "Cast Connection" and it is only available to Cast Members of Disney. You have to show your cast ID when you enter. There are two buildings - one that sells discounted merchandise and disney clothing that is either out of season or discontinued, and the other that sells lost or broken merchandise from the guests that didn't retrieve their things from Guest Services after losing them. There was some pretty cool stuff, including Star Wars toys, Mickey ears hats with peoples names sewn in the back, and 25 cent sunglasses. FRom the discount store, I bought a loaf of restaurant bread for 95 cents, two coffee makers for a buck each(!), and my very first Disney pin for my own tradeable pin collection. It was getting muggy, so we headed home and lounged both in and by the pool. My poor roomate Amy was desperate to work on her tan, but the sun didn't show for very long. Just before the afternoon rain started, we headed inside for a late lunch/early dinner and to make our evening plans. Originally we were going to watch Wishes at the Magic Kingdom, but a walk to Walgreens(the nearest drug store) took place instead. Amy and Vicky bought ice cream and post cards, and I bought some coffee and filters for my new coffee machine. I'm looking forward to using it. As I didn't take any pictures today, here are a couple from that time I volunteered for the action movie show at Hollywood studios. Judging by the photos, I may have gotten a little bit too into it :P

Day 8 - The Avengers at the AMC

2012-05-14T07:24:00.001-07:00

No pictures today :( sorry! I had the day off and spent most of my morning sleeping, blogging, or skyping my mother (to all moms who are reading this, Happy belated Mothers Day!) It was great to catch up with what's going on at home, and receive some parental advice on things :P I never thought I would actually admit to that, but it's true! Helen, Charlie, and I (my British roomates) headed down to the DOllar Tree for some cheap essentials, then cancelled our plans to go to the pool as it was still overcast weather. I had rented two movies from the office a few nights ago, so at around noon I decided to watch Forest Gump. Just as I was getting all teared up at Jenny's death, Jeremy walked into my room in full costume and gave me a typical Jeremy stare. We decided to head off to Starbucks for some espresso. Poor Jer had been up since 3:30, and he looked exhausted. After we returned, I had a piece of cake and was just deciding what to have for lunch when knock knock on the door, it's Jeremy again! He informed me we had less than two minutes to get to the bus stop for a trip to downtown Disney with a group of Canadians, so I grabbed a banana and ran with him there. We got onto the bus just in time and made our introductions to a few new friends, with whom we spent the evening with at Downtown Disney eating delicious and cheap sandwiches from the Earl of Sandwich and watching The Avengers at the AMC theatre. It was a terrific movie! We got back to the hotel at around ten and those of us who had to work early, including Jer, said goodbye and went to bed. About five or six of us who have today off, however, met up at the pool and spent an hour or so conversing and having a ghood time in the hot tub. I met one guy who studies at Mcgill and speaks English, French, and Mandarin, and another guy who comes from France but was studying in Quebec when he was hired for Disney. We spent quite a bit of time practicing our English and French with eachother, which was a huge plus for me. It was a great, restful day off.

Day 7 - My first Epcot experience

2012-05-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

WOW! I definitely would have to say that EPCOT is my favourite park so far, or at least I have had the most fun(and that is saying a lot) in that park since I arrived. It helps that all I expected to see was flowers and old people, but it was so much mre than that! The day was started early once again (although I find I am less tired on the days I get up early for work than when I get to sleep in.) I took the bus with a new friend named Val from Quebec, and we had 7 hours of Merchandise training in business dress at the Disney University. It was a long day, but our lunchbreak was paid and an hour long, so a group of Canadians took the free Disney shuttle over to the underground tunnels of the Magic Kingdom and lunched at the Mouseketeria, a fully-stocked and VERY cheap caf for cast members only. While in line-up, Val and I were passed by none other than the evil stepsisters from Cinderella! It was awesome! I also ran into a group of very sweet ladies who work at the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique and I loved their costumes so much I asked for a picture. After the break was followed by eLearning, which is essentially training videos on the computers that are so straightforward and endless that the minutes can't tick by fast enough. They are informative though, and thanks to them I can almost call myself a certified Merchantainment cast member. As I am working in a resort where we sell and serve alcohol and cigars, I had a few more videos than the rest of my class, and was left in the computer room alone with my trainers for about half an hour extra. We took the bus home, got changed (and munched on a piece of leftover birthday cake. Cheers, Helen!) then headed off around four thirty to meet up with some Canadian girls at the Epcot park. We ran into them quickly and went into that ride with dinosaurs, jeopardy, and Ellen(anybody know what I'm talking about?)It was awesome! Oh, and Bill Nye the Science Guy was featured in it too! Apparently, he works at NASA now. Who knew?? We also went on Spaceship Earth, which was also crazy amazing! I was so impressed by how interesting they make learning about history! We then went on a hunt to find the right place to have dinner. Our journey took us through Norway, some parts of Africa, Germany, and Morocco! I started teaching what little German I knew to Val, who is planning on taking some German classes next year. I told her we should practice together and maybe teach eachother! It would be a lot of fun. We finally decided to eat in Morocco. I opted for a kids hamburger meal because it was cheaper, but I regretted my choice as my friends tested out the cultural cuisine of humus and different types of falafel pitas and the like. SOon enough, we had live music played as we dined, and I couldn't help but dance along. It was such a great time! As the sun set, we headed over near the waterfront and sat along the stairs to watch the Illuminations firework show. I couldn\t even contain my excitement. More than once, I caught myself squealing and scrunching my hands like my little brother Liam used to do when he was excited as a baby. Since the Magic Kingdom closes at eleven and Epcot at nine, we hopped on a bus and arrived just in time to witness the Wishes fireworks show there. We ran over to Spacemountain as everybody was leaving the park, and were only in line for 15-20 minutes. After that, Devyn (another Canadian friend I made) asked us if we would like to try one of her favourite treats, a Dole Whip, and we went to find a stand that sells them. Turns out that a Dole WHip is soft serve ice cream mixed with real pineapple juice. I shared one with our friend Nikki. Delicious! We didn't make it all the way through Epcot, so I am definitely thinking about heading back ASAP. What a day it was!

The ladies I met in the Mouseketeria from the Boutique

Captain Hook and Peter Pan!

A handsome devil that I met after our Norwegian boat ride.

A tiny village in Germany much like the one I saw as child in Holland!

Some characters from Cars in Japan.

My baklava and cappucino at the Moroccan Restaurant. Yummy!

A blurry photo of my group as we got ready to watch the fireworks.

Finally, my attempts to photograph the fireworks show. Apparently I was not on the right camera setting! :P