For Serious

I have enough trouble getting people to listen to me at work.



Did they really think putting a bat on my head would get me more respect?






You're welcome.

Happy Halloween

Tonight is my first night working the Halloween party. It's also the first Halloween party of the year.

I have a different costume. And it's ridiculous. And loud. And coveted by those who don't have to wear it.

It's a special issue costume which means I'm only allowed to have it checked out for a week at a time.

And I have to wear a bat on my head.

Pictures soon. As long as you promise not to laugh. :)

PAC

I'm doing PAC all day today. And by all day I mean from 1:45pm until 1:15am. Which is not only all day, but all night as well.

PAC, since I haven't clarified before, stands for Parade Audience Control. Basically I make sure people don't run in front of the floats and die... which you'd think isn't much of a job but, seriously, it's ridiculous how much I have to do. Kind of like turnstiles. You'd think people would get how to put their ticket in the opening that says "Insert ticket here." But no. I've actually had people walk up to my turnstile and just stand there waiting for instruction. And then when I ask for their ticket, they act all surprised and they have to pull out their bag and then their wallet and then filter through that to get their ticket. And then, after finally finding said ticket, they just hand it to me, ignoring the machine right in front of them.

Anyway, back to PAC. Since there's no fireworks or parades tonight (It's the Night of Joy which means a bunch of Christian rock bands have come to put on this special event) I think my job for tonight is just controlling all these people. They say the Night of Joy is second (craziness level) only to Grad Night!

Part of my job is actually to protect the castle. We form a kind of human wall around it making sure people don't climb on the stage or go into the castle or anything. I think it's hilarious. Protecting the castle... just another thing I do. :)

So today I work the 3 o'clock parade, then do flag retreat, then break, and then do whatever I'm told to protect the park. This should be fun. I love my job!

Random Pictures

Helen had never driven a car before (from China) so we went to the Tomorrowland Speedway to let her try her skills... unfortunately the cars there max out at about 6 MPH. Seriously... I can run faster than they go. But she had fun.



Helen kept asking me, "Why do Americas... they trow their money away? You in recession, no? But I just sink it funny you trow money down there... no one get it!" All I can say is.... yep. You're right. :) Haha. But really it's only a few coins per person and for a few pennies, if you can give someone hope and a wish (after spending $5000 on a trip to Disney World)... it's worth it. :)



The talking trash can sang happy birthday to this princess. It followed them all around the park AND knew their names!




My first Mickey Mouse pancakes!



My old store location. It's so depressing!!!





Feeding the duckies! There wasn't a sign, so we were good.

Magical Moments

In my job we have these things called "magical moments." Not sure if I've written about them before, but it's basically where we try to make a certain guest's day extra special. When I worked merch, we would play games like tic-tac-toe or play with bubbles or do puzzles. Sometimes it would be a bit bigger like taking their picture and having a particular family be the "model picture" of the day and they'd get a free 8x10. In my job now we let certain families participate in the parades or we get veterans to participate in the flag retreat ceremony. Magical moments can sometimes be as big as giving a guest a free stay in Cinderella's Castle for the night (I think they've stopped doing that at the moment though).

What's really cool, though, is that sometimes guests can be magical moments for the cast members. The most common magical moments for us come from little kids. And yesterday I got to have one of the best magical moments ever from a six year old.

I put up the ropes for the parade and was standing in front waiting and watching my area making sure no one was running out into the street (I had TWO runners on Monday!! they about gave me a heart attack!). And suddenly this little girl was freaking out. And by freaking out I mean I have never in my life seen a child more excited for something. She was jumping up and down and screaming.... in a good way (yes, Dad, that is possible).

She was so excited for the parade to come it was hilarious to just watch her. She asked me if she was going to see Mickey and I told her, "Of course!" She then informed me that she knew Mickey would be in the show, but he told her he had to go take a shower because he was sweaty from the last show that he had just finished performing in called "Dream Along With Mickey."

As the parade came by she was asking me to name every single character. I was able to get Stitch to come say hi to her and he made a face at her so she stuck her tongue out at him. As I started to walk away to make sure the rest of my area was clear she grabbed my shirt and yanked me back to her to tell me I couldn't leave because there were characters still coming. And she was jumping up and down and screaming the whole. freaking. time. Her dad was taking pictures of the two of us the whole entire time. It was the most fun parade I've ever done. Even though I've only done about four so far. She was so much fun!

When the parade finished I had to leave and it was so cute how she kept grabbing my shirt and pulling me back into her because she didn't want me to leave. I love working parades. I love guests who are so excited! I love that I'm in about a million photo albums and probably just as many home videos! I love living at Disney World! I love my life!

Costumes!!!

I have two costumes this year! The first is for park greeter. It looks horrible, but is super comfortable. I know these are terrible pictures of me but I really wanted to show off my costumes...



And this is my PAC costume. At least it would be except for the hole you can see in my right knee. That's because I fell. On the ground. In front of a thousand people. And hurt myself. And my pride. And my pants.



It was actually kind of funny because immediately after I fell, I had about five people on me making sure I was okay and really the only reason I was upset was because I was scared of having to pay for these stupid pants! I know if you lose them they charge you $120 directly out of your pay check.

But my trainer assured me I wouldn't be charged. So all is good in the world. Enjoy the pictures!

Best Day To Go To Disney

I would just like to document that yesterday was pretty much the best day of the year to go to Disney. Even the MK was emptier than I've ever seen it. Ever! We also heard that the other parks were empty too.

Helen and I were there for only four hours (from 11am-3pm) and hardly waited in a single line. Seriously! No more than about five minutes of waiting anywhere!

We went on: Space Mountain (fastpass), the teacups, Winnie the Pooh, Snow White, Splash Mountain (fastpass), Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Carousel of Progress, the Tomorrowland Speedway, the PeopleMover, Mickey's Philharmagic, the steam engine train, and the Barnstormer. All within four hours... plus we watched two parades, listened to a traveling oompa band, saw the talking trash can, and took a couple of drink and bathroom breaks. It was great!

Now I'm off to the MK again, but this time for work. Tomorrow I begin training for PAC... something everyone has been telling me to be excited about since day one. I can't wait!!!