Give A Little Whistle

Morning! (Well only just)

Quite a few things have happened since my last entry, one being pretty exciting (for me anyway). But I’ll get to that eventually; I’ll try and remember things in order.

Nothing really happened on the 8^th and the 9^th, just working. Tuesday was my usual day off and I attended a movement class to get a score for my movement to hopefully get me at least into parade orientation. Wednesday I went to a face audition so see how they differ to the fur character auditions (the one I went to on Tuesday was an audition, like the one CPs go through when auditioning for character performers, I just went to get a movement score), let me just say that they are not fun. At least I somewhat enjoyed myself on the first one, but standing in a line… I’ll pass. I then had work that afternoon at, you guessed it, Contemporary.

Thursday the 12^th was my second day off, which was lucky since Britt’s days off are usually Thursday and Fridays, so we met up at EPCOT and I was able to go on majority of the attractions I had never been on before. That was the morning, we had to get a fastpass for Soarin’, which at 9:30am the passes were valid at 2:40pm. They go quickly! But luckily we got some passes. We then went over to browse through the World Showcase, then back to Soarin’ as our fastpasses were valid. For dinner we went over to Beaches and Cream at the Beach Club Resort, which is right beside EPCOT, it’s set out like a 50s diner. Afterwards we went back and chose our spot to wait and watch Illuminations.

That now brings me to Friday – TOMORROWLAND DANCE PARTY. I will tell you now, when people say you’ll get exhausted, they are definitely not lying. The first few sets Pluto was doing fine, dressed in his space outfit, but after/during the third set I think you could tell exhaustion had set in, and there was still 2 more sets! But after a very short break, the 4^th and 5^th sets were easy. I’m not going to lie; the dance party is chaotic with kids running everywhere, people pulling on Pluto left right and centre. Thank goodness Pluto and his friends had great attendants that night.

Saturday – Titanic 3D! Lauren and I went early so we could get tickets, and we were hoping to get some Toms we both liked, but unfortunately the shop down at Downtown Disney had none left on the pattern we like. So we explored some, and then headed back to the cinema. I loved seeing it in 3D and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the film. I then had work that afternoon at (surprise) Contemporary. The same story as Sunday, Contemporary, Monday 16 was Crystal Palace, which thankfully went fast.

This past Tuesday I FINALLY sent the gifts I have had since January/February sitting in my closet. I was surprised how much cheaper it was to send the two boxes, I was expecting a lot more, almost double of what I paid. So that was a bonus. Lauren and I then went to Sweet Tomatoes – my first time there. It’s basically an all you can eat buffet, with amazing strawberry lemonade (lemonade here is what we’d call homemade lemonade back home in Australia, lemonade in Australia is what we call Sprite). In the car on the way back to our apartment we started talking about the Disney cruise and I found out that Lauren had really wanted to go on one whilst she was here. Unfortunately her program ends on the 3^rd of May, but then she thought that she could fly back down to go on the cruise. Still, at this point it was just talk not really set in stone that we’re were going to go on a cruise. However two hours later we had booked a 5 night Bahamas Disney cruise on the Disney Magic. We actually couldn’t believe we had done this, but at the same time ecstatic. It was one of the big things I wanted to do whilst on my program, and thankfully I’m able to do that! And with a person I know I’ll enjoy my holiday with. So, on the 9^th of May we set sail! Short notice, but less of a wait at the same time! Lauren flies back down on the 8^th and we’re staying at the Royal Room at the Port Orleans Riverside, jump on the coach that takes us to Port Canaveral. AND I get to go to Key West – another place I wanted to visit whilst here, many people have told me it’s beautiful and that I should see it. So now I am!

If anyone’s interested the link below will take you to see the itinerary (the one I’m going on is the second one, Disney Magic itinerary A)

CLICK HERE

Yesterday afternoon Lauren, Jen and I went and volunteered with Disney’s VoluntEARS at the Give Kids the World Village. It was Village Idol night, which ended up being so much fun. It was very coincidental as the first group of kids were three sisters, there was three of us, so we put our hand up and they were our buddies for the night. The youngest was 3 years old and in the piece of paper we received that gave us information on any dietary needs (as we would have dinner that night with them) and any other comments. One comment was ‘the youngest is afraid of adults’. At first I was like ‘okay that’s fine’ I obviously still forget I’m an adult now. But Lauren, being Lauren, I knew would be able to befriend the youngest and it did happen. I was out playing miniature golf with the middle child and I look up seeing Lauren holding hands with the little one. It was precious. And might I just add, that miniature golf course can be terrifying. Dinosaurs spray water at you, and one comes to life. After playing we all gathered up and headed over with everyone else to the Gingerbread house where dinner is served.

As we were eating the Major and his wife Miss Mary (two giant bunnies) came to visit the kids. Unfortunately the youngest was petrified of them. The moment they came to our table she jumped from her chair straight into Lauren’s lap. Thankfully Lauren was able to take her away until the bunnies had made their rounds. The other two girls loved them though, so that was great. After dinner it was time for village idol where the kids perform whatever they want, if they want to. The eldest and the middle child were going to do an Irish dance, whilst the youngest sat on Lauren’s lap to watch the show. The two girls were amazing. For a 6 and 9 year old it was fantastic! Many people came up and congratulated them at the end for their great performance. After the show it was time for the parents to pick up their kids. The girls parents continuously said thank you and were surprised that the youngest had warmed up to us, especially Lauren. So that was great, we all had an amazing time. One other girl stood out in everyone’s minds as well during that show, a little girl who sang Beyonce’s Single Ladies, it was adorable.

And that’s everything updated with now! A long post, but I did have a fair bit going on, especially in the last couple of days! 81 days until I see my brother, it’ll be exactly two months when I set sail on the cruise until I see him.

Happy Working Song

Morning!

Last Monday (2^nd) I had a shift with Pluto at Flagpole, Town Square at Magic Kingdom. My favourite place, in case I haven’t said it enough. However, this was my first time there in this humidity. Before I had only been there in Jan/Feb so it was still hot as you’re directly in the sun the whole day, but the humidity put it on a whole new level. It sort of make it harder to breathe in a way, it feels like you’re breathing in water at the same time… if that makes any sense at all. I then had my two days off and did absolutely nothing. Except for a last minute decision with Lauren on Wednesday to go see the new ‘Snow White’ film Mirror Mirror. I’m glad we decided to go; I enjoyed it and had a few laughs.

Thursday I had my first shift at Visa at EPCOT, which was easy and honestly, a tad boring. I think I’m used to the fast paced environments that it was just… You don’t get many people there; it’s only guests who have the Disney Visa credit card thing. So a lot of the time you’re just standing around waiting. At least in the Visa shift you take on lunch coverage at Character Spot and we had to go back there at 6:20pm, after our Visa shift to do the evening cover.

Yesterday, Friday, I was back at the Contemporary Resort for yet another dining shift at Chef Mickey’s. Pluto seemed to be annoyed with his apron last night; somehow it managed to untie almost every set. Puppies don’t particularly like to dress up all the time I suppose. I actually really enjoyed my shift last night; we were also lucky and got dessert, which was very kind. Their cheesecake is pretty delicious.

That now brings me to today. Again, I’m back at Contemporary for dinner, same with tomorrow. I’m actually there a lot. The 7^th, 8^th, 11^th and 14^th, however the 13^th I have my first shift at Tomorrowland’s Dance Party where you get to see some characters dance all night long in their Tomorrowland themed outfits. Hopefully it’ll be fun, but I’m sure Pluto will be tired by the end of it! Monday I’m at Crystal Palace, not too happy about that, but at least it’s just the one shift. Our schedules for the week beginning the 15^th come out this afternoon, hopefully I get some Flagpole shifts!

Oh and I also rang the International Recruiting Office the other day to ask to see if I could stay in Entertainment for the whole year. The person I spoke to said no, that my Visa requires me to have multiple roles, which can’t be all that true if I know of several Australians who have stayed in the one location/role for the full length of their program. I think I’ll give them another ring sometime this week to ask about that, I really would like to stay where I am, especially for the holiday seasons! And I also want to try my hand at parades, but we’ll see I suppose.

That’s all for now, nothing too exciting. Not long until I get to see The Lion King musical again and next Saturday I’m going to see Titanic in 3D, which I’m excited for also. It’s one of my favourite films and I’m seeing it on the day the Titanic sank, 100 years ago!

93 days left until I see my brother!

I Can't Wait to be a King!

Exciting news – well at least for me – I booked tickets this morning to see The Lion King Musical when it comes to Orlando! I’m going with one of my roommates, Lauren, on the 25^th of April! I’m excited. I saw the musical over in London, so I’m excited to see it again as I enjoyed it a lot.

Anyway, back to the order in which my week has happened thus far. Sunday, Contemporary Breakfast – it goes fast so I don’t mind this Dining shift, then I was back there Monday for dinner dining. Tuesday I went grocery shopping, my roommate Kristina was kind enough to offer me a lift – we also went through a car wash, my first time going through one. Needless to say I acted like a child. Oh! And we finally got our last two roommates! Melinda (Myndi) and Alex, they’re lovely and we all get along/have the same humour etc, so things have been going great! Tuesday afternoon I had my Heritage class at the Magic Kingdom this time. Honestly, I didn’t enjoy this much, a little pointless in my opinion. We did get to go on one attraction – Mickey’s PhilarMagic, so it wasn’t all that bad, I like Mickey’s PhilarMagic. That night I had a Skype date with Hannah and Emily! I didn’t realise Emily was going to be there as well, so it was a nice surprise to see both the girls.

Wednesday, yesterday, we had a roommate outing – bar Alex as she had some prior arrangements – and we all went to see The Hunger Games! Yes, I’m one of those people who loves the books. I enjoyed the movie, yes it missed out/changed some parts of the book, but no matter what the book is going to be better, no matter what movie/book series it is. Luckily with that mindset I’m still able to enjoy films (most) that are based from books. Lauren and I blubbered at the point in the movie that we knew we would – we weren’t the only ones though! Afterwards we dropped the girls off and Lauren and I headed over to Millenia Mall to pick out some glasses for Lauren. After much debating she finally got a pair, which look amazing on her! I experience a lot of my ‘first time in ____ shop’ too. Such as Forever 21 and Victoria Secret. Pitty I was saving my money for when we headed back over to Downtown Disney to get my pair of Toms. So, I got my Toms that I’ve wanted for ages. I really wanted a pair to wear to work, I’m over having to untie and tie my shoes a billion times a day for changing basics etc. I suppose you can call that lazy… But I canno wait to get another pair. They’re amazingly comfortable! AND I got staff discount thanks to Disney! So a $47 pair (including tax) came down to $37! So happy.

I have work up until Tuesday, my next day off. I have attempted to pick up a shift on Wednesday, my other scheduled day off to try and get more $$$, but I still have to see if it gets approved. It’s also a 12 hour shift, so overtime!

That’s all that’s been happening recently. Lauren and I are still planning our American trip after my program. Yes, that’s not until next January, but we’re excited and there’s no harm in starting to plan now! 102 days until I get to see my brother and Hannah!

Painting the Roses Red

Two weeks have past and not much has happened besides work, but I’m going to fill you in on what I can remember.

Tink in the Pixie Hollow area EPCOT where you can see her and her friends

I experienced my first Daylight Savings moving the clock forward one hour (well the first that I can remember) which killed me. I lost one hour worth of sleep and had work at 6:30am that day. I then had a Crystal Palace shift that went by quickly, luckily I had a friend working there as well that day, so time went a little faster. Last week I finally got my usual Meet & Greet back at Character Spot – I missed it so much, I’m glad that since then I’ve been scheduled there once a week. Still over Dining, but it does make time go faster.

Silvermist, one of Tink's friends in Pixie Hollow

They had all these different fairy homes throughout Pixie Hollow Gardens, I liked this the most

On Tuesday I went and had a look at the Garden & Flower Festival at EPCOT, which was interesting. I got a map and went on a search to find all the characters in plant form. I’ll include some pictures throughout the post. I was only there for a couple of hours, but got a little burnt – thankfully I don’t burn as bad as I do back at home – maybe for the first time ever I’ll get a tan whilst her in America! That afternoon I had my Disney Heritage class – all about the theme park history (Disneyland and WDW), I found it interesting and it’s nice to know a few extra facts about some rides here at the Magic Kingdom.

Farmer Mickey and Minnie at the gateway to the World Showcase

Wednesday was a friend’s birthday in which he celebrated by inviting us all along to join him for breakfast at the Grand Floridian’s 1900 Park Fare – a character dining experience (and my first as a guest!). The food was pretty darn good, and so much of a selection – it’s a buffet style restaurant, and it was only $20 with our discount. I say only because I was honestly expecting around $30-35 since character dining can be expensive. Afterwards we jumped on a monorail and went over to the Magic Kingdom for a while. Everyone left and I stayed as I was meeting another friend – Brittany – in two hours time, it would have been a waste of time to go home. So I rode the Walt Disney Railroad steam train, watch PhilarMagic again, went into the Enchanted Tiki Room for the first time, and got a waffle with strawberries and cream from the Sleepy Hollow food area for ‘lunch’ (4pm).

Beast and Belle in the France Pavilion

After browsing in some stores Brittany was finished with work and we went on some rides. She also showed me her necklace – ‘Aztec Gold Coin’ from Pirates of the Caribbean 1. I didn’t even know they sold that, so off we went so I could purchase one for myself. Then, since we were right there and it was a ‘5min’ wait, we jumped on the ride. The evening went fast, and after riding Peter Pan’s Flight we headed home, before Wishes so we could miss the rush of people to the monorails and boats, at the rush of CPs to the CP bus. It was a long day, but one I enjoyed a lot.

Cars 2 - Japan (Seeing as Cars 2 was set mainly in Tokyo)

Since then I had my shift at Character Spot yesterday and my shift at Ohana’s at the Polynesian Resort. I’m back there tomorrow, but since it’s Spring Break and drawing closer to Easter the Breakfast and Dinner hours have been extended at all dining locations. At least I’ll be fed dinner whilst I’m at the Contemporary (we only ever get fed at Ohana’s). And with my pay, I’m never one to pass on a free meal now days.

Snow White in Germany

Next Wednesday Lauren, Jen and I are going to see the Hunger Games. Back home I would have been to the movie already – these types of movies I book in advance and see them on the day of release. But unfortunately I had work today (release date in America) and have work for the following few days. Oh well.

Woody and Buzz found in the American Pavilion

That’s all I have to ‘report’ on. Eat, sleep and work is mainly all I do lately, but at least I love my job.

108 sleep until my brother arrives!

Heffalumps And Woozles (Week Full of Pooh Characters)

Afternoon!

I survived my four shifts at Crystal Palace, I do have another shift there on Monday, but thankfully it’s only one shift next week. Crystal Palace – or Crystal Prison some people call it – wasn’t too bad, I mean I had fairly bad expectations of the place so that may have helped on my own perception. I didn’t love it, but it’s definitely not the end of the world if I’m scheduled there. Today marked my last day there for my four days of Hell, in-between those shifts I had my first shift at Contemporary Resort at Chef Mickey’s. Pluto gets to have a little chef hat and an apron, so even Pluto dresses up for the occasion.

Not much has happened work wise this past week, however two roommates were removed from our wellness apartment, which left the biggest room in our apartment available. So, the next day Jen and I got up early to clean it up and move ourselves to the big room. And may I just say: it’s wonderful. We have so much space we don’t know what to do with ourselves! One positive after that fiasco, I was not only excited about our big room, but the fact I now have my bed against a wall. I hated having my bed in the middle of the room; it just got in the way.

This coming week, starting tomorrow, I have breakfast at Polynesian Resort, then Crystal Palace, Character Spot for both Wednesday and Thursday – I’m excited to go back to meet and greets after almost 4 weeks of just dining, and Saturday I’m back at the Polynesian Resort for breakfast again. Not too bad of a week! We also have our first housing inspection on Tuesday, which I have the day off. Don’t particularly want to be here when it happens, so I may try and disappear somewhere. Daylight savings begins tomorrow, yet Spring is not until the 20^th March… Yeah makes no sense to me either having Spring on a random day in the month, but that’s how it is here.

That’s all for now!~

Topsy Turvy

Hullo

‘One More Disney Day’ has been and gone – it was extremely busy. I finished work at 10pm, and since the monorail from EPCOT to Magic Kingdom stopped at 10pm, I had to catch the bus back to our apartments then onto Magic Kingdom. By the time I reached MK it was 11:15pm and it was packed. I haven’t seen it that busy before (seeing as I haven’t worked here in the Summer yet), lines for rides were ridiculous and to see Mickey and Minnie it was a 90min wait. First I met up with a friend to say good bye as she was leaving early the next morning, watched the Electrical Parade at midnight and then went to the Dance Party at the front of the castle. There we found more friends and danced for a while there. Later I found out that some disappeared, I contacted one of them to find out he was in line to see Flynn Rider – off I went. He had found some friends there too, so we kind of cheated and cut the line a bit. By the end of it I had waited 2.5 hours and the girls who were there before us had waited a total of 4 hours! Flynn was very popular. I’m also glad to say I had enough courage to ask if there was anything in Flynn’s satchel, which there was – Rapunzel’s tiara.

Flynn Showing Me the Tiara - whilst Rapunzel points out it has flower on it too

By then it was 5am, so we headed over to Sleepy Hollow for some breakfast, which is where a lot of others had the same idea. They didn’t get their breakfast until 5:45am! I sat with them as they ate and by the time they had finished the park was closed – we had made it till 6am! That day I literally slept majority of the day. Friday I went to Animal Kingdom where I was finally able to meet up with Brittany! She had been to the park before so knew what was good, what times to go etc so that was definitely helpful! I also finally got to go on the Safari, we went once in the middle of the day and the next at 5pm (park close) where we saw a lot more animals out and about. After Animal Kingdom we went over to Hollywood Studios to watch Fantasmic since I hadn’t seen it yet, it was amazing! Definitely my favourite.

Yesterday I had my spare shift from 3pm-9:30pm, which I ended up having to ER at 5pm. But during the day I had gotten excited for my travels after the program with one of my friends back home, so I had been looking up tours and things to do in each city we’re visiting. Today marks the first of 4 shifts at Crystal Palace. Ugh. I’m trying to look at this positively, but it’s not working. And the Hub is down so I cannot view my schedule for next week.

127 days until Ben and Hannah get here. And it’s officially been 2 months since I arrived in America.

New Friends

Hullo,

So by now I’ve done a few more shifts and got to make a new friend along the way, but before I get to that I’ll go through my days in order.

I had my second shift at Garden Grill on Saturday with my friend Pluto; the shift went fast so I was happy with that. Unfortunately I didn’t get to bed early and had an early start the next morning for character dining, yet again with Pluto. This was at the Swan Hotel in one of their restaurants. It was dead for the first three sets, but when Pluto went out on his fourth set it was packed, only because majority of the guests were runners from the Princess ½ Marathon. I then had a 3 ½ hour break inbetween my shifts, so I decided to go have lunch in Paris, then wonder the rest of the worlds. It didn’t take up much time, I then decided to just go back to base and read. I ended up putting in for an ER when I finished my first shift (ER for my second shift) and it looked like I wasn’t going to get it until my captain got a call as I was jumping into the van – my ER had been granted and the person taking over me was coming. So I only worked an hour for that shift, I couldn’t care because I knew I’d be exhausted the next morning if I had to stay until 10pm.

The next morning, waking up at 4:15am, I headed over to Magic Kingdom for my spare shift. However, it didn’t turn out to be a spare shift. Thank goodness I was not pulled for character dining (I have enough shifts currently and next week to last me a lifetime) but I was pulled to make a new friend – Tweedledee, as well as his brother – Tweedledum. I was so happy to make a new friend and we had the best time – they may be my favourites now, shhh! Don’t tell Pluto! They also got to ride the Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups on their last set – which they both loved! That night I went with some friends to the Beach Club Resort (where I’ll be staying with my brother) to have a go at the kitchen sink challenge – we did pretty well! Afterwards I went home since at that stage I was still planning to go to the Star Wars auditions and they were bright and early.

However, my alarm went off at 6am and I went back to sleep. I knew there was no point going, I wouldn’t get anything and I was mainly going to see what happens during them, but I had worked with a face character the previous day who told me exactly what happens. So, I decided not to go and caught up on sleep. During the day I did my washing, met up with friends, went to my first class – Disney Heritage – then went out for dinner at the Olive Garden, which was amazing! I don’t like soup, but one of my friends (who originally disliked soup) insisted to try the Chicken and Gnocchi soup. I listened and I loved it! And it was free refills, so I got some to take home – guess what’s for lunch today! Oh and today is the ‘One More Disney Day’ where Magic Kingdom and Disneyland are open from 6am on the 29^th Feb until 6am 5^th March. I was thinking about going for the opening, but I love my sleep more at the moment. However, I am going tonight after I finish work at 10pm.

That’s all thus far. My next two days I have off, then a spare shift at EPCOT and then I begin my torture at Magic Kingdom’s Crystal Palace… I swear someone is getting back at me for giving away that 11.5 hour shift last week. 4 shifts at Crystal Palace? I’m going to cry, let’s just hope the roster for the following week has me and my friends out and about the parks, not cooped up in restaurants.

131 days – the numbers are decreasing quickly! I like this…