al green.

Today was another day off :)
I went to Magic Kingdom with a friend of mine.. we did Haunted Mansion (they just happen to be an expert on it, so I learned a lot about it. I really appreciate the Haunted Mansion even more every time I ride it!!), Splash Mountain, Big Thunder. We also did Stitch's Great Escape (my first time!! It was really strange...) and Mickey's PhilharMagic <3.
It was an excellent morning indeed :)

This evening I went to Universal with Sara and we saw Al Green in concert! To be honest I had never heard of him before tonight but he was amazing! So full of soul!

Great day :)

ODF

I was woken up this morning at 7 am by a phone call from Deployment. They told me that instead of working at Crystal Palace I was needed at ODF (Outdoor Food). I found this really peculiar because I'm not trained on cash so I thought there would be limited roles I could do.
I spent the morning sleeping (I was sooo tired for some reason), doing odd apartment chores, and calling back deployment several times to figure out where I should clock in and what costume I should wear.
I had "Mickeyroni and Cheese" for lunch- kinda like Kraft Dinner but with Mickey shapes :) It was delicious!
I took a really early B bus to give myself lots of time to figure it out.
Costuming was a hassle! I was told several different things until finally I ended up speaking to a costuming manager who called deployment for me. They told me to get the main street ODF costume.
WELL.... You should have seen my face when they showed me what to wear......

This is me in the Cinderella break room. I went to CRT before my shift so they could all laugh at (with) me.

SO HAPPY

Anyway, my shift was really fun :) i was on two different stands on Main Street... one on the right hand side, one on the left hand side, right in front of the castle. I helped distribute the snacks and drinks people bought- scooping popcorn, using the fountain pop machine. It was fun! :) I got to watch all the castle shows (DREAM ALONG) and the parades. :)

I wouldn't want to do it everyday but it was fun being in the sun and stuff like that! Very enjoyable :) Great experience!

I'm off again tomorrow :) 

Ohana and Wonderworks

A day off :)

My day started off by catching the B bus to the Polynesian to eat at the Ohana restaurant with some of the CRT crew :). Ohana is character dining, which means we were visited by my new friends Pluto, Mickey, Lilo and Stitch. The food was excellent :) We had unlimited fruit, Mickey waffles, and eggs/potatoes/sausages/bacon/biscuits and bread, served family style at the tables. We also had this delicious fruit juice, and I had some hot chocolate. I love love love Disney food and I will miss it (among many, many things) when I leave.
The company was excellent as usual :)

Us and our boss. 

My main man. 

Lilo <3 

Pluto. 

Cutest alien ever

The whole crew- CRT + Linda's husband & friend

CRT crew

I was just a little excited. 

Afterwards, I took a bus back to Vista and met with Sara and Alex and we started the big adventure for the day. Our destination was WonderWorks.
We had to catch a public transportation bus (!!) from the outlets by The Commons and drive down I-Drive.

It's really hard to explain what WonderWorks is... it's kinda like the Discovery Centre in Halifax but weirder. Just a bunch of weird sciency explore around type exhibits. There was a hurricane wind tunnel, an earthquake simulator, a bubble room, a place where you could dance and your shadow did weird things, and other stuff like that. It was a really nifty afternoon. We also played a game of laser tag and Alex/Sara went on the ropes course high in the air. I didn't have good shoes to do it so I just took photos :) Laser tag was super fun though cause the three of us ganged up on all the kids we were playing with!!

THIS is WonderWorks... see what I mean by weird??

We had supper at a Greek restaurant. It was great- I love Greek food! The neatest part was Alex actually being from Greece and being able to explain all the food and say it in Greek and stuff :)

In the evening we just walked around the area on I-Drive. Lots of cool things to explore. We went in the Peabody hotel and went to the top floor just to see the view. We got some good deals at Bath and Body Works and went into other little shops (including an adorable art gallery).
The COOLEST part (literally) was that we ended up going into an Ice Bar. It's a bar, that's like.. in a freezer. That's right. They lend you jackets and gloves and you go in this freezer and like everything is made out of ice. The cups were ice. The seats were ice, with fur on top. It was just a really weird experience. We listened to a few songs, then got cold and left. But really really neat experience indeed.

We finally had to wait around for a Lynx bus to take us home. This ended up taking FOREVER. But I just love Alex and Sara and we were tired and hyper so we just laughed and talked forever :)

What a fantastic day off! Great food, great friends, great fun.
I'm visiting my old friend Pooh on Main Street tomorrow! Hope it goes well!

Give Kids the World

FINALLY! A day off :) and what a lovely one- as usual.

I went to Animal Kingdom with Sara and we were joined later by Alex. We watched Festival of the Lion King! It was just as exciting and amazing as I remember it from last year's Disney vacation. Sara and I met Safari Donald as well :)
We also did Dinosaur again. I love. That. Ride. Everest too :)
Sara and I walked a trail and saw some animals including the huge huge bats.
The three of us had lunch at the Yak and Yeti. I had sweet and sour chicken and chocolate mousse for dessert so I was soooo full but it was soooo good.

I then took a bus to the Commons to meet at the Disney Programming Office to go to Give Kids the World!!!

As a cast member we have the opportunity to participate in "voluntEAR" events. This is one that the CPs do a lot. The Give Kids the World Village is where a lot of the Make a Wish kids stay when they go to Disney World.
Only a van full of us were able to go, so it was just a handful. They were all really nice (didn't really expect anything else) and I was happy to meet them all :)

The village is absolutely adorable. It's just entirely kid friendly. They have ice cream shops, pools, games, boats you can steer, little trains, playgrounds, etc. The games room was beautiful. They had a big theatre too. It just looks like a child's fantasy.
According to their website:

Today the Village is a 70-acre resort complete with over 140 Villa accommodations, entertainment attractions, whimsical venues, and fun specifically designed for children with special needs.

With the help of many generous individuals, corporations and partnering wish-granting organizations, Give Kids The World has welcomed more than 115,000 families from all 50 states and over 70 countries.

The majority of our group was responsible for helping to run the night's talent show for "kids night out" (where kids hang out with the cool voluntEARS and parents get a little break). I was among five people who ended up going to the castle room to organize the arts and crafts closet. I didn't really mind this too much- it brought back memories of the rec department summers :) Even though we weren't working with kids directly we were still making a difference.

After our closet was clean and good to go (and they gave us some food!) we actually got to watch the talent show! It was adorable. The kids danced and sang and one duo had a comedy act. They even had kids be judges like American Idol style. We also got to play with them a bit in the games rooms afterwards :)

I'm really glad I got to experience this. I do wish I could do it more often but it's difficult to be off on nights when they offer the trips and spaces fill up fast. But it was certainly inspirational. Big props to the GKTW village, what a fantastic endeavor.

They have their own mascots :)

When I got home I went to Nicki's apartment and was the banker ("GT") for the big game of Disney Villain Monopoly with Kelly, and Nicki's room mate. It was fun :) I love my CRT friends.

Off again tomorrow :) Excited!! :)

What's Curling?

So apparently Disney owns ESPN. They have a big ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex right on Disney property. They have huge stadiums and sports centers and all sorts of cool stuff like that. I decided to take the long long journey on the K bus to check it out!

I was hoping they would have curling merch. They didn't. They didn't even know what curling was haha. But I got this tag, and I also got a Florida Gators t-shirt.

I was the only one on the K bus home! ONLY ONE! this has never happened to me- normally MK routes are packed. I had a good chat with the driver though :)

I worked 2:45-last check. Last check is when you wait for everybody to leave the restaurant. I did this for the past two nights, and again tonight, so lots of hours :) Tonight was the smoothest night in awhile and a great way to kick off my weekend. We had people who don't normally do the roles of coordinator/assigner do them tonight but it was still fantastic. We were all up before fireworks. I was out from last check much earlier than the past two nights. 

I was sets up first then I was a seater with Grace :) 

It was a good night! 

SO excited for days off though. So so so excited to see where the pixie dust will take me :)

dance moms

DANCE MOMS IS BACK IN MY LIFE. That's all I did this morning. Holla season 3.

A man came to fix our ant problem in our apartment too. Yay!

Worked 2:45- forever. I was last check again. I was podium then updater (I love being updater). We had a tornado warning in effect today. Crazy stuff.
I was in a clutzy mood today and kept running into things but other than that life was good!

Good day. I'm exhausted.

Debbie.

What a lovely Sunday!

The day started off with going to church with Alex. It was a good service :) Another priest spoke today than the ones I've seen... he spoke for longer than usual but it was a good day. It was nice to be in a church again.

I worked at 2:45. I was podium for a bit!! :) It was crazy.. some tropical storm Debbie is passing through so it's POURING. The park was so empty today, my manager was telling me all rides were pretty much walk on and that numbers were really down. This doesn't affect us too much but it was still really weird to see an abandoned Fantasyland!
After my break I was a seater (aaaaagain).. it was hard to get tables moving because of the rain but we got everybody fed :)

I offered to do last check tonight which means I had to stay at podium until everyone left the restaurant. I clocked out at midnight which was a first for me, I think... quite late for CRT! It was fun though.. Magic Kingdom had extra magic hours until 2 am this morning. I was so intrigued by how little people were there that I changed after work and went on stage and just walked around main street. I looked in the shops, bought a few things. It was SO deserted! Such a cool experience.
I walked to the Contemporary, caught the A bus and ended up being joined by Alex who got on at west clock! After saying goodnight to her and the Dangerfields I think I'll hit the hay! Late night for me! hehe

There's a great big beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of everyday <3

Tomorrowland

I had one of my favorite shifts at work ever today! I worked 8-4 because I switched with Jessica to work mornings.. and it was amazing. I was greeter assistant for breakfast, then I covered podium over breaks, after I came back from my break I was seater/setter, then covered podium again. Basically all my favorite positions :) Covering podium is fun because you don't have to check people in you just stand there and answer people's questions about the Magic Kingdom!! I get paid to know things about MK! TOO COOL.
I also have a weird love for seater/setter. It feels like I'm playing diner dash. I feel useful and important. AND YAY FOR NO SEATING TODAY!!!

I also signed an autograph book for a kid. And had a bunch of cute stories. Guests were great!!!

This evening I went to MK with Alex. We ended up seeing Devin and his room  mate Carter. We rode Pirates, It's a Small World and Space Mountain and we also had a really fun dance party in Tomorrowland! We danced to all the typical dance music with characters like Stitch, Goofy, Chip and Dale! It was cute! I never really liked Tomorrowland until tonight. FanLand will always have a huge place in my heart but Tomorrowland, you're my favorite tonight.

Cats in Space

This is Emily Dangerfield. I quite like her. She works at It's a Small World and Peter Pan and lives below me. 

This is a really good friend of mine and the castle where I work.

Sitting Waiting Wishing

Today was another 2:45-10:15 :)
I laid by the pool this morning (working on maaa tan), did a few little errands.. nothing too big!

Work was interesting... there were parts that were really good- some really really nice guests. But I was just a seater again and I find it's getting a little tedious because I ALWAYS pull seater. We were also running behind and I didn't get out until 11, 45 minutes after I was supposed to leave. I don't really mind too much though- got to watch all of Wishes from inside the castle again :) I don't get to do that fairly often! My job in general is pretty darn special so I do cherish every moment.

Since it was so stressful a bunch of us decided to go to Applebee's afterwards and get some halfpriced appetizers! And it's 1:20 AM and I work at 8 am tomorrow, but YOLO ;) I love my CRT family!!! <3

<3 <3 <3 Lots of love always. 

It was one of those nights where ALL the CPs were working :) Yay for no deployment! Great group of people!

Puerto Rico loving.

If ya had the chance to change your fate...would ya?

First, two pictures that were just uploaded to Facebook by Sara that make me really happy:

This was back when I was at Crystal Palace... all of us are from different lands! Tomorrowland, Fantasyland (Sara's land, and my regular home) and Main Street USA :)

Andddd I love STORYBOOK CIRCUS !!!!

So today started off really random. I went to Pop Century to try to sort out some stuff for my parent's reservation. Didn't work too well but I bought breakfast! Might as well make a morning out of it!

I went to work.. I was Seater 1. But like.. I thought it would be really boring but it wasn't. We had a proposal, and lots of cute kids, and the princesses seemed extra enchanting this evening. It was just one of those nights where I'd take a deep breath and be like... I'm working at Disney World. It is summer 2012 and this is my job, this is my life. I live here in Orlando and work in a castle.

A friend of mine also mentioned we pretty much just have a month and a bit left.. this darn near broke my heart. It feels like this is forever.. and to be honest, it would be amazing if I could live here forever (if my friends and family could be here too of course). I've been trying to make the most out of everyday, and do something fun at least once a day.. but.. August 3 will roll around and I won't live at Disney World anymore. As much as this breaks my heart, I know I will have to continue having fun everyday and never take it for granted!! This has been the experience of a LIFETIME and I will NEVER forget this!!

I don't think I've said YOLO before I came here but...YOLO. 

I could not be happier with how this summer turned out! I live at Disney World!!! :D I'm just so happy about this today!!

Tonight for example was an excellent memory.

BRAVE CAME OUT!!!!!

A bunch of people from CRT ended up going to the Midnight premiere at Downtown Disney. How cool is that? Watching Disney's newest movie at Downtown Disney the MIDNIGHT it comes out... PRETTY COOL.

Sarah picked up Nicki, Grace and I after work and we drove over. We met up with Linda and her husband, Jessica and her room mate, Kim, and a few other people, got a bunch of snacks (yum) and settled in. Jessica had made cute little Reserved signs for our seats! :)

The movie was good! It wasn't as amazing as I expected... it wasn't a Finding Nemo or the new Beauty and the Beast. Could be because I was exhausted. But I really liked the character Merida. She's tough! It was cool that it took place in Scotland too, and a female protagonist. Pixar's first princess! 

I think my favorite part was just being able to watch it with such a cool audience. Obviously all huge Disney fans mostly cast members even. Everybody clapped at the good parts. It was fun watching it with work people too- :) at the beginning when they showed the castle, all of us in unison were like WE WORK THERE!! 

Grace and Nicki <3 

So a pretty cool day if you ask me :) Excited to see what tomorrow has in store! Probably a bit of sleep but then work 2:45-10:15! I hear Barack Obama is in town! Spotted this at the Contemporary ... Mitt Romney was there today! 

Today

Today was another day off :)

Vista Way had a character breakfast!! This is exciting because a lot of the housing events take place at night so most CPs can't go :( . But Alexis and I woke up early and got in line to meet the boss and his wife.

We also had free food and a DJ. Nothing like a morning dance party!!

This afternoon I went to Universal again with a friend :) We had so much fun! We did the universal side- I did the ET ride for the first time which was cute and then really bizarre (if you've ridden this ride before you know what I mean). We did the Islands of Adventure side after and had some fun there.
Afterwards we ate at Pizza Hut (yummmmmmm stuffed crust) and then we went to Downtown Disney to walk around and see the sights :) Downtown Disney is beautiful at night!

Amazing day.

Back to work tomorrow :( / :)

Casey Junior's coming down the track

YESTERDAY

Yesterday was a really fun day! I worked 11:30-10:15. This is the longest shift I've ever worked- it's lunch and dinner. I was a greeter for lunch, then went on break, and was on podium/greeter assist at night. These are all of my favorite positions so it was an excellent shift.

A group of Canadians had rented a room at the Wilderness Lodge for the night so after work I put on civilian clothes and went onstage, down main street, and got on a boat to the Wilderness Lodge. This is one of the deluxe resorts I believe, and it's in the Magic Kingdom area which is really exciting. You can't monorail there but the boat is precious.
We hung around the hottub and the pool and finally retired to our room to play Apples to Apples and a bunch of funny paper games.. it was a great night! Even though there was six of us in one room we had a great night sleep and had a ton of fun. We stayed up really late too so there wasn't a whole lot of sleeping going on hehe.
It was so cool just to go from being at work to going to a Disney resort! It was truly like being on a Disney vacation with a bunch of friends!

Googled image but isn't it pretty? 

Likewise.

TODAY

All of us were either off today (like me) or working late so we decided to play at the Magic Kingdom today :D
We had breakfast at the resort first. I love resort breakfasts! I had Mickey waffles :) :)
At Magic we did the Hall of Presidents, the Liberty Belle (first time this year!), Haunted Mansion (<3), Splash Mountain (so much love), Space Mountain, TTA, and had some food at Peco's Bill. We also got to watch Dream Along with Mickey and I got some cute photos.
We were all pretty tired and came back to Vista... I had Chick-Fil-A for the first time ever! It was DELICIOUS. I'm soooo sleepy now!

So another successful day off. I have tomorrow off as well :) Excited to see where the wind will take me.

YUM. Resorts have the best breakfasts. 

For some reason the Magic Kingdom was so busy today. Wait times were insane. We waited like 20 minutes outside turnstiles. This was a result. 

A massive prop inside my favorite ride of all time. Snapped this cute photo during the ride. 

Busy busy busy day. 

I don't think I give the Haunted Mansion enough credit. It's a great ride! 

Dream Along with Mickey. Big hearts to Peter Pan. 

Aren't they cute. Gosh I love those two. 

Space Mountain has the easiest on-ride photo to pose for! 

We met this silly guy again :)

PS I'm so tanned now.

"This is an awfully big castle for one person"

A lazy, happy Sunday.
I didn't go to church but I had some devotional time at home.. which was fun and just as beneficial! I love Jesus.

Alex and I went to the Dollar Tree together before work to pick up some things for Alexis' birthday... I hope she has seen the birthday surprise things before she sees this blog post...

New update: I got a Disney nametag with my hometown listed as Acadia University instead of Chester, Nova Scotia. I think I'll still wear the Chester one all the time but I wanted the Acadia one as a keepsake. Lots of college program kids have their colleges listed. When I ordered it a week or two ago, the girl at costuming literally handed me over the keyboard.. I could have listed anything as my hometown haha. But the Acadia one is cool, and I think I'll treasure it :)

I was back at Cinderella's today!!
I was seater for a bit which was okay because I'm not bored of it yet haha. I overheard a lot of guests saying cute things, like the title of the blogpost, or simply "this is awesome." The guests were good today, my coworkers were great, it was a really good shift.
About halfway through I was switched to seater/setter which means you set tables pretty much.. no complaints actually! I don't mind this position. You're always doing something and you can be efficient and productive and help the servers out.. it's fun! :)

So good day good day!
I have the longest shift of my life tomorrow 11:30-10:15! Should be interesting...

Magical Moments

Yet another lovely day at the happiest place on Earth!

I woke up and felt adventurous (LOVE those days) so I took the B bus to the Grand Floridian

I've blogged about the GF before. It's one of the most expensive Disney resorts- if not THE most expensive. It's in the Magic Kingdom resort area... which tend to be really pricey as is. Monorails run from the Magic Kingdom to three resorts: the Contemporary, the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian (all 3 known for being high quality, high expense resorts). Unfortunately not every average family can afford an entire vacation at one of these resorts but they are really amazing. I've been able to explore them on various occasions during my trip and they're just astounding.

The Grand Floridian is my favorite. I love its theme, I love the lobby, the atmosphere. It's just so traditionally Disney.
Guests who are not staying at these resorts are not supposed to be at these resorts so it's kinda hush hush that I was there hehe.

I bought a few pins... I know, I've said before pins are a waste of money, but I got the new Merida one, a Hollywood Tower of Terror one and a Splash Mountain one. They're souvenirs.. and they're so cute.

I then laid by the pool. That was so relaxing. Florida sunshine, amazing resort, right next to Magic Kingdom. This is the life. Sara and Alex came along afterwards too and the three of us swam and sunbathed until I had to take the monorail to work.

Before going backstage, I got to see the new Casey Jr.'s Splash area in Fantasyland!! It's so cute. It's like this big train with (plastic) animals that squirt water. It's part of Storybook Circus and the new Fantasyland Expansion. It's so cool that I can see (at least the first phase of) the expansion open for the public! Making Disney World history!!

Some pics of the new part, and the regular Fantasyland just cause I love it:

^ place of employment. 

I love Mickey's PhilarMagic. It's so underrated. 

The new Fantasyland is going to be amazing! I already love Storybook Circus.

Have I mentioned how much I love Magic Kingdom.. especially Fantasyland?! 

Work was absolutely amazing today! The Crystal Palace is such a happy place. I was bouncing around ("She's like Tigger!!") all night, and had so much fun with my coworkers and guests. Enthusiasm at the Magic Kingdom is highly contagious. We got to do some memorable magical moments and really make people's days. Today was like the epitome of a wonderful shift at Walt Disney World and I was proud to be a cast member!!

I worked 3-9 and I'm sad to say that was my last scheduled shift at the palace. I'm hoping I'll get to go back at some point- the costume is cute, the people are nice, everything is adorable. But I'm back at CRT tomorrow, back to my FanLand home. <3