Get Comfy, It's a Long One.

I haven't done a full update in quite awhile, so it's time to play catch up!

In my role, I can be scheduled anywhere in the Magic Kingdom with any characters- because of this I spend most days in different locations. Lately I am most frequently working in the Crystal Palace restaurant, which is character dining. Winnie the Pooh Bear and his friends walk around the restaurant, greeting all their guests. My job there is mainly to keep an eye on the characters and make sure tables are prepared with cameras and autograph books out and ready to go. There is typically less guest interaction in dining because, well most people don't really want you to chat it up while they are trying to eat, naturally. But lately I've been able to make friends with some adorable little kids there. Yesterday I got to hold precious bouncing baby boys from 2 separate tables, both under a year old. I just love little flirt babies, and both these guys were such mini ladies men! They were just so dang cute and giggly. Both tables ended up taking pictures of me and their little boys, so that made me happy knowing that I added a little bit of magic to their night.

Me & the gang. (The sling is no big deal- I apparently have tendonitis in my left shoulder and had to wear that for a week)

My favorite experience at work so far came from a little prince named Jack. Jack was here celebrating his 3rd birthday with his whole family. I had already spent some time previously talking with his family about their vacation, when I overheard his mom saying, "Go ahead Jack, ask her! Don't be shy." I turn around and asked if I can help with something. Jack shyly smirks at me while holding his autograph book, and his mom says that he wants to know if I would sign his book! I was entirely too excited and overjoyed to comply. After signing my name, I then pull out a notecard from my attendant bag and asked for Jack's signature. He is just now learning to write his name, so with his mother's guidance, telling him one letter at a time, I got my first guest autograph. He was so delighted that his mom asked for a picture of us together, one I wish I had a copy of. It's amazing to know that I will one day be a fun memory of someone's trip, in a photo hugging Jack, while holding up his first ever autograph. If he ever becomes famous, seriously, I got the first one.

Now proudly hanging on my bulletin board!

I have finally had more time to play and explore the parks now. I think I've actually done most of the rides now that I wanted to, with the exception of Toy Story Mania, Space Mountain & the star wars ride at Hollywood studios. Those are still on my to-do lists. Tower of Terror will still never, ever, ever happen....ever.

Even though I work with the characters, it's always excited to get to meet them at the parks as a guest and get their autographs!

Me, Tinkerbelle, Nicolina, and Elyse

Pooh Bear- giving away hugs!

Princess skirts!

 The pictures with Ariel and Belle were from my night I worked until 1:45 am. Who doesn't like to hang out with royalty?!












 On another exciting note, I was given my first review yesterday. In training we were told that someone would be out to observe us in our first 45 days, and that day came yesterday for me. I was pulled aside during our lunch shift at Crystal Palace by a manager who told me I wasn't in trouble, but we needed to go have a chat. We went down to a break room and she explained that she was there to give me my review and apparently had spent the last set observing me without my knowledge. Excuse me while I brag for a moment, but I was extremely surprised and delighted, as I had been preparing myself for critique, only to find that she had no negative comments to make! I was told my manager had raved about me, everything this trainer observed was spot on, and she just had so many nice things to say. It was such an amazing confirmation to get from a supervisor! I'm pretty sure I went back to work glowing!

My last and finally update is a bit off topic from the regular Disney details. The last few years I've begun giving things up for Lent, usually items like soda, french fries, that sort of thing. This year I'm trying something a bit different. I decided to give up complaining. Now, this isn't as black and white as not picking up a soft drink for 40 days, so it's more of a challenge and goal. Of course I will slip and let some complaints slide over the next month, but it's already making me more aware of my attitude. I don't think I'm a naturally negative person, but even the amount of small complaints I make tend to be unnecessary. I am so blessed and lucky, I need to give praise more and complain less. Along with this, I decided to make a daily positives list. I began a few days ago, and so far have only been keeping track of it on my phone. I decided a better way would be to share it here- but so I don't have to mix it in with my Disney updates, I will be adding an additional blog to my account. It's more for me really, but maybe sharing it will encourage others to do the same, and find more joy in their days.  Again, it's more for me to keep track of, but feel free to check it out every now and then! 
Here it is:
http://dailysmiles101.blogspot.com/


Until next time...

Stitch & I love you all!

Hello Homesickness!

So homesickness is starting to creep in our apartment. I think we've all been so busy for the past month its been hard to notice what's been missing from home. But as we are starting to get used to long hours and busy days, its been more noticeable.
We've learned that CP doesn't stand for college program like we thought, but instead closers-of-the-park! A few of my roommates have been unfortunate enough to be regularly scheduled until 3:30 am. I've gotten lucky in that regard by only having been scheduled one shift that ended at 1:45 am so far. Most of my shifts fly by though, and even though I miss parts of home, I still absolutely love my job and am thankful to be here. I love getting to talk and play with all the children and meet families from all over the world. I've even gotten to practice speaking French some with families traveling here from Canada.

There are a few downsides about my role here though, the main one being it's difficult to meet people other than guests. The majority of my roommates have a group of coworkers they regularly work with, while I'm constantly with different characters and only occasionally another random attendant. I've worked with a few of the same Photopass cast members a few times, but almost every day I am working with all new people. Hopefully soon I'll be able to meet more cast members though. Sometimes I'm lucky to have at least one of my wonderful roommates have the same day off as me, but when they don't, it'd be nice to have other people to call!
I've been feeling under the weather today, but am grateful to have roommates who make toast and hot tea for me to feel better. Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel better: I have a busy week coming up, working at Chef Mickey's, hanging out with Woody and Jessie, Winnie the Pooh & Friends, and wrapping up the week with Mickey & the gang.

Until next time,
Amy

Things I've Learned At Disney

1. I never want to travel to Brazil. Ever.
2. There is real magic here, and we get to experience it every day.
3. Some people can manage to be angry even while at the happiest place on earth.
4. Walt Disney was a brilliant, remarkable man.
5. Some parents are absolutely clueless.
6. Bubbles can turn a day around. In fact, some kids only need bubbles, not rides or characters!
7. You can get used to anything, including waking up at 6 am.
8. Stickers are almost as awesome as bubbles.
9. British accents, once spoken, are near impossible to break. It's bloody brilliant! 
10. It all started with a mouse.

"There's a snake in my boot!"

Have time to SPARE

So today I'm scheduled as a "spare" which means I'm basically here to cover shifts of people who called in or are sick. The other few times I've been a spare I've been sent straight to a location, (Rapunzel; Mickey & Minnie) but today I'm actually on call in the break room so far. Normally when I check in at Base I hear the dreaded words, "can you extend today?" But today, instead I heard the glorious words telling me to check back in an hour. Did I mention I'm still being paid? I'm hopeful to spend the day in the break room reading, and perhaps get an early release. Despite getting 8 hours of sleep last night, I am dragging this morning. Sorry for the short update, but maybe I can sneak a quick nap in!

Until next time.

Glamorous life of a Character Attendent

It's been a long while since my last post! I've wanted to write an update the last several days but have been too tired when I finally have a free moment. In my last post I promised pictures of my fantastic costume so, here we go!

Glamorous life of a CA

Stylish, right? Compared to other Disney costumes, we actually are pretty lucky!
















This week I completed my core CA (Character Attendent) training, welcome to Magic Kingdom, and as of this evening, my first solo shift. I've had the pleasure of working with Jafar, Stitch, Chip & Dale, Goofy, Pluto, Donald, Shaker bear, Baloo & King Louie, Tinkerbell, Terrence, and Rosetta!

 

 

 

Amazing training family, Tink, & Rosetta

It's been a long week, and lot of work, but an absurd amount of fun. I am convinced I have the best role one can have at Disney. I finally have a day off tomorrow. I'm hoping to spend it doing a little housekeeping- organizing my room and doing some laundry mostly. I try to keep things exciting!

Shorter post than normal, but hopefully the pictures made up for it! I'm sleepy and this is the most I can put out right now.

Until next time,
Amy

Traditions, Training, and Then Some

I feel like so much has happened since I last updated here. I'll try to back up a bit and write things in order.
Our drive down here was rather uneventful, with the exception of my favorite event: picking cotton in Alabama! 

I can't explain why I wanted to do this so badly, but now I can say I have.

Our first night on the road took us all the way to po-dunk Grove Hill. We stayed at their 'finest' #1 hotel, Windy something-er-rather. At first I was charmed by the kittens greeting us on the front porch, then when a barefoot man came out from around the door to give us our key, things started going downhill. The worst part of the experience was the sleeping accommodations. Our pillows were literally made of plastic, and the pillowcases kept sliding off throughout the night. By the time we woke up in the morning, we had all shoved our worthless pillows onto the floor.

Now back to Disney! Yesterday I had my Traditions class the majority of the day. I got to learn a lot about Disney history and see some previews of what I have to look forward to working with the company. It was a long day in the classroom, but when MICKEY arrived to deliver our name tags, it was all worth it! It was so exciting to have him surprise us at the door; the magic was very much alive!
After Traditions, I rushed home to my apartment to quickly change, then headed over to Epcot.

My amazing parents spent 2 long days in the car to bring me down to Florida, then enjoyed 2 days exploring Magic Kingdom & Epcot. Since they had an early flight today, and I had early training, we had to say our goodbyes last night. I met up with them and we visited Nemo and saw Talk with Crush before watching IllumiNation's firework show. It was so beautiful! The three of us went to ride Soarin' for the first time ever and it was SO COOL. Dad then took me to ride his two favorites, Test Track and Mission:Space. Mission:Space was insane. I felt like a dog with my head out the window, whose face is flapping back in the wind. There's a pretty image, right? I also took note never to ride that soon after eating.
These last few days have been a reminder of just how blessed I am to have the parents I do. They have been so supportive and encouraging. It was very hard to leave last night, knowing it'll be a few months before I see them again. But they prepared me well and I know time will begin to fly by. I thank God daily for my mom and dad. I pray one day to be as good of a parent to my children as they have been to me. 

Last family dinner before Jeff's sendoff to Hawaii

Today I had a training session for all Entertainment cast. A lot of today was spent backstage, and while I can't share what all went on, just know it was phenomenal! We got to watch Dream Along with Mickey on the Castle Stage. I'm not going to lie, I got goosebumps.  I also got my costume today! But, in order to keep the suspense alive, and also to get myself to bed sooner, I'll save that for next time! I promise to include pictures as well.
Last of all, I recorded a video tour of my apartment and uploaded it so, if you're wondering about my new humble abode, you can view it here! http://youtu.be/hlNrYMguSYs
I filmed it on my cell phone, so forgive me for the poor quality.

Until next time!

Let the Magic Begin

Well our plan to get in line at 6 am didn't work quite as well as we hoped... one roommate, (Miss Nicolina!) heard at 4:30 a line had already formed, so we rushed to get ready and she & I got were in line by 5:15. We heard later on that the first girl arrived at 1 am. Overachiever! Our 6 other lovely roommates, Emily, Caitlin, Elyse, Cortney, Cheyenne, and Heather, joined us soon after. Elyse's mom was gracious enough to bring us coffee and donuts! What a life saver that was.
We got through check-in relatively easy, without any major hiccups! Luckily we were able to get the apartment we wanted and were the first group to go to Casting, so we didn't have to wait in many long lines. Casting took about another 2 hours and we finished around 11. We got our first taste of waiting a good while for the disney buses. We then had a few hours move into our new 4 bedroom apartment in Chatham Square. After attending another 2 hour meeting, this time over housing rules, we got to finally relax(ish) and finish moving into our new home.
I'm so thankful to have tomorrow off. We have a welcome party tomorrow night at one of the apartment pools as a meet & greet for everyone who has arrived so far. My Traditions class will be Friday afternoon, then I will get to spend the evening at Epcot with my parents, watching the Illumination firework show before saying goodbye. They will fly home early Saturday morning- I'm sure they'll be ready by then to get back and see all our sweet animals!  My first training will be all day Saturday, hopefully I'll still have energy to explore the parks sometime this weekend!
That's all the news I have for now, and I know there was no shortage of it. Maybe when things slow down, (ha!), and I'm not so exhausted, I can write about all the adventures we had on the drive here. From cotton-picking, to plastic pillows, it was quite an experience.

Until next time <3