If Your Heart is in Your Dream, No Request is Too Extreme

Another week of magic, and somehow, no costume-related calamities to report!

On Wednesday, Canada said goodbye to another lumberjack, Jason, who was finishing his program. Standard boot toss, handprints and certificate presentation during the day, as well as an Amazing Race-themed speech. That night, all the merchies but one gathered at Coronado Springs to say goodbye. It turns out you can fit a heck of a lot of Canadians into a hotel room. The next day, we not only said goodbye to another lumberjack, Isabelle, but also a coordinator and, for people at the end of their work week, a manager. Brutal, Disney. To soften the blow of losing so many people, Lesley and I went to Magic Kingdom, where it is apparently already Fall and the Halloween decorations are out in full swing.

Rodi (our highest seniority lumberjack), Dave (departing coordinator) and I.
Dave's dreamcatcher on his nametag is standard for departing (honourary) Canadians.

It was August, and it was also Fall.
Disney logic.

Friday was the busiest and possibly the most Disney-filled of all my days off. It started ridiculously early in the morning with my car loaded full of Canadians and UKers, off to Epcot for a cast photo scheduled for 7:45 am, in honour of the 30-day countdown to the upcoming 30th anniversary of the park. Mickey and Minnie were in attendance, as well as opening day cast, ie cast members present when Epcot opened on October 1st, 1982. All the lumberjacks trekked over the Canada for a few early morning Canada cast pictures before some of us went to wait out our start times at the break trailer, and some of us went home to nap before recommencing our days off.

An epic of Epcot epicness.
Can you find me?

Moose antlers for Canadians!
I'm far right in the second-to-back row. 

After my small nap, Rhys and I headed over the Saratoga Springs Resort for a Disney Vacation Club open house we had signed up for the week before at the Board Walk villas. Basically, it's a Disney version of a timeshare, but with no actual time restrictions and the most gorgeous of accommodations not only on Disney property, but all over the world (even in Wales, woooooo!). Very tempting, if I wasn't poor and in a solid amount of debt. We were given ice cream as a small reward for attending, then we went to Typhoon Lagoon for (free) fun in the sun.

Disney details in the Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House sample rooms. 

Most of our time was spent lounging in Castaway Creek (the lazy river), digesting copious amounts of ice cream. Thank you, sand pail.  In the evening, after we cleaned up, we bussed over to the Kidani House of Animal Kingdom lodge for drinks and African-Indian munchies at Sanaa, the restaurant of Kidani House.

Note:  You'd think it would be cooler in Florida at 7:45 in the morning. Not even slightly.

Thanks to: Angela and Tiffany, as I see I have mail from both of you. Huzzah!

The Weather is Good, the Fishin' is Fine. What Do We Do With All of our Time?

First things first, readers who aren't living in Orlando: Epcot is not currently engulfed in any kind of major tropical storm/hurricane/tornado/monsoon and I'm certainly not writing from a makeshift shelter in the basement of Spaceship Earth...yet. No, but seriously, we're just supposed to get a lot of rain and a lot of wind, which will make being down on the promenade fun, to say the least. If anyone dares to steal my rain gear, I will come after them.

Important life events of the last week include another lovely day of princess fun with the lovely Rhys, a (short) visit to the Holy Land, and ways to make wearing a costume so much more fun.
My days off were back to their regular selves this week, so Thursday and Friday. I spent Thursday day running random errands (Jen, expect mail soon!) and Thursday evening at the Board Walk (which you may remember from this post). Rhys and I bussed it to the Board Walk, grabbed deep-fried goodness at a random stand near the Board Walk Inn and headed to the bakery for cheesecake brownies. We walked in and there were six. We walked out and there was one remaining. No, we did not buy them all, but our praises certainly sold them all. Board Walk Bakery, you can pay us in (obviously) baked goods. We took our cheesecake brownies to go and headed to the beach of the Yacht & Beach Club, where they play a nightly Disney movie at 9:00. Tonight's selection was the remake of Escape to Witch Mountain. I even remembered bug spray. I'm getting so good at this permanent summer thing.

The Disney Vacation Club Villas on the Board Walk.
DVC might have a spot in my future. 

Friday, we headed to the Mall at Millenia for minor shopping for me and major computery-type shopping for Rhys, topped off with "lunch portions" (ie dinner in Canada) at Cheesecake Factory. Since it's located so close, we decided to check out the Holy Land Experience (theme park?) right across the street. Sadly for us, it was already 4:00 and the park was closing at 6:00, so rather than pay for two hours, which had a ball taking pictures in the parking lot instead. We then headed back to Disney territory, grabbed our tiaras and headed back to Magic Kingdom for more princessy fun.

I never actually went in the park, so I haven't burst into flames...yet. 

We had to wait out some rain for MK fun,
but look how pretty! And magical!

Tips of the week to make costumes slightly more fun: Earlier this week, Lindsay and I got absolutely soaked attempting to close the cart efficiently, thus we had to return to costuming to be more show-ready. Since I'm the single most popular size among female lumberjacks, naturally there weren't any culottes in my size left. I elected to wear a size bigger and...wait for it...had to safety pin my shirt to my culottes for the rest of the day to make sure they weren't going to fall down. Yes, this was an actual concern. Costuming fun this week means princess hair all week long for me. I did Belle hair two days ago, Rapunzel hair yesterday, and today...well, stay tuned.

TTFN,

Note: "Beaches" on Disney property are a bit of a misnomer (eg Yacht and Beach Club, Caribbean Beach). There's sand, and there's water, but there's absolutely NO swimming in the water. Eewwwww.

Thanks to: The higher than usual number of Perth families visiting, my roommate Gaia who's program ends this week and the random guest who offered me a loonie this week after hearing that I hadn't seen one in awhile. Touching.