There’s No Place I’d Rather be Than on my Surfboard out at Sea

Everybody pay very close attention. I'm updating my blog within the week. Everyone say 'Ooooooh!'. Everyone say 'Aaaaaah!'. Everyone enjoy how I'm still stealing jokes from Jungle Cruise.
On Monday, I was back to being a regular Cast Member in Canada. I had a short opening shift, I didn't have any trainees, I wasn't wearing my trainer pin, and I was able to ER for half an hour to go to Magic Kingdom with Zach, who came in the last round of newbs two months ago. There were Hidden Mickeys in BBQ sauce on my flatbread pizza at Pinocchio's, there was a less-than-ten minute wait for Splash Mountain, Peter Pan's Flight still had FastPasses available and we got another tour of the utilidoors. Life at Magic Kingdom is freaking fantastic.

The most delicious of the Hidden Mickeys,
bottom right corner.

Very early the next morning, the majority of the Canada merchandise cast got ourselves out of bed super ridiculously early in the morning to get to Magic Kingdom backstage by 6:30am. We met one of our leaders there (a different Zach, new Zach slept in and missed it, ha ha) and bussed over to the utilidoors (the tunnels) of Magic Kingdom. We got a little turned around (we work at World Showcase, it's a circle) but eventually met our (ghost) hosts, Joseph and David, for a very special, very early backstage tour of The Haunted Mansion. We took two hours in safety vests to walk through the entire attraction, room by room, hopping alongside Doom Buggies with our extremely knowledgable tour guides pointing out every single little detail that we never knew about but absorbed with unprecedented concentration. Lights on the entire time, of course.

Canada merchandise cast under the portrait of Master Gracey.
Seriously though, I'll forget all my chemistry to remember Haunted Mansion facts.

We also got to be the first passengers on the day, and we were allowed to take as many flash pictures as we wanted (flash photography is prohibited, as the spirits are frightfully sensitive...that's a direct quote). It was definitely one of the highlights of my program so far. Afterwards, manager Zach granted me an ADO (another day off), as I was driving Lindsay to the airport, and really wanted to go back to bed afterwards.

Bad picture, but that's Lucifer, the Haunted Mansion "mascot" on the wreath.
Cast pet him for luck every morning. Yup, Canada cast included. 

After a very refreshing mid-day nap, Lesley and I went to Hollywood Studios for dinner and a marathon of Rock'n Roller Coaster. Twelve times! Partially assisted by mysterious FastPasses that just materialized for Lesley when we went to get round 5. Fate. FATE. Needless to say, I'm really really not scared of Rock'n Roller Coaster anymore. Hence, multiple poses for the photos.

The "We're Calling Eddie!" pose (back row)

Wednesday, I had another full day of training with my trainee. Suffice to say I'm going to be excellent for like my third trainee. Moving on...
Today I went for breakfast at Ohana, a table service restaurant at the Polynesian Resort, with Lesley and Rhys. It's family-style American breakfast with visits from Lilo, Stitch, Mickey in a Hawaiian shirt and Pluto wearing a lei. So magical. We were going to hit the Polynesian pool, but after a random recalling of Haunted Mansion facts from Tuesday, we decided to go to Magic Kingdom to see the attraction in action, as well as for me to point out things as fast as I could. Then we went on the Peoplemover, cuz it's fun.

Rhys, me and Lesley hanging (loose) with Stitch for breakfast.

Tomorrow will be another day off for me, and it'll start at Magic Kingdom again. I'll reveal why next time...

TTFN,

Note: Way too many of my Haunted Mansion pictures were too revealing of magic to be shared. Sorry for not ruining it for everyone.

Thanks to: Charlotte from England for the mail last week, as well as the Haunted Mansion ghost hosts for their spook-tacular tour. See what I did there?

A Very Merry Unbirthday to You, to You

Hi ho! It's back to the usual Sunshine State weather we go- this is to say, it rains every day again now that the threat of Tropical Storm Isaac has passed.
Wednesday night, Lesley and I went to Hollywood Studios for only the second time since Jen left, with every intention of doing a bunch of attractions. Instead, we fell into the lure of a ten-minute wait at Rock'n Roller Coaster...That is, we rode it six times, with the help of a few FastPasses and a Rider Switch from our new second-to-favourite Rock'n Roller Coaster Cast Member. We also heard spiels in a variety of accents, most of which I got to pick. I work with some magical people, everyone.
Thursday I woke up early-ish (for a day off) for buffet breakfast at Golden Corral with Sam and Bailey, the semi-usual breakfast crew. We went to Universal Studios after, as we had heard from many reliable sources that is was about as crowded as our park this time of year, which is to say, not at all. The sources were absolutely correct, so instead of the usual rushing from major ride to major ride, we were able to take in some less intense, less popular rides we had never done before, mostly in Seuss Landing.

After being in Seuss Landing for too much time,
everything was coming out in rhyme.
See?

That being said, we also rode Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey three times in fifteen minutes, aka the exact amount of time it takes for me to become extremely motion sick.
Friday was my lovely mother's birthday, and due to the fact that I can be a terrible person and she is currently on vacation, I did not get a chance to call and wish her a happy birthday. I explained this situation to a few friends at Magic Kingdom (ie Belle, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Merida, the White Rabbit, Pooh, Tigger and the Dapper Dans), and they decided to help me out a bit.

You'll just have to trust that the sign has writing on it, and that
Merida recommended that I don't turn my mom into a bear. 

The Dapper Dans in their Fall finest, although I'm still in summer dresses. 

The sign's also autographed. This is likely the only time I'll be collecting autographs, as I accidentally drew on Tigger's paw and feel bad about it. In between character meet & greets/ FastPasses, Rhys and I took in all the parades Magic Kingdom had to offer that day - the noon Trolley Parade, featuring the Main Street USA cast in their Fall colours, as well as the Move It Shake It Celebrate It Street Party and the Celebrate a Dream Come True parade. Do you know what absolutely no guests in the park means? A tonne of character interaction during parades. For future reference, I highly recommend coming to Disney World right now. The. Park. Is. Dead. For reals.

The Trolley Parade cast singing about how gorgeous Fall is...
It's still summer, kids.  

We got a bit of a reprieve from the lack of attendance over the last few days. There was an epic, circus-themed, pin-trading convention in World Showplace from Friday through today. For Canada, aka World Showplace-adjacent country, this meant swarms on over-enthused pin traders and complete lanyard turnover within the span of an hour, or however long we happened to be at the cart. There's a small chance it became a competition (someone was legit keeping track...and it wasn't me!).
I missed the last day of pin-sanity, as today I finally got to earn my trainer pin and started training one of our two new lumberjacks, who arrived early last week. It turns out talking for nine hours is slightly exhausting. Who knew?

TTFN,

Note: The Dapper Dans, being a barbershop quartet and all, also sang for my mom. Enjoy!

Thanks to: Lesley (the new Prime Minister of Games) for coming to the latest throw-in with me, and Adam (the former Canada manager) for informing me that five-pound bags of pixie dust exist. MINE.