Ever Just the Same, Ever a Surprise

It's been a busy week of celebrations and lasts here in Lumberjack land.

Monday, October 1st, was Epcot's 30th anniversary, as well as the first weekend of the Food & Wine Festival. The promenade was insanity. To make matters worse, cast members were given super special edition 30th pins to wear on our lanyards to trade with guests. The keen pin-traders somehow found out, and were stalking us for most of the day - my first pin was gone within a minute and a half of being onstage. Ridiculous. 

Happy birthday Epcot!
I plan to look better than you at 30.

I abandoned Epcot on its 30th to go play at Magic Kingdom with Lesley. Storybook Circus is now completely open, and has a literal Big Top in the form of its merchandise location, as well as character meet and greet spots. We watched cast members make caramel corn and then got to test it to make sure it wasn't poisoned. The jury's still out on that one.

On Tuesday I was feeling less than magical, so Lesley and I went to the Cheesecake Factory (I had to prove that it sells more than cheesecake) at the Mall at Millenia, aka fanciest mall on the planet. We wandered around Louis Vuitton and Tiffany's like we belonged there but felt the need to whisper. 

We went back to Magic Kingdom for the day on Wednesday, as I had heard that play-testing was happening for Enchanted Tales with Belle, an attraction in the highly anticipated New Fantasyland. We stalked the doors to the Fantasyland expansion and literally jumped off of the carousel to get in. Totally worth it. We saw Belle and Maurice's cottage and Maurice's workshop, which contains a magic mirror which transports guests to Beast's castle, where guests surprise Belle with a re-enactment of how Belle and the Beast met. You're darn right we participated all four times we went through. We're the best laughing portraits ever!

Maurice and Belle's cottage, with chicken and goat prints in the queue.

Here's where she meet Prince Charming,
but she won't discover that it's him til chapter three
(The corner's been bitten off by a sheep).

I'm way taller than Belle ever was.
Those measurements are in 'ans' not 'years', by the way.

On Thursday, a very special guest speaker who owns a restaurant on Disney's Board Walk came to speak at the Commons. You might know her, the sole female Iron Chef on Iron Chef America...um, Cat Cora! Was at the Commons (where I live)! So exciting. After lining up for an hour, we got an hour long Q&A with her, as well as a brief cooking demo, free food and a photo/autograph opp. She's tiny 

in real life. And adorable.

Me and Cat Cora! She's sitting, but on a tall chair. 

 In the evening, I dragged fellow lumberjack Zach to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal in the pouring rain. We persevered through seven of the eight haunted houses, as well as Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween adventure (it's a show) and it did eventually stop raining so we could "enjoy" Universal's scare-acters, who are really really good at their jobs. 

Friday I was back to work in little Canada, but in the evening I went to little Italy with Lesley, Rhys, Caro, Eileen and Laura (I was the sole merch lumberjack) to celebrate the end of Lesley's program. Good food, good company, good times! Then I celebrated Anastasia's 21st birthday with the merchies.

Lesley and I at Via Napoli with dessert menus.
It's a good combination.

Today I misread my schedule and showed up to work work a whopping 2.5 hours early, but luckily was allowed to start that much earlier, as well as end substantially earlier than I should have. I went to Hollywood Studios with (surprise) Lesley. We managed to get some six FastPasses to Rock'n Roller Coaster, went on it once, and it broke down. Womp womp.

Tomorrow, back to the grind, and if anyone wants to give me material to feed guests regarding Canadian aka real Thanksgiving, I'd be glad to have it. 

TTFN,

Note: We sell the ever-coveted ketchup chips in the Trading Post now. Someone tell me something good about ketchup chips. 

Thanks to: Tom, for not making me hang out at the park for 2.5 hours this morning, and the random dude at Hollywood Studios who gave us FastPasses this evening. Probable cast member, you made so much magic. 

Boys and Girls of Every Age, Wouldn't You Like to See Something Strange?

Who's ready for more mildly entertaining lumberjack adventures?
This Friday was supposed to be my Saturday, but I volunteered (to get paid) to work a shift "super greeting" (here at Disney, we don't just greet)/ merchantaining at Mouse Gear, the biggest in-park merchandise location in Disney World, which conveniently is located in Epcot. That morning marked the release of some of the limited edition Epcot 30th anniversary merchandise, including special Duffy plush, pins, shot glasses/toothpick holders, iPhone cases (only 300 of each style), lanyards and so many tees. Mouse Gear had representatives from Italy, Canada, the American Adventure, Germany, Norway and the African Outpost on hand to wrangle guests into the appropriate queues and entertain them with Epcot trivia during the wait. I learned people are crazy about limited edition merchandise. And Epcot. Who knew? I also learned how to navigate the tunnels under Mouse Gear, at least slightly so I didn't get lost.

Jenna and I super greeting like bosses with new friends from Germany and Mouse Gear.
That's a (crazy) Guest's pin-trading Duffy bear.

Saturday was another day of voluntary overtime, as I worked a whopping (for merch) 11 hours. The park is open until 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays during Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, although the booths shut at their normal time. We just get an hour extra to sell Glow products and tell people that IllumiNations doesn't start until 10. The opening weekend of Food & Wine also coincided with a really gross late summer heat which has reminded me of I don't want to be here during the summer anymore.
Tonight I got an ER from my shift to hit Downtown Disney with long lost awesome girl Megan. It's Frankenweenie weekend DT Disney, meaning in addition to 3D showings of Alice in Wonderland and Nightmare Before Christmas, Jack and Sally were on hand to meet and greet guests...if you chose to wait in the enormous and ridiculous line. It's the first time the pair has even been at Disney World.

Megan and I at the Holland Pet Cemetary photo spot DT Disney.

We chose not to wait, but instead enjoyed the last day of the 50% discount at Bongo's Cuban Cafe (owned by Gloria Estefan, y'all) and went to see Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D. There's a very real chance it became a sing-along. At least to me. I'm not sorry, Megan.

TTFN,

Note: This is how I've been spending most of my free time lately. I'm still getting over a cold or whatever, so I hang with the plush collection watching Doctor Who a lot more than I care to admit.

We're all riveted by the eleventh Doctor.

Thanks to: Angela, Randy, Sam, Isabelle and my mom for the mail this week. Thank you all so much!

The Bare Necessities of Life Will Come to You

The thing I woke up early on Friday for? A haircut...at Magic Kingdom. Heck yes. Harmony Barbershop is mostly for little kids and baby's first haircut, but me and a full grown man were both getting adult haircuts. And I get a cast discount. So there.

Does your barbershop have its own quartet? No. Aww, sad for you. 

 Friday night, I went Downtown Disney for dinner at House of Blues with Rhys, Lesley and Laura and, only because Magic Kingdom was closing early for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, we went to Hollywood Studios for the remainder of the evening. Due to the lucky coincidence of Lesley and I not riding Tower of Terror and it being a work day of a favourite Cast Member of ours, Lesley and I were miraculously able to ride Rock'n Roller Coaster five times in half an hour. If you've ever done the ride, you know there's a heck of a queue and a fairly lengthy pre-show. Two words (well, one word and one acronym) - VIP entrance.

Five times! Half an hour! Mathematical (impossibility)!

 On Saturday, I had another full day of training with Anastasia, a fellow trainer and our trainees, Daniel and Veronique. Eight and a half hours of us talking, them nodding and having absolutely no questions, plus an evening of "Hey guys, go hold this flag on the promenade and wave!" (The Lindsey Keeler method of crowd interaction) equalled a very successful first closing shift for the trainees and the first closing shift in awhile for me. I miss sleeping in. On Sunday, we had half a day with the trainees before they did their assessments (like I did back in March), had their leader engagements and were back onstage as full-fledged cast members.  Fantastic work, kids, I'm so freaking proud!

Over my weekend, I had dinner with lovely Canadian Cast members at the honourary Australian pavilion (ha ha Outback), including former CM Kyra who left the day we were both receiving quarterly awards. Good times, ladies. On Friday, Lesley and I donned our matching Art of Animation tees and had an adventure day at Universal. It was supposed to have been Lesley's last Universal day (cuz everyone leaves me eventually), but too much got rained out for it to have been the last, plus they don't sell that unicorn from Despicable Me at Islands of Adventure, so we have to go back. We took all the tourist-y pictures.

Don't worry E.T., we'll help you get back home!

Universal's Streets of America/Halloween Horror Nights

No cliff-hanger today. Let's all root for me to get healthier, though, please.

TTFN,

Note: This Friday marks the beginning of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, in which world showcase expands to host 27 countries' worth of food and drink. There's going to be lots of well-marinated guests over October.

Thanks to: Emily, UK Merchie, who brought me cookies today to combat my cold. It's helping!

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.

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.