I've Got Everything that I Need Right in Front of Me

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here! It's like the Americans have forgotten about their own Thanksgiving. It happens.
Tuesday night, Rhys and I went to Walmart and loaded up on Christmas-y things for the "all holidays" tree she inherited from the former tenant of her apartment. We decorated the tree while drinking tea and listening to Christmas music, and followed it up with some Claymation Christmas clips, courtesy of YouTube, not my DVD. So much Christmas!
The next day in little Canada, the much-detested Canada promenade music was gone, to be replaced by a loop of charming Christmas songs, most of which were sung by Lindsay and I outside at the cart, and not necessarily for guests. The store also got a lot more Christmas decor, in addition to our already-assembled garlands of antlers, snowshoes and moose. There's also a spot outside between the cart and Off Kilter's stage where guests can eventually meet Santa. I saw it for the first time today and nearly died. So yeah, Santa visits the pavilion. It's so festive!

New decor in Canada! Even our plaid looks Christmas-y!

On my Saturday (real life Thursday), Briana, Amanda, Sam and I headed to Downtown Disney's AMC  Theater to meet fellow Canadians (and a row full of UK) for a highly anticipated Twilight movie marathon. We all got matching posters and lanyards (displaying the film schedule) in addition to Twilight trivia and never-before-seen interviews between the five films. There wasn't a single pair of real pants to be found, what with the first film starting at 11:30 am and the final film at 10:00pm. Yet another once in a lifetime opportunity, and not a single spec of Disney to be found!

Bright-eyes and in sweatpants at 11am.
True Twi-hards, up in here.

My Sunday, everyone else's Friday, was spent with Lindsay again as we completed "errands" around Property Control and the outlet mall across the street, then to Hollywood Studios to meet Rhys. We took in the night's only showing of Fantasmic (sidebar: with it getting so dark so early, what once started at like 9 now starts at 6:30), as well as a good deal of time twirling beneath the five million lights constituting the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. We were able to catch three sequences of dancing lights, all to the tune of the Trans-siberan Orchestra, as well as a ton of pictures and glimpses of new Hidden Mickeys, before boarding a flight on Star Tours and heading to Perkins (not a Disney thing) for pie.

The magic that is the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights

It's been a very magical week, kids.

TTFN,

Note: My blood's become quite thin with all the disgusting summer weather. If it drops belong 18 degrees, I'm frozen and in mittens.

Thanks to: Ali, one of the loveliest Canadian servers, who will be leaving us very shortly. See you in Ontario!

Think of the Happiest Things, It's the Same as Having Wings

In the wake of last week's elections, coincidentally the election to which I have paid the most attention in...ever, we had a lot of requests from sad Republicans to relocate to Canada. Sorry kids, I don't think you'll be too happy up North, either!

Last week was Trainer Appreciation Week at least at Epcot, which, like anything else here, is done in no small manner. Wednesday morning, before I had even managed to clock in, yours truly walked away with free popcorn, drinks, rice krispy treats and a free Disney World Training lunch bag (for my big kid job, whenever that happens again). Better yet, the core trainers (trainers who train in all areas, not just one country or another) responsible for running the event took turns taunting us area trainers while they sat under a thing called a Pitch Burst, which was kind of like a dunk tank except with the danger of falling water balloons. My aim was quite poor, but there were already quite a few soaking yet (and rather cold) trainers by the time I arrived. Thanks for the free stuff, and you're quite welcome for training the newbs!

I appreciate free stuff...oh and teaching, that's cool too. 

That evening, the still newly crowned server Rhys and I went to the Mall at Millenia to bask in the glow of upscale Christmas decorations and the glory of the Cheesecake Factory.
My weekend, Thursday and Friday still, began rather unproductively with an epic sleep-in til noon, followed by more delicious carb-heavy food with Rhys, and a few errands at downtown Disney (Guess who has a serious problem with her plush collection?) and some groceries. The next day, Rhys and I had at least our third Princess Day at Magic Kingdom (the last being in August), this time in full Fall gear. We met Tiana and Naveen, jumped on both Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion twice, grabbed FastPasses for Peter Pan's Flight and were able to sneak back into New Fantasyland for a quick trip under the sea and a LeFou's Brew. We had a lovely, belated birthday dinner at The Wave (located in Disney's Contemporary Resort) and had a charming former Le Cellier server bring us fantastic American (Florida local, even) treats.

Princess Day: November Edition 

Under the Sea, open to the general public.
The general public will destroy things.

Today was a day of training to make me earn my rice krispy treat from the week before. You may recall I had an extensive few days of trainer training, including following a trainer around for the day. I've now come full circle in the training circle of life and was shadowed all day long by Zach, our newest Canadian merchandise trainer. I'm pretty sure all I taught was how to look like you're teaching safety, courtesy, show and efficiency when actually doing very little...in Mexico. Meh.

I'm a Guest! Nope, wait, I'm just on lunch. 

TTFN,

Note: It's now Christmas all around Disney World! Wreaths and garlands are all over Magic Kingdom, and the Canada Pavilion, and we have an epic tree at the entrance to World Showcase! You can tell by my liberal use of exclamation points that I'm rather pleased.

One of many many wreaths Christmas-ing up the Magic Kingdom

Thanks to: Former CRP Dana, who supplied us with poppies for today, and our manager Tom, for pretending he didn't see them.

Soup du Jour, Hot Hors D'oeuvres, Why We Only Live to Serve

Hi kids! It's been a week of wining, dining and weird days off.

Even though this was one of the first weeks after our recent schedule bid (I'll now have Thursdays and Fridays off until the end of my program), another Canadian needed Thursday off so I had an odd Wednesday as my Saturday. This odd Wednesday happened to be Halloween and this Halloween I spent in Hell - aka various DMVs around Orange County. It turns out one cannot renew an Ontario license plate with American insurance (thanks for the heads-up, Ministry of Transportation of Ontario), so my car had to be re-licensed and re-registered for the United States of America ie there are now Florida plates on my car to go with the Florida license in my wallet and the American insurance in the glove box. Fortunately, I was able to do the whole process in my Halloween costume, so it wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been.
Thursday, I was oddly back to work for the day. At the daily morning meeting with the UK merchandise cast, we were informed that one of us had made the top three in Epcot in terms of re-loading Food & Wine Festival gift cards. That cast member was me. Yay me! I won a fantastically-timed Food & Wine gift card. That evening, Rhys and I went out for dinner to celebrate her becoming Le Cellier's newest server (Yay Rhys!), followed by another throw-in to welcome new Canadians and entice them to come to Games with tales of our nerdiness (more later).

"You did such a great job selling gift cards, here's a gift card!"
..but did you buy it from me?

 The next day, a day off, I used my winning gift card to its entirety with Rhys, Deanna, Ashley and Chelsea. We made off slowly around World Showcase, starting in Mexico, with Chelsea collecting stamps in her Food & Wine passport and the rest of us gradually sampling whatever struck our fancy. I am now recommending to guests the Mongolian beef in a steamed bun from China, the paneer cheese and spinach pocket in South Africa and the baklava in Morocco. I had every intention of finishing my free snacking in Canada but was much too full to even consider it. Instead, we found our way to the Festival Center in the former Wonders of Life Pavilion (and now mostly abandoned retro golden sphere) and I contributed the rest of my winnings to some Food & Wine "tangible memories" (ie merchandise). That evening, the five of us, along with four other Canadian friends, staked out an entire row to support our company and to catch Wreck-It Ralph on its opening day. You guys. SO GOOD. Seriously.

My tangible memories and I in front of the
monumental Wonders of Life pavilion.

Last night was a Games night extraordinaire chez Rhys, as it was our first Murder Mystery evening. I'd like to say I put my forensic science degree to good use and solved it before anyone, but there's a very solid chance that I, or someone who looked a lot like me, committed the murder...About that...

Tina and Courtney as Peggy Sue, a reporter, and Barby Q, a divorcee. 

TTFN,

Note: This weekend marked lots of special happenings...in the United Kingdom pavilion. Yesterday was Guy Fawkes Day, and the day before the pavilion premiered their gorgeous new costumes. We looked ultra shabby in comparison.

Emily and I being model cast members.
I'm smiling cuz my costume is 30 years old. 

Thanks to: The Florida DMV, who's going to give a manatee $30 because I picked the manatee license plate. Don't spend that all in one place, random manatee.

Tomorrow Night, the Lights Will Appear Just like They Do on My Birthday Each Year

If we're friends on Facebook, you may have noticed that the months in which I post the most pictures are coincidentally the months I do fewer blog posts. At least those few posts are full of fantastic photos!

My last weekend started with a lovely breakfast with Bailey at the other Canada Pavilion, also known as Disney's Wilderness Lodge, more specifically, Whispering Canyon restaurant. Fantastically fantastic banana bread French toast. Then a quick trip to property control, to which Bailey had never been, in which I acquired yet another Ear Hat (seriously, if you're in the protective and decorative shadow box business, let me know) and home.

This is how the Disney totem pole goes too -
Mickey at the top, Cultural Reps at the bottom!

Later, I met up with Anastasia and Amanda for Anastasia's last trip to Hollywood Studios, in which we did the highlight reel - Beauty and the Beast, Voyage of the Little Mermaid and Fantasmic. We sat close enough to the stage for Beauty and the Beast such that Gaston's facial expressions were easily visible. Hilarious!

I'll bring this picture into a wedding planner one day. 

A few days later, Anastasia and I went on an autograph mission around Epcot (for Pluto and Alice) and Magic Kingdom (for the fairies, Tinkerbell and Periwinkle), as well as a Jungle Cruise everyone should be proud of - I did not spoil one single joke (for the record, I'd be a boss skipper).
Tuesday was Anastasia's last day in the Canada Pavilion, with the usual managerial, coordinator and cast member hullabaloo onstage and most of the senior cast members (yup, me included, I'm senior now) being in costume and at work for epic group photos.

The lovely ladies of Canada merchandise -
Lindsay, Sam, Bailey, Anastasia, Briana, me and Amanda

That night, Lindsay, Amanda, Sam and I went to Magic Kingdom for a round of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, in which the park in closed to non-Halloween Party guests, there are multiple rare, villainous characters out and about, there's an epic Boo to You parade with a large section devoted to the Haunted Mansion, Haunted Mansion cast members are decked out as zombies, a very special HalloWishes fireworks show and, for the only time all year, adults as allowed to dress as face characters (ie princesses). Oh, and trick or treating for the first time in probably thirteen years! There were specific trick or treat trails set up all over the park, with festively-dressed cast members meeting us with large handfuls of candy everywhere.

Spooky Haunted Manson CM done up for Not-So-Scary.
Times when having red-eye in a picture actually enhances the picture.

Thursday was Anastasia's last night in Orlando, so a bunch of us merchies went Downtown Disney for ice cream and a little activity called Characters in Flight, a tethered hot air balloon flight high over Downtown Disney.
As most fans should know, Friday was my 28th birthday, the first one in three years not spent in a uniform having gotten up at 4am to work. Thank Mickey for that! Instead, I slept in, saw Anastasia off to the airport via shuttle, and then me and two of my favourite princesses (in matching dresses even) hopped into my carriage to the most magical place on Earth, Magic Kingdom. We met the princesses Cinderella, Aurora, Rapunzel and Ariel, ate dinner at Tony's Town Square and rode my favourite rides (for the record, that would be Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion and the TTA People Mover).

Cinderella gave me birthday advice from princess to princess
on how to achieve both a castle and a prince.

We were joined by Lindsay and Sam for a cast-exclusive preview of New Fantasyland.  You may remember I had already peeked into New Fantasyland earlier in the month, but this time the whole thing was ready for dress rehearsals. We saw Be Our Guest restaurant, Gaston's Tavern, Bonjour Gifts, Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid and Ariel's Grotto, a new meet and greet spot for the little mermaid.

In front of Beast castle and the entrance to Be Our Guest.

We also met Gaston in front of the statue he oh-so-generously donated to the people of his village. It was magical. The whole thing's going to be just perfectly magical when in opens to the public on December 6th, just don't expect me to be anywhere near it!

Be still my heart, I'm hardly breathing.

My first day back this week was a whopping 11.5 hours, from which I am still recovering, so with that, I say...

TTFN,


Note: I heard "Happy Birthday!" from about a hundred people on my birthday in the park. I say it probably around that many times a day. I hope I make those birthday guests feel as special as I did!

Thanks to: Each and every single person who contributed to what definitely makes the top 5 birthday celebrations. Sorry no one got cupcakes from me this year!

The Gleam in your Eyes is so Familiar a Gleam

Oooh boy, it's been over ten days without a post, did you miss me? (Cricket sounds) Okay then. 

From the 7th til the 10th, I was still here, attending Lesley's last games night as Prime Minister (I'm Governor General, did I ever mention that?), saying goodbye to parting lumberjacks, watching Wishes and generally bawling my face off like a champion. Sounds like time for a vacation.

And now, for something completely different...

Which I did. To Disneyland! Sam, Amanda, Briana, Megan and I caught a very early flight to LAX, where we arrived three hours earlier (darn you, Pacific time). Unable to check into our hotel, we walked over (WHAT?!) to Disneyland, checked out Main Street USA and Pirates of the Caribbean in our lovely flight clothes and had lunch at Walt's favourite restaurant, Carnation Cafe. The food was homey and fantastic, and they served chocolate cherry coke. 

Adorable pink Sleeping Beauty Castle.
I'd definitely live here.

We were finally able to check into out hotel, freshen up, and like troupers, headed over to Disney California Adventure, the second of the two parks making up the Disneyland Resort. The two parks are about a hundred feet from each other. It took some getting used to. We checked California Screamin', the roller coaster on Paradise Pier, Mickey's Fun Wheel (of death), a terrifying ferris wheel, as well as browsing through the newly built Cars Land. Upon park closing, we were able to zip right back over the Disneyland and queue for their Space Mountain, which is currently rethemed as Space Mountain:Ghost Galaxy, for Halloween. 

The next morning, we walked back to Disneyland (stil not used to this concept), had breakfast at the Mary Poppins-themed Jolly Holiday Cafe, checked out Autopia (DLR's Tomorrowland Speedway), the Matterhorn Bobsleds, the Mad Tea Party (the teacups ride, outside), Sleeping Beauty Castle and DLR's Hub before heading across the way for lunch at California Adventure. We did the World of Color package, meaning we ate and got tickets for prime viewing of California Adventure's nighttime spectacular, World of Colo(u)r. We ate at Golden Vines Winery, which was like an escape with fantastic dessert. We checked out more of Paradise Pier, a gorgeous boardwalk complete with carnival-type games. World of Color was an epic of epic epicness, way better than anything we have to offer at WDW (or maybe that's just repetition talking). 

Californian escape in the middle of Disney California Adventure

World of Colo(u)r,  featuring the wheel of death and lots of Pixar references.

We zoomed back over to Disneyland to check out A Bug's Land (A Bug's Life section), more Cars Land, the Mad T Party (an outdoor, Alice-themed nightclub-type experience, very cool) and some shopping. Then to bed. 

We're hitchiking (ghosts) to Radiator Springs!

 We woke up early the next day to get FastPasses for Radiator Springs Racers, the most coveted new attraction at Cars Land. At 9:00 in the morning, we were able to grab Fast Passes for 9:35 at night. Five minutes later, all the Fast Passes were gone. Tips for future travel, all.

How to smile when you have a Fast Pass 12.5 hours from now. 

Breakfast was with Minnie and "friends" at the Plaza Inn. "Friends" here means "very random assortment of characters", including Chip, Dale, Rafiki, Captain Hook, Pinocchio, Max, the Fairy Godmother, among others. It was slightly insane with the abundance of characters and the lack of attendants, but we were able to get some good breakfast and some good pictures. Dale took my spot at the table and tried to eat my bacon. Cheeky chipmunk.

We headed to Adventureland to take a free Jungle Cruise with the best skipper ever (there's an Applause-O-Gram headed your way, Justin), then to New Orleans Square to queue for a very special Haunted Mansion Holiday, ie a Nightmare Before Christmas-themed, October through December only Haunted Mansion. INCREDIBLE. 

Come with us and you will see, this our town of Halloween.

Then we trekked over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Toon Town to check out Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin, rode Space Mountain again and brought our Dole Whips into the Enchanted Tiki Room. Back at California Adventure, we continued waiting out our Fast Passes with shopping and Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, another new ride with a shorter queue in Cars Land. One spin around Radiator Springs Racers later, we were spent. 

Briana and I looking like Guests (mostly me) at Mater's Junkyard Jamboree.

We slept in the next morning and made a list over breakfast of what needed to be achieved on our last day. The bulk of the day was spent at Fantasyland on the classic rides, like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and Pinocchio's Daring Journey, as well as enjoying the Soundsational Parade. Back to California Adventure for a ride on the trolley, Disney's Aladdin - A Musical Spectacular, and a Glee celebrity sighting, then right back to Disneyland for Remember, Dreams Come True (a superior Wishes, paying tribute to all the signature attractions), back to DCA for Grizzly River Rapids, our final ride in which we got soaking wet, freezing cold and absolutely terrified, and I became the owner of a Grizzly River Rapids towel. 

In front of the Disneyland train station on our last day.
The first bright, sunny warm day we had in California. 

Hey guess what? It's a small world has CANADA in California!

Back to Orlando the next day on a trip that felt like it took all day...oh wait, it did. Luckily, I was (the only one) not going back to to work the next day. I spent the next day unpacking, was back to work (for a long shift) the next day and today and tomorrow, well I'm back to my weekend now, aren't I?

I hope you enjoyed my novel. The next installment shall be forthcoming.

TTFN,

Note: At Carnation Cafe, we met Oscar, the chef who has worked for the Disneyland Resort for a whopping 56 years, the longest tenure of any cast member ever. EVER. He knew Walt Disney, for crying out loud. 

Thanks to: Of course, my DLR Canadians for a fab trip to the best coast, and the magical cast members of DLR. 

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!