Once You Find Your Centre, You Are Sure to Win

The new year has begun and the official countdown to the end of my program is on. I've been saying it wasn't a reality I had to face until the new year. And here we are.
My first days off in the new year were spent in true Disney fashion - at the parks, having a magical time. Thursday, I got up early (for us) to meet Aimee and Rhys for a trip to Hollywood Studios. After a few stops and lengthy cab ride involving servers from the UK pavilion, we arrived to an unexpectedly large crowd. Fast Passes for Toy Story Mania were long gone, and the waits for Rock'n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror were in the triple digits, so we decided to just wander and do what we could do.

No lines for Studio Backlot Tour,
probably due to Rhys doing this face. 

We were able to do Drawn to Animation and Muppet Vision 3-D without terrible waits, as well as eat lunch and some snacks, but after fighting the crowds for slightly too long we went Downtown Disney to Fork & Screen. We were joined by Matt (from my New Years picture) for Les Miserables, the ending of which I never actually understood until now, even though I think I've seen the stage show twice. We wandered around Downtown Disney for a little while, and danced with the kids' entertainer for a bit, then went back to Rhys' for movies and wine.

Me, Aimee and Rhys at Hollywood Studios.
No lines for Photopass!

 The next day, my Sunday, was going to be an easy day of me and Supernatural becoming better acquainted, but I was invited via text by Jodey to join her at Magic Kingdom for dinner at Be Our Guest, where I thought I was never going to get a chance to go again. We went to Magic Kingdom well before our reservation in order to put in some quality time on the People Mover and Jungle Cruise (5 minute wait!) before dinner, as well as stopping by Storybook Circus to track down our former coordinator, Dave. We did a little shopping after our 8:45 reservation, as well as meeting the Beast and thanking him for dinner, and headed home.

A painting on the wall of the Rose Gallery.
Soon to be seen on the wall of my apartment...
Don't I wish. 

The Rose Gallery room in Be Our Guest.
Roses everywhere, unsurprisingly.

The next two days at work, I was able to pick up a few more hours due to people calling in for various reasons. The crowds were tapering out, and are now almost completely gone due to kids going back to school. Highlight story of my program though: Lindsay and I were at the cart when a rogue Guest Relations cast member strolled by. Guest Relations are normally only seen on the promenade on their way to work or with a group of guests, so we inquired as to the location of his guests. He said they were in the UK and he was giving them some time while he wandered round Canada. Lindsay told him  she'd like to be Guest Relations for the sole purpose of showing around John Stamos, who visited the park a few months ago and had actually been spotted the day before in the Rose & Crown Pub. The Guest Relations cast member's jaw dropped and he told us that's exactly who he was showing around today. This cast member then went above and beyond, stopping back at the cart with his guests, John Stamos and a woman he was with, at with point we all shook hands and had a merry random time dying of happiness.

TTFN,

Note: Early January? Splendid time to visit Disney World. Downside? Very few College Program kids around.

Thanks to: John Stamos. For being so handsome and polite.

It is the Summer of the Soul in December

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2013 to everyone!
In case you remember or were wondering, Christmas dinner at Rhys' house pre-games was just wonderful.
Christmas day, I continued my unprecedented 50-hour work week with a whopping 12 hour, open-to-close shift. The park was actually quite busy, and guests were (again, unprecedented) extremely polite and kind, as I was thanked several times by guests for working so they could visit Epcot on Christmas Day. You're welcome, and I'm in it for the holiday pay. And the glitter. That night, after a late close, a few of us were invited to Sam's parents' apartment for a late Christmas day dinner and general taste of real life. Again, just fantastic food. Three turkey dinners for me this year, how lucky am I?
Another whopping shift the next day, in which our Canada Santa (Nowell the lumberjack) wished me a very happy Boxing Day and I was very moved that he knew that. No Boxing Day sales in little Canada, I'm afraid. Not a lot of guests at all, but it was very cold which probably kept them all indoors.
The next day, after a very brief stop at the Mall at Millenia, Rhys and I paid a visit to a very appropriate and yet definitely unfrequented (by us) theme park. The Holy Land Experience. Sponsored by The Bible Network. And Chick-Fil-A, I think.

Caffeine, Holy Land-style.

We blasphemously experienced a glittery wax museum, a 55-minute walk-through exhibit of the history of the bible (complete with audio animatronics), many many stores, a few delicious-smelling restaurants, the tiny town of Bethlehem and the world's largest indoor model of Jerusalem (with its very own wailing wall, apparently).

Doctor Who references everywhere!

The park was crowded. It was a bit disarming. Especially when we had to line up for the day's main attraction in the more-than-slightly ostentatious Church of All Nations. Let's just say I was hoping for Jesus Christ Superstar and got Sunday morning TV evangelist times a thousand. The only cure was Olive Garden.

Oooh shiny. And seasonal!

The next day, Rhys and I set out on the late side for Animal Kingdom, and I most definitely managed to get lost on the way there. The goal for Animal Kingdom was Mickey's Jingle Jungle Parade, one of the few remaining Christmas attractions still kicking around. It was magical. We attempted to go Downtown Disney to see Les Miserables, but it was completely sold out (guests, you ruin all my plans), so we went to Bob Evans instead. We were going to try to watch the Holiday IllumiNations later on, but it was just pouring rain so we watched Muppet Christmas Carol instead.

Earmuffs and mittens on the tiger! So cute, Animal Kingdom!

New Year's Eve, I had switched shifts to work over midnight, with some notion that it would be very exciting to work in the park during the countdown. I started at 7:00 and ended at 1:30. I guess I wasn't the only one who thought it would be fun to be in Epcot for New Year's Eve, as we almost reached capacity at an enormous and unbelievable 84 352 people present in the park (that includes cast members, and I legit got that stat from a manager). It felt like that many. And it felt like that many were in the park exclusively to purchase glow merchandise from the Canada cart. It was utter insanity and I've never seen anything like it. The same can be said for our fireworks. Although they did start a few minutes late, almost every pavilion got their own little fireworks display, in the order that they celebrated the New Year. Canada, Mexico and the US got the share the big epic fireworks following IllumiNations. The guests mostly just filed out in an orderly, herd-like fashion afterwards, and I pretty much stood there and waved for half an hour before remembering to close to cart.

Matt Perry and I at 2am with our festive 2013 hats. 

Part attendance is still predicted to be high for the week, but I think I've seen the peak attendance of my program.
Happy New Year. May you all resolve to visit the Canada pavilion this year.
TTFN,


Note: If you ever think spending Christmas or New Year's Eve at WDW is a good idea, find me. We'll chat about how wrong you are.

Thanks to: Everyone who sent me Christmas love in the form of cards, presents or facebook messages. Thanks for thinking of me, and if I couldn't spend Christmas at home, I'm grateful to have spent it at the happiest place on Earth.

Wherever You Find Love, It Feels Like Christmas

'Twas the week before Christmas, and I have been keeping busy.
I was off Saturday the 15th and spent most of the day sleeping in and packing an excessive amount of stuff in preparation for the visit of my lovely friend Angela (whom I hadn't seen in far too long). I popped over to our resort, Pop Century (I did that on purpose) around 5 in the evening, waiting for Angela's plane to land and her shuttle to arrive. We checked out Pop Century's food court for dinner and had a early bed-time for the next day. We went to Islands of Adventure the next day, spending the vast majority of our time at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, as per Angela's every wish on Earth. We thoroughly checked out every single shop and went on all the rides - Flight of the Hippogriff, Dragon Challenge and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey - as well as getting lunch from Three Broomsticks.

Angela's debating quitting life and running away to Hogwarts. 

We meandered a bit around the rest of the park just to see what there was (we totally met the Grinch!), then ended up back in Hogsmeade for another round of Butterbeer at the Hogs Head Tavern before heading back. That night, we went over to the neighbouring resort, Art of Animation (I previewed it here), to see what their food court - Landscape of Flavors - had to offer. Another early bedtime for another early wake-up, as we were up just after the sun for our trip to the Magic Kingdom the next day.
We had a surprisingly warm-for-December day, in jeans and tees we wandered about Magic Kingdom until 7pm, making magic and trying not to twirl into other guests. We went back to Pop Century for a quick breather and returned at 9 for Extra Magic Hours, in which we got on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, watched the Electrical Parade and did some necessary shopping.

Angela and I at Gaston's wonderful fountain in New Fantasyland.

We weren't back until rather late, so slept in a bit the next day for our continued adventures at Hollywood Studios and Epcot.
With a little convincing, I made my triumphant return to Tower of Terror and got Angela on Rock'n Roller Coaster. Success! We were able to get Fast Passes for Toy Story Mania and actually had to line up for Muppet Vision 3D before taking the FriendShip boat over to Epcot for the necessary stop by the United Kingdom for tea and Canada for general sight-seeing. We rode The Seas with Nemo and Friends and watched some manatees eat some lettuce before doing some shopping (it was hoodie time and they were left in the resort) and going back to Hollywood Studios for Fantasmic and the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.

Angela and I with our new friends Phineas and Ferb.

Back to Art of Animation for a different lovely dinner of build-your-own pasta (so good!), to Pop Century to get all packed and a brief snooze before Angela's shuttle came before the sun rose. I thought I worked that day, so went home and took a nap before going to work, only to realize I had been given another day off (ADO), so I went back home and took the opportunity to rest and relax.
After my closing shift Thursday, the merchandise cast members of the Canada pavilion, aka my work family,  got together at Lindsay's apartment for a spectacular and complete Christmas dinner, featuring one perfectly cooked turkey and about twelve pounds of mashed potatoes. There were fourteen of us there, and still food enough for fourteen more.

Lindsay and I are totally festive. I did help a little!

On the 21st, I went to the Mall at Millenia with Rhys and Laura. Laura and I ended up getting haircuts just in time for Christmas at a salon near the mall offering a discount for cast members, and my stylist used to work for Disney (she was friends with a few princesses and danced in parades). We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, complete with Peppermint Bark Cheesecake for dessert. That evening, we got dolled up and went to the Orlando Ballet Company's production of the Nutcracker (on which we also got a discount). Next year, National Ballet of Canada, I think.

Rhys and Laura's pre-Cheesecake Factory snack

I'm in the midst of a rather long work week, for merchandise, so this morning I woke up early and went to Downtown Disney for a bit of last minute Christmas shopping before going to work for 11. Tomorrow and Boxing Day (which isn't really a thing here), I'll be working about 12 hours a day. And I'll be merry about it.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

TTFN,


Note: Please don't ever come here for Christmas. It's so busy. Magic Kingdom reached its capacity at 11:30 this morning. My prediction for tomorrow is 9:30.

Thanks to: Angela, for making the journey from Winnipeg to come see me and that one family from Lanark County who hugged me when they found out I was from Perth.

When Hearts are High the Time Will Fly so Whistle While You Work

This week was certainly no epic story time last last week (at least last week's post). No, this may have been the singular longest and slowest week of my life, if not my program at the very least.

On Friday, Rhys and I went to the Magic Kingdom for a magical day of magic. On our way there, we stopped by Magic Kingdom costuming, as this is where food & beverage cast members (ie Rhys) pick up and check out their work shoes. Chumps in merchandise and attractions get to purchase our own boots, for better or worse. It was about twenty minutes of Rhys picking out shoes and me resisting every temptation to try on all the costumes. I stared at the Haunted Mansion maid costume for a solid five minutes, just debating but not actually touching anything. I did try on a hat on our way out. No pictures, of course, and I'll let you guess which one. All my hair fit underneath, if that give you a clue. 

The windows of the Emporium on Main Street are all
decorated with scenes from Mickey's Christmas Carol.

Our day at Magic Kingdom started with a brief trip to the Main Street Bakery, which will not be there for much longer, as it is the site of a future Starbucks (the other site being Fountain View at Epcot). Our timing was exactly right to watch the castle show, also known as Dream Along with Mickey, for my first time in my program. Granted, I'd heard and walked by it many many times, but had never actually watched it. It was, of course, magical. The kind of magic that brings tears to one's eyes (Psst, dreams come true!). 

Minnie Mouse's (and my own) dream of being a princess.

We caught yet another trolley parade and did the full gambit of favourite rides, as well as the Tomorrowland Speedway, an attraction that I, again, had never done. It's Disney World Go-Karts, essentially. We stuck around just long enough to watch Cinderella's Holiday Wish (still magical), after which I fell off a curb like the picture of grace that I am and sprained my ankle, which is why my week gets very boring. A lovely Guest Relations Cast Members (to whom I owe a Guest Service Fanatic card, I suppose) called an alpha unit for me, aka an emergency squad of Reedy Creek Fire Department paramedics stationed in the park. Fastest response times in North America. Long story short, I've been on the monorail in a wheel chair, but it is in fact just a sprain, as confirmed by nurses, paramedics and a doctor. 

From Saturday until Tuesday, I was laid up in my third floor apartment with nothing but glorious American Netflix to keep me company on my constant cycle of rest, ice, compression and elevation. I tried to go back to work on Tuesday, but to no avail, I got sent to a doctor and then sent home (still, just a sprained ankle). I left my house Thursday for grocery-type provisions (driving is easier than walking, who knew?) but have basically been locked up in my tower for days (Netflix doesn't have Tangled, I checked). I took lots of pictures of the bruises all over my right foot, but there's no way they'll be posted here anytime soon. 

I do have this picture of Rapunzel's tower behind a construction wall.
No word on its purpose yet.

Today I escaped for some low-key fun Downtown Disney in the form of The Hobbit in the Fork & Screen theatre with Rhys and Laura (neither of whom knew The Hobbit was filmed as a trilogy). Long movies need Fork & Screen, for both food and seat quality. 

Laura, me and Rhys post-Hobbit and all Christmas-y!

On the plus side, things can only get more exciting next week! A visitor and back to work! Woo!

TTFN,

Note: Both Jodi Benson (the voice of Ariel) and Lea Salonga (singing voices of Mulan and Jasmine) were both in Epcot this week to narrate the Candlelight Prcessional. And I was stuck here!

Thanks to: Ashley, Chelsea and Rhys, all of whom aided in removing me from the Magic Kingdom on Friday. 

When You Close Your Eyes Then You Realize Any Dream is Possible

Uh oh, it looks like Brer Fox and Brer Bear are causing some commotion downstream. Please stay seated in your log boat...and don't be concerned that I went for a bit with no posts. This one's epic and full of magic and pixie dust.
On Thursday, November 22 (aka Thanksgiving for America, who knew?), Rhys and I went to the Magic Kingdom early with two ambitions: watch the Magic Kingdom open and ride the Jungle Cruise until we couldn't take it anymore. We missed the opening song and dance due to morning extra magic hours, but we accomplished our second goal, and made a few new cool skipper friends to boot! Rhys and I completed ten Jungle Cruise expeditions, taking breaks for snacks, meals and the washroom but being allowed to remain on certain boats with certain skippers, and once being walked on after being made Junior Skippers (Skipper Chanel, this means you). We were joined by another Canadian Lyndsay, after which we completed ten more tours of the exotic jungles of Asia and Africa before calling it a night and dining at Ohana and trying to avoid speaking in puns.

Our 7th Jungle Cruise of the day,
 and our second with the magical Skipper Tyler.

Sunday the 25th, Rhys and I dressed in our Winter finest and attended an early Mickey's very Merry Christmas Party, beating the incoming herd by getting our bracelets early before taking a festive ride on the People Mover. We had miraculously gotten a dinner reservation for the new and very fancy (and very booked) Be Our Guest Restaurant in New Fantasyland. It was just as fancy and magical as it seemed, and we were blown away by just being able to be there to experience it all. The icing on the cake (or cream puff, as that's what dessert was) was the rest of the Christmas Party, including Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade, Holiday Wishes fireworks, the Celebrate the Season castle show and as much free hot chocolate and cookies as we could handle, all over the park. Oh, and it snowed on Main Street USA. It was twelve different kinds of magical. Christmas should always start in November.

Entrance to...
Christmas magic!

So many kinds of Canadian Christmas magic!

On Tuesday the 27th, the ladies from Canada merch got together to make ourselves only slightly more gorgeous than our usual lumberjack selves and went over  to Coronado Springs resort for the Disney Internships and Programs 2012 Winter Formal: Imagination Celebration. Basically, an excuse to get fancy, get free food, dance a little and line up to meet characters. Our fancy selves met Captain Hook, Cinderella and the Mad Hatter and the free food, including a chocolate fondue station, was delightful.

There's a solid chance I'm taking over your castle in March,  Cinderella.

The next evening, an early release from work allowed me to meet Briana, Sam and Bailey for dinner at the Rose & Crown Pub in the United Kingdom pavilion. We bought tickets for the dinner package of the Candlelight Processional, which started a few days before. The celebrity narrator of the night's event was my hero and god, Neil Patrick Harris. Canada had been on NPH watch all week. He was spotted in France a few times, but there were no reports this year on visits to Canada. The processional itself was very festive, if not a little more biblical than I thought Disney would allow, and NPH was charming and stunning, as expected.

Our "Psyched to see NPH!" smiles

I've breathed the same air as Neil Patrick Harris.
Life  = complete!

After the event was over, I went over to Animal Kingdom Lodge to unpack five days' worth of stuff and wait for my mom to arrive, her plane landing late at night and her arriving, via exceptionally slow Magical Express, very early in the morning.No matter!
We got up at a reasonable hour, and, after enjoying a quick service breakfast at The Mara (the quick service restaurant of Jambo House), we boarded a timely bus to the Magic Kingdom. With the exception of a brief visit to Downtown Disney at the start of my program, Mom had never been to the Walt Disney World Resort before. Magic Kingdom was a fantastic place to start. We were able to ride the classics, like Peter Pan's Flight, it's a small world, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Prince Charming's Regal Carousel and Splash Mountain (twice on that last one). New Fantasyland was conveniently open for our visit, so we were able to pop in and take in the sights, as well as ride Under the Sea.

Mom meets the Dapper Dans, at least two of whom sang
her Happy Birthday earlier in the year. MAGICAL. 

We also squeezed in lunch at Tony's Town Square and the Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade. We stayed just long enough to watch Cinderella's Holiday Wish, in which Minnie, Mickey, Goofy and Donald discuss with Cinderella and her Fairy Godmother how Cinderella Castle ought to be decorated for the season. It's magical. Then we were off to Sanaa, the table service restaurant at Kidani House for a lovely and relaxing dinner and back to our home at Jambo House for bed.

Dinner at Sanaa, the only reasonable meal portions on property.

The next day, Mom and I were off to Hollywood Studios. As any day at Hollywood Studios should, we grabbed a Fast Pass for Toy Story Midway Mania before carrying on with the rest of our day on Sta Tours, the Great Movie Ride and Muppet Vision 3D, taking in the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, Voyage of the Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Our lunch at 50s Prime Time Cafe kept us unreasonably full for the rest of the day (tip: you'll never be hungry on a Disney Dining Plan), and we put in time meeting Mr. Incredible and Frozone, Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey Mouse, Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope Von Schweetz (from Wreck-It Ralph), and Minnie Mouse before watching the Streets of America light up with the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. We were able to relax a bit and take in the view of the zebras, giraffes and cranes from our balcony, as well as enjoying the hot tub.

"That's Wasowski, with one I." Get it?

Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope Von Schweetz at the end
of the Game Central Station queue

We went to Animal Kingdom on Saturday. If you're keeping track, this was only my second time at Animal Kingdom since my arrival, and I cannot figure out why. That park is magical! We saw Festival of the Lion King and Finding Nemo: The Musical, as well as taking in the Flights of Wonder show. We went on a Kilimanjaro Safari (WAY more complicated than the Jungle Cruise), and went on Dinosaur and the Primeval Whirl in Dinoland, USA (first time in my program!).

True Story: The Yak & Yeti serves neither yak nor yeti for lunch.

Since Animal Kingdom closes early, we took off to get ready for La Nouba, a Walt Disney World Resort-exclusive Cirque du Soleil show, for which my Family Holiday Celebration book allowed me a considerable discount. In a word, it was amazing. And our cheap seats were amazingly close. Another magical day!
Sunday, we were up before the sun to get to Epcot for 8:30 in the morning, as we were participating in yet another cast-discounted endeavor, the Keep Moving Forward: See the World, Share the Dream tour of World Showcase, done on...wait for it...SEGWAYS. YEAH. We did a terrifying 45-minute lesson on getting on and off the Segway, stopping the Segway, turning corners and not rolling backwards down hills, followed by a hearty American breakfast at Sunshine Seasons (and grabing a Fast Pass for Soarin') and back on the Segways for a (now totally professionally ridden) Segway tour of the eleven pavilions of the World Showcase. The majority of the pavilions were still roped off, with World Showcase not opening until 11 each morning, so we were able to stop for pictures and free roaming time in Italy.

Not as easy as it looks, but no one fell!
Not even me in Canada!

Our tour ended slightly after some enthusiastic waving from the Canada merchandise cart (Sam, Briana, this means you) and some Segway-induced stumbling back over to Italy for lunch at Via Napoli, after our magnificent ride on Soarin', of course. After taking in half the World Showcase by foot while making our way back to Future World, we went back to our resort for some downtime before heading back to Epcot for the evening. We rode Spaceship Earth, dined at Teppan Edo in Japan,  and rode the Seas with Nemo and Friends before catching the extended, Holiday edition of IllumiNations.
Monday morning, we took in breakfast at Boma, in our very own Jambo House, and took off to the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa via the monorail for some sight-seeing. Their epic holiday gingerbread house is out for viewing and smells delicious, as well as the resort being just as opulent and Victorian as ever.

That's not forced perspective.
The Grand Floridian's tree doesn't fit in the frame.

We took the boat over to the Polynesian resort for Mom's first Dole Whip and headed back to the resort for dinner and one last hot tub before a very sad trip back to the airport. I went to Games later to prevent the inevitable depression and lost horribly at Splash Mountain Sorry, three times.
I've been back to work for the last two days doing very strange 8.5 hours shifts, waving at Segways and handing out stickers like a boss. I also missed visitors from Hamilton today whilst being busy elsewhere in Canada. Boo!

TTFN,


Note: It's Walt Disney's 111th birthday today! On that note, the Keep Moving Forward tour is named for a Walt quote: "We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

Thanks to: The enthusiastic Jungle Cruise skippers of the (Disney) world, and the crazy number of Cast Members who complimented me on my Doctor Who shirts over the course of my vacation. Who knew there are so many friends I haven't met yet?

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.