The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway

It has been a busy and unseasonably chilly few days in the world of magic.

Friday morning Sarah and I managed to get going at a reasonable hour, as we had made reservations for a breakfast at Tusker House at Animal Kingdom. Tusker House was actually on my list of things to do this program. It's a buffet style character restaurant. We met Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Daisy over Jungle Juice and Mickey Waffles.

We are such a good-looking group.

Selfie master in action

We intended to rest and digest on Kilimanjaro Safaris, but the line was ridiculous so that just wasn't happening. We went for a brief nature walk on the Maharajah Jungle Trek then decided to be Wilderness Explorers for the day, as this was also on my list. Basically you're encouraged to collect badges by visiting different Wilderness Explorer Cast Members through the park to learn more about animal calls, recycling, bird behaviour, etc. There has to be over thirty badges but we did very well to collect at least twelve. We were able to ride Dinosaur with a minimal wait, as well as It's Tough to Be a Bug and Triceratop Spin. Afterwards, we tracked down a mysterious and elusive place called Cast Connection. It's a store behind Animal Kingdom-ish wherein merchandise is discounted for cast and their families. Sarah both loves and hates me for successfully finding it (the store has relocated since my last program).

The Wilderness must be Explored!

Saturday I met new friend on real life but friend for awhile on Facebook, UK merchie Laura. We went to newly renamed Disney Springs (this used to be Downtown Disney). There are new parking structures I didn't want to face at night so we went early. We explored World of Disney as well as the Marketplace Co-op, and a few littler stores. Despite my wanting to spend all the money (our massive Holiday discount ends soon), I was actually very well behaved, leaving only with pin backs, a new Magic Band with which to eventually link my Maingate pass, and lunch from Earl of Sandwich.

Our group has mixed feelings on pin trading.

Laura had to work in the afternoon, so I went to Magic Kingdom to continue to shopping quest and to meet Sarah. I was yet again unsuccessful in my shop but I did run into fellow Canada merchie Kimberly AND my favourite barbershop quartet, the Dapper Dans. It was raining cats and dogs so they actually performed in Uptown Jewellers, where I was searching for a very specific Dooney & Burke purse. The Dans were a consolation in my failure to find it. 

The most Dapper of selfies

I met Sarah with her two French roommates and a third French friend. She had had a morning intoducing them to the joy that is Magic Kingdom. Once I joined them in my super stylish poncho, we were able to ride The Barnstormer and the Walt Disney World Railroad before waiting for the Festival of Fantasy parade. Due to weather, the parade was delayed and eventually cancelled, but we were treated to the rarely seen Rainy Day Cavalcade, in which FoF characters are loaded into the Main Street USA vehicles and driven down the parade route to the tune of "Singin' in the Rain."

Our group waiting for FoF in the rain.

Rainy Day Calvacade!...

...Is not that exciting after all. 

We were able to sneak onto Pirates of the Caribbean before it mysteriously went down for a few hours, as well as the Enchanted Tiki Room. Sarah and I took off thereafter, as the other three were desperate to do Space Mountain but Sarah and I do not queue. We met Justine (Sarah's roommate from Mexico attractions) and Nicole for a Fork & Screen presentation of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies.
Sunday was a long and chilly day back in the Canada Pavilion. I was still training with Micayla. The focus of the day was engraving and transactions down at the cart. Although the cart has had a complete overhaul since my last program, engraving is almost the same. I feel like I picked it up again quickly. It was also my first time closing the cart. It's a chaotic process involving the music of IllumiNations and the sounds of fireworks. I'll be closing over the next few months so I will be a champion at it. I also learned a very important lesson in costuming - if the skirt you select doesn't feel super soft, chances are it hasn't been washed a thousand times and will bleed colour when dry into your clean white shirt. And your new, white Dooney & Burke (!!!!!!!). It had best wipe out, is all I have to say on the matter.
Monday was a very special day in the life of a merchie.  I offically "earned my ears" - I passed a written assessment of my merchandising skills and had a leader engagement to go over expectations for the duration of my program. I can and will still wear the "earning my ears" ribbon until I feel more comfortable. Things eluding me right now include prices of various items, including differentiating between the leather bracelets. Micayla and I started out the day together as trainer and trainee, then after my assessment we both went into rotation. Since Micayla is so much higher than me on the food chain, she went home at 1700 while I stayed til 2100. Not sure if I mentioned it yet but there has been a rather large and major cheerleading competition being held at ESPN Wide World of Sports this past week, so I've had lots of engraver practice from high school cheerleaders wanting personalized mementos from their trip. Happy to oblige, and for the practice. In the evening at the cart, Shane and I met a family from Guelph with whom we had a great chat, and they presented us with a teeny token of love from Canada.

Bonus points if you know this family!

That's all for now, more pictures in costume soon I hope!

See you real soon!

Lindsey

Magical Moment: While earning or Wilderness Explorer badges, Sarah and I encountered a CM named Dave who was telling us about the call of Siamang gibbons. Not two seconds later, said gibbons actually did this call and he was just amazed cuz apparently it's rare. His enthusiasm was out of this world.

Pixie Dust to: My trainer Micayla, for hearing me say "On my first program..." every third sentence. No more.