An Enchanted Moment, and It Sees Me Through

Hello friends. I know what you're thinking. I didn't die, I was just very very busy. I always was terrible with the procrastinating.

Since my last blog post, I celebrated my six-month-iversary on July 25th with my arrival squad Justine, Sarah and of course Nicole. Nicole and I were able to book the day off, so we went to the Japan Pavilion to Tokyo Dining for a delicious and filling (and 50% off!) sushi lunch. We even got more sushi for dessert because we could. To walk off our fullness, we found Justine at work (we got our own boat - we know people) and Sarah at work, we visited Anna and Elsa at the Norway pavilion, we rode Spaceship Earth, and we had some Photopass pictures taken to commemorate the occasion. We collected Sarah and Justine after seeing Star Trek: Beyond and had a late celebration dinner consisting mostly of Domino's and snacks. We already have squad plans for our next month-iversary - next week. When did that happen?

Spaceship Earth and two of its biggest fans.

Squad. Goals. Achieved.

I have also been to Universal TWICE since my last post.
I went on July 29th with Kristin and Shellby for Kristin's last Universal trip (for now) and I went on August 12th with Rachel because we wanted to. This is how you win with an annual pass, people. Kristin's trip involved a very specific itinerary - lunch at Leaky Cauldron, Escape from Gringott's, train to Hogsmeade, Forbidden Journey, Hufflepuff sweater purchase, Butterbeer purchase, and home in time for dinner. We accomplished all the things.

THAT's why they call it "The Leaky Cauldron"!

On a scale from 1 to 10, how much do we love HP?
9 and 3/4. 

The dinner we couldn't miss was at probably my number one restaurant on property - Ohana. It was wonderful to stuff ourselves silly on all the protein and watch the rain fall from the Polynesian. This is the stuff you can't put a price tag on (but somehow Ohana manages). Feeling too full to move anywhere, we decided the best course of action was to mellow out with a hilariously themed beverage from Trader Sam's. Since we were so close and dinner was so early, obviously we had to end the evening at Magic Kingdom. We watched Wishes from Fantasyland such that the fireworks were everywhere and there wasn't a huge crowd wanting to leave after the finale.

We had someone take an actual photo but my selfies are better. 

Rachel and I made our triumphant return to Universal on August 12th. We have very little park time together, all things considered. We left at the crack of 9, cuz Universal busies up in the afternoon and we're efficient. We hit up the Mummy twice, E.T. Adventure, Kang and Kodos Twirl & Hurl, The Simpsons Ride (our bodies hate it), Men In Black and finally to Diagon Alley for an Escape from Gringott's, followed by Leaky Cauldron lunch, Florean Fortescue's ice cream for dessert and a train ride to Hogsmeade. Out time at Islands of Adventure was cut short by the inevitable daily downpour. We rode Forbidden Journey before hoofing it out of there only minutes before we would have been soaked. Good planning, us.

Where we're going, we don't need roads.

August 2nd was a very sad day in the Canada pavilion, as it was the last day of work for magical Canadian Cast Members Kristin and Clifford. Our day started out, as final days often do, in the UK for a little goodbye ceremony wherein certificates are presented and tears are shed before the World Showcase opens for the day. I honestly don't know how they expect us to proceed with our days after starting with such sadness. But we keep calm and carry on, as our UK friends say. Of course, not every Cast Member is an opening Cast Member, so a few of us spent time in the DVC Lounge again before lunch at Sunshine Seasons and then we started work.

Canada Merch selfie, including Micayla on the iPhone.

One more pose in plaid with Kristin.
Did you know we have been mistaken for each other?

August 3rd was Clifford's last full day on Walt Disney World property. Naturally, I was working, but I was able to join the merry band at Magic Kingdom for frolicking, character-meeting, and mad tea-partying before Clifford's last Wishes. This is why I have to see Wishes more frequently, people. I always associate it with people leaving and it makes me sad. Ta ta for now, Clifford, see you in Brockville eventually!

Minnie personally selected the gentlemen for her arm candy. 

On August 4th, I assisted moving Kristin out of Patterson Court (a very unceremonious activity, thank you very much, housing) and into Art of Animation for a few days. We swam in the Big Blue Pool while the thunder rumbled and our fingers pruned up, at which point it was time to head to Magic Kingdom for the evening with Sarah and Shellby for another tragic round of last Wishes. The next day, after a gorgeous sleep in a Little Mermaid-themed room, we headed to Animal Kingdom so Kristin could indulge in Festival of the Lion King a few more times. I think at the end she had seen it 43 times (correct me if I'm wrong). Girl. I had to nap but the party moved to Hollywood Studios later, where I joined Shellby, Kristin and Rachel for a Frozen Sing-Along, and later most of the loyal merchies for Kristin's last Fantasmic - I believe she has now seen it 31 times. Girl.

Me, Kristin and Shellby being attacked by a wild Brer Fox
at the entrance of Animal Kingdom. 

Is this Canada? Snoap, it is the Frozen Sing Along.

While Kristin was boarding her Tragical Express back to the airport, Nicole and I were rising with the sun for a very special tour - The Walt Disney: Marceline to Magic Kingdom tour, beginning far before park open. Marceline to Magic Kingdom is described as a tour that tells you how key events in Walt's life lead to the creation of particular attractions and features of Magic Kingdom. You know how I like to be in the know, so it was right up my alley. We were accompanied by fellow keeners Sarah (from the arrival squad) and Leanne from UK merch. It was so magical and just the distraction I needed from the constant stream of departing cast members.

Nicole, Leanne, our super guide Kelli, Sarah and I.
I blend in with Carousel of Progress.

This past Thursday, the 11th, I braved very early and very hot Magic Kingdom to do something I've never done before at Walt Disney World (yes there is still such a thing) - Witness the welcoming of a new princess into Magic Kingdom! Princess Elena of Avalor was warmly greeted by Prince Charming and Cinderella in front of Cinderella Castle after being accompanied around the hub by a horse-drawn carriage and many many very lucky girl scouts. Princess Elena sang for us and told us how happy she was to be here. No word yet on when actual meet and greets can occur. It was very magical. You may or may not know that I was back from my first program for about a month when Merida's coronation took place. I could not have been more pissed to have missed it. But I got this one!

Katrina is elated to have found her prince
in the crowd behind her.

Emma's totes profesh photo of our newest princess.

I meandered around Magic Kingdom for a few hours with Shellby, Emma, and official princess stalker Katrina. We sat through Hall of Presidents because Katrina wanted to, and we met Belle because Katrina has Memory Maker at the moment and therefore has access to a special meet and greet location. We were joined by my friend Anna and Anna's magical friend Marie, who were also thrilled to meet Belle in her yellow dress.

I like how we all more or less are coordinated with Belle.

I have saved the best part of my last two weeks, and definitely one of the highlights of my program so far, for last.
On Saturday, July 30th, Matt and I travelled to Port Canaveral because we had been invited onboard the Disney Fantasy Cruise ship! My new forever friend Alex (with whom Matt completed his second cultural representative program) invited Matt and a Guest (which was ME this time) to join her in the brief few hours between two of her shifts, in which rooms were being prepared for new Guests, and early bird Guests were being greeted for their one-week Caribbean cruise. Eventually I will be so lucky, but I feel genuinely thrilled to have spent any time aboard at all. After a somewhat scary security process than involved surrendering my ID, having my bag checked three times (once by a dog!), and constantly displaying a "VISITOR" badge, we entered the ship through the crew entrance and into the glorious Atrium Lobby. The Fantasy's lobby is described as being inspired by Art Nouveau, which I totally get now. The Welcome line had already started, so obviously I was doing all the clapping. Alex was able to take us through most of the onboard restaurants, bars, the theatre, the movie theatre, the children's lounge, the nursery (much to Matt's delight), the teen zone, all the pools, and even the cast mess hall, rooms, and bar. Alex very graciously answering my thousands of questions about Cruise Line life over our complimentary buffet lunch, and saw to it that Matt and I were reunited with our former leader Jamie (also hailing from Canada), who is most definitely Alex's current leader. If I wasn't vaguely considering Cruise Line life before, I'm definitely thinking about it now. Who needs a real life when you can live on a ship?! Matt and I eventually did have to disembark, as the ship had to conduct a safety drill before its departure. We sat and sadly watched it sail away without us. Next time, Disney Fantasy, next time.

Minnie Mouse is the icon of the Fantasy.
I'm smiling so hard I can't see.

Let's discuss how even the washrooms are magical.

Mandatory porthole window picture! 

This is Andy's Room, part of the kids' Oceaneers Club. 

I'm in a Bippity Boppity Bootique. AT LAST. 

This is my new best friend Alex and an almost empty pool. 

I believe this is also a mandatory cruise line shot. 

[Not sure if anyone noticed, but I'm actually wearing a Disney Cruise Line shirt I had purchased for SO cheap at Cast Connection. Now that I've been on a ship, it's not a lie.]
As some consolation, we went to Universal (for actually the THIRD time this blog post) to check out the nightly fireworks and have some dinner. Passholder privileges.

We also saw a Horror Makeup Show.
I'm good at waiting for things.

See you real soon!

Lindsey

Pixie Dust to: My new friend Alex, for being the best tour guide a Cast Member could ask for. I will send you so much mail.

Magical Moment: Before Kristin's last Fantasmic, we witnessed many magical moments. We were fantastically amused by a glow merchantainer by the name of Andrew. Many videos were taken, and we even got a group shot with him afterwards. Two PhotoPass photographers were kind enough to mark the occasion with many shots of Kristin and her merch posse celebrating her last day... they even gave her a bunch if magic shots on her own camera. This is why I work here.

Heart, We Did All That We Could

It's been a sad week of goodbyes and see-you-real-soons here in the most magical place on Earth. The more time I spend here, the more friends have to return from whence they came. It's a vicious cycle, but I suppose that's program life.

Before they left from this round of vacation, Merran, Amanda and I spent a lot of quality time at Magic Kingdom. We spent time there on the 7th with Daniel and Rachel, then we were back on the 8th for a romantic fancy dinner at Be Our Guest restaurant preceded by a Pirates Adventure to work up our appetites. I felt overdressed to be pirating but just right for Be Our Guest. 

Remember when this place was new on our
program in 2012? 

Matt and I spent the Sunday at Universal. No worries, Matt's not going anywhere soon (he better not) but we went and it was good times so it deserves a mention. Honestly, we spent most of our time in Islands of Adventure stalking the new Reign of Kong attraction. It hadn't technically officially opened yet but we had heard rumours of soft opens. So we'd do a ride (Jurassic Park River Adventure!) then go wait outside Kong for a bit. Then we'd go do another attraction (Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey!) then go wait outside Kong. Then we explored the entirety of Seuss Landing, and met the Cat in the Hat and the two Things, then we waited outside Kong for a bit. We had just given up and decided to get drinks when the gates open (as they do). So obviously we booked it and got in. My favourite park was the jump scares in the queue. Correction. My favourite bit was Matt's reaction to the jump scares in the queue. Priceless. We spent the evening cooling down with Mike and Rachael featuring Back to the Future part II. 

The happy faces of Guests riding the Seuss train twice.

Monday the 11th was Merran and Amanda's last day of their vacation. We spent time together at Hollywood Studios on Star Tours and on Toy Story Midway Mania before settling in for the spectacular Star Wars fireworks as the finale to their trip. Merran will for sure be back at Christmas. Amanda should be feeling the pressure to do the same. Just saying.

We have our own BB8 for this Star Tours trip!

Wednesday the 13th marked the last day of work for many of our beloved merchandise cast members, notably (for me) Kimberly from Canada, and Laura and Rachael from the UK, all of whom have been mentioned on multiple occasions on this blog this year. It was quite a blow and quite a day.

Do we look like the singing Von Trapps yet?

Kimberly and I are bringing princess-y back. 

 That evening was Wishes for the last time for Rachael and Laura. We were joined by Matt and Mike for some seriously sad fireworks (they were as stunning as ever, but last viewings of Wishes are the saddest).
The next morning bright and early, Laura and I were at Magic Kingdom for the break of 0930 for a very special Keys to the Kingdom tour. I had done this tour on my last program but obviously it's another chance to know more than your average bear about Magic Kingdom so I was there with bells on. Laura was very princessy and I was very Adventurelandy but luckily we spent a lot of time both under the castle and in Adventureland. The tour was fantastic as expected. We had an excellent guide named Amalie, with whom we spent our lunch break.

I think I'd rock this equestrian costume. 

We spent a few hous in the afternoon riding the People Mover, taking in Festival of Fantasy one more time (with Eric, Sarah and Kimberly!), and enjoying the new castle show, featuring the long-awaited return of Louis the Alligator from Princess and the Frog. It was obvious from the crowd's reaction that we were all pleased to see him for the first time since the incident that condemned most of the alligators and crocodiles on Disney property. We took many pictures up and down Main Street, and when we had had enough of the insane temperatures, we took off for the last time (for now) before the rain started pummelling down. Are you familiar with pathetic fallacy? I am. 

Mickey's Friendship Faire, new castle show extraordinaire. 

Unbelievably, I returned to Magic Kingdom later in the evening, after having showered and changed and generally freshened up. I may have even napped. It was time for Kimberly's last Wishes, and it was an event not to be missed.  There was ice cream, there was People Mover with the lights on during Space Mountain, and of course, there was sadness. There was also most of the attractions cast, bidding adieu to Leah, an extraordinary cast member. We were all able to cram into a few castle pictures, behaving like the South American tour groups we don't usually love.

Much love, much magic, much maple in this picture. 

Rachel (Canadian Rachel) and I spent the vast majority of the Friday poolside. She was staycaying at Pop Century, so after we spent an ample amount of time at their pool, we may have meandered over the the Art of Animation's Big Blue pool were we may have spent more time poolside (and underwater, listening to the underwater tunes) before inevitably, the pool was suddenly evacuated and closed. Darn you, small children. We went to Hollywood Studios in the evening for more Toy Story and Rock'n Roller Coaster, but were too tired from the sun to go much else. What a life.

The rest of my week has been spent working, sweating, eating and coping with missing some very special cast members and friends. Keep being magical, dearly departed Disney dead friends.

See you real soon!

Lindsey

Magical Moment: Ok, so Laura and I are big fans of the cones on the People Mover. The People Mover cones. They're just orange pylons that ride the People Mover again and again. For no apparent reason. They're MK celebrities in our eyes. WE SAW THEM ON WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. It was magical to us.

OH MY GOODNESS A PEOPLE MOVER CONE.

Pixie Dust to: The table of Cast Members beside us at Be Our Guest who let me borrow their candle for a picture and didn't even ask why. Obviously it's cuz I wanted one in each hand so I could be Lumiere in the castle. But they knew that.

We're Soarin', Flyin', There's not a Star in Heaven that We Can't Reach

Greetings, friends!

Preface: I am ok and everyone I know is ok. All of Orlando's tragedies ought to be done for the time being. Thank you for your concern.

Yesterday, Canada celebrated Micayla's birthday the Disney Springs way - Earl of Sandwich and a new Disney/Pixar movie. Maybe you've heard of this one long awaited sequel called Finding Dory? It's wonderful. 12/12 crying adults recommend it. We also dominated the photo op after the show. Happy birthday, Micayla. I hope you weren't terribly embarrassed.

I found Nemo (Katrina) and Dory (Laura)!
My appropriate shirt says "Just Keep Swimming."

Yesterday after work, I was lucky enough to be added to Laura's FastPass for the brand new and fully reimagined Soarin' around the World. It used to be just Soarin' (over California), and after a brief reopening of the classic show, it's now brand new and shiny. And actually beautiful. My party was thrilled. Also thrilled by the FastPasses presented to us by a Soarin' cast member. Thanks, friend!

New attraction? New friends. 

On Friday, I somehow got up before dawn (remember when that was what I normally did?) to get myself and a handful of other fortunate merchandise cast members to Animal Kingdom, as we had been selected for a backstage tour of Dinosaur! We were actually given a full rundown of Dinoland USA, a formerly very confusing area, as well as a walking tour of the Dinosaur attraction. We were allowed to ride the ride with the lights on, as well as three bonus times with the lights off. Honestly, I probably couldn't have done more than four consecutive time rover rides anyway.

One of very few reasons to be an early riser.
Aladar the iguanadon photobomb. 

We are the Dinosaur princesses.

After a solid nap and some leftover Oliver Garden lunch, Rachel and I had an adventure to The Loop, wherein we visited our favourite place, Ulta, as well as had frozen yogurt lunch and did some necessary summer shopping. It's unreasonably hot already.

Thursday (my Saturday), Laura and I had some errands to run... at Magic Kingdom, which was celebrating the grand opening of the newest Disney resort in Shanghai. I had my hair cut at Harmony Barbershop. I'm sure I said this four years ago, but it's not just for little kids. I was beside a grown man who was having his hair did. However, he did not opt for the high ponytail, pixie dust and pirate treasure that made me extra magical until an inevitable shampoo. We booked a tour for next month (after Laura's last day), then took off for a lunch reso at Sanaa at Kidani Village. Bread service is my new beau. So is anywhere that offers me 40% off of steak. We watched giraffes from our table... and we watched them get briefly rained on. Sorry, giraffes.

This may be my most magical hair picture ever.
It's not even a selfie. 

Excellent lighting at Sanaa from savannah windows.

My dessert came with a side of wise words.

In the evening, Rachel and I rejoiced in painting our nails for the first time since the installation of the wine bar in our store. It has since departed, so we are Disney look manicuring.... followed by the happiest carbloading at Olive Garden. I shouldn't mention it but this week Rachel and I have also visited Steak 'n Shake and IHOP. It's fine.

I visited Magic Kingdom with a different Rachael (from the UK) on Sunday, as it is the most magical place on Earth, and the rest of the Earth was a bit scary that day. We had the most amazing Jungle Cruise Skipper, and we had a different skipper photobomb a selfie that evening. One of our roles as cast members is to help people forget temporarily what exists outside the Disney bubble, so thank you to the CMs who helped us do that Sunday evening.

I know it's a short one, but this is what happens when I stay on the ball.

See you real soon!

Magical Moment: I believe I mentioned the Soarin' FastPasses and the Skipper photobomb.

Pixie Dust to: Our Dinosaur tour guide, Christopher, who actually visits the Canada cart frequently, and our leader, Mike, for giving us a reason to get up before 10am. I don't get out of bed for less than backstage tours.