We are Part of a Pattern about to Unfold

Hello friends,

Everyone I know and care about in central Florida is safe and sound for like the millionth time this year. Much rain, many wind, Hurricane Matthew, WOW, we're all good here. It's pretty cool to be here for park history though; we've only been closed something like four times since we opened in 1971. I'm enjoying my lazy time, although I wasn't supposed to work today anyway. 

Moving on. I know it's been awhile. Let's blame the hurricane for this one, and bless it for giving me the time indoors to work on it. At least, that's what I'm going with. 

Yesterday (October 6th), the (Disney) world was preparing for the onslaught of the hurricane, and I was preparing to say goodbye to my lovely friend Laura, as it was her last day at Hollywood Studios. Nicole had moved her into All Star Music that morning (long lines everywhere, #hurricaneproblems) before meeting me at Hollywood Studios. The parking attendant driving the tram reminded us that all parks were closing at 5pm as we put on our rain gear for the fourth time that day. No matter. We still managed to do Toy Story Midway Mania one last time (neither of us could beat our current scores), as well as Rockn Roller Coaster and arguably the best Frozen Sing-Along I have ever witnessed (and we all know I've seen it frequently). We also got PB&J milkshakes at Prime Time Cafe before saying goodbye at 4pm, when Laura headed back for possibly another bonus night at All Stars, as her flight to BC had been delayed. Safe travels, Snow White, say no to apple slices on the plane.

Pre-Hurricane Princesses taking on Toy Story

Nicole and I spent the entire evening indoors with more snacks than were absolutely necessary, and basically it just rained all evening and we woke up to a lot of wind this morning. We're now allowed to leave our housing complex if we so desire... but I don't.

The highlight of my day before the storm (October 5th) was braving Target after work with fellow merchie Nick. About half the customers in Target were in their Disney work costumes like us and it was basically super chill, except there wasn't much bread left. You should've seen the Walmarts and Publix though. Eerie. I also was a champion and filled my car with gas while it was still cheap. So clever, so prepared.

Times are tough in Target.

October 1st, for those in the know, is a rather important date around here. Magic Kingdom, and Disney World as a while, opened its door for the first time on October 1st, 1971 (Disney history is the only history my brain retains), and 11 years later, Epcot opened on October 1st, 1982. Magic Kingdom was celebrating its 45th anniversary and Epcot was celebrating its 34th (does everyone remember my picture for Epcot's 30th? I do.). Magic Kingdom had a whole hullabaloo going on, but Epcot was celebrating too. Costumed Cast Members were permitted to proudly sport the Magic Kingdom 45th anniversary button, and sneaky costumes CMs like myself also wore Epcot anniversary buttons. I'm not saying 34 is a particularly big number, but you better believe every year is worth celebrating. There were cupcakes available for us but sadly every merchie I knew started work well before distribution.

To be fair, Disney Look says we can have two
additional prices of flair...

September 30th was Princess Laura's last day at Animal Kingdom. I met her and Emma there for two more rounds of Festival of the Lion King (three rounds for them, I slept in), too many more rounds of Expedition Everest, and one last Finding Nemo: the Musical (quite possibly the most underappreciated attraction at that park). Expedition Everest though. I'm glad I'm capable of doing it, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.

Laura and I in the second row, Emma behind us.
Moose antlers frighten Yetis. 

On September 28th, I spend an day unexpectedly bonding with my adopted attractions child, Emma. We went to Magic Kingdom mostly for show purposes, as Emma is an excellent photog and Mickey's Royal Friendship Fair, as well as Festival of Fantasy, is her jam. More unexpectedly, Harmony Barbershop had an empty chair when I checked in upon arrival, so I got a bonus haircut and more pixie dust than anyone (even me) could imagine. Emma got it too, and as far as I know it's still in her hat. We then spent some time being basic Magic Kingdom girls in the hub grass with our pixie dust and Starbucks, before round 1 of Mickey's Royal Friendship Fair. There's a new Fall song and Fall-themed costumes, so beautiful. If you want to see actual good pictures of it, here's Emma's instagram. Go nuts. Emma experienced the joy that is Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room before the next MRFF presentation, but sadly it turned into a sing-along due to inclement weather. We rode the People Mover twice (rerides are my favourite) before seeking out a location for Festival of Fantasy. There weren't much to be had, and the weather was creeping up on us (as it does in Florida), but we still enjoyed it from Main Street. We then decided Florida Mall was a great idea for some reason, but I did need a Lush run and we just had to check out the Disney Store, so no regrets. 

Pixie dust: check, Starbucks: check...

Purple wall: Check.
Want a great purple wall picture? Be Emma's mum.

On September 25th, I returned to Blizzard Beach for the first time since the Spring. Shane, Louise and I were there mostly for lazy river and tanning purposes, but we did sneak in a few rounds of Teamboat Springs, and Shane braved Summit Plummet without us. We packed up when it started to rain. It's always starting to rain.

It's been several months and this hole still hasn't been fixed...

On September 23rd, I went to Disney University to attend a Disney Ambassadors session. Basically our current 2015-2016 ambassadors are on their way out, as 2017-2018 ambassadors have been selected, so they're giving weekly or twice-weekly talks at Disney University for fun. This one was entitled "We Create Happiness" and basically it felt like Traditions crammed into an hour. It was magical. It was nice to be reminded of why I was there, and it was nice to get a selfie with the ambassadors (the one visited our pavilion for Canada Day, so it's my second with him).

Basically, the Ambassadors were psyched to meet ME. 

On September 22nd, I was so briefly reunited with my dear Anastasia from Ottawa and from my last program. We were supposed to attend a Mickey's Not So Scary Party together on the 20th but alas, Food and Wine means shifts longer than one can imagine, and I couldn't attend. Regretfully, we forgot to take a picture, but we did have a great time buying ALL THE THINGS at Cast Connection. Welcome back to the Blue ID club, Asia!

September 20th was Kara's last day of work with us in merchandise. Coincidentally, earlier in the week she regained a proper nametag with her actual name on it, as well as her one-year Steamboat Willie pin, as she got a glorious month-long extension. Her farewell celebration/funeral was super low-key the way she wanted it, and sadly all of us were doomed to stay at work well into the evening, because Food & Wine.

Kara puts the FUN in FUNERAL.
(Did I use this last time for Kevin?)

Shall we stand like Irish dancers?
Yes, please!

Luckily, the day before, we were able to have a half-proper last Magic Kingdom all together. I mean, it was bucketing down rain as it usually is, but we had dinner, we rode a few rides, we caught like half of Wishes since they were delayed, we got a bunch of great pictures, and we didn't have to be at work to be doing it.

On September 18th, I spent quality senior citizen time with Shane. We went to Olive Garden way before even the early dinner crowd (because buy one, take one Olive Garden is life), and we went to Universal. We made it with probably two hours left at Islands of Adventure, but it's ok because this is what annual passholders do. We still rode Hulk twice, Jurassic Park once and Spiderman once, then when we got kicked out we went to the new restaurant on City Walk called The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savoury Feast Kitchen (basically it's what you'd imagine a chocolate factory ought to be like) for milkshakes containing probably more calories than your human should consume in a day. Not to worry. Neither of us could finish.

The Hulk does great things for your hair.
Shane is lucky he had a hat.

I also went to Universal on September 17th, because why not, and also I was with Matt, who had celebrated a birthday the day before! We attended the Barney stage show for the first time each, because obviously it was raining, and we explored Fievel's Playland for the first time for me. I was always under the impression that it was exclusively for children, but it turns out there's a waterslide in there for kids of all ages, and these kids were already damp from rain so we didn't mind at all.

The sign says something about "Wet Britches" and is correct. 

You better believe we were the first two in line.

Fingers crossed for the end of inclement weather!

See you real soon!

Lindsey

Magical Moment: When Emma and I were at MK, a Photopass photographer approached us and gave her a few times about her fancy pants camera. This was all well over my head, but he did take some great hub grass pictures for us as well!

Pixie Dust to: Everyone from the homeland (or otherwise) who checked on my well-being during the hurricane. It's a pretty weird thing when Facebook asks you to check in twice in as 'Safe' in less than a year. 

Wonderful Feeling, Wonderful Day

I'm more on the ball (about select things) than many people realize. I started another blog post minutes after the previous one.

Tuesday was both my Discover Day and the morning I left my phone in housing. Discovery Day is the day in which we learn all there is to know about Epcot - what it stands for, its history, how to get around, how to find bathrooms, what's being reimagined, what attractions remain and which pavilion is the best (self-proclaimed Canada). We took a walking tour of Future World and rode Spaceship Earth, and were threatened with a jog around World Showcase before we commandeered a FriendShip, Jack Sparrow-style, and took a boat tour instead, all before World Showcase was even open. Since we were finished at noon, I took the afternoon off for a designated Magic Kingdom day. I lunched at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe, then noticed that half of Tomorrowland was temporarily closed, which meant all adjacent attractions had a longer wait time. The only solution was to abandon Tomorrowland and head towards shorter wait times in Liberty Square (oh hey, Haunted Mansion), Frontierland (getting soaked on Splash Mountain and drying off on Big Thunder Mountain and then chilling in Country Bear Jamboree). En route I ran into a character attendant I knew from my last program, who allowed me a quick visit with Ariel between my desired attractions.

Tip: Know all the right people. I know Stephen.

Ariel told me to keep an eye out for thingamabobs.

Wednesday was another Disney University Day. Not trusting myself to a)not get lost and b)not get anyone else lost, I drove to and arrived at Disney University insanely early but still behind a handful of my classmates. I did not get lost, although the chances were high. The small group of international merchies (there might be seven of us) gathered with new merchandise college program kids for a not-at-all updated class called Merchantainment. You may recall that's a Disney word for Merchandise + Entertainment. It was a long morning of sitting to learn more about the Four Keys and how they relate to both the Guest experience and loss preventation, as well as practice on a real/fake cash register with real/fake American currency (the small handful of us who were not raised in this country were given a convenient handout). After lunch and a shorter afternoon of e-learning (I know so much about safe food preparation in degrees Fahrenheit), I went back to Vista for an evening of tidying, organization and well-deserved foot rest (I clocked over 12, 000 steps yesterday, just so you know). Also another round of (couponed!) Steak & Shake with current and former/future CMs and friends Mike & Matt (Lindsay's roommates!).

Thursday was my second day onstage and in costume. The focus of the day was Guest interactions at the cash wrap (ie transactions). It's coming back slowly, but I have had to learn quite a few things since my last program. I still got to have some Guest interaction and some pin trading but mostly I practiced package pickups, returns, exchanges, cash and credit transactions, all the joy of merchandise.

Our first opening meeting (with the UK merch cast)!

After a long day of working, Sarah and I decided we hadn't been at Epcot long enough and, since we will be closing during the IllumiNations foreworks for the next few months, we thought it prudent to watch the fireworks so we wouldn't get distracted later. We went to Beaches and Cream on Disney's BoardWalk for dinner, and were ridiculously too full for the ice cream for which Beaches and Cream is known. Next time. As we were leaving, we found that the heavens had opened up in typical Florida fashion, so we resigned ourselves to spending the remainder of the evening in Disney Parks ponchos purchased with our holiday Cast discounts. We were able to squeeze in a ride on the Gran Fiesta Tour starring the Three Caballeros (it has been ever so slight reimagined) before finding an excellent spot in the Mexico pavilion to watch the fireworks. The poncho had a sauna-like effect and kept us very cozy.

Can you see us in the mirror of the Beaches and Cream counter?

Sarah is too cool to wear her poncho. I am not. 

Friday, we are both off and headed to Animal Kingdom (teaser for the next post!).

See you real soon!

Lindsey

Magical Moment: There was a Guest in the store today desperately searching for a Cast Member from her neck of the woods. She was from Smiths Falls and she found me.

Pixie Dust to: The UK merchie who suggested a group photo, and my leader who sent it to me.

For the First Time in Forever, There'll be Magic, There'll be Light

I feel like I have had a very packed few days, so prepare yourselves for a novel.

Saturday was TRADITIONS, the longest and most magical of any company orientations known to person-kind. The day started off a little rough when the Traditions bus from Vista Way was nowhere to be found, but a van was dispatched so we still arrived very promptly. And very early. The day involved a Disney look check, company history and orientation, introduction of the Four Keys (SAFETY COURTESY SHOW EFFICIENCY for anyone who hasn't heard me belt them out before) and of course, a spectacular but sadly brief trip to Magic Kingdom, both backstage in the Utilidors and onstage.
The point of the expedition was to find Cast Members displaying the Four Keys, as well creating magical memories for Guests. Myself and two new American friends and Cast Members, Drew and Sarah, decided this was an ideal time to skip over to Castle Couture and get our first round of pixie dust. Upon return to the classroom, each of us earned a critter (a figurine of one of the Fab Five characters [Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald}) for sharing how our magical experience related to the Four Keys.

Sneaky pixie dust friends at Castle Couture

After receiving a schedule for the next few days, we were released into the world with brand new blue Cast IDs and sparkly new name tags delivered by the boss himself. I know I've done it before but it was still magical.

You have to participate a lot to win this many Critters.

My name tag says "Perth, Canada".

I jetted off to Hollywood Studios within 15 minutes of getting back to Vista Way. The Walker family (remember how I was a lab tech who lived in St Thomas with a fabulous lady named Danielle and two weens?) was having their Disney World weekend before their Disney Cruise and obviously, since they were on my turf, I needed to see them. I rode Star Tours while they waited for Rock'n Roller Coaster, and we joined up for a typically magical presentation of Fantasmic. The convenience of car ownership had me home by ten.

Mad Fantasmic selfie skills

Sunday was another round of orientation at Disney University. I recently learned that, with the small group of Cultural Representatives with whom I arrived, were over 2,000 Disney College Program participants. This fact is important because, when I was waiting for a bus (with a German merchie named Mari), the first bus to Disney University completely filled up and they sent another a few minutes later... and I remembered why I don't bus to places. The day started with a class called Welcome to Operations from 0730 (YEAH) to 1130, at which point we were given more schedule for the day and, after lunch, the merchandise cast members had an Introduction to Merchandise class.
We were done for the day at 1400, but Sarah (from the UK) and I had the idea to go to Magic Kingdom, since we were right behind it and we wanted to exercise our limited time holiday discount (never fear, it comes back in November). We bussed to the Ticket & Transportation Center and took a monorail until we gleefully disembarked at Magic Kingdom, dressed conspicuously in our business casual attire. We had come for a specific reason and to purchase a specific item, so we went to Uptown Jewelers. They have a relatively new pale pink room dedicated to Pandora. After a few minutes of indecision and a scary moment of my Cast ID almost not working, we both purchased a lovely bead representing Spaceship Earth and the monorail. As we were leaving the store, I was lamenting not running into anyone I knew (it happens all the time). Not five seconds later, I ran into people I knew. It's a small world after all.
We made a brief stop at Casey's Corner for one of my fave MK snacks (corndog nuggets) and perused the Emporium for a bit to satisfy the money burning a hole in Sarah's pocket. I was good and didn't purchase anything else... yet. We then took a brief round on the People Mover (so lovely) and skipped through Fantasyland for another round of pixie dust (twice in two days for me), and headed home. My business casual flats are fine but they are not made for marathons that are park days.

The People Mover in Tomorrowland is the best for sore feet.

New UK merchie Sarah is in heaven.

Monday was my first day onstage. I met my trainer, Micayla, in the Epcot Cast Services break room. Lindsay was kind enough to do a drive with me last night to both Epcot parking and Disney University. Karen, my slightly bizarre but recently totally updated GPS, remembered where Epcot parking was but I don't trust her 100%. Disney University is Unplottable* (*Harry Potter reference) and is hard to find if you don't know how to get there. There was a table of international participants (including a new American friend) waiting for our trainers to arrive, but mine was the winner. Naturally. We clocked in and reported to costuming, which has had a complete overhaul lately so I was totally lost. We were easily able to locate the plaid aisle, and after a few rounds in the change room and a few reject sizes, I was finally in my sweet sweet new lumberjack costume. I also forgot how weird tucking shirts in is. I had also been given the heads up to purchase solid black sneakers and shorts for underneath the full full plaid skirt. Nicole and I had spent a fair amount of time selecting white socks at Walmart a few days previous.

Why thank you, Welcome package.

I got a locker in which to store my business casual clothing, I received a brand new lanyard full of trading pins (SO EXCITED FOR PINS) and we went for early lunch, after which we reported to the Canada pavilion for official business. The first day of training is referred to a "Tier 1", and the last time I experienced it, I was teaching it. Tier 1 has definitely changed for the better. Today Micayla and I focused on pavilion orientation, the four keys onstage and backstage, and guest interaction. To be able to interact with Guests so early in training was just wonderful... because that's what I know how to do.

The new Canada costume, 100% girlier.

See you real soon!

Lindsey

Magical Moment: My first pin trade of my program was with a couple from California. It was their first trip to Disney World and their first pin trade.

Pixie Dust for: Disney Facilitators, who encourage and reward Disney keeners like me.