Little Miss Marie!

Yesterday was a really fun day. I got to be friends with Marie! If you don't know, Marie is the white kitten from the Aristocats. She is very polite and proper and loves romance. Her mother, Duchess, has taught her to be a lady, which she takes very seriously. Marie greets guests in the France pavilion of World Showcase in Epcot. Princess Aurora, Belle, and Beast are also in France. This means we all shared a break room with each other. This is where my stories will come from this time. Both of them involve Beast. He's a mess.

In France, Belle goes onset first and 20 minutes later, Beast joins her. Before lunch, Beast said that he wanted to go onset looking all tough and animal-like. He decided the best way to achieve this would be by walking a bit like a monkey, with his arms flailing from side to side. His attendant and fellow performers discouraged this, mostly because we were afraid he would hurt himself. You know how much of a baby he can be when he gets hurt. Beast said that he wouldn't hurt himself and it would be fun. There's something you should know before I continue. Beast is HUGE. He's like 7 feet tall or something ridiculous like that. Keep this in mind. So Beast goes on set all animal-like and makes it all the way to the line of guests waiting for him with no issues. Unfortunately for him, he failed to notice the railing in front of him to guard the flower bed. I'm sure you can guess where this is going, but I will explain anyway. Beast trips on the railing, which is about 2 or 3 feet tall, and falls face first into the flower bed. But wait, it gets better. While he is leaning over the railing, his feet are both in the air, kicking back and forth. So here's Beast, 7 feet tall and huge, face first in the dirt with his feet in the air, completely stuck and unable to get up. When he finally gets his feet back on the ground, he stands up like nothing ever happened. Except for the cape having shifted a bit and the dirt in his teeth, you might have never even realized! Later, when he went to lunch, the guests in line in front of him were talking about Beast's little tumble into the flowers. Every time I hear or tell the story I can't help but crack up. It's too funny. Silly Beast.

After lunch, Beast and Marie have all of the same set times. This means that in a perfect world, we would go out at the same time. Since Beast takes such a long time to get ready and Marie only has a couple bows, Beast is usually running a little late. Right before our last set, Beast made a joke about chasing the little kitty on set. He acted like he was kidding, but I knew he really wasn't. When it was time for us to go out, I made sure to let him go first, followed by the attendants and then Marie. Unfortunately he caught on to my plan. So right before we actually walked onset, Beast steps aside like a gentleman and motions for the attendants to go ahead and then me. Dang it. I knew this wouldn't end well. I walked passed him, a little more quickly than I normally would walk and continued down the path to actually enter the guests' sight. The path we walk down has a restaurant on one side and lots of plants on the other, so guests can't really see us until we are completely out on the normal guest path. As soon as I make it into the guests' sight I hear this, "Thump, thump, thump, thump," behind me. Well crap. Within a second or two, Beast had tackled me and wrapped both of his arms completely around me. Me, precious, little, 5 foot tall, kitten, Marie. And him, monstrously huge, 7 foot tall, Beast! I heard a mixture of things around me. Some guests shrieked. I may have been one of them. Others laughed. All stared. Stupid Beast. Trying to scare a precious little kitty like that. I finally made it to my set location and forgot about that little fiasco with the beast. When my set was over, my attendant and I headed back to our offset location. As we were walking back I hear my attendant say, "Go Marie! Hurry!" I look to my left and see Beast running toward me AGAIN. Ugh, are you kidding me?? So I scurry along and make it to the path between the restaurant and plants before him. Lucky for me, Belle saw what was happening and put him back in check. HA! I made sure to give him a little wave to let him know that he had lost.

Then we got back to our offset location and went on with life like nothing had happened. Oh, but something had happened. Beast and I may never be friends now. I don't know how Belle deals with him.

Today, I had my class again. I don't really remember what we talked about. I'm sure I will remember later. Right now, I'm really tired though. After class, Sarah and I went over to Epcot so I could get a picture with Marie. She is leaving France next week and will instead be at Magic Kingdom. I don't understand the point of that, but that's okay! I wanted to make sure to get a picture with her in France since that is where she and I were friends. After meeting Marie, we walked around World Showcase. We got a snack from the bakery in France and then I got a chicken wrap from the restaurant in Morocco. That was super delicious. After that, we walked around some more and eventually decided to head back to the apartment. I think later tonight we will go see a movie or something, so that will be fun! I hope everyone is having a magical day!

Interactive Learning Program

I forgot to mention the class I'm taking. I had my first class on Tuesday morning. For Disney classes, you have to dress in professional attire every time you are in the classroom. Lucky for me, we are playing in the parks 4 times and resort hopping another. So we are only in the classroom 4 or 5 more times. YAY! Also, my teacher said she really doesn't care what we wear, but if a manager walks in and sees us not dressed properly, she won't stick up for us. I thought that was pretty funny. In my class, we are going to learn about a bunch of different factors that go into making Disney such a successful company. We talked about all of the different industries Disney has their name in. It's actually a bit frightening when you see all of it written together... There are 5 main categories: Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Walt Disney Studios, Media Networks, DIMG, and Merchandise.

Parks and Resorts is exactly what it sounds like. Theme parks, resorts, Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club, and the new Adventures By Disney! Walt Disney Studios is the movie-type things. Live action movies, animated movies, Broadway shows, and music. There are even other movie companies that Disney owns that nobody even realizes about. Then you have Media Networks. ESPN (all of the channels and radio stations), ABC, ABC Family, Disney Channel (all of them), radio, books, and digital things like games. DIMG is the internet pieces. So the Disney website and what not. Lastly there is merchandise. We all know what that is and that there is a lot of it... How many movie companies have their own stores in shopping malls all over the world? Scary, right? Disney has their name in everything.... Even food! You can buy Mickey hamburgers!

I found out yesterday that I will be getting one day of training since my height range changed. I am very grateful for this. It was a bit scary being friends with Minnie Mouse, who is such an important character, having no training beforehand. So, on October 1st, I get to go back to training for a day to get everything cleared up. I still have to go through the next week a little blind, but at least I don't have to learn everything on the spot! AND I found out that my time off for when Michael is here and then when my family is here is still approved, even though I am in a different height range. I was a little worried about this because when you request time off in entertainment, you have to specify which character height range you are in to make sure there will be coverage for the days you requested.

I'm just so excited to never be with Pooh again. I know that is sad, but waking up every morning knowing I won't be spending the day in pain is such a relief. I think I'm going to love the class I'm taking. The professor was really fun and I love learning about Disney! I signed up for the Face Type Out. It is on October 9th, which is the day Michael leaves. Luckily, I have every Tuesday off for my class and my class isn't meeting that day! So I'm not missing work OR class for this! Yay!! I'm super excited. Even if I am not selected for a face role, at least I am trying. Michael gets here in 13 days!! I am so excited to see him. I know it hasn't been that long, but when you are used to seeing someone everyday and then you don't see them for weeks, it takes some adjusting. We are going to go to Universal while he is here. I think that will be a fun change of pace. Plus, I really want to go to the Harry Potter world! :) Tonight, I work from 6:15 to 12:30 and I will be friends with Grumpy again. It seems like I'm always going to be friends with Grumpy at the Halloween parties which is fine with me! I can sit on a stool for thirty minutes. I do not mind! Tomorrow I'm off! I'm so excited about that. I will probably do laundry or something like that. Maybe, I will be super daring and go to Epcot to ride Soarin' by myself! We shall see! Enjoy your Friday and have a magical day!

Mouse height

I waited a while to update my blog for a few reasons. I mostly wanted to wait until I had some good news to share which was hard to come by this weekend. I was a spare at Magic Kingdom twice last week and ended up being pulled for Crystal Palace which was a nightmare. If you are a spare, you wait around in this little room until you are needed somewhere in the park if someone calls in or has to leave early. Crystal Palace is one of the most challenging locations for characters to work at. It is a large restaurant and there is a specific rotation the characters have to follow when greeting guests at the tables. It's really just a big confusing mess. I didn't particularly enjoy being there, but that's okay! Everyone needs a couple challenging days in their life.

Speaking of challenging... My back problems caused by Mr. Pooh Bear have not eased up. Since I am friends with Pooh almost everyday and I am too small for the costume, the muscles in my back, neck, and shoulders hurt and are very tight and I can barely lift my arms after a long shift. I have to come home and take pain medicine and ice my back to recover every night instead of spending time with my friends at the parks. I have talked to managers and athletic trainers multiple times with nothing happening. Sunday night after work, I decided this could not go on any longer. I should love my job and it was getting to the point where it was difficult for me to enjoy myself at work and even when I wasn't at work.

When I got to work on Monday, I asked what could be done to help me. Long story short, a spare covered most of my sets for the day and I was remeasured. Disney characters are very height specific. That being said, sometimes performers are measured incorrectly. I was originally measured at 60.75 inches. I was measured 3 times on Monday for accuracy. The first two times I was measured at 59.5 inches and the third time I was measured at 59.75 inches. 59.75 is now my Disney height. This is a very big deal. I am now Mouse Height! You can infer whatever you like from that. Unfortunately though, Pooh was still in my height range. Today when I got to work, I asked to have a fitting for Pooh. Now that I am in the height range with more characters, I wasn't so afraid of losing Pooh. If I were disapproved in Pooh while he was the only character in my height range, it would not have been good. I most likely would have been recast and ended up working in an entirely different department at Disney. The managers that I had my fitting with this morning were excellent. They immediately recognized that I was much too small for the costume and I was disapproved. When you are disapproved, you can not ever be that character unless you ask for another fitting and are approved.

Let's recap here because some of that may have been confusing. Pooh was causing problems for me. I was remeasured, so now I am mouse height. I am disapproved in Pooh, so I can't ever be friends with him again. BUT I'M MOUSE HEIGHT. This is the exciting part. Since I couldn't be Pooh today, I had nothing to do. SO I GOT TO BE FRIENDS WITH MINNIE MOUSE!! Not many people know this, but before I left home to come work here at Disney, I told myself that if I did nothing else here, I just wanted to be friends with Minnie once. Just once and I would be so happy. I almost started crying when I realized that I really was going to be friends with Minnie today. I was so excited. I'm still super excited and I've been home for four hours already. It was definitely a huge challenge, but it was so much fun. Mickey and I were about to go onset when I realized I had never even done my autograph. That was a little frightening. I basically had to have a thirty second crash course on how to be friends with Minnie. Mickey was great. He helped me all day. I also shared a break room with a character trainer, so she gave me lots of tips as well. I'm very lucky that I had this because I wouldn't have been nearly as successful today if I didn't have them. At the end of the day, Mickey told me that I learned very quickly and he was impressed that I did as well as I did with no mouse training at all. He was disappointed that I was thrown into this with no real warning or time to prepare, but was happy that I caught on so quickly. While I do wish I had better known what I was doing, I am just so happy. I finally got to be friends with Minnie which is amazing. And I never have to worry about Pooh again. It is such a relief to know that. I was very close to admitting defeat a few nights ago. I'm so glad I was finally able to find someone to listen to me and care enough to help. Now I can be on the road to recovery instead of heading downhill.

Switching gears entirely: Last night I was able to attend Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party! It was pretty cool. I was just excited because I had never been. Plus, extra characters are out! :) I dressed up as the Wicked Queen. She is Snow White's stepmother. I kept my costume simple, but I got a lot of compliments for my crown! I got to meet Mickey, Minnie, Alice, the Mad Hatter, Maleficent (YAYYY!), the Wicked Queen (YAY AGAIN!), Gaston (who was hilarious), and Anastasia, Drusilla, and Lady Tremaine (Cinderella's stepsisters and stepmother). We also got to trick or treat! I had so much fun! The picture on the right has my trick or treat bag, which they give you when you walk in, the map of Magic Kingdom, and a Halloween cup that they have at the quick service restaurants. I am cool for having that cup. Just so you know. It isn't dorky.

I ended up being second in line to meet Maleficent when she came back out. I waited almost an hour for her. I was so excited to meet her because she and the Wicked Queen are my favorite villains. Unfortunately, it started raining a little right when she was supposed to come back out, so she didn't come out. I had to leave and cross my fingers that she would be back later. When I came back, I decided to find the line for the Queen. I found her line, though it was really just a huge crowd, not a line. While I was asking who was in line, a couple saw me and talked to me for a minute. I asked if they knew where the end of the line was because I waited so long before and really just wanted to meet these two characters. They were kind enough to let me jump in line right in front of them. I was so excited. I took my one picture and hurried over the line to meet Maleficent. It was also quite long. The couple that let me get in line with them followed and stood in line behind me again. We waited for ten minutes or so with the line moving slowly. Then the attendant walked over to let us know Maleficent would be leaving for the night in five minutes. He then gave us a three minute warning. Then less than two minutes. We were so nervous waiting there, not knowing if we would be able to meet her or not. When it was finally my turn, the attendant said I would be the last guest Maleficent would see for the night. This meant that the couple that let me cut in line for the queen would not get to meet her. It made me feel bad because had they not helped me, they would have gotten to meet her. So I asked them if they would like to take a picture with me. They said yes and thanked me several times. So my picture with Maleficent has two random strangers in it. I don't mind though. I was just excited to meet her!

I am so glad things with work finally got fixed. I'm super excited for my schedule next week. I get to be friends with a different character each day! I will be with Marie (the white kitten from the Aristocats), White Rabbit, Donald Duck, Grumpy, and Minnie Mouse! I'M SO EXCITED. I feel like things are finally looking up for me and that is so good. I have been trying to be positive for a while and it finally paid off! I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

It's Halloween time in the Magic Kingdom!

I have slacked with the posts this week. I'm very sorry. I talked on the phone with my mom for a while last night. She told me a lot of people have been asking her questions about my costumes. I will just throw out some general answers for everyone. It is very hot in the costumes. There are no fans or cooling vests or anything cool like that. Some costumes are worse than others. The Pooh costume is all connected so there is no opening to get some air in. White Rabbit wears a jacket and gloves, so there's some space for the air to get in which is awesome. Also, his head is not attached to his body, so some air gets to my neck. I sweat A LOT in costume. Not as much as other people, but still a lot. It's gross. But once you sweat enough, there's nothing bad left to sweat out, so you're basically sweating pure water. Think whatever you want, but it's true. I always bring a towel with me, and we change the t-shirt and shorts that we wear under the costume after every set to help with cooling down faster. Plus, it's gross to wear the same sweaty clothes all day. I think the College Program is a very rewarding experience in certain fields. For some people, they never work with guests or anything, so their job is less exciting. My job is one of the best ones. This is an experience you could never get anywhere else and it opens up so many doors. A lot of other character performers I have been talking to auditioned to go work at Disney Tokyo for a 14 month contract as face characters. They would get their own studio apartment, free of charge, with money each day for living expenses, plus your pay check each week. I think that would be so awesome. Plus, the tourists that come from Japan are always SO excited to see characters.

I start one of my Disney classes next week. It's called Interactive Learning Program. If I'm being completely honest, I have no idea what this class is going to be like. I just know you learn about Disney and get to go to the parks sometimes. I feel like that is enough. In October, my other class starts. It is Exploring Disney Heritage. In this class, I will learn all about the past, present, and future of the Walt Disney company. I'm super excited for this class. I was put on the wait list for it as soon as registration opened up, so I'm glad I was able to get into the class. I feel like this will be one of the more rewarding parts of my Program. It will be nice to actually learn things about Disney while working here.

Monday, I was friends with the White Rabbit again. I sure do love being with him! My friends Kali and Sarah came to see me at work. They always get super excited when they see me in costume. It makes me laugh. I didn't get to work with Alice this time, which was a bit of a bummer. It still went well though! It's always fun when people I know come to see me at work!

Tuesday was the opening night for Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. I was super excited because I got to be friends with Grumpy! It was so cool to be a character from my favorite Disney movie. It definitely made it easier since I have seen Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs about 8000 times, so I knew exactly how to act. Grumpy and Dopey are always the favorites, so it was really fun to be able to play off of people getting excited to see me. The grown men always loved seeing Grumpy. If I would hear someone in line talking about me, I would lean over to let them know I was listening and then cross my arms and look away. They LOVED it. People thought it was so hilarious that Grumpy was acknowledging them when it wasn't even their turn to greet him. And it wasn't a big deal that I was ignoring the guests right next to me because that is Grumpy's nature! I was still welcoming to the people who wanted to greet me, but most just walked right by and went straight to Dopey, so I acknowledged that too! I had a lot of fun with this character. A little girl in line even asked me if I would be happier if she gave me candy. Unfortunately, we had our switch out before she got to meet the dwarfs. As I was leaving, she asked if I wanted to have my candy anyway. She even reached into her bag to get some. It was so sweet. I motioned for her to keep it. When I went backstage, I told my back-to-back that a little girl would offer her candy and she needed to be nice to her. I don't know how everything played out, but I like to think she ended up being nice to that little girl.

I don't always know what to write on my blog, so everyone is welcome to ask me questions. I really don't mind answering! I would actually like it because sometimes I don't post anything at all because I don't know what to say! I hope everyone is doing well and has a magical day! :)

Just another day in Paradise

I don't really have anything specific to report today, so I'm going to just say whatever comes to mind!

Today, a girl grabbed my hand and said, "Mom, I can feel his fingers!" Cool...

The other day, a little girl accidentally bumped my head with her hand. She looked up at me and said, "Oh my goodness! Are you okay, Pooh?" It made me laugh. Most people do it on purpose, or don't do it on purpose but either don't realize or don't care.

My bandaids have Disney Fairies on them.

Guys that work at Disney frequently have no interest in girls.

My family sent me a care package, which I received yesterday. I was so excited. It's nice to know people are thinking of me.

Pooh eats a lot of hunny throughout the day. Yes, hunny, not honey.

Yesterday, it started pouring right when my shift ended. I had to wear a trash bag as a poncho and make a run for it. It didn't work. My tennis shoes are still wet.

I watched The Lucky One the other day. It was really good. If anyone cares.

I sleep with my Duffy Bear.

I have three more fittings the week after next. Jake, from Jake and the Never Land Pirates, Mike Wazowski, from Monsters Inc., and Agent Oso, the scariest looking bear-thing I have ever seen. We will see how this goes! I'm excited to be reunited with the White Rabbit on Monday and meet Grumpy on Tuesday. Hopefully this week won't be as strenuous as this last one was!

I miss Taylor Swift's curly hair.

I want my family to send my dog, Dazey, to me next.

I am slowly teaching myself to cook.

Just kidding. I eat sandwiches and macaroni and cheese every day!

People that don't speak English just say "Winnie Pooh! Winnie Pooh!" when they see me. Never "Winnie." Never "Pooh." Always "Winnie Pooh!" People from England call me "Winnie." Never fails.

Merida is a really cool princess.

Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore had a dance party today on the Boat Dock. Tigger is actually able to dance a little. Pooh is too fat. He can't reach his knees, if he even has any. Eeyore can tap dance apparently. Other than that, he is just there, looking sad.

26 days until Michael comes to visit!

Lastly, a girl that went to my high school needs prayers, thoughts, whatever it is you can do that will send positivity her way. It's not my business to say what is going on with her. All I want to say is she needs your prayers. 

That's all! And I hope everyone is having a magical weekend!

Animal Kingdom with Sarah and Kali!

I had the day off yesterday, thank goodness! I got to sleep in! It was so nice. Sarah, Kali, and I went to Animal Kingdom since we were all three off. I had not been to Animal Kingdom as a guest since I got here. I've only worked there a bunch! It was nice to have a day to actually wander around! There were hardly any people there, so we didn't have to wait in line for anything! The only thing I wanted to do was go see Winnie the Pooh. So we headed over to the Boat Dock to see Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger. Pooh and Eeyore were so sweet. Tigger was disappointed that Sarah didn't have a Tigger pin on her lanyard. He still let her be in the picture though, so that's good! After meeting the characters, we headed over to DinoLand to ride the horrible Dinosaur ride. I hate that ride. It's so scary! Luckily, we didn't have to wait, so the anticipation didn't have much time to build. Regardless, I was still terrified. I don't care if it's just a ride. It's scary! And Disney knows how to make things look real when they aren't! We were in the Middle row. Kali has her eyes covered, Sarah isn't looking, and I had my hands up close to my face. So silly, but we were scared! After the Dinosaur ride, we went to the Restaurantosaurus for lunch. From there, we just started walking with no real plan for where we were going. We came across Expedition Everest which had no line, so we rode it twice! It was really fun, but twice was enough. I was happy to see that the Yeti was not out on a vacation. He does that sometimes. Next, we went on the Kilimanjaro Safari. Our driver was in training. Yay for new CPs! She did a good job. She pointed out pretty much everything there was to see. That's always nice. The ending of the safari was changed which made me happy. The whole part with the poachers was dumb, so I'm glad it is gone. From there, we headed back to Finding Nemo The Musical. I had never seen it before, so I was pretty excited. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't what I saw. The show was cool, but Beauty and the Beast will always be my favorite Disney show!

The park closed at 5, so we went to look around the Art of Animation Resort. Sarah and Kali had never seen it. I hadn't seen the Lion King section, so we headed over there first. It was really cool. The whole time you're over there, you hear music from the Lion King. I liked that! I sure do love my Disney music. We were able to get a little peak at the Little Mermaid section of the resort, which isn't open to guests just yet. It looks really cute. I just wish I could see it closer! We walked by the Finding Nemo pool, which was precious, and then glanced at the Cars area. Neither of the girls cared too much for Cars, and I had already seen everything, so we decided to skip it. We drove over to the Transportation and Ticket Center to hop on the monorail. We rode it over to the Polynesian Resort and then to the Grand Floridian. Sarah was looking for a certain souvenir she had bought at the Grand Floridian before, and Kali really wanted to see the Polynesian, so we did both! Unfortunately, we didn't find what Sarah was looking for, but we still got to see three resorts in one day! I would say that's a success!

I finally stocked up on all kinds of pain relieving things for my back! It's sad, but I'm actually excited. Whatever works, right? I'm off again today. Sara Robbins and I are going to a pool party at Vista Way in a little bit. We just want the free food. I know I'm going to the post office today with Kali, and maybe Cast Connection (the cast member discount store). After that, I'm probably going to clean the bathroom or something super exciting like that! I am sure everyone is SUPER jealous! I know I would be....

Thank you for reading and have a magical day!

Magic Kingdom with Sara Robbins!

Saturday, I finally had a day off! YAY! Since I hadn't been to the parks in a while, or seen my best friend, Sara and I decided to go to Magic Kingdom. We got a lot of things accomplished that day. The park is all decorated for Halloween. I've never been to Disney at this time of year, so that was very exciting to see.

We decided to make it an easy day because both of us were tired, but still wanted to be there. We mostly did things Sara had never done, which was great! We watched the castle show. I love watching that show when I can. I just like seeing all of the characters together. The whole time we were watching it, we were sweating to death. I felt like I was actually working. After it was over, we went on the search to find water. Sara suggested we go get a Dole Whip since neither of us had ever had one. So we headed off to Adventureland to go find one! After waiting in line for 5 or 10 minutes, we got up to the front and ordered 1 Dole Whip and 2 waters. Sara paid for it because she is nice. After she paid and got her Dole Whip, the lady taking care of us brought out another Dole Whip and our 2 waters! Yay for Magical Moments! So instead of sharing, we each got our own! It was so very exciting. After that, we rode Space Mountain. We love Space Mountain. Sara got to ride the front. Apparently that's a big deal for her! After that, we got Fast Passes for Peter Pan, which always involves a lot of waiting around. So we rode the train around the park and then went shopping for Mouse Ears. I finally found 2 Snow White pins!! I was very happy about this. I kind of want to start pin trading, but I also know it will become just another unhealthy obsession for me.We picked out our Mouse Ears. I picked Dumbo and Sara picked Minnie Mouse! We were so cute! After getting our ears, we watched Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! When the floats were leaving, Minnie Mouse blew a kiss our direction while I was taking pictures. When Sara got excited, Minnie nodded and pointed at Sara to let her know that she was the one the kiss was for. Minnie loved Sara's ears! That was pretty cool to see. I even captured a picture of Minnie blowing Sara a kiss!

Later, we watched Mickey's Philhar Magic, rode The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, rode the Peter Pan ride (Sara had never been on it, so it was extra special), watched the light show on the castle, and headed out. Right before leaving, I showed Sara my favorite building in the Magic Kingdom. It's difficult to see in the picture, I had a bad angle, but the upstairs of this building is made to look like a music and dance lessons studio. They have voice, piano, ballet, tap, and waltz lessons. If you come by at the right time of day, you will hear the lessons from the open window. So far, I have heard piano lessons and voice lessons. I think it is so cool that there was that much attention to detail put into this park. It's always exciting when I find something new!

Yesterday at work was overall nothing special. More people told me I should've been considered for a face character, only this time, they actually told me how I could make that happen. Apparently, I look like several Tinkerbell's that just went home. That's a good sign! Also, the new Tinkerbell movie is about to come out, so now Tinkerbell and her sister, Periwinkle, will be doing meet and greets. Periwinkle is supposed to be about the same size as Tink, with a little bit smaller build. You know, Tinkerbell and those hips. ;) (SIDE NOTE: I saw Tinkerbell's new outfit. It is SO CUTE!) I was told I could go to what is called a Face Type Out. It's only for cast members currently in Entertainment, and basically, casting just looks at you and decides if you would be a good face character, and if they think you will be, they fit you for that character. (hair, makeup, costume). Then they record you reading lines and send the video off to Disneyland for approval! I am definitely going to go to the face type out! Unfortunately, the date isn't posted yet, but hopefully it will be soon! My shift today is only five and a half hours. YAY! Oh, and next week I get to be friends with Grumpy, which is freaking awesome. You all have a magical day!

This picture is at Cinderella's Wishing Well. I sure do love the well, though I wish it was Snow White's because that would make more sense.

Winnie the Pooh, and Tigger Too!

 I have had an interesting couple of days, for sure. Thursday, I was at Epcot with Pooh and Tigger again. Tigger had his coffee yesterday, so he was very rowdy! He was all over the place. At several points, we had no line. The first time, he walked off set, found a roll of Mickey stickers, handed me one end, and proceeded to walk in circles around me so that the stickers were wrapped around my body. Once I realized what was happening, I started spinning the same direction with him to help unwind the stickers. It didn't work. It really just made a bigger mess. Later, he ran off and started coloring. Another time, he took all of the Photo Pass cards and threw them on the floor! He then proceeded to scoop them up, but he doesn't have any fingers, so he couldn't pick them up! It was pretty funny to watch.

One of my last families of the night handed me a Pooh stuffed animal. It was so cute. I really just wanted to keep it for myself, but that's not what creating Magical Moments is about. So I played with it for a little and then handed it back to the girl. When I did, she squeezed it a little and it squeaked! I was not expecting that. So I took it back and continued playing with the squeaker. The family thought it was so funny. When we posed for the picture, I held the little Pooh Bear in both hands, close to my heart. And right before the picture was taken, I squeezed it so it squeaked! All of the kids started giggling. I let the photographer get in one normal photo before I did it again. I thought it was hilarious, and the family did too. I was sad to see them go because they were actually happy.

Yesterday, I had a fitting for Russell and Timon. Turns out I'm too small for those characters, too! Go figure. Since we were on a roll, I asked about the Pooh costume being so big on me and causing back, neck, and shoulder pain. The woman I was speaking to said that is definitely not supposed to happen. So I had to have a fitting for the Pooh costume too!  I sat there for about an hour and a half waiting for an athletic trainer to arrive because Disney won't do a fitting like this unless a trainer is there to tell them that what I am saying is accurate, and the costume is doing damage. Once we started the fitting, I had to put on the costume one piece at a time and let them look at me after every piece. They agreed that the costume fit me in a way that would cause damage to my body, so now I get to wear shoulder pads. It actually worked. I wear shoulder pads that velcro onto the inside of the costume and hold it in place higher on my body instead of letting the weight pull it to the outside of my shoulders. I'm pretty lucky that we found a solution. If we hadn't, I don't know what they would have done, but I have a feeling it would have started with, "How do you feel about moving to Merchandise?" It's too bad I haven't been approved for any other characters in my so called "height range" but at least we found a way to make the costume I wear almost every day not hurt me anymore!

I was at Animal Kingdom yesterday. The place where Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore are is called the boat dock. I was there all day. There were several times again where we had no line. Everything is starting to slow down since school is getting started. So instead of just stand there, I start dancing to the Winnie the Pooh music playing from the speakers above me. Disney has a thing for creating "atmosphere." While I am dancing, my photographer says, "Pooh, let's line dance!" So we start dancing. Then we move on to the electric slide, which he has to teach me because I was born in the 90's. ;) Then, Eeyore's photographer comes over to show me the hand jive! I already knew it, but I always forget the order, so she clarified. By the time the next family came to see me, I was a pro! This family had one little girl. Probably 9 years old or so. She seemed a little shy, so I decided to break her out of her shell! I started the hand jive and motioned for her to join me. It took her a little while to catch on, but eventually she played along. I made sure she and I were facing each other and our sides were visible to the adults (more importantly, the cameras). Once I taught her the entire thing, I made her put it all together and we did the hand jive so everyone could see! I was so excited that she learned it, so I started clapping. Then I raise my hands and turn toward her family, the attendants, and the photographers and continue clapping in an effort to get them to join. It worked. Her little audience of 10 was supporting her and I was so happy. So I got her attention again and show her to bow. I bow twice and she curtsies twice. I sure hope she remembers that when she is older. To me, those are the moments that stick with you. That one time where there was nobody in line to see Pooh, so he decided to teach you the hand jive. Or when Pooh and Tigger both have no one, so they play ring-around-the-rosie with a little girl. Or Pooh playing the drums and Tigger dancing around like the goofball he is. (All of those things happened yesterday) I personally think it's awesome. I have a pretty cool job :)

Today, I am FINALLY going to Magic Kingdom with Sara Robbins!! Hopefully I have more fun stories to report at the end of the day!