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!