I'm still here!

Hello everyone! I have been sick for the last week, so I have not been in class or at work. As a result, I have very little to report. I was very lucky to have the Carlton family come pick me up on Sunday and drive me back to their home where they took care of me for the rest of the week. They are the family that we stopped and had lunch with when this whole adventure began just two months ago! I have been to the doctor three times now and the final diagnosis is that I have a virus with a cough. In other words, no medicine is helping me and we don't know what else to do for you, so we're calling it a virus and you have to just ride it out. Yay! It's okay though. I'm back at my apartment, resting as much as I can. I did go to the store yesterday, so I won't starve! I bought lots of healthy things to eat. Mrs. Carlton was very specific about what I needed to get at the store so I made sure to get every one of the things she suggested.

I have had to call in sick 7 days in a row and miss my classes last Tuesday. I found a girl to take my shift for tomorrow, so I'm covered now. My family gets here Tuesday and now that I don't have to worry about whether or not I will be able to work, I can just rest and wait for them to get here! I am so excited to see them. I know we are going to have tons of fun while they are here!

Since I have been sick all week, I haven't been able to go into the parks at all. If you call in sick and your ID is scanned to get into the parks, you can get in a lot of trouble. Therefore, I have no magical Disney stories to tell. I'm sorry to disappoint. I have been thinking though, maybe I would like to be a writer when I'm all grown up and have to get a big kid job! Anyone have any connections?

Disney Heritage Class 1

Tuesday was the first day of my Disney Heritage class. This class is just a seminar, so we don't have assignments or grades or anything. We just sit in the classroom for two hours each week and listen to the instructor talk about Disney history! This is definitely a great class for anyone who just wants to learn about Disney. For all of the people who do the college program and don't learn anything about Disney, it is because they didn't take this class. I am really excited for what is to come.

In class on Tuesday, our instructor told us about himself and all of the different roles he has had with the company. He did his college program about 17 years ago. He was a park greeter at Disney's Hollywood Studios, back when it was MGM Studios and you had to stamp the tickets instead of scanning them. He hated it. This was also at the time where CP's didn't get to pick their roommates because there was only one apartment complex available. They were just put in whichever apartment had an empty bed. He didn't really care for that either. Once he graduated college, he became a manager at the Disney Store, then he joined the opening team for Coronado Springs resort, and after a few different roles, he worked with college and international recruiting, then he was on the opening team for Aulani, and now he works for Disney Programs and Internships.

After informing the class of his history with the Disney company, he told us a story about his trip to Marceline, Missouri. If you don't know, Marceline is the city that Walt Disney considered to be his hometown. He lived there for a part of his childhood. Marceline was Walt's inspiration for Main Street, USA in Disneyland. My instructor, David, and three other cast members decided to drive to Marceline for the day when they were out visiting different colleges in the area. When they arrived in Marceline, they all took pictures of each other near the gazebo in the middle of town. While they were taking pictures, a woman was walking by and asked if they all wanted to be in the picture together. They were all very excited because this is something that always happens on Disney property. After taking the pictures, they headed over to the old railroad station which is now a museum. They were so excited to visit the museum until they realized it was closed for the entire winter. This left them disappointed, so they tried looking into the windows of the museum to see if they could see anything. Most things were covered up, so they weren't overly successful. While they were looking in the windows, the museum curator walked by and asked if they wanted to go inside. Then he lead them to Walt Disney Elementary School, where the flag that was originally flown at Disneyland is now flying. He showed them around the school and then suggested they visit the theater in town square because there were more pictures and stories there. (Town Square Theater is where you currently meet Mickey and the princesses in Magic Kingdom) They went to the theater and the owner showed them around. They learned that above the theater was a bed and breakfast. The owner told them that if they didn't have reservations, they were welcome to stay there. They canceled their reservations and stayed there anyway. The owner of the theater and bed and breakfast called the owner of the Disney House to see if she was home. She wasn't, but she let her know when she would be and said the guests could stop by when she got home. When they arrived, she was on the porch waiting for them, waving as they pulled up the drive. David said she welcomed them into her home, made them tea and snacks, told stories about "Uncle Walt," gave them a tour, and even showed them Walt's bedroom. She also showed them the barn out back. The barn has been rebuilt because the original barn was deteriorating and was unsafe. The new barn was built so that it looked as much like the original as possible. Since it is not the original, she decided to make a tradition out of it. Any time a Disney Cast Member, past or present, visits the barn, they can leave a message for Walt on the walls of the barn. David said it was incredible to see messages written by so many cast members and be able to write his own message. That was the end of his story about Marceline. I thought it was a great story. My roommate, Sarah, and I decided that we want to go to Marceline now!

Today I was friends with Stitch at Epcot. It was super fun. Stitch is a very fun character. He is very curious, but he is also a troublemaker, so as long as you aren't defacing others' property, you can get away with a lot. I had a great time with Stitch. Whenever he would find a cool pen or something, he would try to keep it, but always ended up giving it back in the end. Sometimes, he would try to balance the pens or books on kids heads. It never worked, so he would blame it on the kid so he wouldn't get in trouble with Lilo later. The guests loved it. My attendant seemed to have a good time with it too. A little girl gave me a trading pin with Stitch on it. I was really excited about this. I absolutely love when kids give the characters gifts. No matter what it is, it's always a big deal. Even if it is just a picture they colored or a card they found on the ground. It doesn't matter. They thought that character would like to have it rather than keeping it for themselves. It's so nice to see that children can still give gifts wholeheartedly. I love watching it happen. I always make sure to give the kid a big hug after they give me a gift so they know I truly appreciate it.

I hope everyone had a lovely day! :) It was a beautiful day here in Orlando.... FINALLY.

Michael's Visit!

I got to spend 5 days with Michael here. It was so great. I have really missed him. He got here Thursday afternoon. I headed straight over to the airport to pick him up as soon as I got off work. I was so happy to see him when he walked out of the airport. I almost started crying because I was so excited. Neither of us had eaten yet that day, so we went to Red Lobster for endless shrimp. The server we had was bored because of how slow the restaurant was, so he brought out every kind of shrimp offered....twice. There was so much food. The table was completely covered before he was done bringing out food! I did not know what to do. This was the first time I had been given a real meal since I have been in Florida, so I was a little overwhelmed. It was awesome though. It was definitely a great way to start off Michael's trip. That night, we went to Downtown Disney to watch Pitch Perfect at the AMC Theater. It was a pretty funny movie.

Friday, we spent the day at Islands of Adventure. That is where the Harry Potter world is. We had a lot of fun walking through there. We walked all through Hogsmeade Village, went into the shops, saw The Three Broomsticks, saw the Hogwarts Express, bought a chocolate frog, bought wands, and drank Butterbeer! I got the Hermoine wand and Michael got the Sirius Black wand. The Butterbeer was awesome. It's basically a milkshake. We didn't really ride any rides while we were there because it started pouring. That kind of put a damper on the day, but I didn't really care because I was just happy to finally have Michael here. We also got some wonderful news on Friday. Michael has been accepted into the college program for the spring semester! So I am going to do everything I can to extend my program and then he and I will be here from January to May! He will be working in Merchandise and his program dates are January 21 to May 17. I am so excited that he is going to get to work here. I think it will be great. I actually started crying when he told me because I was that excited. I had no doubt that he would get accepted, but I hadn't really thought about the fact that we could actually both be here at the same time.

Friday, we decided to make it an early night since I had to be at work super early the next morning. Another dining shift. Lucky me. After work, I took a quick nap and then got ready. Michael and I headed over to Downtown Disney that night to watch Cirque du Soleil, Michael really wanted to see it, so I thought that might be a nice birthday present for him. Turns out I was right. He loved the show. I did too. I had seen it before, but I think because I was so exhausted when I watched it before, all I could think about was sleeping. It was great this time. I have such an appreciation for the strength and talent all of the performers there have. We were in shock by what we were seeing for most of the show. We both really enjoyed it. After the show, we walked around Downtown Disney some more, ate at Earl of Sandwich, which Michael absolutely loves, and then called it a night.

Sunday was Michael's birthday. We decided that would be the best day to go to the Disney parks. We were determined to go to all 4 parks in one day. We planned it out very carefully. We began our morning at Disney's Animal Kingdom. We went to Camp Minnie-Mickey to see characters since the lines are never long over there. We saw Donald, Baloo and King Louie, Minnie, and Mickey. When we went to meet Mickey, Mickey pointed to his eye, then his nose, then to me. In character language this means, "I know you." Then he threw his arms around me and kissed my cheek repeatedly. I was cracking up. I have never met a character that told me they knew who I was, so I was completely caught off guard. While he was kissing my cheek, he put up his hand to let Michael know to go away. It was a pretty amusing encounter. I told Mickey I was happy to see him, but I was going to tell Minnie about his behavior, to which he replied by putting up his left hand to show me that he was not wearing a wedding ring. Shame on him. It was still really funny though. When we left Mickey, we stopped at Pizzafari for a quick snack and then headed over to the Festival of the Lion King. This is one of the best live shows Disney has. We love this show. It was really nice to be able to enjoy all of these things with Michael for the first time since I didn't really get to go to the parks much when he was here with my family. Once the show was over, we headed over to Epcot for lunch. Food and Wine Festival is going on right now, so we figured lunch would be the best idea for Epcot. We made our way around the countries, getting small snacks at various pavilions. It was really cool to be able to sample foods from all over the world. Neither of us had ever been to Food and Wine Festival before, so it was fun to experience it together. We were getting into the hottest part of the day, so we figured it was as good a time as ever for a nap. Later that night, we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios to watch Fantasmic! Fantasmic is our favorite show at Disney. I love seeing the characters all performing together, and the water and light effects are awesome. It's just a wonderful show. We split a turkey leg before the show started. I have always wanted to get a turkey leg at Disney, but never actually did. Now I want to eat one every time I'm there. It was super good. Michael wanted a chocolate banana, and since it was his birthday, the man at the counter let him have it for free! He was pretty excited about that.

After Fantasmic, we went straight to Magic Kingdom, which was open until 3 AM for Extra Magic Hours! I can honestly say that I really don't remember much of what we did at Magic Kingdom because I was already so tired, but I do remember buying his sisters gifts and riding a couple rides. We also went to Storybook Circus, which is part of the new Fantasyland. That's where my roommate works. Just last week, more of Storybook Circus opened so now they have a gift shop and some characters! Minnie, Daisy, Donald and Goofy are all at Pete's Silly Sideshow. They each have a themed costume and they are so cute! Daisy is a fortune teller, Donald is a snake charmer, Goofy is the Great Goofini, and I'm not really sure what to call Minnie, but I know she has poodles that she trained! Regardless, all of the costumes are adorable! We got to meet Minnie and Daisy before the tent closed. Turns out Minnie knew me too. Michael was feeling a little neglected by the characters giving me so much attention. It was fun though! One of the things I am most excited about while Michael is here as a CP is the fact that he will be able to come see me at work. How cool is that? I think it is so awesome that he will be able to do that. I would love for him to come see me when I am friends with Minnie. Mostly just because she is my favorite! We get along so well.

Monday, we went back to Universal. We got to see the Shrek show, see the Twister show, ride the Despicable Me ride, and see a cool animal actors show! The animal actors show was probably my favorite. The had the falcon from The Mummy, the parrot from Pirates of the Caribbean, the bird from Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and the dogs from the Proposal, Little Rascals, Beethoven, Men In Black II, and Beverly Hills Chihuaha. I thought that was pretty cool! After Universal, we went back to Downtown Disney to see Hotel Transylvania. That was also a funny movie. We did some last minute shopping in Downtown Disney, went to dinner, and that was the end of our day.

Michael left on Tuesday and I was very sad. I cried a lot that day. It's going to be really hard for me to not have him here for over 3 more months. I have to focus on the positives though. My roommates have been looking out for me and I am so grateful for that. I don't know how married couples can live apart for an extended period of time. I admire their strength because it really sucks not having Michael here all the time. I know I will be okay though. My family will be here soon and I am super excited! I know we are going to have a great time while they are here. Then in December, some friends are coming to Disney and since I am here, hopefully I will get to see them! And then Michael will be here! I would not complain if January got here a little sooner though.

I know I slack on the blogging sometimes. I have just been super busy! I will try to post again tomorrow about my class from yesterday. I get to be friends with Stitch tomorrow, so hopefully that will be awesome! I hope everyone is doing well and would love to hear how things are going for everyone back home.

A week of many firsts.

This last week has been a bit crazy. I was friends with someone different everyday. I had a refresh training course since I was never trained as a mouse. I had my first scheduled dining shift. I had my Interactive Learning Program class at Magic Kingdom. I had multiple shifts were I was friends with Mickey, which was crazy!

Thursday I was friends with Donald. That was lots of fun. Donald has a great personality to work with. He and I were together at Camp Minnie-Mickey, which is at Disney's Animal Kingdom. At camp, Donald wears a green jacket and a safari hat. It's super cute. It was really fun to be friends with Donald. He is number one. He will even tell you. A lot of people see Donald as the villain of the fab five, but that isn't the case. Yes, he has a short fuse when things don't go the way he intended, but he gets over it quickly and doesn't go looking for reasons to be upset. Sometimes when people are friends with Donald, they think it is okay to be mean to kids by throwing Mickey autograph books on the floor or taking away kids' mouse ears. I think that's too far. It's possible to have fun with Donald without being mean. For example, when a pen stopped working, I let everyone know it was because it was a Mickey pen and not a Donald pen because Donald is number one. And if kids had mouse ears, but no Donald ears, I would find the person in the group who was excited to see Donald, and go stand next to them. Who doesn't want to be near people that like them? I feel like that is a better way to show Donald's personality than being mean. I absolutely loved telling people Donald is number one. That is incredibly entertaining. A lot of people understood what was going on, but some guests would just get confused. They would look at me and say something like, "You need me to wait a minute?" I chuckled a little in my costume, but nobody heard me.

The next day I was friends with Grumpy at the Halloween party. Something you probably didn't know: Grumpy has really bad eye sight. I think that is really the reason behind his bad attitude. He can't see anything. When he and I were hanging out, it was dark and raining, so the dwarfs were moved to a "rain location," which is just a covered area so we don't get wet while we are sitting there for our set. In my costume, I honestly could see NOTHING. And I mean nothing. Close your eyes and put on a blind fold and that is how I felt. Grumpy is supposed to sit on a stool. I couldn't even find the stool. So I just stood there with my arms crossed while the attendants said things like, "Come on, Grumpy. You remember you are supposed to sit down? Grumpy, stop being so grumpy and just sit down. I promise we will go get more gooseberry pie after a little while." Little did they know, Grumpy couldn't see anything besides his nose. When we got backstage, all of the attendants commented on how great I was with this character. Are you kidding me? They thought it was an act! Um no. I made sure to let them know that I was not acting and I really could not see anything. After that, they made sure to guide me to my seat every time we went out. That was a lifesaver. Literally. I could have tripped.

Saturday I was friends with Minnie Mouse. I sure do love Miss Minnie. She's so cute and girly and it's so fun to hang out with her. I really love pointing out little girls wearing Minnie ears or a Minnie shirt or dress. They always get so excited that she noticed what they are wearing. It's kind of fun to see which people drift more toward Mickey or Minnie. Every once in a while, there will be a little boy who is very shy, but very excited to see Minnie. How could you not be excited to see her though? She's fabulous. I like to think of her as the Mommy at Disney World. She even has to help Donald get ready to go on set sometimes. And she's always taking care of the little kiddos and fixing Mickey's bow tie.

Side note: I'm watching the debate while writing this post. Americans need to be educated about their leaders.

Sunday I was friends with Mickey. My shift was 12 hours which I expected to come close to killing me. Luckily, it was one of the easiest shifts I have ever had! I was at Epcot all day. My group included Minnie, Pluto, and Goofy. I was excited to work with Pluto because he and Mickey are almost never together. Our first set was over at Character Spot. C-Spot is kind of a mad house. You really have to go as quickly as possible to keep the line moving. I was nervous about being friends with Mickey for the first time, but since we had to move so quickly, it was easy to adjust. After C-Spot, we went over to the private Visa location. At Epcot, there is a special room where people with the Disney Visa credit card get to meet some Disney characters. When guests are waiting in line, they don't know which characters they will meet. It's really fun because the room is big with a few different props that we can hide behind. In this room, Pluto and Mickey are together. When we first go into the room, no guests are there so we were able to hide! We hid on different sides of the room. When guests came in, they didn't know who was in there. Pluto popped out first. The guests were all so excited to see Pluto. He gave everyone a hug and set them all up for a picture. Then I came out. It was so fun to see the guests' faces when they see Mickey and weren't expecting it. Even the parents got super excited. I loved it. The rest of our day was spent at C-Spot and it went by pretty quickly.

The next day I had my refresh training. I spent 4 hours putting on different costumes, practicing autographs, and acting out different scenarios. The trainer said that I had learned very quickly and she thought that I had picked up everything on the spot very well. This made me happy and gave me a lot more confidence.

Yesterday I had my class again. This time we met in Magic Kingdom. We were meeting at 9 AM which is when the park was opening. If you show up before the park opens, you get to see the Welcome Show. I have never seen the show, I've only been in it, so I was pretty excited. I loved watching it! After the show, we broke up into teams and were given several riddles to solve, a couple scavenger hunts, and some trivia to do in a certain land of Magic Kingdom. My group was given Fantasyland. I was super excited because Fantasyland is my favorite! We had so much fun doing the scavenger hunt and our group was the first to finish all of our tasks which was pretty exciting. After we finished and turned our packet back in, we were very hungry from running all over the park all morning. We headed over to Pinocchio's Village Haus. I had never been there, but one of our team members said that all of the friers are new, so the food tastes better. That sounded like a good enough reason to me! While we were eating a talking, a cast member came over and gave us all fast passes to see Mickey's Philhar Magic! Even though you don't need a fast pass for this attraction, we were still really excited, so we headed straight over! After the show, we all headed out. I was exhausted so I spent the rest of the day sleeping and then I went to dinner with my roommate, Sarah!

Today I had to do character dining, which was a big horrible nightmare. I don't even want to talk about it. I will just say that the characters have to move VERY quickly through restaurants. It is not fun, especially if you are new. I did not enjoy it and I am not looking forward to doing it again tomorrow.

That being said, Michael gets here tomorrow! I am so excited!! After my dining shift, I am heading straight over to the airport to pick him up! I'm so happy he will be here. We have so many things planned for while he is here. We are going to have so much fun!

Lastly, I want to say thank you to a few people. I want to say thank you to Chris Board for sending me to Florida with a vacuum. It is so nice to only have to open a closet door to get out the vacuum instead of walking across the complex to the club house to get the vacuum and then hall it back over and up the stairs. I want to thank my family for sending me packages and listening to all of my stories that I tell when I get off of work. And I want to thank everyone who reads my blog because it makes me feel significant! I hope everyone is doing well!