Magical Magic!

Hello, friends! It's been a couple weeks, so I believe we are all due for an update! When I last posted, I had just completed my first day of training. The second day of training was spent backstage again and on Thursday and Friday, our characters ventured over to Epcot to meet guests! These two days have been my favorites thus far. Thursday, I spent my time with the boss man, Mickey Mouse! One of my roommates, Carly, came to meet him. He told me he really liked visiting with Carly and he thought her Fourth of July Minnie ears were very festive! While Mickey and Carly were chatting, I spotted a family that I knew from my drill team days back in high school. What are the odds of that?! They had already met Mickey earlier in their visit, so they met his other friends instead. I had really hoped I would be able to introduce them to Mickey myself, so the first chance I could, I sent Nicole a text and told her Mickey had seen her, but didn't get a chance to say hello again. I also told her where she could find him next. And guess what? There they were when he went back out! It was so great to be able to introduce Mickey to someone I knew from back home. And it all happened by chance. I knew they were visiting Walt Disney World, but had no idea they would be in Epcot that day! I'm so glad they came back to say hello! After our shift ended, my training buddies and I went home to clean up and then gathered a couple friends and met back up at Epcot to watch Illuminations!

Friday was July fourth and also my last day of training. I was fortunate enough to spend the entire day with Miss Minnie Mouse herself! She is my absolute favorite, so I was very happy. Minnie loved seeing all the guests' festive red, white, and blue attire! Minnie, being the lovely lady that she is, also was able to have some special visitors! My cousin, Chett, was in town working a few shifts, so he stopped by to say hello and grab a few photos of Minnie! Shortly after, all of my roommates came to see her! She loved all of their red, white, and blue bows and Minnie ears. They were super sweet to her and she was so happy to visit with them. We wrapped up our last training shift and said our goodbyes to the trainers. We were blessed with some very wonderful trainers that week. They're the type of people who you know would help you or answer questions if you ever needed anything. I hope to see them in the area so we can say hi and keep in touch.

After work(and a shower), I met up with my roommates and my friend, Brittany, at Hollywood Studios for the Fourth of July fireworks! Brittany, Carly, and I rode the Tower of Terror before catching up with everyone. I just love that ride so much! Once everyone was back together, we found a nice spot right in front of the Sorcerer Hat to view the fireworks. There was a DJ playing music for the time being. Even with the park being super crowded, we only waited [maybe] 10 minutes for Tower of Terror and still had a great spot to stand for the fireworks. Once the show started, there was an American Rock and Roll cover band playing a concert to go along with the fireworks. It was so cool. Disney never puts on a poor fireworks display. This show seemed to be one of those "How loud and bright can we make this?" types. It was awesome. And the music was superb. After the fireworks, we all headed over to see if we could watch Fantasmic! What followed was a series of very fortunate events. We stopped at the restrooms right outside the entrance to the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater. While we were waiting for everyone to return, a Cast Member walked up to our little group, handed us 6 FastPasses, and said, "Well now you HAVE to go see the show!" [Side note: Fantasmic, along with every other Disney show, now has FastPass+ VIP seating. If you have a FastPass, you get the best viewing areas. No FastPass, less good viewing area.] So once we had everyone, we headed up the ramp to the FastPass+ seating! Once we got there, our friend Timmy saw someone he knew sitting in the extra VIP section, all alone. So he said hi to her and she invited us all to sit with her! We enjoyed the show from the very best seats in the stadium, and the show was basically perfect. I absolutely love Fantasmic, as I'm sure everyone is already well aware of. And Brittany had not seen it in several years, so seeing her get so excited about it was really fun.

After the show, we all headed to the parking lot and sat in traffic for about an hour. Yay! It was worth it though. We got to see some great fireworks, one of my favorite performances ever, and once we were home, the girls of The Blue House made some sparkler magic! We had so much fun! That is, until our grumpy neighbor implied that we were being loud. The next day, Susie and I met up with Carly after her shift to watch Celebrate the Magic and then see Caitlin in Disney's Electrical Parade! She was hanging out with Anastasia that night. It is so much more fun watching that parade when you know people! While waiting, Susie and I went to visit Tinker Bell in her new home in Town Square Theater. It's a really cute area, but I'm sad her fairy friends aren't with her anymore. After meeting Tink, the three of us wanted to see what I would look like with the blonde hair, so I borrowed Susie's hair to test it out.

All of last week was spent at Chef Mickey's with the head chef, Mickey Mouse. I don't have too many stories to tell from this experience. But a couple kids did leave an impression. Mickey was making his rounds at the tables when he saw a small girl, probably around the age of three. Chef Mickey's is a restaurant located in the Contemporary Resort. At this particular Resort, the Monorail runs right through the middle of the hotel, so it can be seen from the restaurant. When Mickey went to meet the little girl, she hugged him, then backed away quickly, pointing up to the Monorail that was passing through. "Look, Mickey," she said, "There's people in there!" It was so cute, I couldn't help but laugh. Another memorable family had two boys Mickey met at the end of the night. Toward the end of the shift, the restaurant clears out quite a bit, so the characters are able to spend a little more time with the guests, if need be. Mickey came to the table where the parents and the two boys were sitting. After doing the usual hug, autograph, picture, Mickey noticed a lightsaber folded on the table. He pointed to it and then stepped back, wielding his own imaginary lightsaber. The mother told the older boy, "Why don't you show Mickey how it works?" So the boy opened it up and handed it to Mickey. Mickey messed with it for a moment and then carefully handed it back to the boy. The smaller boy giggled and, right before Mickey went to meet the next family, said, "Hey Mickey, may the MOUSE be with you!" And just lost it. Mickey appreciated the humor and laughed as well. The little boy was so proud of his joke that he would repeat it and then start laughing all over again.

The last memorable story from Chef Mickey's did not involve the guests, but instead involved Pluto. At the very end of the night, Pluto and Mickey had seen all the guests several times. Rather than stand there and do nothing, Mickey got Pluto's attention, motioned for him to sit, pet him as a reward for sitting on command, and then threw an invisible ball. Pluto, the excited puppy he is, ran after the ball, fetched it, and brought it back to Mickey to throw again. Only it wasn't an invisible ball. It was a straw, still in the wrapping. Mickey and Pluto continued playing fetch until Mickeys hands were full of napkins, silverware, and straws. When it was time to say goodbye to the guests, Pluto ran ahead of Mickey, walked over to the buffet, ran back to Mickey, and handed him a spoon! I was laughing so hard. Bad dog! But a funny one.

Friday, Carly and I went to visit Brittany, who was spending her morning with Chip and Dale, and Caitlin, who was hanging out with Drizella! After Carly went to work, Brittany and I spent a while by the pool, then at Downtown Disney. I'm lucky I met her. She gave me a lot of good tips about cooking. Saturday, I got up, went to the grocery store, came home, and cooked myself a meal! It was delicious. I'm still so proud of myself. Saturday night, Carly and I met up with Brittany and some of her friends from back home for dinner at Epcot. We headed over to Japan and they treated us all to some great sushi! It was a very fun night.

I'm becoming obsessed with this whole cooking thing, so if anyone has some recipe ideas that won't cost much [I'm painfully poor right now], let me know! It's so much fun! But I know you've all read to the end of this post because you've been waiting for me to mention one thing in particular. A little green dress, maybe? Well, I don't have a whole lot of information to give, but I do have a fitting tomorrow! I've talked about the face type-out in the past. It's the audition you attend to become approved in new face characters. Well, there is one tomorrow, and I was actually scheduled to go to it as a part of my work week, which is good! It means I'll have a pixie fitting when I get there, and if I'm super lucky, maybe a blue dress or two. But who knows? I will have more information about that after tomorrow!

Make magic, everyone!