I am a Disney Princess
Well, actually apparently I am the perfect Alice (because I am short, and slightly blonde :P), but that's not the point. She kind of beats princesses anyway. Except Ariel. Then again, in Disney all females are princesses. I love it.
Anyway, I'm in a damn good mood at the moment- this last week has been the best week ever. It all started on Tuesday with Heather, Charlotte T and my adventures in World Showcase in Epcot. For those who don't know, World Showcase is Disney's way of bringing some culture to America, and a number of countries (I couldn't tell you the exact number) have their own pavillions, which are supposed to be a representation of that country. Of course they're incredibly clichéd- the UK is like a very old school London, with cobbled streets, selling tea, and with wooden shops. Oh and of course there's a super-cool Victotriany/old-style pub- the Rose & Crown, which actually did make me feel quite homesick. Not so much as eating a Twirl did. I can't believe I paid £1 for a Twirl- this is how dire the chocolate situation is out here. But that said Twirl= one of the best foods ever, so there we go, even if it's not the same without being dunked into a cup of tea.
Anyways, we wondered around World Showcase for a few hours, which was just... nice. I prefer the parks now that the big rides (except in Epcot, but apart from Test Track and Turtle Talk with Crush, I'm not overly fussed about doing them. I'm sure I will at one point, but I can wait), the day is more about the experience of taking in the park rather than queueing up to experience a few thrills. So yeah, that was nice for a few hours, after which we returned home, where I made some lunch and then headed off into work. I think this was the night when I had a really good evening at work. Was on stock in Princess 3 which, because there was two of us, was really easy, and flew by because I was scanning for about two hours. (If I haven't explained what 'scanning' is before, basically you get a little machine and scan all the product you need more of, and eventually the stockroom will send it down to you. Much better than the constant list-writing malarky that we'd have to do in Smiths before trying to navigate the stockroom!) So that room got tidied really quickly which meant that I could do whatever, so ended up 'sorting out' the Build-A-Crown section (ie get a tacky looking crown and stick whatever little bits you want onto it), which eventually ended up with about four of us stood around there 'sorting it out' ie. doing a little bit of tidying, but mainly chatting and taking the piss out of the customers and how they just 'looooooove our accents', or think that because I'm English I'll know their cousin in Manchester (it. is. 3. hours. away!). Or the best one that Pierre (a French guy, if you didn't guess from the name) got from another Cast Member: [while counting out cash registers in French] "It must be really hard to count American money in French"
...
And obviously further banter ensued. I really do like my workmates- or the young ones at least. Anyways, waited until 2:40 for the bus home- always fun- and was off to beddy bies. Woop.
Wednesday: Wednesday was my lazy day, in which I read magazines/ pissed about on the Internet until it was time for my bus for the 5-2 shift of joy. Even better, I was Princess line guide for 2 1/2 hours of it. Did I explain the joys of line guiding to you? It involves telling imaginary people when the next register is open for their enjoyment. Well, in the evening those people tend to not be quite so imaginary, granted, but at 5 the store is pretty dead, and so there is absolutely no need for a line guide. Besides, it's good exercise for the cashier to jump up and down and shout to get someone's attention when they're free. And much more entertaining. Still, the rest of the evening went by fairly quickly and after being taught how to pull registers on what was probably Monday, I was then taught how to count the money and put it through the system, which, because I was concentrating hard on trying not to make too many mistakes (which I'm sure I did), meant the last few hours just flew by. Also managed to get an ER because of social security the next morning, and having to get up at 7- getting home at 3 would NOT have been fun, so they let me out at 1:30 instead, giving me a whole five, rather than 4, hours sleep. Woop! The journey back home was, of course, joyous at this hour- Millie and I were the only sober ones on the bus, as one of the stops on the way back is Crossroads, and everyone seems to go to this karaoke bar- Buffalo Wild Wings or something- on a Wednesday night. Oh how fun. At least this Wednesday I'm done by 12, so, fingers crossed, should miss them! But yes, that was my fascinating Wednesday.
Which brings me to Thursday and thus my DAY OFF! Except the first part of it was spent in social security, which went incredibly slowly as a) there were only two people sorting out the papers as opposed to the five they needed, and b) impatient French people from the second bus (who were supposed to wait until after us people who'd dragged ourselves out of bed early to avoid waiting too much) started trying to push in infront of us. Still, we were home by around 12 which wasn't too bad, and then, because we were all starving, we decided to treat ourselves to some munch. So Charlottes I and C, Kate, Amy J (who missed out on the delights of social security as she already got a number from working in the states the previous year), Karen (flatmate), Danielle, Kate and Amy J's flatmates- Sarah and Claire- and I are went along to Bahama Breeze, which is this absolutely gorgeous supposedly Carribean style restaurant. Had coconut shrimp (again) and season salad which was yum-as- one of the best places I've eaten so far, and super-cheap also! So that was always good. We had to walk home at a slow pace though, being absolutely stuffed! And then ended up sweating the whole dinner out again lying by the pool for a few hours.
Then came the evening, and possibly one of the best evenings I've had since being here. The plan was to go to Fantasmic at MGM, so we got onto the bus at 6:30, then wondered around MGM for a few hours, taking photos, looking in shops, eating ice cream, etc, until about 8:30 when we went to see Fantasmic, and miraculously (as people had started queueing for the 9 o'clock showing at 7...) got really good seats in the main, Mickey section because people don't want to budge up or sit near anyone else, so we found some gaps together. Fantasmic was really, really good- I loved it. Not nearly as much as Wishes, but it was still impressive all the same. I especially love how you can see Epcot's fireworks in the distance as it goes on.
Infact, it was so good that it made us not want to end our evening. So instead we decided to sprint to the entrance and hop on a bus to the Magic Kingdom, where we arrived just in time to watch Wishes on the ferry over. While you can only hear the music when you get near to the Magic Kingdom- and the music is what makes Wishes so special- seeing it from over the lagoon was, without a doubt, the perfect vantage point to see the fireworks themselves- you can see absolutely everything that goes on, and they all reflect into the water, and it's just quite beautiful really. Also, at one point, the driver stopped the ferry, just at the point where you could hear the music. Standing there, I felt like I was back in Cuc Phuong, on the night when all you could hear were the grasshoppers and all you could see were the fireflies and the stars; and you stand there and realise that moments like these are why you are here, and this is why you chose to do this all along.
We followed Wishes with some wondering around Magic Kingdom at night (up the stream of people departing after Wishes. Or more like at ocean), and then some Spectromagic, which was absolutely dead so we got an ace view of all the characters. I don't like it as much as the Dreams Come True parade, but it was still pretty damn good. And then we left, literally just missing the A bus which would take us home, so knackered we sat waiting for the next one (at least it's every 20 minutes, unlike the beloved F bus (my one) which, for some idiotic reason, only runs every hour), and then it was home and to bed. But despite the tiredness, the five hours of sleep, the missing the A bus, it really was the perfect evening.
Then there was Friday, when I spent most of the day sunbathing with the flatmates (minus Katie), and then we decided to go to Citywalk, in Universal, for some munch at the Hard Rock Café, where we had the best server ever. Wondered around for a while, lamenting the fact that I was working and a showing of Rocky Horror was on with people acting it out at the same time (I think how it was done originally, before it became a full-blown stage musical). Bah humbug, etc. Still, had an ace time- was nice to do something as a flat for once as well, as I rarely see Karen and Amy, but they're really nice girls. Was muchly fun.
Which brings me to yesterday, and another really good day. Charlotte C and I met Heather, who had just been to a character breakfast at Crystal Palace, in the Magic Kingdom, and we went on autograph hunting session. Started off in Fantasyland, where we went on the carousel and met Mary Poppins outside. Then we went on Dumbo (because we're cool) before meeting Alice and the Mad Hatter outside of the teacups. Our quest then took us to Toontown, where we road the Barnstormer- a 30 second kid's rollercoaster, much like the dearly departed Flying Fish or Caterpillar, but more painful (why would you put ridged plastic seats in a rollercoaster? Why?) before queueing up to meet none other than... the princesses! Met Aurora, Cinderella and Belle, which is slightly weird because they can talk to you. Then Cinderella goes and asks how much longer I'm here for, and not being able to think on the spot I say that 'I work here...', somewhat ruining the magic. Dammit. Still, they're so cute, and there was a little baby infront of us who was absolutely GORGEOUS, everyone was going nuts about here, she was so cute! We then went round again to meet Minnie, Daisy and Donald. Minnie was in a rather bad mood that day, getting a bit frustrated that our autograph books weren't open that very moment, so took them off of us then started signing. Minnie should never be in a bad mood... Still, Donald and Daisy were ace, as Donald kept kissing us on the cheek, so Daisy came round the corner when I was there and stood watching to make sure that he was good. And as soon as she was gone he kissed me. Brilliant.
After that we found ourselves in Tomorrowland, which meant, of course, we had to get fastpasses for Space Mountain. We then killed some time eating some munch (chilli and corn dog nuggets from Caseys for me), and went to watch the Castle Show, which got stopped really near the end because of rain (the characters are a little bit high tech, and because they have lots of things helping their eyes and mouthes move they can't really stay out in the rain. It really makes a difference that they can make facial expressions, etc, though). It annoyed me a little, though, as all they said to end the show was 'sorry, we can't continue with this show'. I mean they could have at least done something like 'Malificent has destroyed the stage! The characters have to go inside for safety' or something less frigtening involving Donald being in a grump, etc etc- they're so careful to preserve the magic with everything else (like when a character's friend needs to rest, it'll be because Minnie's cooking Mickey some tea, or Pooh needs some honey, or whatever- characters are never tired, or hurt, or hot, you see), so I don't understand why they're so lax with things like that. But still...
We then wandered back through Fantasyland, thinking we could do some indoor kiddy rides, but the queues for stuff like Peter Pan were all getting on 70 minutes, so we decided that was not going to happen, and hung around in Tomorrowland until our fastpass return time came up instead. Rode Space Mountain, getting our stupid poses on, before coming and and being reminded that the damn thing takes no photographs. Um. Lol. Still, was fun. And we escaped from Tomorrowland and Main Street just before the parade was beginning, hopped on the Monorail home and got back just as the bus was pulling away. Again. So when I eventually got back it was a super-quick change into my work uniform- sorry, costume- before heading of to WOD for a lovely 6:30-2 shift. Which went by suprisingly quickly considering they had me tasking for 1 1/2 hours (CDS had me with no proficiences for some reason, which left me collecting hangers and clearing lifts for ages until Chris was like 'um, we're 70 minutes behind on breaks, you are NOT clearing out B lift!'). So joyously I got put on line guide for Great Hall North, where they left me until 11:20, despite my asking for a break a number of times. Five hours without a break= not fun. But at least, because that one was so late, leaving me with no time for another one, I got an extra half hours pay for my second break. Woo for $3.30! Rest of the evening went by suprisingly quickly considering I was on doors in princess room (ie not letting people in, opening the doors for people leaving) for most of it, before they got me counting money... again... Wooop. Anyway, came out of work to witness a fight between some people over a TAXI. Oh dear Lord. You work for x many hours then are greeted by that. Fun fun fun. Waited the lovely 40 minutes for a bus home, got into bed about 3. Went straight to sleep, and now here I am.
Oh yeah, I forgot to say, I got to do my first bit of Disney lying yesterday. Basically, to preserve the magic of Disney, you don't tell anyone any boring stuff about the place. So when this little girl, all dressed up like Cinderella, asked me how they got the stars and the people on the ceiling of WOD, I was proud to say that my immediate reaction was 'Mickey does it all... by Magic'. But how, she asks. I don't know, I say, he doesn't tell us that, it's just magic. But maybe you could ask him the next time you see him. And then you have to come back at tell me, OK. And she left with a massive grin and a mission to find Mickey and to ask how the stars are on the ceiling of World of Disney. And I was proud, for this time I managed not to manage a little kid's dream. I'm finally a fully-blown Cast Member :P
A cast member who has to work from 3pm-2am today.
Wooohoo.
Anyway, I'm in a damn good mood at the moment- this last week has been the best week ever. It all started on Tuesday with Heather, Charlotte T and my adventures in World Showcase in Epcot. For those who don't know, World Showcase is Disney's way of bringing some culture to America, and a number of countries (I couldn't tell you the exact number) have their own pavillions, which are supposed to be a representation of that country. Of course they're incredibly clichéd- the UK is like a very old school London, with cobbled streets, selling tea, and with wooden shops. Oh and of course there's a super-cool Victotriany/old-style pub- the Rose & Crown, which actually did make me feel quite homesick. Not so much as eating a Twirl did. I can't believe I paid £1 for a Twirl- this is how dire the chocolate situation is out here. But that said Twirl= one of the best foods ever, so there we go, even if it's not the same without being dunked into a cup of tea.
Anyways, we wondered around World Showcase for a few hours, which was just... nice. I prefer the parks now that the big rides (except in Epcot, but apart from Test Track and Turtle Talk with Crush, I'm not overly fussed about doing them. I'm sure I will at one point, but I can wait), the day is more about the experience of taking in the park rather than queueing up to experience a few thrills. So yeah, that was nice for a few hours, after which we returned home, where I made some lunch and then headed off into work. I think this was the night when I had a really good evening at work. Was on stock in Princess 3 which, because there was two of us, was really easy, and flew by because I was scanning for about two hours. (If I haven't explained what 'scanning' is before, basically you get a little machine and scan all the product you need more of, and eventually the stockroom will send it down to you. Much better than the constant list-writing malarky that we'd have to do in Smiths before trying to navigate the stockroom!) So that room got tidied really quickly which meant that I could do whatever, so ended up 'sorting out' the Build-A-Crown section (ie get a tacky looking crown and stick whatever little bits you want onto it), which eventually ended up with about four of us stood around there 'sorting it out' ie. doing a little bit of tidying, but mainly chatting and taking the piss out of the customers and how they just 'looooooove our accents', or think that because I'm English I'll know their cousin in Manchester (it. is. 3. hours. away!). Or the best one that Pierre (a French guy, if you didn't guess from the name) got from another Cast Member: [while counting out cash registers in French] "It must be really hard to count American money in French"
...
And obviously further banter ensued. I really do like my workmates- or the young ones at least. Anyways, waited until 2:40 for the bus home- always fun- and was off to beddy bies. Woop.
Wednesday: Wednesday was my lazy day, in which I read magazines/ pissed about on the Internet until it was time for my bus for the 5-2 shift of joy. Even better, I was Princess line guide for 2 1/2 hours of it. Did I explain the joys of line guiding to you? It involves telling imaginary people when the next register is open for their enjoyment. Well, in the evening those people tend to not be quite so imaginary, granted, but at 5 the store is pretty dead, and so there is absolutely no need for a line guide. Besides, it's good exercise for the cashier to jump up and down and shout to get someone's attention when they're free. And much more entertaining. Still, the rest of the evening went by fairly quickly and after being taught how to pull registers on what was probably Monday, I was then taught how to count the money and put it through the system, which, because I was concentrating hard on trying not to make too many mistakes (which I'm sure I did), meant the last few hours just flew by. Also managed to get an ER because of social security the next morning, and having to get up at 7- getting home at 3 would NOT have been fun, so they let me out at 1:30 instead, giving me a whole five, rather than 4, hours sleep. Woop! The journey back home was, of course, joyous at this hour- Millie and I were the only sober ones on the bus, as one of the stops on the way back is Crossroads, and everyone seems to go to this karaoke bar- Buffalo Wild Wings or something- on a Wednesday night. Oh how fun. At least this Wednesday I'm done by 12, so, fingers crossed, should miss them! But yes, that was my fascinating Wednesday.
Which brings me to Thursday and thus my DAY OFF! Except the first part of it was spent in social security, which went incredibly slowly as a) there were only two people sorting out the papers as opposed to the five they needed, and b) impatient French people from the second bus (who were supposed to wait until after us people who'd dragged ourselves out of bed early to avoid waiting too much) started trying to push in infront of us. Still, we were home by around 12 which wasn't too bad, and then, because we were all starving, we decided to treat ourselves to some munch. So Charlottes I and C, Kate, Amy J (who missed out on the delights of social security as she already got a number from working in the states the previous year), Karen (flatmate), Danielle, Kate and Amy J's flatmates- Sarah and Claire- and I are went along to Bahama Breeze, which is this absolutely gorgeous supposedly Carribean style restaurant. Had coconut shrimp (again) and season salad which was yum-as- one of the best places I've eaten so far, and super-cheap also! So that was always good. We had to walk home at a slow pace though, being absolutely stuffed! And then ended up sweating the whole dinner out again lying by the pool for a few hours.
Then came the evening, and possibly one of the best evenings I've had since being here. The plan was to go to Fantasmic at MGM, so we got onto the bus at 6:30, then wondered around MGM for a few hours, taking photos, looking in shops, eating ice cream, etc, until about 8:30 when we went to see Fantasmic, and miraculously (as people had started queueing for the 9 o'clock showing at 7...) got really good seats in the main, Mickey section because people don't want to budge up or sit near anyone else, so we found some gaps together. Fantasmic was really, really good- I loved it. Not nearly as much as Wishes, but it was still impressive all the same. I especially love how you can see Epcot's fireworks in the distance as it goes on.
Infact, it was so good that it made us not want to end our evening. So instead we decided to sprint to the entrance and hop on a bus to the Magic Kingdom, where we arrived just in time to watch Wishes on the ferry over. While you can only hear the music when you get near to the Magic Kingdom- and the music is what makes Wishes so special- seeing it from over the lagoon was, without a doubt, the perfect vantage point to see the fireworks themselves- you can see absolutely everything that goes on, and they all reflect into the water, and it's just quite beautiful really. Also, at one point, the driver stopped the ferry, just at the point where you could hear the music. Standing there, I felt like I was back in Cuc Phuong, on the night when all you could hear were the grasshoppers and all you could see were the fireflies and the stars; and you stand there and realise that moments like these are why you are here, and this is why you chose to do this all along.
We followed Wishes with some wondering around Magic Kingdom at night (up the stream of people departing after Wishes. Or more like at ocean), and then some Spectromagic, which was absolutely dead so we got an ace view of all the characters. I don't like it as much as the Dreams Come True parade, but it was still pretty damn good. And then we left, literally just missing the A bus which would take us home, so knackered we sat waiting for the next one (at least it's every 20 minutes, unlike the beloved F bus (my one) which, for some idiotic reason, only runs every hour), and then it was home and to bed. But despite the tiredness, the five hours of sleep, the missing the A bus, it really was the perfect evening.
Then there was Friday, when I spent most of the day sunbathing with the flatmates (minus Katie), and then we decided to go to Citywalk, in Universal, for some munch at the Hard Rock Café, where we had the best server ever. Wondered around for a while, lamenting the fact that I was working and a showing of Rocky Horror was on with people acting it out at the same time (I think how it was done originally, before it became a full-blown stage musical). Bah humbug, etc. Still, had an ace time- was nice to do something as a flat for once as well, as I rarely see Karen and Amy, but they're really nice girls. Was muchly fun.
Which brings me to yesterday, and another really good day. Charlotte C and I met Heather, who had just been to a character breakfast at Crystal Palace, in the Magic Kingdom, and we went on autograph hunting session. Started off in Fantasyland, where we went on the carousel and met Mary Poppins outside. Then we went on Dumbo (because we're cool) before meeting Alice and the Mad Hatter outside of the teacups. Our quest then took us to Toontown, where we road the Barnstormer- a 30 second kid's rollercoaster, much like the dearly departed Flying Fish or Caterpillar, but more painful (why would you put ridged plastic seats in a rollercoaster? Why?) before queueing up to meet none other than... the princesses! Met Aurora, Cinderella and Belle, which is slightly weird because they can talk to you. Then Cinderella goes and asks how much longer I'm here for, and not being able to think on the spot I say that 'I work here...', somewhat ruining the magic. Dammit. Still, they're so cute, and there was a little baby infront of us who was absolutely GORGEOUS, everyone was going nuts about here, she was so cute! We then went round again to meet Minnie, Daisy and Donald. Minnie was in a rather bad mood that day, getting a bit frustrated that our autograph books weren't open that very moment, so took them off of us then started signing. Minnie should never be in a bad mood... Still, Donald and Daisy were ace, as Donald kept kissing us on the cheek, so Daisy came round the corner when I was there and stood watching to make sure that he was good. And as soon as she was gone he kissed me. Brilliant.
After that we found ourselves in Tomorrowland, which meant, of course, we had to get fastpasses for Space Mountain. We then killed some time eating some munch (chilli and corn dog nuggets from Caseys for me), and went to watch the Castle Show, which got stopped really near the end because of rain (the characters are a little bit high tech, and because they have lots of things helping their eyes and mouthes move they can't really stay out in the rain. It really makes a difference that they can make facial expressions, etc, though). It annoyed me a little, though, as all they said to end the show was 'sorry, we can't continue with this show'. I mean they could have at least done something like 'Malificent has destroyed the stage! The characters have to go inside for safety' or something less frigtening involving Donald being in a grump, etc etc- they're so careful to preserve the magic with everything else (like when a character's friend needs to rest, it'll be because Minnie's cooking Mickey some tea, or Pooh needs some honey, or whatever- characters are never tired, or hurt, or hot, you see), so I don't understand why they're so lax with things like that. But still...
We then wandered back through Fantasyland, thinking we could do some indoor kiddy rides, but the queues for stuff like Peter Pan were all getting on 70 minutes, so we decided that was not going to happen, and hung around in Tomorrowland until our fastpass return time came up instead. Rode Space Mountain, getting our stupid poses on, before coming and and being reminded that the damn thing takes no photographs. Um. Lol. Still, was fun. And we escaped from Tomorrowland and Main Street just before the parade was beginning, hopped on the Monorail home and got back just as the bus was pulling away. Again. So when I eventually got back it was a super-quick change into my work uniform- sorry, costume- before heading of to WOD for a lovely 6:30-2 shift. Which went by suprisingly quickly considering they had me tasking for 1 1/2 hours (CDS had me with no proficiences for some reason, which left me collecting hangers and clearing lifts for ages until Chris was like 'um, we're 70 minutes behind on breaks, you are NOT clearing out B lift!'). So joyously I got put on line guide for Great Hall North, where they left me until 11:20, despite my asking for a break a number of times. Five hours without a break= not fun. But at least, because that one was so late, leaving me with no time for another one, I got an extra half hours pay for my second break. Woo for $3.30! Rest of the evening went by suprisingly quickly considering I was on doors in princess room (ie not letting people in, opening the doors for people leaving) for most of it, before they got me counting money... again... Wooop. Anyway, came out of work to witness a fight between some people over a TAXI. Oh dear Lord. You work for x many hours then are greeted by that. Fun fun fun. Waited the lovely 40 minutes for a bus home, got into bed about 3. Went straight to sleep, and now here I am.
Oh yeah, I forgot to say, I got to do my first bit of Disney lying yesterday. Basically, to preserve the magic of Disney, you don't tell anyone any boring stuff about the place. So when this little girl, all dressed up like Cinderella, asked me how they got the stars and the people on the ceiling of WOD, I was proud to say that my immediate reaction was 'Mickey does it all... by Magic'. But how, she asks. I don't know, I say, he doesn't tell us that, it's just magic. But maybe you could ask him the next time you see him. And then you have to come back at tell me, OK. And she left with a massive grin and a mission to find Mickey and to ask how the stars are on the ceiling of World of Disney. And I was proud, for this time I managed not to manage a little kid's dream. I'm finally a fully-blown Cast Member :P
A cast member who has to work from 3pm-2am today.
Wooohoo.