The last days....

The last days of my college program were a very odd experience. I knew it wasn't the end for me because I was staying as a seasonal CM but all of the people I had become closest to were leaving me. I also still had to pack up and move out of Chatham which was both exciting and sad.

On Wednesday I worked my last shift as a CP. In an amusing twist of fate I worked my last day at the Hat which also happens to be the place I worked my first shift out of training. I was Hat attendant 7 which meant that instead of breaking a location after lunch and then doing evening sets I did "magical moment" sets and was finished at 3. The magical moment sets for that day were the weirdest and most amusing thing I have ever done as a character attendant. Unfortunately because they were so magical I can't actually write what made them so special but it is definitely one of those Disney experiences I will remember forever. They also resulted in my first Great Service Fanatic cards which are basically like a Disney kudos type thing. I got mine for "going above and beyond during meet & greets." Basically I made some international cps last day really special. :)

On Wednesday evening I went to Fantasmic! with some of my training group friends. As with all of the times when we attempted to get the whole (or most) or the group together, things when wrong and only a few people showed up. We weren't originally supposed to go to Fantasmic! which is probably why so few people came. But the cool thing about having the small group was that we got to have a special meet and greet with some Fantasmic! characters.

Top: Jess, Pocahontas, Mickey, Katelynn, Robert (not from my training group)
Bottom: Caitlyn, Gianna, Dopey, & Me

I spent most of Thursday packing my room up and then moving stuff to my new place. It probably took much longer than it should have because I am the world's worst packer. Seriously. After I had dropped off some of my stuff at my new place I went to Magic Kingdom to meet my friends Gianna and Will. We rode on Big Thunder Mountain and then met up with our other friend Lindsey and her parents to watch Spectromagic. We acted like complete goons the whole time and screamed the characters names when they went past us. This usually produces good results and this was no exception. Halfway through the parade we got a little boy who was probably 3 or 4 to sit with us. He ended up getting lots of characters coming up to him because we acted like asses. I think my favorite picture I caught was of Donald Duck jumping because we were chanting "Donald's Number 1!" His bow tie was already falling off and when he started jumping it totally came off. :) best picture ever!

Donald's Number 1!

After Spectro Gianna, Will, and I ran to the front of the Castle to watch Wishes. It was kinda like a repeat of our last night of training except not everyone was there and those of us who were, were not standing together. I think the hub (the area around the statue of Walt and Mickey) was like 90% CPs and everyone was crying. It was super sad. After wishes we met some of our friends in front of Walt and Mickeys statue. We hugged and cried and said goodbye. It is quite possibly one of the saddest things I have ever been through. I grew really close to my training group and to have to say goodbye to them was just heartbreaking. The worst part is it didn't hit me till the next day.

My lovely girls Luz, Lindsey, and Gianna. <3

On Friday I got up bright and early (totally against my will) and started packing the rest of my stuff. My wonderful friend Josh came to help me pack and move everything. Once everything was loaded up into my car I went to turn in my apartment key, housing id, and parking decal. I almost cried when I had to do that. Sheer force of will stopped the tears. Josh and I drove over to my new place and we unloaded my stuff and then attempted to organize. Attempted is the key word here because it took me until well after Josh had left to do it.

Like I mentioned in the last post I have been in limbo since my program ended. I am still in Orlando but I haven't worked since last Wednesday. I haven't hung out with any other cps since I moved. I feel really isolated and it kinda sucks. My training group buddy Ryan Frisinger is a musician and I have both of his cds on my iTunes. Anytime they come on I get sad because it reminds me of everyone who left me. I am really looking forward to Saturday which will be my first day back to work. I never thought I would ever look forward to going back to work, but I totally am.

That is all for now. More posts soon! (because 2 in one day just isn't enough)
-M

PS: Speaking of Ryan's awesome music if you are reading this you should totally go check out his myspace and listen to the awesome-ness. http://www.myspace.com/ryanfrisinger

The end is near... or is it just a new beginning?

So I am basically the worst blogger known to man. Its true. I haven't updated in like 5 years and so much has happened. The end of my college program has come and gone. I'm still in Orlando though. I currently have a bunch of free time though so perhaps I can convince myself to write a whole lot of entries in the next few days to catch up.

I guess the most important thing to write about is the fact that I am staying in Orlando for a few more months. My plan coming into the program was to leave in May at the end of my program and return to Austin. I thought that I would live in my new apartment and take classes at ACC over the summer. I didn't finalize the living arrangements until like February or March. When registration time rolled around I found out that my roomie wouldn't be in Austin over the summer. I totally can't afford rent on my own so my plan for living in Austin over the summer went down the drain.

I kinda assumed I would be in Austin taking the 2 classes I need to stay on track to graduate in May. By the time I realized that wasn't going to work I it was to late to extend my program. When everyone started getting responses about their extension requests I kicked myself for not extending. At that point I thought I would be living in Houston at home over the summer taking at least one of the classes I needed online and trying to find a job. I decided I didn't want to go home to that boring situation and found a way to stay in Orlando just a bit longer.

My solution? Become a seasonal ("casual temporary") cast member. I talked to my manager and based on my record card I was already on a list to automatically roll into seasonal status. So I could just give open availability until the date I wanted to leave and be placed on the schedule. I had to find someplace to live since I couldn't stay in CP housing after my program end date. I searched around, thought I had found something, discovered it was super far away, kept searching and then eventually found something.

I currently reside in a house in Davenport, Fl which is about 20 mins away from work. I live with 3 other girls who are all former CPs. Allison owns the house and works with the Disney Vacation Club and does room pricing (or something like that...) Lauren is doing a professional internship and is a manager in one of the resorts ( I can't remember which one at the moment). Brittney, like me, just finished her CP although she had extended her program. I am not sure exactly what she is doing now but I know she worked in a resort.

For the most part I like the living arrangements so far. I didn't give availability far enough in advance to be put on the schedule for the last week. So I haven't worked in a week and am not scheduled to work till Saturday. I have never wanted to work so badly in my whole entire life. I am pretty much bored out of my mind. My CP id expired on the 14th and I was not able to get a new one until the 16th but because that was a Sunday and Access Control is not open Sat or Sun I had to wait until Monday to get my id. That meant I couldn't go to any of the parks. :P That SUCKED! But on Monday I went with my friend Josh to Access Control and got my new pretty red ID that says Marion is a seasonal cast member. yay! :) eventually I will take a pic of it and post it on here for everyone to see.

I feel like this post is long enough so I will write a separate one about the last couple of days of my CP.

<3 you all!
-M