Disney Event #2: Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!

Event # 2 was the MNSSHP on 9/23. I had purchased the ticket to go early in the month and had planned to go with my roommates Kryssy and Kat. However by the week of the party I found out that they were no longer going and I was left with no one to go with. OH NO! It turned out all right though because I found another friend who had the same thing happen to her and we ended up going together.

I elected to wear my Pirate costume which my grandmother made me about 5 years ago. It is an epic costume if I do say so myself and I have worn it many many times on International Talk Like A Pirate Day, to Renaissance Festivals, and of course during the Halloween season. My friend Morgan dressed up like Alice. 

Since we are both performers, we love characters and decided to make the priority of our night to meet characters. We started of with Mickey and Minnie. There was a long line of people waiting to meet them in their Halloween outfits and hardly anyone in the regular queue. Since I am all knowledgable and knew when Mickey would be out in his fancy costumes and how much time the line takes, we jumped in the regular queue and were some of the first people to see them in their Halloween outfits. Basically we were sneaky sneaky and jumped all those people. BAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!

We of course made a stop to see Alice and Mad Hatter for Morgan. At this point we were joined by one of Morgan's friends whose name I of course can't remember. 

I make wonderful faces yes?

Soon after our visit with those Wonderland folk we went to watch the Villans Mix and Mingle. May I just say that the Villans show is THE BEST THING EVER! It needs to be a priority in anyones MNSSHP evening. After the show the Villans that are in the show do a short meet and greet. Short as in 15 mins. So be smart and get there early and stand in the general area of your fav villain. We watched the show and then jumped in line for Maleficent. 

We made stops to see various other characters not often seen in the parks such as Terk and Jane as well as Timon. 

We hit up the second parade since that one tends to be a little less crowded and got a good seat right at the beginning of Main Street (which is actually the end of the parade route). I took a good number of pictures but also made it a priority to enjoy myself. Many of the wonderful pirates came to visit me including the great Barbossa. Peter Pan came and asked me to a sword fight, but I couldn't get my sword out and then he had to run. :) It really is an amazing parade. 

After the parade we scurried up the street to hit up the Hub were the Villans roam. While we were waiting in line for Gaston I got a text from one of my amazing CP #1 training group family, Ryan. Turns out he was sitting across from us during the parade and recognized my voice. :) He and his wife have moved back to Orlando which is an awesome surprise. I hope to be able to hang out with both them and the other guy from my training group Patrick (and his fiance Toni). Yes that means I will be like a 5th wheel but who cares! I love them all. :)

We finished out the night dancing with some of our favorite toys at the Diamond Horseshoe. We saw Woody, Bullseye, and my favorite Cowgirl Jessie. It was quite fun and a great way to end the night. 

 All in all Event #2 was super fun. I haven't bought tickets for another party yet and I'm not sure if I will. I do have one more costume to sport but maybe I won't wear it this year. I don't know of anyone else going to another party but maybe I can convince someone to go again.

-M

Disney Event #1: Trick or Meet Up

I have decided to make a post about each of the Disney events I went to this past week. This is post #1 (obviously) about the Disney Parks Blog Trick or Meet Up.

I mentioned in the first post that I "won" a ticket. What I really meant by this is that there were a limited number of people that could attend this event and that I managed to RSVP early enough to get myself a spot on the list. Each person who RSVPed could bring one guest and was encouraged to dress up in costume.  Im not sure exactly how many people went but it was definitely more than 100.

The meet up basically revolved around the Haunted Mansion and Halloween. We met up at 9pm at Blizzard Beach and were bussed over to the Magic Kingdom from there. While we waited for everyone to check in and the busses to get there a DJ was there playing some music and facilitating a Disney trivia contest. I recognized him as the DJ that was at my first CP completion ceremony aka graduation ironically doing the same thing. I think his name is DJ Miles.

Anyway, I think we managed to get to MK at about 10pm although I'm really not sure about that. We were bussed to what is called Splash Gate which is also where the Parade Control building is and where all of the parade floats are kept. They had some of the parade floats lit up in the barn so we got to see some of those as we drove past. After we were let into the park, we were walked to the Hall of Presidents. Right outside the entrance to the Hall of Presidents, Gene the Disney Parks Blog photographer was taking pictures of guests in costume. Guess who got a picture taken of them... ME! and my twin who was my guest.

As you can tell I wore my Daisy Duck costume although stupid me forgot my bracelet. Whoops. Once we got inside and were all seated Imagineer, Jason Surrell, came in and talked to us about the Haunted Mansion and answered questions from the crowd. It was very interesting to say the least. I'm not a Disney parks/imaginer/rides expert by any means so there is a lot of things I didn't know that probably a lot of the crowd did. One of the cool things I learned was that the Haunted Mansion was completed in April of 1971 and basically they just locked the door of the ride for 6 months until the park opened in October.

After he was finished they let us go free to tour the new Haunted Mansion queue with an Imagineer, ride the Haunted Mansion, take pictures with some characters, or trick or treat. I of course did all of the above with a focus on characters. As soon as we walked out of the Hall of Presidents we saw Daisy and Donald Duck. Since I was in my Daisy outfit I dragged my Twin to the line and made him wait with me. Daisy of course thought I was the bees knees and Donald got down on one knee for me. I guess he was momentarily confused and thought I was Daisy. Twin then proposed to Daisy and it went down hill from there. I love fun interactions with characters. :)

 

I also met Dr. Facilier which was super awesome. And saw some ghostly singers serenade the guests.

Sitting outside of the Haunted Mansion was 2 wonderfully funny ghosts, Renata and Carlotta DuBois. They are totally hilarious and can be found outside the Haunted Mansion during the Halloween parties, or so I have heard.

The night was finished off with a run of the Headless Horeseman.

It was a great night and I had a ton of fun. I hope that if there are future meet ups at WDW I will be able to go. I don't know if I have ever mentioned it but a dream job for me would be to work for the Disney Parks blog. Hopefully one day I can make it to that dream.

In PI news... I have my interview for the Entertainment Management Internship (MI) tonight at 8. I finished applying for the rest of my Comm internships last night. I have a grand total of 9 internships I have applied for. 1 MI, 6 communication related PIs (all but one social media related), and 2 Alumni only PIs. I really hope I will get one of them. Wish me good luck on my interview tonight!

-M

Hallloooweeeeeen!

Have I mentioned that Halloween is my all time favorite holiday? I think I did in my last post. But thats ok , its the truth so it can be repeated.

I LOVE HALLOWEEEEENN! It is really the best holiday ever. To me, it is the perfect fall holiday.

Anyways. I have pictures of the Boo To You parade to post! It was absolutely amazing. Lots and lots of fun. Unfortunately it was a bit crazy trying to get situated for the parade. If you ever doubt that Cast Members can be just as stupid as guests, please do not. The waiting, crowding, and pushing that happened before the Cast Preview is a great example that Cast Members are not above guests. They act just as idiotic given the opportunity.

I ended up going with my roommate Kryssy and friend Amanda. They had bought Woody and Jessie shirts earlier in the day so we all kinda dressed up. Them in Toy Story and me in my Daisy shirt. We ended up standing with some of the D-Fam (read almost all of the D-Fam) which was totally random, unplanned, and awesome.

Look at how cute we are!

Now for pictures of the parade! I took a good amount but I am just going to post some of the best.

I will be going to an acutal MNSSHP on the September 30th and October 6th. I also plan on going one more time in October. I have 3 costumes (Daisy Duck, Pirate, and Tinkerbell) to wear so I have to go to at least 3 parties. :) I will post pictures of the parties and me in my costume when I attend.

Thats all for now my loves!

-M

Sounds Like Summer: 2U A Tribute to U2

Look another post! ... I guess when it rains it pours. 

So remember that post a while back where I said I wanted to go to some of the Sounds Like Summer concerts? Well I never really did remember to check and see when they were so I could go. But by chance I happened to be at Epcot on Tuesday evening and happened across the last performance of 2U the U2 tribute band. 

It just so happens that this was the same band that I saw last year with my friend Patrick. They were as good as they were last time although the lead singer was a bit more awkward than I remember him being. He does these like karate kick type things which are made very awkward by the fact that he is a slightly pudgy old guy. But he (and the rest of the band) sound great so it is well worth the effort to see them. 

I didn't have my camera with me so the only picture I got is off my phone from when I checked in at the theatre on Gowalla. 

2U A Tribute to U2 at Epcot for the Sounds Like Summer Concert Series

BTW did you know that Gowalla is the social media check-in site that has an official partnership with Disney? So you can actually check in on the rides and stuff and have little badges/passport things that go with the ride. This is the reason for my choice of Gowalla over Foursquare. Sad, but true. 

Anyways that is all for this post. I will get around to posting the random park pictures I have soon enough. Promise. :)

-M

"I should blog, but I don't know what to blog about."

I totally just said that to my roommate Kryssy. I feel the need to blog but I'm just not so sure what to write about. 

I guess I can start with work. It has been going really well. I have worked at Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom. The only day I didn't see someone I knew was my first day out of training at Epcot. I know I had mentioned I was nervous but it turned out really well. I made some friends which was nice and I also had my fellow training group shortie Ariel come visit me and Mickey. Oh! and my other friend Trevor did too. It was really nice to have visitors.

 Ariel and Mickey

Trevor and Mickey

My aunt, uncle, and two cousins are in Orlando this week to visit and play in the parks. It has been really nice to see some family and hang out with them. I haven't seen this particular part of my family since like  Christmas so it was nice to catch up. While at Animal Kingdom on Sunday they visited Mickey and got some fun pictures with him. 

Mickey and I have been having a lot of fun hanging out together. At first I was a bit intimidated with the thought of helping him out but I have discovered that he is a very nice guy and very easy to hang out with, although sometimes (read frequently) I end my days helping him with bruises. 

That is one thing that while they never really mention in any of the things you hear about being a performer. It is absolutely exhausting. I come home tired, completely sticky and gross, and so far always sore and often bruised. Obviously people come into the job knowing it is physically demanding but I'm not sure people realize how demanding it is.  I literally have come home every day with some sort of bruise. Be it from shoes or kneeling, they are not fun. And it is hard to force yourself to get up every morning when you are still tired and sore and know that you have to go back out and do it again. You hear a lot of people say children's hugs make it all worth while, but honestly a lot of the time (at least for me) it doesn't. Children's hugs don't make me want to get out of bed. The obligation to do my job is what gets me out of bed but don't get me wrong, I do love hugs. Its a wonderful role and I still feel truly blessed to be able to call it my job, but don't ever let anyone fool you into thinking it is easy. Performers earn their 40 minute breaks for 20 mins of work. 

I feel like this is a bit of an odd update but I suppose thats ok. Its an update. To end this little post I have a picture that I took of a computer screen (so excuse the funky-ness) of my friend and boss Mickey and a guest. It makes me smile. :)

-M

Training Tidbits Part 2!

So on to the more positive side of training.

The first and most awesome aspect of training is that I got to train with my roommate and friend, Kryssy. I am so so so glad I had her with me. Having someone to share it all with was the biggest gift. I also developed a close bond with my other shortie Ariel. We got to be partnered up on our last day of training for our last set which was really awesome. I think we played off each other quite well.

I had a large variety of trainers this time around. First day started off with Auriel and Joel. Auriel stayed with us up to day 3 but yesterday was our day off, so she was not with us on our last day. Christine and Jenny stepped in on day 2 and Christine then stayed with us till the end of our training. On day 3, our first day of in park training, we had Brandon and Christine as well as Lori, and attendant trainier to help with out lines. In a very amusing twist I actually met Brandon the night before while at my friend Cory's birthday party. Day 4 consisted of Christine, Perry, and as previously mentioned, Ashley.

Ya. Thats my trainier. lol. 

In other fun news I spent Sunday (day 3) hanging out with the big cheese. It was actually quite fun. Mickey did tell me he had one young girl hit his nose and then stood on his shoe but other than that he said the day was quite good. I had several friends go visit Mickey and that was very exciting. My friend Cory and her mother visited Mickey and she sent me a picture. :) She said she had a very good time. 

Yesterday I got to hang out with my all time favorite character, Donald Duck. I was very excited about that but it turned out the be quite stressful for me. When I was having to redo my autographs Perry mentioned that I might be so hard on myself about things concerning Donald because he is my favorite. I am willing to conceded that this is probably true. Donald is number one after all and I don't want my helping him out for the day to bring down his amazingness. I think we were a pretty good pair though even though his autographs ended up looking like crap through my assistance. Unfortunately no one came to visit Donald while I was helping him so I don't have any pictures to share.

In other news, my twin left me to go vacation in the mountains for 2 months. I will miss him quite horribly but he needs the vacation and I probably need the time away from him.

Also in other news I will be attending a face type-out (read audition for current entertainment cms) tomorrow. I am hoping the casting directors think I look like a certain fairy. I have gotten a surprising amount of comments about our resemblance since being down there. I can only hope that the casting people see it too. I would love to get to hang out with her. :) So send me pixie dust tomorrow!!

Love you all!!

-M

So Much to Share

Today was an awesome day. I mentioned before that I had picked up a Spare 6 attendant shift today at Studios. My bestie/twin picked up a shift at Studios too so he drove us there. We got there way early (like 2 hours) because it was a Star Wars weekend (hellish parking) and also because I had to get a costume. I have lost a good deal of weight since my CP so I wasn't sure what size shorts I would wear (or even what size shorts I used to wear).

Well after I got my shorts I went and checked in and sat down. I then basically sat there for an hour and a half till I could clock in. I had to take some silly update computer-y thing but then I had nothing to do. All of the other Attendants showed up so I literally just sat at base for my whole shift. At one point I thought I might have to go to Epcot because the were down an attendant, but I guess by the time my lunch had ended they had filled that hole because I didn't end up having to go. So instead of helping out Phineas and Ferb I decided to Early Release (ER) instead.

Two ish hours after I got my ER I finally got to meet one of the people I have been talking to online for months, Emily. It was really awesome to finally get to meet her. :) We watched the Countdown to Fun Parade, then went on Rockin Roller Coaster, GMR, and Muppets. We then headed over to the Animation building where Fantasmic characters were greeting and saw a few characters. We met Pinocchio, Pocahontas and Meeko, and Pooh Bear. To end our play time we took the animation class and drew Buzz Lightyear.

I love them, but especially my Fro-Yo. 

What a cuddly little bear. 

 <3 him (and her!)

We had a great discussion about how to say goodbye in Poca's language and if Emily and my hair flowers were the type Meeko liked to eat. 

While this day was quite fun the best part for me was getting access to EISS again. EISS is the entertainment specific scheduling system. Because I hadn't logged in since last July, my password had expired. I called IT today while at work and got it all reset and was finally able to see what height I am. Suffice to say I am SO EXCITED! Since it is saturday and schedules drop on Saturday I was able to look up where I am scheduled to work after training. :) Seeing that finally made it real. I am really going to get to hang out with characters. Its truly insane to me. I can't help but smile when I think about it. I will of course post pictures of my friends once I start making them but for now, I'm not really going to go into any detail.

It all starts getting really real on Monday when I check in to my second CP. Baaahhh!! I am so excited. :)  Life is good.

-M

Packed and Waiting

Well hello there my lovies!

I am currently writing this from Houston. I have officially graduated and moved out of my Apartment. Thats a really odd thought. I am done with school. I will never wait for final grades to come in. In fact the time I spent waiting for final grades the last few days was really pointless since I had already graduated and it really didn't matter anymore.

Speaking of graduation I snuck my c/o 2011 Mickey ears in. Turns out I didn't need to sneak them in, I could have just walked in with them. After I walked and got my degree holder (b/c the degree isn't even in there) I switched to my Mickey ears from my grad cap. I got lots of comments. That picture is of my mom, sister, and I after my graduation. As shown in that picture I totally rocked my Mickey ears.

After graduation I went into extreme packing mode. Turns out I had packed a lot more than I realized during finals week. My sister stayed and helped me pack everything and then yesterday (Wednesday) some movers put all my stuff in a uhaul we had rented and my dad drove it back to Houston.

I did a test run on my Orlando stuff and it all fit in my car. I am SO proud of myself for not overpacking. I was terrified that it wouldn't all fit even though I was trying my hardest to not overpack. Not only did everything fit but I didn't have anything blocking my vision aka it wasn't stacked to the roof.

Almost all of my stuff (obviously not the table). 

Those are all pictures of my car when it was packed. Look at that room! Which is good because I have one box that accidentally got packed in the uhaul and my twin bedding which was in Houston. 

So now that I am done with school and packing, I am just waiting. I have decided to head to Orlando early so I will now arrive on the 1st instead of the 5th. I will be staying with my Twin/Bestie and he will help me move in on the 6th. So that means that I only have 13 days till I am back in Orlando!! So Exciting!! I will be in Houston till probably Tuesday, then I will travel to New Orleans to visit family before heading to Destin, FL to spend Memorial Day weekend with my family at our beach house. I am really looking forward to all of it. I am going to enjoy the journey but I can't lie and say that I don't want to just hurry up and be at the destination. Yesterday was the first check-in day so I have already seen pictures of some D-fam members in Orlando. I am quite jealous. I can't wait to get there and meet them all. I also really can't wait to get there and work another Attendant shift. I know I need to work another shift before the end of July and I know the best time to do it is before I start my CP. Plus I want to see everyone and get my feet wet again. ACK! so excited. 

I guess that is all I have for this post. I know it is quite rambly. Sorry, but at least its a post right!! 

<3 yall!

-M