Magical Moments: November
This month we'll start our installment of Magical Moments with a helpful tip for Cast Members...
Disney's point system is confusing at first. Even 3 months into the program I still didn't fully understand it. Each late clock-in amounts to half of a point, and once you reach 3 points within the span of 30 days, you get a reprimand. In my third month of the program, I was late for the sixth time (in total), and I seriously thought that I was going to get a reprimand. I didn't understand that those tardies all had to be within a 30 day time period to lead to a reprimand. I spent the whole morning in a tizzy because I thought I was going to get in trouble, when I actually only had about 1 point total from the past 30 days.
Save yourself from having a stressful time like this and read your Program Guide at the beginning of your program.
That day was absolutely full of craziness, so for your amusement, here it is:
First off, I was REALLY late. I misjudged when I needed to leave and lost track of time while getting ready. Then I waited at the same light for three rounds. I got to the cast parking lot at the time I needed to clock in, so by the time I got to my break room, I was 8 minutes late for work.
An hour into work, when rotation went around, I absent-mindedly went to the wrong position. I didn't realize it until it was too late, and by then, I had screwed up the whole Magic Eye Theatre rotation. One of my coworkers came by to give someone their break and helped me fix what I had messed up. He also helped me understand the points system and calmed my nerves. I was so unbelievably embarrassed.
LATER, I had to gently reprimand a guest for jumping over the ropes to get to the wheelchair accessible area (they didn't have a wheelchair but they were handicapped and felt like they were still entitled to sit there). Of course, they yelled at me and pulled the classic "we're never coming back to your theatre again" spiel. It was an elderly couple and their 30ish year old son. Their son was actually very understanding and seemed pretty embarrassed by his parents' reactions.
I cried twice during that hour while I was working Exit at MET.
AND THEN when I was working Theater, a Hispanic couple let themselves into the theatre in the middle of a show and were trying to figure out where to put their wheelchair. I had to escort them back out of the theater and tell them that they can't just LET THEMSELVES IN in the middle of a show! I was incredibly nice to all of them but I was SO. FREAKING. FRUSTRATED.
Luckily, the day turned around for the better when I used my lunch break to get food at the Electric Umbrella. We always get a 45 minute lunch break if we're working 8+ hours, but I had never used that time to take advantage of the food options that we had nearby. Y'all, their chicken tenders are to die for. I initially wasn't going to get a drink with my lunch, but one of my ICP coworkers who had transferred to QSFB at Electric Umbrella saw me there and gave me a free drink. Disney magic, y'all. I love how generous Cast Members are!
Some of my relatives (that I didn't know very well at the time) were visiting Orlando, so we spent a day at Universal and it was one of my favorite days there!
Their 8 year old daughter had pretty much latched onto me by the end of the day. She was going on intense rides (that she was "too scared of" before) just because I was going on them with the adults. She really liked them, too! She even held my hand while we were walking around and shared a frozen Butterbeer with me!
At the end of the day, we left Universal and had dinner at Señor Frog's and I highly suggest this fun little restaurant to anyone who visits the area but wants to get away from amusement parks for the evening. I did karaoke for the first time and it was SO MUCH FUN. After singing "Jolene" solo, my uncle Danny signed us up to sing a duet of "Love is an Open Door" from Frozen. He already knew all of the harmonies!!!
Oh boy. This story has to be my absolute favorite.
It was one of the many nights that I was working the exit for the Illuminations FastPass area. Literally the only thing that you do there is tell people, "This is the exit for the FastPass viewing area. The entrance is over there." So, a guy my age came up to me and asked for the entrance, and after I answered, he went back to his friends and headed in the right direction. I really didn't think much of it. Why would I?
Then he came back.
This time, he came up to me from within the FastPass viewing area. I recognized him pretty quickly, but I just assumed that he was going to ask to exit.
Nope.
"Hey, this is super weird, but I have a story that I think you're gonna enjoy."
Certainly not what I was expecting.
Basically, I unknowingly sparked a whole lot of drama within his friend group.
Here's the full story:
When he returned to his friends after asking me for directions, one of his guy friends [I'll give him the name Steve for clarity] casually commented that I was cute. Well, Steve's girlfriend didn't like that at all. She expressed her distaste for his comment by storming off to the bathroom. Their entire group was feeling really awkward, since "things had been going so well" up until that. Haha, it seemed like this wasn't the first time something like this had happened... Anyway, he told me that his friends suggested that he "come over here and flirt" with me to do damage control and make it seem like Steve's comment was directed towards him as a way to point out a cute girl for his friend to pursue.
At this point, I was feeling pretty skeptical as to whether he was flirting with me because his friends suggested it, or because he wanted to, but I loved the story surrounding it and thought it was hilarious that I was the cause of so much random drama! We talked for a little while longer, and I discovered that he was a CP working at Star Tours! All the while, I was looking for an opportunity to politely interject that I was engaged, so as not to lead him on. "So, are you extending your program?" he asked. Bingo! "Actually, no. I'm getting married in August and it's been really hard being away from my fiancé for so long."
"Wow, that makes this story even better!" Awesome recovery, bro.
After Illuminations had ended and we had finished tearing down all the stanchions, we headed back to the break room. I couldn't wait to tell my friends about what had happened (we always enjoyed spilling about the crazy things that went down during Illuminations), so I went ahead and told some of them while we were walking. Cause, I mean, really... what are the odds that he would be within earshot to hear me recounting any of this awkwardness?
Apparently, the odds were good, because he was LITERALLY RIGHT IN FRONT OF US THE WHOLE TIME.
I turned 50 shades of red when he turned around. I don't think I've ever been more embarrassed in my life. Then he introduced me to the couple from his story and assured me that I didn't break them up. Bringing up the event certainly didn't help anything, and I'm sure that Steve's girlfriend didn't feel all warm and fuzzy when she saw me again, but hey, I didn't break anybody up!
I don't know if this guy was flirting with me or not, but we found each other on Facebook a few days later, and we both agreed that this was a pretty hilarious encounter. All's well that ends well!
Y'all. I went down a size in my work pants. Disney is the place where dreams come true.
There were a whole lot of Christmas events that were filmed at the parks while I was there, and I was so thankful to be able to be a part of one of them! We initially thought that the event that we got tickets for was going to be a performance on the stage in front of the castle. It turned out to be a filming of a special "castle lighting ceremony." Somehow, my roommates and I managed to work our way to the second row of people who were right next to the castle stage. During one of the takes, the camera guy videoed my face for literally most of the castle lighting! [I probably looked so excited that he thought I was going to cry and wanted to get that kind of raw emotion on film.] After the filming was over, people kind of disbanded and went off to enjoy the rest of the park, but my roommates and I stayed put for another hour or two so that we could watch Happily Ever After from as close to the castle as humanly possible!
If you ever get this kind of a chance... TAKE. IT. There are so many projections in Happily Ever After that you can't see very well unless you're close to the castle, and it was so incredible to witness! I cried so much!
We passed our room inspection! All of you who have been through the Disney College Program housing inspections know how terrifying this was and how relieved we felt when it was all over. Keep it clean, folks.
Back in October, I auditioned for the annual Housing event called Night of Stars and was so blessed to be chosen for the final performance! Night of Stars is essentially a Disney College Program version of America's Got Talent. CPs with a vast array of talents are perform in a thrilling competition at the House of Blues in Disney Springs.
The day of the performance was more rewarding than I could have ever imagined.
We were at the House of Blues from 8am to 10pm. After a long soundcheck in the morning, they let us run loose around Disney Springs for an hour to get lunch. My mom had flown into Orlando just to see me perform, so she met me at Deluxe Burger. We barely had enough time to catch up before I had to be back for the dress rehearsal!
I performed 22nd in the order of the show - third to last! It gave me just enough time to have fun watching my new friends perform and then get into focus for my own performance. I was placed in the instrumental category, rather than just vocal, which was GREAT. There were 9 vocalists and only 4 instrumentalists. Three of us played guitar and sang, and the other instrumentalist was a girl that was a killer drummer. Surprisingly, I was the only person performing an *original song!
*If you'd like to hear a recording of the song that I performed, check out this link!
I WON FOR THE INSTRUMENTAL CATEGORY! I never could have thought, even in my wildest dreams, that I would actually win such an incredibly prestigious competition! It was being judged by all kinds of official Disney managers, so I felt incredibly honored that they liked my song and performance! They gave all the winners a trophy called a "Mouscar" (a play on the word "Oscar"). Apparently, Walt himself gave them out to his Imagineers!
While my mom was in town, she wanted to spend a day at the parks with me. We couldn't decide on just one park to visit, so we did ALL FOUR PARKS IN ONE DAY.
***I highly recommend that you DO NOT do this on a regular vacation. It was an incredibly long day (transportation sucks away a lot of time) and we felt like we didn't get to do as many things as when we normally spend a whole day in one park. We only did this because it was on my bucket list and my mom was going to be coming back in a few weeks for Christmas, anyway. It was a 29,127 steps kind of day...***
ANIMAL KINGDOM
We thought it would be a good idea to hit up Pandora first thing so that we could have a good gauge for how much time we could spend in the other parks for the rest of the day. If we got in line early, it shouldn't be too bad, right?
Wrong.
The line for Flight of Passage was over a 4 hour wait and the line stretched all the way to the entrance of the park (sadly, that is not an exaggeration). Don't fall into the same trap we did. Go at the end of the day.
We rode Expedition Everest and Dinosaur with pretty much no wait (I wonder where all the guests in Animal Kingdom were), and ended our DAK journey on the Kilimanjaro Safaris and a quick peek at the home of the Na'vi. Pandora would just have to wait until my mom came back for Christmas.
MAGIC KINGDOM
Next, we drove from DAK to MK and said "sayonara" to our car for the day!
First thing's first - lunch! We headed straight for Pinnochio's Village Haus, our favorite restaurant, in our favorite spot! [Pro-tip: There's a small upstairs area that's usually not very crowded and isn't as loud. If you're lucky, the outdoor balcony will be open too!] When we were done, we made sure to hit up the classics, like Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain!
Y'all. I let my mom ride in the very front seat on Space Mountain and it was honestly one of my favorite parts of the day. She's so selfless and giving that she always lets my sister or I ride in the front. I wanted to thank her for all of those years, and WOW. I could hear her laughing and screaming the whole time and it was truly a dose of Disney magic!
Lastly, we visited the Jingle Cruise. Yes, you read that right. No, it's not a typo. During the Christmas season, the Jungle Cruise transforms with Santa hats and wrapped packages and is given a whole new set of holiday-themed jokes. I purposefully waited to go on it until my mom's visit, and it was so worth the wait!
EPCOT
After riding the monorail and snapping an obligatory selfie in front of the ever-photogenic Spaceship Earth, we headed to my home! FIGMENT FO LYFE. I spent time showing my mom every single thing in the queues and on the ride and in the Magic Eye Theater, explaining every role and introducing her to all of my new friends! I had never been more proud of my attraction! She loved getting "special treatment" when we went through the FastPass line and got to pick the best row in the train.
But of course there was more Disney magic! One of the sweet part-timers at Journey into Imagination, who was lovingly nicknamed "Italian Joe" (due to the fact that we had multiple Joe's and he happened to be from Italy), was also cross-trained at Soarin'. If Italian Joe was working when you visited the park, he would ask, "So where are you going next?" and even if you didn't say Soarin', he would slyly pull out a paper FastPass and say, "you go to Soarin'." WELL, by complete chance, he happened to be working at the entrance to Journey Into Imagination with Figment that day! True to form, after meeting my mom, he told us, "you go to Soarin'," and handed us a FastPass! #castmembermagic
Of course we couldn't leave Epcot without trying some of the Food and Wine festival items! We stopped by France and had a mini serving of steak and potatoes with a side of red wine. Yum!
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
It was a long day of walking, so why not walk even more?! We decided that the fastest way to get to Hollywood Studios from Epcot was to leave through the International Gateway and walk past the Boardwalk, Beach Club, Yacht Club, and Swan & Dolphin Resorts.
We didn't have much time to explore before the park closed, so we quickly hopped into line of our favorite ride - the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster! On our way to the attraction, we got to witness the very first showing of a brand new Christmas projection on the front of the Hollywood Tower of Terror!
After the ride, we scurried over to Fantasmic! Since we'd gotten in line for RnR right before park close, we arrived pretty late in the game to the show, so the seats were very full. We ended up sitting in a back section (near the Dining Package viewing area) and it was pretty hard to see the lower half of the set. But we had both seen Fantasmic many times before and were too happy with how much we got to do that day to let our bad seats ruin our mood!!! In hindsight, I do recommend getting into the Fantasmic amphitheater very early to be able to get a better seat.
We took our time leaving the park and even got to snap a rare photo of the Tower of Terror with zero people behind us!
After waiting at a bus stop and getting dropped off at the Transportation and Ticketing Center outside of Magic Kingdom, we finally reached our car and headed home. Phew! Four parks in one day was fun, but it sure was exhausting too!
In my DCP marketing class two days after Night of Stars, my teacher asked if anyone went to see the show. She called on one of the guys that raised his hand and asked what his favorite acts were.
He had two.
The first one was, "The guy who sang the song from Hamilton!"
Our teacher recalled, "Oh yeah! He won, right?" [Yes! He won the overall award and SUPER deserved it - you can watch his amazing performance of "You'll Be Back" here]
Then he said, "My other favorite was this girl that wrote her own song."
I JUST SAT THERE WITH MY HANDS OVER MY MOUTH BECAUSE OH MY GOSH I WAS ONE OF HIS TWO FAVORITES OUT OF 24 AMAZING ACTS. It was an awesome compliment because it was basically anonymous.
When I was at Spark, a cute little kid got off and looked at their mom and said, "The butterfly disappeared, mom!" I love catching glimpses of Disney magic like that :)
I know how it works, if you've ever wondered. ***SPOILERS AHEAD***
***There's actually only HALF OF A BUTTERFLY in the cage! There's a mirror that makes it look like it's a full butterfly! So when you see the other side, that's why there's no butterfly!
The inevitable finally happened. The ride went down while I was at Dispatch.
All the managers and maintenance people came out and I had to power down the ride and make everyone leave. At least I wasn't Grouper or Transport! They have to go into the ride and get all of the guests off. And of course the guests are all going to be grumbling about the ride breaking down... It took a whole 40 minutes to get everyone out and fix the problem. And then later, we the ride went down AGAIN. Some days, it just breaks down on and off and on and off and on and off...
DAPPER DAY!!!
If you are ever lucky enough to go to the parks on Dapper Day, then you are in for a real treat! Not only is it fun to dress up in cute throwback styles, it's also SO fun to see everyone else all dolled up! I especially love when people Disney bound with their Dapper Day outfits. I dressed up as one of my all time favorite Disney characters, who perfectly matches what I felt all day - Joy!
Unfortunately, Dapper Day was scheduled on a Saturday, which is already the busiest day of the week at MK. It was also Mickey's birthday, so tons of lifelong fans were celebrating in the park! Because of all that, there were 71K guests in the park that day. After a while, the crowds became overwhelming!
BONUS: I witnessed a proposal in "our spot" that day and it was really emotional :)
My roommate somehow won two tickets to a Magic Backstage show, so she and I went to the Contemporary Resort to check it out. It was a cute little Christmas-themed play put on by Disney World's community theater group. We had lots of fun and lots of laughs!
Afterwards, we realized that we had a perfect opportunity to do a little resort hopping, so we explored the Contemporary Resort a little bit and hopped onto the monorail to go to the Polynesian Resort!
All of our friends had been telling us about how amazing Trader Sam's Grog Grotto was, so we decided to check it out. I have to say, it's probably one of my favorite resort dining experiences! It has a bit of a speak-easy feel since it's so hard to find and is very small and dimly lit. The bar is themed around the Jungle Cruise ride and named after the head salesman of the jungle himself, Trader Sam! There are even some subtle references to the Enchanted Tiki Room inside! Even if you're under 21 and can't partake in the themed beverages, it's still a fun experience for the whole family! The bartenders make lots of puns and the windows are screens that have beautiful changing scenes. I had the HippopotoMAI-TAI, which comes in a gorgeous ceramic tiki mug. Most of the drinks with souvenir mugs have some sort of fun phrase that the bartenders announce to everyone when they bring it to you, and some of their announcements even involve elaborate special effects!
After we finished our drinks, we rode the monorail over to the final resort on our tour - the Grand Floridian! We had fun admiring the gorgeous Christmas tree in the lobby and exploring the grounds at night time. The highlight of the resort was seeing the gingerbread house that is built in the foyer every year at Christmas-time. One of the custodial cast members helped us search for all of the Hidden Mickey's on the house, but we couldn't quite find them all!
One night, before heading out to stand outside the ride and tell people that the ride was closed [aka: crush dreams], my coordinator gave me 4 FastPasses that were good for any attraction (except Frozen and Illuminations) and told me to give them to a random family and make magic.
I waited for a sweet family to come along, and sure enough, one did! They were bummed that the ride was closed, and they commented to each other, "well I guess we've done everything now! Except Test Track, but that probably won't happen - it's had a 140 minute wait all day!" So I smiled and asked them if they would like to ride Test Track as I pulled out the Fast Passes! They were so grateful! I love making magical moments like this!
I have never really had problems with locking myself out of my house or car, but the locks on the doors at The Commons automatically lock when you close the door. It's super handy when you're rushing off to work, but it can make it a lot easier to lock yourself out when your roommates aren't home.
Sure enough, on my way to a Thanksgiving party with my coworkers, I locked myself out of my apartment. None of my roommates were even close to coming home, and the security people had trouble getting into the building that had the key to get me back inside. After I finally got my keys back, I drove to Chatham for the party. Immediately after I closed my car door, I realized that I had locked my keys in the car! It was just not my day lol
**Eventually, one of my roommates came home and drove my spare keys over to Chatham!
Even though I didn't get to spend Thanksgiving with my family, I did have a very memorable day. Not only did I get to experience working at Disney World on Thanksgiving (and was thanked profusely for it by guests all day), I also got to have a large Thanksgiving meal at the parks! My roommate and I had just enough time to eat at the German Biergarten in Epcot before I had to go to work! I can't imagine a more perfect way to spend my Thanksgiving at Disney World.
While I was working at Transport, another CP recognized me from Night of Stars! She said to her family, "Look! That girl won our talent show! I didn't know she worked at Figment!"
WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW
One of the biggest perks of being a Disney employee (aside from free park admission, of course!) is all of the discounts you get. Specifically, the holiday merchandise discounts at Christmas-time. I did all of my Christmas shopping at Disney Springs (on Black Friday, of all days) from and saved over $100 thanks to the amazing Cast Member holiday discount!
I also shopped for 8 hours, so there's that...
One day, I was looking through the schedule for Holiday events at Epcot, and I noticed a Jim Shore signing. Now, Jim Shore is one of my all-time favorite artists, so I had to go to one of his meet and greets!
They had a few rules that would help the line to move along - you could only have him sign two pieces of art at a time, and the art had to be bought from the Jim Shore pop-up stand in the American Pavilion (where they were having the signing). I bought a FIGMENT FIGURINE for myself, and a Mickey and Pluto figurine for my grandma, the one who first introduced me to Jim Shore's art. As I waited in line, I got to know the families around me, and they were all so sweet. I texted my sister about what I was doing, and she expressed an interest in having a signed figurine, as well. I didn't know what to do - they would only allow me to have him sign two at a time. I brought up the scenario to the family in line behind me, and they offered to save my spot in line while I bought a third figurine, and then they would have him sign it for them. I was in awe of their kindness!!! I picked out a cute Stitch figurine that I knew my sister would like, and I made it back into the line just in time!
Jim Shore was even kinder than I expected. He spent time talking to each and every guest, rather than racing through them to move the line along. When it was my turn, I told him that I work on the Journey Into Imagination and that the Figment figurine was absolutely perfect! He thought that was pretty cool and we talked about the design for a while. Then I gave him the Mickey and Pluto figurine and told him that I wanted him to sign it "To Nanny," so I could give it to my grandma, who introduced me to his work. He was visually touched by the idea, and he told me that he always loves to hear about how his work brings families together across generations. As I left, he said, "Give Nanny a hug, for me!" This encounter was easily one of the highlights of my program!
Since I knew I was only going to be in Orlando for 5 months, I never spent any time searching for or getting involved in a church. During Night of Stars, I made friends with a girl named Mo who happened to work as Custodial in my area at Epcot, so we became really close. One week, she invited me to go to church with her, and I'm so glad I did! It happened to be a service day! We packaged 40,000 meals for hungry children in the area!
I was closing the doors at Transport and there was a little girl with her face painted like she had Elsa's crown on her forehead. I complimented her face paint, and then another little face appeared on the far end of the row and the little boy yelled, "I'm a tiger!!!" HE HAD TIGER FACE PAINT! When I asked him for his best tiger roar, he got really shy haha!
There was a little boy that came in sobbing because he was scared to get on the ride. I motioned for his mom to bring him to me because "I could turn the scary stuff off." The mom sent the little boy over to me, and he just hugged my legs and sobbed! Then I showed him that he could pull a [fake] lever to turn off the scary things. He was still really freaked out, so he wanted me to do it.He seemed to have calmed down a lot by the time he sat down in the car, so YAY! I just thought it was so precious that he hugged my leg while he was crying!
One of my personal goals during my program was to audition for a role in a show at one of the Disney Parks. When I heard about an audition for the role of Nemo in Finding Nemo the Musical at Animal Kingdom, I got so excited!!! In high school, I had played Little Red in Into the Woods, and her vocal range and character style is very similar to that of Nemo, so I dug up the sheet music for one of Little Red's songs and prepared for the audition!
When I got there, it was a lot of waiting around, as most open call auditions are. Eventually, I had my turn! The audition was in front of one person, who was one of the directors for the show! I felt very confident with my performance, and our conversation afterward was very promising. We talked about my vocal training at Belmont, I told him that I am currently a CP working at Journey Into Imagination, and he got so excited - he loves Figment! However, I think that the fact that I was a CP hurt my chances, because he seemed disappointed when we talked about my scheduled program end date. I didn't end up getting the part, but it felt really good to nail an audition like that!