My new year did not start off well. I was deployed again to Hollywood Studios, this time at some of the shops on the main strip. Sadly, I was deployed on New Year’s Eve, so I missed the Magic Kingdom fireworks. To make matters worse I didn’t even get to see the Hollywood Studios fireworks because I was stuck inside on a register during them. I didn’t know anyone in the store where I worked, so while everyone else was hugging and celebrating, I was awkwardly stocking merchandise. It also didn’t help that they serve alcohol at Hollywood, creating some intoxicated guests. I actually got off early (2AM), but then stayed up til 6AM. I went to Steak n Shake around 4:45AM, and watched the New Years Twilight Zone Marathon. I almost watched the sunrise, but then fell asleep on the couch in our living room.

Anyway, I couldn’t sleep last night. I just couldn’t fall asleep, which rarely happens because I tend to sleep a lot. I also haven’t been eating a lot, also,  strange because I especially love chocolate and sweet foods, but I haven’t really been wanting any of that either. So I couldn’t sleep even though I had to get up at 6:45AM for work, but I just kept watching Boy Meets World Season 1. When I was out of episodes, I looked up other ones on wikipedia and just tried to read until my eyes got tired. I then attempted to lie in bed starting around 2:30AM. Still nothing. I tried counting sheep, but my imagination kept having the sheep overcrowding each other and jumping over the fence to fast for me to count. It was just swarms of sheep  and then they would break the fence completely and start a stampede. I have no idea what time I actually fell asleep I just remember my mind being uncooperative.

So I only have two more days of work. I bought an autograph book and have been having everyone sign it at strollers. Hopefully I will have enough pictures to fill the book as well. I haven’t started packing at all yet, which is bad because I don’t know how I’m getting all of my crap back into my car. It’s sad seeing everyone go, especially because I’m sure I won’t see a lot of these people again because they are from other states and countries. I would have taken more pictures, but they frown upon taking pictures while at work and anything backstage, which is where most of the fun happens. In my brief interaction with royalty (mostly from the bus, tunnel, and cafeteria)I’ve concluded that Aurora is the nicest princess I’ve met, whereas Belle is probably the bitchiest. This is weird because Belle is usually my favorite and Aurora my least favorite. Cinderella is the ugliest (sometimes) and Tiana is the best overall (nice and pretty), though I haven’t seen her as much.

To end, all of the people who speak no English at all are at the parks right now

I knew this would happen, I’m so bad at posting regular on things like this. Oh well.

I now have less than two weeks until my program is over. I’m so happy to finally be going home but I know I will miss it a lot also. (especially since I have no job to go home to or anything). I did decide to go seasonal, which means I can maintain cast member status as long as I work a little during the two busy seasons-Spring break through summer and Thanksgiving through New Years.

I never have anything interesting to post here. I did take a tally the other day of how many people asked me where the bathroom was. It was 43 different people in about 2 hours - 8:45PM- 10:45PM. Go figure.

I was deployed to Hollywood Studios during Christmas week. It was exciting working at another park but I am so glad to be back at Magic Kingdom. First of all, MK is just better. The people care more, it’s more magical, things are run better, I can’t explain it. It’s just better. There’s no tunnels in the studios so you just see people from different areas walking around in costumes. it’s weird. The costuming building is soo tiny compared to MK. In fact, the whole park is tiny.

Anyway, I worked at the gift shops outside of Rockin Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror- Two of my favorite rides there. My experience working there though was not great. It was sooooooooooo freaking boring. I had to stock for 6 hours once, and I actually kind of like stocking, but not when there is nothing to stock. I was literally obsessively stocking, like when someone bought a mug, I would go and replace it. Everyone just wants to get off the ride and get on with their day, people don’t really buy stuff, but there’s always a lot of people physically in the shops. The fun part was doing photos. It’s amazing how many people pay $20 bucks for these tiny photos, but it’s fun to do.

Let us now rate Tower Vs Coaster

+ 1 TOWER I liked the merchandise better at tower because it was Twilight Zone and hotel stuff, which is cool. We also had Nightmare Before Christmas stuff. Coaster had lots and lots of Aerosmith and hard rock stuff which is not as cool. Also all of the Aerosmith shirts look the same.

+1 COASTER They actually played Christmas music. Granted, it was the same 5 songs or so over and over again and it was all rock Christmas music, but it was festive and fun to listen to. There were also always drumsticks lying around, so I could jam along or pretend to play a guitar. Tower had NO MUSIC AT ALL. This makes just standing there for hours and hours even more boring.

+1 TOWER You can actually zoom in on the photos. This means you can actually see just the people in your party and their faces. Furthermore, you can see more people in the picture. Coaster however always has four people in the shot, and with all the background stuff they put in the picture, your head comes out tiny. it also sucks if there are two of you, and you were in the back row which means you have to buy a picture of two strangers in front of you.

+1 COASTER They had a giant pin drum for trading with. It used to be an actual drum, now they just put some sort of felt over it and stuck a bunch of pins in it. Pin trading is fun because it gives you something else to do to pass the times. The tower pin thing was a suitcase which was smaller, and hard to open making pin trading more difficult.

-1 BOTH Getting the assignment of ‘Preview’ meant standing by yourself outside where they have the photos show up. Everyone gets off the ride looks and points and laugh at their photos completely ignoring you and the fact that you are a person taking up physical space. Your job is to write down the numbers for people that appear on the screen so that they can buy their photos. No one ever asks for their numbers. They usually just go up to the photo counter and say they don’t know the number, then we just look it up. This whole job is stupid and pointless. It gets especially annoying when the pictures disappear and people start complaining. Or they didn’t get off the ride fast enough so the next set of pictures are up. I’m sorry, the pictures are not coming back they only stay up there for 90seconds (yes I counted). 

+1 COASTER The breakroom is easy to access. Go outside a door down a ramp, BOOM breakroom. The cafeteria is also close by. Tower you ask? COMPLETE FAIL SAUCE. 1st walk about to the preview station, go through double doors. Go straight through more double doors. Now you are outside. They are doing construction which is basically just painting the building, but there is still all this stuff anyway. Follow the path and go through the door. Go up a flight of stairs then turn right. Go through another door the breakroom is eventually on your right. By the time you get there, you only have 10 minutes left of your 15 minute break. Then because of the construction you are supposed to take the elevator back down. Why not take the elevator up? Because apparently only the attractions people know the code to make the elevator go up. Take elevator down, which goes on stage. Wait for elevator doors to close so no one wanders into elevator. It’s ridiculous. 

+1 TOWER The set up of tower makes sense. It is annoying having to walk through the gift shop but you can get in and out easy enough. There is also plenty of space for people waiting for others to get off the ride. Coaster is quite the opposite. Even just getting in and out of the store is annoying because you have to go up this tiny ramp on the side where there is barely enough room for people to go in one direction, let alone two. Also, people can never seem to find the exit. I was often asked “how do I get out of the giftshop?” or “Is this where the ride exits?” Furthermore, there is no space for guests waiting for friends to get off the ride. The picture preview area is very small and crowded already. Now add a bunch of people trying to find their friends and family. Horrible.

Overall I like the ride Tower of Terror better, but I think I liked working at Rockin’ Roller Coaster a little more. I did really miss strollers and MK though especially the people. I’m deployed back to Hollywood for New Year’s Eve at some other store, so we will see how that goes. I am not looking forward to missing the awesome Magic Kingdom fireworks though. BOO

I forgot to mention this before

-1 TOWER They have these little bells. Since it’s the Hollywood Tower Hotel, they sell these little bellhop bell things. They are the most annoying product I have ever had to sell. They are scattered throughout the store, just so people and slowly drive us castmembers insane by dinging them constantly. I don’t blame the guests, I would do it too, but having to stand there hour after after listening to guests ding those damn bells is enough to drive a person insane. One day a manager said “We need more bells” and I was thinking “HOLY FUCK NO WE DON”T WE ALREADY HAVE LIKE 100 BELLS IN THIS STORE”. So he brought out 43 MORE bells and put them across the store. I kept thinking if someone finds a corpse on the floor with a bloody bell smashed into their head, it would have been me. Coaster has no such bells.

Christmas Costume

Cursing is awesome. I love cursing, but I try not to overuse it. Words lose their meaning when used all the time. With this in mind let me say some people are fucking stupid and/or creepy.

1) Dear creepy lady in the locker room

   The locker room is not a break room. I don’t care if you are reading a tiny bible over and over again. You are sitting on the floor during your break hours, which always seem to be when I’m changing into my costume. Seriously, we have a bunch of nice break rooms with chairs and couches, why are you being a fucking creeper?

2) Dear people who don’t remember how they got into the park

I know you are on vacation, but how can you not remember how you got here? Did you walk in a tunnel to get into the park? Yes. So what do you think you do to exit? Do you also recall taking a monorail or ferry boat here? Yes. You must take one of these to get back to the parking lot. Where is the monorail? It’s that giant single rail in front of you with the train on it. Did you go up stairs without going through a turnstile to go on a classic train? No. The train that goes around the park is not the monorail that will take you back to the parking lot. Please use your fucking brains a little. Thanks

3) Dear people who complain that our strollers are too small

Our strollers are small because they are meant for children. They are not too small. Children who need strollers are small. Please do not ask me how the top folds down. It’s not supposed to for safety reasons. This is what I tell you because that is what my managers tell me. Yes they do actually fold down because we stack them, but no I will not tell you this. It is fairly easy to figure out yourself and doesn’t get me in trouble. But honestly, if you need to fold the stroller top down, your kid is too big for the stroller. I can personally fit in the single stroller with the top down. This doesn’t mean I should be pushed around in a stroller (unless a bunch of us are bored in the backroom). Please just have your kids walk. It is good exercise and you can’t take strollers in a lot of places anyway. You just end up leaving them outside in the park somewhere and then I have to get it later at 2 or 3 in the morning. Our strollers are not too fucking small. Your kids are too damn fucking big to be pushed around in a stroller.

4) Dear people who stay in the park over an hour after we closed

Hi there. Just because we have extra magic hours until 3AM doesn’t mean you have to stay in the park until 3AM. It also means don’t stay in the park past 3AM. Everything is closed. There is nothing to do. You had all day to take pictures and wander around. Your kids are tired, they have probably been asleep for the past three hours. You are fucking up their sleep schedule so you can ride splash mountain for the 10th time. I can’t do my job and leave until you do. I love the parks too, but I don’t recall  ever staying that late when I was young. Even if we are only open til 11pm, please don’t hang around the park for another hour after everything including the stores are closed. Come back tomorrow. We welcome you. But when we say we are closed, we are closed. I often think to myself GTFO. Get the fuck out. Just please GTFO.

Let’s end on a more positive note

I saw someone with a birthday button the other day and decided to sing them happy birthday backwards. I told them I had been working on singing happy birthday backwards and asked is she wanted to hear it. So I took a deep breath and then turned around and sang happy birthday. Yay Disney cornyness. I do like making people happy. Disney is awesome and people are here to have a good time, it’s just a few people that make things annoying and make me want to curse at them.

Halloween is finally over after two months. I actually went to a Halloween party this year which was fun. Now Christmas is right around the corner, no really we start Christmas parties on Monday. I can’t wait to see all the Christmas decorations, but I will miss the Halloween music and parties. Our costumes for the Christmas parties are ugly, and not the cool tacky kind like the Halloween ones, but I will still wear them. It does feel weird though cause usually I hold off on Christmas stuff til after Thanksgiving. oh well, let the Christmas spirit begin!

I haven’t been to the parks in a while because I’ve been busy working. I also went to Daytona beach with some of my co-workers, which was a nice break from Disney. The water is so clear down here and the ocean was still warm enough to go in, even in late October. It’s fun goofing around with people after work. Sometimes a bunch of us will go to Steak n Shake, which is open 24hrs and has burgers and shakes. I’m trying to be more social and I think I’m finally doing a better job at it. I still miss everyone from home of course. I can’t wait to use my discounts and buy lots of presents!

Halloween party was awesome! I ended up going by myself, but still had fun. I wore my Tiana costume and met so many characters that you don”t usually get to see. I’m heading to Daytona beach tomorrow for a couple days. It should be fun, one of my co-workers families has a timeshare and invited a bunch of us down. On a random note, I just made brownies at 3AM because I just got off at work.

List of water rides in the Magic Kingdom in the order I would drink from. Note- I would not actually drink the water this is simply a list that I was thinking about. I was thinking of the episode of the Simpsons where Bart dares Lisa to drink the water in Duff land

1) It’s a small World

They just refurbished it and the water is super clean. I can see the bottom of it. It is also easy to access the water-not that I’m encouraging it.

2) Pirates of the Caribbean

I can’t see how deep the water is and most of the ride is fairly dark, but I love pirates so I would still consider drinking the water. It is also easily accessible.

3) Splash Mountain

Even though I haven’t been on this ride in years (fear) from what I remember the water looks clean. It’s definitely clear and since people get splashed and it’s Disney, it should be somewhat clean. Not sure how easy it is to reach though.

4) Ferry from the TTC to Magic Kingdom

This is the ferry that goes across the 7 Seas Lagoon. I do not trust the water in that lagoon. There are a bunch of boats and it’s huge, there is no way to keep it clean. It would also be very hard to reach the water from the boat

5) and least of all Jungle Cruise

I would never drink from the water in the Jungle Cruise. They make it dirty on purpose so that you can’t see the mechanics of the animals and everything in the water. You also can’t tell how deep the water is and it makes it look more realistic (maybe you really are in the Nile or Amazon!) Great ride, but bad water. I would not drink it and it is not easily accessible from the boat.

That is my random list. It is 4:30AM, good night

List of things I have learned so far at Disney

1) I will never rent a stroller at Disney World

It’s $15 for a single and $31 for a double for one day. I’d rather bring my own or just buy one. I don’t get why everyone rents them, it seriously gets crazy.

2) There should be a bathroom under the train station

It seems that everyone thinks we have bathrooms under the train station where you rent strollers. Sorry we don’t. The closest bathroom is to the right of City Hall, or as I usually say, “the big white building on your left”. I guess it would be a logical central location, but no there is no legal place to pee there, not even for cast members.

3) I should learn Spanish, because everyone expects me to

Hi, I’m from Maryland. No I do not speak Spanish. Please don’t be angry at me because I don’t speak Spanish. This is not something that I should be required to do in my own country. If I were in Mexico or Spain, then yes I would be expected to, but I am not. I don’t even mind if you don’t speak much English, because afterall people come here from all over the world so I understand. Yay tourists! But when you get angry at me for not speaking your language, that annoys me. Yes I did take 4 years of Spanish, but I sucked at it and remember next to nothing. 

4) Not everyone, even cast members understand the magic of Disney

This really made me kind of sad actually. Some never go to the parks on their days off. As cast members we can go in the parks for free whenever we’re not working. i try to take full advantage of this opportunity, but some just want to stay as far away from Disney as possible on their days off. Why would you work here if you don’t like it? Especially on the college program, cause it’s minimum wage, and late hours so why not get a normal job if you don’t enjoy it? I’ve been down here and I still feel that Disney magic. I love learning more and feeling more connected with Disney. I understand that not everyone gets it, it’s hard to explain, but don’t try to bring me down. I like holding onto that Disney childhood experience and believing in good and magic.

5) Cute single imagineers do not hang out with stroller people

I’m at the bottom of the totem pole. 

6) Magic Kingdom is still the best

I’m so grateful that I’m working at Magic Kingdom. Some people don’t like it because of the hours or commute or whatever else, but I love it. This is my happy place. Even when things get hard, I just try to remember that this is where dreams come true. Despite all the rude guests, or other problems, there are so many happy people here kids and adults. I just feel there is something special here. I get to watch fireworks and parades all the time and I have my days free to go to the parks or do whatever. Magic Kingdom is my home away from home.

Random Disney Fact:

This picture is outside The Chapeau- the hat shop in Magic Kingdom (Obviously one of my favorite stores). You may remember this pink hat box from the movie Lady and the Tramp. In the movie, Lady is given to Mrs. Darling as a Christmas present from Mr. Darling in this same pink hat box. Your interesting Disney fact is this scene is from Walt’s real life. He gave Lilly a puppy in the same pink hat box for Christmas one year (she didn’t actually want a dog, but who could say no to that?). This was the inspiration for the movie, and the sign outside the store.

I ventured to Animal Kingdom this afternoon and found a lot of hidden Mickeys. There were some annoying kids though. While I was on Kilimanjaro Safari this kid behind me had a plastic toy gun and was pretending to shoot the animals. First of all, where did you get the gun, cause they definitely don’t sell them in Animal Kingdom. Second, this is an animal preserve. Third, poachers aka humans who kill animals for sport are the bad guys here, aren’t you listening to anything in this entire park?

I explored some of Africa and Dinoland USA. The ride Dinosaur is still scary to me, especially if you are on the far left, which I was. I know the dinosaurs are fake, but it’s still scary when there’s a huge thing right next to you making loud noises. I hate the Hester and Chester part of Dinoland though. I feel that represents exactly what Walt did NOT want Disney to be like. I know it’s supposed to be tacky, but it just always bothers me, especially the games. I think Walt would love the Safari though, it’s like the Jungle Cruise he always wanted.

I rented a book from the Disney University Library called “The Magic Kingdom- Walt Disney and the American Way of Life”. I finished reading my last Walt book, so I figured I would jump right in to another one. I was going to take a seminar/class on Disney leadership, but I dropped it because it seemed so boring to me. It was more about marketing and business stuff, which I have no interest in and apparently taking the classes doesn’t look that great or anything so meh. This will give me more time for the Give Kids the World voluntEar thing and other stuff I guess.

While I was at Epcot the other day I watched Captain EO. For those of you who weren’t born yet such as myself, Captain EO was a 3D movie made in 1986 for Disney and starred Michael Jackson. For those who enjoyed Honey I Shrunk the Audience, it is gone and they have brought Captain EO back. I have no memory of ever seeing this show before, so I was excited. The preshow is just as boring as the one for Honey I Shrunk the Audience. The worst part is you can’t sit on the floor. The actual show is soooooooooo 80s. It also made very little sense to me. I think it’s about this space crew that gives the gift of music and dance to ugly nations or something. Michael Jackson is Captain EO and turns everyone into hot badly dressed 80s people who can all dance really well. It’s the same exact movie from 1986, so the effects are kinda bad, but it was amusing I guess.

Florida drivers are horrible. At first I thought it was just because there were lots of tourists, but no. A co-worker of mine got hit by a car walking to Walgreens and had to go back home to New York. I am so paranoid about being hit by a car now. College Park has ruined me in terms of walking and not being run over. I also have to be extra careful driving because people will just cut you off for no reason. I know Maryland drivers aren’t the best, but we are better than here in Orlando.

The Epcot Food and Wine Festival has started and it’s awesome. I’ve never been before but I walked around it tonight. They have a lot of different booths from different countries and they have small portions of food to sample. 

Currently watching The Lion King and Mufasa just died :’(