Adios, Disney!

I move home tomorrow morning. I'll be in South Carolina by tomorrow night. It feels so weird to me that my program is over already. Three and a half months felt so incredibly long while I was living it, but looking back it was so short. Now I feel like I just got here yesterday. I went and watched my parade today and it was so sad. I feel so connected to it and the people in it that leaving feels so hard. I know that I was just one in a series of CP's that will come through MiSiCi, some will be better than me some will be worse. And the people might soon forget me as well. But I will never ever forget how working on that parade made me so happy and special. I can't explain what happened but I just fell head over heels in love. With a parade. I know it sounds silly, but anybody here who works on parades or shows will tell you the same thing. We fall in love with them, and they stay with us. MiSiCi will always me MY parade here. 

I'm ending this program in a really good place. It was such a bumpy road getting to where I am now, but all in all I completely loved my experience here. It started out really bad, and I had to get through some really crappy days at work. But my experience was all the stronger for it. I suffered through the bad stuff and the good stuff I got back was oh so worth it. I learned so much about how huge companies like Disney work and organize themselves. I learned that in a huge business like this people can seem disposable and unimportant, but the second that companies start treating people like that that's when they go down the tubes. Disney worked us CP's as borderline slave labor, but I don't think we were ever unimportant to them. They need us. Even if it is just for cheap labor, they need us CP's and the second they start treating us like they don't is when they'll be in trouble. Some days it felt really bad and I thought they were being ridiculous in how we were being treated, but I understand the big picture now. I've gotten such a large business mind from this experience that I don't think I could have gotten anywhere else and I know how much that will teach me in the future as well. 

Living with five girls from all different parts of the country and all different family lives was quite an experience as well. I learned how to respect people's differences even if I completely didn't understand them. I also learned just how different I am than others when it comes to little things such as dirty dishes or how loud the TV can be. It was a big adjustment having to learn how being from different parts of the country really do affect people in a certain way and the way I live at home is different from many others. Part of that is my family life as well, and I've never been more proud of where I come from and who I am. Learning to respect people's different personalities and opinions, that I didn't always agree with, was a huge thing for me. It's a lesson that I will use over and over and over. As hard as it was getting along with everyone in our apartment, it changed me and taught me a lot. 

One thing I really didn't expect was to make so many best friends down here. There are people in my life now that I can't imagine not knowing, even though we've only been friends for three and a half months. I legitimately can see these people being in my life for a long time. I never expected to get so attached to people down here and make so many deep and true friends. My friends here are nothing like my friends at home, here they catered to a different part of my personality that was opened up by the Disney experience. We bonded over simple CP things but had a lot more in common than I ever expected having with people from such incredibly different backgrounds than me. I am hoping against all hope that me going home doesn't suffocate our friendship and that we will be able to remain such close friends regardless of the distance. I think my heart would break if I ever saw the day that these friends weren't so close in my life.

All in all, looking back over the struggles and the good times, I can honestly say I lived this experience up to the fullest. I don't regret any decisions I made down here for they shaped the things I learned and the changes I've experienced. I've grown up a lot, seen a lot more of the world now. I've seen a lot about how people truly are and how you have to learn to get along with people that you can't really stand. I learned about large companies and how to remain personal with people in a business that has a whole heck of a lot of people. I've also learned some things that I don't even know I've learned yet. I know that this experience is going to continue to affect my life and my opportunities in the future and I'm glad to say that I've been here and conquered the CP experience. I don't think I could have picked a better time or place to have such a life changing experience and I hope that the lessons I've learned stay with me for a very long time.

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

Today was my very last day on parade. I was track one which seems only appropriate: finishing it off where I started. The day was absolutely crazy, stuff went wrong left and right. It was incredibly stressful yet I was strangely calm for the most part. I could feel that today was my last parade day. I am head over heels madly in love with the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party parade, and probably always will be. But I had to let it go today, as sad as that is. I've learned so much about a startlingly vast array of subjects from it, though, and won't ever forget all that. I don't know if I'll ever use some of it again, like how to clip Woody's head to his body pad. But other things, like how to constantly be in a good mood and be approachable and helpful, are more standard and will stick with me. Saying goodbye to this program in a few days is going to be hard, but saying goodbye to this parade was probably the worst. I feel connected to it and know that it will always stay with me in one way or another. It's given me some of its very own magic and I intend to keep hold of that magic for as long as I possibly can.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

I was track 5 today which sent me straight to Shade Control when I got there this morning. It only took me about 7 minutes to check all the heads and shoes. I know exactly what I'm supposed to be looking for now on all the shoes and heads, so I feel really confident about it. I realized that all day today, that I felt really confident with everything. I've finally mastered the MiSiCi parade, and tomorrow's my last day on it. Of course. I headed back to the PC and put away all the NSA by myself since everyone else was still working on stilts. I helped load up, and we were off.

When I was helping Woody put his head on for the first and second parades, I had some trouble. I think that his clips were strapped in tighter than usual because it was a really tight squeeze trying to get it to clip. And I felt really horrible when my fingers were basically failing me because the way the performer has to hold their head while I clip it sometimes digs into their neck by their windpipe. So I try to do it as fast as I possibly can so they're not having their windpipe crushed. But Aaron could tell the clips were tighter than usual once I got it finished so I knew he wasn't upset or anything that I took a little longer than usual. But I still felt horrible.

After the second parade I got Bob and Frozone's dirty costumes in mesh bags and took them back to the PC to be washed. It's not my track's job, but Edna was on the track that was supposed to and she's irritatingly flaky about taking care of her track's responsibilities. So I'm back in my old habits, taking on everyone else's jobs and making sure everything gets done correctly. I guess I'm just doomed to have that as part of my work ethic.

The last parade was downed so we broke the costumes down inside Shade Control and unloaded the truck in the rain. I went ahead on the truck and loaded everything up because Edna was nowhere to be found when we were ready to load. Which isn't unusual. So one of my coworkers volunteered to spray the heads and shoes for me inside Shade Control while I finished loading which was very nice of them. We did laundry and hung around the PC for our extra time since we had 30 extra minutes with the parade being downed.

Tomorrow's my last day on parade. And it really started to hit me today. My regular coordinator Ana wasn't coordinating today, but she was still around for part of the day. She won't be there tomorrow so I had to say goodbye to her today. It was really sad, being my first goodbye of many and I tried not to think too hard about it. I'm really going to miss (almost) everyone I've gotten to work with here. They've become my friends and have gotten me through the long and boring days there are. Ana was my leader but she was my friend as well, we got along so well. So saying goodbye this morning was hard. I said something about it to some of my performer friends, and they let me in on something that I'd heard about but hadn't been real to me before now. That going home is going to be really hard. One of the performers, Alex, said she basically had a mental breakdown when she got there and all she wanted to do was come back. Kevin told me the same thing. How much I was going to miss everything here and how everyone he knew that loved their job here was always itching to come right back. It made me incredibly nervous. I was always prepared for things to be different at home when I got there. My friends, my family. They've all lived a semester in the same life with me gone, learning to do things without me and such. So I knew going home would be a struggle to get back in the groove of things there and get comfortable again. I also know how much I've changed being here and how I've grown up and seen the world. I was ready to handle all of those changes. But I had never thought about the fact that I might just not want to be home, that all I'd want would be to be back here in Florida. I honestly don't think that I love my job enough for that, but coming back in a different role here? I don't know. It's a different atmosphere here, a different life. It's magic and make believe like you can't get anywhere else. I'm nervous for my last day on parade tomorrow, because of how much I love MiSiCi and how much I'll miss that. But I'm going to just ignore all the nervousness for now, because I can't deal with that until it comes when I'm home. I'm ready to just be happy for all that I've learned here and how much of a home I've really created. I'm ready to have to tell everybody goodbye, even though it's going to be really sad. They've all given me a little bit of their magic and I'm hoping dearly that I can hang on to it.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

Yesterday I was track two but the stilts never went up so I was basically just like any other track. It threatened to rain all morning long so the stilts got downed for the first show and they did an Abort To Restart after the conga section, which just means that they skipped the rest of the parade's choreography and immediately head back to Shade Control. I did have to make Louie's head before the parade started which is my absolute least favorite thing to do. His arm pads were already in there, but it was sprinkling outside so I couldn't lay him out on the table to do it. I had to balance him on my legs in a chair which is all but an impossible way to successfully build a Louie head. He came back after the first parade and said his arm pads were the old ones and he'd like the new ones so I ended up having to do that again anyways. It's a pain in the bum and I'm so glad I won't have to do it again. Yesterday was officially my last day as track 2 and I'm glad about it.

They downed the second and third parade, but not until 5 minutes before each show was supposed to go out. We ended up having to break everything down inside and load the truck in the rain. I got done with all my work downstairs with about an hour to spare, which I spent pretending to look busy so as not to raise any suspicions. I didn't feel like doing Character Room work at all.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

We had two call outs this morning, so as track 5 I had to skip going to Shade Control and head to the PC instead to build stilts. I took over track 2's duties for the morning and cleared the dry room of the stilt shoes and helmets as well as build two stilts and put away the NSA. Everything else ran smoothly after that and soon it was time to help Lumiere get dressed. It wasn't Jared today, it was a boy named Doug and I had to help him much differently than I do Jared. Doug had almost no idea how to get himself dressed, I had to help a lot. But thankfully Jared had clearly explained the process to me when I trained so I was able to help Doug a lot. The first parade was pretty awkward trying to get into a groove, but after that I knew exactly how to help him and what he did and did not know about the costume. It was really interesting to see the vast difference in the performers selected to play the same role but Doug did do a wonderful job during the parade, that was obvious from the small snippits I get to see myself.

The rest of the day was really smooth. It was another odd assortment of people working together today, but we pulled it off smoothly and nothing went awry at all!

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

Yesterday was just the same old same old. I worked with the exact same people I worked with on Thursday and it was just as unexciting on both days. Nothing really out of the ordinary happened at all. I was track 2 so I was outside with the stilts which I'm really starting to not like. I find it very awkward and uncomfortable because I'm an inherently shy human being so I don't just walk up and join in their conversations. You have to do that to keep it casual and be friends with them, and other people are absolutely great at that. I know some that are my good friends that could to track 2 every day and be best friends with everyone. I'm not like that so I always feel out of place just waiting for them to need my help. I'm sure it's mostly in my mind, but it still affects me. I just try to be polite and helpful whenever they're ready and be sure to offer extra water and powerade. 

I'm also responsible for setting up King Louie's head which is not my favorite job. I hate it, actually. And yesterday he said it was wobbling on his head the whole first show which made me feel really bad. I tried to fix it, and thought I had, but eventually Ana had to re-sew a certain part to make it more secure. I love Ana, she's worked on this parade so long that she knows absolutely everything. When anything goes wrong, I run to ask Ana about it. Hopefully it doesn't bug her. 

I ended up having a long conversation with one of the stilts, Liz. She's always there when I'm there and I always think she thinks I'm an idiot. Every time she asks me for something or even if somebody else does, I'll do the wrong thing out of a misunderstanding, and Liz will be there to witness. Almost every single time. She's also really great as a performer and has been there for a really long time. Quite honestly, she just intimidates me. And we ended up talking for a while because she approached me first. She asked me when I was leaving and when I told her how soon it was, she told me how unfortunate it was, not for me but for them, because, and I'm quoting here, "I actually know how to do my job". I thought I would fall over from shock. I'm so new here and so low on the totem pole that being recognized by anybody was fantastic enough, but to hear that from someone who intimidates you and who you thought thought you were a little slow on the uptake, felt absolutely wonderful. I was on cloud 9 the rest of the day. I know that sounds dramatic, but I've been working my butt off for three months trying to learn everything that I can about things here and be as helpful and knowledgeable as possible. As a CP I came in with everyone against me, thinking that I was just another CP and wouldn't know what I was doing, and I really wanted to prove them all wrong and do a really great job. And to hear that, at least to someone, I had accomplished that goal meant everything in the world to me. That's what I wanted from this experience. 

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.

Time out: 7:45 p.m.

Today felt really off. I think it was just because of the weird assortment of people working, I guess. None of them I was friends with and none of us have ever all worked together. We didn't mesh well I guess. Anyways, the day started with us being late to leave the Character Room. We have a manager that's new to the Magic Kingdom and she was giving us our Track Talk this morning and took a little bit too long. But we managed to catch back up. 

I was on track 3 today which I have never done before. It's essentially the same as all the others, with little details changed here and there. My characters were Bob, Frozone and Genie which I've never directly worked with before in a serious way. I've helped here and there but not a lot. I had to help Bob with his gloves today and he asked me to do this thing that I had never even heard of having to do before and so I felt extremely dumb. Someone came over and nicely showed me how to do it so I would know in the future, but it felt weird finding something new that I didn't know how to do there. I've gotten so comfortable in my knowledge there that I completely forgot there was an entire track that I didn't know. But I guess I do now. 

Edna offered to go downstairs for me in between shows which was nice of her. Usually she's a pain in my buns so for her to do something nice was refreshing. We had a lady training with us today named Tina that occasionally would ask me a question about this or that. Even though I felt down about the whole Bob glove thing, I felt really good knowing how to answer her questions with the correct answer. I once again realized just how much I've learned here in such a short period of time. It's been great. 

At the end of the night I didn't know all the procedures that went along with sending NSA out specifically with MiSiCi stuff, but Ana was nice enough to show me how to do it. And I managed to not mess anything up! 

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

I was track one today, however Sal was there and when Sal's there he always loads and drives the truck no matter what. So half of my track responsibilities were taken care of for me today. We left downstairs earlier than we usually do in the morning by about 10 minutes, so the whole morning we were 10 minutes ahead of schedule. It felt weird, but eventually it started to even out to a regular day. The morning went by really easily and nothing really strange at all happened. 

We ended up not being able to help Day Parade today. They did a reverse step off, meaning they started at the PC and ended at Shade Control. So we left the PC at 3:20 like usual to help them, but then had to walk all the way up the hill and ended up getting stuck by the floats and couldn't walk the whole way up there. You're not allowed to walk beside the floats, you have to wait at a certain point until they're all done moving. It's a safety regulation. So by the time we got to Shade Control everything was already broken down. We did help them load up the truck though so they wouldn't feel completely stiffed. 

The last show of the day is where everything turned into a hot mess express. It was looking very likely that it was going to downpour on our last parade, so everyone was just waiting for the call to cancel the parade. It started to sprinkle so they called for the stilts to be on the ground. We immediately went ahead and broke down the stilts. Then they announced that the parade would just be a Drive By, meaning they wouldn't stop and dance by the castle like they usually do. That only gave us about 10 minutes worth of parade to unload all the costumes and set up for step down. We had them undress inside because of the rain which always throws a huge kink into everything because people are so used to the system. Julie, my coordinator, started the laundry for me when we got to the PC so I could help finish unloading the truck and everything. Plus I think she just likes to start the laundry, I have no idea why. We got done with everything incredibly early since the last parade was so short, so we took our time hanging up laundry and walking back downstairs. It was a solid day. 

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 9:22 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

So I did a really horrible thing this morning and was late to work. I felt horrible about it! I forgot to set my alarm last night, so I woke up right at 8:45, when I was supposed to clock in! I'm never late so I felt really horrible about it, but it wasn't a big deal at all. My coordinator had everything handled and people were covering for me. It's nice to have a coordinator that I thoroughly enjoy as my friend as well (her name's Julie). When I arrived I was kind of in limbo between tracks since everyone was doing different ones to cover for me, so I just went in the dry room and helped my friend Jessica-Rae put away dry clothes. I ended up being assigned to track 1 again today, which was perfectly fine with me I enjoy that track. It's the least stressful. I had to make a run right when we got to Shade Control and the second I got back I had to go again. It really helped kill the morning time. During the first parade I had to drive the Day Parade person in the truck down to the PC since she can't drive. I don't know why they assigned her the driving track though, maybe it was just a misunderstanding.

Right before Day Parade was going to step off, my big time boss came up to the MiSiCi people and asked for two people to help him. Jessica-Rae and I volunteered so we helped take rain gear and standard costumes up to Shade Control for them. It was threatening to rain on the parade, but not bad enough to cancel it. So when it gets close like that they change the costumes to Standard ones instead of the Day Parade ones. It helps because they get less damaged if they get wet from the rain. So we had to run around frantically to get everybody's costumes switched because we arrived with only 9 minutes until the parade was supposed to start. It was craziness.

The rest of the day went by really easily. I'm starting to really enjoy joking around with the performers because I finally have seen some of them enough to be friends. So we joked about stuff all morning with each other like friends. It was a really nice feeling to know that I've kind of been accepted. Same goes for one of my costuming managers, Michael. Everybody else I know is friends with him and joke around a lot but he and I haven't really gotten to that level until today. Today we were joking and knocking on each other all afternoon, it was really funny. I've finally established myself up with the parades people and I'm really enjoying it.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

My good friend Ryan was coordinating yesterday so the entire day was a blast! I started out on Track 4 but then Ryan switched me to Track 1 since I could drive the truck (and since I spoke English and he wanted me upstairs with him at the end of the night. Everyone else working only speaks Spanish.) As soon as we got up to Shade Control Ryan sent me back to the PC on a run. I love making runs though, it makes me feel really important and is a great way to kill the down time. He ended up needing a whole lot of stuff so I had to go back twice. The rest of the morning was pretty standard.

Right after Day Parade stepped off it was forecasting for serious rain so Ryan and I took the van up to Shade Control to put away the stilt gear so it didn't get rained on. The problem was that the stiltwalkers hadn't put their stuff back in the bins so we had to go to each individual stilt and try to figure out whose costume it was. It was a tedious project. Then we got back to the PC and finished up making presets. Ryan wanted us to clean all the shoes on the line and sweep under them, to kill time and tidy up. As always, only about half of us actually did what he asked because some people I work with think they're better than everyone else. I guess there's just going to be people like that at every job.

The afternoon went smoothly, I had to make one run to the PC but that was it! It was a pretty fun day with Ryan there, but don't tell him that. He'll get a big head.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

Today was absolutely crazy. There were things changing and going wrong left and right. I think more things went wrong today than have ever in one single day before. There was never a gigantic crazy the-world-is-ending moment or anything, but we had a whole bunch of changes and replacements and characters going down (meaning they don't go out in the parade).

So, to begin, I was on track 5 today so I started by going to Shade Control and checking heads and shoes. There was something wrong with 3 different heads and 1 pair of shoes. Usually I don't find anything wrong at all, so I don't know if there were just some rowdy performers yesterday or if yesterdays costumer on track 5 didn't check well enough or what happened, but it was really crazy. I had to carry Sheriff Woody's shoes back with me to the PC so Ana could see if she wanted to replace them for the day. It was a huge pain because the PC is far away. And Sheriff Woody's shoes are heavy. Really heavy. Anyways once I got there I put away NSA and we headed back to Shade Control.

When we got back Goofy was complaining that her head was wet which was really suspicious because we had no idea why it was wet. So somebody had to go back to the PC to get that and an entire chipmunk body because there was no preset from the day before. Also suspicious because that's really really not supposed to happen. I did learn though that when you go over the radio and ask for a head that you have to say "thinking cap" just in case a guest hears the radio on someone out in the park. Apparently this is the only word there's a rule for, which doesn't make sense to me. Why isn't there a rule against saying "Goofy's body"? I personally think I'd be more freaked out to hear "Hey, bring me Goofy's body" than "Bring me Goofy's head." But maybe that's just me.

After the first parade was done I had to go back to the PC with Ana to pick some stuff up. We ended up needing a new Goofy preset, a new Frozone preset, a new Bob preset, and a large stilt liner. That's more than I have EVER had to get from the PC after the first parade, which just goes to show how much stuff was going wrong today. It was like we were being sabotaged or something.

After lunch I was doing my presets when Ana came over to inspect some of the Woody sashes. We basically created a thorough investigation on all the Woody sashes to see which ones matched the snaps on the pants. We got through all of them and every single one was messed up in one snap or another. It was absolutely ridiculous, Ana and I were so frustrated. It got to the point where we just stopped, looked at each other, and burst out laughing. It was crazy.

Right before we loaded up to go Ana told us we needed a new Mickey and a new stilt 10. So I built the stilt and Jessica-Rae built Mickey. However, once we got there we learned that the Mickey was actually staying. And we had a new Genie instead. So we had an extra Mickey preset, but were down a Genie preset. It just goes to show you that the communication here is not always up to speed.

The rest of the day went fine, we loaded up pretty okay (this one girl loaded the truck that usually doesn't and we all realized why. Everything was in the wrong place.) but ended up having to book it once we got back to the PC. Hanging up laundry flew by and then we were off! It was a really really hectic day, but it flew by.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

I was track one today for the first time in a long while. I enjoy this track, it's pretty laid back. I made my first run before the first show to get Blake Smith's stilt shoes and another pair of Sebastian shoes. Pretty standard run. I also had to attach a Minnie bow right when we got to Shade Control because the one from the day before had been broken. I had to get another costumer named Alex to help me because there's a perfect T-pinning system and I am not the best at it. She was nice enough to teach me how to do it today. After the first parade I was responsible for going back to the PC to wash the Bob torso from the first show. Luckily Julie the coordinator thought to bring another torso at the beginning of the day so I didn't have to grab another one. 

When we were getting ready for the second parade the Genie asked me to help him with his gloves. I accidentally tried to put the wrong glove on the wrong hand. I can never tell the difference, I just hope I pick the right one and today when it was wrong I was so embarrassed. I felt like the dumb costuming CP girl. Lucky for me though the Genie was totally nice about it saying that even he couldn't tell the difference until he put them one. I really like that performer as a person so I guess it was a good person for that to happen to. I helped Jessie for every parade today too and it was the same performer as yesterday. She just barely barely fits in the costume so when zipping her up I had to get another person to help both days. Jessie is probably the most difficult costume to get approved in and that performer is right on the line of being disapproved.

We had to make an extra Chip for the third parade because our Chip was going somewhere else, I'm not real sure. But then I didn't have enough chipmunk furs to make three, so somebody is going to have to make one in the morning. I feel kind of bad about that but there's nothing I could do about it. Then we get to Shade Control and find out that our Mickey is getting replaced to but nobody bothered to tell us. So tomorrow they've got to build Mickey too. I hope they don't get too busy and stressed out. Julie the coordinator today let us have an extra twenty minutes in our afternoon break because she knew that we were done with everything and had absolutely nothing to do. I love working with Julie, she's so fun to be around and always thanks us over and over for the hard work we do. She really appreciates us which is so nice to be around.

Right as the last parade was coming in and we were supposed to break down outside, something happened and all the characters had to head inside in their whole costumes, heads and all. At first I didn't have any clue what was happening. I found out later that a guest had to come backstage with her family and be seen my some EMT's because she had a medical emergency. She had her children with her and if anyone under the age of 16 is backstage they're not allowed to see "anything un-magical." So, we broke down the parade inside Shade Control. It was absolute and complete craziness because it was last minute and all of our bins were set up outside. So we just made random piles on the floor. It made us behind schedule so we were hustling to get the laundry in on time too once we got to the PC. In the end, we made it through the day with 10 minutes left until we had to clock out. Earlier than we've ever been before and everyone had been sprinting and freaking out about being on time to clock out. It was pretty ironic, but it's cool. All in a day's work, right?

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

I was track 5 again today. Luckily for me the Lumiere didn't need help getting to his float. That's always the most awkward part of this track. Edna called out this morning so instead of going to Shade Control I went straight to the PC and built two stilts. They ended up being on the ground for the first two shows though which was really annoying because we had built the stilts, but they used them in the last show so it was fine. It was really overcast all day today and threatened to rain multiple times but it never did. It was nice though because it kept the sun away so the temperature stayed down. This Florida heat is starting to not be pleasant. That's pretty much it from today it was all very routine and standard. I still really enjoy MiSiCi but it's starting to get monotonous just like every other job does. 

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

I was track four today and everything went incredibly smoothly. There were no big things that I personally had to do that were different than a normal day. It was pretty nice. We got free food today from the managers though which was a surprise and extremely nice. It was catered barbecue and it was fantastic! It was "to thank us for all the hard work we put in during double day parade weeks" and was for costuming, the performers, technicians, and parade control people. It was a really nice gesture from them to show us their appreciation. Sometimes its easy to think in a corporation this big that the little people get forgotten completely but today really showed that there are people that care, even if it's just our immediate managers.

That's all the magic for today!

So this will be my first non-work related post but today was just too perfect. It was the biggest reminder of why I do what I do so I can't help but share with you guys. 

Today I got to take some friends of my family to Magic Kingdom. To fully understand the story, let me lay out the family dynamics:

Mrs Maria (married to Kevin, Rhys's mom)

Kevin (Rhys's step-dad)

Rhys (friends with one of my brothers, age 20)

Paul (Maria's brother)

Sara (Paul's wife)

Emma (Paul and Sara's daughter, age 11)

Mrs. Maria, Rhys, Paul, Sara, and Emma are all from Wales, Mrs. Maria and Rhys live in America now but the others don't. Emma had never been to Disney World before and I got to be a part of her very first trip! It was pure magic. I was dying all day, getting to see her experience the park for the first time. Every single thing we did was so exciting and magical and special for her. It was really humbling for me because they were all things that I've been doing every day for the past three months. 

When we first got on the ferry and she saw the castle for the first time I could have died. She was squealing with delight and looked like she would burst from excitement. The best part though was that Mrs. Maria was probably just as excited as Emma was, even though she's been there before. When we got to Main Street for the first time the two of them had to take a moment to soak it all in: staring at the Castle. It was the most precious aunt-niece moment. 

From there we went straight to see my parade, the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party parade. I love love love watching this parade every time, but getting to watch it with Emma was really special. To fully experience the parade, dancing is fully required. Emma was a little shy at first but eventually came out with me. We danced near Sheriff Woody and she kept saying, "Wow! He's just so big!" Like she couldn't believe he was really life sized. It was precious. Then when it was time for the parade to leave again, we stood at the side and waved to all the people going by. When Lumiere went by I could tell he recognized me. He pointed straight at me and started blowing me kisses. I blew kisses back and waved and just laughed with him. Emma thought this was incredible. She kept yelling in her little British accent, "Oh my gosh! He recognized you! He really knew who you were! That is so cool!" I seriously felt like a celebrity. 

I explained to them all exactly what it is I do on the parades, so they understood my job and how un-glamorous it is. Yet I could tell they still thought it was glamorous. Any job at Disney is glamorous, right? It's magical at least. After the parade we went to get fast passes for Space Mountain and got in line for the Buzz Lightyear ride. I really enjoyed just standing in line and talking with Kevin and Rhys. I was glad that at no point in the day did I feel uncomfortable at all hanging out with them even though technically Rhys is "my brother's friend". We've all hung out before of course and we're family friends, but there's usually that "brother's friend" awkwardness when I hang out with Zee's friends. It was really awesome that there wasn't any at all with Rhys today. I was glad. Then Rhys and I battled each other on the Buzz Lightyear ride and I whooped him. It was a pretty embarrassing loss for him so I'll spare him by not telling y'all the score. (123,900 to 7,900. Oops!)

From there we rode Space Mountain and then I had to leave them for a little while. I had class in the afternoon so I left to take care of that which gave them all some family time which I think was nice. They split into their own respective families and covered ground on the things they thought were most important. They didn't meet back up with each other until I got back to the park too. It was just by coincidence but the timing worked out perfectly! Emma wanted to go see the princesses so we headed over to Town Square Theatre. The ride for the princesses ended up being an hour and the line for Mickey was only 20 minutes so she decided on Mickey instead. Mrs. Maria, Kevin, Rhys and I left them to visit the famous mouse and we went to find some food. We settled on jumbo turkey legs for dinner. I mean, it's Disney World, how can you skip out on the turkey legs? Rhys didn't get one, but I made sure he knew he was going to have to finish mine when I got full. No way was I eating that whole thing. 

When we found Mrs Maria afterwards she had gotten prime seats by a table near Tomorrowland. It was the perfect spot to post up and watch the Electrical Light Parade and Wishes from. Paul, Sara and Emma met us there and then Sara, Rhys, Emma and I went to the Emporium to get Emma some stuffed Mickeys. We left with more than we went in there for, but who doesn't? Then we trekked over to Space Mountain's gift shop to get this special keychain for Mrs. Maria that had her nickname on it. We got back just as ELP was starting which was perfect. It was really great to watch them see it for the first time. I just loved getting to share these new experiences with them, especially Emma. She just looked thrilled the whole time. Kevin, Rhys and I were making fun of the music because it's so incredibly repetitive. And we were watching the ducks. Rhys really likes ducks. It was fun. 

I had been mentioning things about the projection show to Kevin and Rhys all day so when it finally started I was really excited. I really love the projection show, it might be the coolest thing they do there I think. I just listened to Rhys's comments through the whole show and watched it with brand new eyes. It really is spectacular. They loved it, of course. But we all know the real thing they were excited for: the fireworks. I'd been keeping the 'Tinkerbell flying' secret from them ALL day and it had been so hard. Then, right before Wishes is about to start, this stranger lady goes and tells them about it. I was so heartbroken. Kevin could tell and it was a joke but I was genuinely sad that they weren't going to get to see it as a surprise. It's always better as a surprise. When Wishes got started I was fully in the magic mode and watched it in all its glory. I think it's the most magical I've ever felt when watching Wishes. I'm sure it's because their first-timer mindset had transferred to me too, but it was simply phenomenal. When it was done I just looked at Emma's face and every single crappy day I've had at work was worth it. 

It's really easy for me to get caught up in making this experience a routine. To get up, go to work, do some remedial tasks, do some more remedial tasks, go home, go to bed, wake up, do it all over. And it's also really easy to not enjoy going to work, to lose the rose-colored glasses and find certain things that really suck about work. But at the end of the day, I came here to have an experience. To learn new things. To broaden my horizons. And, of course, to make magic. Getting to see Magic Kingdom today through Emma's eyes was the biggest reminder of that. Even with Mrs. Maria; she was just as excited about every little thing that Emma was and she'd been there before. It was all just as magical for her which was so precious to see. Things like Disney World will be magical for people and they remember it forever. If I got to help bring a little bit of magic to someone's life, then every single crappy, boring, terrible moment at work will have been worth it. I'm so glad that I got to experience what I did today. It will make it so much easier to savor my last month and a half here. 

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

Double day parades are over and I am so incredibly happy about it!! Those 13 hour days were absolutely killing me. We're back to good old 11 hour days now which is fine by me.

I was track 5 today (explained in the pages section) so I was supposed to go straight to Shade Control in the morning. However, Alex called out this morning so Ana had me go to the PC with them to pick up the slack there. I build 2 stiltwalker outfits and then gathered all the missing items from the board. Then I scanned NSA and started putting it and the hang dry away. Even though we were missing a person this morning, things got done real efficiently. We were all done with putting stuff away before we even left for Shade Control, which almost never happens especially with a person missing. I guess everybody had their Wheaties this morning.

By the middle of the first show I was supposed to help Cassie check the emergency bin but she had already done it so we just took a break instead which was a nice surprise. I kept forgetting little things from my track here and there. I forgot to be checking the towels all day and I also forgot to help Ana with the stilt vests at the end of the day. I really hate when I forget things I always feel so bad, but I know that it's not a huge deal here. There's so many people all covering each others' backs that when you slip up, there's plenty of people to pick up the slack. It's nice and comforting but I was still mad at myself for forgetting.

At 5:00 we had a big scare. We had to take a Goofy head back to Shade Control with us after break. We were just leaving the PC when these two Captains come sprinting up to our pargo and shouting for us to stop. My first thought was that we had hit somebody, but I knew we hadn't. It was really frightening! The two Captains and a few performers from Hoedown then swarmed the pargo trying to hide the Goofy head from view because apparently there were guests backstage. They had to evacuate the Pirates ride which is right in front of the PC so all the guests were walking backstage to get out of Pirates. We had no idea so we didn't know to cover up the Goofy head. Everyone made this huge gigantic deal out of it so it seemed really serious and legit. It wasn't until we had him covered and drove away that Ana said something about it. She thought they were being silly by freaking out so much because Disney has backstage tours and guest bands that see performers without their heads all the time. It just goes to show that there's always two sides to a story no matter what the situation and there's always going to be people that don't agree that the same things are important. With Disney, you'll always find two people that think the rules are different from what they really are. But nobody knows what all the rules really are. There are so many different pages here it's ridiculous. I guess with a company this big though that's expected.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 7:45 a.m.
Time out: 8:45 p.m.

Two people called out yesterday morning so there was only 3 of us. Usually if someone calls out the track 5 person just doesn't go to Shade Control first and goes straight to the PC so that's what I did. We all picked up the slack and built all the stiltwalkers pretty fast. We didn't have to load all the bins that we normally do so it felt weird loading up the truck. Sal wanted to keep the 3-bin thing because he was going to fix the top that had broke the other day. So it was weird because I've gotten in the routine of having all of them but change is good, right?

I got to help Frozone, Lumiere and Woody before the first show. I felt in very high demand like they all knew I knew what I was doing. Which felt awesome. I helped Woody every single show yesterday. The performer was a sweetheart and he kept coming back to get my help, I loved it. Once the first show went out I volunteered to go back to the PC to grab the track sheets for the 2 fly people that had showed up. Ana had forgotten them when we left. I got back right in time to help Sebastian sort through the yellow emergency bin. 

I was talking to my friend Ana Maria from Mexico and she was telling me all about her escapades from the night before. Apparently she had a little hanky panky with her neighbor from the Netherlands. It was precious to see her tell the story because she was embarrassed but laughing and she didn't know what hanky panky meant when I said it. I had to explain. And then our coordinator Ana heard us and started talking about hanky panky. It was absolutely hysterical. It was interesting too. I learned that teenagers around the world are all the same.

When we went down to the Character Room I killed time by organizing the stilt drawers on the accessory wall. I had major CR shift flashbacks. I did not like it. Then we took back a whole bunch of stuff from Alt's so we had to take the long way but it killed the perfect amount of time.

All during the day I kept zoning out because I was so incredibly tired. Ana would ask me to do something and I'd think I understood but I would go to the completely wrong person and do something completely wrong. Ana would just laugh and yell at me to go to the other person. This one stilt girl named Liz always was around when I did something dumb. I'm sure she thinks I'm an idiot. I was just so tired! I worked 78 hours in 6 days which is the most I've ever worked in that time ever. It was a crazy crazy week.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 7:45 a.m.
Time out: 8:45 p.m.

So this morning started out crazy. I don't know what it is lately that has been getting everybody all kinds of forgetful and stuff. It's still double day parades and people have been calling out left and right so the mornings have been crazy until the fly person came in. So this morning when I came in to work the coordinator from the day before hadn't printed off the track 5 track sheet so I had to wing it until I got to the PC. Great way to start my first burn in day. I went to Shade Control and checked shoes and heads and then went to the PC to help out. Since there was no track 4 I had to help build some stilts as well as gather missing items and scan the NSA racks when they got there. But once we got back on track the day went okay. Right before the first show we got told that they added Scott Thomas to the stilt lineup so Sal made a run to the PC and got the stuff and we built it when he got back. When they checked their presets Sal and Alex realized there were no Genie shoes there. I felt so horrible for missing that when I checked in the morning. Nobody was mad at me since it was my burn in day but I still felt really bad about missing it. However, I didn't have a check off sheet and it was my first day alone on track 5 so it really was okay. It just was below my standards to mess up like that. 

When Alex, Edna and I were returning from the Character Room later in the day, we had to walk by the train backstage. The pathway we take to get to the PC goes through the park a little bit and then goes backstage over the train tracks. We always expect to see the guests in the park, obviously, but once we cross to backstage it's weird to see guests. So when the train went by we had to smile and wave and look official and happy. It was kind of cool though because I realized what everybody else has to do all day every day if they work in front of guests. I was really thankful for my backstage job because I realized how much less pressure I'm under to be performing onstage 24/7 at work. I really enjoy that part of my job. 

When we were getting ready for the 2nd MiSiCi of the day I had to actually help Woody get ready. I've watched people do it all the time and he usually just goes up to whatever costumer is free but I've never done it before. Truthfully I've kind of been scared to do it because you have to clip his pad into his head and the way he has to hold it for you kind of cuts into his windpipe for a few seconds and I'm super scared to do it and take too long and him pass out or something. It's semi-terrifying. But I got to help him and did it correctly. I felt super accomplished. 

We switched out the Lumiere performer for the 2nd MiSiCi because Jared got sick after Day Parade. I felt really bad because I could tell something was wrong with him after the first MiSiCi but he insisted he was fine and wouldn't let me help him. He's very independent so I thought that was just it, but obviously not. Anyway, the performer that got switched in didn't know as much about Lumiere's costume as Jared does so somebody had to help him do the whole thing. Luckily for me Sal jumped in there first and helped out so I didn't have to. I could have told him how to do it correctly but I was nervous. They also had to do a Heat Show/B Show for the 2nd show. Disney has all different kinds of contingency plans put into everything they do including performances so if extenuating circumstances occur everyone will know what to do. Since it was really hot today for the first time the performers were getting sick left and right and management implemented a Heat Show/B Show which just changed certain little things about the parade and took a couple parts out so that it would be shorter and would get the performers back sooner. It was really interesting to see everybody go right into place for this different plan and every single person knew what to do. I keep finding myself amazed at how organized Disney is. Imagine the most organized place you've ever seen in your life, multiply it by ten, and then expand it as large as Disney World is. Yeah, I've been pretty amazed. 

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 7:45 a.m.
Time out: 8:45 p.m.

Today I trained with Ginnie on track 5. It's another track that's pretty different from the others but exactly the same at the same time. I guess the thing is that they all have the same major parts but a bunch of the details are different. For this track you start the day at shade control checking heads and shoes for damages that you'll need to replace before the first parade. By the time Ginnie and I finished with all our morning stuff and made it to the PC it was a mad house! Our coordinator, Kansas, was nowhere to be found. All the stiltwalkers positions had changed all over the place. The track 1 person had called out so the truck wasn't moved. Enda was going on and on about something I have no idea what she was talking about. It was like Ginnie and I walked into crazy and it was up to us to fix it. Well, Ginnie, really. She's really fantastic.

We went about getting everything pulled together and managed to make it to the PC all in one piece. It's this track's job to help Lumiere get dressed which I've never actually done before. So the boy that was playing Lumiere today, Jared, was so understanding and sweet about the whole thing. He can actually get himself dressed all by himself and doesn't need my help, but before each parade he showed me step by step how to get dressed in case I ever have to help a performer that can't do it by himself. It's common knowledge that Jared doesn't need help getting dressed but I was really impressed with how patient and understanding he was about explaining everything to me. It was so nice. I'm starting to really be friends with certain performers and have jokes with them. Today marks the very first day that certain performers were specifically looking at me and joking with me on their way out to parade. It's a big deal to me because I've been watching them be friends with other costumers all this time and I finally feel accepted now. I'm so glad and the performers are really funny friends to have! It makes for good days.

After lunch and everything we did our presets which were easy. I'd helped with Splash breakdown so many times when I worked in the Character Room that I knew EXACTLY how to put Woody and Jessie together. It was actually kind of eerie. Ginnie and I volunteered to make a run for the DP people to pick up a Smee head from Shade Control since we were done so early. It killed some time and made us look good which was doubly good. We added a stilt for the last two parades so we had to grab the clothes and take them with us up to Shade Control. We built it up real easy and had it ready to go for Jarrod. Then we had a whole bunch of time to waste so all the other CPs and I sat around and tried to learn Spanish from each other. It was absolutely hysterical the things we learned. But it was pretty awesome too. One of the girls is from Mexico, one boy is from Puerto Rico and the other girl is from Alabama. So me and Amanda (from Alabama) are teaching Ana Maria and Christian english and them vice versa. It was really awesome that in the middle of a day at work we could sit down and have this multi-cultural experience. I mean, where else can I work daily with people my age from different countries all over the world? It's really an aspect I'm loving from this experience.

After the last parade we broke down and loaded the truck and went back to the PC. It was kind of crazy unloading because Ginnie was trying to train me while also helping Ana Maria do track 3 stuff because you never technically get trained on track 3 you just have to wing it. But we got everything done and were perfectly on time.

This was the very first holiday I've had to work on, much less the only holiday I've been away from home for. I was kind of glad I had a 13 hour work day instead of having to sit in my apartment all day and wish that I was home. I was glad for the distraction and it ended up being a really cute day at Disney! A lot of people brought in goodies to share and they had a little Easter egg hunt on the dance floor after the parades. It was so adorable. I'm glad I got to experience a holiday away from my family and in a new environment, however I'll be really glad to be back to my mom's holiday cooking when the time comes!

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 7:45 a.m.
Time out: 8:45 p.m.

Today was crazy yet calm at the same time. I'm finding that most of my days at MiSiCi are like that. It'll be really busy and hectic one second, and the next second you're sitting doing absolutely nothing. It's the exact atmosphere I thrive in though so I'm starting to feel right at home. The day started out with no extra large stilt liner again just like yesterday. The coordinator today was Julie so she called down to Alt's and had them drop one off at Shade Control so I didn't have to go all the way and get it again which was nice. I had to make a whole new King Louie since we used my preset last night. I've discovered the easiest way to get the rings inside Louie and Baloo is to literally crawl myself into the pad and then snap the rings in. I don't know exactly what I look like to the people walking by but I'm sure it's something special. No one has said anything about it though so I think they all know exactly why I need to do it. They're both just so big and annoying to deal with! Anyways I built Louie in no time and then we were loading the truck and off to shade control. Right when I got there I got to work on building my stiltwalker. The zipper on his pants was really tight so I had to try and loosen it using pliers. They were too big to work though so the seamstress used a smaller pair she had. I really wish Disney would let CP have Gerbers on them at work because I would get one in a heartbeat. They're so handy! It's first thing on my list of necessities for next semester. So the seamstress got it all fixed and I finished the stilt and went on to build Louie's headpiece. I realized I forgot to grab the arm covers that poof up his arms so I had to take the Pargo and run back to the PC for them. I was annoyed I had forgotten them but Julie wasn't upset at all so it was okay.

When I got back it was time to help the stilts get ready. I don't know if it was just the group I had today or if it's just getting easier but today was much less awkward. It was a little bit right at the beginning of the morning but all through the day it got easier. I just joked with them and had little sarcastic snippits and we all got along fine. I like track 2 better now that I feel comfortable with what I'm doing. The first show went fine and we headed to the Character Room to put away NSA. Nothing really that exciting there.

My good friend from home was in town at the parks for her spring break so I went out on my lunch break to hang with her and her family. It was really nice to see a familiar face here! We rode the Pirates ride and watched Day Parade together. It was the first time I've seen Day Parade since I started working parades and it was really weird! I found myself looking at the costumes for anything messed up or really bad sweat stains. I also recognized a whole lot of the performers which was weird too. I really liked it, however, because I feel pretty at home with parades now. I realized just how special my job is and I think I'll be more appreciative of it. I don't have too much longer here and I don't want to let myself stop realizing how special this adventure is.

After lunch I built my presets pretty quickly and then helped do a few odds and ends. Day Parade did a reverse step off for the second parade, meaning they stepped off from Splash Mountain and stepped down at Shade Control. Julie had us go up to Shade Control earlier than we were supposed to so that we didn't get caught in traffic with the floats. We got to see the DP people break down the pre-parade which was really cute bunny stuff for Easter. Then we helped break down DP as usual and then headed back to the PC. Julie had us help DP unload the truck of their stuff and immediately load up our stuff and head back up to Shade Control. We took our 30 minute break there just to make the day flow easier and it really worked. We set up and everything went smoothly for the 5:15 parade except I had forgotten to set up the stilt bins with the mesh bags. I felt really bad for forgetting, but it wasn't really a big deal. I guess I can't win 'em all.

When they were out, one of the stiltwalkers got pooped on by a bird. It's kinda funny now, but she was not very happy about it at the time, even though Julie said that was good luck. Julie had me make a run back to the PC for another vest for the girl. I remembered to put shoulder pads in it which was a win for me because that's what I forget the most with my stilt presets. When we got ready for the last parade of the day it was pretty eerie because I knew exactly when the stilts were going to need help. Especially Robert, this extravagant and needy performer that everybody knows. He'd been yelling at me every time he was ready so far that day and the last time I knew just exactly when he'd need help. It was kind of impressive but kind of sad at the same time.

The rest of the day went right on cue. We set up for step down, broke down all the costumes, and were sent off to the Character Room. It always feels really weird to be in the Character Room now on my MiSiCi days. They feel like two different worlds in my mind but they're not really. I like the tracks that go downstairs fine but the worst part is the 15-20 minute wait for the washing machine to get done. That's when we just help out the Character Room people and I have CR shift flashbacks. They're not pleasant. I can't even explain how happy I am to be on MiSiCi. I'm really loving it.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 7:45 a.m.
Time out: 8:45 p.m.

I had to burn in on track 2 today since I trained on it yesterday. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Track 2 is the most different track I've learned so far so I thought I was going to forget everything. When I started building my stilts this morning I needed an XL liner for one of my performers but we were out. I told my coordinator about it and she called to Alterations to see if they had any that they could push to the front and fix so we could use them for the day. I was nervous for what would happen if they couldn't fix it. Would that stilt just be down (meaning not in the parade)? I would feel so bad since that was my stilt preset. Fortunately, Alt's had one ready and so once we loaded up the truck and got to Step Off I went downstairs to Alt's and picked it up. I had to kind of run to be sure I made it back with enough time to finish all my other things as well. I got back with time to spare and made the preset for Robert then ran to go set up King Louie's head piece but my coordinator Ana was already working on it. I was relieved because I didn't really want to do it. Ginny taught me well yesterday and I CAN do it, it's just a pain and I don't WANT to do it. Then I helped the stiltwalkers get ready for the first show since that's my track. It's kind of awkward to just stand there by myself watching them get ready until they need help with something but somebody's got to do it, I guess. Luckily they just kind of ignored me staring at them until they dropped something or needed scissors. I also asked them if they wanted water or anything to be nice and hospitable and stuff. It's hard for them to get water once they get suited up in the stilts.

After the first parade I went downstairs to the Character Room to put away the stuff from last night in the dry room and help with what got dropped off from NSA. We had to check it all for damages and send some stuff to Alt's. Then to waste time I went through the line of MiSiCi clothes and checked that things were sorted correctly. After that was lunch break.

I build my Louie, Baloo and Lumiere pretty quickly so I helped Luz sort helmet pads for a while. She is one of my absolute favorite people to work with. She's hysterical and we have a great time. Today Day Parade did a reverse step off so we had to drive the van up to Shade Control to help break down. I always get the Day Parade music stuck in my head, it's so catchy. We had a break after that and then we headed back up to Shade Control for the last two shows. It got less awkward with the stiltwalkers and most of them learned my name and we were kind of joking which was really nice. It's hard to get really comfortable with them because they change daily but I've been trying.

We had a different King Louie for the last two shows so we had to use the preset I had made. That means I'll have to make another one when I get there tomorrow which is annoying. But that also meant that I had to set up Louie's head again and this time Ana didn't do it for me. I did it right, thankfully and it only took a second. After the last parade we broke down and I did the NSA laundry downstairs in the Character Room. The day flowed pretty nicely.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 7:45 a.m.
Time out: 8:45 p.m.

Today I was training on Track 2 with Ginny and it was a relatively easy day. There were a few hiccups but nothing major. For starters, the Track 1 lady today (Edna) was late so the rest of  us had to build her stilts and load up the truck. She didn't show up until it was time to leave for Shade Control. Once we got there, Ginny taught me how to put together King Louie's head and arm pieces which look much scarier than they are. She showed me how to put together the mesh bags in the stilt bin and things like that. The stilts are Track 2's responsibility so that's much different than any other track. I like it and I don't like it at the same time. I like the people who are the stilt performers for the most part but it puts more pressure on me to have to interact with them and make conversation which usually takes me more time to get up the courage to do. So I'm working on that. We did a check with all the stilts about whether or not they wanted red shirts preset since a lot of the cards are mislabeled. The rest of the morning was easy and uneventful. After lunch we had a huge chunk of time where we had to pretend to be busy so I sorted and organized head pads for Lumiere.

The last two shows were relatively uneventful as well. We did have to build another Baloo costume because the performer wouldn't stay for the last show because he "had plans" and wasn't scheduled to be there that late so they had to pull in another performer last minute. So it was Ginny and my responsibility to build the extra costume. He's easier to build than he looks too. I'm noticing that pattern with pretty much every costume I learn to build. At the end of the night track 2 sends out the NSA laundry from the character room and Ginny and I sat down to review the day. It was a pretty solid day.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 7:45 a.m.
Time out: 8:45 p.m.

Yesterday was crazy. It was the first day of the two Double Day Parade weeks, meaning the parade schedules are all kinds of whacked. MiSiCi only has one morning parade, then an early day parade, then normal 3:00 day parade, then two more MiSiCi parades. It's crazy. The poor performers are dead by the end of it. But yesterday we also had a mini-monsoon complete with tornado warnings, so the second day parade got cancelled. It was all kinds of confusion. Let's start from the top: (my track sheet can be found in the pages to the left)

When we first clocked in, it was only three of us there, including my coordinator Amanda. The other girl was track 5 and went straight to Shade Control so the day started with me and Amanda having to start building 8 stilt outfits all by ourselves. Then everyone else showed up and we were back on track. I had to make a run for Lumiere before the first show. He wanted this special extra puffy pad for his helmet so I had to go all the way to the PC for it. While down there Amanda radioed me that she needed character gloves as well. It felt pretty legit to be using the radio for the first time. I felt important. When I got back and the parade was getting to places, I had to walk Lumiere's candlesticks to his float for him because the girl whose track it was was nowhere to be found. Then we went back to the PC for a while and that's when the monsoon happened. The second Day Parade was cancelled so we had to break down Day Parade's costumes right there in the middle of the PC. It was absolute pandemonium because stuff was getting thrown everywhere by performers and costumers alike. I've never seen the PC such a mad house. When we got back to Shade Control to start up the two MiSiCi's we found out that the stilts were down, meaning the stilt performers would go out in the parade on foot. It rained so hard during the monsoon that the driving route that we normally take was flooded and we had to go over the train tracks instead which they never ever let us do. The whole day was just thrown for a loop by that monsoon, it affected everything. Then right before the last MiSiCi of the day I had to make another run to the PC to get a new Goofy head. And then they ended up not using it. By the end of the day I was exhausted and confused. I really hope the rest of double day parade weeks are not this hectic.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

Today I was on Track 1 again. It felt weird since I've been doing track 4 the last three days. I almost forgot a couple of things I had to do, but thankfully my coworkers watched my back. I really do love the people I work with on MiSiCi (for the most part). Three minutes to places for the first parade Lumiere turned to our group of costuming people and goes "Oh, hey, I just noticed. My costume doesn't have a hard collar." Bad, bad, bad! That's really important for him. Thankfully, I had been checking the inside emergency bin for the last three days and knew exactly where a backup one was kept! So I ran and got it, problem solved. I felt really great for knowing where it was and what to do! It's the first time I haven't hesitated when someone's asked me to help. It felt good. 

It was pretty overcast today again and we thought we were gonna get rain so before lunch we had to move the stilt bins inside the car garage. It never did rain though, so it was kind of pointless. Better safe than sorry I suppose. During the time when we help Day Parade, I was at the top of the hill helping unzip performers from their costumes. I'd never actually done this part of the track before so I was kind of nervous but it was really easy. I just asked them if they were okay and if they needed my help I unzipped them. Most of them were fine, except Stitch was really overheated and I thought the performer was going to toss her cookies. She looked really bad. I'm afraid this won't be the last heat-related illness I encounter. It was pretty nerve-racking since I didn't know how to help her. Poor Genie, too, when he came off the parade he was being escorted by Jafar. Jafar motioned costuming over to help the Genie because apparently his sweatband and skull cap had moved down over his eyes during the parade and he couldn't see a thing! Thank goodness he never stepped on a little kid or anything. I don't know how he handled the situation so well, I would have been freaking out. 

The only other mis-hap we had was with Baloo on the final parade. The performer got switched out because the first one had gotten sick so we had to bring an entirely new costume for the last show. And first, the gloves were the same hand, so we had to get new gloves. Then his costume didn't fit right on his head and he couldn't see out of it. So Ana, the coordinator, tried to put extra pads on it but we didn't have enough at Shade Control so Luz had to make a run to the PC very last minute. Thankfully she got back in time and that got fixed. Then right as Baloo's walking to his float he's trying to put on one of his gloves and it's getting stuck on his sleeve the whole time. I went over to try and help but he ended up getting a Captain to help him instead. It was a hot mess. But, everything worked out and the parade went out perfectly. Laundry afterwards was a cinch and then I went home! 

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

Today was pretty standard up until the last show. It started raining about 30 minutes before the show started and for a while we didn't know if they were going to go out. The stiltwalkers got cancelled first and so they broke down all their stuff before the show. They ended up letting the show go on because the rain let up so we still had the last show. The stiltwalkers went out on foot in different outfits. It was pretty cool to see the precautions that are put in place for things like rain. Every single person knew exactly what they needed to do due to the rain and there were almost zero hiccups. It's a pretty organized ship here.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

Yesterday was pretty easy. I've gotten pretty used to the daily flow of MiSiCi and I like it a lot. All the tracks are different in the details but the big picture is the same so I know where I'm supposed to be and when generally. Nothing really special happened yesterday, I got all my stuff done pretty easily. I'm loving this parade!

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

Monday I trained on track 4 with Amanda. It was pretty simple, really. I've gotten the hang of this parade really quickly and so I basically know what I'm doing just from looking at the track sheet. None of it is too terribly difficult to figure out. But it was nice to have Amanda there teaching me certain things like how to put Sebastian together. I would never figure that out on my own, he's really complicated. One thing I learned too is that after the parade when I help Sebastian out of his box I have to be sure to wait until the platform lands on the ground of the float. If I open the door too soon, they'll have to reset the entire float before Sebastian could get out. I would absolutely hate to be the person that trapped a performer inside their float.

Track 4 does the laundry in the character room at the end of the day. It was so weird to be in there on my parade shift because I've completely separated the two places in my mind. But I knew what I was doing down there since I've been in the CR for so long already. It was simple to figure out where to put things and how to do the laundry and such. All in all, pretty simple track to figure out!

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

So I've learned that parades follow their tracks very very closely. In the character room, the tracks aren't really binding, most of the time I just went up to a coordinator and asked them what to do next to be helpful. On parades, it's the end of the world if you're 5 minutes off. So to save myself from having to write the gigantic tracks down every day, I just made a page with the track detailed on it. It can be found to the right of this blog.

Today was so much fun! I absolutely love this parade and all the people who work on it. I'm so glad that they understand my humor and mesh with my personality. I worked with Luz, Marisela, Shang, Edna, and the coordinator was Anna. It's very structured but there's also room for craziness. For example, this morning we had to make a run to the PC as soon as we got to shade control because Edna thought she needed a new Bob body pad. So Anna and Luz went, but by the time they got back we had realized we actually needed a Jessie body pad, not a Bob one. Nobody knew what Enda was talking about with the Bob one, not even Edna knew. I also had to run and get another pair of shoes for one of the stilt walkers. I thought my coordinator said 10.5, but as soon as I was back with the 10.5's she said that she actually needed a 9.5. So I had to go back. Luckily I actually found the boy's real pair of shoes that had his name on them and everything which is always great. If they can use their own same shoe over and over again, they like to.

The rest of the day was pretty seamless. I got to help Baloo a lot today which I liked. I really like that character and how his costume is set up. I feel so important helping him simply because he's so huge. I don't really know why. So all was going well until right after lunch. It was about 2:45 and I was presetting my chipmunks when all of a sudden Ryan, the Day Parade coordinator, comes running up to me with keys in one hand and what looks like a plastic stick in the other. He's freaking out and tells me I have to drive the van to the character room to drop off the stick (turns out it was the Fairy Godmother's wand!). He's telling me it's so important and they needed it 5 minutes ago and I've got to leave now. So we're running to this van (that I've never driven before, mind you) and I'm double checking what I've got to do, I'm starting to get a little panicked because he was freaking out so bad. So he directs me backing up the van, and then I'm off. As soon as I pulled up at the character room my manager Jerry comes sprinting out to the van to get the wand. And I mean, he was sprinting! I still don't know what exactly happened and why it was needed there so incredibly soon, but it was a crazy 10 minutes. When I drove back I got stopped in traffic because the floats were moving. No cars are allowed to travel around the PC while the floats are moving, so I sat and waited. When I finally parked the van and went inside, all the Day Parade people were walking in. Ryan saw me and yelled my name, trying to talk to me but I kept on walking. I was trying to de-stress. He ran up and asked me if everything was okay and I explained that it was fine, nothing had gone wrong but he had stressed me out doing that and it wouldn't have been okay if it was anybody else. Ryan and I get along very well, I love working with him, so he understood. After that I continued with my presets until break at 4:30.

We were waiting to get back in the truck to leave at 5 for Shade Control when Ryan comes walking up to me and hands me something. It was a 4 Keys Fanatic card he filled out for me for Show and Courtesy because I "went above and beyond helping with the Fairy Godmother's wand". I could've cried! It was the most special way to receive my first Fanatic card and it was all worth it after that. Ryan's the best. It was the cherry on top of a fabulous and eventful day.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

Today was my first day legitimately training on MiSiCi. I learned track 1 with this really awesome lady named Ginnie. She's the bomb. She was really fantastic at explaining things but also giving me room to breathe and do things myself. Track 1 is responsible for loading up and driving the truck which I feel so cool knowing how to do now. The first thing we did was build 2 stilt walker costumes and load them in the stilt metros. We then loaded up the truck with 2 empty metros, the 2 stilt racks, a whole bunch of stilt J pads, the laundry sorting basket including 8 empty mesh bags, an empty red bin and an empty metro. It sounds like a lot, but this truck is huge. It wasn't full at all.
We had to leave promptly by 10 so as to not get stuck behind the moving floats. No one is allowed to travel on the road while the floats are moving because it's too easy for the float drivers to hit you. We took the truck to Step Off (where the parade begins) which just happens to be Step Down (where the parade ends) for MiSiCi as well which is very convenient. We then unloaded the truck and got everything set up where it's supposed to be and then checked our presets from the day before. Track 1's presets are Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale. By now it's getting close to when the parade begins so we helped all the characters get dressed and then saw them off for the parade. During the parade, we helped the girl that was on track 2 organize the stilt safety bin. Ten minutes before the parade finishes, we set up water cups and towels for the performers. Track 1 is responsible for bringing towels and water cups to the first float for the performers and helping them cool down. Then we had to make a run back to the PC for something because Track 1 is also the runner. I got to drive the pargo which was really fun. I felt like I was going to fight crime. I was singing the Batman song the whole ride. It was awesome. Then we helped the characters get dressed again and sent them off. Same rules for every parade when it comes to water cups and towels.  Right after the second parade steps down we're off to lunch.
After lunch is when we built the presets for the next day. I already knew how to build Chip, Dale, Minnie, and Mickey so it was really easy. I did learn how to build a Mr. Incredible torso which isn't as hard as I thought it would be but was really scary at first. Then we went and helped Day Parade at their step down and sorted all the costumes. They have tons of costumes so even with all of MiSiCi's crew and Day Parade's crew there was something for everyone to be doing the whole time. Then we went back and loaded up the truck with tomorrow's presets and were off to shade control. We immediately set up for the last parade's step down because it is when all the costumes get broken down and ready for laundry. There's tons of bins and stuff that have to be set out. We helped the characters get ready and during the last parade we unloaded the next day's presets. At the end of the parade, the characters get undressed on this big tarp and we sort all the costumes for laundry. This is when everybody gets really busy because there's tons of laundry to do and we only have a short period of time to do it and be at the clock out place on time to clock out. You can't clock out late, Disney gets really mad. We loaded up the truck with all the racks and metros, unloaded just the in-house laundry when we got there then since I was track 1 we headed straight inside to do in house laundry. We set the washers up first thing and got them going then sprayed out costume shells and hand washed some gloves. We put away the bin full of accessories, then unloaded the washers and hung everything up and put it in the dry room. Then we high tailed it to clock out on time.
MiSiCi is really busy most of the day and I absolutely love that. I love the people I work with, the costuming cast members and also the performers. They mesh so perfectly with my own personality that the day just flies right on by. I am so happy this is my second skill to learn.

That's all the magic for today!!

Time in: 8:30 a.m.
Time out: 5:00 p.m.

Today I was in the character room again. When I first arrived I helped put away the clothes that had arrived from NSA. There was the same amount as usual, about 3 Z-racks full and it took about an hour. Then I built Cinderella petticoats for another hour. Then I went to Soil for about ten minutes before my coordinator had me come back and build some Belle petticoats. Then I put away some stuff from Hang Dry and the second wave of clothes from NSA. After my lunch break I organized the accessory wall for a while and then built two Eeyore outfits and a Piglet outfit. I finished the day off in Soil and laundry, just passing the time.

Welcome to Parades

Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.

Today was absolutely the most amazing day I've ever had at work!!! It was my first day on a parade and it was so incredibly fantastic! I'm in love. There was such energy and fun happening that it's like night and day difference from my usual Character Room job. 

I'm on the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! (henceforth referred to as MiSiCi) parade that performs 3 times a day on Main Street of Magic Kingdom. It's full of energy and it's pretty much a street party, not a parade. The guests are all invited to dance and party along in the middle of Main Street and everybody has a blast. The performers get exhausted, but it's so fun. With my trainer I got to go out there and see that parade as well as Celebrate A Dream Come True parade (henceforth referred to as Day Parade). It was very cool because most of the performers in MiSiCi also perform in Day Parade so we saw the same faces over and over and the trainer I was with is beloved by everybody so the performers kept coming over and giving us hugs and special attention. I loved it. We walked through the whole day on MiSiCi and I basically just tried to absorb everything I could. I have to go through a day of training on every single track individually so today was just an overview but I still tried to learn a lot. I had a blast with all the costuming employees on MiSiCi they're tons of fun. So was being around  the same performers all day. MiSiCi helps Day Parade a little bit in the middle of the day so it's all very teamwork oriented. And there's a very set schedule for everything that happens. I loved it. We did too much to remember it was all very crazy, but it was a lot of overview things mainly. It was a huge whirlwind day but I'm absolutely in love with it and can't wait for this to be my new assignment!

That's all the magic for today!!!

Time in: 5:00 p.m.
Time out: 1:30 a.m.

My first assignment yesterday was to help in laundry. Laundry is a whole bunch of sorting, pairing, and hanging stuff up. I've been doing that my whole life, so it's pretty easy. I like being back there enough. It kills time, at least. then I went on a run to Ops with another lady named Nancy. Pretty easy, all we had to do was open the door for a guy. When I got back, I started my line assignment. I had to make a Stitch, a Space Pluto, 3 Tiggers, and 2 Circus Donald's. I went on two runs during this time, both were to Shade Control (where the parades start) to give ELP some supplies. Then I went on part of my lunch and when I came back they were  having a track talk. We did this interesting thing though where we all went around looking for good and bad examples of the four keys. Then we shared them all out loud with each other and the manager. I guess management is going to actually listen to our opinions about what should be fixed and that's pretty nice. When we dispersed, everybody went back to Soil. The place had exploded. Our manager had called the track talk right in the middle of the busiest time for performers to drop off their costumes. Great planning on her part. So after we all tackled the craziness, I went and finished my lunch break. When I came back I was in soil the rest of the night.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 4:30 p.m.
Time out: 12:30 a.m.


First thing I did on Sunday was my line assignment. I had to build a few Mickeys and a few Minnies each of a few outfits. Then I straightened all the shoe shells in the room. After that I helped back in Soil for a while. I did the band's laundry (picked it up, sorted it, put it in a bag, and sent the rest to in-house laundry) then went to lunch. After lunch, straight back to laundry. Same old same old.

That's all the magic.

Time in: 5:00 p.m.
Time out: 1:30 a.m.

Yesterday was tons of fun in the Character Room!! I had the best people there with me, it was great. We secretively tried my friend Caitlin into a Minnie Magnifique dress which is way against the rules, pretty much. She fit though! It was hilarious. And then way later in the night when Sleeping Beauty was dropping off her costume she offered me a cupcake made from bananas and applesauce instead of eggs and oil. It was legitimately the best cupcake I've ever eaten in my whole life. We chased her down for the recipe, but she had already left. It was so sad. Then at the very end of the night we had a super spontaneous yet epic game of hide and go seek. We were simultaneously hiding from each other and from our coordinator. It was so funny. 

Anyways, as for the work I did yesterday. When I got there I went straight to soil for a while. Then I was back in laundry for a long time which I don't mind anymore, time passes quickly there. Then I went to lunch really late, which I also like, and came back and helped in Soil. It's all pretty easy there now because I know what I'm doing in all the sections and I know how to help people that don't know. I love the feeling of knowing what I'm doing at work. 

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 4:30
Time out: 12:30

Yesterday was kind of weird. I was on fly team. It means that I was really only scheduled in case someone called out and they needed help, so I wasn't assigned an actual track. I just had to keep asking my coordinator what she needed me to do next and she'd send me on one job after another. I built a couple Tigger and Piglet outfits first. Then Captain Hook asked me a bunch of questions about his  costume, so I stopped and helped him out for a while. I ended up being sent to the PC to pick up a new headpiece for him. When I came back I finished with Tigger and Piglet then was sent to Soil. I asked my manager if I could help the girl who was doing Buzz Lightyear when she left, and she said it was okay so I got to do that for the first time. It was cool. He has lots of parts you have to clean so it's tedious but he's one of my favorite characters so I was okay with it. When I came back from that I went to lunch and then got sent to Soil for a bit. By then I only had about an hour left so I just killed time helping in Soil and Laundry. My coordinator had me do a few Goofy outfits as well, but that only took about fifteen minutes. He's got one of the easiest outfits.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 4:30
Time out: 12:30

When I went in to work on Thursday I was completely expecting it to drag slowly by. It was my first day of five days in a row and these are my last five days in the Character Room for now until I switch to the MiSiCi Parade. I was fully expecting it to be torture. I walked in and my coordinator said to just ignore what my track sheet said because she was missing 3 people and she really just needed me to stay in laundry all day. I've never actually had to be in laundry before. I'm in Soil all the time, where I sort out the costumes and then send them to laundry, but my tracks have never been just laundry. The most amazing thing happened: time FLEW by!! I don't know if it was because being in laundry is so tedious and I always had something to do or if it was because I'd never done that specific job before and it was new. Whatever the reason, it was lovely. Every time I looked at the clock it was at least 20 minutes later, which never happens. I tend to look at the clock every five minutes normally. But, by the end of the night I was so surprised that the shift was over and I just skipped merrily along to clock out. It was lovely.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 4:30 p.m.
Time out: 12:30 a.m.

So I was on the Hoedown track again today but when my coordinator called the PC they didn't need help. Instead she just put me back in Soil for my entire shift. I didn't really mind it though. In fact I kind of liked it because I was back there all by myself and I did the whole thing my way. My coordinator came by a couple hours later and was super impressed at how on top of things I was. By the end of the night I was really bored, but that always happens. There's never enough to do to keep yourself busy for eight hours.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 4:00 p.m.
Time out: 12:30 a.m.

I had the Hoedown track again today but there was nothing at all to do for the bears so all I did was help the Splash girl. I know exactly what to do for Splash now. It's awesome. I love the feeling of actually knowing what I'm supposed to be doing. I could do that whole thing by myself. Then I walked back to the Character Room (I didn't get lost this time! Finally.) and went to lunch. Then I came back and helped in Soil again. Same old same old. Then I had to take out all the trash from the whole Character Room out to the dumpster. And then I helped Mrs. Pat in the laundry for about twenty minutes at the end, just to kill time. There are no longer any surprises when it comes to the Character Room.

On the bright side, I got my new skill assignment today! I start Thursday, March 7th at the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! parade!!!! I am so excited!

That's all the magic for today!