Wednesday November 12th I had my check-in meeting with Christina, our area manager. This is a meeting in a small group to go over the rules in more detail as well as how things have been going for your first part of your program (training, etc). The meeting went well, we were allowed to drink orange juice or chocolate milk (we're usually given free soft drinks, but never orange juice) and she brought in "midgets", the Dunkin' Doughnuts equivalent of Timbits for us to eat.
At work I got to meet the cutest party ever. It was a party of 23, all different families that met on a plane from San Francisco as they were going to adopt little Chinese girls. Ever since they've kept the girls in touch, and they get together to celebrate the anniversary of that trip. They aren't related, they weren't friends before, but now they all share this amazing bond. It was truly inspirational to see these families who've taken in girls from a completely different culture and loved them like their own. I also loved work because I was working with a lot of Food and Wine people. The new arrival, Sasha, also was working today and I got to get to know an old-new-arrival, Amanda, a lot better. They are both so nice! Sasha is from Hamilton so we can now officially say that Ontario (specifically from Toronto to the Niagra region) is taking over!
Thursday November 13th was Vacation Bid day! The person who arranges our schedules had given us each a time, according to seniority, when we could discuss when we'd like to take our week of vacation. Unfortunately, she left before all of the appointments were finished. I'm not sure why but it was very frustrating. At least I was already at work, some people had come into work just for their appointment. Fortunately, we can still submit our vacation requests on the Hub.
Work was pretty boring. There were SO many people on podium, which means there's not much for us to do. I ended up taking an ER (Early Release) and just came home. I was exhausted, but I couldn't think of why. I haven't done anything recently, and I've had so much sleep! Still, I decided to watch some more episodes of the "Big Bang Theory" and "How I Met Your Mother". I started watching "Nightmare Before Christmas" but I don't think it's my thing. It just wasn't as interesting to me... kinda gruesome and not princessy at all. Definitely not my kind of Christmas movie. Speaking of Christmas, decorations are starting to pop up around Epcot! The gardens are all decorated with festive colours and gift boxes, there's garland by the podium and in the restaurant, and the gigantic Christmas tree at the entrance to the world showcase is up! I love it!
Friday November 14th I woke up early, even though I started late. A new roommate had moved in, which kept Heather up all night, so we talked about moving into a new apartment. We decided to go to the front desk to ask about the possibilities of moving together into a smaller apartment. Unfortunately it seems very unlikely. Once an apartment is half full or less (which is what a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment would have to be for us to move in) they move the people into other apartments and fill the apartment with new people. I understand, though it seems like a silly policy. I think it would make the most sense if they moved all new people into 3 or 4 bedrooms then allowed people to move into smaller apartments once they'd made friends. Then everyone would get the experience of living with people from different countries, but no one would be stuck in a large apartment for their entire contract unless they wanted to be. Still, we're going to keep our fingers crossed.
At work I had a good shift, but a busy shift. I was seating tables but also helped by bussing and setting tables and doing a couple other odd jobs. It felt really good to be so productive (definitely more productive than most seater shifts)! It was the shuttle launch today, so everyone in the restaurant ran outside around 8pm to try to see it. Unfortunately, it was blocked by the trees, but a couple of guests said they saw the shuttle for about 30 seconds by Spaceship Earth if you were elsewhere in the park. We thought we saw the shuttle for awhile and Dean got really excited... but then we realized that it was just the first lighting of the new, gigantic Christmas Tree... shuttles don't sparkle. After work I drove a couple people home and then relaxed watching Bridget Jones's Diary with a big bowl of popcorn. Overall, it was a really good day!
Saturday November 15th I woke up at 8am, and Rebecca called shortly after. We got ready and went to Animal Kingdom pretty much for the park's opening. We went on the safari and saw so many animals. Definitely more than usual, perhaps because it was really humid and felt like it was going to rain. Then we wandered around, through the path in Asia, and got Fast Passes for Everest. Then it turned out the line was short so we decided to go on as single riders. By this time it was afternoon and my lack of sleep was catching up to me, so I decided to head home. First, I grabbed some Fast Passes for Dinosaur and Kali River Rapids. I've made it a goal to collect a Fast Pass from each of the rides that offers them, so I figured now was as good a day as any to start! Before I left I grabbed lunch at my favourite BBQ Quick Service Restaurant. I got the beef sandwich with fries and LOTS of sauce on the side and took my food to the tables by the water overlooking Everest. It was really nice, but then the ducks took an interest to me. There were 3 of them and they practically surrounded me, begging for food. The one female even started nudging my chair and me! It was quite scary but as I've seen what animals become when humans feed them (like the scary seagulls at the beach) and because french fries aren't really good for ducks, I resisted. Eventually some tourists came along and fed them... luckily it was salad so not as bad for their poor little tummies. At home, I'm now just catching up on blogging, and my tv shows. Gotta love a good relaxing day... and I deserve one! That night I went out to Cowboy's for Chloe's last with Heather... so much fun. I love that girl!
Sunday November 16th I stayed in all day relaxing and catching up on tv shows. At night I drove to work to pick up Heather and take her to Downtown Disney so she could pick up a cell phone at Virgin. We were going to eat at the Earl of Sandwhich, but I wasn't feeling well so we just went home and relaxed instead.
Monday November 17th I opened the popcorn cart(11am-6:30pm), it's a really nice, easy, shift! Opening wasn't bad, you now have to count all the stock, but there's now less stock to count because we aren't selling soda's or the Unibroue beers anymore. I was ready to get my cash and POS (computer) really early, but it took awhile to get it out to the cart. Working the cart was slow... really slow. After 2 hours I'd had about 25 transactions. Fortunately, Kyla started work at 1:30pm, and then I had someone to talk with. Usually we interact with the guests, but there weren't many of them, and since I couldn't go far from my cash to interact with them they just walked by. Still, the shift flew by and then it was time for rehearsal!
I changed in Cast Services and headed over to the Magic Music Days tent (which is behind Italy). I was so excited! It was our first rehearsal off book, and my first rehearsal going through all of the music! The tent was set up with a piano, and stands with sections for all the vocal parts. I went over and took a seat (on the first level) in the Soprano II section. Right before we started rehearsal, though, they asked us to mingle so that we weren't standing with our section. I ended up standing beside an Alto I, and... well... I couldn't tell what the other lady was.
Rehearsal was a lot of fun. As expected there were areas I definitely needed to practice. "O Holy Night" was a little rocky, and the entire choir mangled "Do You Hear What I Hear". It's hard! We can never remember when we're supposed to sing vs. when the Voices of Liberty are singing. We were also a little tentative on the last song, "The Wonderful World of Christmas". Still, we sounded good. Amazing. Apparently there were highschool students from the "Magic Music Days" program outside and they were very impressed and even started clapping when we were done! Also, after rehearsal the girl beside me complimented me and said she was glad to be singing beside me because she'd all of a sudden hear that we were singing the same notes and thought I had a nice voice! That was really a compliment because she had a beautiful voice! Of course I returned the compliment, and joked that it was a good thing we were singing the same parts sometimes because it meant I wasn't messing up my harmonies!
After rehearsal I went to Germany, bought a teddy bear (who is now named Steiff or Steve), went to First Aid and sat outside and watched illuminations (while on the phone with mom) and waited for Heather so I could drive her home after work. When we came home, our apartment was a disaster. It was really messy and disgusting, so disgusting I don't even like to go in the kitchen anymore. I survive on smarties because I'm too grossed out to cook food. Also, we've gotten warnings from Housing because our roommates smoke and put the chairs outside, and we're not allowed furniture on our balcony. It's agreed, we really need to move apartments!
Tuesday November 19th, I worked seating from 1:15-8:15pm, so I spent the morning working on "Do You Hear What I Hear" and the harmonies in "The Wonderful World of Christmas". It's hard because there are parts where it's only the soprano II's with a particular harmony and there aren't many of us... so I really need to know my part! After work, I just spent the evening relaxing.
Wednesday November 19th I worked seating from 11:30-6:30pm and then had another Candlelight rehearsal. It went better than the one on Monday, but the choir still messed up "Do You Hear What I Hear"... I'm a little nervous about that! I'd been over the harmonies in "The Wonderful World of Christmas" a couple more times before rehearsal but I still messed them up. I WILL get them sometime! I met a really nice girl, Stephanie, who sings alto and had been in the choir for the past few years, even though she's still in high school. She works in the summer at the World of Disney, man, would that be an awesome summer job or what?!
Thursaday November 20th Heather and I got up early to go to the Florida Mall! Heather needed to pick up some shampoo from the Aveda store, and ended up getting hair extensions (which look gorgeous on her) as well. I picked up a couple of things, and we had lunch at the food court (mmm.... Chinese food) and then headed home. I worked 2-8pm, seating, and then came home and went to sleep. I was pretty tired!
Friday November 21st I was at Epcot for 9am to help with the Guest Talent Coordinator (GTC) Training. The GTC's are the Cast Members that organize the Guest Choirs for the Candlelight Processional. They'd had some triaining with imaginary people, but this was their chance to use real people, and see what it was going to be like. The training was only 2 hours and we practiced lining up (according to our height), lining up on the bleachers in the practice tent, walking over to the American Gardens Theatre, and processing in and filling the stands on stage. It was a lot of fun, and it meant I got to stand on the stage for the first time! Also, in the end they gave us all a Park Hopper for volunteering our time! Score!
I worked 11:30-5:30pm seating, and then went to Subway for dinner before heading to rehearsal. Rehearsal was SO much fun! Throughout the rehearsal the choir director (who is also one of the head Voices of Liberty) kept reminding people to smile and look engaged while singing. Then, after a bit of "What Child is This?" he pointed to me and said "um, can you stand here?". He then picked out another girl, and two guys and made the whole choir sing while we were facing them. He stood with us and tried to look as uninterested as possible while we were singing. Then he said "See these people here? Everytime I look at them they are smiling and engaged in singing. This is what you should look like when you sing!" I was so excited and honoured... I got singled out at a Disney rehearsal for enthusiastic singing! I'm just SO much happier now that candlelight is getting closer. This was our last rehearsal, Monday is dress rehearsal where we do a full runthrough with orchestra on the American Gardens stage and I just can't wait!
Saturday November 22nd I had the day off so I spent it relaxing and catching up on the TV shows I love to watch. That night, Heather convinced me to go to Cowboys again, but it wasn't as much fun as last week. Also, when our other roommate got home she found these notices that said due to our apartment needing "repairs" we would all be permanently moved into another apartment. We're not sure if that means we're all going to be moving into a 3 bedroom apartment, or another 4, or if we're going to be split up. Not-so-secretly, I'm hoping that this means Heather and I might be able to move into a smaller apartment together! We're going to go to Housing early tomorrow to find out where we're moving!
Sunday November 23rd we got up early and went into Housing only to find out that Heather and I will not be moving into the same apartment. We tried to see if there was any way for the two of us to live together, but there's no apartments with 2 availabilities except for "Wellness" apartments, where you are not able to have alcohol. Unfortunately, I just don't think I could move into a wellness apartment. It's not that I drink much, but I do like to have the occaisional glass of wine, and I still have the sparkling wine mom bought me from the Food and Wine Festival. I wouldn't want to give that to someone else to hold, or keep it in my car. It just wouldn't work. After Housing we stopped by Casey's apartment where we remembered she had an empty bed. Since Heather was the most concerned about whether she'd be able to live with her new housemates we decided she should move in with Casey. Casey called Housing and was able to arrange it, so Heather started moved into building 13. It was really weird having the room half empty, and no Heather, so I started to pack everything up too.
Fortunately, there was some good news that day. I received a random e-mail from my Dad "Hey: Just a reminder to video tape the Candlelight show on Friday. If you don't have someone to tape it I could tape it (provided I can get a good seat on the Standby side) :)". I wasn't sure what this meant, so I called him... it turns out Dad decided to come to Florida to see me sing the opening night of Candlelight... he'll be arriving on Thursday!
Monday Novmber 24th I was up at 8am so I could finish loading my car and get to Housing for 9am. I got my key as soon as they opened, and went to my new apartment (411). Unfortunately, the key didn't work so I had to go back to the office. It turns out, the locks were being changed that morning and they'd given me the key to the new lock, which wasn't in place yet. No problem! They went to change the lock, and let me in right away. I found an empty bedroom, but it was obvious it hadn't been cleaned yet, so I decided to sit on the couch for a bit and absorb the new apartment. It's nicely decorated for Christmas with lights and a tree. They have stuffed animals around, Disney Princess posters, and even before the cleaning crew has come through it's neat. The kitchen is clean... yay! Also, I wondered why if there was 2 empty beds Heather couldn't move in here with me. As it turned out, the only reason there were 2 beds is that the other girl moved out early. She was supposed to have a couple more days, so they weren't expecting a full empty bedroom. The cleaning crew came in right away but weren't done until around 10 (there's a lot to clean in a 4 bedroom apartment and they do a really good job). I quickly loaded things into the room from my car and headed to work at 10:15.
I worked from 11-5pm greeting then drove back to Commons to keep moving more of my stuff to my new apartment, and to grab a quick dinner. Then it was off to dress rehearsal around 8:30pm! I wanted to be there early (even though it didn't start until 10) because I heard the first people get to be in the tree, and that would give me the most realistic idea of what a show will be like. I was lucky, I got to be in the tree! As it turns out, it wasn't a full dress rehearsal (no costumes), but it was still amazing. They say that the first overnight rehearsal is one of the best shows we do because all of the choir consists of the Cast Choir. It was really nice to have a rehearsal of what I'll be doing in an actual show, I didn't even mind staying there late! I got home around 2:45am and headed straight to bed, it had been a very long day!
Tuesday November 25th I worked 11:30-5:30pm seating, then came back Commons to do more moving. I'm now almost all moved out. Then I went to the overnight rehearsal, again. This time it was a full dress rehearsal with actual guest choirs. Unfortunately, the Hub had allowed too many Cast Members to sign up for the rehearsal. There was only supposed to be 1 tree (about 80 people) but over 200 people had signed up! They decided that the first 80 people that had signed up on the hub would be the tree in the first run, the 2nd 80 would be the tree in the 2nd and the rest could fill up the gold choirs. This made some people upset, but really was the best way to do it. I was scheduled for the 2nd show in the green robes, so I spent the first bit of time chatting with JC, Jeremy (roomies on the college program) and Stephanie again. It was SO much fun! We got to watch most of the first show, which made me realize how amazing this all is. I'm so lucky that I'm finally a part of this production!
Wednesday November 26th I slept in, unpacked a little, got ready for work and worked PM cash (3:30-10pm) on the popcorn cart. After work, I drove Cheryl home to Patterson Court (another one of the Disney housing complex's) where we stopped in for a FREE thanksgiving dinner courtesy of Price Management (the housing people). It was absolutely delicious! Then I went back to Commons for a throw out for Theresa, Katie, and Reba. It was really sad. The longer you're here the more attached you are to the people leaving. Saw Heather at the throw-out. I miss her SO much. After the throw-out I walked her back to her new apartment. It's really weird not to be roomies anymore, it's like I'm in Heather withdrawl.
Thursday Novmber 27th - Heather went to Price Management. Said she could move if she could have the old room vacant by 5pm Saturday! DEAL! So I went to load up the car with my last stuff from my apt. Found NPH, then filled the rest of the car with her stuff. Dropped off my key, picked her new key up and unloaded before she had to go into work. Drove heather in, went for 99c turkey dinner. delicious. pumpkin pie was really good. came back, relaxed, dad phoned. he's in orlando. met dad at commons, showed him around, he helped me unpack some more before I had to go into work. He came to epcot, saw me working, filmed Heather's spiels. So cute! Here's one of the pictures he took of me working at the Popcorn Cart.
Friday November 28th Dad picked me up early so we could spend the morning together. We went to Epcot for breakfast at Sunshine Seasons (the quick service restaurant in the land). It really is delicious there! Then we wandered around and chatted, and I went to work. DAd stopped by and snapped this photo (for those of you who wonder what I look like when I'm working at Le Cellier)
Saturday November 29th I slept in, relaxed, and then did 3 more John O'Hurley Candlelight Shows. He's actually a pretty good Narrator (though I don't have too many people to compare him to... yet). After Candlelight I drove heather home. Waiting in Cast Services I met up with some people from Le Cellier... turns out they were able to see one of the shows! I don't think they saw me (I was in gold robes for two of the shows) but that's still nice to know that they came!
Sunday November 30th I had a very lazy morning, followed by a trip to Walmart with Heather and Rebecca. We make quite the little team and we've decided we're each one of the Disney Princesses. Rebecca is Belle, Heather is Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and I'm Cinderella (yay!). When I got home I cleaned a bit, and then it was time for Rebecca and I to head out for the evening. Rebecca had won a Wishes Fireworks Cruise from the Polynesian in a pie eating contest during our 1 year of safety celebration and so she'd invited me! We decided to all go out to dinner at Citrico's first, as it's a very nice, delicious, and fancy restaurant in the Grand Floridian. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Grand Floridian it's one of the fanciest resorts in Disney World. Here are some pictures of the inside, and of the gigantic gingerbread house they have in their lobby... they even sell cookies and candy from it!
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